Belly pics

It was a great sunny day and therefore we decided to take off at 8am for the beach!! Our first intention was to stop at Savona, the first beach town, check it out and head a bit farther. Once in Savona, the water was calling out our names and therefore we decided to stay there for the day. We found 2 public beach the others are reserved by cafés. You have to pay 12 euros each and you get to have a long chair and umbrella. At 10 am, the only umbrellas left were the ones at the far back of the beach. There were 4 rows blocking the view to the ocean. For that price we decide to head to the public one instead. We got a front row seat on the sand with no umbrella! Well i say sand, it is more like small pebbles. The pebbles were boiling hot, the water extremely cold!! Once in the water it felt great!! Extremely refreshing. As usual i swam as far as i could from the shore. it felt great. After a quick dip we both relaxed on the beach. By 16h00 we had enough and took the train back to Savigliano. There was a festival going on at piazza di popolo, santa rosa and Cavour. There were wine, cheese and cold cut tasting. There was also amazing chocolates!!! Bands were playing a bit everywhere on the piazzas. There was an orchestra, an african band, a rock band etc. All playing simultaneously. They were a few 50m apart. If you were not standing right by the band, you could here all of them together. Une vrai cacophonie!!!! For a small town they have great festivities. Here are a few pictures of the Beach

Saluzzo

June 3rd! We were moving to our new apartment!! Kevin went to work and i searched the markets for the essentials needed in the new apartment. Instead of resting like i hoped to do since my entire body was aching from the walk, I spent the day walking either from the market and back to the new apartment or back and forth between both apartments moving the lighter objects. I left the luggage for Kevin to move. Kev and Nico (his co-worker) moved the rest of the stuff late that night!! From the start the apartment felt great, lots of light, lots of room and a much larger washing machine!!! Everything is in place, i’m ready to start classifying all my traveling pictures and putting my travel Journal on computer. Hopefully i will finish before the little one is born!! I also have to figure out how this mac works and install everything i want on it!! For that i need internet!! During the week i found the local pool which is amazing!! There are umbrellas and long chairs surrounding the outside pool. There is also an indoor pool! I payed for 12 entries. I try to go twice a week. On the hot days i feel like i am in a resort, i read my book go swimming for an hour, it feels great. It is the only thing that can cool us down during the excruciating hot hours of the afternoon. Finally having sunshine meant i can do some laundry!! I have to say hanging your clothes on a line is a simple concept but many unpredictable thing can happen. I almost smacked someone on the head with one of the pins that i dropped. I also saw one of my towels fly onto the neighbor’s balcony beneath mine!! After searching for the word towel in the dictionary i got the courage to go knock on the neighbor’s door. No answer!! 2 Days in a row there were no answer. Finally when i had given up on my towel, i found it in the main corridor!!! By the end of the week after going everyday to the internet shop, the guy felt sorry for me and finally decided to allow me to sign a contract!! Why couldn’t we do this initially, i don’t know!!! This way we don’t have to buy the 200 euro usb key, it is included in the contract. Finally that weekend we were connected!!! I have to say the connection sucks!! If we try to load pages that have lots of images or if we talk to someone, we get disconnected!! Oh well at least i can read articles, do some research and plan our weekend trips touring italy!! Both following weekends were quite relaxing. We finally visited the museums in Savigliano,we went to Saluzzo, a nice small medieval town and Torino. We found the best gelata in torino!! Even on a rainy day there was a 15 min line up!! We visited the Egyptian museum which was quite interesting. It is apparently the 2nd largest museum with Egyptian relics. The first is in Cairo. Most people we talk to say that torino is not a nice city. I found the center great!!! Like most cities in italy there are lots of roads reserved for pedestrians. The architecture in the center is beautiful. Of course the rest of the city is very industrialized but it has its charm. Other than me having la Bella Vita, Kevin works long days in a non air conditioned office!!! I honestly don’t know how he does it. I can barely stand the heat in the apartment and apparently the office is much warmer!!! We are also waiting impatiently for our visa, especially his working visa!! If we don’t get it by July 10th, i will be coming back to montreal and he will stay till the end of his current visa, beginning of august!! Now now, if we come back, where will we live and for how long will we stay!!! Hopefully questions we will have an accurate answer before i give birth!! If not, it just makes life more exiting. :)

