... and then we went into lockdown... again!

Friday afternoon and we are heading back to Paris early after a short half-term break. We cannot ignore the heavy feeling in our stomach. 

As of today France is on highest terrorist alert and on total lockdown. The only difference is that schools remain open as do the parks. However, if you live further away than 1km of a green space you won’t be able to reach it since the max radius to walk, run or grocery shop for necessities is 1000m.

We are heading into at least four more likely six weeks of staying home 24/7 except for the kids who - until further notice - are allowed to attend classes. 

Education is probably the main reason many parents are heading back to the Hexagon's capital this weekend given that most of us have been recommended to “télétravail” whenever possible. Nevertheless, over the past two days Paris has registered over 1000km of traffic jam heading OUT of the city!!!

Expat daughter who will be turning 18 soon is not happy because according to her these are suppose to be the best years of her life. Now that she is finally old enough to go out at night and meet up with her friends for a drink, she can’t even ride her bike to enjoy a bubble tea in the Marais with her besties!!!

Whatever the situation, it too will pass and as long as we stay healthy and safe we will come out the other end eventually... in the meantime I am stocking up on bottles of Prosecco and continuing my yoga classes online to keep sane. 

Happy Halloween

Napule è mille culure

Even after 25 years, Napoli is not a city that makes feel at home, despite the wonderful warm welcome of my family in law. I cannot get my head around the city’s layout and rarely have the chance to explore the streets in a way I would need to become familiar with the place also known as the “City of Five Hundred Domes”. 

My main excuse for being hesitant in adapting to this forest of religious buildings is that whenever we visit we spend most of our time around the table with la famiglia napoletana.... eating. It is a feast every single time. Aperitivo, primo piatto, secondo piatto, frutta e dolce. By the time lunch has ended my brother-in-law is in full preparations for the dinner aperitivo! When we finally venture outside, it is time to drive back to the airport!

Napoli is a vibrant city. Napoli is chaotic, it is polluted and it is loud but its beauty is detectable in the people, in the nooks and crannies of the old cobbled streets, in the motorbikes swerving around the sheets hanging down from the balconies to dry, in the ancient churches which are a part of life just as are the coffee bars or the fashion boutiques offering t-shirts at 4 Euros a piece or the street vendors selling Napoli football gadgets.

Napoli is a photographer’s dream. It doesn’t matter where you turn your head in this city, every stone, every angle and every step can tell a whole story.

The contrast of colours, of light and shadows, of old and new, of depth and height, of hidden and exposed, of traditional and modern, of friendly and hostile, of sea and earth, of food and drinks, and of exuberant and timid can be captured in pictures. Everywhere emotions are being laid bare and stories told without necessary understanding the language or the background.

A click and the moment has been captured reflecting emotions that leave interpretations open to each observer ... because unmistakably there is ALWAYS a story behind the scene and it is visible even to the most unobservant. 

Napoli is a thousand cultures, Napoli is a thousand flavours, and one day I will conquer them all. 

Napoli in black & white

Streets of Napoli

Crammed with chaos, Napoli is appalling and uniquely captivating at the same time. The beautiful southern Italian city is full of busy streets and neighborhoods. The entire world has passed through the streets of Naples during its twenty-seven centuries of history. Everyone, from Greeks to Spaniards, has left indelible marks on this astounding place. 

A walk through the town centre is the best way to capture its essence. Neapolitans coexist with motorcycles, spend lots of time sipping their coffee on a sunny terrace and converse across balconies with each other. Like their signature dish the pizza, Naples is a delicious experience, warm and welcoming.

It’s a family affair...

When family calls you do not hesitate. When Neapolitan family requires your presence you do not have a choice! Therefore, the four of us travelled back to the roots over half-term... to bella Napoli... despite Covid. 

In order to enter the region of Campania we need to get tested, so 72 hours beforehand we diligently stood in line at a Parisian lab and the held up our heads to have a cotton swab poked up our nostrils. Ahhh, cosa non si fa per la famiglia?!?

All this to participate at my little niece’s first communion which in Southern Italy is nearly as important as a girl’s wedding. All the preparation had been made for a full blown bridal celebration but then had to be reduced to a handful of family members a few days before due to tightening of Covid regulations. Nevertheless, the main character of the day was happy because her cousins had defeated the odds and travelled from Paris just for her.

A short church service will lots of social distancing reminders and a scrumptious home-cooked feast at my sister-in-law's flat rather than the planned catered event in a smart castle (?!?) overlooking the Bay of Naples was marked by loud discussions about the pros and cons of the current political situation and the Covid-related suffering of the local economy. "La familia" was not completely reunited due to number restrictions but those of us who had managed to attend the gathering thoroughly enjoyed our short time together.

Bella guagliòna mia, tanti auguri per la tua Prima Comunione. Ti aspettiamo a Parigi... 

Closed until further notice

As of last Tuesday all of the capital's bars have been closed as Paris upgrades the alert level to the maximum due to a surge in COVID-19 cases. Restaurants and bistros will be allowed to stay open if they put new sanitary measures in place, which include registering the contact details of customers and closing at 10 pm. 

Some of us still venture out to have lunch with our closest girlfriends or dinner with couples whom we are close to, sitting on the terrasse tucked up in woolen sweaters and winter coats as to avoid eating inside. However, the insouciance of enjoying un flûte de champagne during Happy hour has definitely disappeared and the sad thing is we don't know for how long.

Pretty in Pink

My friends know my signature colour is pink. My readers know my favourite Parisian monument is the Eiffel Tower. Every year on October 1st the two come together for the launching of Pink October to support breast cancer awareness month. 

The association Le Cancer du Sein, Parlons-En!, now nicknamed "Ruban Rose" (Pink Ribbon), is launching the 27th edition of Pink October in France, an informative operation to raise awareness and support the research against the disease lasting all month long. 

An evening stroll under a near full moon just made it all the more magical.

Where has everyone gone?

Paris feels subdued. Although nobody really wants to admit it, this city might actually start missing its tourists. 

Whenever did we have Fashion week and Roland Garros the same week and both virtually went unnoticed! These events are huge happenings for France's capital and even if you don't care about fashion or know how to play tennis you can't help noticing the extra excitement in the air as the city's social scene along with the traffic step up into 5th gear.

Unlike New York and London’s city centres, Paris’s heart continues to beat in every quartier, Covid or not, and whether people work from home or not. This city is made of a mosaic of buoyant villages. The risk of Paris becoming deserted is nil.

Nevertheless, this melting pot with a meli-melo of cultures and races, does get an extra buzz of the sheer quantity of people running around all year long. Paris' tourist season has no real beginning and end to it, the locals have just learnt to absorb the masses and live with it.

The local residents - forever complaining how overrun their city is - never quite realized how much they had adapted to their visitors' pace. All of a sudden, we can start navigating in a lower gear and it seems unnatural!