The End...again

Well here is the final post and photo. Feels relaxing to be home...and now the work begins to start anew in Halifax. We hope you have enjoyed the blog as much as we did...thanks so much for following! Hasta Pronto...

besos,
Meighan and James

In with the Old out with the New

Last days in London. London has been busy and fun! Portobello Market, Harrods, Hyde Park, Ghost Walk, plus watching the World Cup in a pub drinking delicious cask ales (see the man from the Thai restaurant across the street watching the game through the window), shook our booties at the London Gay Pride Celebrations, listened to the folks (or observed those with signs) speak their mind at Speaker's Corner, saw We Will Rock You - a musical devoted to Queen songs and most importantly had a last travel lunch on the Thames with our fantastic wonderful friends Jeremy and Faye. Tonight we finished off our trip with Chinese take out and a bottle of white wine. What a way to end another 10 months on the road. Tomorrow we get back to old times with all you folks that we have been missing.
xoxoxo

Mon Cheri dans Paris

Just finished a four day stint in the French Capital. We had a really nice time. Paris is a very negotiable city and has a lot of interesting things to take in. We of course visited the Louvre which was so-so for us. We are not really into Realism or hordes of people in a gallery. But after the gong show in front of the Mona Lisa, we headed for the Dutch and German galleries which people didn't seem too interested in and where we had a little breathing room. Much more interesting to us were two other exhibits we visited. The first being a Willy Ronis black and white photo exhibit in the Musee de Monnaies and the Yves Saint Laurent exhibition at the Petite Palace.
One day we borrowed bikes(1 euro per day). We biked along the River Seine, taking in the sights (Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower etc.) and had a picnic in Luxembourg Park. And we shopped. Or ... I shopped and James sat outside dressing rooms!
Unfortunately we have no pictures of our favorites "times" in Paris which basically involved finding a small little restaurant in a quaint area and having a long delicious meal with dessert and wine. Memorable!
Surprisingly or not, we found the Parisians to be very nice and friendly. Completely different than everyone was warning us they would be. A very pleasant surprise.
We are back in London and will be home in two days. Hopefully will do one more post of London before the blog is finished. What a trip it has been.
xo
M

Mais Qui!

We are back in France! Made it to Toulouse after our hike but in typical Meighan fashion, I couldn't remember what hotel we were booked into. So, after we visited one and then talked to another (neither of which had reservations for us), we tried to find Wifi. Good luck in France. we ended up at the McDonalds for free Wifi and beer and eventually got our hotel(for some reason we got the shrimp door). Followed by a non-McDonald celebratory dinner to complete the evening. We eventually rolled into Bordeaux and got lucky enough to be here for the Bordeaux fete le vin (wine festival). We have sampled our way around Bordeaux, enjoyed an amazing projection show and fireworks. In the tasting package you even get a little red case for carrying your wine glass around. So thoughtful. The food in France has also been amazing (but of course). Take note of the 3 year old and 4 year old cheeses in the photo. Yes, four year old cheese that doesn't kill you ... that is amazing in itself. It is so hot here ... I am sure you can tell by the sweaty faces in these pics ... my body is in shock ... what?! Sun, heat?! I don't remember what this is ... where are the concrete buildings with no heat at -10??!!
Mais qui, we are nearing the end of our journey. We have 8 days left!!!! Paris, London and Regina. One of these things is not like the other ... ??!! Anyway, we are really really looking forward to seeing everyone and enjoying the summer at home!
xoxoxox
M & J

It's ok if snakes make you scream like a little girl

Just finished a three night hike in the Spanish Pyrenees. We wanted to cross over into France but due to weather conditions (snow, hail, ice) and scary mountain passes, we decided to stay in Spain. We spent the night before the hike in a small family run hotel in Areu. A very charming little place. The hike was beautiful. Many flowers out (daffodils in the morning) and lots of little critters. A snake made James scream his "I saw a snake scream". But everything else was pretty tame - lizards, deer, beetles etc. Somehow, I managed to get beat up pretty good - two bashed in shins, the worst of it. On the third day, we were so hot and were passing a lake fed my melting snow (see in the pics). James convinced me to jump in for a dive. Well, James jumped in and I sorta got half in and then decided against it. Cold beyond belief, but refreshing. James said, it's Europe, nobody cares if you take your clothes off on a hiking trail and get in a lake, but I was still a little worried. All and all a really nice time. It reminded us that we really prefer to be in our own tent, making our own food away from everyone else when out hiking.

Bar-th(c)-elona

Barcelona ... Picasso, Gaudi, World Cup, Turkish food, shopping, Independent films, drumming = superb! An amazing vibe! We loved Barcelona and wished we had more time to explore. We'll be back!!!

