Too busy to blog?

Is it possible that I've been too busy over the last couple weeks to make a single blog entry?  Or is it just that I was unsure of what I could possibly write about after returning from Europe that would be nearly as interesting.  Either way, I've slacked, so I have a lot of catching up to do.
Immediately upon our return from Europe, I went back to work and we prepared for a visit from Peter & Rose.  They stayed with us for about a week, and it was so nice to have lots of quality time together.  It was Rose's first time in California!  I wish I had some great photos to share from that week, but unfortunately I did a terrible job of documenting their visit...I think maybe we got a little burnt out on the camera.  Needless to say, we made several visits to Yogurtland, had a lovely Father's Day with the whole Backus/Chimo/Cuccinello family, and Peter & Rose announced their engagement! All wonderful things.  Oh how could I forget- we were also reunited with our beloved Mahoney after her long stay in Seattle.  It's really hard to believe how much we missed her!  We're so grateful for our parents and their willingness to help.

Oh don't worry, we didn't slow down-
at the end of our week with Peter & Rose, we got back on a plane for Seattle and had a fun-filled, love-fest weekend with friends & family.  Our friend Jenn got married in Spokane, and we had a great couple of days in Seattle both before & after the wedding.  I know it sounds super cheesy, but we came back home feeling so lucky, and blessed, and incredibly thankful for our friends & family.  It was really great having that time together, and we always look forward to the next time!

Barthelona, Part Dos

What a great city!  This was the perfect way to spend some of the last few days of our European journey.  Many things about our time in Barcelona were not typical of the rest of our trip.  We had the pleasure of staying in Peter's awesome new apartment, helped him settle in with a trip to IKEA, and even got to spend some time exploring the city with Yuri & Salina.  What a treat!  We ate some excellent food (as usual), tried kangaroo meat for the first time (loved it), and got caught in a torrential downpour with Yuri & Sal while being touristy one afternoon.  It ended up being a good excuse to pop into a bar for yet another round of beer & ham.  :)

Other highlights-
The huge St. Josep's market- full of beautiful fresh fruits, the most amazing seafood, and yes, more ham.  The aromas in the market are my favorite part.  From the fresh fruits, to the cheeses, to the seafood that smells deliciously strong like the ocean, I found myself taking giant sniffs to soak it all in.

The Gaudi architecture- it's like nothing else, and reminds me of a Dr. Seuss book.  I wonder what fun imaginative things went through his mind.  We trekked up the hill to experience the amazing views and artwork of Park Guell, and toured one of his buildings that housed an apartment he lived in.  I love the unconventional style and creativity of his designs.

Inevitably, all good things must come to an end, and although our European holiday isn't entirely over yet, it's winding down at a rapid pace.  We've had an overall incredible time, and have SO many more stories and photos to share.  It's been quite an experience that we'll never forget.  We feel very grateful, and yet also ready to head home- refreshed, renewed, and excited for our next chapter, whatever it may be.  Muchas gracias, Barthelona!

Barcelona

This post is bittersweet.  We're in the amazing city of Barcelona, it's my birthday, and we're spending time with brother (Peter), as well as our dear friends Yuri & Salina.  What could be more incredible?!  Yet I have these odd twinges of feeling both sad that our trip will shortly be coming to an end, and also (as crazy as this sounds), suddenly a tad bit homesick.  Barcelona is awesome!  This whole trip has been more than we could have hoped for.  Yet a small part of me has been thinking more and more about our humble little house in Claremont, our sweet loveable and cuddly Mahoney (who we miss dearly), and yes, even work.  I'm making a decision to put all of that aside for now, and just enjoy these last couple days and live them to the fullest.  Today will be wonderful, and memorable, and until we're back on that plane to LAX, I'll be doing my best to stay in the moment.  For now, I'm thankful for technology...

We've died and gone to heaven

Not that this trip hasn't already been quite amazing, but we are now officially peaking.  After an 8 hour train ride, a pleasant but fairly uneventful night in Bordeaux, and another 3 hours on the train to San Sebastian (Spain), we are now quite possibly in heaven.  This town is beautiful, approachable, and a culinary joy ride!  My only complaint is that I now have a very unhappy digestive system. :-/

Some info about San Sebastian- it sits on the northern coast of Spain (in Basque country, as they call it) and has more Michelin stars per capita than any other city in the world.  There's a large U-shaped beach that runs along side the town, with a wide tiled promenade for people to stroll, walk their dogs, work up an appetite for dinner, or just enjoy the beauty of the water.  There's a great bike trail, and sweet little benches and parks everywhere.  The beach itself is soft & sandy, clean, and easily accessible.  The shops all close for lunch around 1:30, everyone goes to lunch around 2:00, and usually dinner doesn't start until around 9:00pm. (if you actually sit down to dinner at all.  Another popular practice is to stop into several different bars for 'pinxtas', or what we refer to as tapas.

Riding up a cable car to see the incredible views of San Sebastian

Lunch. :)

I can't say enough about this town!  The people are nice & welcoming, they love to eat & drink (as do we), and we just feel happy here.

The Cote D'Azur

Our road trip ended in the south of France, with some beautiful cities along the French Riviera.  Our first (and unplanned) stop- Cannes.

