Home for a Weekend
This week has flown by; I've been taking a long walk every morning and trying to organize life. Besides cleaning the house (which was where we got ready for the wedding, threw everything together for the trip, and dumped wedding gifts), I had lots to do to get Austin set up on my benefits and as my beneficiary for any other financial stuff. Progress is being made, though.
Today I'm really being the classic 50's housewife and reorganizing closets and areas of massive clutter. Yes, my life is glamorous and exciting. But it's the kinda thing that I always wish was done but never had time for. Well, at the moment I'm not teaching so why not? Yesterday I brought three bags of clothes to Goodwill and I've already got a few more things accumulating. There is something that feels so freeing about getting rid of The Stuff and making our lives a little cleaner and more organized. We never really unpacked well when we moved in since we didn't have plans to stay long but now, even if we move next year, it seems like the time to deal with The Stuff. Cleaning the house can clean the mind, didn't the Buddha say that?
We have no travel plans this weekend and that also feels good. Tonight we're having some friends over for "Good Wine Night." We're talking a $45 bottle of Pinot Noir, oh yeah! Their visit was also part of what inspired me to clean up, particularly since the guest room bed was covered with travel gear and floor stacked with some gifts. Austin is going to a LAN party on Saturday
and I'm having a night all to myself since I do have that introvert quality. Sunday my parents are visiting. It'll be the right amount of social time and alone time, fabulous.
The Tremont Inn-- Our Room
From Paris to Iowa
Well, we're back from the big honeymoon and had a few days at home to sleep, relax, do some laundry, and tie up a few loose ends from the wedding. Then yesterday we headed to central Iowa for Austin's cousin's wedding. We decided to stay at a cute boutique hotel instead of the AmericInn block because we've been traveling so much and had our share of not-so-comfy hotels. So here we are enjoying, among other amenities, high speed wireless internet.
Last night Austin's immediate fam came to our hotel area and we went to one of the nice attached restaurants. Then they came back to our room for an after dinner drink. Our room is huge and feels more like a loft apt than a hotel room so it was a cozy place to hang out and chat. I think the fam is coming back today for lunch and then we'll all get ready for the big event. The wedding will be fun but it will nice to be in our home again for more than a few days.
Honeymoon Newsletter 5
Greetings, Family,
We´re at the end of our Barcelona adventure, just hanging out doing a little email and strolling around before we head to the airport. We´re sad to leave but there´s plenty in store for Paris.
On Monday we had our cooking class and were fortunate to be in a class of only 5 people total (there had been a class of 15 earlier). There were two Australian women and a guy from San Fransisco and our instructor whose name was Pau (catalan for ´peace´). We prepared gazpacho, paella, bread w- tomato, a tortilla, and crema catalan for dessert (similar to creme brulee). It was very standard Spanish dishes but we definitely learned a lot and it was great fun. We all got to help out with different parts of the meal. Austin is posting photos right now but we forgot the memory card that had those pics on it so you´ll only get to see the finished product for the moment. Austin helped make the gazpacho and I helped make the paella.
Yesterday we went to the Picasso museum. It´s a nice collection of his early works and is in a really interesting building. After the Picasso, we grabbed a quick lunch and then took the funicular up Montjuic which is an elevated area so you´ll see a nice view from that. Many Olympic games were held up there in 1992. We just enjoyed a little quiet away from the really busy tourist areas.
Later we went to see Gaudi´s Sagrada Familia. It´s a massive construction of concrete with amazing amounts of detail and it still isn´t finished. Gaudi actually died walking backwards across a street to check it out when a tram hit him. Eeek. So in the pics you will see some cranes. It likely won´t be done in our lifetime but it´s still a marvel.
To end our last night in Bcn, we went back to our bar and had our favorite wine (we wanted to ship some home but it would cost over 100 euros). We were hanging out when a guy heard us speaking English so he came over to put his to use and he and his friend chatted with us for awhile. They were interesting people and then a crazy (female) Brazillian soccer fun joined the mix so the conversation was taking place in Spanish, English, Portuguese, and some French just for fun. It was a great way to end our little tour of Bcn nightlife.
