Barcelona Again

Playground at the Villanova campground

30 March 2008: We woke at the crack of down to get Caitlin to the airport. I know, I shouldn’t complain. Life’s been pretty good when you only have to be somewhere by a certain time a couple times in a little over a month. It’s just that none of us could sleep that night for some reason. Then, the GPS wouldn’t send us the right way, and another mishap or two along the way. (Or, maybe it really was my brain that just couldn’t wake up!) Anyway, we at least still made it with over an hour to spare. (…and she was checking in for a domestic flight: Barcelona-Frankfurt-San Francisco.) We were already pretty stressed when the line to check in took a while. Then, when we got up there, the ticket agent said that for her 10:45am flight, that it was now 11:21am. I thought, “Oh great, she won’t have to be running to the gate!” But, she corrected my thoughts by further saying that the time changed, and it was an hour later than we thought. She also informed us that this was a worldwide change. Caitlin pointed out that in California, the time had changed 3 weeks ago. But, she didn’t seem to care… I suppose that it was a moot point, as her plane had already left. So, off to change her tickets! The only thing they had was for the next day, and for a fee, although not too outrageous. But, that was all we could do. I suppose, at least she wouldn’t miss any school, but wouldn’t have that extra day anymore to adjust to the time change. I seriously feel like our family hasn’t had the best of luck with scheduled flights this past year!

We decide to go into town after the airport, as we were running low on denero (cash) and wanted to get back to the one and only ATM in Spain that actually worked for us. Guess what – our old standby ATM decides not to work for us! I also needed to charge up our new cell phone with more minutes, which I see as an option to do on ATM machines. But, I tried on every ATM machine throughout the main area of Barcelona and no luck! The store where we bought the phone from was also closed. Last, we wanted to stock up on groceries before leaving Barcelona, but all the markets were closed as well!

So instead, lunch. We also didn’t have much luck with the first place we picked for lunch (The waiter rubbed me wrong, felt like he tagged us as tourists and tried to up-sell us everything in the place. But, what can you expect right on La Ramblas and open on a Sunday…) We promptly ate/drank what we started with and left for somewhere else. We loved the second place, another restaurant behind La Boqueria (closed on Sundays too!) called “Something Rouge”, a French restaurant. If you go to Barcelona, I’d definitely recommend anything behind La Boqueria as we’ve had great luck with two out of the three, and the third looked pretty awesome too. This place was muy (very) affordable too! It was almost the same price for a 3 course lunch, including drinks, which we paid for the 2 bites at the first place!

We returned back to the campground…for one more night. What we wanted to accomplish while we were there: do laundry, get wifi (especially so Caitlin could tell people back home she missed her flight) and get more water. The market with water was closed, the wifi wouldn’t reach our camper and, by then, we gave up on the laundry. So overall, we had a pretty frustrating day, except the nice lunch. I guess you can’t expect perfection all the time though!

Valencia and Back to Barcelona

The orange groves were neverending...


Our family in Gandia


Some pictures from Sitges


There was some big car rally going on, so they were making sand sculptures for it.

Spanish ham shop



27 March 2008: We were still on a mission for some sun and sand! So, further south we went towards Valencia. At the first campground we went to, it was still pretty windy. And unfortunately, not right on the beach like I thought, from the looks of it on the map. Instead, it was right along the bay water and no sand. But, they had a mini bull ring, mini go cart course, mini zoo and some other amenities that could otherwise divert your attention….IF it was a Saturday or Sunday, when everything was open! The place was kind of creepy, in a ghost town kind of way, since there was absolutely nobody there at all. So, further south we went!

We drove until we couldn’t drive no more, until we ended up in the town of Gandia. This campground was less creepy, but still we must have been spoiled by the last one or something. The facilities were sufficient, but they gave us this spot in between all these permanent caravans (you have to say it like Sean does… like Brad Pitt in the movie “Snatch”) that were covered, up, down and all around with tarps. In the morning, Sean woke up, looked out the window, and said he felt like he was in the middle of the San Jose Flea Market. (Sorry if you aren’t from the area, it’s hard to explain…) Anyway, at least we did find our sun and sand the next day, super fine, soft sand to be exact. We didn’t think it was going to be so nice, so we didn’t bring appropriate gear for laying out. But, we did dip our feet in the beautiful, bright blue water and frolicked in the sun for a bit until it was actually hard for me to motivate when it was time to leave. I do have to give honorable mention to the snack we picked up on the way out, one of the best empanadas so far, tandori pollo-filled. (OK, really I’ve only had one other, but still!)

Again, it’s amazing how fast it seems that time flew by. It was already Friday and we needed to head back towards Barcelona to drop Caitlin at the airport on Sunday. So we decided we’d better at least head halfway up. Somewhere along the way, I noticed there was a brief description on the Lonely Planet we picked up in Barcelona about how campgrounds work. Little did I know they are rated, usually “1” or “2”, similar to 4 star, 3 star, etc. hotels. The “flea market” place didn’t even have a rating! Boy did this make much more sense when we started looking for another place! The next place was a 1A, and facilities were nice, but we do have to admit that the décor was not our style – roman statues, fountains, shrubbery and plants everywhere…and I mean everywhere! The only way I could think of describing it is a not-so-updated senior mobile home park? I suppose that we just weren’t having much luck around the Valencia area….but whatever!

Friday, we headed to Villanova, the campground we first stayed when we arrived to Barcelona, thinking it would be nice for all of us to experience more, since we were kicked out after one late night and Caitlin hadn’t even arrived yet. The next town over was Sitges. Since it was a short drive, we decided to cruise through there and check it out. This is when Caitlin decides that she wants to move to Spain. And honestly, I can see why. This small villa, set right along the beach, was really charming. There was a promenade right along the sand…with a playground that we made a pit stop at for Kai, outdoor restaurants across the street for some good al fresco dining and people watching. And, set in from the beach were narrow, twisty, windy streets to stroll along with cool little shops to pop into. We had a lot of fun there. We definitely rolled into Villanova later than we expected, but the trip to Sitges was definitely worth it!

