The little guy has become quite good at building plane and spaceship like vehicles with lego .. what amazes me most is that he makes them symmetrical .. and today he surprised me with having built the same model twice!
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| What a great cool healthy summer treat for Julius (and every kid out there).
Just take a banana (or even better, old ones, since it is too hot to make banana bread) slice them, freeze the slices and serve them on a toothpick. |
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This way Julius gobbles up 1.5 bananas every afternoon. And we all know how good bananas are for us.
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| We went to the city center today, trying to escape the heat, aiming for the fountains in front of the Palazzo Madama to have Julius play in the water …
but for some weird reason he was actually more interested in the palace .. and of course the balloons on display … argh .. these vendors should be given a restraining order. |
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Somehow Julius just had to wear a bandana, too, just because papa had one …
Ok, where is the next ship to take over ???
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Julius brought some pictures home today .. not sure when exactly they were taken .. but very happy to see they also offer some water fun .. and the other boy in the pics appears to be Oscar, one of Julius’ pals.
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Someone has to check this years weeds, crops and nasties that grow along the way to the playground 
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It looks as if Julius is devising some evil master plan for global domination in this pic …
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On our way back, after having had so much seafood, we settled for McD for lunch … I tried to get our GPS navi to tell us where .. and while it knows lots of them as POIs … we had to go by signs
This McD was part of a mall that we had not discovered yet and the new item we tried were ‘patate vertigo’ .. spiral cut shaped fries.
Julius was all over the play area, but also enjoyed his cheeseburger.
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After a very good night’s sleep we got to check out the breakfast buffet. Very nice, but not coming close to the great breakfast at Hotel Button d’or in Courmayeur. But we found that there is a kids play area which Julius just loved.
Then we dad to move rooms from 126 (great) to 114 (still nice, sea view, no balcony, ground floor) since this was the only way I was able to book 2 nights using bookings.com.
We went to the beach where we noticed that the waves looked a bit rougher today … so I took Julius a bit further out, where the waves did not breach and I was still able to stand … little did I know that waves do not follow a plan (though I had observed those suckers all morning) and one wave got us pretty good and washed us all the way to the shore (video available on request only, too dramatic for the public )
As it got closer to lunch time we went to the playground and then found out that the place we had in mind for lunch was totally booked. Another place could not serve anything as the now much higher waves were spraying the customers. But the 3rd place (Marina Beach) had a nice table for us and very nice food (Seafood pasta and mixed fried seafood) and later a nice desert concoction of peach, gelato, strawberry and caramel.
It was time to go back and take a nap, but while Julius had been looking very tired throughout lunch .. now he was up and running … but finally we all napped.
We returned to the historic center for dinner again, this time a seafood pizza for me and cernia (groper) with artichokes for Ritsu and Julius was happily tasting our stuff but mainly focused on the fries, when he was not occupying one of those coin operated horses (which we did not put any money in) or playing with Rex, the dog that was sitting under the table next to us.
Stuffed and tired we returned to the hotel.
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This weekend we had planned a trip to the beach and Ritsu found this great little place called Bordighera on the Italian Riviera, close to the French border (also close to Nice)
There were several options to get there, the most straight line was part highway and then other roads and cutting through the mountains and a bit of France (map). Good decision as we saw the toll station of the highway utterly crowded when we arrived. The trip through the mountains was also very scenic. There was just one weird tunnel on the way that was old (opened 1882) an scary and did not look like 2 cars could actually pass (but they could). We arrived around lunch time, had a bit of trouble getting to our hotel (there was some construction going on) but once we found it we were very happy.
The Hotel Piccolo Lido is situated right at the beach and an overall lovely place. When I called to book they said they were all booked out, but when I checked bookings.com I was able to score 2 nights in 2 different rooms. Our first room (126) must be the best in the whole hotel, not only does it have sea view and a small balcony, but also a pretty big private terrace.
Since we were already a bit late for lunch we just ate at the hotel’s restaurant, seafood pasta and swordfish a la liguria .. nice .. but nothing to write home about.
