Catalunya: beautiful, bright, energetic, relaxing, friends, couples, even viniferans

Long title, its true though. Everything about Catalunya is wonderful! Montpellier is 3 to 4 hours from Barcelona which is in the "Catalunya" region of Spain. In the past two months I've been there twice. The first trip , by train, with a girl friend of mine from Germany. We ate and drank and toured the city of Barcelona. We saw the Sagrada Familia, Park Guell, the beach, several Gaudi buildings, Las Ramblas and La Bouqueria... we had a great time! 

The second and more recent trip was Linn and I plus 10 of his colleagues on a wine tasting three day weekend. We rented cheap apartments in a little seaside town called Sitges and toured the countryside southwest of Barcelona for three days. Bisso and Javier made several appointments at great wineries and cava producers in and around Penedes and Priorat. One of the big producers we visited, whose wine can be found all over the world, is Freixenet. They make cava, Spain's sparkling wine. On our last day we were in Barcelona for lunch and a quick self-guided tour... did I mention the weather was perfect? 

The next time you're planning a euro vacation... you must come to the Mediterranean coast of Spain, it is gorgeous!

February 2009

Hi everyone… welcome back! I’m sure you’ve all noticed how the frequency of posts has plummeted but, fortunately for us, it’s a good thing. We’ve been out ‘n about seeing new cities in Southern France. 

The second week of February was Linn’s winter vacation so he, a few of his classmates and I went to Bordeaux for three nights. We also had the opportunity to go with a friend, by car, to the city of Avingnon and the nearby Pont du Gard. The last day of February, I went (while Linn was studying for upcoming exams) with some friends to Uzès, another nearby city.

Two full days in Bordeaux resulted in a number of terrific winery visits for everyone. The first day the seven Vinifera guys had three appointments at Chateaux in the Medoc. They visited Chateau la Tour, Chateau Sociando’ Mallet and Chateau Margaux.  Their gracious hosts at each Chateau arranged facilities tours and tastings for them. While they were on cloud nine in the Medoc, I walked and photographed the city of Bordeaux. It is a gorgeous city that has recently completed a massive overhaul with the addition of a three-line tram system and rather long river- side park. They’ve updated and enhanced their botanical gardens and there are plenty of centuries- old buildings to visit too. That night we had a proper French dinner complete with wine, bread and dishes like onion soup, fish soup, steamed mussels, salmon steak with pasta, sauce smothered chicken with potatoes and steaks. Oh and I had better not leave out the desserts: crème brulée, crème caramel, citrus tart, bowls of ice cream all served with a sip of espresso.

The following day, all eight of us went to Pomerol and St. Emillion for more winery tours and tasting. This was the day that everyone was looking forward to, as we were able to get into Petrus in Pomerol and Chateau Angelus in St. Emillion. Both are two very big names and difficult, if not impossible, to secure appointments at. Again, we were given tours and able to taste one wine at each place. Pomerol is hardly a dot on the map and if it weren’t for Petrus I’m not sure anyone would be familiar with this appellation. St. Emillion is an old, small villiage with many boutiques, wine shops and restaurants though many were shuttered for the season. It is, however, a conveniently placed town offering its guests food and lodging between winery visits. Even though it is a slow time of year, I found it interesting how sleepy the region was. I imagine that during peak season these same small villages manage to expand to accommodate the influx of people, but it wasn’t apparent how that would happen.

 

A friend of ours with a car organized a small trip to nearby Avignon and after a night of heavy drinking it was just the three of us who went. We drove to Avignon but stopped at the Pont du Gard (the ancient roman aqueduct) to see it while we were in “the neighborhood.” It looks just like every picture I had ever seen, an enormous ancient aqueduct out in nature that you can walk up to. What you can’t see in those photos are all of the walking trails in the area with look out points. Nor can you see the visitors parking lots on the east and west river banks that charge you 5 Euros to park and offer no alternatives. It was a great piece of history to see and it only takes an hour or so to walk around and snap a bunch of photos.

Avignon is probably best known for three things: today it is still a fortified (walled) city, within those walls is the Palais du Papes (the Pope’s palace) and outside the walls over the river stretches the Pont d’Avignon. We drove around the perimeter of the city, past the “Pont” and parked to tour the Palais du Papes. Starting in 1309 Avignon was home to 9 Popes. Construction on the palace began in 1335 and took nearly 20 years to complete.  It is a massive place with many additions over the twenty years of construction. After the last Pope left Avignon in 1403 it was used as residence for papal legates until it was looted during the French Revolution. It was then used as a barracks until 1906. Today it belongs to the city and all that exists is the structure itself and some frescoes, tile work and other decorative detail. Through an audio tour they attempt to describe what the spaces would have looked like back then. There were some amazing rooms with dramatically vaulted ceilings, and the kitchen was the smallest room with an octagonal shaped vaulted ceiling that was open at the top as a vent. It was an amazing site to visit.

