Atherton Family Notes

It was time to set off on our Spanish vacation and I was so ready for it. I was ready for the warmer weather and the souvenir shopping. We woke in the wee hours of the morning, packed up the car and kids, and off we went.

While planning our trip to Spain we realized the drive was long and we needed to stop for the night somewhere in southern France. Our research led us to an interesting discovery. Between the French and Spanish border in the heart of the Pyrenees mountains, there is a whole other country called Andorra. It is a small country all of about the size of Indianapolis. It is said to be a major shopping Mecca because of low taxes. I have had my heart set on visiting Andorra. (Yeah, for the entire month since I discovered it was there.)

I should have known when we were still 2 hours away and starting to see snow…

I should have known when we kept passing snowplows…

I should have known when we realized the temperature was dropping rapidly…

I should have known when we saw signs warning of road closings…

I should have known when we arrived in a small mountain town that seemed to overflow with people…

THINGS WERE NOT GOING TO BE GOOD!

And of course Ken says I should have listened to him when he said we do not want to go into the mountains in February. I do not remember hearing him say that!

Needless to say, here we were stuck in a small mountain town (Ax-le-therme) with no rooms in ANY hotel left open. Everyone heading to their ski vacation resorts was stuck here waiting out the warnings of avalanches. Thankfully the town was a cute one and good place to explore a bit. We decided not to chance getting stuck up there for an entire week and ditched the shopping spree in Andorra. The tourist office found us a hotel in a town just north of this one and since we were headed back that way to go around the mountains instead of through them, it was a good plan.

The town we explored was an interesting one. It had a small hole in the ground where hot springs surfaced, small alleys that lead to ski lifts, and every little kid we passed had a sled tucked under his arm. Not one person in town was as ill equipped for snow as us. We walked around in our winter coats and regular pants as we passed family after family dressed in snowsuits. It was not long before our kids began their cries of complaints about being cold. To be perfectly fair… I was pretty darn cold too. It was time to find that hotel and settle in for the night.

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I could not get out of the hotel in Ax-Le-Therme fast enough! It reeked of smoke and was pretty run down all over. We paid 12 Euro for an assortment of jelly and butter to go with what was obviously (to me) last night’s bread. The one bright spot for me was a nice big cup of coffee. To top it off, Mother Nature decided to dump 3 more inches of snow on us overnight. I wanted to get out of here and on to my warm vacation.

We drove north out of the mountains then east right back into them. The roads were dusted in snow and sleet just to the point of making me nervous. Going south there was a steady stream of cars trying to get to town. Seems they heard of the snow and were thrilled! Our side of the road was deserted. We were the only crazy people leaving this fantastic opportunity for skiing. Once we started heading east the roads wound along side the cliffs at dangerous levels and curves. Many areas had no guard rails at all and some spots only produced poles that seemed near impossible to stop and car or semi from going over and down the valley. My breakfast threatened to make a second appearance at any moment. At every turn I felt it churn in my stomach. It is a good thing I was not the one driving because I know we would still be up there today.

Eventually the roads flattened out and turned more into rolling hills along side us. What I had not expected was to drive through a wine region. There were fields after fields of grape vines. We stopped for sandwiches and sat watching the snow fly horizontally across the air. I am losing hope of a warm vacation and I am losing it fast!

We reached the Spanish border after climbing to the top of a mountain. Why they thought it was a great idea to put the border way up there I will never figure out. We drove to the top only to pass through the gates and came right back down into Spain. One thing I have to admit to is the view was amazing! The roads were just as curvy and dangerously close to the edge but at least there was no snow. We had a view of the ocean and the small towns from the cliffs. It was quite a sight!

We drove into Figueres but did not find anything worth getting out of the car for. We stopped at a store only to pick up a map of Spain. Ken found Oreos and Ruffle potato chips too. So maybe it was worth getting out of the car for. We had originally planned to find a hotel here but changed our minds pretty quickly. Since we were homeless for the night and no real plans on what to do, we called our hotel for the following night and asked if they had openings a day early. They did and with that taken care of we decided to head back to the coastal town of Cadaques.

This meant heading BACK into those mountains that we had just come out of. I think Ken was starting to feel like he was in one of those car commercials where they show how great the car handles by winding it through mountains at high speed.

In town, it was bitterly cold and windy enough to send us flying horizontally. I believe the temperature was 3 degrees Celsius but it may as well have been 3 degrees Fahrenheit with the wind chill. We only walked around for a short time before heading back to the car. There did not seem to be much of interest in the town. I think everyone had left and gone skiing in the mountains.

I wanted to call it a night and sit in the hotel room and drown in my sorrow of not having a warm vacation. I asked Ken how he felt about driving all night to the southern coast of Spain where there might be a chance left for warm sunshine. But we had been in the car all day and were getting sore in the rear end department. Let’s only hope Mother Nature is nicer to us tomorrow.

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The guide book said that Tossa De Mar is one of the prettiest towns along the Brava coast. So today, we went to see for ourselves.

Along the way we saw a church that looked enormous and sat high on a hill. We saw it from miles back and so we just had to stop and check it out.