Then we got ready for beach which is really just across the traffic free beach promenade. We found a spot, set up and Julius was having a great time. It is a pebble beach, but once you get used to the feeling, you appreciate that you don’t get sand all over you. Less messy.
The water was quite rough but we enjoyed having the waves tumbling us around. We stayed for about 2 hours and then went to rinse of and some down time. Ritsu napped, but Julius was too hyper, so I took him along the promenade and we found 2 different playgrounds (and plenty of other distractions, like those coin operated riding things, a friendly cat, other kids to play with … )
We returned around 6:30, woke up mama and took off to explore the very beautiful historic center of Bordighera … this alone is worth the trip … a maze of narrow crooked streets (car traffic impossible), lined with restaurants left and right, spreading their tables all over the place, under the arches of buildings, the piazzas, very quaint .
Finally we settle on a place called “Pecin” which has its seating on a nice piazza where Julius could play around. What peaked our interest were the ‘slowfood’ icons on the menu and also that the items seemed to be rather little nice bites rather than huge platters. It turns out that this places is basically a wine / apperitivo bar and we were very happy with this find, as we were not too hungry after this day and so Ritsu had what looked like a carpaccio of 3 different fish and I had 2 slices of buttery rich fois gras d’Oca and Julius nearly finished a bowl of fishballs. I keep wondering if this place is trying to fend off tourists … one of the few places that does not have an English version of the menu .. and even their Italian menu is written in a style that made it difficult for us to figure out what is what … but I welcomed the challenge and was happy to experiment a bit.
By the time we got home we were all tired and happy and enjoyed the cool sea breaze, the sound of waves and slept happily
After 2 weekends in the mountains we thought it was time to check out the beach. Here quickly a video, more details and plenty more pictures when we get back.
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Watching this makes me realize that putting on a t-shirt is really not that easy … but Julius has now figured out how to do it all by himself:
He also did his pj pants, but repeatedly stuck both legs in the same hole. But he is getting there. I vividly remember how hard I found buttons …
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Whenever Julius comes home with a little plastic bag and wearing a t-shirt I have never seen before … it is pretty obvious that he had some kind of potty incident … ah well .. it does not happen too often …
He has spare clothes at his kindergarten .. but I suspect he only had a long sleeve shirt there right now … thus they gave him someone else’s spare shirt.
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Dinner tonight was a nice Indo-Fijian inspired chicken curry … I just could not find any fresh coriander, which was a shame. But Julius really enjoyed it.
Excuse our overall shirtless-ness .. but it is stinking hot these days and houses in Italy do not come with AC (and you would realy need it only a few weeks a year, so, not a good investment overall)
Since Rose asked for the recipe … what I usually do is that I google around .. and then I realize that I am missing most of the stuff .. and then I get creative … I usually make my own curry paste using a bit of olive oil, some curry powder, extra coriander powder, extra garlic, cayenne pepper for heat, maybe some more cumin .. and quite some tummeric .. mainly for the nice yellow coloring. Baste the chicken pieces in it … marinade as long as you have time, then in the oven with it … low heat / long time.
Keep basting it a bit .. maybe re-arrange the pieces half way through. Towards the end add some sliced onion and tomato pieces .. will make a nice sauce. And … if you can get it … fresh coriander once it is done …
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Julius did this at home today … and I hope no one is calling CPS on me for his single use of black in this one …
But look at it … what do you see in it ???
I have some ideas .. but I am very curious to hear what others see … here are my 3 best guesses…
The left side looks like part of an elephant … while the right side looks a lot like one of H.R.Giger’s aliens … (and I swear that I did not let him watch any of the Alien movies yet) … and the thing in the middle .. Alan Parson’s Project’s ‘Eye in the Sky’ cover …
I am seriously thinking about putting that on a t-shirt
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The usual evening routine … sure he is not a big fan of it … but he knows it has to be done and he cooperates … he might now that any clowning around just prolongs the ordeal.
Sorry I got no better pictures .. but holding a toddler between my legs and then wielding a hairdryer AND a photo camera in each hand .. kinda tricky.
