Camogli, Genoa!

All right, now we're going to go back in time to 1970.

This is the glorious hotel, Cenobio dei Dogi, in Camogli, Genoa - on the Ligurian coast, just south of the French Riviera and about 2-1/2 hours from Orta. (Apparently, Italians do not refer to this area as the "Italian Riviera," the way we Americans do. To them, it is just Liguria.)

Remember upper-middle-class country-club life, circa 1970? Even if you weren't there... even if, like me, you merely skirted that world, or your "memories" are of movies that included scenes from upper-middle-class life in 1970... you know what I'm talking about.

Remember the wealthy housewives spending summer afternoons "working on their tans," later showering off and lathering themselves in "apres-tanning" lotion before donning white dresses to show off their fabulously toasted bodies? Remember the alcohol, pool boys, stacks of warm towels, service-on-the-patio, and the somnolent voices, muted by the hot, heavy afternoon air?

Welcome to Cenobio dei Dogi.

It's all still here, friends. The waxed terracotta tiles in the spacious, sunny, open bar area (the heart of the hotel)... the kitchy "skylights" ("wall lights"?) built its walls, exposing the kicking legs of children thrashing in the pool to anyone wandering through...the delicate, cream and pale blue faux-bamboo style of the furniture and mouldings. But especially, the people.

The overly-tanned, unsmiling Russian and European vacationers who come out before breakfast to place a towel and book on a lawn chair so that no matter how many hours later they finally arrive, that chair will be waiting for them. The overly-dressed French families with their overly-handsome French fathers speaking softly to one another at dinner. The loud, British children banging on the plate-glass windows of the dining room while their mother buries her face in her hands and says softly, "Please be quiet, darlings."

But most of all, the elderly women, perhaps in their 70's, who parade around in their two-piece suits with vodka tonic in hand, their white skin toasted to an almond brown... these are the women I remember from my youth. And, I'm proud of them. Hands on hips, they feel as beautiful as they did in their 20's. And why not? They are still slim, still healthy, wealthy enough to be vacationing at a gorgeous hotel... women of Russia and Europe, I salute you.

Despite everything I have written to turn you off, I adore this hotel. I love its 70's-ish decor and menu. I adore being served drinks and chips and pretzels- so unhealthy, such a flashback to my childhood - by the pool. I love lolling in the sun, as if no one had heard of skin cancer, watching the kids frolic in a pool with a "life guard" whose job it appears to be not to help in case of emergency, but to keep the children out of their parents hair so the latter may drink and doze uninterruptedly.

If my drink runs dry - if I can't find a chaise because the damn Europeans have "reserved" them all - if I have a chaise, but need to adjust it - a pool "boy" comes running to help. These are brawny, browned Italian men whose physiques would call up lustful thoughts in the minds of any woman, no matter how chaste. Plus, they are Italian - albeit, northern Italian - it is their job to call up lustful thoughts. They regard you admiringly but with that exquisite sensitivity that keeps them just this side of too bold, so that you feel flattered rather than threatened.

Three days at Cenobio dei Dogi, and you will feel like a different person. The rocky private beach alone is worth the price of admission. Watching the French families interact - the 14 year old girls smoking next to their fathers, the boys on their IPhones with time to talk to no one actually at hand - is a delicious, naughty treat.

I'd like to stay a month.

Our Fabulous "Donkey Trip" with Valsesia Incoming!

This year, we discovered the tour group "Valsesia Incoming." It is run by two absolutely terrific young people, Marco and Claudia. They will organize private excursions of any kind, taking you up into the mountains into remote places you might otherwise never find for yourself, for a really reasonable price!


We chose to try out a "donkey tour" which they already had scheduled. Unsurprisingly, we were the only Americans on the trip - possibly the first Americans they'd ever had! It's always so much fun to be surrounded by people from other countries. On this trip, the other families were all Italian.
We started off by meeting in Piode, a town only about 45 minutes from Orta. There, our stuff was loaded onto the donkey's packs, and off we went into the mountain!!

