Joyeuses Pâques!

(By the way - I don't know if you know or not - if you want to see larger images of my photos, all you have to do is double click on them).

The morning started with – what else – PANATONE that we bought in Italy especially for this morning! It was super moist and studded with raisins and candied orange peel. YUM!

So it’s Sunday April 24^th, 2011 – Easter Sunday. I have to admit it was perhaps a bit of a disappointment here. I expected everything to be closed up tight except for the Basilica, with throngs of people following a statue of the risen Christ through the streets and into the church, where all heaven would break loose in an orgy of organ music, incense, bells, etc.

Well, Paul just couldn’t get out of bed this morning for this once in a lifetime opportunity, so even if all that did happen, I missed it L. Never mind, we did get to the Basilica in time to celebrate part of mass, but slipped out at the time of Eucharist, which is just as well, as there were so many people in there it probably took hours. My video attached isn’t too bad. The aroma of incense was intoxicating, though, and there’s no way I can capture that for you.

St. Michael’s was turned out in its finery for the big day – all the opulent chandeliers were lit, along with every candle, and crimson bunting and drapery had been strewn throughout the entire place.

We then spent the day wandering the streets and taking in the local Easter custom – which appears to be going shopping. It was fascinating to note that the actual custom of giving chocolate is pretty much the same here (all the chocolate shops and patisseries are full of chocolate confections, most of which were sold out yesterday and then gone fully today), although there doesn’t seem to be an “Easter Bunny” or any such thing.

I wanted to buy some cut flowers for the day, but I realized that unfortunately the apartment doesn’t really have a vase to put them in. Strangely (?) there were no potted Easter Lilies for sale anywhere. I suppose that is a more North American custom.

For Easter supper tonight I made sautéed potatoes, oven roaster asparagus and crispy breaded pork chops, and it was perfectly delicious. For dessert we had – you guessed it – another slice of Tropizienne! We washed it down with a rather excellent bottle of Corsican rosé called l’Empereur.

I hope everyone at home is with someone they love and you’re having a great day despite the weather.

Speaking of, it was 19C and sunny today. What a terrific Easter!