Turino, Turin

We made it to Turin from Les Arnauds after a marvelous drive through the Alps, including driving through some of the longest tunnels I have ever been in. Our border crossing over from France to Italy happened in the middle of one of these tunnels. A large Italian flag hanging and lit in the middle of the tunnel indicated the actual border. Turin was a marvelous city, and again, we spent only a day and night there, not enough time. We enjoyed wandering through the arcaded streets, and into the city center. There was a lot of contemporary art, as well as historical sites and museums.

Stresa,

We arrived in Stresa, on Lake Maggiore, Italy late in the afternoon. The countryside and villages that line the shore of the lake are all very picturesque. Our accommodations for the week are located on one of the small islands, Isola Superiorie de la Pesciatore, in the lake close to the towns of Stresa and Baveno. There are no cars on the island, nor are they allowed, a perfect place for kids. The apartment was located right along the shoreline, with the water and waves right outside.

We met Anna, our host and family friends (thanks Mom and Dad) and the owner (along with her husband Renato) of the apartment at the ferry landing. Anna grew up on the island, and her family history goes back generations here. Her husband Renato was an editor and publisher in Milan for many years, and now runs a bookstore on the island. Anna teaches English in the local school, and had worked for Flash Art doing translation. They live nearby in Verbania with their daughter Sophia and son Elia. We feel very lucky to have been invited in to see the lake and islands through there eyes and Anna’s passion for this island and its history brings it to life beyond the tourist barriers that are so often set up.

We have met several of their friends, and been invited into an inner circle that we feel privileged to see. One of these people is Inge who lived on the island for many years with her husband but now only visits for short periods of time since he passed away. Inge’s husband, Andrea Ruffoni had (from what we understand) grown up on Isola Superiore but traveled extensively and studied art. He moved back to the island and ran a local café as well as worked furiously in his atelier on the island. Now what remains are a museum of sorts created by Inge and some of her friends as well as his atelier left as it was the day he died.

Inge’s house and her husband’s art was a unique experience. We were invited to see the work set up through an island house and several floors of apartments set up as a gallery or museum. The work was amazing. He created his own material out of all of the plastic he found along the lakeshore and melted it together into a kind of concoction that could be easily manipulated. We must say that we were not sure what we would see at the house, but were absolutely blown away by the caliber and sophistication of Andrea’s work. Inge is in the process of starting a foundation for her museum and we hope to see it flourish, as it is truly a treasure on this island.

After seeing his collection, we were invited to have lunch in Inge’s private garden. Anna’s brother supplied the food, fresh lake fish, vegetables and steak and fries. I will never forget the lunch in the secret garden. The view across the lake to Isola Madre and beyond was breathtaking.

We stay on the island until Friday, Sept. 25^th when we leave for a night in Milan and then back to Venice to meet up with Martin and Ginny. We hope to get a dinner out alone, as it has been a long time since we’ve had a proper “date”. Time together is wonderful but there are moments we daydream about being home and in our comfort zones. We realize this is a trip of a lifetime and we will keep forging ahead, there are too many adventures ahead that we don’t want to miss.

If anyone wants to visit Isola Superiore and would like to see the work and atelier of Andreas we would gladly pass along any contact information. This has been the most pleasant of surprises and we think more people should visit.

French Alps

We left Biarritz, recharged and ready for our drive to Carcassone. It was a roughly 4-hour car ride and it was nice to make it to our little apartment for a couple of nights. We were situated just outside and below the Ancient City of Carcassonne. Our first night we explored up an old footpath to the city walls. The castle was lit dramatically and there was practically no one else around. The kids were very impressed by the size of the city itself, quite small compared to Toledo in Spain, but the combination of the warm night air, the warm lights highlighting the walls and casting shadows from nearby trees made it seem it seem mysterious and dreamlike. It looks like an archetypal castle and walled city on top of a hill overlooking a river and valley below. It took us about 15 minutes to walk around the city itself. During the day we could explore the chateau and gothic cathedral, which had all been renovated under the guidance of the same man who restored Notre Dame in Paris.

Another long drive to Les Arnauds, France, a small hamlet outside of Grenoble in the French Alps. Betsy and Kent Quinn were kind enough to offer us their French farmhouse as a place to stay. The farmhouse is located at about 1000m (3000 feet) altitude. The weather is quite a contrast from where we have been, it is warm during the day but at night the air is cold and it is necessary to put a fire in the stove to heat up a room or two. The kids are enjoying the fresh air outside of the city, cutting firewood, taking a morning hike, and cooking in a wood fired stove. The neighbors are very friendly here and everyone has offered us a hand with getting the house opened up or helping us get the first fire started in the stove. Today we explored around the lake nearby catching crawdads and building rock castles. We had a great lunch with a neighbor, Marc Ollivier who is a retired Sociologist and happened to have lived in Morocco for 15 years. He is now working on a documentary about Agribusiness in Morocco and how it is wreaking havoc on the local environment and economy. A very interesting man and we enjoyed the conversation and the lunch! We also had the opportunity to visit with other neighbors like Annie, Francoise, Samantha and Rebecca. They made arrangements for Sam to visit Samantha’s “English” class for an hour at her school. Sam really enjoyed it liked being in a classroom with other kids. The weather has changed over the course of our week and there was snow on tops of the mountains when we drove down to La Mure to do our laundry. We are getting ready to drive to Stresa, Italy with a stop in Turin on the way. We have enjoyed our reprieve from being on the road and some home cooked meals. We will miss Les Arnauds but are excited to move on to the next adventure.

Spain

Spanish Countryside

We picked up or new vehicle, a Peugeot 308 SW (dubbed the Millennium Falcon, she’ll make point five past light speed, especially if you put gas in the tank instead of diesel) at the Barcelona airport. We drove it a couple of hours south to Tarragona for the first night then on to Valencia where we took the kids to the Oceanografica Museum. This boasts to be Europe’s largest aquarium but I think that has more to do with size than actual critters etc. After our stay in Valencia we drove to Cuenca, Spain, which was phenomenal! The town of Cuenca is built in between two gorges the Hucar and the Juecar. Many of the old houses are built along the gorge and there are a few medieval houses called the “hanging houses” that still exist. After a couple of days in the “countryside” we drove to Toledo where we were impressed even more. Toledo sits on a granite “oxbow” where the river Tago runs around it. It was once ruled by the Moors and the Romans as well as the Visigoths and Christians. It is famous for its swords, so the kids were stoked to find a plethora of swords and weaponry. We enjoyed a few days there then on to Madrid where we were thrust into a big city again. The highlights of Madrid were the Prado where Monica was able to see her favorite painting, Las Meninas by Velasquez and then on to the Museo Reina Sofia where we all saw Guernica by Picasso. We are sure that the kids don’t realize the gravity of all the masterpieces they have been blessed to see on our trip starting with work such as the Mona Lisa and the Venice de Milo and so on, but we hope it will reside somewhere in their collective unconscious. In Madrid we savoured chocolate and churros, yummy olives and cornichons and sangria. After Madrid we moved on to Bilbao where we visited the Guggenheim. Not enough time was spent in Bilbao, Basque country, but we got a taste of it. We were all blown away by Richard Serra’s sculptural installation. The kids wandered in and out of the sculptures causing both chaos and awe through their voices echoing amongst the giant walls of metal. We are now in Biarritz, France where the waves are calling… a day at the beach surfing and playing is well deserved, a chance for the kids to burn some energy and for mom and dad to get some time recharging before our next venture on to Les Arnauds, France.