Farmers Market in the Pyrennes

After we escaped Toulouse, we drove south towards Spain, still having quite a bit of mountain range to drive through. We were getting hungry after our adventures. We drove through picturesque town after town. Old stone buildings with brightly colored flowers and window boxes and shutters that matched. Random churches or ruins perched atop nearby hills. The mountains were huge above us, with the clouds lower than the peaks, still waking up. Towns all seemed to be setting up for the Sunday market, so when we finally found one that looked busy we stopped. It was incredible. Stalls of fresh fruit, cheeses, honey, jams jamons, olives, clothes, knives and other assorted goods. We bought a kg of fresh apricots for 1.50 euro, some tea and mustard, pain au chocolat and bread and then were led by our nose to a man cooking rotiserrie chickens. Below the chickens were cut potatoes sitting in the chicken fat from the rotiserrie. Was this guy serious? Yes! Done! We bought an entire chicken and a box of potatoes cooked in chicken drippings. Thomas bought a knife from a man who was sharpening knives in the back of his van. We then took are goodies and hit the road. About 5 minutes down the road we tore into the potatoes box; the smell of roasted chicken had engulfed the entire car and we couldn't resist! Further down the road we ripped into the chicken and resulted into a potato chicken sandwich with the loaf of bread we bought. The potatoes may be one of the best parts of this trip. And salvaged our last meal in France.

Night Train

More train time equals more blog time. Check out the past few days for some new posts.

The Amazing Race- Escape Toulouse

Have you ever thought you were on a TV show? Like the Amazing Race with the Hidden Camera option?

We arrived at Toulouse at 642 am after the night train from Paris.  We parked our car in the garage attached to the train station so were expecting to get right into the car and drive somewhere for a nap. Wrong.

We got the ticket from the car and put it in the pay machine, 58 euros. Expensive, but we knew it was coming and that was cheaper than driving to Paris and parking there. So we put in the credit card. Nope. No chip. European credit cards have a chip in them and it has messed us up a few times because we didn't have cash and also didnt have the chip so we needed to find an ATM instead. OK. So we leave the garage, find a bank and get out euros. It comes out in 50 euro bills. The machine doesn't accept 50s. Perfect. So we take out 40. Back down to the machine. We try a 20, thinking we could just put in three 20s. Wrong again.  It appeared that the machine only took one bill per transaction.  So we pressed the help button and a French lady came on to help us. Nope, no luck there.  So we went to a different floor to find the machine thinking that maybe it was just that machine. Nope. Same problem. So we hit the help button again. Same French lady. Back to the first machine. 

Then we saw a coin spot.  We had a few euro coin so put that in. It worked, but we didn't have enough coin to make up the 38 euro balance.

This is where the Amazing Race came into play.  We needed to turn 40 euro in bills to coin, without speaking French, before our bill got higher from the car being in the garage for anther hour.  So we've watched the TV show, and we followed suit.  First we split up, each with a 20.  Thomas got a coffee, a 10 bill and 5 euro in small coin.  Cait got breathe mints in a cute tin (which we needed after eating shwarma on the night train and then sleeping in a chair), a 10 bill and some more change.  We both tried to get the cashiers to give us coin instead of bills but they refused. So we started begging other people waiting in the train waiting room.  At least 5 different people helped us break our 10s.   First one lady gave us a 5 bill and change.  Then we got change for the 5. Then we repeated with the other 10 and 5. All in miming.  At first people started to think we were hawkers like when the people in the Amazing Race come in last but don't get eliminated so they need to beg for money, but when we held out our money, they tried to help. We did get a lot of Nos though.

So we finally have enough change, and go back to the garage. We put in the ticket, put in the 20, and start feeding coins. We got to 17 euro and the machine stopped taking coins. Dammit. We then ejected all the money and tried again.  Wrong. Now we think the machine only accepts a certain number of coins along with the one bill. Okay, so at this point, we felt like we were in Die Hard 3, trying to figure out how to get 4 gallons into the 5 gallon jug.  Using that theory, we decided we needed to change our small coins into 2 or 1 euro pieces.  We got a few from putting money into the soda machine and pressing cancel, so it spit out 1s instead of 20 cent pieces.  Then the security guard gave us a few 2 euro pieces.  He had seen us run by him quite a few times and wondered what was going on.  Then we begged some more, holding out 50 cent pieces asking for a euro.  OK, we think we have it.

