Final Photos....

Hey everyone...

We got in last night, after the usual long, trans-Atlantic flight. It's good to be home, though I'm already looking wistfully at our photos as they flash by on my computer's screen saver. Here are a few random ones to close out the blog. Thanks for reading!

Erin

The symbol of Spain...there were many of these all along the highway as we drove to Madrid.

This is a very famous bull, named Barbero. He almost killed a very famous matador.

At the bullfighting bar, with our little beers and gazpachitos in our hands...too bad you can't see the gory detail of the photos. Lots of blood and horns in places you wouldn't want horns to be. Thankfully, this is as close as we got to a bullfight.

Las Meninas by Velazquez...


...and re-interpreted by Picasso.

My favorite Raphael painting in the Prado...I love how thoughtful Mary's face is.

La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona...a 100 yr. construction project, just like in the Middle Ages.

Yes, chipmunks for sale. There was a pet market on the main shopping street full of crazy and seemingly illegal things to buy.

It's Barcelona...the Thinker is a bull, of course.

Collioure at night.

Not pictured: two delicious and quite large glasses of sangria.

I know, why a picture of a toilet? Because it was the TINIEST toilet I've ever seen. (Note my bag for obvious comparison purposes.) Taken at a McDonalds somewhere in France.

From the chateau...G w/2 suits of armor, whose hands we shook everytime we walked down from our room.

Pretty typical Bruges view. There were swans here too, just not in this picture.

Wish I could have bought all these little Belgian finger puppets...the picture will have to do.

Can you find me? This was our lovely A-dam hotel.

This is the photo from when we were really munchy in Amsterdam that one night...

e for erin...or actually just in the middle of a huge amsterdam sign that we climbed on.

Una noche en Granada...y ahora Madrid

View of Granada from the Alhambra palace

Gretchen, the tireless shopper...

Artsy, water-reflection photo.

Taking a break in the Alhambra gardens...

Jasim and I...his smile not in evidence, but it was nice.

Hey all...

Will update on Madrid in a moment, but wanted to review our last night in Granada first...it´s been a busy few days!

After touring the Alhambra we were busy shopping in the very Moroccan-feeling streets of the market in Granada. Actually, Gretchen was doing most of the shopping....I was following along the narrow and very merchandise-clogged alleys feeling a bit tired. She stopped to buy something, and as she looked around I started talking to the quite nice man that worked in the shop. Long story short, he asked to meet up later and take us to a tea house, to which I promptly said no, thanks. (We had planned an expensive, splurge dinner for that night.) I told Gretchen as we were walking away, and she convinced me to go back and say yes....so I did.

We agreed to meet in a few hours, and the rest of the evening was quite delightful...he was charming, an Iraqi doctoral student who is studying in Granada to be a professor. He bought us tea, and later we all got gyros for dinner and went to eat them near the moonlit river near the shadow of the Alhambra walls. Gretchen was a great chaperone to what turned out to be a lovely little date...she did leave to do even more shopping for a bit, but only after things seemed to be going quite fine. We said goodbye to him and caught the bus back to our hotel...and yes, I do have a picture, but cannot post from this internet place. Alas!

Early the next morning we made the drive all the way up to Madrid in order to make it to the amazing Prado museum here before it closed. For the art-loving readers of this blog, I must say that the Prado is perhaps the most impressive museum I´ve been to, save the Louvre. My favorite of all is Velazquez´Las Meninas, though I won´t bore you with many art details.

We are off now for one more touristic visit...the Royal Palaces...and then plan to have a last dinner with some last sangria(s) before we catch the plane tomorrow morning! It´s been great fun writing this blog, even more fun knowing that you all were reading, and great to read your comments. I know many of you read but didn´t comment...G & I were wondering how many, so if you don´t mind, drop me a line at eschweng@gmail.com and let us know! I plan to update one last time, with pictures, when we get back.

Hasta luego,
E & G

Eating at Abeula´s house

We found this fan in the Alhambra gardens...at least a 15 euro value!

Hola...