Barcelona to Tarragona

The village of Roda de Bara

26 March 2008: Our last day in Barcelona was a quick one. We were heading off down the coast to the region of Tarragona or the Costa Daurada, which is along the Mediterranean coast. But, we wanted to make a quick trip into the city for some shopping since stores were closed the past few days. We got a new cell phone (yea!) Unfortunately, we are STILL trying to figure out how to use it as all the directions are in Spanish, and it calls with recordings and text messages in Spanish. I also seem to think the country code’s three different things! Yes, we are a bit lost, but at least I was able to call out to our bank to clear a couple issues we’ve been having… Anyway, if you have any suggestions or want to talk, feel free to email me or leave a comment on the blog and I’ll reply back to you.

After a short drive, we arrived at another mega resort campground, Playa Bara Park in the village of Roda de Bara. Some amenities include: a large pool area with waterslides and swim up bar, amphitheater, fitness gym, supermarket, hair salon, disco club, arcade, etc. Today, we pretty much vegged-out. After a slow morning and some catching up on the computer (there’s wifi from the camper, not free though), we strolled down to the beach. Unfortunately, there was no laying-out in the sun as a storm seemed like it was blowing in. So, what do we do? Yes, we go out for lunch…again! After that, there was more laziness at the camper until we finally motivated/digested and took Kai for some playground time. We played for a bit, and then discovered a mini-golf course, so we goofed around there, wrote postcards, etc. So, yep! Although we were ready for some lazy beach time, we still were able to make it a lazy day! We’re heading further south tomorrow….

Barcelona: Gaudi, Caitlin’s Birthday & Tapas

23 March 2008: The next two days were pretty much dedicated to seeing Antoni Gaudi’s work, eating tapas, drinking sangria, celebrating Caitlin’s birthday and seeing a little of Barcelona too! We had a good morning sleeping-in on Easter Sunday, after staying up late and catching up with Caitlin’s arriving the night before. After that, we headed off to Gaudi’s Park Guell, which is set up on top of a hill with a view of the city. So, we were lucky that it was a very clear day. It was originally designed as a residential community for the elite, but ended up doing better as a public park. Gaudi was originally a building architect, but tried his hand at landscape architecture in this park which also has a few of his buildings. If you haven’t seen his work, it’s very unique and hard to describe, more free form than the conventional. From afar, certain parts look like an advanced caveman project with lots of structures built from stone that somehow look like drippy stalactite/melted candle wax looking stuff. But as you get closer, you see that there was a method to his madness as the structures are actually based on linear lines. He also likes to incorporate wavy lines and intricate tile mosaic, both of which I find so beautiful. We have some true admiration for his work and love his style!

After the park, we headed back down to town and headed our for a “tapas crawl”, which is what I heard is how Spanish start their evening out, followed by dinner around 10pm. (Although, I knew we weren’t going to end with dinner at 10pm with a 2 year old in tow!) The first place didn’t have a few things that I wanted to try, so we headed off to another place. (Mind you, we were limited to places that were open on Easter, so most likely the more touristy places.) Anyway, by the second place, we were already stuffed, so that was it.

The next day, Caitlin’s birthday, we started by heading off to town for…yes, even more tapas, for lunch this time. After, we took a walk down La Rambla again, so Caitlin could experience the freak show for herself. We also cruised around the Port Vell area and checked out the touristy shopping mall over there (but no, for you shoppers out there, we didn’t score any goods). After that, we strolled over to the other side of town to see yet another one of Gaudi’s projects, the Sagrada Familia, a HUGE cathedral and definitely a great Gaudi grand finale! …with a pitstop for Kai at the playground set right in front of the cathedral. Gaudi actually died in the middle of this project and it’s still a work in progress after over 100 years. It’s THAT huge! Again, words or pictures just can’t describe or show the size or scale of this. But, we would definitely recommend that this is a must-see! We actually saw a couple of his other buildings that are scattered throughout the city in the couple days here. Again, they are so unique, you can’t miss them!

Late in the afternoon, we were getting pretty pooped. So, back “home” we went for dinner and Caitlin’s birthday “cake”. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to pick-up a proper dessert for the occasion, so her “cake” ended up being a thin mint Girl Scout cookie that she brought from the states (along with many more other goodies – it was like she was Santa on Christmas!), on top of a jar lid, with a travel candle on top of that. Hopefully, she enjoyed her birthday nonetheless!

So in case you are interested, here is a list of our top tapas plates: calamare romanesca (fried calamaris, even Kai ate them), pan con tomate (my fav…bread, toasted is better, with really ripe tomatoes smeared on it, with olive oil and salt), albondigas (meatballs, definitely the best in Pamplona!), little chorizo sausages (can’t exactly remember the name, but it’s Kai’s fav), olives (I now eat them habitually at “home”), chicken wings and alcachofas (artichokes). Honorable mention also has to go to the paella, definitely Sean’s favorite! Caitlin seems to have liked it all, except sardines and anchovies. Oh, and she enjoyed but was sad to eat the cuttlefish, something to do with bonding with them in Palau over the summer. Last but not least, all is best washed down with sangria. There’s one made with cava that’s good too! But, as much as I’ve loved the Spanish food…and yes, it seems we’ve been eating a lot of it lately… Today, I was actually craving Mexican. (Casa Lupe to be exact!) But, I guess that, at least decent stuff’s, going to have to wait until we get back to the states.

Happy Easter from Barcelona!

23 March 2008: We arrived to Barcelona, Spain, on Wednesday and got a new keyboard to attach to my laptop. Boy, this will be fun to carry around! But, we’re back in business! Yea! Now, I have to get used to typing on a Spanish language keyboard where many keys are different. Anyway, let me try to catch up since when the keyboard stopped working.