Back to the machine. Put in the 20, then coins. Gets us down to 7 euros before it stops accepting coins. Frustrated is putting it mildly.  Thomas presses eject while Cait goes to beg more. I managed one more 2 euro coin and the security guard came after me.  I told him to come down to help us. That didn't work because he doesn't speak English, so I took his hand and made him come into the parking garage. Then he tried reading and explaining the machine to us, in French, and went through the steps.  Then he counted our money to be sure we had enough.  After the machine stopped taking the money for him, he knew our problem.

So he took us back to the train station lobby to get change. He explained the problem to the cashiers, two said they didn't have change, and one gave us 3 two euro pieces.  Back to the garage.  We got it down to 2 euros this time.  So close.  I went back upstairs to exchange money.  I needed two 2 euro pieces and the security guard stood next to me explaining to people buying tickets at automated machines what the problem was.  Most people stopped and checked their change purse, not finding any 2 euro coins.  In the meantime, Thomas was standing next to the machine with a 20 bill in one hand and 35 euro in change in the other, waiting for anyone that could help.  A lady came out of the elevator and went to the exit door, only to find the steps.  She looked at him, and he pointed her in the right direction, as well as asked her if she would exchange coins with him.  She shook her head and said no money, and hurried into the parking garage. 

Upstairs, Cait got the money exchanged and shook hands with the last helpful person, while the security guard said bon voyage and clapped his hands. Downstairs, the lady who ran from Thomas came back to pay her bill and brought her change purse.  He was able to mime with her, so she understood and gave him a 2 coin also.

He went back to the machine and started again.  He got it down to 2 euros and the coin slot was still open.  He was waiting patiently as the elevator door opened and I came out with the final 2 euro coins.  "Give it to me now! Its open!" He said.  I knew what he meant, because the machine refunds your money if it is inactive for too long.  Last coin in, and we have succeeded.  The ticket prints out, and at 853am, we can finally exit the garage.

We laugh as we write this because was one of the more ridiculous things we have ever done.  But we survived with no tears or yelling.  Maybe one day we will be on a hidden camera show and Europeans.

Eiffel Tower

Cheesy? Touristy? Crowded? Yes to all. But also a wonderful way to spend the evening; a bottle of wine and the lit up Eiffel Tower from the Parc du Champ de Mars.

Birthday Dinner

Because we like food... Thomas's birthday at Cafe Constant.

Lobster ravioli
Soft boiled egg deep fried with bacon and a ratatouille
Roast piglet with potatoes
Steak with the butteriest mashed potatoes ever
Creme Caramel

And wine. Lots of good wine.

Fancy hotel

Since we were staying with a friend, we didn't originally plan a hotel in Paris, but with the birthday and engagement spirit, we decided to go all out and splurge on a fancy hotel near the Arche de Triomphe for a night.  We haven't done fancy this trip, so were delighted with our digs.

The best part was getting home after walking around all day to a bottle of champagne and fancy chocolates.  We were surprised and called the reception to inquire.  They said they had no record of it, and it wasnt on our bill so we should just enjoy it:-)  they also had a pillow are where we could select our pillows. Perfect. You think we had never stayed in a nice hotel before because we just were so excited to be in air conditioning and pampered, watching the Olympics in our robes:-)

Taking the train

You are finally catching up on blog posts because we had 6 hours on a train to journal and remember our trip.  It has been remarkable and a lot of the fun is in remembering everything we did and recounting the funny stories.

Like how Spanish people are the makeout kings and queens of the universe.  I've never seen anything like it.  Just making out, but very dramatically like they were going up to drill in space in 3 minutes or something in every public space in every town we have been to.  I've tried to snag pics because it is so great, but only have one.

