Vive la France!

Visiting France was the portion of the trip that I most looked forward to. It did not disappoint!! We started off staying with Harris's friends Janis and Ken, who own a lovely home just outside the village of Grambois inProvence. Shown is the outside of our apartment, which is on the floor above the garage.

We spent nearly 3 glorious weeks here relaxing, sketching/painting, strolling in the village, and driving to nearby (gorgeous) towns. Here's a shot of Grambois: (oops...it wound up below next paragraph...) Will try another. Oh, well, also in wrong spot...So many picturesque corners in the village. Impossible to give the flavor in just a couple of shots.

Oh, right...can't ignore the eating part!! I ate more butter during those weeks than I usually do in the course of a year! The food was fabulous. Everywhere! The French value chefs and pride themselves in food presentation.

We walked to the local boulangerie daily, and were welcomed by the proprietress, Christina, whopatiently waited for me to cough out my French phrases. My french, from all those years ago, wasn't as accessible as I'd hoped/expected. Everyone was patient with my butchering of their lovely language, even in Paris. 

Really struggling with the iPad, here. Unable to scroll back and forth, so here's a photo of our favorite, pain aux raisins:

Our Flat

We're staying in an airbnb apartment here. It's nice to have space, to save $$ by doing some cooking, and to have a washing machine. However, we miss out on meeting other travelers, as we would at a traditional B & B, and on getting tips from them and B&B owner.

We've experienced some true Venetian practices, like hanging our laundry:

That's our stuff on the left, just outside our bedroom window. Our particular set-up is not the least bit ergonomic. Crazy reaching and contortion required. Probably keeps the physical therapists in business around here.

Following is one of our fave inventions. This cupboard, directly above the sink, doubles as a drying rack. Wash dishes and rinse, pop them onto the rack, and you're  done! For folks like us who haven't had a dishwasher for 20+ years, it's awesome! Wish we could install one easily at home.

One More Week

It's been absolutely blissful to explore part of Europe for all of these weeks! One week from today we head to Roma by train. Will spend one night in an airport hotel, and blast off from there next Sunday a.m. One more week to enjoy Venezia!

Today, we're hopping on a boat to visit the nearby islands of Murano amd Burano. Glass blowing and lacemaking, respectively. Will be touristy as well. This has been a great time of year to be in Venezia. We hear that there are more than double the anount of tourists in high season compared with now. Still many busy areas, but we've always managged to find the quieter alleyways and campos.

Took a free walking tour Thursday. Great info from a local guy. Following are some photos from the pasr 2 days.

More Barcelona

Here we are on the crazy rooftop of a house designed by Gaudi. The rooftop is filled with these chimneys. Turns out, it's a bit maddening trying to scroll back into the past photos. These posts from the past are a bit challenging. Maybe I'll discover a trick one of these days!

Venezia

Wow! Can't believe it's Thursday!  We left our agriturismo on Monday and traveled by train from Firenze to Venezia. It was a chilly, grey day, and drizzling when we arrived, around 1:45 p.m. We decided to avoid the high cost of a water taxi, and walk to our apartment. About 20 minutes. It was a slog...heavy bags, and I've been fighting a cold. Pretty exhausted on arrival. Photo from our living room window on arrival Monday.

Anyway, we've now had 2 1/2 days here, the sun has finally emeged! What a wondeful difference. We've done a lot of wandering in the ubiquitous alleyways. I've been taking Italian language lessons in the mornings while John's been painting. Only one classmate...a gal from Sydney. We've really hit it off. Here's some sun:
Also viewed from our living room.

Sunrise

We've now been in this agriturismo for 11 nights. Each morning, I've enjoyed my coffee while watching the sunrise. It happens from about 6:30 until 7:50. Some days have been cloudy, some drizzly, and sometimes the valley is filled with mist hugging the hills. Here's how it looked today, when the sky was completely clear.

Donations

That's right, we may be seeking contributions. Last night, we drove to Poggibonsi, a nearby town that's not on the tourist map, for dinner at a wine bar I found online. My offline gps app, maps.me, told us to turn right. We did so, unwittingly, only to realize a moment too late, that we were entering a no-cars zone. (See photo below.) There's a camera to catch offenders...We've read that there are very stiff fines imposed. Yikes!

