Août 2014 – une semaine au Canada!

Chronologie de notre visite. (Ce qui suit est plutôt écrit pour nous)

-         Samedi, le 23 août : arrivée sur Montréal par le vol 871 d’Air Canada, en provenance de Paris, vers 2 :30 en après-midi. Prend la voiture louée chez Hertz, une Mazda 5. Se rend à l’Intercontinental  Hotel.

Diner (léger) (mousseux et une bouteille de …) chez les Nadeau!

 

-         Dimanche, le 24 août : réveil de « décallés » vers 1:30 du matin!

Café et brioches vers 7:30am  au café en bas à l’hôtel;

Déjeuner, en famille (frères et sœurs), chez Rolande à Blainville, tout près de Sainte-Thérèse, dans les Laurentides (Mousse à l’érable, hmmmm…).

Descendons à Ottawa (chez les Gorn) en voiture. Léger dîner (saumon sockeye!) Chez-eux.

 

 

-         Lundi, le 25 août : Petit déjeuner (café et brioches) au « Planet Coffee » dans le Marché! Monique et Emma nous y rejoignent!

Achat du vin pour Arowhon Pines;

Visite à la Galerie Nationale : collection de photos de soldats lors de la première guerre mondiale; «Jack Pine» et « West Wind », peintures (en original) de Tom Thompson.

Déjeuner chez « Play » (plat de «scallops», suivi d’un plat de «pork belly» et 2 verres de Sauvignon Blanc : excellent!), sur Sussex,  avec Ed et Rick Kohler (rejoint par téléphone le matin même!)

Visite du Musée de la Guerre! (nouveau; plutôt stéréotypé! la participation du Canada aux différentes guerres et au «maintien de la paix»; collection – macabre – des différents «outils» de guerre – chars d’assaut; canons, etc…) Retour à la maison à pied du musée – plus d’une heure de marche, d’un bout à l’autre d’Ottawa, le long de la rue Rideau!

Dîner («Supply & Demand» sur Wellington – thon cru (Albacore) mariné; petite portion de ravioli aux «scallops»; plus 2 verres de Sauvignon Blanc : délicieux!) avec Ed et Loraine, Monique et sa fille (17 ans), Emma.

 

-         Mardi, le 26 août : Café et brioches toujours au « Planet Café » dans le Marché vers 7:30am! (18^e anniversaire de vie commune –depuis 1996!)

En route vers 10:30am pour Arowhon Pines dans le Parc Algonquin;( to «reconnect with nature» (and «disconnect» from the Internet!) (voir blog entries September 2013 ; August; 2012; and October,2011)

Déjeunons  à l’hôtel Balmoral à Barry’s Bay («Fish and Chips»), le long de la route 60.

Dînons tôt (vers 7pm – truite arc-en-ciel, «hen», avec une bouteille de Chablis) à Arowhon Pines.

 

-         Mercredi, le 27 août; «farniente!» petit déjeuner, déjeuner & dîner à la salle à manger du lodge. (fish for lunch; lamb and veal for dinner; Pinot noir 2 fois)

 

-         Jeudi, le 28 août : petit déjeuner & déjeuner à Arowhon Pines (Chablis)

Drive to Pembroke (2h30); staying at Grey Gables (Librairy room) for 2 nights (3rd visit; stayed  there for the first time in 2011 - see blog entry of March of that year for a description). Important weekend coming up in Pembroke: Fiddlers and ”Cape Breton” Dancers Festival – some people staying at B & B came just for this!

