SPAIN -ahhh Catalonia

We've seen quite a bit of England in the last year so, we

decided it was time to checkout part of the Continent.
So Sandy & Molly called Aunt Megan and said: Let's go to Spain!!
(Do you see that palm tree? We don't have those in England!)


We got the rental car and Megan drove (same side as the US) and I navigated (same signs as in England) no big hitches ... only everything was written in Catalan, not Spanish -which neither one of us could understand!

We stayed in this gem, Torre Ronsat: a little piece of haven in the middle of olive groves.

It was right outside La Bisbal; a bit bigger than a village, but not quite a city. Adorable. We ate a yummy lunch -in the warm sunshine

Three Cheers for Sunny Spain!


We hit the Market on Friday and loaded up on the essentials: Manchengo Cheese, Serrano ham ("black paw" is apparently the fillet mignon variety $$$), gorgeous Spanish Olives and of course, wine. We threw it all in a picnic basket and headed for the Mediterranean Sea Side.




Absolutely one of my top 3 moments in Spain: my daughters playing in the sea, my sister picnicking beside me... and the sunshine never stopped.

A bit of sight-seeing in Girona.
(cafe con leche anyone?)


We cooked fantastic dishes: Spanish Tortillas
(think potato omlette!),
fresh calamari and BethAnn's future favourite: Gambetas con Arroz


Then Saturday night came.
The girls were sound asleep, all the dishes tidied away, and a roaring fire crackling. We collapsed on the couches with a glass of the local bodega wine... to relax with a movie as the sun went down. Then Megan discovered that we had a guest in the house. A creepy crawly guest.
(note: I was laughing SO hard by the end of this night that tears streamed down my face!!!)


That 5 inch-long poisonous millipede was horrible!!
Big sister Kelly to the rescue, right?


Thank God Sam was there... the next day... when no more bugs showed up...and laughed at us.
The girls sure were glad to see Da.


....now enter BethAnn!

She taught Molly how to share the mirror while getting ready, and then helped us all have fun at the WORST MEAL IN ALL OF SPAIN. Some not-so-good paella...catalonia is not known for paella...

While we sampled the cuisine, Sam went on his own walk-abouts.
The medieval city of Perellatada and the ruins of an Iberian settlement from
600 BC! It was here prior to the Greeks and Romans! Amazing.




We made the couple hour, winding, drive to Cadaques in NorthEast Catalonia, the home of Dali. Beautiful landscape of olives and grapes on the hills, falling down towards the Mediterranean. The village itself was very picturesque. Whitewashed buildings on the Med, good food, and a bit of rain. Very pleasant.


The next day, we packed the girls into our rental car and headed north for a little visit to France while Megan & BethAnn hung out at the Torre.

Our first stop was Carcasonne and its restored castle. It's really an impressive site, eventhough a bit touristy.


We headed out from here to Limoux, where it just so happens, they have their own version
of bubbly - Limoux White. We stopped and had a snack and the girls had a blast
re-enacting scenes from Kelly's Heroes in Limoux's square. Fortunately, they didn't have any
army tanks on hand to shoot a hole in the bank...

We stopped at a couple of wineries on the way out of Limoux to pick up some of the White and
then headed back to Spain via the Cathar way, through the Pyrenees. The Cathars were a religious group who decided they didn't like the establishment of the day and withdrew to the
mountains and the local fortresses. It was a stunning drive with
the mountains all around and castles dotting the peaks.


Back in Spain the next day, we took a trip out to Empuries to see the ancient Greek and Roman ruins. This site has been inhabited since ~400BC by the Greeks and then the Romans, following Scipio's scrap with Hannibal. The floor mosaics are original Roman tiles laid down centuries ago.


the Greek statue is a replica of the actual one found here. It is Asklepios, a Greek healing god. It was really a nice place to walk around and explore.


Sandy and Molly finally had enough of old busted-up building so, they led the way down to the sea.

Our time in La Bisbal was drawing to a close so we took the afternoon to chill out on the Torre.

We had the BEST afternoon on the tower - you can see the Pyrenees mountains and the coast from up there. That night turned out to be crisp and clear so, we woke the girls up to check out the moon through a telescope.


Even though we were leaving the Torre (which was very hard!), we had a romantic apartment in Barcelona's old town and on the edge of Montjuic to check out!