Not only that, the right turn landed us in a narrow alley (with 10-foot walls on either side) that most of the cars in the US couldn't begin to fit in. We barely managed to turn around at the dead end and escape.

Dinner was awesome!

Barcelona

As someone recently told me...Barcelona is spicy!

After 4 nights in Toledo, we went to Barcelona via high speed train. We were riveted on the landscape for the entire 3-hour ride...didn't crack a book.

From our arrival in Europe on 2 September until the day before we left Barcelona (14 Sept.), we were drenched in sweat at the end of every busy day! Even in the dry climate, it was soooooo hot!

Gaudi became my new hero. What a genius! Love his deep connection to and inspiration by the natural world.

Spain

On September 8, we left Lisbon and arrived in Toledo. It was nearly 100 degrees with 20% humidity. A walled city, 40-minute train ride from Madrid. Countryside desert-like. This town felt quite inundated by tourists; we did manage to find quiet corners.

The dialect spoken there sounded quite different from my high school Spanish...lots of guttural sounds.

We weren't impressed by the food. Enjoyed a Syrian and a Morrocan restaurant more than the. Traditional

spots.

Montepulciano

Yesterday, we drove a bit more than 1 1/2 hours to this hill town. It's pretty, and has views of the surrounding countryside. It's really all about wine. They produce a red, called vino nobile. It's good, but doesn't warrant the high pricetag, in my expert opinion.

We stopped in a simple church, and were treated to a spontaneous tune, sung by a 70-something tenor, who appeared to be expressing his connection to the universal. Only a 2 or 3 others were there. The acoustics were splendid. This gent left as unobtrusively as he had begun. It was very special.

More Lisbon

Just a quick note about how we loved Lisbon. Warm, friendly people. Hilly! Very hot when we were there. Lively. Quite touristed, but easy to find quieter spots. Visit before it's spoiled!

A food truck in Belem...one of the neighborhoods. Pasteis...little custardy tarts that are famous in the city.

Lunch

Yes, I really did eat the prosciutto! It grows on trees around here. I'm not sure if it's a fruit or a vegetable.

This was a great restaurant, where there are cozy, cushion-lined banquettes.

Chauffeur

Here's our Twingo! Gas is $8 per gallon, so going small is easier on the budget. Not very comfy, though...John's been driving; it was $100 more to allow both of us to drive, unfortunately.

Went to Volterra for a repeat visit today. We took the scenic route, about an hour, including photo stops. I wasn't snapping landscape photos. Here's the map. Our B&B is in San Donato, south of San Gimigniano.

Memory Lane

Sometimes hard to believe that all of this is now history! Will start from beginning and gradually add photos.

Started in Lisbon @ airbnb for 6 nights. Hosted by 2 young chefs.lovely people, and gorgeous b'fast daily.

Some views from our flat.

Sketch

here we go...

Fattoria San Donato

This is a farm that produces wine and olive oil. Busy most days with busloads and individuals who come to tour/taste. Super quiet at night and in early a.m., as it's in the countryside. Plenty of other b&b's in the vicinity.

Including a sketch I did yesterday of our bedroom window with handsome olive tree in foreground. Also, a sunrise photo. Doesn't begin to capture the colors or detail, but gives an idea. Sun breaks the hills around 7:15-7:30-ish. Today there was mist hugging the hills...spectacular. (No camera then...)

Oops...will have to sync sketch photo. Stay tuned...

I'm a Blogger!

Now that I think this is actually finding its way to a viewer or two, I'll post another...

Here are some photos of our current accommodations. An agriturismo outside of San Gimignano, Italy. 60-minute drive to Florence, 40-ish to Siena.

Hey, everybody!

It's taken assistance from offspring to manage a post. This will be short, as it is a test, and it's time for dinner after a 90+ minute wrong turn on our way homw from Florence:( We missed dinner at our inn.

Photo shows the pool at our agriturismo. Have been here for the past 5 nights. Haven't been in pool...yet. It's pretty chilly.

Boys leave here tomorrow a.m. J and I stay for another week before heading to Venice.

Cheers!