France - Day 4

We awoke to a light rain in Urval and after some breakfast, put together our stuff, said our goodbyes and left for Bordeaux. After checking into the hotel (adjacent to the airport, given our early morning flight) and returning our car, we took an over-priced cab into the city (we took a bus back for a fraction of the price and virtually the same time) and walked around, checking out the various buildings and churches. Bordeaux is a beautiful city with a long parkway along its riverfront, cafes and restaurants along the various winding streets.







We've had a great time, but we're excited to come back home, particularly after seeing SO many European tourists (like this guy)...



...and after seeing another European tourist crouch down like a baseball catcher to suspend his toddler-son a foot or so off the ground for 3-4 minutes just off the sidewalk in the middle of a busy square so that he could defecate. The parents' roll of dog-bags to clean up (at least they did that) was almost as disturbing because of the implied frequency with which this must occur for them (they didn't have a dog).

After that experience, we decided we had to go to a chain restaurant called "Buffalo Grills" that we had seen several times and made fun of for its attempts at Americanism. For us, its Americanism was refreshing and we had some awesome burgers and "chips" (french fries), followed by ice cream.



We had an AMAZING trip. Thanks to anyone who has been reading along with us - see you soon!

France - Day 3

We slept in a bit and then Jen and I got up to walk around a bit. Out back behind the house in the courtyard in front of the church a group of the local men had gathered to start setting up the tables for the festival that night, so I joined them. (The women were off making the beignet-like bread desserts). I was very happy to hear some British English from John, an Scottish ex-pat who now permanently lives in Urval with his wife Joan.

Afterward, Joe, Raeph and Jen went off on another hike. I decided to stay back and relax - besides, the bread was going to be sold at noon out of the communal bread oven and somebody had to be there to procure our bread for the festival that night.

Around noon, John poked his head in the front door and told me there were getting the bread out up behind the church - right behind the house.

I made my way up the hill between the house and the church and found a boisterous scene of men passing around some drinks and speaking a lot of French quite loudly. John served as a quasi-translator for me, but in a scene like that, mannerisms and body language speak more than words. I did procure a couple of loaves of bread out of the 800-year-old oven, shared a drink with the townsfolk and even grabbed a couple of pieces of pizza that they had made in the oven (since it was fired up anyway).









We then headed to the village of Lemeuil to meet up with Monsieur Lefoix (I'm sure I'm spelling that one wrong) who owns quite a bit of farmland in the village and lives in a gorgeous, large old house atop a very, very high hill. We parked the car and walked all the way up the hill and knocked on his door. The Monsieur met us and, after weaving our way through a garden of plants underneath an arbor, welcomed us into his house, where we met his wife and very elderly father (or father-in-law) in their kitchen. The Monsieur then provided Joe and Raeph with the goods they had traveled for (in exchange for a bottle of whiskey) - fertilized eggs of a colorful, french chicken breed for their own farm.

We then headed back to Urval and relaxed for a bit, getting ready for the village festival. Before the festival, we headed to the Taylor's home (between Joe and Raeph's and Thomas') for a drink. The Taylors are a British couple with two adorable girls of 5 and 4 and a young baby boy of several months. Their family home is gorgeous - particularly their garden. John and Joan and Thomas and Vera also joined us.





We then headed over the village festival, which was starting to get crowded.



The servers were hurriedly preparing the various courses, while a giant cauldron of the garlic soup boiled over a fire.

















After a couple of courses into the meal, the Lu Cordillou d'ol Buguo (including Monsieur Lefoix) began performing 15th-16th century folkloric dances, as per the tradition of the countryside's medieval festivals. As recently as 1989, the Urval festival required all attendees to wear authentic medieval clothing, which the village's women would spend all winter making after taking each person's measurements in the fall. The music of Lu Cordillou included an interesting form of bagpipe that used a billows in lieu of the player's exhalation.

