It's fall here and a beautiful time in the Riviera. Trees are turning golden and the mist is hanging on the lake. We've had a nice relaxing time here and we're off tomorrow to Geneva then France. First we have to say goodbye to Berny and Ann who have been very generous to us while we've been here. Ann made us lunch, roast chicken in breadcrumbs, one of Henry's favs. Then we went for a walk up the hill past the Chateau de Blonay and played in the park to work off the meal and Gin! Oh and wine. Sorry Berny we tried to help clear out the cellar but didn't make much of a dent. Ann saw smoke reflected in a train window up the hill a bit so we rushed to see if the historic train was in action. We made it just in time and climbed on. Once again trainspotter Henry was over the moon. It's a great little ride up and up to Chambly at the end, Hen even got to go into the engine with the engineers after I asked in my funny misspoken French.
Ann and Berny picked us up in their cars at the top and drove us back for pasta. It was going to be Fondue but we all agreed that could be dangerous. After another delicious meal and more great wine from Bordeaux we were chauffeured back to the nice hostel in the main square of Vevey. The next day Berny treated us to his famous Fondue wow. It was more than I expected especially with the Kirsh which packs a punch. I've been a bit off cheese since my mum made me sandwiches for school when I was 6 and at lunch they'd be warm and sweaty but Berny's Fondue helped bring me back to the cheese fold.
Each day we've done a few things here. We got the Funicular up the hill to 800m and walked back down. Bella fell asleep before we went up and didn't wake up until we got to the top. She was so sad about missing it! Poor little monster, she has got to go on two more since then though so is cool about it now. We walked back down from Mt Pelerin through meadows of cows and fruit trees and vineyards. Kind of not what we expected. It's funny cos when you are down on the lake edge Vevey and Montreux look like cities as they've got lots of high apartments. The populations aren't very big though only 15 - 20K we've been told.
The trains and buses are great here, really often and very clean and new. Much tax dollars spent here. We've really enjoyed our little sample of Switzerland. We could have tried to see lots and felt rushed but it was nice to wander and sample some of the Riviera at a more relaxed pace. We'll miss your clean green towns Switzerland. Tomorrow we have a car waiting for us at Geneva airport, we're off to the Maginot line!
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Chateau de Chillon - catch up
Once again I've had more important things on my mind other than my blog! So it's got holes as big as lake Geneva throughout it. We've been in Switzerland for 5 days and I've written nothing...so once again I must do my duty. It's not that bad and also I'm not going to work each day, it's the least I can do.
We drove into Geneva from Chamonix in our little rental Polo diesel VW, very economical if you are looking for a new car. The day before we drove at 120 - 130 km/hr the whole afternoon on the highways (apart from many little people toilet stops and big people coffee stops), with no problems from France through Italy to France. Anyway getting to Geneva was interesting. We drove down the mountain which was beautiful, the roads in Europe really are extremely impressive if at times v expensive. The tunnel was 30E and we'd already spent lots that day on tolls. They make NZ look like a little country town although we have the population of a small city in our whole country I guess. Once we got to Geneva we had to go through Swiss customs. We expected at least a quick check of the car for contraband but we didn't even have to show our passports. I don't know why they bother to have people there. They could achieve as much with big cut outs with those eyes that follow you as you walk by. They freak me out...They didn't even have rubber gloves poking out of their pockets to dissuade you from trying to bring in the white stuff.
Well once we got past that we were into Swiss land, once again we were doomed to say all the wrong words and try to speak Italian or Spanish. Dropping the car at Geneva extremely international airport was as we'd been told a big pain in the bottom. We followed the instructions from the car company carefully and rapidly became mired in the outskirts of Geneva following tiny signs intended as per the French way to help locals who know the way find where they want to go. Although the locals would go the direct route. Wendy was driving which meant I'm trying to find the little signs with my squinty pointy eyes and only just seeing them a moment before we need to turn. Otherwise I'm driving and Wendy is reading something or talking to me about some idea for opening a small animal farm for deprived kids and not looking for signs. Well after much driving we arrived...At the Swiss side. At first we weren't sure if we were in the right place but I went to talk to the guy and he said everyone does this, gave me instructions in English thankfully, and gave me a map to the French side. It looked easy, and as long as drove at walking pace we didn't miss any turns. The French side true to form had no sign for car drop off. They just know, somehow, the French are amazing. All cool though with the helpful man's instructions. Oh and no border control into France from Switzerland the French don't even make a show of it.