Tuesday night, we were still in Oto, in the middle of the Pyranees mountains. I thought we were just going to get some free Wifi, tapas and drinks at their restaurant. Sean wanted to see what else they had to eat and all the sudden we had the whole family coming out with a full-on home-cooked dinner! Though not fully sick, I think I had one baguette too many in San Sebastian. I don’t do wheat very well, but there’s fresh hot baked bread around every corner, so it’s hard to avoid. I felt like the universe delivered what I needed when this nutrient-dense and stomach soothing bowl of chicken soup sat in front of me. Next, some type of meat and potato stew. We didn’t know it was until everyone started giving the universal sound “Baaaaah”. Yep, it was sheep. And, it was pretty good for having sheep for the first time. Actually, I first thought it was oxtail, as it tasted just like what my mom used to make. After dinner, Muriella-Marta, cook, mother and the lady who seems to run everything, sat at our table for some conversation. She didn’t speak English and we barely speak Spanish, so we all struggled with language issues. Still, it was great to connect with this wonderful soul anyway!

Wednesday, we were on a mission to get back to civilization, to Barcelona. We blew all the cash we had on dinner the night before, except for a few coins. The ATM wasn’t working for us AND we read that, if pulled over, the police can demand bail on the spot. If you don’t have enough, they can impound your vehicle and take you away. It ended up being approximately 420 kilometers, but we made it. We went from being in the middle of the mountains (passing by many cars with skis/snowboards on their cars, wishing we were one of them!) back to flat land real quick! It’s interesting how those Pyranees seem to shoot up from nowhere. From flat land, the landscape then turned dessert-like. We think this part of the land was undersea at one time. Yeah! We were getting near the Mediterranean!

We arrived at Vilanova Park, a large luxury mega campground 40 minutes outside Barcelona. They had an indoor pool, carwash, petting zoo, etc. And yes, they took credit cards. But, their ATM machine STILL wouldn’t give us cash! We would have loved to stay, but we were only allowed for one night, so we never really got to see what they had to offer. They were fully booked after that because of the upcoming Easter weekend. Oops! I guess we should have planned better, but at least we had a place to stay that night.

Thursday morning, we were back to finding a campground for the weekend. We got lucky at El Masnou, 20 minutes on the other side of Barcelona, where they didn’t have a problem with us staying for the weekend. Definitely, there’s a different vibe at this place, more like a sleepy Mexico-like campground. But, it’s across the street from a sandy beach and the train that takes you into town in 20 minutes and we’ve got the best spot in the house – up on the terrace overlooking the beach.

Our next mission was to test out the train, get into town and stock up for Caitlin’s arrival since we figured everything would be closed for Easter Sunday. We made it into town, but everything was closed that day too. It look us a day to figure out why, but they were closed on Friday for Good Friday, open on Saturday and then closed again for Easter Sunday and the Monday after (which is also a national holiday). I should have known, since Caitlin was born on a Good Friday! At least, we were entertained with a walk down La Rambla, their huge main pedestrian street with not only the “standard” all-gold painted street performers but lots of other freaks in every size, shape, color and gimmick. This street was sooooo packed with people, it was crazy! I don’t know if it’s like that all the time, or if more crowded with the Easter holiday. But, if you ever go there, hold on to your valuables and loved ones TIGHT!!! San Francisco is so mellow compared to Barcelona!

Saturday, we went back into town while stores are open again. After the computer store for a keyboard, we went to La Boqueria, which is the largest market in Spain. It’s like a Farmer’s Market in California, except huge, under a roof and on steroids. SO HUGE, so crowded, but SUCH fresh, yummy-looking food! We got strawberries, veggies, fresh-pressed juice, a rotisserie chicken (“Best ever!” according to Sean), more olives, some of the best fresh-baked bread so far (yes, more…), jambon (ham), etc. We opted for lunch at a restaurant in the back called La Gardunya. It felt like we waited forever, but I think that’s their standard pace. Anyway, it was definitely worth the wait! Sean had Paella Valencia and I had this sopa de fruita del mar (seafood soup) and THE freshest salad I’ve had so far. I’m sure they get all their ingredients right there. Last, we followed up with a trip to El Corte Ingles, a large department store in the center of the city, not for shopping, but they have a Supermercado (grocery store) in the basement for some organic wine, olive oil and other essentials.

Then our next mission, to get to the airport! It was pretty strange getting on an airport shuttle with groceries instead of luggage. But, we got there at least an hour before Caitlin’s flight. After waiting almost an hour, her plane should have been landing. But for some reason, something didn’t seem right, don’t ask me why. I stopped by an information booth and found out we were in the WRONG terminal! I could just imagine my poor daughter in a strange country for the first time alone, sitting there wondering where we were and neither of us had phones that work in Spain! Fortunately for us, her plane was delayed for almost an hour. So, we picked her up, he had her first Spanish train ride “home”, ate dinner, talked her ear off all night (Sean and I have really only talked to ourselves for over a month!) and showed her some of our pictures. It’s going to be a tight fit in the camper now, but I think we’ll live.

pics at least of nyc …& some from our former home

Hi! hard to type, but, free wifi at our campground – yea! So, here are some pics at least of nyc …& some from our former home. (sorry no captions & hopefully the link works. let me know....) love sean, kai and me.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=1521ukl3.1uhms9kv&Uy=-yn6kim&Ux=0

Pamplona and Oto

17 March 2008: OK this is going to be interesting, I spilled some wine on my keyboard (inevitable in a small space, I guess), and now the 4, 5, v, b, g, f, r, and t buttons don’t work. I have to paste them in….urgh! So, short version… please email me if you have any suggestions.

good luck on getting the kombucha and more groceries. We also got our gps working. Gps comes with 4 data cds, by region, and the northern one didn’t work but south does. Progress!

