Barcelona

November 1st is a holiday in France so we took a last trip to Barcelona. It was beautiful, in the 70s every day, even at night. A little too cold to swim but Mary was up for some wading!

We had a nice day trip out to Montserrat. The mountain is beautiful. Getting up to the top nearly did Dave in, but the views and interesting rock formations were amazing.

The Montserrat monastery nestled in the mountains (this is the part you can get to by cable car)

The chapel at Montserrat

Gaudi's Sagrada Familia, one hundred years old and still 30 years from completion.

Guedelon

Mary just outside the castle walls

Diane and Mary bond with the horses

A workman making beams

Wow! We are getting behind on our blogging.  After this update we still have trips to Amsterdam, London, and Annecy in our queue...

Mary's folks came out to visit us in mid-September.  They wanted to do something a little different so one Saturday we drove two and a half hours south to Guedelon.  There they are building a castle, the way they would have in 13th century.   Picture a medieval Williamsburgh, instead of making hand-dipped candles, they are quarrying and dressing stone, cutting timber, and really building a castle. It is a long term project, currently they are fifteen years in and have twenty more years to run. I imagine its a great place for a family with kids tired of yet another cathedral or museum. 

A castle rises in the distance.

Since it is a bit off the beaten path its one of the few sites in France, we have visited, where French is the predominant language.  An interesting experience, but Mary and Dave were left to puzzle rough explanations for Mary's parents.

A ne'er-do-well gets scolded

medieval crane

La Difference ( 1 of ?)

Closed for August

When we were back visiting the States we were often asked how is France different. We never had a good response to that question. So we may post something here from time to time pieces of an answer.

In the month of August many shops shut down and offices are extremely quiet. You will hear many languages walking around the heart of Paris but French is not prevalent.  Everyone is on vacation. In some industries five weeks is the minimum and most of Mary's coworkers get 8 weeks.

The picture above is a clothing shop but all sorts of stores close. Little groceries close, pharmacies, and restaurants.  Last weekend we went out with a couple of friends walking to Paris' (only?) authentic BBQ place only to discover it was closed until September 6th!

The French attitude toward work is very different and that is often backed up by law.  For instance there are rules about working on Sunday and evenings that involve extra pay. As a consequence most shops are closed on Sunday. Even bakeries!  Getting a good baguette on Sunday is very hard (much like the day old bread you'll find in the markets that stay open!)

Fontainebleu

Dave's folks stayed with us a few days longer because of Irene. On Saturday we placed a call letting their ride know and headed out to Fontainebleu. It is, yet another, royal residence with a magnificent park and a glorious history.  It is also where Napoleon 'resigned' as Emperor.

These newly weds, with their wedding procession, broke down just in front of Fontainebleu

Luckily the car started again, just minutes later the skies opened up, a small taste of what it must have been like back home.

The famous double curved stairs of Fontainebleu

That's the library!

Here we are having a nice French dinner on what we thought was the parents last night in Paris!

Prague & Vienna (Vienna)

If you might remember our camera was baptized in Cesky Krumlov so we have many pictures of Vienna that look like this one of St Stephens Cathedral
We have no pictures of the Winter and Summer palaces (camera sigh!)  but the Summer palace was great, nice gardens and just the right ratio of commentary to rooms. It focuses on just two rulers, Maria Theresa and Franz Josef, so it is comprehensible.

 

The view from St Stephens

KunstHausWein a museum devoted to an artist who believed the straight line is an abomination

Here we are atop a hundred year old ferris wheel, expensive, but you can arrange a romantic dinner with a new course every time the wheel goes around

The future Lipizzaners, the show horses were on vacation, but we got to watch these younger horses frolic

Prague & Vienna (Prague)

Charlesbridge with Prague Castle in the background, this was the view from the (affordable!) restaurant we ate at in Prague

 Wow! Prague is incredible. Not being bombed during the war and suffering under Communism did wonders to preserve the historic city.  Prices are much lower than in other parts of Europe we have visited and Dave really enjoyed the meat heavy traditional Czech food.
  It was raining for most of the start of our visit which is the day we decided to do a walking tour but even so the scenery and history was incredible.  Between the tour and our own explorations, we hit the New Town Square, site of the Velvet revolution, Old Town Square, the Jewish Quarter, Charles Bridge and Prague Castle.  Prague Castle is actually more like a complex with lots of history. Dave enjoyed the Golden Lane where the castle guards built houses into the castle walls and each house was set in a different time period. Mary preferred the gardens and walking in the park in the old moat.  We also took a day trip to Karlovy Vary which was a pretty spa town but not so interesting.
 We are going to break from our habits to post an actual album on The Facebook since we have so many great shots. 
  After Prague we went to Cesky (pronounce chess-key) Krumlov which was a quaint medieval village. Complete with castle.  Dave convinced Mary to go canoeing on the spur of the moment. This was a complete success!  We successfully navigated three of four flumes on the river and the cost was only twenty euros, one sandal and a waterlogged camera!  Thus our Vienna pictures are a bit sparser until the camera finished drying.

Another view from the restaurant

View from the vineyard on Prague Castle

Old Town Square

View from castle in Cesky Krumlov

Mary canoeing

Dave canoeing (last photo for a bit due to waterlogged camera)

Tour de France

What is it like to watch the Tour de France? In Paris its 'whoosh!' We were hanging out right in front of Notre Dame but on the wrong side to get a shot with the church in it. I try to console myself that they went by too quick anyway.

From seeing the bikes in the distance to these three stragglers was a total of 20 seconds. The wait was an hour. The smart folks hung out near the Louvre where they do eight loops (and they got there 5 minutes before the group arrived...)

Here is the peleton in the distance. Oh and the winner was an Aussie, Cadel Evans.