The airport was kind of cool for people from a place with no countries around them. We walked from France to Switzerland dutifully handing over our passports, which I think the border control thought were contaminated. They didn't want to touch them again. Swiss people are very clean so understandable. We smuggled ourselves through customs declaring ourselves fit to travel. We were in the country of Fondue, chocolate, swiss knives, swiss clocks, neutrality, lakes and mountains etc.
We quickly bunged all we could fit that we didn't need in the next day in the lockers. Phew! aaahhhhhhh no stuff to carry. After we drop off our stuff we always wonder what the other stuff is and whether we need it. Im sure we are going to find we've had a small circus travelling with us incognito and going out to do shows while we are asleep. How they get out of the lockers I don't know?
Anyway then we went to buy warm stuff for the land of cold. I had no jacket and the kids had to wear all their clothes at once to stay warm. Our first evening in Geneva there was a big wind and it made us long for winter in Wellington (how odd). We were revived after some typical Swiss food. Roast duck, spring rolls, stirfry prawn and green tea, mmm just like home. After that we needed dessert of course so went wandering in the cold, it had got even colder so we pulled down our warm hats, pulled up our hoods and walked off cooly in our Crocs and socks.
Just by our hostel we found a creperie which looked nice. Wendy ordered a crepe being a smart woman. I as per usual had to have something a little more tricky and involved, why, why, why??? There was a beautiful Movenpick menu with glossy pictures of tall glasses and round balls of ice cream topped off with various delicacies. I chose the coffee deluxe super extra rich cafe supreme au chocolate with sprinkles. Looked good. Wendy dug into her crepe, mmm. I waited and waited and waited. Then the guy came back and said "sorry I have no coffee ice cream". Ok, I chose vanilla instead, almost as good. After a little longer my icecream came...but it had no espresso shot, so I queried it. Although the man looked surprised at me wanting a shot in it, even though it was in the picture he dutifully put one in. A massive one which made the whole thing into mush. Ok, I tried it, walnut ice cream. I took it back and tried to contain my complete disbelief until Wendy had finished. When we went for the addition the man said "I have not charged you for the ice cream" gee I'd hope not!!!
We drove into Geneva from Chamonix in our little rental Polo diesel VW, very economical if you are looking for a new car. The day before we drove at 120 - 130 km/hr the whole afternoon on the highways (apart from many little people toilet stops and big people coffee stops), with no problems from France through Italy to France. Anyway getting to Geneva was interesting. We drove down the mountain which was beautiful, the roads in Europe really are extremely impressive if at times v expensive. The tunnel was 30E and we'd already spent lots that day on tolls. They make NZ look like a little country town although we have the population of a small city in our whole country I guess. Once we got to Geneva we had to go through Swiss customs. We expected at least a quick check of the car for contraband but we didn't even have to show our passports. I don't know why they bother to have people there. They could achieve as much with big cut outs with those eyes that follow you as you walk by. They freak me out...They didn't even have rubber gloves poking out of their pockets to dissuade you from trying to bring in the white stuff.
Well once we got past that we were into Swiss land, once again we were doomed to say all the wrong words and try to speak Italian or Spanish. Dropping the car at Geneva extremely international airport was as we'd been told a big pain in the bottom. We followed the instructions from the car company carefully and rapidly became mired in the outskirts of Geneva following tiny signs intended as per the French way to help locals who know the way find where they want to go. Although the locals would go the direct route. Wendy was driving which meant I'm trying to find the little signs with my squinty pointy eyes and only just seeing them a moment before we need to turn. Otherwise I'm driving and Wendy is reading something or talking to me about some idea for opening a small animal farm for deprived kids and not looking for signs. Well after much driving we arrived...At the Swiss side. At first we weren't sure if we were in the right place but I went to talk to the guy and he said everyone does this, gave me instructions in English thankfully, and gave me a map to the French side. It looked easy, and as long as drove at walking pace we didn't miss any turns. The French side true to form had no sign for car drop off. They just know, somehow, the French are amazing. All cool though with the helpful man's instructions. Oh and no border control into France from Switzerland the French don't even make a show of it.
