Saturday, April 24, 2010
















Tuesday, April 20 FIVE weeks ago today we left home! Boy, are we ready to be home where a “cup of coffee” translates into a 16 ounce tumbler of just right flavor with some whole milk and Splenda. Most coffees here are miniature expressos and no milk available! We were out of our hotel by 9AM and on the road to Setes, a city on the Mediterranean Sea. It’s time to step INSIDE the bubble and let our feet touch French ground. This town has condos and hotels packed in on the hillside, all with views of the beautiful blue sea and beach. There are miles of sidewalks for bikes and pedestrians that run along the water. We ate outside and enjoyed French bread, French fries and French omelets (and a tiny cup of black expresso). Truly, we have denied ourselves no food (nor have we exercised) and I am feeling like my body has been put into slow motion and stiff as a board!
We are on the road again and heading south to Barcelona, Spain (on the Mediterranean Sea just south of the French/Spain border). Staying there tonight will put us at about a 6 hour drive from the airport we will fly out of in Madrid. I am being a pitiful travel companion for a good part of the afternoon because I cannot get out of this zombie-state and stay awake to keep John company. We make the mistake of pulling in the pre-paid only ticket lane as we enter Spain and hold up a long line of not so happy drivers behind us. I finally get out of the car and tell the guy behind me that we aren’t from around here. He wasn’t very friendly.
In just 2 days we’ve gone from hearing German, to French, to Spanish and we still catch ourselves saying, our Russian “Spy-ceba” for thank you. The terrain in Spain is less lush and colorful compared to France, both countries are covered with wine vinyards which are just beginning to sprout new leaves. It is easier to navigate in a Spanish speaking country since John knows a tad of Spanish. We both took weekly Spanish lessons in Greenwood 2 ½ years ago when we first thought we were adopting a 4yo little girl from Guatemala. Glad to see those months of Spanish lessons weren’t wasted. While in Frankfurt (when we had better internet access), John randomly picked two hotel names in downtown Barcelona and Pam-Pam guided us right to the front door of a beautiful hotel on La Rambla Street in the heart the old section of town which was buzzing with people from all over the world. 10 minute parking in the front of the hotel gave us enough time to check for vacancies and unload our 160 pounds of luggage into the room. You’re on your own here to find a place to park your car (thus many locals ride mopeds which squeeze between moving cars and trucks without warning).
We do have success finding a parking deck and John is able to relate to the parking attendant that we will be back tomorrow for the car (a mere 45 dollar tab for less than 24 hours). Glad to be able to get around by foot. There are more stores to shop in here than in all of South Carolina (at least it feels that way). We are taking pictures of grand buildings and statues and hoping that someone can educate us when we get home as to what we have been looking at – probably something very historical and famous! Just aren’t up to climbing up on a tour bus to see the sights today. I am in sensory overload for experiencing new sights and sounds and tastes. We do get a good recommendation for a dinner place at 4 Cats which was a nice way to end the night (that and splurging on a colorful zippered jacket for me that is probably way to youthful but fun).

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