A Florentine Journey

Nice, again, by Marco

We went to Nice, as you know. It was rainy in Nice, as you know. We enjoyed it anyway, as you know. I enjoyed many things there including the weird orange grey overcast moody sky. I took some pictures. I ate choucroute garnis, which is a lot of pork with sauerkraut. I ate croissant with almond paste filling, and chinese food. The Doyles cooked us a wonderful leg of lamb, with beans, and French cheeses. I like to eat, I guess you can tell, and Nice is good for that. Though I didn't eat them I did look at many enticing dishes of shrimp, mussels, oysters. I did eat some cakes and indian food. The girls ate sugar made into soda, ice cream, gummy candies, pastries, cakes, hard candy, soft candy, gum and cookies. They also went on a bungie jumping ride and a very large ferris wheel. On the way home we drove along the coast all the way to Menton, through Monaco, which is a strange little conglomeration of high rises on the water, and then on to San Remo. There we stopped and I ate fried squid and zuppa di cozze, which are mussels cooked in a broth of garlic. I guess you could say San Remo is good for eating too. It is still grey and cold in Florence. I am off to Istanbul on Monday for a job. It should be interesting, to say the least. Let's hope for interesting. That would be good. Below are some moments of our trip to Nice.

The Windsor Hotel on Rue Dalpozzo is a wonderful little hotel run by some charming people. Highly recommended.

Winter break in "Nizza"...Nice, France

We took advantage of the weather; brown sand blowing in from the Sahara, rain, wind and brown snow, to go on a car trip to Nice, France. It was great to play with the Doyles on their own turf. We stayed in the charming Hotel Windsor, ate amazing food and visited with good friends. What could be better? We barely noticed the rain. Lia, Isa and Kenzie picked up as though no time had passed. They conversed in English, French and Italian! Our little babes, "ragazze del mondo"...children of the world. The girls availed themselves of the fun Nice had to offer.

Isa's 13th birthday

Isa turned 13 on February 8th and I was actually able to pull off a surprise party for her. She walked into a room at The Piazzetta and was greeted by 20 girls all holding a life size picture of her in front of their faces. She was shocked, to say the least. Marco was in LA for the AISC awards and helped pull off the "sorpresa." Thanks to Pam Wolf, Jessica and Mirin for doing all the fancy footwork keeping Isa in the dark about it, and for all the great ideas. Where would we all be without friends?!

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Hawaii and Barbie

We went to Hawaii to shoot Barbie on the beach. It turned out to be a lot harder than anyone expected. The dolls cooperated, but the humans did not. I think I have had enough of the plastic little monsters! Here are pictures of me shooting them on the beach, the hand models who work so hard to bring them alive on screen, and real girls simulating surfing ala 60's surf movie.

Art History

I haven't been able to commit to an Italian language class because of constant scheduling issues, but I am taking an Art History class with this fabulous Art Historian, Elaine Ruffolo, every Weds. We walk around the city and go to the Museums and Monuments and she knows absolutely everything and she is so fun. Saturday we went on a day trip to Ravenna to see the mosaics and Dante's tomb. What a truly rich experience! It was also great having an entire "adults only" day. Especially after our long weekend created by a "snow day" on Friday! The girls had a great day with their nonna and it was so nice to have them excited to see me at day's end.