The airport was kind of cool for people from a place with no countries around them. We walked from France to Switzerland dutifully handing over our passports, which I think the border control thought were contaminated. They didn't want to touch them again. Swiss people are very clean so understandable. We smuggled ourselves through customs declaring ourselves fit to travel. We were in the country of Fondue, chocolate, swiss knives, swiss clocks, neutrality, lakes and mountains etc.
We quickly bunged all we could fit that we didn't need in the next day in the lockers. Phew! aaahhhhhhh no stuff to carry. After we drop off our stuff we always wonder what the other stuff is and whether we need it. Im sure we are going to find we've had a small circus travelling with us incognito and going out to do shows while we are asleep. How they get out of the lockers I don't know?
Anyway then we went to buy warm stuff for the land of cold. I had no jacket and the kids had to wear all their clothes at once to stay warm. Our first evening in Geneva there was a big wind and it made us long for winter in Wellington (how odd). We were revived after some typical Swiss food. Roast duck, spring rolls, stirfry prawn and green tea, mmm just like home. After that we needed dessert of course so went wandering in the cold, it had got even colder so we pulled down our warm hats, pulled up our hoods and walked off cooly in our Crocs and socks.
Just by our hostel we found a creperie which looked nice. Wendy ordered a crepe being a smart woman. I as per usual had to have something a little more tricky and involved, why, why, why??? There was a beautiful Movenpick menu with glossy pictures of tall glasses and round balls of ice cream topped off with various delicacies. I chose the coffee deluxe super extra rich cafe supreme au chocolate with sprinkles. Looked good. Wendy dug into her crepe, mmm. I waited and waited and waited. Then the guy came back and said "sorry I have no coffee ice cream". Ok, I chose vanilla instead, almost as good. After a little longer my icecream came...but it had no espresso shot, so I queried it. Although the man looked surprised at me wanting a shot in it, even though it was in the picture he dutifully put one in. A massive one which made the whole thing into mush. Ok, I tried it, walnut ice cream. I took it back and tried to contain my complete disbelief until Wendy had finished. When we went for the addition the man said "I have not charged you for the ice cream" gee I'd hope not!!!
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Son of Caca
We are now in Carcassonne. Translated in English to ¨Son of Ca ca¨. Surprisingly for the son of ca ca town there isn`t much of it around. We aren`t doing the dance of the French to avoid it quite so much. While I`m on the subject these keyboards are impossible if I type aithout looking this is whqt i get888. It will never do. Driving me mentql having to watch every key . I`m sure they did it just to plqy with English ,inds!!! Aaaarrgh
Carcassonne is a medieval town in Catalane territory still, south of France. We`ve found a great hostel called Sidsmums. It is very relaxing here and a reasonable rate, the french keyboard is infuriating but apart from that everything is great. Nice people looking after the place, they have volunteers help out and there are a Canadian and Irish couple currently volunteering here. henry went for a walk with them tonight in the dark with George the dog, who is the splitting image of the dog from Fraggle rock if you`ve ever seen that! Henry and Bella just want to be here the whole ti,e and play with him and the cat, forget the Medieval castle with Disneyland like spires etc...Funny we thought they`d like that.
New exciting news also at hand. We are now officially going to Morocco if I haven`t mentioned that. All my fish wife nagging has finally paid off. Wendy is quite nervous, as am I if I ever admit it. We are flying there on Henry`s birthday. I thought how cool to maybe ride a camel for his 6th birthday but he said Ï want to choose what I want to do!¨ fair enough I guess. I thought it would be cool but I`m not 6. Almost 1 am here was this late last night too so must off to bed. Have been sampling local red wines tonight with the other Hostel dwellers and playing quick scrabble. Much fun and laughter. Tomorrow we go see the castle if we can drag the kids away from George.
Carcassonne is a medieval town in Catalane territory still, south of France. We`ve found a great hostel called Sidsmums. It is very relaxing here and a reasonable rate, the french keyboard is infuriating but apart from that everything is great. Nice people looking after the place, they have volunteers help out and there are a Canadian and Irish couple currently volunteering here. henry went for a walk with them tonight in the dark with George the dog, who is the splitting image of the dog from Fraggle rock if you`ve ever seen that! Henry and Bella just want to be here the whole ti,e and play with him and the cat, forget the Medieval castle with Disneyland like spires etc...Funny we thought they`d like that.
