Ferry to Ferry

The next part of our adventure brought us back into continental Europe.  We took the ferry across the English Channel into France, worked our way southward, and ended up on another ferry from Spain to Morocco.

Our first stop in France was a town near the ferry called Coquelles.  We've heard differing opinions on the friendliness of the French toward Americans.  We were pleasantly surprised by how nice the people were that we met along the way.  The one exception was when we pressed the help button at a toll booth.  Mike apologized that he did not speak French, and the woman replied "You are in FRANCE now!" Once she completed that English phrase, she would only speak French.  Yikes, can't wait till she's in a NYC subway station someday and only knows French :).

This was fascinating!  A piece of the machinery used to drill the Chunnel, now used as a sculpture.

And then it was on to Paris.

We can give lessons on how to do Paris in half a day!  The girls really wanted to visit but they only had two things on their list--the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre.  We arrived in the late afternoon, visited those, and moved on.

First stop:  Eiffel Tower.  We had heard horror stories about the crowds, but going in the late afternoon was perfect--minimal crowds.

This is the view from the second level, where Mike and I stopped.  The girls took the elevator up to the top deck.  The tower was so much bigger than I had expected and gave us gorgeous views of the city (so we really did see ALL of Paris in a day!)

Then it was on to the Louvre, walking part of the Champs Elysses, sneaking a peek at the Arc de Triomphe, and walking across the Place de la Concorde.

Again, visiting in the evening made the crowds so much more manageable, plus we got the bonus of the lights.

Trina and I were buddies through the museum.  Of course her first priority was the Mona Lisa.

And the perfect ending to our visit was this beautiful nighttime view of the Eiffel Tower as we walked back to the parking lot.

By the time we "finished" Paris and got to our accommodation (a cabin in a campground), the only thing open was the campground bar and all they were serving was beverages and some leftover baguettes.  Not quite the French cuisine I was dreaming of.

The French bakeries have the most beautiful cakes and pastries

On Sunday, we were in Bordeaux, France and attended an English speaking Anglican service at Chapelle de l'Assomption on the grounds of Sainte Clotilde school.

Sadly, as we've found in so many traditional settings, this service had just a smattering of attendees and was without a Chaplain.

OK, some of you know the history of Mike and his "Magic Pizza Machine", so we were excited to give this one a try.  After a little Google Translate, we realized there would be no pizzas that day.

As we travel around, we're often made aware of cool things, either through personal recommendations or our googling.  The tough decision then becomes do we have/take the time to see it?  We had read about the Dune du Pilat, about an hour from Bordeaux which was promoted as a "huge" sand dune.  We decided to give it a shot and it was so impressive, rivaling Sleeping Bear Dunes.

Pictures don't do it justice, but this thing was steep and tall and wide--it towered over the trees as we got close.

I know it looks like we're on the beach, but we're actually on top of the dune with the water far below.  Amazing views!

Our next stop was in northern Spain, at the edge of the Pyrenees Mountains.  Faith had reserved a house up the mountain.  We arrived in the dark with pretty limited directions.  We climbed about 5 kilometers up the mountain and then weren't even sure it was the right mountain.  We stopped at the one house we could find with lights on and the people happened to know Iris and her house--I call that more than a coincidence!

Such a cute place and so peaceful up high on the mountain.  Mike had a visit with Mondragon, a Spanish company, so we hung out here for a couple of days.

This is the road we had been traveling in the dark--not much room for error.

And the view!

This was sunrise, with clouds settled over the valley.

We made a couple of beach stops along the northern coast of Spain before heading further south.

The first was Playa Laga.  Beach rules are a little more "relaxed" here in Spain, so we're attempting to adjust to that.

The next beach we visited was in the town of Lekeitio.  We took this walkway across from the beach to a little island.

Views of the beach from the island

So we found the cooler, but we're still on the hunt for the actual beverage!

Near Burgos, Spain, we had a great stay in the little town of Palazuelos de la Sierra.  We had rooms on the top floor of this guesthouse and our hosts lived in the house in the background.

Most of the houses in this town (and the surrounding towns) were built in a similar style.  

David was our host and took us on a little walk through town before we left, telling us some of its history and showing us interesting things.