Then, hit the road towards Barcelona, 2 Pamplona. Not that far, maybe 40 min. away, so easy drive. Its known for the running of the bulls. But, we didn’t even go in town. We had a lazy day, grande lunch while Kai had a great time playing on the playground and just hung at the campsite

Then, 2 Oto. Again, not too far of a drive. The Pyranees are stunning! Huge mountains, some snow topped (there’s skiing/snowboarding if you go high enough), and grand valleys and canyons! Each place we go 2 just amazes me, each in its own unique way! Took lots of pictures and will share, but unfortunately will probably be later due 2 downloading limitations. Internet in Europe is not accessible or fast for downloading pictures as in the US.

San Sebastian, Spain

16 March 2008: From Biarritz, we headed toward San Sebastian, Spain, which is about 20-30 minutes away. After well over an hour, we took a “scenic drive”, rather than the “autoroute” (highway), down the coast along the flat lands and pine trees of France into Spain, which starts to get more mountainous. It’s amazing how you can make such a short drive and really feel like you are in a different country. The architecture, as well as the language on the signs, changed with a blink of the eye! Now, it was Sean’s turn to read the signs and talk to people. He took Spanish and I took French classes.

It was less than eventful going over the border into Spain. We were warned of border crossings, especially Spanish ones, which consisted of car searches and guards with machine guns. But, we actually don’t even know when we crossed the border, just like when we got into Belgium. As a matter of fact, the only indication that we crossed a border was when we went into France, we drove by something off the side of the freeway. We couldn’t tell what the signs said either.

Anyway, we continued up the hills and though some tunnels. Knowing that San Sebastian is a beach town, yes, we were lost AGAIN! We had some good luck finding places in the northern part of France. But by now, we knew that it would have been nice to get the GPS in our vehicle working! I need to try again. After looping around the outskirts of San Sebastian at least 4-6 times, looking for the campground, we decided to go into town. We finally got our bearings straight by seeing the water. San Sebastian surrounds a bay with an island in the middle of the bay opening, and on both peninsulas are hills. Our campground was on top of one of those hills. This was one instance where seeing the land did us better than looking at the map.

St. Emilion might have made my heart skip a beat, but I actually physically grasped my heart this time, as I looked out from our camp sight to see the view of the Pyrenees Mountains. Seriously! (Unfortunately, we’re not on the ocean side of the mountain, but still.) It rained for short bits as we drove down and even thunder/lightning a couple times. (Boy, we’ve had good luck with the rain the past week or so! It’s only rained on our driving days, and not our “sightseeing” days. I hope I’m not jinxing myself again! ) But, the sky cleared when we arrived at the campground, and this wonderful rainbow appeared in the scenery, just to make it that much better!

The next day, I struggled to say “Gutten Morgen”(sp?)/”Good Morning” to the German fellow a couple sights over from our spot, as English is my native tongue, French is still translating through my head, and I’m trying to think in Spanish. Yes, I was confused. Gotta love Europe! The weather was clear with a bit of wind. We took the bus down the hill and strolled along the beautiful, bright blue ocean and sprawling sandy beach, then had a mid-day drink with some tapas, including some excellent calamari, just as the locals were doing. The waves were good and I almost wanted to get into the water, but didn’t have a board and didn’t see any rental shops, even though there were guys riding the waves on kayaks and one paddle boarder. Eating and drinking was the next best thing anyway.

Most of the shops were closed, but we needed at least a couple things to eat to get us by, since we never found that market near Biarritz. Luckily, the bakeries are still open on Sundays. When picking up a loaf of pan (baguette), still warm, we were blessed that one of the local women actually walked us over to a small mercado (micro 7-11 size store) for a bottle of vino tinto/Rioja wine, cheese and salami. So, along with the bread, that got us by. We’ve been eating, our share of cheese and sliced meat (ham or salami) sandwiches, made with bagette, with butter instead of mayonnaise. Definitely not our normal protocol back in California! With some wine for me and beer for Sean, it’s actually quite good. OK, our butter happens to be organic olive oil margarine, but still! The market we went to happened to be next to a Bio market that was closed, but guess what I saw when peering into the window….bottles of kombucha!!!!! Wow…it’s almost like a dream come true! I can’t wait to see if they’re open tomorrow, as we’ll try to stop by as we leave town toward Barcelona. Wish me luck!

Hossegor and Biarritz

Biarritz

Hossegor

14 March 2008: Today, we woke up to the smell of ocean air….ahhhh! After trekking back into downtown Biarritz, we had another grand lunch (but not as good as St. Emilion) and then dessert from a Patisserie. We didn’t spend as much time there as we wanted to. Instead, we headed to Hossegor for some shopping. The weather’s getting warmer and warm-weather clothes would be nice. I can only convince Sean to do any shopping if there are two motives: it’s shopping at a surf shop and if he needs something too. Luckily, he wanted to see if he could find better walking shoes.

Kai was napping when we arrived, so we detoured to the beach while she napped. Guys were suiting up and taking their boards out into the water, Sean found a rental board and the rest is history! When he came out of the water, he was pretty worked. The waves were closing out pretty fast. All I could see were guys going over the falls right and left. So, as much as I would have loved to just jump into the salt water, I passed.

We headed back to the town and shops of Hossegor. We had little luck on the shopping, but it was fun just to look. After getting WAY lost trying to find a bio market, we took the wrong exit, we gave up and parked back at our free spot in Biarritz for the night. We were going to go back to the other campground, but it was late and they close the gates after a certain time of the night. Although you can still get in, it’s a pain to page someone to let you in. I figured it wouldn’t be worth the cost of the campground. Since it was so late, we wouldn’t be able to really use their facilities anyway. But, after 2-3 days of no showering, we’re soooo ready to head down to San Sebastian, Spain (a 20-30 minute drive) and get cleaned up again!