And how Spanish time suits us so well.  Sleep til 11, lunch at 2, snack at 7, nap til 9, dinner at 11, then drinks til 2 or so.  Everyone else seems to be doing this too, including families.  Little kids race down the street with their bottles and pacifiers at all hours, while their parents have more tapas.  I love that people continue to have fun adult lives with kids, but those kids have got to be so poorly behaved because they have absolutely no rules!

Drove through fields of sunflowers to get to the train station in Toulouse.  Stunning.  Headed to Paris for our birthdays.  48 hours of birthday fun, the Musee d'Orsay, Luxembourg Gardens, the twinkly lights on the Eiffel Tower and wandering the streets.  We can't wait.

Prynees

Leaving Barcelona, we stopped for some juice and fruit at La Boqueria, and then got out of town.  We drove north towards France.  We'd heard tales of the beautiful Costa Brava, north of Barcelona, and wanted to check it out.  We drove through quite a few fishing towns, brilliant blue water and rocky cliffs.  We had lunch in one of these towns. Fish and seafood.  My starter was a salad with goat cheese and pear jam on top, and it was really very good. Salads have been weird here.  One we had was covered in fruit cocktail from the can!

Driving north again, we came up a town with ceramics outside every door front.  We read later that it was the ceramic capital of northern Spain.  Thomas humors me by letting me walk through shops like these (but I really think he likes them and is happy to look and see what people are making... at least I tell myself that:-))  The only problem is going to be getting all this crap we have home!

North again.  It was actually only 275km total between Barcelona and our bed and breakfast in Sonnac sur l'hers France, but we made the most of it.  We finally crossed into France.  It suddenly changed into having road signs and easy to see markings.  Little stone cottages with brightly colored flowers and patissierres instead of panaderias.

We began our climb into the mountains.  Huge mountains, with signs for rafting all over and cyclists in the streets.  We knew that the Tour de France went by 3 km from our bed and breakfast last week.

It was extremely picturesque and we kept winding up and down these little sharp turns across each mountain.

We arrived, amazingly without having gotten lost, at our stop.  A small village of maybe 15 little houses, a pear and apple orchard, a stone church and a little town square, with a fountain in the center, and surrounded by stone buildings and a church.  Ours was the one with the bright blue shutters.

Carolyn and Nick were out to meet us when we pulled up.  They were so happy to have us and busied us immediately with a glass of wine on the terrace.  Part of why this was the place we booked was because Nick is a Cordon Blue trained chef and does 4 course meals if guests choose. We chose.  We started with mussels.  I was so excited, because as you probably have learned on the blog already, mussels are one of my favorite things and we've been eating them as often as possible.  Then came lamb with a red wine reduction, haricot verts and potatoes.  Cheese was next.  I told Thomas I was done with Spain and we were moving to France. I would choose cheese as my dessert over anything sweet anytime, and it was delicious.  4 local cheeses and bread.  Last was peaches sauteed with butter and homemade creme fraiche and homeade butterscotch.  It was incredible.  We finished our wine in the front looking out on the square. 

Nick had suggested earlier that we go on a walk up past the cow pasture next door on top of the hill to see over the village because it was lit well at night.  We thought that would be great and headed up.  It was really dark once we stepped out of the square.  Like really dark.  We headed up a hill, cows grazing in the field to our left, and a cemetary to our right.  The cows were all wearnig bells and sounded like a windchime as they moved about.  We had a flashlight, but I wasn't sure this was what sounded like a great idea.  Thomas told me to shut it and keep walking so we could see the moon.  I did.

All if the sudden, we stumbled upon a mirage in the darkness.  A blanket, pillows and a bucket chilling champagne.  I looked at Thomas and he was like, "Oh man, who did this, how did this get here?"  Yeah.  We sat on the blanket, lit by moonlight and the lights of the village below, serenaded by cowbells, and Thomas told me what an amazing time he was having on this trip and how he was so happy to be doing this and seeing the world, and wanted to do it with me for the rest of our lives.  I was shaking at this point and when he pulled out a box and asked me to marry him, I started to cry.  I spared you all some of the really sappy details, but if you want them I'll tell you:-)  I had no idea how he had pulled off this lovely and perfect surprise, but it all made sense; the mussels and cheese, the walk, the excitement from our hosts and now real Champagne!  He put a ring on my hand and I told him I loved him and if course I would marry him.  The fact that this was going to happen wasn't a surprise, and won't be to any of you, but the sweet and thoughtful way that he did this was perfect and made it something so very special.  He had been talking to them for days organizing food and plans and they were honored to be a part of this for us.  It was totally Thomas. 