A farmer gave us fresh grapes and pears

And David taught us one of their versions of bowling.  Rolling this very heavy wooden ball at the pins, trying to knock all three down, with the ball ending as close as possible to the back border

Sunset as we drove through central Spain

We randomly chose Medellin, Spain as a stopover point between northern and southern Spain.  Turns out it has a lot of historical significance:

As we drove into town the previous night, the first thing we saw was this imposing castle all lit up.  We visited it the next day.  This one was built in the 15th century, but over the top of an Arab Fortress first built in the 10th century.

And next door are the uncovered remains of a Roman Theater.  There was a big archaeological team there continuing to work.

The view from the castle.  So many different kinds of beauty in the world.

And now in Spain, we're beginning to see olive trees everywhere.  I don't think I've ever seen one before.

And the olives were ripe

Who knew?  Medellin is also the birthplace of Hernan Cortes, founder of Mexico (see the Mejico plaque on the statue?)

We're finding eating in Spain kind of odd.  We're still not sure what dinner hours are (but we know they're late--often places don't begin serving until close to 9 pm) and the foods are confusing.  Most menus consist of tapas (little appetizers) or bocadillos (sandwiches).  I've learned tortillas are omelets.  But sizes vary greatly--sometimes it's a whole omelet and sometimes just a wedge.  So I was a little surprised when they brought me an entire baguette full of omelet!

Our final stop in Spain, before moving onward to Morocco, was in the little beach town of Rota.  We rented the summer home of a couple from Madrid, just a short walk away from a really nice beach.

We went into town on Saturday night and watched this religious procession.

Rota is home to a US/Spanish Naval base, so there's a large English speaking population.  We attended this English speaking Baptist church in town.

But once again, we more than doubled the congregation when we arrived.  Although they mentioned that many military families were traveling during this month.

From here we headed to the tip of southern Spain to catch our ferry to Morocco.  Africa was definitely a change for us after our pretty comfortable time in Europe.  More on Morocco soon...

Bonnie Scotland

We've wrapped up our time in the UK (and most likely our time in English speaking countries, other than a possible visit to South Africa).  Scotland has been added to our long list of "Definitely Have to Come Back Someday" places.  We would have loved to travel north into the Highlands but we're grateful for the taste of it we got.

Our first stay in Scotland was the small town of Irvine, just a few minutes from the ferry.  In town was the Scottish Maritime Museum, which had something for everyone.

Boat races for the girls

Big machinery and boats all around which captivated Mike.  So thankfully there were kid stations to keep the rest of us entertained!

 

We traveled as far north as The Trossachs National Park which is the beginning of the Highlands.

On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch...Lubnaig

Most scenic spots become photo shoots

We stayed in this hostel in the middle of nothing but gorgeous scenery

This area receives so much rain that everything was covered in green moss.  Such a pretty drive!

The hostel included a rowboat and two friendly dogs.

Mike, Faith, and Celia took the rowboat out.

But Trina was happy to play with the dogs.  Oh, how this one wants another border collie when we get home!

On Sunday we attended services at this Church of Scotland in the neighboring town of Balquidder.

Shocking to walk in--late as usual--and discover that our family of six more than doubled the congregation!  In addition to a pianist, two instrumentalists, and a lay pastor, there were four other older women in attendance.  They were very happy to have us there and we really enjoyed talking with them after the service.

In the afternoon, we traveled on to Callander where there was a town festival that included highland dancing to bagpipes.

We also took a hike through Dollar Glen

The reward at the top was a visit to Castle Campbell

Then it was a quick one day stop in Edinburgh.

Edinburgh Castle

Continuing our way south to York:

Walking the old walls that surround the city.

Beautiful views of York Minster, the highlight of the city

And a walk through The Shambles, an old, narrow street

Our final stop in the UK was Cambridge:

We really enjoyed dinner and conversation with Peter and Judith Heslam, Ben and Sam.  Peter is a business acquaintance of Mike's.  We had a fun little chat about American/British accents and stereotypes.  British think our accents are powerful and that we have "can-do" attitudes (those are the positives!)

The next day we explored the town of Cambridge:

Mathematical Bridge

Mike tried his hand at punting.  Tricky--balancing, steering, moving the boat along, pulling the pole out of the mud.

You think the girls are just chilling, but really they're keeping their heads low in case we run into another tree

See what I mean?

We punted along The Backs--the lawns that lead to the backs of some of the colleges.  Cambridge University is made up of 30 individual colleges.  This was the back of King's College, one of the more well-known.

And finally, we enjoyed a beautiful sunset as we drove south to catch our ferry from England to France