Wait a minute, that's not the Gothic Quarter???


and I don't think those are actual brick walls
And they don't do much for sound insulation...

Eventhough we were a bit in awe of our dwelling and the attempted pick-pocketing of Megan, we managed to get out and see a bit of the city. The Sagrada Familia and the Gothic cathedral were breath-taking!


The street actors on "Las Ramblas" were the girls' favorites.


Sam once again took off on some aimless wanderings and found some fantastic places like the site of Pablo Picasso's first public showing: 4 Cats. Some Bohemian cafes and just enjoyed the architecture.


His absolute favorite place was this: la bosc de las fades


in English: the Fairy House. Very appropriate. Take a close look at the "trees".

BethAnn selflessly offered to stay with the girls so
Matt, Megan, Sam and I could go see a La Liga football match:
GOOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLL!
And end our time with Tapas on the top of Montjuic to overlook the city.



We loved nearly every single second and
highly recommend Catalonia!

Our girls' days

What do we do in Darley?
Often we'll take the girls for a little bit of bike riding,


or go on a mosey in the field behind our house with Da
to watch the baby lambs hopping around,


and every week we run off to class.
Molly does 'itty-bitty' ballet and is such the dancer.
Here is a video of her doing The Jack-In-The-Box. (my favourite)

Sandy decided after the winter break that ballet was nice, but not really her thing. She took up swimming last term and man is she a little fish! She is really having fun learning to swim and this Spring term she 'graduated' from the red class to orange (very exciting, you know!) Here she is swimming through a hoola-hoop under water... my little mermaid.

Gran & Grandaddy

I really love you, Gran & Grandaddy.
You are guys are my heroes -you always have been.
I do love you you both so much and
thank you for showing us all what it means to
'love out loud'
~xoxo~

(They love me!!)

Myths and Legends on the Ides of March

14 March dawned a bit overcast and cool (all the blogs start this way because it is usually cool and damp) so, we decided to head out for a couple of remote legendary spots in England: the Tan Hill Inn, Uther Pendragon's Castle and the Jew Stone.

The Tan Hill is Britain's highest Pub at 1732ft and is out in the moors near the border of Yorkshire, Cumbria and Northumberland. It's really remote, there's not a village within 10 miles, which is rare for England.
We pulled in around noon and made friends with the locals pretty quick. Molly decided that playing with her new mates was more important than food so, she took off. She even managed to run the lambs back into the kitchen, which elicited a quick telling off from the scullery maid: "Get those lambs out of here, their turn will come soon enough!"

The girls then worked off some of their Yorkshire pudding by playing a game of chase in the back barn of the pub.


After a fantastic lunch and a nice pint of bitter, we heeded the numerous warnings and stories about the Lycans (werewolves) which inhabit the surrounding moor,

bid adieu to Tan Hill and headed out for the Mallerstang.

The Mallerstang are the mountains surrounding the literal Valley of Eden. The River Eden flows through here following the route carved during the last glacial period. And it really is nice.

Our first stop in Eden was the ruined castle of the legendary Uther Pendragon, father of King Arthur.

It was a fantastic ruin and was open for total exploration.
We searched for trolls and gold,

climbed on battlements,

played hide and seek and just generally had a good time.

The views out to Wild Boar Fell were beautiful.

And the ones toward the ground weren't bad either!

After our exploration of Pendragon's castle, we headed further into the Valley of Eden in search of the fabled Jew Stone. We found it in this jewel of a village, Outhgill.

In addition to being the keeper of the Jew Stone, Outhgill was also the home of James Faraday. He was the father of Michael Faraday, well-known pioneer in electro-magnetism..... Anyway, we managed to successfully navigate the 2 streets and find the subject of our pilgrimage.


The Jew Stone doesn't really have much to do with anything Jewish. It was originally erected by a guy named William Mounsey on the Ides of March in 1850 after he traced the River Eden from its mouth at the Solway Firth (Carlisle) to its source in the Mallerstang. He placed the stone at the source with an inscription in Latin and Greek which reads: "William Mounsey, a lone traveller, commenced his journey at the mouth and finished at the source, fulfilled his vow to the genius and nymphs of the Eden on the 15th March, 1850."

The annual Pilgrimage and birthday celebration of the Jew Stone was complete so we decided to celebrate at the Wensleydale Creamery with that quintessential English winter treat, Ice Cream.