The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog….Happy New |Year to all my blog fans….thanks for following my tales. See how well I did.
Here’s an excerpt:
600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 10,000 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 17 years to get that many views.
Twinkling lights on trees, houses and buildings are as much a part of Christmas as Santa and reindeer. In a tiny hameau in the hills of Provence there’s an illumination extravaganza this holiday season that is a wonder to behold.
Cars – French classics – gleam under the lights of magnificent chandeliers, most of which are antique.  The exhibition brings together his two passions, “cars and chandeliers,” says chandelier designer Regis Mathieu. His company, Mathieu Lustrerie, creates high-end lights, as well as restores and replicates antique chandeliers.
At their showroom  numerous glittering antique treasures, as well as some contemporary versions,  cast their lights on priceless automobiles – most of which you have probably never heard of: 1937 Delage, 1938 Delahaye, 1926 Hispano-Suiza… There’s also a dazzling 2012 Bugati.
It’s a delightfully different – and fascinating – take on holiday lights.
The nighttime exhibit runs daily, except on holidays, until Jan. 13, from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m. (Hameau des Sauvans, Gargas)  www.mathieulustrerie.com
Wishing all a very Merry Christmas, Joyeux Noel, Frohe Weihnachten.
For more on French Christmas, see my guest blog, “Christmas Feasting in France,” posted on Rantings of an Amateur Chef,  http://rantingchef.com Special thanks to Lynne for the perfect accompanying food photos.Â
See slideshow below for more cars and chandeliers. Blog subscribers also welcome. Don’t miss future posts. Click on Email Subscription at top right
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Instead of moving to France from Germany eight years ago, I tried to convince my husband to consider Italy as our future home. It seems such a happy, fun, cheerful place. I love the language, the people, the food, the countryside. But, Bob finds it all a bit too chaotic, so France won and life here is fine (see previous blog post, All about Life in France). But, I still adore Italy and am always thrilled with visits.
On the way home from our recent trip to Germany we spent three joyful days in Bellagio on the shores of Lake Como. Friend Trina, whom we visited later in nearby Comerio, suggested the perfect hotel, Silvio, www.bellagiosilvio.com, just outside of town where we had a room with a balcony overlooking the lake and the distant Alps.  We’d been to Bellagio twice before, once with my mother who was also a fan of bella Italia and loved Bellagio.
The ancient village is perched on the shores of this idyllic lake ringed by mountains.  Steep steps climb skinny alleys lined with intriguing shops.  Sightseeing ships and ferries blow their horns as they pull in and out of the harbor.  It’s the perfect place to hang out and enjoy il dolce far niente (the sweetness of doing nothing)
Our journey began with a car ferry ride at sunset from Colico on the northern end of the lake to Bellagio which sits on the promontory jutting into the water at the junction between the Como and Lecco legs of the lake. Unfortunately the lens on my Canon Rebel camera froze on our last stop in Germany, so my photos were limited to my Blackberry. I was amazed. Not too bad.  And, there were
scenic, spectacular photo opps all around —Â splashes of coral and orange across a dark sky streaked with wisps of clouds, rays of light dancing on the rippled water, postcard villages hugging the shore — all framed by deep blue silhouettes of mountains.
We did more than lounge on that lovely hotel balcony and ponder the Bellagio scenery. Walk. Down to the shore and through the perfectly manicured gardens of the Villa Melzi along the lake. The English garden is enhanced with
sculptures, small ponds, a stream, exotic plants and ancient trees. The complex, including the neoclassical villa, was built between 1808 and 1816 for Francesco Melzi d’Eril, Duke of Lodi, and vice president of the Italian Republic under Napoleon. www.giardidivillamelzi.it
The  garden walk led us to the village where we wandered in and out of the shops and found the perfect souvenir – an olive wood basket. It was pricey, almost beyond our budget. I tried to bargain, but the proprietor and craftsman, who had his workshop on the premises, would not budge. He explained that it was a very time consuming process to create this piece. We splurged – and are happy we did. It’s a sensation on our table.
Bellagio is known for another villa on a hill above the town, the Villa Serbelloni, owned by the Rockefeller Foundation. It is used mainly for conferences. On a previous visit we toured its gardens which are open for guided tours from April to October. In town the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni is the address of class where Churchill and John F. Kennedy stayed.