 

 

-         Vendredi, le 29 août: breakfast at B&B; hosted Cy’s family (mother, father and sister) for lunch at “la Crèperie”; evening spend with CY’s family at hotel

 

-         Samedi, le 30 août: depart Pembroke around 1030; luncheon in Ottawa with Monique (Thyme and Again on Wellington Street)

Vino Valo at airport

Depart 20:55

 

-         Dimanche, le 31 août : arrive Paris 09;10 ; taxi to Fontainebleau

 

Fontainebleau, Sunday, August 31, 2014

Rome, August 9 & 10, 2014

Having had a coffee at Sant’ Eustachio coffee house near the Pantheon (which we peeked at only, this time around),

we walked to the ticket office on San Gregorio (going by the Via Dei Fori Imperiali and through the Arch of Constantine) and spent the Saturday (until lunch anyway) visiting the Palatino, and later on, walking down the Foro. I had got tickets on line; it included a visit to the Coliseum (we had seen it before and it would take too much of our time to visit again!).

The Palatino, just above the Foro, was the place to live in ancient Rome! For well over 300 years, that is where the emperors lived (the “golden ghetto”) and virtually the whole place was covered with palaces, temples, and gardens in between! We saw pretty well what remained (ruins) including Domus Augustana, the official residence of the emperors where there might have been 1000 rooms! It provides a great view of the Circus Maximus far below, on the south side of the Palatino! Livia’s House and the Palatino Museum were close! (to celebrate the 2000^th anniversary of the death of Augustus, the 1^st emperor, as one of the announcements said – I can only surmise it was said sarcastically!). We did the tour following the descriptions contained in the “Key to Rome” guidebook written a few years back by the former US ambassador to Rome, Frederick Freeland, and his wife, Vanessa (and the little guidebook provided by Pierre Grimal at the end of his monumental book “Voyage a Rome”!)

We then walked down along the Via Sacra in the Forum, admiring what is left of temples and palaces. We were struck how dense and condensed the place was!

Walked back through Rome (from the Campidoglio – we decided not to visit the Capitoline museum in spite of a special exhibition on Michelangelo – back by the Pantheon and the back streets in front) to take our lunch at the same place as the day before, the Lagana (it was really good!) Rested for the rest of the afternoon, before going to dinner at the Ar Galetto (as recommended in Downie’s book “Food, Wine, Rome”) on Piazza Farnese!

 

Sunday morning, museums time! First the Ara Pacis (photo below), an altar built following Augustus 3-year “visit” to Gaul and Spain; it was dedicated in 9 B.C, exposed for the first time in 1938 (Hitler visited it then!) and now comfortably nested by Augustus’s mausoleum in a very modern-looking museum built by the American architect studio of Richard Meier, at the request mind you of the city’s administration, in the new millennium! Not too far from where we are staying going north, it is quite impressive! Spent a lot of time (especially Cynthia) examining the altar, which is well reconstituted!  We visited as well the current exhibition in the complex on the exercise of power since Augustus in the antiquity. It is worth reading the Ara Pacis website as well!

Then walked back towards Piazza Pavona (built first as a stadium –its oval form gives it away!) to visit one of the 4 campuses of the National Roman Museum, the Palazzo Altemps, an old palazzo owned at the time by Cardinal Altemps (funny name for an Italian, I would think!) where the collection started during his time, in the 16^th century, to include artifacts (much of which we are told have been dispersed among other museums!) going as far back as Egypt civilization of the very long past. There is also sculptures showing the dramatic Gaul suicides (“The Gaul killing himself").

Enough to build an appetite for the last decent meal in Rome (and of the day!) at the Maccheroni, on Piazza delle Coppelle, on the way from the hotel to the Pantheon (another suggestion from Downie’s book – Gino again was close (we had tried before, on our last visit in Dec. 2012)!

Back to the hotel afterwards, and off by taxi to the airport (Cynthia, flying back to Paris, me, to Malta!) The weather was hot throughout our stay (we could hear the sacada most of the time, especially on the Palatino!)

Next time, we have to see this time the museums on the Capitoline Hill!

Roma, August 10, 2014

Roma, August 7 & 8, 2014

3 days, spend mostly exploring “Ancient Rome”…

Arrived on August 7, for business. Dinner at Tullio, a restaurant near and booked by the hotel (Intercontinental on Via Sistina where I stayed that night for business purposes), with Roberto and Gustavo of ABRAMUS. Business meeting with SIAE the day after, on August 8, at 10am, at their office, in a building legacy of Mussolini as I recall, somewhat out of central Rome!