The tourist version of Granada is limited to a few big things: the biggest is the Alhambra palace, of which I will write more later. Also, there is the Albayzin, the best preserved Moorish quarter in Spain. It´s full of winding, cobbled streets, little whitewashed homes and buildings, morning glorys growing in mats over the stone walls, and crazy little red buses that go like mad through the tiny lanes. Not exactly clear on the bus system, we walked last night through the quarter, trying to find a little square that we´d read about in Rick that promised locals hanging out: grandmas gossiping, kids playing soccer, and great food. After some amount of confusion and stumbling up hills in the early evening heat, we managed to find the plaza we were looking for. Sometimes during a trip like this reality falls far short of what you´ve been imagining, often it´s even better, and sometimes, like last night, it´s just exactly right.

We sat down at the outside table of a little restaraunt whose sign promised sangria and gazpacho, our new favorite thing, and were greeted warmly by an older woman. As we ordered (the two things already mentioned, plus arroz con pollo and papas a la pobre), it became clear that her two little granddaughters were playing in the square right in front of us, being watched quite lovingly by their older brother. The food took a long time (I saw her go and get the raw potatoes for our potato dish), so we had ample time to soak in the atmosphere. It was quite a lovely evening.

Alas, there are no pictures from Abuela´s restaurant, but I´m attaching some photos we took at the Alhambra today. (oops...this computer only let me attach one!) It is a truly amazing place....a beautiful, highly decorated Moorish palace, but the gardens were my favorite part. They are huge, full of lovely plants, but best of all was the water....wherever you go you can hear it, burbling, trickling, and sometimes even roaring down little waterfalls.

Madrid mañana...

E

Traveling with a local

Chocolate con churros, at last! (we'd been trying to find them for a few days...)

The Alcazar gardens

more gardens...i was quite taken with them.

An example of the slow pace of life, or just a kind of lazy horse and buggy guy...

Our friend Matilde, the key to our lovely and tasty evening...

Hola todos...

Yesterday we had the pleasure of meeting up with one of our friends from work who is Spanish and comes here every summer with her family. She and her husband drove to meet us in Sevilla, and being with her as we trouped around town was amazing. Where usually we struggled to figure out what to order, and gingerly attempted to find new places and restaurants, having Matilde with us was a completely different experience. In very Spanish style, we ate and drank at three different bars/restaurants, stopping along the way at parks and plazas we hadn´t yet seen. Our three stops:

1. A little bar where we´d eaten before...but this time Matilde ordered a lovely, local, light summer white wine that was delicious. Unfortunately, the kitchen was low on food because of a big party earlier that day, so we moved on to...
2. A quite fancy restaurant where G & I probably never would have gone, but we were all thirsty from walking around and so we stopped in. As G & I were talking about how hard it was to get enough vegetables in our diet here, Matilde quickly solved that problem by ordering us all some gazpacho...wasn´t on the menu, but as she said, "It´s summer in Andalucia...of course they have it!" Indeed, as the waiter brought us huge wine goblets filled with thick, golden, garlicky gazpacho he said something to the effect of, "This is the real thing...not for the tourists." And really, words cannot describe how good it tasted to us last night. I am inspired to try to make some version of it when I get home.
3. Finally, on the hunt for some true tapas, we found a little restaurant right in our neighborhood where Matilde consulted with us and quickly ordered us fresh sliced and salted tomatoes, small chunks of fried fish, little plates of pork and potatoes, and, best of all, jamon iberica, which is the most expensive kind of cured ham here, made from black pigs that are fed nothing but acorns. It was so delicious that we are planning to smuggle some back to the U.S...hopefully customs will look the other way.

It seems that this has basically become a food blog, but just to balance I´ll throw in a few pictures from our tour of the Moorish/Christian Alcazar palace yesterday....we're off to get our rental car and then drive to Granada.

Salud!
E

Ah, Sevilla...

A scene from our neighborhood...Barrio de Santa Cruz. (Used to be Jewish until they kicked out and killed all of the jews in the late 1400´s and renamed it Holy Cross...)