This is John, discovering his first blueberries. After a little while, he refused to walk with me, because he discovered that Claudia would feed him as many and as often as he liked, while I was just concentrating on surviving the walk up the hill!!














We began encountering the occasional mountain hut. These were privately owned places that had been restored by their owners. None was new. Apparently, you cannot built a new structure in the Alps, though you can restore old ones if you abide by very strict rules.



When we finally reached a plateau near the summit of the mountain (3,000 vertical feet up in 3 hours!!), we found ourselves at a simple mountain inn called Rifugio Meggiana. We thought we saw a CAR driving away, but our guides laughingly convinced us we must be hallucinating due to exhaustion. We almost believed them until we saw another - this kind of mischievous humor is so typical of Marco and Claudia - I love it! :)

Anyway, you can drive to Rifugio Meggiana rather than hike - and many people do, to enjoy the unbelievable food and view.





We ate the most incredibly delicious lunch imaginable with (obviously) locally-grown food. As usual in this part of Italy, part of the fun was hearing all the other languages. I don't like to encounter other Americans, I have to admit. We're plenty enough Americans wherever we go. ;)


















I had to take this picture because there in the background was the Simpsons playing on t.v. SIGH!!!!!! You see? More than enough America already, even high in the Alps!!



The next morning, when we woke up, we saw this sign affixed to the front of the rifugio: "Oggi: stufato d'asino" ("Today's special: stuffed donkey.")


The owner of the rifugio had gone out, along with a willing member of our group, and "hidden" one of the donkeys behind a little hill where it couldn't easily be seen. Once he told us all of his prank, we all laughingly waited for Marco to come back and see the sign. Our plans were foiled, though, when he heard the donkey braying and became worried, running in to ask if anyone had seen it. We had to confess - at which point he still burst out laughing.





This good-natured kidding around just tickles me so much.

We continued climbing upward - this time, only an hour or two. That day, I started out "guiding" a donkey and marched like one of Napoleon's soldiers up the hill until I was gently advised by Marco to let the animal's pace guide my own. I didn't need to walk so furiously, he told me... and of course, he was right.


On the way, Brian and I saw this outcropping and took pictures of each other. We both saw birds (maybe hawks?) circling below us. I was just giddy with happiness.







At the top of this peak, there was a tiny, TINY village overlooking the valley below, with a small pond where cattle came to drink.







Life doesn't get much better than this. I was continually so touched by how patient and full of humor both Claudia and Marco were - and so, so good with all the kids on the trip.





Peering into a shrine at the top of the hill...



The cattle were walking fast, and almost overcame us... we had to run in the end to avoid them! :)

The cattle were driven by the best-dressed shepherdess I could imagine - only in Italy do the shepherdesses look so chic! :) I am sorry I did not get a picture of her...
















Heading home at last, Brian was assigned to his least favorite donkey, whom he was determined to control... this is Star's reaction, listening to him hollering at her...




On our way down, we ran into Claudia's parents at a little "fest" at the chapel in the woods where we'd first stopped on our way up. It was lucky for me that we did, because by that point my knees had begun bothering me. Although I'd had no trouble on the way up, on the way down I was overcome by this awful joint pain and Claudia's father nearly carried me down the mountain, finally driving me the last half-hour. No words can express my gratitude for that kindness (and pure embarrassment kept me from taking a picture) - but here we are, almost home at last.

GRAZIE A VOI, VALSESIA INCOMING!!

Summer of 2009

This summer, we discovered Oropa, Italy. Our neighbors, Franco and Lorella, invited us to spend the day there with them and their friends, Luciano and Rita. Franco and Luciano were nice enough to ask me to cycle there with them from Luciano's house - about a three-hour ride. Overconfident of my strength, I agreed. I lasted the first 2 hours, during which we flew over flat countryside, but the third was an unremitting vertical incline of about 90 degrees! Luciano and Franco cycled ahead while I gasped, sweated, stopped every five minutes to catch my breath, pray for succor and dunk my head in the various fountain shrines carved into the hills.