It has been a great month, it has been nice to get out and see more of this great country. If you are planning a trip to France Bordeaux is a must see. The city is gorgeous and there is plenty to see and do. If wine excites you, there are so many terrific, famous wineries in and around the region. Avignon and Uzès are smaller cities with old, old Architecture and in the area of several sites on the UNESCO World Heritage list. One other site, not on that list, but if you’re in “the neighborhood” is the Haribo candy factory. They have a museum that guests can tour to learn about the creation of the famous gummy candies and of course a huge boutique to buy the sweet treats. 

January 2009- Happy New Year!

January has ended and no posts, I can’t believe it! Slow news month I guess. As usual, January started off with a bang, lulled for a week or so and ended with International excitement. Linn and I traveled to Germany then Denmark and spent our New Year’s Eve with Carolyn (Allison’s sister) and her boyfriend. The day we returned Linn started classes again and has been very busy with projects, lectures and exams ever since. The 20^th of January was a huge day in the USA with the inauguration of our 44^th President Barack H. Obama. I started back to classes on the 27^th to learn more of the French language.

We left for Hahn, Germany on the 27^th of December after an abnormally small and quiet Christmas. Hahn Airport, a Ryan Air airport, is only an hour or so outside of Frankfurt but feels like “the middle of nowhere.” A friend of Linn’s from class lives in nearby Geisenheim and came to rescue us from the boredom that is Hahn. Matthias picked us up and drove the scenic route to Geisenheim, ferry ride and all. He took us around the campus where Linn will be attending in Fall 2009 and showed us the little town and the neighboring villages. Geisenheim is a very small town with some shops, restaurants, a pub or two, many homes and the University. The surrounding villages were small, quaint with one main road connecting them all. We had a great day just driving through small town Germany and the countryside and a nice traditional German bratwurst and beer dinner with Matthias and Eva.  Prost!

The next morning we flew to Lübeck, Germany about an hour outside of Hamburg. Lübeck is a beautiful, charming little city full of shopping, historical sites and interesting Architecture. There was a Christmas market happening through the end of the year through which we walked. They were selling gluwhein the warm spiced wine as well as meats, treats and goodies. It was a fun market.  We saw most of the main island by foot and the rest of the city by car as we were leaving. It was in Lübeck that we ate truly German food bratwurst, sauerkraut, few vegetables, Schnitzel, spaetzle,  and lots of beer. Woohoo!

Carolyn and Lars picked us up in Lübeck and we four drove four hours North through beautiful German countryside to Esbjerg on the Western coast of Denmark. We stayed in and around Esbjerg in their cute little apartment and learned a little about all things Danish. Lars took us for a walk through a small forest that opened to a quarry with a few little ponds. The ponds were nearly completely frozen through. Linn discovered the coolest sound by “skipping” rocks on these ponds so we all started throwing rocks, good times.

Later that day we stopped by Lars parents place, a 25 year old brick home right on the water; it was a beautiful home. His parents were both very kind; we all sat and chatted over a glass of wine and some homemade marzipan treats. That night we went to René’s home for New Years and though Linn and I were still very ill we enjoyed our time with everyone. Lars, Carolyn, Rene, Lone, Linn and I all sat in front of the T.V. to watch the Danish Queen address her people. The 70-something Queen mentioned the war, the economy and spoke of her hopes for a bright new year. After the broadcast we all gathered around the dinner table and our feast began. There were two, fairly similar yet equally delicious appetizers: a thin slice of bread with butter shrimp and hardboiled egg. The other was also a thin slice of bread with mayonnaise, lox, hardboiled egg and dill dressing. The main course was bacon- wrapped steak, green beans, potatoes and gravy. Linn and I decided to head back to the apartment after dinner as we weren’t feeling well and watch fireworks from the windows. What an amazing display it was! The land around their town is so flat that we could see for miles. What looked like every 3 inches there was another display of huge fireworks. Apparently the Danes love their fireworks. Happy New Year!

We spent the first couple days of the New Year in Esbjerg seeing different small cities, the North Sea and downtown Esbjerg. A touristy area, there were lots of German license plates out by the ocean. After those few relaxing, lazy days of recovering from whatever flu we had the four of us drove to Copenhagen. I had read lots about Copenhagen and how the art, design and architecture industries are really booming so I was excited to see the city. We only had one day and night there so we didn’t get to see that much but what we did see wasn’t what I had in my mind. I was an old city, lots of old buildings much like every other city in Europe not destroyed during war. We went to the Museum of Industrial Art and Design, which was interesting. We took a walk along the main shopping district in the rain, perhaps if we had had more time it would have been better. Glad to have seen what we did though.

Since our trip, Linn and I have both started back to school and are back to weekends only for free time. I’ve completed my resume and cover letter translations and have gone around looking for work. Linn’s courses have been really interesting for him and he is really glad he is in this program. I’ll let him explain all that :) School and hanging out with friends is really all we’ve been up to this month. Though the 20^th of January was exciting for us and for every French person we spoke with. Friends of ours hosted an inaugural dinner at their apartment where they have a television and cable! There were seven Americans and two French all watching the swearing in ceremony, it was a good time. Then enjoyed a great meal and discussed lots of things past, present and future in some version of Franglish.

As for February, we’re headed to Bordeaux for a few days and then sometime in March we’ll be going to the Alps so I promise there will be more posts soon. We wish everyone a happy, healthy and more prosperous 2009.