We spend the weekend in Rome! Leisurely lunch on the 8^th at Ristorante Lagana, with Cynthia (who just flew in from Paris), a (very good at that!) recommendation from the hotel, nearby where we are staying (Hotel Due Torri – from its website: “The Hotel Due Torri was a residence for cardinals, bishops and famous noble Roman families, then became the renowned Campana's Inn… The peculiar Vicolo del Leonetto, where is located the hotel, takes his name from a little marble lion on the corner of the street and reminds to the roots of this district, now suspended between different ages…”) . The hotel is OK, with very good service. It’s located just north of Piazza Pavona, in a small street – (the taxi could barely accessed – but that is the norm in Rome!) Aircon provided; wifi working well; small bathroom – shower OK; room 503, at the top and with a small balcony where we took our breakfast). We saw some (Inoffensive) drug addicts on the street nearby at night!

This is the 2000^th (yes, you read right, 2000^th) anniversary of the death of Caesar Augustus, Octavius, the first emperor who died on August 19. 14 AD, having served as emperor for 41 years (the longest of any Roman emperor). The month of August is named after him! I saw the exhibition in Paris earlier this year (April 9 – “Moi, Augustus, Empereur de Rome…” at the Grand Palais, organized with the Louvre as well) to commemorate the bi-millenary anniversary of his death.

It just struck me: Rome is a layered city!  When it comes to ruins, there is a certain place (say, the Foro Romano) described as it was during the king period (753 BC to 509 BC) that one can “see”, the same place during the Republic (509 BC to 27BC) and the same place during the Empire (27BC to 476AD).

 

Went “to the opera” that night: Il Barbiere de Seville. Special setting: Terme di Caracalla (picture above), built at the time of the emperor Caracalla (and completed by his immediate successors) as public baths at the beginning of the 3rd century AD. Imposing ruins! At the time it was more than “baths” I understand, but a sort of community center with multiples functions (sports facilities among other things) About 15 minutes by taxi in the south of Rome. Interesting to note that it is made of bricks (hence it did not take long to build), coming from nearby, to the north of Rome. The Terme worked for about 300 years, until the beginning of the 6^th century when invaders destroyed the aqueduct that was supplying it with water. It also became later on a source for bricks and marble to build palaces and churches! Works of Art that it contained were recuperated starting around the 16^th century, among which a large “vasque” that became a fountain we saw the following night on piazza Farnese! The French version of Wikipedia gives a very detailed description of the place and concludes with the following:

« Les Thermes de Caracalla sont, parmi les nombreux grands établissements thermaux de l'époque impériale, ceux qui nous sont parvenus dans les meilleures conditions. Les ruines montrent encore bien la répartition des pièces, bien que dépouillées de leurs marbres et de leurs décorations, l'établissement offre un exemple important des caractéristiques de l'architecture romaine : plan axial, symétrie et fonctionnalisme. C’est sans doute l’édifice thermal le mieux conservé et le plus luxueux de l’époque impériale. Sous l’Empire, les thermes se multiplient. Il en fleurit partout dans les villes. On en recense 70 à la fin du I^er siècle av. J.-C., et plus d’un millier deux siècles plus tard. Les thermes de Caracalla ne sont donc pas un projet autonome, mais s’inscrivent dans un large mouvement de construction. Ce qui structure la ville romaine ce n’est pas son plan, mais bien la présence dans tout l’empire de monuments comme les thermes grâce à sa portée sociale. Cet ensemble, inspiré des thermes de Trajan, est donc à la fois représentatif d’un certain type de thermes et original : par sa taille d’abord, qui préfigure l’immensité des thermes de Dioclétien, par la richesse de son décor et les techniques de construction employées»

.Rome, August 8, 2014.