Originally after San Sebastian, we’d go to Madrid, South to the Mediterranean coast and along to Barcelona. But, we decided to take things slower, since that’s how it’s going anyway. So now, we’ll spend a couple days in San Sebastian and head over The Pyrenees mountains right to Barcelona to pick up Caitlin for 9 days. (Sean says that The Pyrenees is where the Tour de France starts.) After picking up Caitlin and seeing Barcelona, we can decide what other parts of Spain we can conquer.

The past few nights I’ve had a couple of dreams of being back home. But in the dreams, we are just there for the time being and going back to our trip. So, I guess I’m a bit homesick, but still want to be here. Neither of us have had the “oh sh** moment” that our friend Bart, who went on a 2 year trek like this one, said we’d have. I think I had quite a few minor moments as we left, but we shall see! There are a couple things that I haven’t been able to find here. Last night in my dream, I was chugging down mass amounts of kombucha, that we used to brew and drink at home. We did “smuggle” a kombucha scoby in our cooler when we flew here. But, I don’t know if it died when accidentally frozen in the fridge in NYC, we haven’t found a jar to brew it in, and don’t know how it would work being in a moving car when you’re supposed to leave the top open. Besides that, I’m been contemplating asking someone to go to Whole Foods for a couple of supplements and send to Cait to bring to me. But, am still trying to hang tough and live without.

I’m really starting to enjoy writing my daily blog entries. It seems that we are seeing so much and doing so many different things that it’s a good way for me and my swiss-cheese memory to remember what we did and how I felt. Sean originally was going to contribute to the blog too, but he’s busy keeping up with his journal. He’s been pasting ticket stubs and postcards into it, drawing sketches and writing about what we’ve seen. It’s looking pretty good and I can’t wait until it’s finished. But, too bad it can’t be shared online.

Biarritz

13 March 2008: We took a half hour drive down to Biarritz to check it out and finally get back online. Known for it’s surfing, it’s also a large resort town. The rugged coastline, with still HUGE waves today, was impressive. Also along the coastline, all lined-up, are huge mega hotels. Although usually not impressed by something like that, these have such awesome old architecture that you can’t help but like it. France is just so beautiful! I hope to check out the Centre Ville (downtown area) a bit more tomorrow. Wearing the same four things for almost a month is not as hard as I thought, but wouldn’t mind browsing. I hate to be so materialistic, but...

We thought that we were going to stay in Ondres, but in Biarritz we stumbled upon a camperstop that had the beach and an even huger playground for Kai right across the street, electrical/water hookups AND was free because it’s off season! (Instead of $25-30/night.) The difference between a camperstop and a campground is that a camperstop is more like a parking lot for campers, maybe a few facilities or none, and cost less, if not free. Sometimes they are merely highway rest stops designated for campers. But, since there is no shower here, so we won’t stay for long. Although there are several Thelassotherapy (sea water therapy) spas down the street. I’m tempted to check it out. Sean’s pretty excited to wake-up and look across the street to check out the waves.

Last night, I did have a better laundry experience. Now that we’re out of the city, we were able to park the camper right outside in the parking lot. While the clothes were washing and drying, I made dinner and we watched a movie. Wow! That was so easy!

Ahhh….the coast!

Kai picking flowers

The big sublevel jumpy thing




12 March 2008: We did another drive today, down the coast, but it was only an hour away. We left Arcachon and checked-into Camping du Lac, Ondres. There is definitely now a coastal feeling in the air and the temperature keeps rising (yea!), although the Atlantic wind still blows.

The other night, I popped a surf DVD, Seedling, in the computer, watching it for the first time. It showed a beach scene with a flag that was whipping around really hard. I joked that it must be a French beach and the next caption said “France in the Summer”. Then, it showed some awesome surf footage. So, I guess if the wind swell is hitting right, that’s a good thing.

Ondres is right between Hossegor and Biarritz. We are getting a little sick of the road by now, but this was the last stretch and now we’ll rest for a couple days. We needed to do some catching up on the driving because we were about three days late from our “schedule”. The “schedule” is of course fairly loose, but I also don’t want Caitlin to be sitting at the Barcelona airport next week, for three days, celebrating her birthday, while we rush to get there.

Although there were a couple surf spots on the Arcachon map, we are closer to most of the French surfing spots. This spot feels more like “home” than any other so far, just the same as Santa Cruz makes me feel. J The houses have a Hawaiian/tropical feel, but still a bit French. I wonder how many are lived in year round. In Hossegor, the main street was filled with surf company stores: Roxy/Quicksilver, Rip Curl, Billabong, Reef, etc. I think Roxy/Quicksilver’s European headquarters is in the area. It felt so good to breathe the salty beach air again, although the waves were not surfable due to the recent storm we experienced. Hopefully, it will settle in the next couple days.

The campground here has a WONDERFUL playground, with this ground-level bubble/trampoline thingy. Kai is having a great time here! We are enjoying our camper van. It’s kind of a funny, tall and short thing, but very comfortable. Although, you have to get used to ducking your head and walking sideways from the “living room” to the “kitchen”. Kai and I have been eating cheese with almost every meal, egg-baked products and wheat. Neither of us have had a problem digesting it. This is amazing considering how much allergic reaction we had when living in California. I wonder why, but am very grateful!

Saint Emilion, Gujan-Mestras and Arcachon

Kai in St Emilion


Passing through some random town with a big boat

11 March 2008: We got a good, early start this morning and headed straight to Saint Emilion. As we got closer, there were more and more grape vines. Each vineyard had what you would think as the epitome of a beautiful, large French chateau. Our hearts skipped beats as we drove. Then, our hearts melted when we got to town! This small village was very old, dating back to the 8th century with pristine stone buildings and cobblestone streets. It’s built somewhat like a fortress on top of a hill, overlooking the wine growing valley. I’m sure this place is heavily visited during the high season, and I can see why! We hit the closest restaurant for some wine and local cuisine where we had some Kir Vin Blanc to start (I prefer Kir Royal, made with Champagne, but this with white wine was good too), foie gras (Sean never had it), roasted duck breast and sea bass for lunch and a few glasses of red wine to wash it all down with. We were pretty fat, dumb and happy when we left!

