European Vacation - Part One

Hello everyone,

Sorry it took me so long to write my new entry. I was a bit overwhelmed since our trip through Europe, as there is so much to say. So I will take my Irish cousin Mike's advice and write a little bit at a time. I am listening to my favourite Spanish music playing, sipping a nice glass of red wine, and Lucy is sleeping at my feet. All is well and I am ready to write. Here it goes....

June 28th - Basel, the dogs and I left Nerja late in the afternoon and drove along the east coast of Spain heading north. The scenery is so different than around Nerja other than the Mediterranean Sea, it is beautiful no matter what towns we are visiting. Near El Ejido we saw greenhouses for miles and miles, as far as the eyes could see. We stopped at Calp, Xábia (my favourite coastal town), Grau de Gandia, and Sueca (mostly rice fields). We then went to Valencia and what stood out for us is the orange groves, perfectly straight rows that go on for ever and ever. They are such a pretty tree and I would love to visit Valencia when the oranges are harvested. I bet that is quite a site.

We stopped a man on the street to ask for directions and it turns out he was from Liverpool, England. He noticed my accent and asked where I was from. Well it turns out he has an uncle who lives in Chilliwack. Now what are the chances. This world is so much smaller than I ever would have thought before. It's been proven to me in so many ways these last 7 months. But Valencia is a gorgeous city with old buildings but many new ones as well and very easy to get around.

We took our time driving to Barcelona because we had to strategically plan where we were going to watch the European Cup. We decided on a little town by the sea, Torredembarra and watched the game in a pub. It was exciting, everyone with their children and dogs all seemed to get into the 'big game'. Of course Spain won the game as you all know and the Spanish went nuts and partied in the streets until about 4 in the morning. It was all great fun considering I haven't a clue about soccer (called fútbol in Spain). Had a very short sleep by the sea that night.

We were in Barcelona the following day. It is similar to Valencia, huge city with lots to see. The Gaudi building was pretty cool. It was 34 celcius there and so we waited for the evening to explore the downtown. What a huge beautiful city. What I remember and liked the most was the city parks. The one reminded me of Wascana Park in Regina.

As we left Barcelona, I counted10 tunnels we drove through, almost one after the other. A few kilometres from the France border there was the most beautiful summer thunder / lightening storm. We stopped and enjoyed the storm. It didn't phase Lucy at all but Foxy, Basel's dog, was freaked right out. The storm left as fast as it had arrived and the skies were filled with huge fluffy clouds which reminded me of Saskatchewan summers.

Once we got into France the houses and landscape changed almost immediately. We didn't take the Autovía so we travelled through the little French towns on very windy narrow roads. We both agreed that this is where we will see the real France, which we did. We drove through the Pyranee Mountains which are lush green and not as big as I thought they would be. Where ever we stopped, I felt strange as I couldn't communicate with anyone with the exception of bonjour. Oh how I wish my biligual daughter, Sarah was with us during our time in France. Two days from Spain and I was already missing Spanish especially when I need to use a rest room. We laughed later as the word for bathroom is toilette, well duh, we were still in Spanish-mode. Basel knows 4 languages (working on his 5th), but French isn't one of them. By the way, I will never use one of those toilets that are level with the floor. In France, I swear, French people don't believe in toilet paper or hand towels. After our first stop in France, I didn't go anywhere without my wad of kleenex.

That night I remembered it was my 46th birthday and what a birthday gift, me being able to travel through France. I never would have dreamed of seeing Europe a year ago and there I was doing just that. I was on a high just being in France so we drove through part of the night. The landscape was beautiful with rolling hills, lots of dairy cows, and flowers decorating every house. I got some great gardening ideas if I ever move back to Canada.

We were into Germany the next evening and the first road sign in German made me laugh. "Ausfardt" which is pronounced assfart and means Exit. Basel lived in Germany 13 years so his German is much better than his English and he gets a kick out of my Canadian expressions, but German has some of the funniest and longest words I have heard or seen. In Germany there are no speed limits, so cars are flying by at 150 km/hr and higher. Needless to say we stayed in the slow lane and putzed along to enjoy the scenery. We saw Heidleburg, Stuggart, Frankfurt, Bad Nauheim, and Minden where Basel's sister (Sabba), brother-in-law (Emad), nephew (Lorenz) and niece (Livia) have their home.

Minden is small city and they live on the outskirts in a small community with lots of agriculture, a short walk to a forest, and lots of wide open spaces. It is so similar to parts of BC. Basel's parents were also visiting, so it was a mini family reunion for them. Every day Basel, Emad, Livia (almost 13 yrs. old) and I would go to caravan car lots. The main reason for this trip was for Basel to buy a new caravan. Livia and I had such a good time together playing hangman and cards in the back seat. Livia was my little translator as everyone spoke either Farsi, Arabic, or German and not much English. I had a wonderful time with them all and everyone tried to speak a bit of English for my sake. All of us girls went shopping one evening, and it was awesome. The prices were so good. The clothes are well ahead of Canada and also very chic, whether they are dressy or sporty. I could have shopped until I dropped but we were invited to Basel's Aunt's for dinner that night. It was a very enjoyable evening, but they all cook huge meals and dish up a person's plate. After a couple of days eating like that, I finally had to say whoa! Minden was a beautiful place to walk the dogs with the kids. They totally made me at home in their family and it was sad to say goodbye to them all.

