Lots and lots to tell so settle in and enjoy! After ski week (discussed in the last blog), I survived the flu, William survived the International Schools Theater event in which he participated in workshops, put on performances, went to his first dance, hosted students from London and Moscow and had a blast, Matt survived my flu, a meeting in Miami (poor thing) and lots of hard work, Audrey survived her mid-term meetings, a near broken finger and, of course, she survived us! Finally, we all survived crazy weather from 60 degree days to bitter cold and snow! All of this took place in the month following ski week! Then it was time for the Clapp Family visit!Julie, Adam and Tyler arrived EARLY on a Saturday morning. Matt and I decided the ONLY way to pick up friends on their first visit to Germany was in our Lederhosen and Dirndl. This was met with much laughter from the Clapps and might have helped their jet lag a bit. We got
them home and got them cleaned up and started walking which is my remedy for jet lag, i.e. stay outside and stay busy! The whole family rallied and we got to see the main sights of Munich including the Marienplatz, the pedestrian walks through old town, the Hofgarten and so on. Tyler Borbe (Audrey's boyfriend, if you don't know by now) met us at the Viktualienmarkt and as a resident of Munich for 13 years, graciously took over the role as tour guide. Our tour included the many, many steps to the top of St. Peter's, the oldest church in Munich, for a great view of the city and many of the best sites! We ended the day of sightseeing with the Clapp's first German dinner at Max Emmanual Brauerie. Julie was exhausted and, for the first time, I understood the line "fell asleep mid-sentence". After dinner, we whisked them home to bed.
Thus started a whirlwind week of sightseeing, socializing and enjoying the company of old friends. The week included an Irish festival in the heart of Munich where we had a Guiness Stout (in Germany!), a visit to the Treasury, Adam and Tyler's visit to the kids' school, a trip to Neuschwanstein Castle (also called Mad Ludwig's castle) , a tour of the Allianz Arena where FC Bayern plays...OK, I was being a nice host but in fact it was a great tour, an evening at a local pub to watch FC Bayern play, and the Von Clapp family train trip to Salzburg, the home of the Sound of Music, which the kids absolutely loved (see picture of kids on bench)! Julie and I had a great time during the week visiting the markets, sipping Gluhwein, working out at the gym and just catching up on life. Our last day was a holiday here and we all sat around exhausted until Adam went to a party with Tyler B. and Audrey, Tyler C. and William ran around town and Julie, Matt and I went to one of the oldest breweries in Munich for the last German dinner where we got to see a keg of beer raised by chains via an elevator in the floor. After much fanfare, the keg was tapped using a wooden hammer and spigot...What fun! All in all it was a great time...although, I have decided I am a great host for four days, an OK host for two and a not so good one for one...I need to learn to pace myself better.The day after the Von Clapp's left we hit the Trifecta of days...William's birthday, Easter and our departure for Barcelona (Matt had to go there for work so we tacked it on to the front of our Spring vacation). In addition, we had to get the house ready for a house/dog sitter. What a whirlwind...William, who is usually good natured, even pouted a little about the general neglect of his birthday. However, we finally boarded the plane for Barcelona and our holiday began!
Barcelona is a beautiful and very cosmopolitan city. We had rented an apartment which we were regretting a bit when the taxi dropped us off at what appeared to be a boarded up building in a
cluttered old street. With the help of a man standing on his balcony who directed us to the other side of the building, we soon discovered that our flat was, in fact, very nice, clean and had three bedrooms PLUS it cost for four nights what we would have paid for a single night for two rooms in a hotel. Aside from a shortage of hot water (Navy shower anyone?) the place was perfect. It was situated in Barceloneta which is a neighborhood right on the beach. Formerly, a rather rough fishing neighborhood, it has in recent years become quite popular. However, it still retains the old Barcelona feel with narrow streets, laundry hanging to dry off balconies and little squares with many seafood restaurants. The first night, we went to one of the seafood restaurants recommended by the landlord where Audrey ate steak (not a seafood gal), I had
monkfish and Matt and William shared a paella. William loved it until he got a feeler from the one of the langostinos stuck in his teeth and took a bite of "potato" only to discover it was cuttle fish. He then decided that the Spanish Paella may be a bit "close to the source". As a result, "poor" Matt had to finish it off himself. Dinner was followed by some much-needed sleep. The next day we went straight for the beach and the kids touched the Mediterranean Sea for the first time! We then took a walking tour of Barcelona and discovered that it was vibrant and alive place (although interestingly there were more Americans than I have seen since coming to
Europe). We walked through the harbor area to the Ramblas. This pedestrian street is famous for all of the goods sold along it. Each section had a theme from souvenir stuff, to flowers, to birds including pheasants. All along the way were people dressed in various costumes who would pose for pictures after you placed a coin in their cup. Many of the outfits were quite inventive and some were downright scary. It was a stimulating and fun walk. When we reached the top of the Ramblas, we identified some stores to visit since shopping was on our agenda. However, it was Easter Monday which is a holiday so many things were closed. Therefore, we had lunch and jumped a tour bus. We got to sit on the top, in the sun (very welcome after the recent gray, cold
in Munich) and got a tour of Barcelona. Ya know, I have come to appreciate the bus tour as it really helps you to get a feel for a new place. The most amazing sites to see in Barcelona, in my opinion, are Gaudi's buildings. In particular, we loved his church, the Sagrada Familia , still under construction 80 years after his death. I really knew nothing about Gaudi and marveled at his work. He is a fanciful architect/artist who bases his designs on nature. His buildings flow without hard edges and he combines earth tones with colorful mosaics. I immediately wanted to live in one of his buildings! I have included pictures here but take a look on the internet for better ones.