France - Day 2

We woke up, shared some cheese, bread, walnut cake and fresh blueberry jelly for breakfast, and then headed to the market at Le Buisson de Cadouin. The market was huge with vendors selling anything you could possibly need: from toys to clothes to fresh fruits, vegetables, fish, cheese, meats and nuts, to wine and prepared foods.







After lunch, we took a driving tour through the French countryside, getting out at various towns and walking around to look at each town church and the various buildings. First was San Pompon, which we jokingly referred to as the patron saint of cheerleaders. It was a small town of only a couple hundred and very quiet. Many of the houses and other buildings were for sale.





Next we went to Daglan, which was quite beautiful and a bit more lively. We stopped for a snack at the boulangerie and also picked up a baguette.



Unique to Daglan was that the medieval watering hole where women would go to wash clothes was still preserved down by the inlet to the local stream.



Then it was off to Belves, which is one of the larger towns in the area and sits high atop a hill. The same as most other villages in the region, Belves was hosting its annual medieval festival later that week (most of the festivals are July and August), so the town was adorned with wires of decorative, colorful shredded bags.





We grabbed a beer on the town square atop the hill and then headed back to Urval. For dinner we headed over to the night market at Le Buisson, which featured dozens of benches in the center of the town surrounded by carts and tables of food vendors. Giant legs of pork cooked on oversized spits, which browned slices of potatoes sizzling in an enormous pot below. A local wine vendor pulled bottles of white and rose' out of a deep freezer and offered various Bordeaux reds as well. Paella crackled in a giant pan and loaves of bread spilled over an adjacent table. Almost anything you could have wanted was available - even Vietnamese food. We also sampled some of the regions famous garlic soup, which is made from eggs, onions, chunks of bread and pounds and pounds of garlic.









Adjacent to us at the communal tables was a local woman who struck up a conversation with Joseph - she was there with her boyfriend, granddaughter and 91-year-old neighbor, who promptly offered us some of his Bordeaux red wine.



It was a great night with great food, which we then continued back at Urval over some more wine and a night of great conversation.

France - Day 1

We took an early cab from Hotel Preciados to the airport (after a very short sleep), only to find that our flight was probably the only one on the entire “Departures” board to be delayed. The modern, elongated Madrid airport – which has central support beams that reach from the ground upward into a waved ceiling made out of millions of beams of wood and makes you think of how Pinocchio felt to be inside a whale – was filled with the 7 a.m. sounds of a group of religious Kenyans singing some sort of celebratory song while waiting to board their flight.

After a very brief flight (about 75 minutes on a small, half-full airplane) we landed in Bordeaux, somewhat confused by the lack of immigration or customs. Then it was off to get the rental car, which I had been dreading since first making the reservation, which noted that automatic cars were “subject to availability.” Although we probably could drive a stick-shift, I didn’t want the greater-Bordeaux interstate to be our refresher course.

After some broken-English rigmarole with the various rental companies, we took the counter-offer of the company we had first booked with: a BMW for twice the price (still a steal compared to the rates offered by Hertz and Avis, which were 1,019 and 750 Euros, respectively).

After getting out of Bordeaux, we took the rural route to Urval, which snaked along the Drogdone River – the dividing line of the 100 Years’ War – in and out of little villages. Urval is about 2 hours of scenic countryside from Bordeaux.



We exited the main road and wound our way down toward the village of Urval about 1 mile before stopping beside a large garden adjacent to a reservoir for an old mill. Joe waved a towel from a window about 100 feet away to greet us.



Their house is beautiful and full of character (approximately 600 years worth). Their first floor is at street level and has a kitchen and dining table. A back staircase leads up to a back courtyard area and bathroom and a second, short set up steps leads up to a main room and a bedroom. Behind the house is the old piggery, which is empty for now but may eventually be made into a guest house and which includes a portion of the original stone roof that formerly adorned all of the buildings in the area but is now a rarity. Immediately adjacent to the house is a twelfth century church that includes a pillar on each side of the pulpit that date back to the Roman era. Some stone steps lead up from the side opposite the church door to a community bread oven, which Joseph said is still in use and had been fired up on Wednesday to be used to make bread for Saturday’s town festival.