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We got up around eight and headed straight for the pretty impressive breakfast buffet .. then it was packing, checking out and move on to La Palud to catch the cable car to get up on the mountain …
Since we remembered most from last year we were up in no time and enjoyed the fantastic view .. it was a tiny bit more cloudy / hazy compared to last year this time .. but it was fun anyways .. The Punta Helbronner feels like a ship in the clouds …
And the sloped edges gave Julius the impression that he could slide down on them.
The main thing to do up there is to enjoy the scenery and take many many pictures:
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After a while we returned down to the mid-station and checked out the alpine botanical garden again, Ritsu took many beautiful flower pictures.
Then it was time for lunch which we had at the Ristorante Pavillon, just like last year … I had the mixed appetizer platter (different cold cuts and cheeses) and Ritsu had the Monte Bianco salad .. and Julius kept munching on french fries .. all in all we were very happy … our waiter lady was changed sometime in the middle and the new one did not know a bit of English .. but we found out that they had some really nice deserts this time.
It was time then to take the next gondola down, hop in the car and drive the 1:40 h back to Torino .. which Ritsu and Julius both spent sleeping.
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This weekend’s trip was going to Courmayeur again .. we had been there pretty exactly one year ago with Julius’ Japanese grandparents .. and once again, it rocked …
We booked the same hotel .. and to our surprise, when we checked in, they said ‘we got you the same room as last year’ .. wow .. someone was doing their homework and we still believe that room 401 has the best view of the mountains.
We went out to look for lunch and ended up at a somewhat hidden place called ‘Petit Bistrot’ .. they claimed to have the best hamburger in Courmayeur .. and the place just looked very homey ..
Me and Ritsu had 2 of their fancy (and as it turned out very generous and filling) salads, while we ordered the hamburger for Julius. From experience I know that hamburger in Italy usually only means the meat patty .. and it arrived with ketchup and mayo neatly dressed next to it .. and some salad .. and we had bread .. but it was not the hamburger sandwich that you envision .. the meat was indeed fantastic .. but guess our surprise (it was a daily special offer, so we did not see the price earlier) that this cost us 12€ .. and our salads were 9€ each ..
Ok .. I am actually opposite of slamming this place … we loved it .. and we are aware that in places like these you pay the mountain surcharge … and our Colombian waiter was super nice .. and the food and atmosphere were overall very pleasant … I would go there again.
We initially had planned to check out some alpine pool that we had read about in several tourist guides .. but when we asked at the tourist info center in town, we found out that the pool was closed this season .. so we went on to check the sports forum center .. since there might be some figure skating thing going down next week, that we might come back for .. and then we explored the little village of Dolonne ..
I read several articles about it and Ritsu found an add for a ‘Fun Park’ that looked like something fun for Julius.
It turned out .. Dolonne is really lovely to walk through and they had some kind of street market thing going on … But this Fun Park .. besides that it is really hard to find .. looked rather disappointing, the play thing looked old and weathered and checking the price list made it look like a complete rip off ..
So we kept exploring and then returned to the hotel where Ritsu went down for a nap .. and me and Julius headed out for another explore tour …
First he had to check out the fire escape stairs that run outside of the hotel (and appear very safe) and walked up all the way up, and then down again, without any incident:
while I had thought we had walked down the main stretch of Via Roma .. this time I walked it all the way with Julius .. and he was totally game .. Then we played some hide’n'seek around a pillar:
And to my surprise, he ignored this blue dog ride thingie and instead investigated this cheap toy dispensing machine. It appears he understands the basic idea … but he has not seen us yet putting money in there (and we will try to hold off with this as long as possible)
We returned to wake up mama and to get ready for dinner .. and just like last year we visited ‘Le vieux pommier‘ and had raclette (again) .. I think we managed to eat more of the cheese wedge this time .. but maybe because Julius helped quite some .. we were still not able to finish it. It was SO yummy!
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Aren’t they cute when they are sleeping?
After a long week at work, no wonder that Ritsu fell asleep with Julius.
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In the afternoons I now go downstairs with Julius so that he can practice his bike skills a bit … He is very psyched in the beginning … but after 10 minutes he wants to do something else … thus I keep the practice in the courtyard and don’t venture all the way to the playground (since I end up carrying the bike most of the time)
He is getting better and better …
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