Rioja Spain

Got to San Sebastian, Spain in time for the sunset. The water is filled with boats and the land was full of people waiting for the sun to set. Sunsets are always an event when there is an ocean. We met up with our friends from Bonaire ( Irene and Mark) to tour the Rioja wine country.

 

Tapas in northern Spain/Basque country are called Pinchos.  There are hundreds of little bars with people lined up four or five deep to get dinks and Pinchos.  They have a board with all their offerings and this particular bar had it in English. And, of course, they all offer Jamon (ham).

 

Next stop was Rioja wine country. This area has miles of vineyards and small villages.  Every village has a church and numerous bodegas.  Since there are 800 wine producers in the area, everywhere you go is wine tasting. We stayed Banos de Ebro in a village home with a beautiful patio overlooking the vineyards

One of the restaurants we went to had their waiting room in a cellar.  It was down about two levels and was a winding path with a fulling stocked bar.  When your table was ready they called and take you top side at a super nice (white table cloth) restaurant that served Basque food from the area.

The Spanish people are very nice but few speak English and we speak only vacation Spanish.   Irene speaks Spanish so it was helpful to have her language skills. Four days in this area is not enough.  It so beautiful and there is so much wine to drink!

Beaune, France

Started our time in Beaune (the wine capital of Burgundy wines) with wine tasting and class on Burgundy wines, vineyards and grapes. We tried many of the Premier and Grande Cru which are the top of line wines in Burgundy. It expanded our appreciation of French wine.  I always hated California Chardonnay's but French Chardonnay is a wonderful wine without that nasty oak taste.  

Beaune is a delightful village founded in 1443. It is a very walkable village which is a good thing because driving the narrow, winding streets of cobblestone is not an easy task. Parking is a nightmare and hard to find a spot. We walked everywhere. It was very cool and rainy for several days but still a nice historical village full of wine shops and restaurants.

We stayed in an 18th Century town house.  It was 4 floors with steep stairs to each floor with one room on each level.  The ground floor was the kitchen, two floors of bedrooms, and the top floor was the living room.  We got our work out walking stairs every day.

The French countryside is gorgeous. It's dotted with tiny villages, each with a church. Vineyards are everywhere.  Every small plot of land has grape vines. We loved exploring.

It was harvest season.  People were all over the vineyards picking grapes.  There are processing facilities in every village. Trucks and tractors rule the roads during this time.  Slow going was exactly what we wanted so following a slow truck was perfect for us. Pictures do not do this countryside justice.

We are not museum people but on a rainy day in Beaune it's the thing to do.  This is Hotel Dieu which was a hospital founded in 1443 and now its a hotel and museum. It is famous for its red blanket beds that line its great hall and for the crazy tile roof design. The museum is a collection of the medical facilities, surgery rooms, pharmacy and living quarters of the nuns that ran the place.  Lots of gothic art and tapestries.

The French countryside and wine is what we came for and Beaune provided us a beautiful trip. We hope we can leave the rain behind when we go the Spain to meet up with friends and tour the country. Au revoir France.

Lyon

Lyon is a beautiful French city located in the confluence of the Rhone and the Soane rivers.  The Rhone valley is renowned for its Burgundy and Chablis wines. We came to eat, drink and see the sights.

On the tour of the city we were able to see interesting French architecture and art. This building has no windows. An artist painted windows with historically famous people in each window. It looks very realistic.

Lyon is the food mecca of France.  The community prides itself on farm to table foods.  Lyon did not disappoint. The city has tiny local restaurants called Bouchons. These places serve traditional country foods. The Bouchon we went to was called L'Acteur. It seats 24 people very close together.  The menu was written on a small black board is in French (of course).  A very nice young French man sitting next to us who spoke English (sort of) translated the menu and described each offering so we were able to select the items we wanted for lunch.      

 

The indoor food market was marvelous.  It's filled with stores offering seafood, wine, cheese, bread, vegetables, sweets, and restaurants featuring every nationality of foods you could imagine. The French must do their shopping on the weekends because this place was packed with people with tiny carts they pull behind them to carry their groceries

Farmers Markets were everywhere on Saturday and Sunday.  The farmers markets feature the best fruits and vegetables, bread and cheese, fresh butchered beef, pork, chicken, and duck meat. One vendor had olives on a table that stretched 20 feet.  We stopped to buy one peach and one nectarine.  They usually sell by the kilo and didn't know how to charge us so they just gave us the fruit for free. In Bonaire we seldom see such fresh fruits and veggies so the farmers market became our street food treats.

