Barcelona day 3

The kids are sleeping later and later. They are staying up late for dinner and also they are pretty tired by now. (I know I am.)

While Alec and the kids slept in, Jef and I cabbed over to the Sagrada Familia.


We brought back breakfast and started the day by walking down Las Ramblas, which is a very touristy street but lots of fun and interesting things to see. A store front


One of the many "statue people".



We toured the Palau Guell, which was the first Gaudi redo for a wealthy industrialist. It was a fabulous mixture of arte deco, craftsman and beginning Gaudi. The toilet


The ceiling


The chimneys on the roof


Branwen posing next to the snake motif on the gate


Jef chose someplace to go for lunch, but it only had pastries, but they recommended someplace a few blocks away that wasn't so touristy. We were really pleased with the place. We started with the tray of little sandwiches.


A platter of best cured pork in the world


Fried potatoes


And one order of paella which I forgot to photograph. We went back for dessert to the first place and then continued down the street to the harbor and the aquarium.


After a fine time, we headed over to the Font Magica. In the guide book, the dancing waters show was supposed to start at 8. They lied! It was 9. Too late for us. They had to get the cab for the airport at 7:30. We went bak to the apartment. Alec and I went back to the ham restaurant and bought "take away". The best ham again. This was Calder's favorite


Assorted other pig parts and bread


There was one more kind, but Branwen ate it all up before its photo op.

Really pleased with our last meal in Barcelona we packed up and went to bed.

Barcelona day 2

This was Alec's day to explore by himself. There is a lot for an architect to see here. He mapped out his route and off he went. (He said that he walked for miles and miles all uphill. There was a 5 hour wait to get into the Sagrada Familia, which is the famous Gaudi cathedral. He decided to keep moving and went to the Parc Guell where everything is outside.



When the kids finally woke up, Jef and I took them to the zoo. Yes, folks - 4 countries - 4 zoos, and we enjoyed every single one of them.



This one was shady and had a lovely reptile house with lots of snakes - Branwen's favorite.

After the zoo, we walked to the beach and dipped our toes in the Mediterranean.



The water was cool, not cold and very refreshing. It also sparkled.


That night we ate in a place that specialized in ham. Guess how we knew.




Each ham had its own little drip catcher.


Again we had an assortment of stuff that we all shared.
Toasted bread with olive oil


Tomatoes and olives


Gazpacho - it had bacon bits on top, but I ate those before I remembered to take its picture.


Croquettes


Mushrooms with frites


Pork cutlet with ratatouille and frites


Special cured pig assortment 4 kinds


Cheese


Desserts


Went back to the fan shop. This time they bought.

Since there was no game, we could go to bed when we got home.

Barcelona

We finally made it. The last stop in our trip together. We had no trouble finding the apartment, it is right next to the big square in old Barcelona. Alec parked the car under the square while we got settled in. The kids are in love with this place. They picked their beds and room and just made themselves at home.

http://www.you-stylish-barcelona-apartments.com/B305_Barcelona-Apartment-for-Rent-plaza-catalunya-lux-14.html is the web site so you can see pictures.

Alec and I returned the car just a little way away. In Paris, the agent had said that he thought that particular office was closed - but he was wrong. (I had assured him that I would take the car to an approved place, not abandon it on the street.)

We walked back, finding a place for dinner, where I made reservations, and the Barcelona team's fan shop. (glad I made the reservations, we got the last big table!)
An assortment of fried sea food. The kids both liked the squid tentacles.


Sausages, fried peppers, chicken wings and croquettes.


Potato assortment- the french fries had a garlic sauce.


Salad assortment under the pinkish sauce were little shrimps - Branwen's favorite


Bread with tomato smear


We were stuffed. The fan shop was stuffed also. There was a game that night between Barcelona and Madrid. It was starting at 11 pm so everyone, his brother and his cousin were stocking up. We decided to wait till another day.

OUR TV DOSN'T GET THE GAME. THIS IS CALDER'S FAVORITE TEAM. Good news, Alec can get it on the computer. He and Calder stayed up to watch, the rest of us went to bed.

Carcassonne

We have been very lucky weather wise on this trip. The only time that we have been rained on was the little bit the first afternoon in Belgrade. In Paris it rained just after we moved our stuff into the apartment and while we were eating dinner. It has also rained when we were driving from place to place. Everyone here has been commenting on how much rain they had in July. They had been having a rotten summer. We on the other hand have had beautiful days that were pleasantly cool.