Another day we walked up a hill and along a road to Pescallo which I had remembered as being a quaint fishing village. My memory failed. It was not much. No fishing boats. We did find a lakeside restaurant where we had an expensive but disappointing lunch. The next day we set out by car for a hair raising ride along the all- too-narrow- winding coastal road (well suited to the Honda S2000) to Lezzeno and a fabulous lunch at the restaurant of the Hotel Villa Aurora adjacent to the lake.  www.hotelauroralezzeno.com  There, as well as at the restaurant in the Hotel Silvio, we enjoyed fresh fish from Lake Como. Twenty-eight different species are said to thrive in its waters.  Lavarello is a favorite.
On the way back home to France, we stopped first to visit the major town on the lake, Como, and its majestic cathedral, then to Comerio to visit Trina in her gorgeous apartment overlooking Lake Varese. I met Trina years ago in an Italian class in Germany (she was the star of the class). Her husband Ian, who used to work in Italy, now works in London. Trina, who teaches English, and her faithful companion, Lucky, a precious 16-year-old Bichon Frisé, are holding down the fort in Italy.
We arrived on the evening of Bob’s birthday. Trina prepared a delicious mussels pasta dish for our dinner – and there was a tart with a candle for the birthday boy.
See slideshow below for more photos. For a holiday brunch, try the Puffed Apple Pancake, recipe in column at right. Comments on blog post and recipes are welcome. See “Leave a Reply” below under Comments. Subscribers also welcome. Don’t miss future posts. Click on Email Subscription at top right.
 ÂGermany was my home for 28 years. Good times, wonderful memories – and fabulous friends. Husband Bob and I recently returned to reconnect with many of those friends, to visit old haunts, as well as other destinations that I will be writing about for the magazine German Life. (www.germanlife.com).
Maybe we’ve lived in the boondocks of rural France too long (since 2004). Here life is tranquil, serene, quiet. This time we found Germany a bit chaotic with monstrous traffic jams on the autobahns, construction sites almost everywhere and crowds of people in the city centers. It’s hard to imagine that anyone could be unemployed in Deutschland with so much building in progress.
We spent several nights with friends Klaus and Dagmar who live in Gerlingen just outside of Stuttgart. They urged us to take the U-bahn downtown to see the massive and controversial construction site for Stuttgart 21, the city’s new railway and urban development project  which involves 57 kilometers of new railways, including some 30 kilometers of tunnels and 25 kilometers of high-speed lines. Protesters still demonstrate at the site every Monday. The project, which is estimated to cost as much as six billion Euros, won’t be completed until 2020. 
Another attraction adjacent to the site is the  new library, a modern and dazzling wonder in white by architect Eun Young Yi which has been likened to a Rubik’s cube puzzle.
Dagmar invited several of our friends for an excellent dinner, an antipasti of grilled vegetables, followed by a  Swabian favorite, stuffed breast of veal, all topped by  our very favorite German dessert, Rote Grϋtze, a yummy compote of red fruits. 
Friend Heti also entertained us with an amazing meal of Peruvian delicacies: ceviche (fish marinated in lime juice) and veggies, gallina picante parmesana (chicken with aji -hot yellow pepper), quinoa risotto with veggies, and for dessert, coconut flan and Tonka bean mousse. All over the top. More on those beans to follow.
Heti is an inspiration, and not just in the kitchen. She recently lost 14 kilos on the Dukan diet combined with an hour of aqua jogging every day in the nearby Sindelfingen indoor pool. When I lived in the area, I frequently swam there year round. There are also several outdoor pools for summer months. Sadly, France is lacking in these first-class swimming facilities.
Klaus and Marianne, other friends from the Stuttgart area who frequently housesit for us in France, treated us to a delicious pasta lunch and a homemade Swabian apple pie at their new apartment.