We did get off at one of the bus tour stops
for a ride on a 100 year old tram to a funicular which took us up Mount Tibidabo where this is a beautiful church and an amusement park with rides that overlook the whole city. Our ride down and the rest of the bus tour took the rest of the day. We wandered home via the old Gothic area in Barcelona which is another treasure. After such a long day, we barely had energy for our tapas dinner and bed. The next day, after William and Matt had a run, we went shopping. What can I say about that except William is the real shopper in the family. It took all day but gave us a chance to get some much needed clothes without paying the high German prices. The last full day in Barcelona, Matt had to work so Audrey, William and I took the metro to the Parc Guell...a park that was originally intended to
be a residential development designed exclusively by Gaudi. Well, we got off at the metro stop, proceeded up a street and then looked toward the park...I think I know why it did not succeed as a residential area...the whole way was up, up and up, hills and stairs. I couldn't look the kids in the eyes for fear their glares would smote me dead! So we ascended...only as we got closer to the stairs did we notice the escalators in the streets...I was saved from Audrey and William's wrath. We finally arrived at the Parc and it was worth it. Gaudi designed wonderful public spaces with balconies, columns made of stone, mosaic fountains...all in his swooping, organic style. He had also designed charming and whimsical gate houses where you can just imaging a witch popping her head out of
the window (see picture). After taking in the site, we walked DOWN to the metro and headed off for Audrey's haircut...Hey, William got his cut on Audrey's birthday trip to Paris...only fair that Audrey had a chance to get hers done on William's birthday trip to Barcelona. It also helped to cheer Audrey up whose view of Barcelona was a bit tainted by her sadness at being away from Tyler (she only said "I miss Tyler" about ten times a day). We then headed back to the apartment to wait for Matt, chill out, plan our last evening and get ready for the next day's flight to Gran Canaria!Gran Canaria is a Spanish island 70 miles off the coast of Africa in the Atlantic ocean. I
personally had some trepidation since I had planned this trip and was concerned that the weather would not be good, or the island not nice or the apartment which was in a valley in the
mountains not to the kid's liking. Our first landing did not allay my fears that much, it was warm but not hot (we learned that the north of the island and south can differ as much as 6 degrees C-- more than 10 degrees F). Our drive on the highway suggested that the island with its arid,
mountainous interior was quite built up at the coast...BUT THEN, we turned into the road to our apartment. After winding for 15 minutes through bewitchingly beautiful mountains with buttes, spiny ridges and amazing cacti, we turned into a charming Canarian village tucked away in the valley. After parking our car, we were greeted by our landlords/hosts, Mark and Debbie
and brought into a paradise. Mark and Debbie are the nicest English couple in their forties who due to Mark's back injury have retired to Grand Canaria. Lucky for us since they rent out a flat in their house. The flat is great, large, well appointed with three good-sized bedrooms and a great bathroom with LOTS of hot water. If the bottle of champagne on ice, the snacks and fruit laid out and the two bottles of wine didn't convince us that this was a great place to stay with great hosts, the patio, garden and pool did. We had a patio just outside our flat with a dining table and sun loungers. This table became Matt's and my coffee spot where each morning we watched the sun rise over the top of the mountain. The garden was filled with fruit trees that we
could help ourselves to, bougainvillea, bird of paradise, a banana tree and a large palm. Tucked away in the garden, was a fountain and stone benches. The garden also contained a heated pool which was a perfect way to start and end most days. Really, it is a wonderful place! Mark, Debbie and their three young kids had the flat upstairs and by the end of the week, we felt like we had made new friends.The week unfolded like most great beach vacations. We had great weather...most days around 80 in the day and 68 in the evening....perfect. We mixed up beach and activity days which included jet skiing (OK, Matt, Audrey and William went...I watched), Go Karting, an Aqua Park with slides. We had great food both out in restaurants and cooked at home (on a grill...something we miss in Munich). William
and Matt got many eyefuls at the mostly topless beaches (and in some cases nearly bottomless as thongs seemed to be the bottom of choice) . Sounds interesting except that most of the people were older and out of shape and frankly, topless is not always a good thing. As William and Audrey said "Just cause you can doesn't mean you should". We took rides on the mountainous west side to the resorts and towns that dot this rocky side of island, took the southern coast
road to see the five star resorts and the endless dunes of Masplomas, visited the town of Arguineguin where we could shop for food, buy spit roasted chicken and visit the weekly market. We learned that some areas of the island are built up and others still quite wild. We just thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Audrey would call Tyler each night from the rooftop terrace and would then spend time alone contemplating the stars. William played in the pool, ran with Matt, became friends with Mark and Debbie's oldest child, Nile and bought a blow-up boat for floating around in the ocean. Matt took long runs up the winding mountain being passed by cycling teams from across Europe who were training for the Tour. He slept like a log, relaxed and enjoyed himself. I lounged, read, swam on the beach, chatted with Debbie and Mark and just enjoyed being with my family. It was a wonderful vacation but like all vacations...it must end. So we packed up, said good-bye to our new friends and took the long flight home to Munich where Buster and Jewel were waiting for us!