New exciting news also at hand. We are now officially going to Morocco if I haven`t mentioned that. All my fish wife nagging has finally paid off. Wendy is quite nervous, as am I if I ever admit it. We are flying there on Henry`s birthday. I thought how cool to maybe ride a camel for his 6th birthday but he said Ï want to choose what I want to do!¨ fair enough I guess. I thought it would be cool but I`m not 6. Almost 1 am here was this late last night too so must off to bed. Have been sampling local red wines tonight with the other Hostel dwellers and playing quick scrabble. Much fun and laughter. Tomorrow we go see the castle if we can drag the kids away from George.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Caca
There are a whole lot of dogs here. There are funny signs about respecting your town and picking up what you've left! Hasn't had a noticeable effect though. Wendy has perfected her Poodar. I like to tease her and almost step in it. Henry walks straight through then says "what?" like we haven't been shouting at him to avoid it. Poor boy though the whole pavement is covered in places like one of those Modern art experiments with new materials. Wendy is very happy that Bella has picked up the poordar gene too.
We are still in St Cyprien but moving on tomorrow. Still haven't arranged where we are going tomorrow. We want to go somewhere more authentic. I'm over sandy beaches, much prefer the more interesting beaches like at Torrevieja in Spain or Portbou where you can swim with the fish and look at interesting nooks.
It has been very quiet here which has been good for us all. It could be nice here with friends as you'd hang out here and chat. People here haven't been very friendly. I said bonjour in the morning and a couple of other things to the man next door with 3 children and nothing. Not a word. Once again there seem to be a good amount of Germans here. It is off season now and so no activities and mostly jusy depresed people wandering around who couldn't afford a decent holiday somewhere nice. Oh, like us. Ha ha.
Today we walked around for 4 hours or so. Haven't found any cafes here with coffee which is weird, I thought French were very into coffee. So we are doing an enforced detox, until we find it again. I haven't had coffee for 2 days and have had some amazing headaches. The last of the Tylenol is finshed...aaarrrgh. We haven't even got tea. Have had to revert to Coke with it's 52 chemicals and 1/3 sugar.
We missed the rugby last night had to suffice with text updates on the lap top. We had planned to watch France play NZ at a local bar but it got too late for the littles. Gutted about the result even though I don't normally follow it. I couldn't gloat heartlessly to the unfriendly guy next door and have had to try and avoid him.
We saw a live Octopus last night at the harbour looking like a blog of jelly lying on a rock. Hen loved that.
Tomorrow we aim to get the f!@# out of here to some place nice. Carcassonne is calling with it's great sounding castle. Hopefully it will not be as bad as it sounds in high season. Packed with tourists at 30C is not my idea of a nice holiday.
Friday, October 5, 2007
Cor blimey cobber
Saint Cyprien plage
We've just arrived this afternoon. Not looking too promising, Wendy and I even had to have a hug we were so depressed on arriving...I know weird. Wendy says "it's not bad it's just that we've had good places" she puts on a brave face and whimpers into her hands quietly...while begging me to go and get toilet paper from the office as they don't provide it here. OK!
Anyway we'll update you later. Not sure how this will go we may be returning to Spain tomorrow.
We've just arrived this afternoon. Not looking too promising, Wendy and I even had to have a hug we were so depressed on arriving...I know weird. Wendy says "it's not bad it's just that we've had good places" she puts on a brave face and whimpers into her hands quietly...while begging me to go and get toilet paper from the office as they don't provide it here. OK!
Anyway we'll update you later. Not sure how this will go we may be returning to Spain tomorrow.
Composte, Change de Pays
We're in France. Quel let down!!! We caught a taxi from Portbou over to Cerberes. It cost E15 but was cool. In 2 days we've got to like Portbou. This morning we went to the port, blogged, walked up the hill to see the monument to Mr BenjaminWe had our last beers at Cafe d'art with Phillipe et David and said our Adioses and Aurevoirs.
