Christmas

Alex got 5 days off for Christmas, so we had a lightning round of hanging out with friends and family.

BB with our roommates/housesitters, Erik & Casey.


Alex taking a picture of Jon with his new camera.

Group pic!

Ferraris and Maseratis

On the way home from Cremona, we stopped in the town of Modena, famous for Ferraris, Maseratis and our favorite, balsamic vinegar.

We couldn't get any good pictures, but we waited in front of the Maserati factory and saw a bunch of brand new GranTurismos on their road tests.

The Ferrari factory is actually not in Modena, but in a town called Maranello (some guidebooks suggest that Maranello is a "suburb" of Modena, but the town is about 40 minutes south of Modena). They road test the cars on the back roads from Modena to Maranello, we passed many on the way to the factory.

There is also a Ferrari museum right down the street from the factory where they display all their road and competition cars.

Very pretty custom made Barchetta.


Alex had an awesome time at the museum.


Another pretty car.

Cremona

Alex had a road game in Cremona on Sunday so we stayed behind to explore the town made famous by Stradivarius.

The town is about an hour southeast of Milan and home to dozens of violin makers.

Alex gives Stradivarius two thumbs up!

Stradivarius is buried in the center of town, in Piazza Roma. He lived, worked and died in Cremona. There is a museum dedicated to his stringed instruments in town, but it's closed on Mondays, of course.

Duomo.


Front entrance of the duomo. Yeah, it's pretty huge.

The town torrazzo, considered the tallest campanile in Italy. The astronomical clock is the original one from 1583.

Upper half of the campanile.

Assisi

After two weeks of rain, the sun finally came out on Alex's day off, so we headed out to Assisi.

View of Umbria from Assisi. The streets were VERY clean, which we found pretty odd.

On the way up to the Basilica of St. Francis, we found this restaurant with an incredible view of Umbria and Mount Subasio. Awesome food and wine too!

The basilica of St. Francis is built on the lowest slope of Mount Subasio. Here is a view from the base of the mountain.

The Upper Church. Construction began in 1228, two years after St. Francis died.

The courtyard connecting the Upper and Lower Church. St. Francis' remains were transferred here in 1230, when construction of the Lower Church was completed. Four of his most faithful companions are also buried with him in the grotto beneath the Lower Church.

Piazza di San Francesco. In front of the basilica.

It is off-peak season for Assisi right now, so there were relatively few tourists and pilgrims.

Urbino

Our first trip together this new season was to the town of Urbino, about 1 1/2 hours from Fabriano (I'll post pictures of our town soon). Urbino is located in the Marche region of Italy and used to be a center of great learning and culture in Western Europe.

The town is situated on top of a very steep hill.


In front of the Palazzo Ducale (Ducal Palace).


View of the Ducal Palace from behind.


This is the house where the painter Raphael was born. That's Alex's teammate Mike. He's a lot taller than he looks in this picture. Check out the steep incline. All the streets in this town are VERY steep.


Hilltop views of the Marche from Urbino.

Fabriano Apartment

This is the best apartment we've had in Europe thus far.


The kitchen and living room.


Black leather couches. And a full sized dining table.


The office area.


Kitchen. Notice the dishwasher next to the refrigerator!!!

Hallway with 2 bedrooms on the left, and 2 bathrooms, one at the end of the hallway and one to the right.

Master bedroom. Lots of storage space.


Half bath, with a washing machine.


The full bath, complete with shower, bathtub and a dryer.


Our overly large patio. You can see the mountains of the Marche in the background.


Seriously huge patio next door with an awesome view.

California

Erin and I went to visit our grandparents in Monterey Park and our cousins in San Mateo.


Cousin Eunice with her son, Spencer.


The most adorable Spencer with her two doting aunts!!


Hi cutie!!!


Dinner with the cousins: Benson, Danielle, Eunice and Ryan.

Civitanova

Civitanova is a beach town on the eastern coast of Italy, just south of Ancona.


Adriatic Sea.


Boats docked along the pier.


Ancona in the background, jutting out into the sea.



Old section of Civitanova.

Quebec

Montreal

Our annual trip back to Quebec began with dinner with the kids.

Jenny, Rim, Mehrez, Karen, Diandre and Nic after a delicious dinner.

We headed in to the Laurentians, an hour north of Montreal, to visit one of Alex's old coaches during a basketball camp. Here is Alex teaching the campers something about basketball.

Alex running through a basketball drill with some of the campers.


Andrew Bier, a Maccabi Canada teammate, Emerson Thomas, former National team player, Alex and Coach Dore.

Trois Rivieres

Drinks with two high school friends, Jean-Charles and Max in downtown Trois Rivieres. Max was in town for the week (he lives in Europe) and Jean-Charles was just driving through on the way to New Brunswick. We couldn't have planned this reunion even if we wanted to.

On the first sunny day, we headed up to Lake Wapizagonke for some canoeing and sunbathing.


Dinner in the backyard with Mom, Dad, Nic & Diandre.


Jenny & Rim drove up to Trois Rivieres to hang out with us.


Alex, Nic & Rim playing in the sandbox.


Hanging out with Max and his wife Zoe.