To the North...

England, a cool, rainy and very green garden isle.  We have been here for a few days after a wonderful time in Cadaques, Spain. It's quite a contrast between the two. Cadaques is on the water, a little fishing village on the med, the hills surrounding the town are terraced with slate and planted in olives. The buildings are either whitewashed or stone and every street is laid with stone.   These little curving streets run up the hills and turn in to stairways on a lot of them. Add lots of sunshine and blue, blue water. Then there's England. The roads are lined with hedges with the occasional peak across green fields. We went to a beautiful estate, dating back to 1103 that had acres of walled gardens. It felt a bit like a maze or a secret garden, going from one to the next. One might be an orchard with the next one flower beds and a sculpture or a bench to sit on. We spent a day in London, going around to Borough Market ( wild with foods from all over), to the Tate Modern art museum, and a nearby cathedral. Lots of people and lots of action!
Hopefully you can paint your own pictures in your heads for now because I'm not able to add photos from this iPad. I will post some at a later date.
In a few short days we will be asea on the Celebrity Infinity for our cruise across the Atlantic and then home. Keep the light on..

Barcelona

Quiet times early morning in Barcelona. Waking up I could hear the rumble of the metro thru to our fifth floor apt, then the ringing of the church bells. During the day and in to the night Barcelona is a noisy busy city.  We've had a great time exploring their fabulous maritime museum. It's in the process of restoration and they are doing a fantastic job. Today we head to Parc Guell which is all Gaudi designed. It's absolutely covered with tile. Rainy day yesterday so we are hoping for a little better today. Meanwhile, so fun to be here with Tamar and Martyn.

Up down, Up down, Up down...

We spend lots of time going up steps and down in this old section of Girona.  We keep accidentally finding new ways to go because the walls are so high. It's all quite charming however, so we don't mind.  Saturday is a day of open air markets here.  We wandered through quite a few of them, just looking at what people shop for here.  The produce, cheeses and spices are so bountiful.  In between we've managed to take in some wonderful museums and have learned a lot about the history of this part of the world. Jocelyn leaves today for Germany where she will be working the largest book fair in the world and Stan and I will spend a little more time here, trying to stay away from the chocolate croissants and walking, walking, walking those steps.  174 to our apartment!!!

Cathedrals, Rivers, Food and Carosels

Two things: a lot stuffed in to the last few days and I don't know how to spell carousel. Thank goodness for google!  

We have been having a great time, traveling from Bourg d' Oisans to Lyon to Girona, Spain.  What a feast for the eyes, not to mention the stomach.  Both Lyon and Girona have amazing cathedrals and beautiful waterways running through them.  Lyon is known for their food and they delivered easily.  They also had an incredible carousel that we felt we should have Laine sent over to try out.  She would have loved it!  The cathedral is overwhelmingly beautiful.  It was hard to stop taking pictures.

We arrived in Girona by train yesterday, along with Jocelyn who is with us for a week.  We are staying in the old quarter, surrounded by walls built built during Roman times.  The back of our apt is a part of the wall.  We're thinking we need one of them too!  All the streets are stone.  As a matter of fact, just about everything is stone.  We've got about 100 steps (stone) up to our apt.  You should have seen Stan hauling our bags up them.  We are definitely managing to work off all the croissants and everything else we think we need to eat!  There's a great morning market that we can go to to replenish when we get low on anything. 

Finishing this up, we are in the midst of a big thunderstorm.  Pretty exciting stuff.  It's a lot  better than Spanish tv...

Here Comes Jim!

Le velo c'est le moyen et peut-être l'art d'extraire le plaisir d'une cont riante.
In other words,  the bicycle is the means and perhaps the art of getting pleasure out of a pain.

What a Way to Go.....

The most beautiful scenery they've ever seen.  Stan and Jim's last ride took them to the village of La Berurde, an old shepherd's village, which is at the end of a road and literally at the end of the world.  Starting in the morning mists, they broke through in to a scene bathed in sunshine.
If there was any negative to the day it was the leavings of the sheep as they were moved to lower pastures.  Don't use your water bottle after passing through one of these crossings!!
Aside from that, it was a typical ride in the alps: 3 hours up and 1 hour down.  So good..
Tomorrow we are off to Lyon where we hope to experience some of the best food in the world or at least in the whole of France.

Jim and Stan Climb a Mountain

Jim and Stan had a big day yesterday, climbing Col du Telegraphe and Col du Galibier.  Altitude was a factor for the latter peak, at 8668 feet.  Being one of the last weekends of the season there were quite a few cyclists attempting the climb.  It was quite cold and windy at the peak

but the spectacular views and making it to the top made it all worth it.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Let's start with the good.  Bourg d Oisans is gorgeous!  We have been really lucky with the weather so far.  Beautiful, sunny days, perfect for biking and being out and about.  Our chalet is great with plenty of room for the 4 of us, a working kitchen and a balcony with a fantastic view.
Now for the bad.  Jim and Doreen are both working through a bad cold.  They're troupers, still out doing it all.  On another front, our laptop was stolen the day we arrived in France, either on or boarding the train for Lyon.  What a bummer!
The Ugly!  Stan's face after getting stung by a bee right below the eye, starting out on his first bike ride in the Alps.  Never the less, he and Jim managed to ride 42.6 miles from Bourg d Oisans, up to Col de Sarenne, via a wrong turn to Auris-en-Oisans and back and then down the front side of Alpe-d' Huez.  Brutal, under their conditions but a great ride. Lots and lots and lots of climbing.
Meanwhile Doreen and I have been taking in the sights of Bourg d Oisans and walking along the river. Today after a recovery ride, we drove the route that Stan and Jim took yesterday. Wow!  It's truly amazing to be here.
The picture posted is taken from the top of Col de Sarenne, looking down on one of the villages and the road winding up.

Away We Go

It seems that travel time is upon us once again and so I'm going to try to fire up the blog once more.  It's been a loooong time so I might be the only one reading it but I'll pretend you're paying attention!  We're off to the French Alps for a start, where Stan hopes to get his exercise riding all those steep, steep mountains on a bike and I plan to hike, look at the sites and eat good food.  Then we're away to Spain.  We LOVE Spain.  So much to see and do there.  After Spain comes England and guess what?  More walking, sight seeing and we get to visit with family.  The final leg will be on the high seas, ( the Atlantic) bringing us home.  Hopefully wifi will be good in most areas and I'll be able to post the occasional photo and travel tale.