It was an amazing end to the day and as we walked back to the house Nick was nervously waiting for us to make sure that we found it and I said yes!  He gave us both big hugs and said how they had loved being a part of this special time for us.  The Chez Maison Blue will always be a memory of ours and a place to visit again.

Barcelona- more food:-)

Other recommendations by Chef Alon included the paella at Susquet de L' Almirall. Amazing. We may never eat another paella again. And La Bombeta. We got bombas and more of our two favorite dishes, mussels and fried peppers. It has gotten a little ridiculous how often we eat these.

Barcelona - Cal Pep

This restaurant deserves its own post because it was so fabulous.  One of our favorite chefs in New Orleans had been to Barcelona a few months ago and gave us a list of places he thought were the best.  We love him and his food and knew we were in good hands.  His other recommendations were spot on, and we went out looking for this one.  Cal Pep.  Takes reservations only, and has about 15 bar seats that you can wait for.  About 20 people were ahead of us, and we decided to stick it out.  The kitchen was right in front of the bar and you could see everything they were making while they were doing it.  The chef was there expediting and it looks amazing.  After about an hour, we got our seats at th bar.  There are no menus here, none! You just tell your waiter what you like and don't like and they will feed you until you are done.  Sounds perfect. Luckily we had seen some of the dishes coming and going and knew what to expect, but we were blown away.

Pan con Tomate
Clams in a buttery wine sauce
Fried squid
Fried artichoke hearts
Chick peas and fresh spinach sauteed with pieces of ham
Whitefish with potatoes and grillec tomatoes
Butifarra sausage with white beans drizzled in a port sauce

The photos are all attached.  It was incredible.  The food was so fresh and simply prepared that it just melted your mouth. Easily one of our favorite meals of the trip! We savored the tastes on our palette for the rest of the evening.

La Boqueria

This place is amazing!! A huge covered market of food, fruits, veggies, seafood, juice, candy and eggs:-)  More on eggs later. But the juice, now that was amazing 1 euro a cup. We had orange, coconut/pineapple, strawberry/banana and strawberry/pineapple and the options were endless!

The EAST coast

After searching for cowboys and western towns, we headed north along the east coast of Spain. We were in search of what else, dinner! We drove along the coastal road until we saw a fishing wharf and marina, and a cool outdoor market. Thomas knows by now that we stop at markets, so we stopped and parked. Alicante turns out to be a cool little beach and seaside town. There were tons of little stalls of crafts and crap, and a relaxed vibe. There were signs up about the Lexus sailboat race to be held there soon. It was also awesome because it was midnight and everything was still rocking. Have we mentioned that we are really Spanish in terms of our daily routine? While walking we came across a plaza full of huge ficus trees. It was gorgeous and while wandering, we saw a sign of a restaurant called Los Mejillones de Correos. Running mussels? Oh well, they are mussels! We stopped. Later found out that the square was home of the city post office hence the correos in the name. Regardless we knew it was amazing because there were huge empty half kegs of mussel shells and shrimp peels under each table for you to dump your trash We sat in the plaza and a eager waiter came over speaking faster than we could comprehend. He kept saying something about a daily special and the rest was a mess. We had asked for recommendations because the menu was very random. He said mejillones? Si. Then we figured that the special was a pitcher of beer and a vat of mussels. Si. Then he said shrimps? Si. Meats? Si. Ok and he ran across the street to the restaurant. A few minutes later, big plump mussels and a pitcher of beer got us started. Then a plate of shrimps cooked on a hot flattop. Yes. A big squid came out next, grilled on the same flattop. We didn't know we ordered that, but ok. Then a plate of meat. We devoured it all. The simplicity of the cooking on a flattop and seasoned with salt and fresh lemon made it all the better. The waiter came back, pleased with himself that we cleaned our plates. We told him we wanted another plate. Yes, we did. He said something about knives and we couldn't quite understand what he was saying but he kept pinching his fingers and kissing them saying delicioso. Done. A plate of razor clams came out. They were exceptional. We almost wanted to get more, but we decided we were being piggies and to stop. After dinner we wandered back to the marina, had gelato and sat under the palm trees. It was 3 am. Too late for a hotel. The plan was to get back in the car, drive til we were tired, and nap in the car and find a beach to nap on. We made it about an hour before we needed to sleep. We awoke at sunrise and started to drive towards the beach. We parked at a little town, and then napped some more. We woke up and got out to go for a swim. The water was freezing, but we needed it to wake us up. Drove some more, and hit the beach again after lunch. These beaches are way less packed than the Riviera del Sol, so its easy to just stop and join the rest of the beachgoers. Next stop Barcelona!