We took a trip north to the Darmstadt area to see more friends. For years I worked for the military newspaper Stars and Stripes which was previously headquartered just outside the city. A group of former colleagues met us at an Italian restaurant for a fun evening. Special pal Andrea, whom I consider a surrogate step-daughter, and her husband Thiemo, joined us at Darmstadt’s 
famous brewery, Grohe, where we sat outside in the sunshine savoring the brew. Another Darmstadt friend, Wilma, invited us for a delicious salmon dinner and stimulating conversation with her friend Erik.
Our travels also  took us to the Bergstrassee south of Darmstadt, Kaiserslautern, Augsburg, Munich and the Starnberg Lake district south of Munich.
For many years while I worked at Stars and Stripes, I lived in Jugenhiem at the northern end of the Bergstrasse in an apartment I called the “Treehouse.” It was the top two floors of a former seniors’ home at the edge of a forest  and surrounded by tree tops. We stopped for a visit, and it’s still the same – an idyllic hideaway in a jungle of green.
The best of the visit to the Bergstrasse, which extends 70 kilometers south from Darmstadt to Heidelberg, and where many an ancient castle and castle ruins crown hilltops, was wine The Bergstrasse wine region is divided into two parts, 
vines in the south in the state of Baden Württemberg, and those in the north in Hessen. The former is Germany’s smallest wine region. German wines, as well as wines everywhere, have improved thanks to up-to-date knowledge and techniques, an expert told us.
For years German wines had a bad rep because “we exported the wrong wines, “ such as the sweet Blue Nun, explained Maria Zimmermann of the regional tourist board.  Today German vintners are also well-educated, studying viniculture, not just learning the trade from their parents. We tasted some fine wines, and  Bob made several purchases.
In the town of Weinheim, we toured a lovely garden followed by the best restaurant meal of the trip, an amuse bouche of scallops topping  a pumpkin salad sprinkled with mandarin oil, and a Hirsch (venison) medallion with an elderberry sauce and Steinpilze (boletus),  plus  parsley root puree. It was perfection.
Heppenheim is the quintessential Bergstrasee town with a market place of well-preserved half-timbered houses. We joined an after-dark tour up and down the ancient streets and stairways, following a costumed story teller and her lantern carrying assistant. Periodically they stopped with the story teller relating charming tales and fables of the region, most translated from old German into an English that rhymed. Very impressive and a delightful, unusual experience.
The greatest number of Americans outside of the U.S., some 50,000 who are military or civilians working for the military, makes their home in the Kaiserslautern area. There I interviewed Wolfgang Tönnesmann, director of the Atlantic Academy, who had a life-size cardboard replica of Obama in his office. Like me, he is no doubt thrilled with the recent election results.
My quest to try local food specials in Kaiserslautern led us to the town’s only half-timbered building and the restaurant Spinnrädl. We were in the Rhineland Pfalz area and the restaurant served up Pfälzer dishes written in the local dialect on the menu: Brotworscht, Saumaa, Lewwer (Bloodwurst, potatowurst so named because it is stuffed into a pig’s stomach or Saumaa) and liverwurst. Hearty fare accompanied by Grumbeerstampes  (mashed potatoes).
Jakob Fugger (1458 – 1525), a wealthy merchant (according to a guide, “he had more money than Bill Gates) put Augsburg on the map. The Fugger family, in particular Jakob, was into finance and trade. Jakob, known as the Empire’s banker, and  not unlike Bill Gates, had a social conscience. He founded the Fuggerei, a section of the city for the town’s poor, the world’s oldest social housing which still exists with 140 apartments. Rent is 1 euro per year. We 
followed a fascinating tour of the area, and also visited a dazzling Rococo banquet hall, the Schaetzler Palais (1767), as well as other local attractions.
The Munich visit focused on food with visits to the city’s legendary outdoor market, the Viktualienmarkt, its classy food emporiums, Dallmayr and Käfer, as 
well as the food empire of Alfons Schuhbeck who has a collection of shops, including a Michelin starred restaurant, in the Platzl near the Hofbräuhaus. Friend Heti clued me in on Schuhbeck who is huge on the German food scene. It was at his incredible spice shop where she purchased the Tonka beans which come from South America for that exotic dessert.
Our visit wound up at the Starnberg Lake, one of several lovely lakes  south of Munich. All the sailboats which blanket the lakes in summer had been put to bed, but the region had plenty of charms for a fall visit.