 

We stayed in Vieux Lyon, the old district.  It has narrow cobble stone and brick streets. Our building door opens onto one of the cobblestone streets, and the building has a courtyard with a stone slab circular staircase. The building is ancient but the apartment is modern inside. It was a great location...close to the metro, grocery stores, restaurants and shopping.  

We came to Lyon by train via Geneva. We used the metro to go everywhere. Rick has become a master of finding ways to get places on the metro and can get us anywhere by transferring trains. We also walk a lot. We had sunny skies in Lyon.  This is one of our many selfies with the Soane in the background with Vieux Lyon beyond.

Chamonix

We went to Chamonix, France via Geneva,  Switzerland to see the Alps and Mt. Blanc. I am too old to ski the Alps so this was my one chance to see them. With only one day scheduled, we  hoped to have a bright sunny day. However, Mother Nature showed who was in charge! The rain, fog and drizzle followed us  from London. It was their first rainfall in months.

The mountains that we could see were beautiful with wildflowers and snow on the same slope. 

 The  25 person tram took us half way up the mountain because the weather was too bad to go to the top. The ride was thrilling-straight up the mountain and into the clouds. I was thankful for a sign that pointed to the mountain peaks because we could not see them at all through the fog and mist.

 

Chamonix is a cute little ski town.  It looks like Aspen or Vail.  Since none of the outdoor activities were available the day we were there, we spent a lot of time in cafe's drinking and eating.  We met many young couples from Colorado there to hike the Alps. They only work when they must and travel all the time. A very different lifestyle than when we were in our younger career-building years.

We took a tour bus to Chamonix. It was to leave at 5:00 pm as the last bus as well as the last train out of the town. Things happen when you travel, and we missed the bus back to Geneva. Our only option was to call Uber. A nice man in a Mercedes Van took us right to our Switzerland hotel for €218.

It was a fun day and we enjoyed the journey rain or shine in Chamonix.

London

 

We have had a grand time in London.  We visited Buckingham Palace from the outside because the King did not grant us an audience; saw the crown jewels at the Tower of London; learned how to get around on the subway which proved to be an easy and fast way around town; spent hours in the Churchill War Rooms which was a fascinating historical tour of his life and WWII as told from the British point of view (different than the American experience); and experienced both sunshine (yes, that's right, sunshine in London) as well as the gray skies and rain which turns the entire city into the pallor of gray.

Our first view of Westminster Abbey and the Tower of Big Ben hit us as soon as we emerged from the train station.  As we looked around we could see St. James's cathedral, the Parliament building, and the Thames River. Not far was a London garden with blooming flowers which is something we don't see in Bonaire. Plus the famous red telephone booths and castle guards with red uniforms.

It was the food scene that really impressed us.  Although the fish and chips (served with English peas) was fabulous, we also had exceptional Lebanese, Thai, Japanese noodle bowls and Pub meat pies with gravy. We tried Indian cuisine for the first time and fell in love.

A trip to Hyde Park was a welcomed relief from the hustle of the city. We strolled to the lake and watched the wildlife and the people. We caught sight of a swan.  Since all the swans in England belong to the King, I guess we saw a royal swan... photo bombed by a seagull.

London was easy to travel around using The Tube (subway). The city was clean, friendly and even sunny!

We walked 8,000-10,000 steps a day, climbed stairs, toured museums and ate great food.  We are off to a great start of our 7-week European adventure. This is us still standing after touring the Tower of London.

Harrods

No trip to London is complete without going to Harrods. It is bigger than a city block and filled with every extravagant, high-end , designer items you could ever want but can not afford. We spent several hours going floor to floor and visiting each section.... 

Men's, women's and children clothes and accessories, furniture, shoes (I have never seen so many shoes), jewelry, watches, china  (Rick said no one has china because it's all at Harrods), silver and gold plates, dishes and sculptures, bedding, and the most magnificent food market I have ever seen. It was like going to a museum with very expensive exhibits.  No words can describe it so I will just show you pictures.

The central escalators in the building are in the art deco style. The ceiling was even spectacular.

We stopped at their Prada street side café for a rest.  They informed us that they had a minimum and required everyone to order food and drink. We ordered tea and water and two shortbread squares. The tab was ￡30. We did get to relax in the sun on a corner café and enjoy the afternoon which was priceless.