Still life with zapatos nuevos, olivas, y sangria!

Sevilla street scene...notice the little flamenco dresses for sale.

press the bell, wait for the voice, place your order....

...and voila! so delicious, and cheap!

chocolate con nun cakes :)

Sevilla en la noche...

James Michener apparently said of Sevilla: "Sevilla does not have ambience, Sevilla is ambience."

We are certainly experiencing that to be true...hope the pictures can express a little of the atmosphere. The neighborhood we are staying in is full of tiny lanes, too small for even the smallest car, and even the bigger streets here necessitate a hugging the side of the building moment when taxis rumble past. Our hotel is one of those Rick Steves gems...called hotel Amadeus, and each room named after a different composer. (Ours is Mahler). There are pianos in various places, including a grand piano in the main room. A young man was playing various classical pieces, and the Amelie soundtrack, when we arrived. Also, there is a little machine that makes hot chocolate on demand, as well as this lovely computer with free internet access...check for added pictures to the Med. Sea entry below.

Last night, we headed out to a flamenco show. Not knowing what to expect, I must say that it was pretty great. The women: dark haired, serious, even pained expressions, tight dresses, and spot-on timing. The men: their job is to play guitar, sing loud wailing bits of songs, and clap and stamp the rhythm. We did see one male flamenco dancer who brought down the house and reminded me of what Chandler from Friends said about why he´s terrified of Lord of the Dance: "His legs move as if independent from his body!" In any case, flamenco gets 4 thumbs up from us...we´re hoping to go to some more casual places tomorrow and see some spontaneous flamenco in action.

Today was full of sights and sweets...we took a walking tour (with a lovely guide named Alfonso) of the old city and then met up with him again to tour the cathedral. Each time we were with only two other people, so we felt like we certainly got our money's worth. My favorite non-historical bit was when he talked about being a fan of the local soccer team, and how loyalty to a particular local team (there are two to choose from), is the most important gift parents give to their children. It spoke to my sports fan heart. Also, he gave us tips on where to buy the best little cakes in town...from nuns. You go to their cloister, ring a bell, and wait for them to ask what you'd like from behind the wall. When you place your order, the sweets appear in the lazy-susan, you put your money in it, and everyone's a winner! Gretchen took a movie of the whole transaction....pictures above.

Tonight we went out for some delicious tapas, more sangria, and then hot chocolate and the little nun cakes in our room for dessert. More of the same tomorrow, I suspect. Life here is delicious and deliciously slow....

e

Barcelona photos

at the Gaudi-designed Parc Guell...this was taken after our clif bar/warm water lunch.

well, i had a little headache that morning. could be sangria-related.

candy was not neglected at the market...

Some locals made fun of me for taking this picture, but i had to. i´ve never seen so much ham in one place!

Chocoloate Ronaldhino, at the chocolate museum. (there was also a four foot long Ben Hur chariot scene).

how i sometimes felt about modernista architecture...

a taste of Gaudi...it´s kind of pretty if you ignore the darth vader-ish balconies...

The Magic Fountains...our favorite thing in Barcelona.

Of Art Nouveau and Clif Bars

Hey all,

The title of this post basically sums up our entire day up until about 7 pm....we traveled this hot city (low 90´s) to see the various Gaudi sites, including the famous and not finished Sagrada Familia temple. Once there, we waited 20 minutes in line for the privilege of climbing the tower. We were very much looking forward to the view of Barcelona from the top, and so therefore very much confused when we, along with all the other tourists, got to the top, walked through an inside passage to the stairs down, and were told to descend. Hmm...we thought we must have missed something, but if we did, everyone else did too. Ah, well. It´s still quite an impressive site.

We then trekked across the city, (with a little help from the Metro) to a park that Gaudi designed...lots of mosaic lizards and whatnot. Some of it very beautiful, all a little strange. It was there, under the relative shade of the "100 columns market", that we broke into our lunch: peanut butter chocolate chip clif bars. This our usual, quite satisfying, daily meal. It saves money, time, and makes us more free to splurge on dinner. Although today, a hot smashed clif bar with water warmed from being in our bags all day wasn´t exactly...refreshing. :)

There is a great market here where we scrounged up dinner...fresh fruit, bread, and cured ham. Rick Steves promised a great dessert place with ¨pudding-like hot chocolate and churros to dip in it", but we could find it nowhere.