All this is to say, that it rained again after we left Hank's but cleared nicely by the time we were in Carcassonne. It is much warmer here. Carcassonne is a medieval walled city. Inside the walls are tiny crowded streets lined with shops and restaurants. In the middle of it is a castle.






We were in a residence hotel in a small apartment with two bedrooms, a living room with bed and a kitchen area. It also had a pool.









Spare but functional. The first thing we did was swim. This time Branwen could go in, so she loved it. When it got crowded, we got dressed and went into the walled area for dinner.




Our hotel had recommended a brasserie. We were checking out the menu and sneaking peaks at the table nearby, when the guy sitting there said, "The food's pretty good and it's fast. That sold us.

The kids played on the walls until dinner actually came.









Day two in Carcassone

Poor Branwen has been eaten alive by "vicious mosquitoes". Somehow, being told that it is because she is the sweetest, just isn't cutting it with her. She can't walk two feet without stopping to scratch and whine and cry. We stopped right next to a shop that was selling creams and lotions and were demoing them on the street. I asked if they had anything that might help. They looked at her huge red welts and said allergic to insect bites. They rubbed on some cream and we waited for a little while to see how it worked. I ended up paying a fortune for some Dead Sea cosmetic called Catharsis which has worked miracles. She hasn't cried since - she just asks for the cream, rubs some in, and continues what she is doing. Alec tried it on something he had and said it really did work wonderfully.

This day was really great. There was a tournament - with knights and horses. Something else that Alec had really enjoyed as a child.




If you have ever been to Medieval Times, you know how these things work. They are a little hoaky, but great fun. The fights and jousts are choreographed, but during the demonstrations of different skills, the guys are really trying to beat each other. One of the skills was snagging rings with the lance. The kids were very excited because they had just done that on the carousel in Paris.

Seeing the whole thing within the walls of a medieval city really made it special. Alec was translating for the kids, so they knew that the knight in gold armor was the Lord of Carcassonne and we all cheered for him and what the guys were saying to each other and the crowd. (it is a little like pro wrestling with some medieval trash talk.)




We had great seats, first row - right in the center.
The young girl next to me was chosen to tie a favor on a knight's lance. We were supposed to root for this guy, too.




I took the kids back for a swim, while Alec and Jef went to explore the actual castle. We went to the Mercure hotel down the street for dinner. The kids had pasta and we all had a nice salad and duck breast.
This cute thing is what their ice cream came in.




Moving on in the morning.

Hank's " chateau" in Bordeaux

Our next stop was at Alec's friend Hank's. He and his wife and daughter are restoring a French farmhouse into a bed and breakfast. They eventually will have holiday cabins, called gites which are more self service. Hank is a builder which is one thing which makes this plan even remotely reasonable.




They are restoring a bit at a time. Their kitchen will be featured on an HGTV program about before and after.



They have been collecting old furniture for the guest rooms.







They have 60 acres and so have horses, chickens and a donkey.




They all went down to the stream to look for frogs



I stayed by the pool




We had a great visit. Alec was very happy to see his friend again, and they gossiped about former colleagues and laughed about stuff that is funny later, but not so much at the time. Cindy made a fabulous confit de canard with haricot vert and potatoes from their garden. We drank wine from the area and had cheese to finish.

The Loire

Left Michelle's and drove directly to Chenonceau, the best chateau on the Loire.


This is the one that has the room that goes over the river. During WWII the line between free and occupied France ran right down the river and the resistance smuggled people out by taking them through the chateau. We also could see the kitchens and all of the equipment. They grow their own flowers for the arrangements that are everywhere.

Branwen wanted to know about every "princess bed" that she saw in the guide book, and made sure that we didn't skip any of them.

By the time we finished the chateau, it was 7:30 and we stopped in a small town and ate in an outdoor restaurant in the town square. The service gave slow a new name! The waitresses (only one and a half of them) had to go back and forth across the road. They only could do one thing at a time so it meant that they made many trips with open hands.

We still had to find our hotel and check in. The directions on line had been very strange but it was in a very very small town - how hard could it be? In the pitch dark of the French countryside? At eleven at night?

It turned out that this was an autoroute motel, but since we were not on the autoroute we couldn't drive directly to our room. You registered at the same place that you pay for gas. The lady gave us the code for the gate which was also the one for our room. The buildings looked like cell blocks from the outside, but were quite spacious and really comfortable in a minimalist kids of way.



It did have the best shower that we have had on the trip.


And free WiFi. Once I got over the weirdness of it, I would really recommend it to someone traveling on the autoroute - cheap and easy.