Trade Off- Pottery hunting for Westerns

We trade a lot in our relationship... girly movie for a comic book movie, Wrestling for an Indigo Girls concert... it works for us, and we are both up for new things.  Today was a perfect example.  I was in search of these handmade clay crocks and platters that our hosts had at the b&b in Lecrin, and they instructed us on how to get to this tiny village on the side of a particular mountain in the Sierra Nevada range, Spain's largest mountain range. 

So we drove higher and higher, on windier and windier little roads until we reached Pampaniera, filled with homemade wines (which you could buy at every shop in a plastic jug for 2 euro), meats, pottery and rugs. While exploring the little mountain town Thomas saw a sign that said Museo de Jamon, so we ventured inside. Once inside the one room museum of ham, we saw jugs of wine, cheese, and tons of legs of delcious pig hanging from the ceiling. The staff consisted of two. A woman who bagged items and a slick crafty butcher who welcomed us with a plate of jamon. He spoke very swift Spanish and singed and whistled tunes while he carved a legs of pork. Every few strokes of his knife he would hold up a piece of ham and tell us to look at how thin he cut. He was truly a swavy man with a knife. We didn't understand every word he said but just knew what he meant. At one point Thomas took a swig of water from his bottle after eating ham and the butcher threw up his arms in protest! "No agua" he exclaimed. He then grabbed Thomas by the hand and escorted him over to a jug of wine and poured three glasses. He said only wine in his shop. He then toasted us, gulped the wine, slicked back his already slick hair and started whistling and cutting ham again. We were so enriched in the shop we had to buy a few things and then said adios to man and his museum of jamon. Next we found a terrace overlooking the nearby mountains and valleys and had lunch.  After lunch we bought some pottery:-)  would have loved more but I was doubtful it would all survive the plane in our backpacks!!

After my success, we headed towards the southern coast and then east, in hunt of the town where Western movies were filmed. Apparently over 70 Westerns were filmed in these rocky mountains and desert plains. Such films as The Good the Bad and the Ugly, A Fistfull of Dollars, and a Few Dollars more. And also home to all the spagehtti westerns. We had read about it in the guidebook, but had no real directions... we were just going to drive until we saw the signs.  So we drive and drive and finally see a sign for Texas Hollywood! And pull in with a few hours until close.  We were just in time for the live action western performance.  4 cowboys on horseback rode up to the bank to the theme music of Bonanaza, robbed the bank and had a shootout.  All in Spanish of course.  We were cracking up at this, because we had no clue what was going on.  About halfway through, Thomas said that he didn't think this was the Hollywood we had been reading about. After the show we took some pictures and headed out. And then two minutes down the road we found mini Hollywood, the biggest western theme park in the  world. It was closing but we drove up to check out. It was more cheesy and toned down than the Spanish knockoff we went to.

What we determined was that Hollywood made all these films here, left the sets and then the Spanish turned some into a theme park, mini hollywood, and then left some sets exactly how they were and made Texas Hollywood.  Either way we think we had the better experience. Now back to the road in search of some beaches......

The Alhambra

Just some fotos.

This complex is amazing and really well preserved. We booked the tickets a few months ago and were delighted that we had morning tickets and not ones in the sweltering heat of the afternoon.