Going over the mountain took 15 minutes and there was a great view. We took a few pics and passed through border control without even being waved on. Our driver said customs take turns. One day French the next Spanish. We're now in Cerberes International railway station!!! Wow. Now I had no pre-impressions of here but I'm having to hold myself back from going to French stereotypes. This station does not honour an entrance to France. Of course the children needed to go to the toilet...
Henry came back saying "Mummy come and see the bugs" which she politely declined. Then Bella needed to go. I drew the short straw. First there was a dirty floor, dirty spray painted walls THEN I SAW THE STALLS. One had been sprayed by someone who needed to eat a lot of bread, rice, apple and toast. The second had flies covering it like wallpaper, I think even they didn't want to be in the first one! The third was no better. Bella and I washed our hands like we'd suddenly developed OCD. Holes in the ground be damned I'll be holding on until Germany. Only 3 weeks to go.
The waiting room needs a thorough clean or perhaps a fire bombing, I know that sounds extreme but I'm not sure superman with the big green clean machine could achieve much here.
I cross my fingers, toes and legs while I wait/espere/attente for the train.
Conversation
Out of order post
We are sitting at the port of Portbou checking messages, feeling the sun on us while the children play at floating walnut shells in the sea. Henry has found lots of little sea creatures which he's been putting into walnut shells with sea water. Very funny.
While Wendy was using the computer I was handing out walnuts to people near us. First some English types, they didn't say much but liked the walnuts. We got the walnuts at the market which is here today, the man was very generous, way too generous and so we had to start giving some away. He was also selling big bags of live snails. The poor things were trying to get out of the mesh bags but could only get their bodies out. Henry said "they'll escape", I didn't think so but he said "They can get out of their shells
Catalunya
We're now in Portbou. Try finding it on a map! The accent has noticeably changed. The Spanish is written and said differently here. Words for some things we'd got used to have changed. Like toilets are no longer Servicios. Catalan is softer and the lisp sound has gone too. Interesting, not better or worse maybe a little easier for our untrained tongues.
We had a great time in Madrid apart from spending way too much. But hey it's part of the adventure. We tossed and turned about where to go next. We really are making it up as we go along. I wanted to return to the sea or to some medieval town with towers and mosques? Wendy felt it was time to move on to Franca and try out our school French (actually she did it until Uni but anyway). We eventually agreed on some Fou do fa fa...But we haven't quite made it yet, we are 3Kms from the French border in Catalan country. It almost fit all criteria. We wanted something a little smaller and you can't get too much smaller.
Portbou used to be the border town but now the border has been moved or they use a town a little further way. Borders seem less important so far in Europe, the EU has lessened border control. Portbou has a massive train station for such a small place, (it's as big as the town including the sidings), and you can see from wandering around it a bit that there used to be a lot more business here. Hotels have closed and some parts of the town are a little in need of some love/investment. Doer uppers going cheap! I really like it here though. Partly it's quieter than the city and we feel a little special being able to visit without throngs of people. Last night we were the only people in the restaurant (L'anchore, great food). It's off season now as it has got colder, Autumn is on it's way and the tourists have blown away leaving a sleepy little village. The French are still driving over for dinner and moin cher booze. The people who rent the kayaks are on holiday and the restaurants are planning on closing soon for a well deserved break. So we got a bit of a bargain. We walked into town from the train a day ago with all our bags and made it to the playground where the littles made themselves at home. I went wandering to check out accomodation. Wendy was talking about if we don't find a place we'll get back on the train and go to Perpignon or somewhere bigger where we can find accomodation. This little place intrigued me and the quiet appealed to the country boy side of me. Devizes in my blood.