Finally, we arrived. Rita, Lorella, Alan, Lauren and the kids were there waiting with all of our clothes and a gigantic plastic jug of water. While Lorella and Star held towels up to shield me, Rita stood on a stone fence and poured the water over my head. I think that may have been one of the happiest, silliest, most girlish moment I've had since high school.

I toweled off and got dressed in a linen dress I'd bought earlier at Sheila's store in Borgomanero. Then, together, we walked through the enormous area before the Sanctuary.

I think there may be no more breathtaking place on earth. It simply radiates holiness.

The huge, open area before the cathedral reminded me of Paris or Washington, D.C. It was a large, rectangular lawn laid out - carved out - of the mountainside with an enormous fountain in the middle. The effect, with the Alps towering overhead, was other-worldly.

These pictures just don't do any justice to the experience at all. The lawn to which I'm referring is actually behind the structure in this picture. And, unbeknownst to us, there were smaller chapels all around which one could visit - I found pictures on the net:

Anyway, next, we all had lunch outdoors at this wonderful restaurant which served polenta, the region's specialty. Woe betide you if you were on a diet - it was swimming in butter.

Here is the restaurant.

In this picture, from left to right, are: Lorella, Stella, Rita, Luciano, Franco, Alan (telling me something), Lauren, and John.

Here was dessert:

Next, we did the most utterly fantastic thing. There is a gondola that leads to the top of the mountain behind the sanctuary. We took it far, far up the mountainside. When we arrived at what we thought was the top, there was another "chair lift": this time, a sort of cage into which you stepped through a gate in the side. A smaller wire "cage" on the side must have been to hold skis in the winter.

I really can't believe we did this. We just all grabbed a lift as they swung toward us - Stella and Lorella in one, and Lauren, John and I in another!

My heart was just bursting with happiness.

At last we reached the top:

The children gazed down at the scene 10,000 feet below (that's a lake that you see in the center of the picture - the kids are peering over a precipice. I'm not sure what kind of mother lets her young ones do this... I made them drop to their knees and then crawl on their bellies so they could look down.):

My favorite picture of Lorella and John - and how beautiful of Lorella and Lauren, below (both of whom, BTW, are afraid of heights!)

"The hills are alive!"

Needless to say, if you are visiting Orta... you must take a day to see Oropa!!

Orta San Giulio, Summer of 2007

Star and I are just back from another summer in Orta. We had a particularly wonderful time this year, discovering some new areas we'd never seen before.


One place where we spent a lot of time was at the waterfall in Agrona. What a heavenly place!


















When Brian, Nicole, and Alan visited, we brought them there, too.





































We found a cool bar on the Isola Bella with all kinds of Rock 'n Roll memorabilia...








We did our usual visit to the top of the Duomo in Milano, involving some exhaustion on Brian's part...



































Brian also got a chance to see Venice...
















And to try some grappa...














Later in our trip, Star and I checked out Camogli, and absolutely beautiful beach town about 30 minutes south of Genoa...
















Star and I also visited Cannes, where we saw an incredible re-enactment of the Allied liberation of France, using actual WWII tanks and jeeps. People actually said, "Vive America." In light of our current political situation, I was stunned by the generosity and enthusiasm with which the locals relived this moment in their history. Apparently, there is such a parade every year.









































There were fireworks in the evening, so with the help of our hotelier, we made reservations for dinner on the beach...

We also dropped in on Monaco...


















But best of all was spending time with our Italian friends, Lorella, Franco, Sheila, Guilia, and Claudia and her parents!! This is a pictures of Star at Lorella and Franco's outlet store, Comab, which is in Borgomanero. Lorella let Star work behind the counter... her DREAM!


Here's Nicole about to taste her first grappa, courtesy Franco... and afterwards!

Lorella, Franco, Sheila et al are always so kind, inviting us over for family meals...























And Claudia's parents kindly invited us over for lunch...


















Franco gets a new bike... :)






















Star always loves spending time with Giulia...








We are sad to leave, and hope our Italian friends will visit us soon!!







Yeah, baby!