This blog seems to have become quite food focused, so here´s a shopping update: we successfully found absinthe today, and hope that U.S. customs won´t have a problem with a few bottles of it in my luggage. I´ve also decided somehow that what I most want for my "souvenir" are a pair of euro-style tennis shoes...maybe orange and brown, maybe velcro...but can´t find the right thing at the right price. (I always like the 89 euro ones, unfortunately). Also, I can´t keep Gretchen out of the various little jewelry and bead shops, so we´ve both indulged a bit in that area.

And finally, on a serious note, we´ve been watching lots of CNN at night in our room...and alternating between sadness and disbelief at how bad the Middle East situation has gotten so quickly. We´re wondering what the news is like in the US...and very aware how fortunate we are that our worst worries are pickpockets, late trains, and heavy baggage.

Tomorrow we take a short plane ride (instead of 10 hours on the train) to Sevilla, where the temperature today was around 100. Hooray!

Hopefully our place in Sevilla will let me upload pictures,
E

Sangria, Fountains, and Old Men

Hola todos!

We´re feeling very Spanish tonight, as we seem to have blended seemlessly into the cultural sense of time here...we had our late afternoon siesta, just finished dinner around 11 pm, and now are here in the internet cafe before we head back to our hotel.

Today was a busy day...we started with a walking tour this morning, in which we saw the foundations of the original Roman city. (OK, it was a kind of nerdy walking tour, but Gretchen was still willing to go with me). Then the chocolate museum, (Barcelona was the first European port of entrance for cacao from South America), and the Picasso museum before our siesta. The Picasso museum alternated between amazing stuff (his interpretations of Velazquez´Las Meninas, his Blue Period, his early art school work), some naughty bits (lots of sexual drawings he did when he first moved to Barcelona), and some silly things (neither of us were big fans of his ceramics). My strange favorite: a black and white photo of him staring seriously into the camera while holding a small owl. I´ve got the postcard version to show when I get back.

We´ve just roused ourselves from sleep to see some of the more modernista, Gaudi et al type buildings, then some sangria and little sandwiches at a great place nearby. Can´t say enough about the sangria...it´s so tasty! Also a little dangerous...too easy to keep drinking and drinking...

One last thing, and possibly the best thing in Barcelona so far: last night, we went to the Magic Fountains, which sounds cheesy, and will sound even cheesier without pictures and video to demonstrate. There is a huge fountain here, several levels, with multiple jets of water, and every half hour on the weekends they coordinate the jets with colored lights and a sort of top 100 classical music medley, and the result really is...magical. :) Those of you reading this who´ve been in Barcelona may disagree, but sitting there in the hot night with the cool spray drifting down, listening to the melody from Beethoven´s 9th symphony with lots of colored water doing dramatic things...we loved it. We also loved meeting the old man who introduced himself to us and chatted at length about how his dad helped build the fountain, how he had family in America, and how evil Franciso Franco was. He was a proud Catalonian indeed.

More tomorrow...we have one more day in this great but slightly overwhelming place..
E

11 hours...

...are all it takes for Gretchen and Erin to get from Collioure, France, to Barcelona. Actual distance can´t be more than a few hundred kilometers...one could drive it in a few hours. But because there are exhorbitant fees when you return a car in a different country than you rented it from, we turned in our car and had the train situation all planned out...catch the 8:56 morning train and be in Barcelona by 2 pm or so. But alas, we ran into our first major travel mishap so far...the 8:56 was full, and so we sadly watched it go and settled in to wait for the next train at 1:45! After all the waiting, including another wait for a different train at a different station, we finally dragged ourselves into our room here in Barcelona around 7:30 pm...over 11 hours after we left this morning. But, always looking on the bright side, we made some keen observations today we would like to share:

*It´s easy to feel very safe in the train station when there are young French marines with serious shades and automatic weapons walking slowly amongst the waiting travelers.