Joe and Raeph had prepared an amazing lunch to welcome us – all made from products procured from the various local markets they had visited during their prior week here: potatoes, salad, tomatoes, bread, cheeses and a recently-volunteered whole chicken. It was delicious.



After lunch, we headed out for a hike through the countryside, with Joe jokingly warning us to look out for the “songlier” or wild boars (which do exist).





We then headed just a couple of houses down the road to Thomas' house - a German who was on holiday with his 13-year-old daughter, Vera. Thomas had been coming to Urval, which is about a ten hour drive from his hometown, with his family since he was a child. Thomas and Vera were absolutely lovely. Thomas spoke very good English and Vera was excited to sit with Jen and me to try out her English (she also speaks very good French and, of course, German). Madame Pradier, Joe and Raeph's next door neighbor who looks after their house, also came by - who speaks no English, but does not let that stop her from vociferously contributing/dominating each conversation. Thomas very elegantly served each of us drinks, making Jen a mixture of chardonnay with a blueberry syrup. It was great to sit out in their garden and relax - Joe, Raeph or Thomas periodically filling us in with translations of various stories.

For dinner we headed to St. Cyprien, a town about 8 kilometers to the east, where we had some pizzas (surprisingly popular in France).



What a great first day.

France

Well, after a very short night, a delayed flight and a car rental headache (mild) we made it to Joe and Raeph's house, enjoying the scenic countryside of southwestern France throughout the two hour drive. Their place is breathtaking and we are loving it - but our only internet connection is my blackberry, so we will be loading pics and updates on Sunday from our hotel in Bordeaux before returning home. Thanks and sorry.

Madrid - Night 2

We had an amazing last night in Madrid. When we first left, we were greeted with the sound of bagpipes from our hotel - among the best of many, many street performers in the Madrid area.



We then headed down to Plaza Santa Ana - a plaza to which we had not previously ventured - to meet up with Barbara and Leann at 9 pm for dinner. The plaza was quite busy and we picked one of the restaurants where an outdoor table was still available. We shared plates of artichokes, asparagus, Chilean sea bass and salmon and a bottle of Albarino wine.



After dinner we went across the plaza to a rooftop bar called The Penthouse, which was quite trendy, but we were still on the early side of the Spanish night life, so we were able to quickly get in and split a bottle of Spanish Savignon Blanc while overlooking the square and the surrounding sites of nighttime Madrid.



After the rooftop bar, we decided to find these "cave bars" that Barbara had heard about, but prior to embarking on that leg of our night, we saw "Bar Haiwaiiano," which looked like quite a dive, but which I had recognized from my prior perusal of google maps. It was a gem. A gem. Parakeets were freely flying around the entire inside and the four of us split some tropical drink housed in a volcano with dry ice atop. Jen, Barbara and Leann all got carnations and leis - I felt left out.







After an amazing stop at Bar Hawaiiano, we reignited our search for the cave bars, which Barbara had heard about from her friend as a connection of underground, cave-like bars with karaoke and sangria. Although we were unsuccessful, we did have a fun stop at a small, hole in the wall that seemed popular with the local crowd, where we had a final round for the night.



We then headed back to Plaza Mayor, where we split off from our new friends. Not quite full from dinner, we decided to make a quick stop at McDonald's on the way back to the hotel - which was amazing. Jen insisted that we order beer because "how often do you get to order beer at McDonald's?" In this case, one time too often. But the food was a great end to the night and it was funny to see the differences in the menu between Spain and the U.S.



Now we are back at the hotel and going to catch 3-4 hours of sleep before heading out early to the airport for our flight to Bordeaux. We're not sure of the Internet status at Joe and Raeph's, but hopefully we'll be posting soon. In any event, I'll have e-mail access via my Blackberry and gmail account if anyone needs to get in touch with us.