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.

Madrid - Day 2

After sleeping in late (and catching up on our jet lag) we walked over to the Botanical Garden and Museum section of the city, where we had a nice coffee and croissant at El Botnico then went to the Museo Reina Sofia (Museum of Modern Art), which features Picasso's Guernica.

We then walked through Parque Retiro, which is a giant park in the middle of the city and sat for a while and enjoyed a beverage before heading up to Lavinia, the largest wine store in Europe.







Tonight we are meeting up with Barbara and Leann, our friends from last night's tapas tour from London and Australia, respectively, for dinner.

Madrid - Night 1

We took an amazing walking tour through Madrid tonight with our host Andres Jarabo (website) and a group of eight - me and Jen, a family of four from North Carolina, a woman from Australia (now living in Malaysia) and a woman from New York/Florida, now living in London.

We met in Plaza de Villa and then headed to our first stop for a glass of Spanish vermouth, which was served from a tap. Apparently it is a staple of the Spanish table wines, though it was rather unique from an American perspective.



Next we went to another restaurant where we shared some excellent sherry and had tapas of calimari, fried baby squid and fried shark. Although all three were great, the shark was especially delicious.





We also had two kinds of Iberico ham, the first was amazing, the second was even better than the first - carved directly from a cured leg of pork, just feet away from us.



Then we wound our way through the maze-like streets of Madrid and wound up at our final stop, where we enjoyed two delicious white wines and two delicious red wines, one of which was a 17-year vintage. For food, we had some delicious muscles in a broth of vegetables and fries and then some pork, steak and mashed potatoes. For desert we had a bleu cheese with some port sherry that was very sweet and raisin-like in flavor.







Our host: Andres.



After the tour, we all thanked Andres for his amazing job as host and for showing us some delicious Spanish fare and wines. Then Jen and I accompanied our new Australian- and London-based friends to the Market de San Miguel - a recently revived market located just outside the Plaza Mayor - where we split a delicious bottle of Spanish Albarino wine.

Madrid - Day 1

Madrid is an awesome city. We landed around 8 am local time and took a cab to the downtown where our hotel is. The weather is beautiful here - about 85 degrees with a nice, dry breeze.

We planned on dropping our bags at the hotel given the early arrival, but were pleasantly surprised to find that our room was available for an early check-in, which was nice given the long flight. The hotel is great and is right in the heart of the city.

After regrouping, we headed out to check out Madrid, first making our way to Plaza Mayor, which is a bit touristy, but a very beautiful mix of old architecture and new outdoor restaurants and bars.



We settled in at one and had the locally famous Iberian ham on a breakfast sandwich, accompanied by a couple of shots of extra strong coffee (a must given our time transition).

Then we made our way to the Museo de Jamon, which precisely translated is the "Museum of Ham," but which is actually an old school bar/cafe/butcher shop/deli/tourist trap. We stood at the "bar" (which is the lowest price point and lowest class of patrons (since Jen was with me)) and had a beer and a ham croissant. Due to some promotion, everything was one Euro. We should have stayed there for 6-8 hours. Here's some photos of the Museo de Jamon:







The Iberico ham is the pride of Spain. It is essentially made from a certain kind of pig that is raised living off certain plants in a certain climate and under certain conditions, essentially free of stress (well, until, you know...) and then cured with certain spices and salts for up to 4 years. Even vegetarians say it's good.

Next, Jen managed to find a "casino," right off Plaza Mayor and, of course, it had that game where the coins are right by the edge and about ready to fall off - if you just keep feeding more coins in... In Minocqua, Wisconsin they call it "Pot O' Silver," and last time Jen was up there she ensured the game would be profitable for the entire year in just one night of playing. This time she was limited to ten Euros, which actually did last a pretty long time.



Then we just wandered around the city some more - in and out of plazas, parks, bars and restaurants. Madrid is remarkable in its labyrinthine layout - you really could easily get lost here.



We've now stopped back at the hotel to throw up a blog post for everyone who's reading and rest up a bit before heading back to Plaza Mayor to meet up with our wine and food small group walking tour tonight.