"I don't do drugs. I am drugs" - S. Dali

Well not much road trippin these days. The car has been parked in the garage for the most part. Most days we make our own coffee and breakfast in our apartment (a seriously fantastic treat!) and then jog to the beach. After a few hours of sun we jog back and open a bottle of cava and cook dinner. Life is pretty nice right now.
We did take the car out to visit the Salvador Dali Teatre Museu Dali in Figueres. Although being a very talented artist, he was also an incredibly strange nutjob. The museum is worth a visit to just see the strange art but also try to figure out what the hell he was thinking ... in reality it is probably too scary to let your mind go there. My favorite piece was the gold and ruby heart brooch that actually beat!
We were also able to meet up with Joan and Julia, two great Catalan friends that we met in Cuba. They have introduced us to a lot of delicious and 'different' local food. Some highlights have been black rice (see photo) that is made from adding squid ink to the dish and horse meat. Yes, we both had a small piece - tasted like hamburger to me. Moltes gràcies per la hospitalitat!
Tonight we had a small festival in our town with Giants dancing around. I am not sure why one of the Giants is showing a breast - but why not?
And last but not least, did anyone see the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup? We did, live at 2 AM. I only got up for the big game, but James was up every other night from 2 - 5 AM watching the games. You can all buy him a congratulatory drink when we get home.
One week left in our apartment then on to Barcelona, Paris, London and home. See you soon!

Can Felip

Just some pics of our apartment in Palafrugell on the Costa Brava in Spain. It's a pretty sweet 18th Century building with a real blacksmith/furniture maker and a cafe below.

Je suis habla English, por favor?

my midget mental mind can only handle one other language at a time...my poor darling french education, where have you gone after all these years? written over by one short year of living in spanish...how quickly it goes and doesn't come back.

some interesting moments on the way...using the old wooden turnstile to spin our hotrod in the uber tight parking garage, some fine gents pouring us up some real wormwood absynthe, our first great picnic in europe set in the vineyards of burgundy (yes that is real bourgone territory), and a day stroll on the Robert Louis Stevenson trail (from the classic Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes).

alas, all is well because the first day we arrived at our apartment in palafrugell,spain we understood almost every word of the spanish instructions our land lady was giving us about the apartment. and what a fine apartment it is...so spacious and it even has a kitchen! even the basics are wowing us at this point. only a 3km stroll to some nice Mediterranean beaches...i promise i will come back with a good tan and a baguetter belly...oh yeah!
hasta pronto amigos!
J

From Puritan to Libertine

Off the island, finally onto the mainland...where they drive normal cars on the normal side of the road...two more days and i would have crashed into something i am sure.

We made a quick blast to Brussels for a night before joining up with old bolivian/belgian friends on the coast of Belgium (we only met in boliva of course, 5 days in a jeep together and you are connected for life). Aagje and Oliver are wonderful, warm, and welcoming friends that made us feel instantly at home in Oostende. We feasted on the most succulent mussels, drank many fine belgium beers in all sorts of different fancy glasses, and spent a super fine day lounging at the family beach hut...tooten boerekan! Can you believe they have a different glass for every beer? serious at the local bar they had over 200 different belgium beers each with it's own signature glass...i think meighan loved the fancy glassware more than the beer...and that's saying something! Of course we had to put up another jumping shot with them, almost the same as in the bolivian salt flats...minus the swiss banker. we'll get him in next time.

next up, how many ways can you confuse spanish for french before they get annoyed at you in France?

Ye Olde Friends

Just finished up a week and a half or so in England. Lovely to see so many friends, Sue in London, Jessica in Canterbury and Jeremy and Faye in Hastings. We really are so lucky to have such wonderful friends who opened up their homes to us and let us spread our backpack contents from one end of their homes to the other. Thank You! England has been fun. We traded the chicken buses for a rented car or hot rod, so now we have wheels. We have tried a new pub (or three) every day. Some of which are really old and super cool ... full of bearded sailors and we even saw 17th Century mummified cats and rats in a pub last night. Also very luckily we were treated to a home cooked Sunday roast dinner by a fine Canterbury bloke. Everyone has been so kind and welcoming to us . Which is good because we are feeling pretty wiped these days and really need the kindness. We just don’t have much fight left in us. Right now we are just hoping that a Spanish beach plan works out and we can hang out for a while without having to move or make any decisions. I know ... everyone is saying,"cry me a river you two" ... but some days hard : ) Today we are off to Belgium to visit some more friends and then into France. More European adventure updates to come.