Kevin's first long weekend in italy, Youpi lets enjoy and take off for a short holiday!! For the past 2 weeks in the piedmonté region, we are constantly getting rain. We are both quite eager to see some sun!! We were set on going to Limone, a town not too far away in the alps but due to weather conditions some roads were blocked. Even a section of Savigliano is flooded!! Ok, so lets alter our plans and head south by the coast. We take a quick look in Italy's hiking guide and decide to head to a region called Cinque Terre, the 5 lands. There are 3 hikes suggested. 2 out of 3 routs go through the 5 medieval villages of the circuit and follow the coast line. I am only 24 weeks pregnant (almost 6 months) why not attack the longest trek out of the 2, 30 km! It slipped my mind that i am 8 kg more than my normal weight oh well. We leave early saturday morning and head to La Spezia by train. We quick eat lunch and take a bus to Portovenere where the trail begins. It is now 15h00, a bit late to start a walk but we have 10 km, aprox a 3 hours walk according to the book. Portovenere is right on the coast. We spend an hour searching for the trail and exploring the beautiful scenery. From the main Piazza we climb up and head to the castle and to the Chiesa di San Pietro (church). Once on the top of the hill we realize we are on the wrong side of the ridge. Of course the only way on the trail is to walk back down and up again!! Well even though we are still at our starting point, i decide that this initial false departure should be rewarded with a gelata (delicious ice cream) ! ! Finally on the trail, we enjoy the warm sun and the amazing costal view. We take a short 30 min break at Campiglia where we desperately need a water refill and of course another gelata! On the way we are amazed by the amount of wild colorful flowers and the vineyards growing directly on the mountain ridge. There are even signs saying ''watch out for the wild pigs'' At 20h00 we arrive at Riomaggiore where we decide to spend the night. We knock on each hotel, b&b and guest houses, nothing, everything is full!!! I desperately need to pee!! We are almost at the end of town when one man says one of his customers did not show up and therefore he has a room!! Wow, what ever it is, we are ready to take it!!! To reach the room we climbed at least 100 more steps. I am exhausted!!! For 90 ero the room is extremely small but we have a bed and and a bathroom!! The essentials are there. After a long shower, a great supper and a few kicks from our little girl i fell asleep!! Next day we kept on walking up and down the trail. We walked through via dell Amore, the lovers road. The trail is bombarded with italian tourists!! We go through Manarola, on the other side of the town another steep hill side is waiting for us. The villages are built directly on the ridges. There are steep narrow streets going in between the houses. They are mostly fisherman villages, you can see the canoes on the decks. There are no beaches!! Too bad. After Manarola, we pass Corniglia and into Vernazza where we stop over for a great lunch. The restaurant is right before the decent into the town center and it overlooks the ocean and mountain side. It is breathtaking!! At this point my calves are exhausted. I feel my muscles tearing apart!! Ok 20 km, i give up and we decide to walk to the train station. We head to Monterosso al mar and hopefully spend the night and do the last 5 km the next day. Monterosso al mar is the only town in the cinque terre area that has a beach! Of course it is packed and there are no rooms available!! No luck this time. Thank god it is still early afternoon. We go back to the train station but do not have much choice since the train station is on strike. Luckily for us there is a train to Genoa! We hop on. If it wasn't for the strike, i don't think we would have ever gone to Genoa but it is worth it. It is considered a large city in italy and it is filled with museums, piazza's, restaurants, churches and theaters. Since monday was a holiday, a lot of places were closed. We will definitely come back. We left mid afternoon for Savigliano. The 2h train ride was horrible. We couldn't reach the inside of the train it was so packed. We stood by the door way the entire ride and got to our home just in time for supper. We moved a few luggage to our new apartment and tried one of many local pizzeria. It was a weekend to remember!!