Our next mission was to head to the coast, maybe about an hour away, to Gujan-Mestras, for some oysters that I heard about in a magazine article (Conde Nast Traveller, I think) about a year ago. Nothing fancy, just eating them on picnic tables right on the docks where they farm them. For 6 Euro ($9USD), you get a half dozen oysters, lemon, bread/butter (they were out, but we didn’t care) and a glass of white wine. For 10 Euro, you could get a dozen with the same package. Mission completed, and they were good, but we’ve had better, and not without a wild goose chase to find the docks. We kept getting turned around, and somehow went in circles through that town.

Next, we headed down the street to our campground in Arcachon. Again, this time with maps in hand from the Tourist Office, we kept getting all turned around and did a few more laps. I guess all that patting myself on the back from finding Bayas the day before jinxed me or something!

Nantes to Bayas

10 March 2008: Aujourd hui, vous allee a Chene du Lac camping en le petite ville du Bayas, en route a la Saint Emilion/Bordeaux aire. Le directions c’est en Dutch. Et, le ville et le autoroute D247 n’est pas en le atlas. Mais voila, vous ici! Je vior tres vineyards et congac-eries(?) en route. C’est tres bon! Pardon moi. Je parle et escribe France tres mal. Mais, je n’ attend pas le deux ans de lessons du France en 22 ans. C’est la vie!

(Today, we went to the Chene du Lac campground in the small town of Bayas on the way to the Saint Emllion/Bordeaux area. The directions were in Dutch. And, the town and the street D247 (to go into town) were not in the atlas. But voila, here we are! I saw a lot of vineyards and congac-makers on the way. Everythings great! Excuse me. I speak and write French very bad. But, I haven’t attended my two years of French lessons in 22 years. Such is life!)

The camping season in France doesn’t usually open until April and there are only a few open year-round, so we have to seek them out. Originally, we were going to go straight to the coast. But, I wanted to also see Saint Emillion and didn’t want to back track. Kailani’s sick again, but just a bit of a cough. The past two days of driving are probably good for her after not napping through the two days of sightseeing in Paris. We get on the road right before her nap time, and the car ride keeps her sleeping well. The wind was fierce on the drive with our high-top camper blowing all over. So, Sean was driving with white knuckles the whole way. I was stressing a bit over finding the campground. But, we’re here!

Paris to Nantes

09 March 2008: Today, we were planning on hitting the road and we woke up to a bit of rain. The day before when we went sightseeing, the sky was absolutely clear. So, I guess we really lucked out with the weather. (Did I ever mention that our campground sits right on the edge of the Seine River? Not a bad way to wake up in the mornings!) Although it’s still chilly and we’ve caught some sprinkles walking around here and there, overall it’s getting a bit warmer than Amsterdam, so we’re grateful for that.

We left Paris going west for the Atlantic coast and traveled along the north edge of the Loire Valley, with a great view looking into it. It’s known for wine making and several huge chateaux, because it was the summer getaway spot for rich and powerful Parisians. We first got off route and ended on this beautiful country road through a foret (forest), nice little waterfall and all. It costs a lot to drive on toll freeways, so we’re experimenting with driving on secondary roads. We thought I’d be more scenic that way too. But, after a couple hours of that, it was time to go fast on the freeway again. It doesn’t really matter. There’s some great scenery off the freeway and we drove by beautiful farmland and an absolutely HUGE cathedral in Chartres. It rained on and off. A couple times we could barely see out the window, and it hailed once. But Sean’s a great driver.

The city of Nantes isn’t anything much, but we’re just here for the night en route to the Bordeaux region. The campground is nicely maintained and it would have been fun to stay a few days to take advantage of their mini-golf and playground if the weather was nice. They have wi-fi access here too. Now, the rain’s subsiding and Sean just cooked us a hearty egg breakfast, so we should be hitting the road in a bit.

Sightseeing in Paris

Sculptures at the Louvre


07 March 2008: So, now that we settled down in Paris, it was time to do some sightseeing and be less creepy. Today, we took the bus/Metro to the Arc de Triumph. It was a great beginning to our tour to Paris, because you can go to the top and get “the-lay-of-the-land”.

From there, we walked down the Avenue des Champs Elysees, over to an English bookstore (for some books to read to Kai at bedtime) and by the Jardin des Tuileries to the Musee du Louvre back entrance, through the shopping mall. Yes, of course I’d know where the shopping mall is… ;-) But, I also had to prove to Sean there was one, as well as a food court. They say you can bypass the lines at the front entrance/pyramid when entering. The lunch at the food court was….well…food court food. We were hungry, it was there. Then, we set out for The Louvre’s Denon wing to see the Mona Lisa, an Aphrodite (aka Venus) sculpture, the architecture of the museum itself and just the grand size of it all! Again, this was the least favorite part of the day for Kai. You can only tell her to “look at the pretty pictures” so many times. So, time to go!

As the afternoon faded, we crossed the Seine River and jumped on the Metro over to the Eiffel Tower. The funny thing about it, coming above ground from the Metro, we didn’t see the Eiffel Tower right away, because it’s so close! But, we got there just as the sun was setting and they were turning the lights on. There was still a line, so we missed being at the top of the tower as it got dark. But, it was still such a magnificent sight with it all lit up! I know some people don’t see any beauty to it. But, I would have to disagree after experiencing it like that!

08 March 2008: Today, took the Metro out to the other side of town to the Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise (Pere Lachaise Cemetery) to visit Jim Morrison’s grave. This was something I wanted to 3 years ago, on my one-day-on-the-way-home-from-working trip, but didn’t get a chance to. I heard that the Mona Lisa could be disappointing for some, but this was probably a little closer, because the statue of his head that used to be on the gravestone was missing. None-the-less, it was pretty cool to finally make it there and pay homage to Jim, who we think was a great artist too!