We reached Tossa De Mer by way of winding mountain roads again. We found the city center and parking easily and set off to find the beach. I think kids have something embedded in them at birth that makes them able to sniff out the otherwise impossible-to-find by mere adults. Anything from the beach to McDonald’s to candy and toy stores. We set their noses free and followed them right to the sand. The beach was deserted but beautiful. It was filled with tiny pebbles. This to me had to be the most perfect beach in the entire world. The pebbles were just small enough to be able to walk on and play in but not so small that they stick and crawl into every corner of you body. And alas, Mother Nature was kind to us. The weather was beautiful, sunny, and warm. My hope was beginning to return.

The town really seemed sleepy. We saw virtually no one out and about. It really did make for an odd feeling. Like we were there on a holiday or day of hiding and did not know it.

We were able to talk Carissa into taking a picture of us.  Quite good considering she is only 5!

We sat watching the tides and looking at the town while the kids played in the pebbles. We sat on the rocks and took a few pictures. We then found a seaside restaurant to eat lunch at before heading up the hill to look at the old city.

And it was very old. I am not even sure I can find words to describe it. It was a small set of buildings set high on a mountain of its own that jutted out into the sea and so it was surrounded by water on three sides. From the top you had views of miles of coast and the city in the valley. There were remains of an old church and I began thinking of who had walked these streets before me. It left me with quite a feeling. The view over the towns from this height shows you how all the cities in this area are basically the same. The houses were built with white stucco and roofed with orange curved tiles. The whole town looked the same from every angle.

We had heard about siesta time in Spain and that almost everything is shut down between 1 and 3 each day. We avoided that and at 3 headed back into town to shop around. The streets were filled with shops but they were all closed. I think everyone went into hibernation instead of siesta time. Things were down right deserted! Was there some unwritten rule that in February everyone is supposed to head for the mountains to ski? I really did not care. The town and walk were beautiful and the lack of shopping did not spoil my mood.

Later, we headed off to Besalu, another nearby town we had read about. The guide books said that it was a very old town and did they ever get that right. I could not even imagine that people really lived here. If it were not for the cars and the laundry hanging to dry I would not have believed that they did. Every building was in shambles and falling apart. Yet, this was what made the city so charming. The few stores that were open were so small that I wondered how they supplied enough goods for the people living there. The town had a magnificent bridge that we saw on the way in and we walked out onto it. Built around 1027 it still had an iron gate that was raised just like in the sleeping beauty fairy tale. It ran over a trickle of water that I can only hope in the spring becomes more of a stream than today.

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I can not boast too much about today’s happenings. I was inside the hotel room most of the day with 2 feverish kids. I sent Ken out to explore the city and find out how big it really was. He toured around the churches and visited the old Jewish center which he informed me was full of very narrow lanes. He said the city was huge and not to be done walking with kids which was our original plan before the fever bug hit us.

Ken returned around noon so he and Carissa went to the grocery store next to the hotel to pick up some stuff for a simple lunch. They returned with 3 full bags. Ken tends to go crazy with food shopping, especially in places we have’t been before. He loves to try different products and tastes. Like a cat bringing a dead mouse or bird back to its owner so proud of what it found, killed, and brought back. Ken had all kinds of goods which he hunted down. Three bags of chips, lunch meats, two types of bread, three types of drinks, and two varieties of cookies, basically more food than we could ever eat in the day. I guess I could look at the bright side and say he is a good provider, he thought of everyone’s likes.

By the afternoon, the kids were feeling better so we decided to get out and go for a drive. Ken wanted to visit a town that had Roman and Greek ruins. Because it was a bunch of rocks to me, I made the excuse to stay in the car with Sadie who had fallen asleep. I let Ken and the other two girls walk around looking at the area. After 30 minutes of a history lesson that Ken said Carissa was very interested in, she could not tell me anything that she had learned. She did however show me her favorite house which mind you, was just a outline of the walls. It was her favorite because it had once had a fountain in it and she found that an awesome fact. All of us toured a very small museum that housed some artifacts dug up in the area. Lots of coins, perfume bottles, jewelry, and pottery were in the collection. Next we went back outside and onto the Roman area. At the present it is only about 25% excavated but it was still an enormous place.

The wind was unbearable again today and Sadie just would not be put down due to the fact that she could not stand upright without her feet getting swapped out from under her.

We called it an early night and looked for a shopping area around our hotel. We had no such luck but the kids lucked out when we happened upon a McDonald’s. It was the first one we had really seen since arriving in Spain. It had an indoor play area and we decided to indulge the kids and give them a little bit of exercise.

I am not entirely sure how the folks in this area do their shopping. We found no great shopping district or any major mall like structure. At this rate, it looks like the only souvenirs I will be bringing home are a few postcards and a trunk full of Oreos.

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Here are a couple of panoramas I made during our recent trip to Spain.

