Hi all.  Here's another update on our life over here.  We have been taking it easy settling into our house and our new routines.  The nicest part of our new routine is that Dave can come home for lunch.  That breaks up the day and the boys love it.
 
Dave's meeting was canceled this week so we decided to take a long weekend and do some traveling.  There were many choices but we decided to go east toward the Med and then down the coast into Spain.
 
We started off on Thursday by going to Carcasonne,  a Medieval walled city.  And that's just what it was.  We drove through a regular French city until we found a big wall.  We parked, walked up a big hill, and over a drawbridge.  Then we were in this old city, built around 20 BC (It was restored in 720 AD).  It seemed untouched by time (other than all the souvenir shops).  Very skinny streets (cobblestone of course), shops on the ground floor with two or three floors above, a castle, and a cathedral.  We walked through the castle and saw  rooms of old stuff, gargoyles (Michael liked these), sarcophagus, and very detailed drawings of a restoration that was done in the 1800's.  The we took a peak in the Cathedral.  There was an amazing feel to it.  Thousands of years of religion in one place.  It is very hard to describe the beauty.  Maybe some of the pictures will help.
 
We then went to a restaurant in the city.  We had a regional dish called Casolette.  It is like a stew with white beans and duck, sausage, and pork.  It is good!!  The service in these restaurants is amazing!!  The waiter even gave me his card.  Being a waiter is big stuff here.
 
We spent a lot of time in Carcasonne so we just drove to Perpignon (near the Med) to stay the night.  In the morning, we went to an African Safari park near there.  We spent about an hour touring the grounds by car.  They had many animals wandering around free range, zebras, rhinos, antelope, water buffalo, ostriches, you name it.  They also had an area with Tibetan Bears, and Lions (separately).  That was really impressive.  We ate lunch there and then walked through the zoo (giraffes, elephants, etc).  The boys enjoyed it a lot.
 
Then it was a drive along the coast of the Med.  This was some road!!!  It was a mountain road (looks like z's and w's on the map) with a drop on one side into the sea.  There was also a wind that I have never seen before.  It was strong enough to push me over.  We didn't dare put Michael down for fear he would be blown off a cliff!!  We took some pictures, but even those don't do justice to the beauty (or the fear) we experienced on this road.
 
We crossed the border into Spain and drove through Figueras (Salvidor Dali's birth place) and saw Dali's Museuum (the boys weren't up to a visit).  We stayed the night in Girona.  This town was a true European city.  Much of it hasn't changed.  It is like walking through Medieval Spain.  People were everywhere, walking, talking, eating.  It was so beautiful.  I thought I wouldn't find anything in Spain to interest me.  I think I left my heart in Girona.  A beautiful place.  I hope to go back.
 
We enjoyed Girona so much that we spent much of the next morning exploring some more.  On our way out of town, we stopped at an open air market.  What an experience!!  People and fresh food everywhere.  Fresh food including squid, chickens with the heads and feet still on, and meat still attached to the hoof!!
 
From there we drove through the Pyrenees.  We were heading towards Andorra (a very small country on the boarder between Spain and France), but we didn't make it (more on that later).  We drove along the mountain roads (more z's and w's) and decided to stop to see an abbey on the top of a mountain.  We were almost there when Michael threw up all over himself, his seat, and a bag of toys.  We cleaned up as best we could (in the middle of the woods with no water or towels) and since he cheered up after, decided to continue to the abbey.  We didn't know that you couldn't drive there.  It was a 45 minute walk up a zig-zag path at a 15 to 20% angle.  It was a LONG walk.  The abbey was closed when we got there but the view was well worth the trip.  After the walk down, we drove on more mountain roads (z's and w's) and Michael threw up again.  (the car smelled really good at this point). This was our clue to head home.  It was dark then and the roads too difficult to continue so we tried to find a hotel.  This is peak ski season in the mountains.  Do you think this was easy??   We took the first hotel we came across with an opening.  It was an ok hotel with a good restaurant.  The room was small, the beds were lumpy, and the bathroom had no door (it did have a bide' (sp?) though).  We were just glad that the bathroom was in the same room.   Michael threw up again in the night (guess it wasn't motion sickness), so we packed up early and headed home.  We tried to stop to see some cave paintings from 20,000 BC, but the tours were full for the morning.  We needed to get Michael home anyway.
 
It was a wonderful weekend even if the end was challenging.  We are still airing the car out.  Andrew starts with his tutor tomorrow so I guess it is back to real life for a while.  (At least until next weekend).
 
Miss you all,
 
Love,
 
Amy