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. 

Weekend at Alisal

We enjoyed a wonderful weekend at Alisal Guest Ranch, courtesy of Trace. It was great to be with Trace and all of our kids combined. It's a perfect time of year, chilly in the mornings and crisp sunshine during the day. Ben and Kristian experienced their first horseback ride. Since neither one fell off, we consider them ready for the advanced group now. Laine experienced her first hayride and she thought it was pretty cool. Everyone rode either on horseback or the hayride, out to a fantastic pancake breakfast, complete with campfire and singing cowboy. This ranch has something for everyone, with a lake for fishing, golf, a petting zoo (Laine was pretty impressed with the pigs and chickens), and on and on. Laine also had her first time on a horse. It was amazing to see her up on Bullwinkle , laughing and behaving like a little cowgirl. It can't get any better....

Barcelona=Gaudi

Barcelona is all about Gaudi, great food, cathedrals, warm beaches, cobblestone streets and a wonderful mixture of the old and the new. This was a city we fell in love with. Our apartment was tucked into an area of the city that was accessible to everything. The people are very engaging and there is always something to see and do. We had a food fair and wine tasting going on a block away. We had Barcelona's cathedral a block away, complete with Roman columns. We had lots of little shops (too many for Stan probably) all up and down our street. With the metro a block away, we had an easy run to the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's massive work of art, still in progress. Having Tamar and Martyn there with us meant we always had someone to do things with, whatever the choice of the moment. Here is a look at our street and of one of Gaudi's buildings in Parc Guell.

Dali, that's Salvador Dali

Dali chose to build his musee in his home town of Figueres, Spain. It also happens to be the transfer for Paris to Barcelona. For us a mandatory overnight stop and visit . Accomadations were incredible, Dali's work was beyond explanation. Anyone visiting western Europe should definately route through Figueres and experience it. Funny thing, they say the town has nothing to offer other than the museum, but we felt otherwise. Maybe it was burn out from being in huge cities, but we found the cobblestone streets, the beautiful squares with benches and shade trees, the small shops and the families out socializing to be delightful.

Paris

It takes a lot of walking to get it all in but it's worth it. The museums are fantastic. We were able to take photos and have the space to really see things, for the most part. Being the weekend and good weather, everyone is out and enjoying Paris to the fullest.

A day in London

This is what they're driving in London these days...

Returning to England

After more castles, lighthouses, waterfalls and distilleries we have returned to England. We had a beautiful drive through Yorkshire, where all the buildings are of brick or stone. We came into York, a walled city in the heart with cobblestoned, crooked streets and it's awesome York Minster. We wandered the streets in the evening, looking at the little shops, stopping in the pubs and viewing the Minster in the moonlight. We enjoyed our stay in a little b and b that served a hearty, full English breakfast. I'm not kidding; that includes eggs, fried bread, grilled mushrooms, tomatoes, sausage, bacon and toast. You have to walk for a long, long time to take care of that! The Minster is fabulous. We lucked out and toured it during a service so the organ was in use. It definitely added to the atmosphere. After York we traveled on to Cambridge and visited our childhood friend, Kate King. It was great seeing her and her family again and walking all around the colleges in Cambridge. More fantastic, old stone buildings and lots of bicycles, pubs, and chapels. We are now home with Tamar for a week and will take on London.

Another day, Another castle

Scotland is amazing! There is a castle for every type of person. They are really incredible. Unfortunately, we missed a sighting of Nessie by about 3 minutes but never the less, the scenery was beautiful. We stayed at a hotel right on the loch. One of the best things about this trip is getting to have salmon every day. There seems to be a distillery around every corner. I think that's why everyone is so friendly...... this photo is of Urquhart Castle, at the south end of Loch Ness.

How'd we get here?

Stan and I arrived in England at noon yesterday and within the hour we were viewing our first garden. We came prepared for rain and cool weather but so far it feels like summer. It's great to be here with Tamar and Martyn. Tomorrow we will all pile into the car, stuff our gear into the "boot" and take off for a week in Scotland.

Laine's first camping trip

Laine loves camping in Gunnison, Co. So far, she doesn't know about s'mores and we're trying to keep it that way, but she already knows how to sit around the campfire.....

This past year...

What can I say?? I've really fallen down on the job! This year was one of the longest and one of the shortest of my life. It seems the older you get, the more you have to do and the longer it takes to figure it out. Of course, I'm speaking for my brain only! Meanwhile, it's all pluses in our lives. The house is done, we have a beautiful granddaughter, and a wonderful, new daughter in law.

I Modannari

This weekend was the annual chalk art festival at the Santa Barbara Mission. Our friends, Greg and Karen Goforth were here so we went over to check out the progress the first day. The artists were out in the baking sun, working away. They have huge trays of pastels. Their hands were covered with all the colors of the rainbow. Today Stan and I went back to see the end result. It is truly incredible!! And to think they only last for a week or so...