After stopping to see Notre-Dame real quick, we took the Metro back to the market we went to a few days ago, That street was buzzing with vendors and shoppers that night. And, we got the most over-the-top street “grub” I’ve ever had when we got home. We were pretty wiped out by then. The past 2 days in Paris was a lot of walking, and we’re ready to hit the road, West, to the coast. It feels like it’s been forever since we’ve been at the coast!

Strange things in Paris

5 March 2008: Our next day in Paris was all about stocking up again. I know, it seems to be my theme, but some things don’t change when you are feeding a growing kid, right? Anyway, getting to a Paris bio market (yea, we found one!) was a good way to “test” our skills with getting around the city. And, it wasn’t as bad as the map looks confusing. Actually, it was pretty easy. Bus to the Metro Line 1, to the Metro line 2, go down a couple stops, and figure out where the street the market was on. I do get a bit confused though, then streets are arranged like bike wheel spokes. Also on that street/alley, there were some GREAT stalls/vendors with produce, seafood, and other specialties. It was almost like a farmer’s market. The strawberries were AMAZINGLY red and shiny! The flowers were so fresh, vibrant and beautiful. As were everything else we saw… It was so fun to shop like a Parisian!

We also decided to get some laundry out of the way. Unfortunately, the facilities at the campground were out of order. We had a big bag of clothes and being somewhat lazy, we thought we could maneuver the camper 3-4 blocks down the street to a Laundromat rather than carrying it, and Sean could drop me off while I throw the clothes in a machine. There was a homeless, gypsy-looking lady in there, not doing any laundry, singing and talking to herself and smoking even though there was a large sign of a cigarette and a red circle and slash going over it. I fumbled to figure out how to use the machines, reading French. And, as I was throwing laundry in, she tapped me on the head and said who-knows-what to me. She kind of freaked me out! I guess I was over reacting, but after that, I was paranoid to leave our clothes. And wouldn’t you know it, ONE round of the washing machine took at least 1 ½ to 2 hours. That’s the longest I’ve EVER seen a wash take! And, it completely thrashed our clothes. Whites were grey, blacks had lint all over them, sweaters out of shape and ragged at the edges. Oh well, at least they’re clean. All the while I was standing outside in the cold as to not breathe smoke fumes or have her talk to me. Meanwhile, Sean’s circling a crazy neighborhood full of rush-hour traffic. It was getting late, and there was no WAY I was about to stay for them to dry! And, wouldn’t you know it, she was kicked out by a maintenance guy as we were driving away.

The next day, it was raining when we woke, and Kai had a fever. I guess she caught it from me. So, it was all about taking it easy, which was just fine. We returned to a quiet, “daytime” Laundromat to finish the clothes and then headed to a café where I saw a “free wifi” sticker a few days before. Luckily, I was able to get connected, do some fixes and my computer seems to be working again….crossing my fingers!

Upon returning to the campsite, a camper a couple spots over from us was being hermetically sealed off with tape and white tarp and a bunch of people taking pictures of it. At first, I thought “it couldn’t be that they’re fumigating the thing for termite damage like they do for buildings!” Then, creepy thoughts started running through my head. I started to remember that, as we were driving off a couple hours earlier, there were a couple guys already there, and it seemed as though they could have been dusting the vehicle for fingerprints. Their cars weren’t police cars. And, I didn’t seem them put up yellow “Scene de Criminal” tape around the perimeter. There were no dead bodies laying there. (Maybe they were removed while we were gone.) But, something was definitely fishy! So, if anyone sees anything about “Paris Campground” in the news, either email me or post a comment on this blog. Getting connected while on the road isn’t that accessible or frequent thus far. But, let me know AFTER Sunday, after we leave. Again, I suppose being in a large, strange city is getting the best of me. But, some actual fun in Paris is on the way!

Amsterdam to Saint Saveur, Belgium

Our morning view

3 March 2008: From Amsterdam, we arrive halfway between Brussels and Tournai to Saint Saveur, Belgium. As we left the Brussels area, it was rush hour and we seemed to miss our exit. Again, things go by faster than the US. So, we turned off at a gas station to get our bearings again. In that part of Belgium, everyone speaks French and my 2 years of high school French definitely did not come to me quickly! Luckily, it’s starting to come back. After a couple minutes of figuring it out with hand signals, we were in the right direction again. We have a GPS in the vehicle, but somehow can’t figure it out. I think the system’s not recognizing the data CD that it needs.

When we arrived to the campground, it’s dark and we were up a hill. We parked and looked out to an awesome view of the lights of a valley. It was a great view while eating our late dinner. But, it was just as beautiful when we woke the next morning. There was a little snow on the ground, but also we had a view of this beautiful valley full of farm fields. We would have loved to stay longer, but we were already a day “late” to Paris. Just driving through the South Belgium countryside was a great way to start the morning. The farms there are so absolutely pristine, it’s amazing! There were no broken down cars and trash on the side of the fields like in the states. I’d definitely love go back there, stay a while and live like a local.

We arrive in Paris to the campground in the Bois de Boulogne. This park seems much like San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. It’s the only campground actually in the city of Paris. It was a wake-up call to leave the quiet Belgium countryside for driving IN the city of Paris. No matter how easy it was to get to, we were happy we made it all in one piece! For dinner, we didn’t have time to venture anywhere far, just the closest place - Chinese. It was definitely not my favorite place. But, Sean seemed to really enjoy the food. I’m sure it was his empty belly talking.

Arrival to Europe/Amsterdam

28 Feb 2008: We arrived in Europe with ONLY an hour delay this time! After our last cancelled flight and monitoring the weather, seeing that the wild storm that hit California would continue to the East Coast, we were expecting the worst. But it was that the Lufthansa computer system was down at JFK, and they had to check everyone in manually.