Today like I said we are sort of moseying around and will head to the airport at 4pm, flying to Paris at 6:20. In Paris we have plans to do a boat ride on the Seine, visit tons of musuems, do Versailles, and of course enjoy some good food and wine. We will fly home on Monday, I believe arriving in Mpls around 6:00 or 7:00.
We are having a blast but enoying the downtime today so we can be ready to tackle Versailles tomorrow.
Besos,
The Lunderoys
Honeymoon Newsletter 4
Hi, Family,
Austin is currently uploading photos so look for those. Unfortunately, things are sort of slow and complicated here so we are only putting a few up but when we get back there will be tons more to share.
Yesterday since everything was closed we decided to go to Parc Guell, one of my favorite places in the world. We walked uphill for 1.3 km but it was absolutely worth it when we got to Gaudi´s crazy world. There are pillars in an area originally intended to be a market space with the most amazing mosaics on the ceiling, each one unique and gorgeous. Above the pillar world are undulating benches covered in mosaics and a view of the Mediterranean that´s postcard perfect. We hung out there for a long time and snapped a lot of pictures.
Then we went out for our last big dinner in Bcn, sitting outside on the Paseo de Gracia, a huge wide avenue that also features some of Gaudi´s gems. We had a spring roll appetizer and then Austin got a salmon entree and I had homemade ravioli with gorgonzola and fresh tomatoes. For dessert we had cheesecake served warm with berries. Absolutely outstanding and our waiter was one of the nicest we´ve had. We sat there for about three hours and then strolled home. I took a hot bath since our legs were sore from the hike to the park and the hot sun all day.
Today we went to a huge bookstore where I discovered Teo, a series of books about a little boy that are perfect for teaching. I got three books where Teo goes to the market, travels around Spain, and celebrates The Day of the Book in Barcelona. Austin got another novel for the plane (en inglés, claro). I could´ve stayed at the bookstore all day.
Then we walked down the Rambla again and went crazy buying art. There´s the usual cheesey stuff but there were also some amazing pieces and they weren´t too badly priced. We´re really excited because these will be the perfect souvenirs of our trip. Mom, tell Sweeney to get ready for some framing business. We are currently trying to figure out how to get them back. Luckily this internet place is also a Mailboxes, Etc store (and a Subway restaurant of course).
We will be going to our cooking class shortly and that will be our dinner for tonight. Tomorrow is the Picasso Museum and more sightseeing. Wednesday we fly to Paris but not until evening so we will have a little time for one last Barcelona experience (not sure what yet).
The sun is shining, Barcelona is awake again after the weekend, and we´re having a blast.
Love,
The Lunderoys
Honeymoon Newsletter 3
Hi, Fam,
Well here we are on a Sunday in Spain and it is the Lord´s Day therefore nothing is open except the internet cafe (that´s in the Bible, right?). The unfortunate thing is that the picture uploading machines are also closed so no new pics today :(
We are having a fabulous time and are happy that we decided to spend more time in Barcelona. We also decided to stay at our current hotel the whole time since it´s so nice to have a home base and we´re getting to know our little neighborhood quite well. We´ll be here until Wed and then we´re headed back to Paris.
Barcelona is just awesome. The Modernista art and architecture blows me away. We´ve been walking around a lot and it´s amazing what you´ll find tucked out of the main way, buildings with great detail unlike anything outside of Bcn. Last night we walked down the Paseo de Gracia and took in two of Gaudi´s architectual masterpieces (pics soon). We also had a little picnic of fresh baguettes, cheese, fruit, and of course some lovely Rioja wine. Then we went back to the little bar we went to on our first night here and the owner remembered us, giving us some salsa-topped mussles on the house. Austin doesn´t like mussles but tried one and agreed they are much better here. We also got to meet two police officers who came in for a beer and had a fun chat with them. In the end, the owner got out 75 year old brandy aged in oak barrels and gave us each a shot. I´m not big on brandy but it was great stuff. Austin adored it. We are going to go back there one more time before leaving. It´s fun to try new places but we like feeling like regulars during our little visit.