We had no luck finding the perfect caravan, so six days later we were back on the road heading to Hüfingen 600 km. away, where Basel found the one he wanted. It is so much bigger than his 30 yr. old Mercedes that could only go 90 km/hr at best. In the new van, the dogs even have their own sleeping area with a window. I had a 10 minute lesson on how to drive the new van and we headed to Münich. It was fun driving a vehicle with a decent stereo. I was alone so I belted out songs for hours on end. Basel asked why my voice was hoarse when we made our first pit stop haha. The next day we met 2 little girls who were sisters, Rinesa and Greta who spoke Albania with an British accent. They were so cute and a couple of Chatty Cathys. I got the details from Greta how her little sister was car sick most the way in detail, ugh. They took Lucy for a walk with big smiles and argued whose turn it was to hold Lucy's leash.

We stopped at Donaueschingen were we walked the dogs for 1.5 hrs in a forest. That night we went out for a walk and met 4 people at a pub, they all could speak a bit of English so it was a fun night. It was interesting to listen to Basel speak German so fluently. We camped at a caravan park that night, the only time in 3.5 weeks. We had met a very interesting women, Helga, the next morning who lives in Germany for the summer and the rest of year lives on the coast of Portugal. Helga mentioned towns we should visit if we ever go to Portugal. She also told us of some of her many travels and gave Basel some helpful suggestions on caravan living.

Arrived in Munich July 11th and visited with all of Basel's old friends. The two Bahrams, Hammid, Said & Annetta, Verge (Basel's childhood friend from Tehran), Larissa & Veronica, Mahran, Laura & Sara. All nice and interesting people. We went to a few beer gardens, out for dinner at an authentic Iranian restaurant, invited to dinner in people's homes and we got to have a real shower since we hadn't checked out the shower in the new van yet. In Münich the beers are huge and cheap plus served by waitresses dressed in Bavarian outfits. We went out dancing one night which was a lot of fun. Münich was my favourite city to see in Germany. The downtown core is spread out where no cars allowed. I saw some of the places where Hitler had given his speeches. They were interesting to see but I felt sad and kind of overwhelmed amongst all this history and what went on back then. The up side of Münich though, it is super clean, but then again, all of Germany is clean. The houses, yards, stores are all very neat and tidy with not a speck of rubbish anywhere.

After 5 days, we loaded up the new van and said goodbye to everyone. We made great time with the new van and our next stop was Austria. Oh my goodness, it is so picturesque just like in the old movie, Sound of Music with Julia Andrews. Austria has the most beautiful green rolling hills. I loved the style of houses - the fancy balconies with flowers spilling over the decorative wooden railings and the interesting shaped rooves. Our first stop was Salzburg and we walked along the river going over all the city bridges. We had the best bbq ribs at a beer garden where the dogs got a special treat,rib bones. Lucy had bbq sauce all over her face, so cute. All through Austria there are ski resorts. I would love to visit Austria in the winter since I can imagine how gorgeous the hills and mountains would look like covered in snow. We parked by a golf course that night and the next day the dogs ran for hours amongst the golfers and no one minded one bit. The cozy little towns along the way we went through were Tweng, Manterndorf, Eistentratten and Gmünd. So Austria was my favourite country for the scenery.

July 17th - Arrived into Italy and once we did, it was weird because the mountains of Austria just all of a sudden stopped and it countryside became flat with corn and sunflower grown everywhere. Some of the towns we went through were Tarvisio, Sella Nevea, Osoppo, Undine and Pordeone and we arrived in Venice that night. Found a great place to park, right next to the water. We couldn't wait to see the city and see what it would look like at night. It was such a nice summer evening as we sat and enjoyed my first Italian pizza. It was to die for. Venice at night was lovely with the decorative lights on all the narrow streets and that were shining onto the water that runs in every direction.

The next day we walked around the city for 8 hours and went to so many plazas. The two I liked the most were Piazza Ducale and Piazza Roma. In the plazas there are these mega old buildings with a ba-zillion pigeons hanging about. They must be used to the tourists because people were picking them up and having their pictures taken with them. Not us though, as we bought a travel book and wanted to see as many places in Venice as we could. We did quite well but the heat, too many people, and the 9 euro cup of coffee just about did us in. I had a good laugh as Basel's sandal broke and he was flip flopping all through Venice that afternoon until he finally bought a new pair which by the way also broke the next day in Florence, too funny.

Venice, I have to mention, is kind of stinky. It has a unique stagnant-water smell that I couldn't handle after a while. While we were there we should have picked up a map, but instead we got the bright idea to use the navigating system that Basel bought in Germany. So we laughed at ourselves because the walkways are only 2 feet wide with so many twists and turns and so the TomTom was used to find our way back to the main parking area.

We arrived in Barazzoni, Italy late at night and found a nice place to park but were asked to leave as we didn't realize it was private property ahah. So drove most of the night and got into Florence at 3 the next morning.

More to follow in my next entry........... See I told you I had a lot to say ahah.