At 9am the day after leaving NYC, we arrive in Amsterdam. We must have been a sight when we lugged 2 rolling suitcases, 1 large duffel bag, 5 carry-ons and a baby with car seat on the train, then walked down the street from the train station to B&W campers! But, we made it with just a little sweat... :-) I'm surprised that Renee at B&W didn't send us to a hotel for some sleep before he proceeded to give us about 2 hours worth of instruction on how to use every single thing in the camper. Absolutely none of it stuck, and we are re-learning it all. After picking up the camper, we arrived at Zeeburg campground unpacked and slept for the rest of the day. I expected us to at least hit up a store for some supplies, but could not muster it.

Day 2, we were seriously suffering from jetlag and overslept when we were asked to check-in at the campground reception desk at 10am. Oops! Then, with little time left the rest of the day, we walked into the local neighborhood for an early dinner and stocked-up on supplies at this chain grocery store called Albert Heijm. Embarassing moment #2 happened when we thought the store accepted credit cards, but apparently not Visa. We opened up a new bank account for travel funds before we left, and Sean’s ATM card was left in a NYC ATM after only 2 uses. And, I lost my PIN due to a phone synch/computer glitch. We did have back-up ATM cards, but limited money in that account. We didn’t have enough cash to pay for groceries, and the grocery store clerks kept insisting that I couldn’t use their ATM machine to get cash out. I don’t know why. Fortunately, I tried it and it worked. With lack of cash and the fact that very few places accept credit cards in the Netherlands, it must have been a way to keep us on budget. Although, it STILL seems like we’re burning up money way faster than our budget allows.

Anyway, it started to rain on us the walk home from the store. Amsterdam has been even colder than I imagined, like bone-chilling. For some reason, I expected NYC to be pretty cold, and it wasn’t as bad as expected. I suppose all the tall buildings shield the weather? It seems that the storm that hit CA came to us in NY, and then followed us to Amsterdam.

Day 3, we still couldn’t wake up that easily and missed a lot of what we thought we could do, like going to an outdoor Bio (Organic/farmer’s) market. So, we tested the vehicle on the road with a 10 minute ride to Ikea. I wanted to get some comforters as the freshly-laundered sleeping bags that B&W supplied smelled strongly and I felt like I was sleeping in a cloud of laundry perfume. It’s amazing how the store was set-up exactly the same as the one’s in California! We took advantage of their restaurant while we were there, and had the typical Swedish meatball and salmon plates.

Day 4, at least we could feel we were adjusting slowly. Unfortunately, I think all the activity in NYC (and working on the computer problems until the wee hours of the night) and getting to Europe caught up with me and I was feeling under-the-weather. I’m sure the cold weather didn’t help. Still, we ventured further into the heart of the city to see the Van Gough museum. On the way, I was also delighted to find a Bio Market (their equivalent to a natural foods store) and stocked up on even more stuff. At the Van Gough museum, Kai hung-in for half of Van Gough’s exhibit and started to tell me her diaper was wet. Unfortunately, you aren’t allowed to bring bags into the museum, so the backpack was checked-in and diapers were in it. I tried to tell her that we’d change her when we were done, but instead she decided to pull her pants down right there. So I went back to the bag check, got a diaper out of the backpack, and the rest of the stay there for Kailani and I was spent snacking at the café. Oi-yoy-yoy!

From there, we started looking for something for dinner. Just as I finished telling Sean that I read that Amsterdam’s supposed to have great Indonesian food but I haven’t seen any restaurants yet, we turn the corner and there’s an Indonesian restaurant every 3rd building. I guess we finally got to the right neighborhood. Because it was still early in the afternoon, most places weren’t open yet, but we settled for some great Thai while having fun watching everyone peddle around on bikes. I think the coconut curry soup was responsible for me getting well by the next morning. The Indonesian food will have to wait until when we come back 2 months from now to return the vehicle. By then, we’ll be getting our stomachs ready for Indonesian food IN Indonesia, I suppose.

Day 5, we stayed a day extra in Amsterdam, but it took us longer than we thought to really feel ready to leave. Now, we were ready to leave. On the way out of town, we headed to the Amsterdame Vos (Amsterdam Forest). There, they had a geitenborderij (goat farm) that I wanted to visit. The forest, in the city’s outskirts, was a huge mass of not-so-tall trees with walking/running trails going through it all. Every once in a while, there’d be a break in the trees for large fields where dogs could run around, a lake with paddle boats, a swimming pool with playgrounds (when the weather’s warm enough), etc. At Zeeburg campground, Kailani fell in love with their small herd of goats and chicken, as well as the ducks from the river, and this park-type ride-on dog. Every night she’d say “goodnight chickens”, “goodnight goats”, “goodnight dog”, etc. Every morning, she’d say “good morning” to all of them too. She also enjoyed seeing more at our visit to this all-organic, bio-dynamic goat farm. Actually, this was the best place we’ve visited so far. This time of the year, baby goats are born. And, she was able to get a baby bottle full of milk to feed the babies. I thought she’d freak out walking into a pen of baby goats. But she wanted to do it so much, she kept her cool. I was so proud of her and it was so cute! I was delighted to find that we could also buy bio-dynamic eggs, some RAW, organic goat milk (just like Kai’s used to drinking in CA) and some cheese. The place also had a restaurant, so we sat down to some great hearty soups for lunch before hitting the road. I think I’d like to stop by this place again, when we come back to Amsterdam to return the camper. We can see how big the babies get and get more milk.

We hit the road from Amsterdam, the Netherlands to Belgium. The first part of the freeway, we were both pretty nervous and in awe how different everything was. Sean pulled off some excellent driving skills. Of course, the faster driving speeds didn’t faze him one bit. I, navigating with the maps, had a hard time keeping up, with all those crazy names and kilos being shorter than miles AND at faster speeds. We both noted how everything seemed so clean, modern, but most of all efficient-looking. We hope that Europe is in the lead for what could be the US’ future. At least, it would be nice if it happened!