The Holidays Continue...with Family!

MY FAMILY CAME TO ITALY FOR CHRISTMAS!

Well, not ACTUAL Christmas, but we've established in previous years that we can have our traditional Christmas festivities on days other than the 25th. This year, we proved we could keep traditions alive even on another continent!

We stayed in the Farmhouse (my home of last semester) for a week, spanning our late Christmas (Dec 27), my birthday, and new years. It was was perfect.

We weren't able to get a christmas tree, so Emma made one out of felt and ribbons and packed it in her suitcase! It fit perfectly in the window, and once we added the lights I bought in France and the presents Airport Security didn't decide to unwrap, it was (yet another) lovely little (makeshift) tree!

I was too wrapped up in Christmas to take photos. Sorry! Same with my birthday. We can rely on Emma and Chris for those I think. (side note, i just typed "Emma and Christ." It really was nice of Christ to take photos of us while we celebrated his birthday...)

Moving on! On New Year's Eve we spent the day in Florence! (I didn't bring my camera so the rest are ipod photos) Emma and made a distinct effort to see the sunset from the Ponte Vecchio:

Before it got too dark we headed up the Piazzale Michelangelo to see the view from up there. (Are you remembering these spots from earlier blog posts???)

We thought that view looked like Africa a little.

Here's the city as the sun is setting:

And after the sun has set:

Emma, Chris, Tate, and I spent the night in the city, getting to ring in the new year at public parties that were happening in EVERY piazza in Florence! We made lots of friends from lots of different places and drank until our frozen hands didn't bother us any more!

Here is a really cool building outside of which we began our evening:

Alas, no photos from the New Years festivities.

HOWEVER, on January 2, we headed to Rome to do a bit of sight-seeing there. Em and i wandered through Trastevere and down by the bank of the river. She gets credit for pointing out this sight - where 3 bridges are visible simultaneously:

As we have learned, lots of Italian cities like to put up Christmas lights along major streets. Rome's are by FAR the best. Via Corso, the biggest central street in the city, was draped with a never-ending river of green, white, and red (conveniently both festive and nationalistic!)

Seriously, it went on forever:

And thus concludes my oxford-comma-filled post, and the saga that was my holiday season! Happy 2012!!

French Christmas

For the first time I can remember, I spent Christmas without my family. But being with great friends in a chateau in France ain't a bad alternative! The six of us had a delicious pot-luck style dinner on Christmas eve:

(Taylan get's credit for the roaring fire in the stove in the background of that photo. It was actually so hot we had to open the windows a bit.)

I made a green bean and carrot casserole, which I had never made, but it turned out pretty good! We had pasta, lox and cheese, and lots of other delicious things :)

Self-timer group shot!

I was pretty bummed that we didn't have a Christmas tree so I bought a couple strings of lights and got creative with a laundry-drying rack and a fire log! Nicole made a great star for the top out of clothespins and a game piece she found.


It turned out wonderfully and sitting by it in the dark was the perfect way to end a lovely Christmas Eve.

The next morning we slept innnnnnn (due to luggage and wallet limitations, we didn't have any gifts to open so we didn't have to wake up early and race to the tree). And even though we were still full from our huge dinner the night before, we had a mission. And that mision was French Toast!

Nicole and Ryan took the reigns on cooking the French Toast and scrambled eggs:

We used a LOT of eggs...

While they cooked, the kids (Taylan and Sophie) played in the living room:

Yes, there IS a swing hanging in the living room. We're not quite sure why, but we certainly enjoyed it!

When breakfast was ready and mimosas were poured, we were pretty proud of yet another beautiful meal...

...which we dominated:

And in case you were wondering, Santa did pay us a visit on Christmas Morning. He was on our syrup bottle!

Little known fact: Santa wears plaid.

Merry Christmas!

We Play Outside!

When you have beautiful friends at a beautiful chateau with beautiful weather, you have to wander and play outside!