A must was a visit to the nearby Andechs Abbey above the Ammersee, another one of the regional lakes. After admiring the Abbey’s church and its stunning Rococo stucco décor and frescoes, we moved on to the terrace beer garden. 
 Monks have been brewing beer at Andechs since 1455. These days seven different kinds of brew can be ordered, as well as Bavarian food favorites.
Other Starnberg highlights are the Baroque St. Mary’s Minister in the town of Diessen and the lakeside Buchheim Museum noted for its collection of Expressionist works. Last but not least, a wonderful bike ride following a cycle route along the Starnberg Lake with an outdoor lakeside lunch stop, as well as many breaks for postcard photos of the lake framed by distant Alpine peaks. (For more photos, see slide show to follow.  Comments are welcome. )
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Husband Bob’s family (he has eight brothers and sisters) was planning a big family reunion in Ohio this past summer. Of course, we planned to attend. What about my family? Why couldn’t we also have a reunion? I planted the idea with brother Steve who lives in Boulder, Colorado, a location which seemed the best for such a gathering.
He was not overly enthusiastic, but agreed. Of course, brother Tom from San Francisco would attend. Then we sent out word to cousins, many of whom I had not seen since we were children some 40 – 50 years ago.  From Florida, South Dakota, and New Mexico they came, as well as a nephew and his wife from Kentucky. Unfortunately brother David, his wife Joan and son Dan from Kentucky could not join the party, nonetheless it was a smashing success with 22 in attendance.
Everyone was in awe at the classy cocktail party cousin Sean and his partner Jerry hosted at their gorgeous home in Boulder. Another fun event was a chartered bus ride up in the mountains for dinner at the Gold Hill Inn in a funky old town by the same name.
With Steve and his wife Yoshie and son Tai, some of us visited the Eldorado Canyon outside of Boulder where we watched climbers scale sheer walls of rock – a mind boggling spectacle. We also toured Boulder and its farmers market. For many (the Democrats in the group), an exciting bonus was attendance at an Obama speech at the University of Colorado. Unfortunately it meant standing in line for hours before being admitted to the venue. My new knee was not up to the wait, so Bob and I drove back into the mountains to the Rocky Mountain National Park.
On to Ohio for another remarkable event. But first we spent a few days in Winchester, Virginia, where stepson Rob and his two children, Sam, 8, and Lang , 6, live. Time there for me to do my Ami shopping (everything seems so much cheaper in the U.S.)  I always leave plenty of room in the suitcase for purchases.
Together we drove to Ohio. We stayed with Bob’s brother, John, and sister-in-law Mickey, who always provide deluxe accommodations in their spacious and beautiful home in Wadsworth. The reunion festivities got underway with a dinner at a restaurant Friday evening, followed by a slide show of the past.
Cloudy, cool weather did not dampen the enthusiastic ambience for the main event the following day, a catered picnic at a lodge pavilion on the edge of a picturesque lake. This was a major reunion with some 80 in attendance, many from California. Some came with photo albums filled with memories.
Brothers, sisters, children, grandchildren, cousins – all ages. It was amazing, and the pavilion was perfect with an adjacent playground for the kids, and plenty of space for the adults to wander around and chat with those they had not seen in years. Thanks to diligent internet research, stepdaughter Kellie, who lives in New York City, tracked down some cousins who live in Pennsylvania. They also came.
A visit to the family house where Bob and his brothers and sisters grew up was especially meaningful for the siblings. Current residents were not home, but agreed that the family could walk around the property. They toured the terrain, reminiscing about long gone chicken coops, fruit trees in the orchard, a small house still standing that Bob and his brother John had built.
We spent our last few days in the US in NYC with Kellie at her elegant apartment in Soho. One can never tire of NYC.
It’s fun, gratifying and simply wonderful to reconnect with the past, to relive old memories, to become reacquainted with childhood companions. Bravo for reunions!
See the photo album below for more reunion photos, and more of the US.  For a dip with a kick, see the recipe, “Spicy Peanut Dip,”  in the column at right.  If you’d like to read more of my tales and adventures, click on “Email Subscription” at top right of post.  Comments are welcome. Click “Leave a Reply”Â
Tales and Travel 