Spello, Italy

Spello, Italy. Ever heard of it? I hadn't either... but our friends who used to live here several years ago insisted this was one town we HAD to visit during their flower fest, Le Infiorate.

A flower fest isn't exactly on Jamie's top things to do, not compared to wine tasting, boys Oktoberfest trips, etc. Two friends and I decided to go check it out; for my friend Kristin, it also happened to be her last weekend living in Italy. What a way to say "ciao!" to Italy than seeing Le Infiorate. 

Le Infiorate is an exhibition of local artistic talent which only lasts two days. 

The petals from flowers are trimmed, cut, shredded and arranged along the streets of Spello and represent religious scenes.  Weeks of preparation, and teamwork lead to a long night of hard work, and then finally, a religious procession through the floral carpets laid out throughout town for "La noche de Corpus Christi".

Think: color by number. Only with herbs, cut and shredded flower petals. A lot of love and labor go into this. 

The entire experience was spectacular! We were lucky enough to have arrived in Spello on 'day one" of the fest.  All the town residents were cutting and trimming and shredding flowers in doorways, garages... there were "maps" getting glued to the cobblestone walkways. To watch this town go from quiet little hillside town to the end product was such a cool experience.  We were out until 1am walking the town, watching how this all comes together.

The next morning, I felt like a 5 year old on Christmas morning - dying to get out of bed to see what was waiting for me. Kristin, Stacy and I got up, got ready and headed out.

Words cannot describe the detail. Picutres do not do it justice.

Planning a trip to Italy? You should definitely try to schedule it around this!

Oui, oui, oui, mesdames et messieurs, je fais l'amour France!

Translation: Yes, yes, yes, ladies and gentleman, I do love France!

We have been so lucky to have had friends living in Toulon, ones that have been submerged into the French culture, and they let us come visit. Again. This time, we took advantage of a military flight, aka Space A (Available), that was departing Napoli and going to Toulon for a Memorial Day service. Space available for the four of us, yessss! The kids - Zachary and Lincoln, Lily and Riann - picked up right where they left off last time. They have SO much fun together!

 We started our first night in Toulon off - just the adults - with a concert at an old opera house. It was a warm evening, almost too warm, and the French don't really have air conditioning so it was even hotter sitting up in our seats.

The ambiance was lovely - truly a beautiful night in a beautiful opera house, our friends really know how to show us the less touristy parts of southern France which are actually my favorite parts. We wrapped up the evening with dessert. Jamie and I fully relied on Sarah and Phil ordering for us, and being our full-on translators. Oh wait, except for the occasional "Merci!" or "Bonsoir!" with terrible accents.






Sarah and I had made plans to leave the guys home with the kids for a day trip to Aix en Provence. It was another lovely day for the drive, and for walking among the French through the city, strolling through the market, window shopping and then enjoying a relaxing lunch - sans kids and husbands. Aix is beautiful!






The following day we took a day trip to Sanary sue Mer - a gorgeous coastal town along the Med. Sarah and Phil were actually babysitting two Irish boys who tagged along with us. The kids all seemed to enjoy the outing, especially when we found ourselves in the middle of a Pirate Festival.

Memorial day weekend was coming to an end and it was almost time to leave. Only we didn't. Our plane had some maintenance issues, so we spent an unexpected extra two nights in Toulon. Sarah and Phil were gracious enough to re-welcome us back at their house.








Jamie, Sarah, all 4 kids and I went to Cassis, another picturesque French town! We started our visit to Cassis with the "Petit" tour of Calanques - the steep-walled, (limestone) inlets from the sea along the coast of parts of southern France. Crystal clear, incredibly blue water - surreal! France doesn't get much better than this!! After walking around the town, enjoying a quick lunch, Sarah treated us to an unbelievable scenic drive - Route des Cretes. Cliffs that make you go "gulp", views that make you never want to leave... amazing!

Amazing food, great hosts, generous friends - we have certainly been spoiled by seeing parts of France most people don't even know exist. This time it was really time to go home. Fortunately, we had a new military flight come to our "rescue".