So after a quick walk around I went to talk to a cafe owner who had a little sign offering habitacions, chambres, rooms. I had my best Spanish prepared but he was French, car meme. So then my brain got all confused and I was speaking, Spanglaise, a new hybrid that surprisingly did the job. I thought the rooms must be above the cafe and was looking for the stairs but...He said follow me and we set off. Down the hill, around the corner, down another hill, around a few more corners, through a nice tree lined petite avenue and into a once grand old building. We picked our way past skill saws, sawdust, plaster and paint and two Eastern European labourer types. Then he set off spritely up a winding staircase and we climbed and climbed up to the 4th floor. The rooms looked great, Karen Walker colour palette very now very cool. Air conditioning although it is only just needed now. Nice bathrooms, brand new but needing a slight finishing touch on one. They were missing a bit from one of the showers it isn't quite attached to the wall. Anyway as you can tell I took it, after the obligatory check with W of course. She said nervously "if you think it's good we'll take it", phew. We found one bathroom is slightly smelly I think from the washer on the one shower not being correctly done. Hey it's cool not a biggie and it'll be fixed next week. I think the plumber was slightly rushing that day? We agreed to take it for two days including breakfast at $35 each room, so $70. Seems like a good deal to me. I'm sure once it's finished and the entrance is up to scratch it'll go for a lot more in high season. I would definetely stay here again.
It has been relaxing here, I went swimming in the sea yesterday. Was cold getting in but then fine. Wouldn't stay in for an hour but it was nice. The water here is very clear. I think it's because the sediment is quite coarse here. Fine gravel instead of sand so it doesn't float so much. You can see easily 10m. There are lots of fish and they are curious and almost wanted to get touched it seems. Henry and Bella had a great time playing and Bella had a sllep with W on the beach. One not so nice thing about the beach is that people let their dogs go on the it. Not so nice, one does need to be observant. There are three other little beaches which are just a couple of minutes walk where it's cleaner. Today we walked and climbed around the corner and very gingerly picked our way along the cliff path. Henry falls over all the time and this was not a good spot to do a Charlie Chaplin act. Much hand holding later we sat down and looked back at Portbou. A nice little town with an interesting past and many stories to tell.
One story here is of Walter Benjamin, a Jewish-German philosopher who committed suicide here 26th September 1940. He had escaped from France over the Pyrenees to Spain on his way to the United States. When he got here he was exhausted and stopped to rest at a hotel. He reported later to the Spanish authorities as he thought it was the right thing to do. He found he would be deported and so committed suicide in his hotel room with poison. There is now a memorial to him designed by Dani Karavan, Passagen. We haven't made it there yet but we'll walk up to it tomorrow. From the pictures it looks like a long slice into the hillside with a glass ending. Maybe signifying the journey Walter took. I read in the town something like Walter Benjamin felt he carried a hunchback of bad luck. He wasn't destined to have an easy life. It adds a depth to this little border town to have a dark story of despair told on the corners of a darker time. Gestapo were in this village during WWII. I can't imagine what it was like to have that in the background going about your business here over 60 years ago.
We had a great time in Madrid apart from spending way too much. But hey it's part of the adventure. We tossed and turned about where to go next. We really are making it up as we go along. I wanted to return to the sea or to some medieval town with towers and mosques? Wendy felt it was time to move on to Franca and try out our school French (actually she did it until Uni but anyway). We eventually agreed on some Fou do fa fa...But we haven't quite made it yet, we are 3Kms from the French border in Catalan country. It almost fit all criteria. We wanted something a little smaller and you can't get too much smaller.
Portbou used to be the border town but now the border has been moved or they use a town a little further way. Borders seem less important so far in Europe, the EU has lessened border control. Portbou has a massive train station for such a small place, (it's as big as the town including the sidings), and you can see from wandering around it a bit that there used to be a lot more business here. Hotels have closed and some parts of the town are a little in need of some love/investment. Doer uppers going cheap! I really like it here though. Partly it's quieter than the city and we feel a little special being able to visit without throngs of people. Last night we were the only people in the restaurant (L'anchore, great food). It's off season now as it has got colder, Autumn is on it's way and the tourists have blown away leaving a sleepy little village. The French are still driving over for dinner and moin cher booze. The people who rent the kayaks are on holiday and the restaurants are planning on closing soon for a well deserved break. So we got a bit of a bargain. We walked into town from the train a day ago with all our bags and made it to the playground where the littles made themselves at home. I went wandering to check out accomodation. Wendy was talking about if we don't find a place we'll get back on the train and go to Perpignon or somewhere bigger where we can find accomodation. This little place intrigued me and the quiet appealed to the country boy side of me. Devizes in my blood.