Cannes is absolutely gorgeous!  I can definitely see why they host the famous film festival there, and why celebrities come from all over the world for it.  The water and the beaches are postcard picturesque, and the town certainly has an air of wealth about it.  Well-kept boardwalks, High end designer shops, and outdoor restaurants with views of the water line the streets.  We did see some leather-skinned locals, and those that have had a few too many facelifts & Botox injections, but I'm sure that comes with the territory there.  Oh well, on to Nice.

The boardwalk in Cannes

In Nice we said goodbye to our trusty rental car, a VW Golf that served us well.  It was a fun road trip, but we were happy to give up the car and be back in the mode of public transportation.  For the most part, we found Nice to be quite crowded and hectic.  A beautiful city near bright blue water with numerous streets for shopping and eating, but there were people everywhere! When did we become so adverse to crowds?
One day we decided to take a bus to Monaco, mainly because you 'must' do that when you're in Nice.  In hindsight we probably should have done a little research first, but of course we decided to just wing it. We hopped on a 1 euro bus for Monaco, and began the most nauseating ride of our lives. Kimmie, if you're reading this, I wished I had an empty bag of chips with me just in case. It doesn't help that these buses are so crowded and they don't pump any air into them at all.  The way back was every bit the cluster (blank), but in a completely different way.  Now that I've gotten the complaining out of the way, the views in Monaco are truly spectacular. We didn't go to the casino because we were told you need 80 euros just to get in, and the minimum bets are outrageous, but we did see some lovely gardens, incredible yachts, and a very cool aquarium.

The drive from Nice to Monaco

A delightful surprise at the end of this hectic journey was the most incredible Italian festival that we stumbled upon after getting back from Monaco.  Mass was in hog heaven! (literally). I've never seen so much cheese and cured meats in my entire life.  We were instantly happy again.

Italian market in Nice

It's Official...

...I'm getting puffy. I'm not exactly sure if it's all the carbs we're eating, or the copious amounts of cured meats, (probably both) but I'm starting to feel swollen.  As you may know, Mass has a love for basically all tubular-shaped meat, so as you can imagine, I've been forced to consume a lifetime's worth of salami and baguettes over the last several days. I suppose the word "forced" is a bit unfair, seeing as Mass would never force me to eat something, but as his loving wife, I can't let him eat alone, right? Plus I'm saving him from over-dosing on salty pig products by joining in on the fun.  It's actually gotten to the point where now his backpack smells like stinky feet because he's carrying around a variety of chorizo and salami...just in case we get stranded in a desert and starve to death. ;). All I can say is right now I'm craving a tall glass of water with lots of ice, and a nice crunchy apple. We're currently on an 8 hour train ride to Bordeaux, so I have lots of time to think about it.

Unreal amounts of salami at at outdoor Italian festival in Nice

French road trip

Wow, it'll definitely be a challenge to recap the last few days in this post. It's been pretty amazing!  We picked up a rental car on our last day in Paris, and headed south.  That in itself was a challenge, because our GPS proved completely worthless in France.  We've spent the last few days reading actual maps, road signs, and using our intuition. (the iPad has been a bit of a God-send too, when we can find an internet connection).  A brief review of the towns we explored on our road trip:

Beaune- a recommendation from Patty Coffey (thanks Patty!), it's a quaint little wine village with cobblestone streets and some of the nicest people we've met so far.  Everything is in walking distance, and it felt a bit like a cobblestone maze. We spent some time with the sweetest French woman who runs a little wine cellar and sells wine from only very small vineyards in Burgogne. She didn't charge us a thing for the tasting or her time, and we learned so much! Of course we couldn't leave without buying a few bottles.  We also toured the most amazing wine cave called Patriarche, that spanned 5km of underground wine storage, and housed 3 million bottles of wine!


Enjoying wine and gingerbread ice cream in an underground hotel bar



Annecy- this town was a total surprise. We planned to stay there as a stop along the way, but knew nothing about it or what to expect. It was so wonderful! The streets are all walkable, surrounding these little canals and lined with sweet little shops and restaurants. There is a lake full of paddle boats for rent, and the backdrop is a skyline of beautiful mountains. I should also mention that the drive itself was amazing. We had no idea the french countryside was so lush and gorgeous, with so many different types of terrain. The roads are also very well kept, which is apparently funded by the extremely high tolls they charge. Oh well, it was worth it. ;)



The streets and canals of Annecy

 Aix-en-Provence- It's really quite amazing how different each town can be from the next.  Aix is known as the city of a thousand fountains. There is a much higher population of young people in Aix, and they clearly take pride in dressing well and looking good.  Loads of people gather at pubs in the town squares, and there's plenty of people-watching to entertain you for hours.  We also found there to be (unfortunately) a distinct feeling of snobbery, and for the first time on our trip, didn't feel completely welcomed with open arms. Once we got past that though, we were able to enjoy an incredible dinner of foie gras and beef tartare. It was absolutely divine! I'm sure Aix has more to offer than what we experienced in our short time there, but we were ready to move along.  Our next adventure: the French Riviera...

One of the thousand fountains in Aix-en-Provence