Pictures from Southern France

Chateau de Longecourt

Jacob is tough to impress

Because livestock is what we came to Europe to see!

Colosseum in Nimes

Pictures from Paris

 At the Eiffel Tower

Arc de Triomphe

Close to the Jardin des Tuileries

Bateaux Mouches

Madrid

We only had one day to spend in Madrid … a Monday.  Everything closes in Europe on Monday.  So we couldn’t go to the museum we really wanted The Museum of the Americas.  We were excited to see the treasure taken from the Americas but it was closed so we made other plans.  We started with churros con chocolate at La Chocolateria San Gines.  Just imagine a pot of dark, rich, delicious chocolate!  Honestly the best thing ever!

We visited the Royal Palace. 

Image found here.

Elizabeth decided that she wanted a mansion too.

Image found here.

Then we visited San Miguel Market for lunch.  I thought it would be more like the Market Boquería and it wasn’t.  I was a little disappointed.  We finished our day at Reina Sofía because I wanted to see Guernic.  I didn’t love the museum and wished that I’d chosen to go to the Prado instead but c’est la vie.

Taragona was Fantastic

We loved Taragona!  Fabulous food and a fabulous town!  Tarraco was a Roman Provincial Capital so there are a lot of Roman ruins to explore.  There are remains of a Roman amphitheater, a circus, a forum, huge walls surrounding part of the old city.

Image found here.

Check out more pictures of Taragona here.

We walked by a statue of people making a human pyramid.  And a lady tried to tell us that it was going to happen that night but we didn’t speak Catalonian and so unfortunately we didn’t figure out what she was trying to tell us until after dinner when we came upon people climbing down.  Darn it!  We missed it by minutes!

Image found here.

We went to Les Voltes for dinner twice because we couldn’t resist having dinner in the vaults under the Roman circus.

And the kids had been dying to go to the beach since we got to Spain so we went.

In the rarely accessed portion of my brain where I stuff  “not needed information that I read about once,” ironically not far from the “Pick Pockets in Paris” section, is a section on Nudity on Beaches in Europe.  I basically forgot that there are topless beaches.  We, naturally, walked down to less crowded section on the beach and once there I got some wide-eyed, slightly distressed looks from my children.

“Sorry!  Try not to look in that direction?”  I said as I tried to drag my own startled eyes away.  Not that everyone was topless but we were definitely the most covered up family there.  I had Jake and Elizabeth in swim shirts and I wore a hat, even in the water.

Barcalona

We drove to Barcalona on Wednesday.  I would never want to drive there because that city is huge!   Fortunately I didn't have to.  My husband did.  Thursday we got up, ate breakfast in the hotel and we went to Sagrada Familia.  It was well worth the wait.  It was beautiful!  And while we were waiting in line a man came up to us and gave us the ticket he'd bought for his family to go up the elevator because he had to leave.  So nice!  After lunch we returned to the hotel for a two hour seista since we were trying to adjust to Spainish customs.  Then that night we took the metro to see the Magic Fountain.  

Friday we walked La Rambla and checked out La Boqueria Market.  It was great!  We bought snacks and two fruit juices each.  Then we drove to Taragona.

Summer Plans

Subtitle: Thankfully David doesn't know what he's getting himself into.

We, my husband and I, are taking the three children who don't pinch and scream when forced to wait in lines, fly on a airplane, go to museums and walk long distances to France and Spain in a couple of weeks. And my nephew David is flying here to stay with William while we are gone. David, who wants to be a pediatrician (you are welcome future patients and moms!) is going to check out Will's school while he is here and will learn that Will is a rock star in the severely autistic world and will definitely treat patients with special needs and their families with even more compassion and understanding than he would have. (He is already pretty great - as I doubt many 23 year-olds want to spend their summer vacation and birthday babysitting. And switch around summer plans so they can.)