*It´s OK to stick out your tongue at rude, staring little girls on trains, especially when they stick their tongues out at you first.

*The latest Euro summer fashion for men: white capri pants. They are everywhere, and the thinner the material, the better. Not just for Rafael Nadal anymore...

*No one shushes their children on Spanish trains....or stops them from hitting each other with their seat cushions.

*The loudest folks on the train, almost without fail: British and Americans. (Not us, though, of course. We travel as quietly as mice, except when Mama "steps" on my toes.)

In any case, after car, train, metro, and bewildered stumbling with suitcases through the streets, we are here, we are OK, and we are still glad to be traveling....more on Barcelona, hopefully with pictures, to come!

erin

La Med...

a photo from taken at our dinner table...the restaurant name sounds cheesy but was quite good, and you can´t beat the location...

sunset along the coast

a very cute street, with very good shopping, in Collioure

toes + med. sea = sigh of happiness sometime this coming winter...

....the sea, that is, not the tasty restaurant!

We spent the day in Collioure in full vacation mode...on the beach in the hot sun, searching for sea glass, reading our novels, (I can't put Housekeeping down), and every once in a while hopping into the Med to cool off. Then a quick rinse at the beach shower and repeat....we took a picture today of ourselves at the beach that we promised we would put up in our classrooms to look at one dreary day in February.

Tomorrow we are off to Barcelona...and hopefully a better internet cafe..this one has great sangria but a very ancient and grumpy computer...

Cheers!
e

Eating our way through France...

Bonjour, toute mes amis...

And a report on our past few days:

The food has been great, hence the title of this post. I've included some pictures that still don't really do it justice. For instance, tonight we had roasted pork, fish terrine (tasted better than it sounds), followed by creme brulee. Last night was veal, cured ham salad, and a mirabelle tart for dessert. (Mirabelles are small white plums, thanks Deanna Lee :) It would be tricky to be vegetarians in this land of many meats.

Today we strolled through the big weekly market in our town, which was lovely and tempting in many ways. Among items we passed up are various homemade liquers, foie gras, various items made with hazelnuts and walnuts, all specialties of this area. What we did buy: fresh herbed goat cheese, homemade duck sausage, baguette (0f course), and delicious garlic/oil olive tapenade. I accidentally asked for 300 grams instead of 30, but somehow we still ate most of it. :)

This morning we went to see some rather amazing Cro-Magnon paintings, something Gretchen was particularly excited about...I was kind of along for the ride. We climbed the hill to the cave and walked with our little group through the narrow limestone passageways (sign posted outside said, in English "Beware, difficult for claustrophobic person, tickets no refunded"). We were just standing there, in the semi-darkness, and then the guide used a little laser pointer and asked us if we could see...and the oohs and aahs were audible and many. I was quite amazed, and glad we came. There were huge bison several feet long, reindeer, and some of the animals were painted and also etched into the walls. They knew about perspective, they used the natural contours of the walls to suggest movement...all of this around 15,000 years ago, and we still don't know WHY they did it!

Later this afternoon we drove around a bit and went to the 12th century castle at Beynac nearby....then back to our place in time for a swim and a nap before dinner and internet cafe-ing! Tomorrow we leave for the very very southern part of france, our last stop before Barcelona on Saturday.

Bye for now!
e

View of the Dordogne river from the castle Beynac.

The castle, of course.

Me, trying to look fierce beause i was in a castle, sitting next to swords.

Um, this was the castle latrine, built right into the wall of the bedroom. Gretchen is such a good sport.

Our lunch from the market.

Many, many sausage choices....

Paella and potatoes...and we're not even in Spain yet!

The only pictures allowed at the caves are....outside the caves.

I would want this house if I lived here :)

our pool ;)

gretchen is sitting outside our room...wish you could hear the buzzing of the many bees on the lavender and the beautiful and soft calling of the frogs and night...