Paris for four days

Can you believe that the girls spent three hours at the Louvre and loved it?! Julia found a American company called Paris Muse, which does guided treasure hunt art tours for children, complete with a prize at the end. Here the girls show their "detective guide books" with our guide Kristen - the adults also got lots of good info from Kristen too!

Viewing the Mona Lisa from all angles....

In the Jardin du Luxembourg, the girls couldn't pass up a donkey ride...

At the Jardin du Luxembourg we also sailed little wooden boats in the pond. Julia and I tried not to do too much coaching! We stayed at a nice little boutique hotel in the St-Germain des Pres area. Maria also came with us on the train from Torino - about a five-hour journey. The weather was cool, but we got in some great sites...

Claire - ready for a big push off - her boat was smoking fast!

Lila brought Valentina to Paris - this doll has had some interesting adventures.

At the Eiffel Tower the line was long, but the trip to the top was well worth it. The sparkling light show was the girls' favorite part.

Losing teeth and gaining years

We hit a couple of milestones this week. Claire lost another tooth (that's two in one week) so is now all set to be a haggle-toothed witch for Halloween--no costume required!

And Lila turned nine. Holy cow. We celebrated with our dear friends, the Recchis, and had a very fun time. 

The Italian birthday tradition is to tug your left ear as many times as your age, so Claudio was happy to oblige.

And even though we're trying to live a less consumption-oriented life over here, Lila somehow managed to be surrounded by gifts. And also adoring fans.

Head to the Mountains

With several trips to the Langhe wine area under our belts and a seaside venture to Lerici, this past weekend we headed west to the Alps. In Sauze D'Oulx we found a nice trail, made our way to a nice picnic area and had lunch. This is one of many small ski villages within a short distance from Torino. You can see there is no snow yet on the peaks here, but it's coming soon!
Several wood carved art pillars are found along the paths - which way dude?

On the return, we stopped at a three star site, Sacra di San Michele - a monastery which dates back to the 10th century. It is perched on the top of the prominant Mount Pirchiriano overlooking the Susa valley. For more info on this unique site, check out:

http://www.sacradisanmichele.com/index.asp

Legend has it that a beautiful woman threw herself from the tower of Alda, but was saved by the angels...
For those of you in the building business, no need to replace the asphalt or even slate shingles - these stone roof shingles look to last the test of time!

Maria arrives!

We have been anxiously awaiting Maria's arrival, the girls have been counting down the days, and she finally made it. When the girls exited their tennis lesson, they saw her and let out a big scream of delight. We are all very happy to have her here.

And check out Lila's shirt. It's an autographed jersey from the #1 player on the Torino professional soccer (football) team--Juventus--that she won at the school raffle. She actually won the first pick of all of the raffle prizes and chose the jersey over everything else, including some very girly items. You can imagine how jealous all of the boys were. 

Weekend at Relais San Maurizio w/ Stan & Dooz

We spent the weekend out in the Langhe wine country, about 45 minutes south of Torino, and had a very special insider's tour of the La Spinetta winery from Giorgio Rivetti--owner and winemaker there (www.la-spinetta.com).  He is world-renowned for his Barolo wines so Stan chatted him up.

The wine fulfilled its promise.

The girls entertained themselves out in the yard while we sipped and savored.

Giorgio had over 400 french oak barrels in his beautiful winery to age the masterful barolo grape juice. Each one costs over 1,000 Euros ($1400) and is used only once. 

The Piedmont area is famous in the fall for the truffles. We went to the town of Alba for the Tartufo (or Truffle) festival, my iphone camera battery went dead - so I only managed to get this shot of Claire and the mime on the street and not the truffle exhibition.

Overlooking the valley and river from the tower at Barbaresco in the Langhe wine country.

We managed to catch the tail end of a grape (uva) crush in the town of Barbaresco. 

We finally bought a car - well a minivan! Julia said she would never be caught dead driving a minivan, but, it is in fact very practical with seven seats, diesel engine and will suit us well for the coming ski season. Being in Italy, we decided to buy Italian - a Fiat Ulysse. We also bought a TomTom GPS to help us figure out where to go! I have downloaded the sexiest voice I could find called Sarah...

This is the entrance to the Relais San Maurizio (and our new minivan). Below is the grounds of the hotel and restaurant. The Hotel site is: http://www.relaissanmaurizio.it/eng/home.htm


RELAIS SAN MAURIZIO - from the Regione Piedmont web site
"Reborn in the Summer of 2002 after three years' work, Relais San Maurizio is now the only
five star resort in the whole region. Built in the 17th century as a Franciscan convent, between
Santo Stefano and Valdivilla, and later the home of Conte Incisa Beccaria, the building has
been painstakingly restored. The monks' cells have been converted into 22 bedrooms and 11
elegant suites, plus four lounges: one for musical entertainment, one as a library, one as a
smoking room and the last, completely frescoed, as the breakfast room.
The building stands in three hectares of botanical garden, which includes an imposing white
poplar, several horse-chestnuts, cedars of Lebanon and age-old olive trees..."

Claire finally lost her right front tooth - and yes, the tooth moose (not a tooth fairy as in the USA) managed to find us here in Italy.

Stan & Dooz in Torino

Stan and Jules pretending they are the Italian king and queen in front of their country estate, the Palazzo Venaria Reale. Not bad for a hunting lodge...

Dooz and daughter at the famous Del Cambio restaurant in Torino - this place served Cavour and has been in existence since 1735 - pretty long life as a eating establishment!

The bell tower of La Morra in the Langhe wine region.
Big Stan existing yet another wonderful meal in La Morra.

The view from La Morra over the Langhe wine region.

Stan and Dooz in Torino - a visit to La Morra to taste the local vinos...

Claudio wins Melges 32 Championships in Lerici!

Our dear friend Claudio and his team on "Uka Uka" captured first prize in the final leg of the Melges 32 Circuit and for the overall circuit win. We drove down to Lerici, a small village on the coast just south of the famous Cinque Terre. Here is the fleet of Melges 32's in the harbor of Lerici...

With a great breeze, and slightly larger waves than most cared for, we took the classic 70' Benbow out for a spin. Below Michele Recchi and youngest son Orlando (who our girls LOVE) enjoy the sailing from the cockpit.

For those older sailors like me, who remember the 1970's - Benbow is a famous Dick Carter design 70 footer built by the prestigious German yard of Aberking & Rasmussen. I believe Claudio's father commissioned the boat in 1970 and she launched in for the 1973 season, where she was winner in many major ocean races of the day. She underwent a major refit in the last year or so, and is in beautiful condition...

Teak decks and all - the coffee grinders still work and yours truly did some grinding.

Lila skippering the largest sailboat she has ever driven - ready about!

The harbor of Lerici from our hotel room...at sunset.

Girls doing cartwheels on the beach

Lila was buried and tranformed into a mermaid - the Recchi boys ensured she had clearly female shapes - nice breasts!

The water was warmer than Maine - but still not bath water.

Last Friday night, Torino was hopping. There was a rowing shell race on the river, festival in the piazza and a fireworks show we watched from our apartment balcony.