New Album 15/06/08 10:25 AM

My first couple of days in Savigliano were quite depressing. Leaving my home, my family and my friends to move into a tiny town in Italy sounded at first exotic and fun but the first few days were the complete opposite!!! I arrived on a wednesday morning, Kev picked me up from Torino airport and we drove 1h to Savigliano. It had been raining for the past week and it kept on raining the entire week!!! I moved into our studio apartment. Other than being quite small, it was nicely furnished but there was no tv, no internet and the washing machine was tiny!! During the day while Kev was working, i got familiar with my new surrounding. Everything is closed between 12h30 and 15h30. Even though opening hours are posted, they are not always respected and don’t expect to get anything on Sundays and Mondays. The other unexpected habit is that i have to go to the fruit and veg shop, then to the butcher, if we want fish, to the fish shop etc. Going to the butcher was an experience of its own. You don't just pick the piece you want, but you have to specify which part and how you want it cut. I don't even know these details in english nor in french, how am i suppose to know them in italian!!! The first time i just walked in and right out the shop! The second time i specified what i wanted to cook and they prepared the meet for me!! Once you know how it is done, it is quite simple. You just have to make sure people understand what you are saying!! After touring the town in the rain i realized there was no internet café!! How depressing, no way to contact the outside world!!! To actually get the net at the apartment, we need a ''codici fiscale' equivalent to our social insurance number in canada and of course since Kev still didn't have his visa, we can't get one!! My first few days were spent: 1.washing clothes since you can only wash 5 things at a time and it takes over an 1h to wash. 2. cooking and grocery shopping 3. cleaning 4. reading on the bed 5. sleeping 6. Getting soaked when i would go out Just imagining my life being like this for the next year was extremely depressing!!!! Then i was introduced to the MARKET!!! Wow, it made my day! Every tuesday and friday mornings from early morning till 12 noon there are fruit and vegetable vendors at one piazza, meat, fish and cheese vendors on the neighboring piazza and on the largest piazza you can find everything else from clothing to gardening. It is quite fascinating how many people are present at these markets!! DO ANYONE WORK!! From then on it became a ritual. Now that hunting for my food was no longer a problem, i had to attack my second issue, find a doctor as soon as possible! On the following tuesday of my arrival (because everything is closed on mondays!!) i went to the hospital to ask questions. Well, as most hospitals, i got redirected to another office across town. To get any public medical assistance, i needed a 'codici fiscale' and my visa that i did not have!!! So, i asked about the private medical system. A whole bunch of women got together and made me a list of the most recommended gynecologist in Savigliano! I took the list and went searching for the offices. Like usual it started to rain and therefore i picked the closest one. It was doc. Bricchi's office. He wasn't there but his secretary scheduled me for an appointment the next day! The doctor was great!! I got another ultrasound with a video tape, he got me an appointment at the hospital in case my diabetic test turned out positive and he scheduled me for my next appointment. After meeting him i was quite relieved!! He also told me to go by the end of this week to the hospital to do blood tests. On thursday i went to the hospital for the tests but they only did them in the morning so i returned the following day. It was a long procedure, 4 blood samples had to be taken and i had to wait 1 hour between each sample!!! (diabetes test). After finding a doctor i decided i desperately needed internet. I discussed my problem with both internet vendors, vodahone and tim. They both confirmed i could get internet without signing a contract but i had to buy the 200euro usb card and buy an internet access card that is good for 1 month. Great!! the monthly card was cheaper at Tim's but they no longer hand usb cards in stock!!! In a few days they were coming in!! Why not wait a little longer! Everything was falling into place. Friday we packed all our stuff, the following tuesday we were moving to a larger flat!! youpi!! That weekend we took off to Cinque Terre.

wedding 26/04/08 5:26 PM