Oh yeah, and a beautiful cat, who really wanted out attention. It's name was Tamasham. or Tamaram. Or Tapioca. we couldn't remember.

There was a lot to explore. Ryan likes to climb on things:

Nicole and Sophie spent quite a bit of time playing with Tullula.

I like climbing things too. So does Tumbleweed. Nicole got a great action shot of both of us:

Trailertrash climbed higher than me, just to show off:

Ryan joined us in the tree, swinging around and such:

While the girls found a stage-like platform (yes, this is on the grounds of the chateau), and naturally, Contact Improv happend...


Wandering around some paths leading from the chateau up the hills I came across some cool plants:

There was even a bamboo forest!

and wildlife! Look! A beaver was here!!

I took one walk when it was still cold out in the morning, and found some cool frosted dew:

and some pretty stellar christmas decorations:

One day we went to a small town nearby, found a park/playground with the BEST CLIMBING TREE EVER. First of all, it is giant. Second, there are branches low to the ground. Third, there are so many branches you can just keeeep climbing. Ryan and I literally climbed almost to the top. probably to about where the branch in the foreground of the photo is pointing. We had to stop though, because there was a giant bee's nest, probably about 2 feet in diameter, hanging about 10 feet above us at the top of the tree. It was awesome.

That was an ipod photo, by the way. So is the next one, which I took after we'd left Malerarauges and were on our way back to Marseille. We had to pull off the highway to pee in a ditch, but we had this great view while we peed!

Preeeetty.

Also pretty was the cat, Television. So here is another photo of her:

And with that last photo of Tipsy Kitty (our favorite name for her), I end this post. Thanks for reading!

Bare Feet in The Sand. In Winter.

When you're in the south of france, you can't NOT go to a beach. So we made a little trip to the Mediterranean Sea with Kaia, one of the original Roy Hart Company members.

It was a beautiful day and a beautiful beach:

We set up a nice little home base and a picnic lunch:

Despite the fact that it was WINTER (December 23rd), it was 16 degrees C (about 60 degrees F!), which was just warm enough to ditch our shoes and put our feet in the water (for short periods of time)

Shoes stayed off the whole afternoon, but sweatshirts stayed on as we took lazy strolls along the water

(Nicole and Sophie)

As is my tendency, I took photos of things that interested me:

And experimented with color balances and such. I really like how this one turned out:

(That's Ryan)

Kaia did some tai chi in the sunset. Because she is awesome.

Ryan and Nicole danced in the sunset. Because they're in love. And awesome.

(and breaking gender norms. woohoo!)

It was a pretty awesome day in France.

The Home of the Roy Hart Theatre

Ok, so as I mentioned in my last post (which I'm SURE you read!), the Chateau at which I spent my Christmas holidays is the home of the Roy Hart Theatre Company.

Told ya. Roy Hart was a vocal theorist who specialized in helping people find all of the capabilities of the voice, and creating theatre to take advantage of it.

Here is the building where all of the rehearsal/performance spaces are housed:

The most observant of you may notice this is taken from the opposite side than the photo it appears in in my last post. Points for you if you did.

First, we will enter the door on the left, which brings us into the main performance space:

Seriously, how cool would it be to live in a chateau AND have a theatre?!

A glance out the theatre's window at the rest of the chateau:

At the bottom of the staircase you see in the photo above, you will see this sign:


...which leads to this rehearsal space (one of 5, yes FIVE rehearsal studios):

The small stained glass windows in that photo were installed in memory of one of the members of the company after she passed away, years ago.

Speaking of which, a little story for you. Shortly after moving the company from London to this chateau in France, the company began touring a show. While touring, a car crash occurred, killing 3 company members, including Roy Hart and his wife. They were buried at the chateau, here:

I'm told the funeral was beautiful with plenty of harmonious singing, as can be hoped for from a company specializing in vocal work.

In the years following, several other company members who passed were buried nearby, along a path leading from Roy's grave.

I'll leave you with that. :)