So after a quick walk around I went to talk to a cafe owner who had a little sign offering habitacions, chambres, rooms. I had my best Spanish prepared but he was French, car meme. So then my brain got all confused and I was speaking, Spanglaise, a new hybrid that surprisingly did the job. I thought the rooms must be above the cafe and was looking for the stairs but...He said follow me and we set off. Down the hill, around the corner, down another hill, around a few more corners, through a nice tree lined petite avenue and into a once grand old building. We picked our way past skill saws, sawdust, plaster and paint and two Eastern European labourer types. Then he set off spritely up a winding staircase and we climbed and climbed up to the 4th floor. The rooms looked great, Karen Walker colour palette very now very cool. Air conditioning although it is only just needed now. Nice bathrooms, brand new but needing a slight finishing touch on one. They were missing a bit from one of the showers it isn't quite attached to the wall. Anyway as you can tell I took it, after the obligatory check with W of course. She said nervously "if you think it's good we'll take it", phew. We found one bathroom is slightly smelly I think from the washer on the one shower not being correctly done. Hey it's cool not a biggie and it'll be fixed next week. I think the plumber was slightly rushing that day? We agreed to take it for two days including breakfast at $35 each room, so $70. Seems like a good deal to me. I'm sure once it's finished and the entrance is up to scratch it'll go for a lot more in high season. I would definetely stay here again.
It has been relaxing here, I went swimming in the sea yesterday. Was cold getting in but then fine. Wouldn't stay in for an hour but it was nice. The water here is very clear. I think it's because the sediment is quite coarse here. Fine gravel instead of sand so it doesn't float so much. You can see easily 10m. There are lots of fish and they are curious and almost wanted to get touched it seems. Henry and Bella had a great time playing and Bella had a sllep with W on the beach. One not so nice thing about the beach is that people let their dogs go on the it. Not so nice, one does need to be observant. There are three other little beaches which are just a couple of minutes walk where it's cleaner. Today we walked and climbed around the corner and very gingerly picked our way along the cliff path. Henry falls over all the time and this was not a good spot to do a Charlie Chaplin act. Much hand holding later we sat down and looked back at Portbou. A nice little town with an interesting past and many stories to tell.
One story here is of Walter Benjamin, a Jewish-German philosopher who committed suicide here 26th September 1940. He had escaped from France over the Pyrenees to Spain on his way to the United States. When he got here he was exhausted and stopped to rest at a hotel. He reported later to the Spanish authorities as he thought it was the right thing to do. He found he would be deported and so committed suicide in his hotel room with poison. There is now a memorial to him designed by Dani Karavan, Passagen. We haven't made it there yet but we'll walk up to it tomorrow. From the pictures it looks like a long slice into the hillside with a glass ending. Maybe signifying the journey Walter took. I read in the town something like Walter Benjamin felt he carried a hunchback of bad luck. He wasn't destined to have an easy life. It adds a depth to this little border town to have a dark story of despair told on the corners of a darker time. Gestapo were in this village during WWII. I can't imagine what it was like to have that in the background going about your business here over 60 years ago.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Costly
We got ripped off today. Our fault but I wish we'd put up more of a fuss. Wendy threw out the train ticket when we got off the train at Atocha station and we couldn't get out without it. The Bastardoes charged us $16.60 as a fine. I ask you people with two young children getting that fine. We obviously had just made a mistake. Anyway we paid it like the good English heritage types we are. Then we walked and walked and walked trying to find a nice cafe/restaurant with reasonable food with no smoke! The last criteria is the most tricky. We finally found one Tapas del Mondo (Tapas of the world) ordered reasonably but found we'd ordered large once the cuenta came. The portions were small but with a big price. But of course we no make a fuss. I felt p'd off after we'd paid but it was too late by then. Next time I will grow some Cahones!!!
The main thing we did today was go to the Palacio Real (royal palace). Truely amazing unbelievable and not expensive. Henry loved the Armoury we were all awe struck by the opulence. I can see why there have been so many revolutions. How did the Royal families ever survive when any commoner saw the rooms in these palaces. You need to see it to believe it.
The main thing we did today was go to the Palacio Real (royal palace). Truely amazing unbelievable and not expensive. Henry loved the Armoury we were all awe struck by the opulence. I can see why there have been so many revolutions. How did the Royal families ever survive when any commoner saw the rooms in these palaces. You need to see it to believe it.
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