Besalu, Spain, seen from outside the city gate

The beach at Tossa-De-Mar, Spain

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We’ve come to a decision…

Late last night we decided to chuck the vacation and start back home. Things at Ken’s job are coming to a head and he fears the consequences of not being there. I won’t go into the long details but it was major enough that we felt he needed to be there after all. That combined with the fact that A) the weather just plain SUCKED! It was supposed to be in the 70s and has clearly not been anywhere near that and B) None of the stores were open and for two souvenir loving people, this was disappointing. So after much consideration we decided we would not regret leaving Spain after such a short stay.

I woke the next morning with the WORST sore throat I think I have ever had in my lifetime. I could barely swallow and my face went into all kinds of distortions while doing so. Let’s call this reason C).

One thing I realized right away was the fact that it was Sunday and all the stores were closed. I had planned on leaving with my trunk full of Oreos and Jell-O. Then again, maybe this was a good thing to have happen! I also realized that we needed a post card for Carissa to take to school and put on their board. When the kids travel they bring cards and then the class looks them up and they talk about facts of the area. We tried several gas stations with no luck. (I also looked for at least one souvenir to buy but only found fuzzy velvet bulls and cheap plastic flamenco dancing dolls.)

The next and pretty much last town we came to before exiting Spain was Figueres. You will remember this is the town that days ago we drove through, saw nothing great, and left. Ken and I have become very good at hunting down items in Europe. We have become used to the ins and outs and know where they tend to put things. But I tell you, in this Spanish town where everyone was in hibernation, it took us 20 minutes to find a store that was open. I was thankful it carried postcards. Well, all of 5 to choose from but it worked and I was able to pick up 2 of them for Carissa to take to class. One was of Girona where our hotel was and the other was of this town which houses the Salvador Dali museum. ( You all know his work, The melting clocks) I had not seen the building but it was quite interesting. Since it was on the front of the postcard I felt we should at least drive by it so Carissa could say she saw it. Low and behold, right around the corner and there it was! Not sure what got into me (maybe it was the creativity of the building) but I asked if they wanted to go into it. The girls all piped up saying, “I do!” Even Sadie who I am sure was just following her sisters thinking she was going to get a cookie and did not know what she was agreeing to, wanted to go.

I am not really a lover of contemporary art or abstract art and that it why I stayed clear of the museum the first time we were in town. But there is something about this one that was really cool. We all enjoyed our visit and all the girls behaved beyond my wildest dreams. They were very interested in the different arts. I wonder how Dali developed a mind to create such things. One that impressed the girls the most was a room where a large set of lips were made into a couch, a fireplace just behind it in the shape of a nose (the logs were tucked into the 2 holes), two paintings hung on either side and became eyes and when you step to the back of the room and climb a platform, you are able to look down into the face of a woman (actually, Marilyn Monroe).

The one that impressed me the most was a painting that changed forms as you moved away from it. The first view showed a naked woman from behind standing in the garden. As you moved back, it transformed into Abraham Lincoln’s face.

(You may have to sit back from your computer a bit to really appreciate the effect.)

We spent a few hours there before getting back on the road. I am glad we stopped and the town was able to redeem itself in my book. Our goal was to get to Limoges to stay the night. If I could not get a Spanish souvenir then dang it, I was going to get a French one! Limoges is well known for their porcelain and since it was about half way on our route back home, it was the perfect opportunity to go. I told Ken that the amount of money we gave up on the hotels and the rest of the vacation was mine to spend on porcelain! BWWAAHAHAHAHA!

As the day went on I became very sick. I developed chills and fever and basic aches all over. The kids also started to have fevers and slept a lot. It made for a quiet trip but the sicker I got the longer the trip felt. To top it off, Ken was starting to feel sick as well. I began wondering if the Spanish Gods were punishing us for leaving early. If we were going to be this sick anyway, I am sure glad we were not going to be in a hotel doing it!

We arrived in Limoges around 7 PM and Ken and I were already thinking of sleep. I wondered how I was going to stay standing long enough to purchase anything tomorrow.

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Because of the length of the drive from Spain to Rennes, we’ve stopped overnight in Limoges, France, which is famous for the China produced here.

Limoges seems to be a very beautiful town with great shopping and many interesting places to visit. I have decided to put it on the list of places for a long weekend visit. There are museums and factories to learn about the porcelain made here.

Because we were in somewhat of a hurry to get home and I have hopes of returning, we chose to stop at an outlet store buy a few items and get on the road.

What I had not prepared myself for were the prices!! I knew it was going to be pricey but I had not expected it to knock me right off my feet! The hotel last night served me tea in a small pot just big enough to hold 2 servings. I loved it and thought that was what I would purchase. HA! When I found a pattern that I liked, I just could not bring myself to shell out the kind of money they wanted for it. It just was not worth it to me. Instead I picked up a small votive holder that was a unique shape but still in the same pattern that I loved. I also found two other small cup like votive holders that have scenes of Paris etched into them.

Then something unexpected happened. I found myself back at the tea pot knowing I would regret it forever if I did not buy the tea pot I so wanted…  But then I also knew I would regret it my entire life if I spent that kind of money on a stinking tea pot.

I compromised and went only for the tea cup and saucer.

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