.comment-link {margin-left:.6em;}

Gia-Gina Across the Pond

So I've decided to follow my husband to his native Italy. Follow our adventures as we eat, drink, travel, adapt to and explore this remarkable country. Part food blog, part photo blog but mostly my rants and raves. After our two years in Italy, we relocated across the Atlantic "pond" and are back in the States.

Monday, April 11, 2005

Seeing A Friendly Face

After a bit of confusion over directions and street signs, we found the Centre Mediterranee, in Cap D’Ail, France. Deme and I left Torino at 7 am to drive 2 ½ hours to meet Sophie, as she and her French class spent the week in France. We arrived at about 9:45 and swept Sophie away for the day as her class and teacher rode a bus to another destination.

We first drove to downtown Monte Carlo in Monaco. I had no idea Monaco was its own little principality, with its own taxation and sovereignty. It's the smallest country in the world after Vatican City, three miles long and one and a half miles wide. The language spoken is French. All the shops and buildings had black ribbons on their flags and in their windows as mourning symbols of the death of Prince Rainier.

We walked, talked and enjoyed the sights. The Grand Prix takes place once a year in Monaco. Deme showed us the path the racecars take as they weave and wind downtown and beyond. After a short breakfast and a bit more walking in the rain, we headed towards Cannes. The very touristy city is the home of the most famous film festival in the world. We met with cruise ship stopovers, Americans, convention goers wearing their badges and other Europeans. I saw a woman eating an entire pot full of mussels as we strolled by a restaurant and had an immediate craving so we parked ourselves for lunch.

She and I chatted about school, Jamie, her parents, her grandparents, aunts, cousins, kung-fu lessons; the whole shebang. After more walking and chatting, it was time to go. We dropped Sophie off at the Centre, we said our “good-byes” and off Deme and I were. It was so nice to see a friendly face and so sweet of her to spend the time with us. Lately, e-mail correspondence has not been adequate and some face time was definitely necessary. Seeing Sophie cured some of my homesickness and I’m glad because Deme left for Seattle this morning and will be gone until Saturday. I’ll have this weekend’s memories to keep me company all week long.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home