On Friday night, we walked around to find a random dinner place (breaking away from our guide book) and ended up at a great seafood place. I got the feeling that the waiter wanted to pick for us so I let him do whatever. He brought us a pitcher of white wine from Galicia which had just a bit of bubbles in the texture--outstanding AND on tap! Our pitcher was refilled frequently ;) Then he brought us a seafood salad of crab, tuna, potatoes, peppers, and tomatoes. It was really good and we got the tomato bread with it. Then he said he´d prepare a mixed grill for us (our only criterion was no snails) and it was the most amazing giant plate of all sorts of sea creatures artfully arranged. So, so good, wait until you see the pictures. In true Spanish fashion, we were there for about 3.5 hours just chatting with the waiter and hanging out. At the end, he brought out the home made liqeur and gave us a couple of shots on the house. It was a perfect night with fantastic food, very honeymoon feeling Austin noted.
Today it´s Sunday so as I mentioned, few things are open. We are going to walk down the Ramblas and find some art to purchase. We are also going to explore the gothic quarter which has cool winding streets that are barely as wide as sidewalk. Ít´s going to be a fairly relaxed day but that´s the point on Sundays around here.
Tomorrow is our cooking class, can´t wait for that. Museums are closed on Sundays and Mondays so we´ll be hitting a few of those up on Tuesday.
Hope everyone is well. We´ll try to get pics up tomorrow or Tuesday at the latest.
Besos,
The Lunderoys
Honeymoon Newsletter 2
hi, family,
we decided to come to barcelona early and are enjoying being in one city for a good chunk of time even though we are split between two hotels. we had a big day of train riding yesterday but got it all done for the rest of the trip (we will fly back to paris). when we crossed the border into spain, the police got on the train and were all barky and gruff about seeing passports. this never happened when i was here before but i think since march 11, things have changed just as they have in the states with 9-11. luckily they barely glanced at our passports but they did really hastle a guy behind us. we also made some friends on the train which helped pass the time. i sat next to a cool guy from slovakia and austin sat next to a funny guy from dublin who had the craziest, thickest accent. the slovakian couldn´t understand him at all.
we got to our super nice hotel fairly late but it is barcelona so at 11:30 we ventured out for tapas and a drink. we found the best little place and had an awesome tortilla española (egg, onion, and potatoes) and the local specialty, bread rubbed with garlic and tomato, drizzled in olive oil, then grilled. i had outstanding rioja wine and austin had some weird german beer. we talked a little to the owner and he brought us some liquer that he makes at home with grapes and herbs. it was neon green and very strong but not too bad. he was so proud of it and happy to share. austin and i liked the wine so much that we exercised our right to purchase a bottle to go at 12:30 a.m., woo hoo! I asked if it was ok and the owner said sure, you can buy wine whenever and as long as you are older than 4! ha ha, it was so much fun and so good.
since our hotel is so nice and we were so tired, we slept in and have been taking it easy today. we had a really nice lunch, i had a bocadillo de tortilla which is basically nice crusty bread rubbed with tomato and topped with the tortilla. i never knew they came in sandwiches. since then, we´ve been walking around the city and checking things out. we have plans to go to several museums and maybe the aquarium since it has lots of mediterranean creatures. tonight we are going to go out for a nice dinner and then a pitcher of sangria while we watch the night life. things really don´t get going here until about midnight and then people stay out til dawn, going to breakfast to end the night. we definitely won´t be doing that but will stay out kind of late to watch the beginning at least.
austin is currently trying to upload some pictures. he had to go to another machine to do so but i´m assuming he´ll put them on the flickr page.
we are having a wonderful time, the weather is really nice (better than bordeaux) and the city is amazing.
more later!
Love,
The Lunderoys
First Email to Parents
Hi; Family;
we are at an internet cafe in bordeau but am back to hunt and peck due to french keyboards:
all is well: paris hotel was sooooo noisy and worse matress but we left for bordeaux right away so we have finally slept: we are here one more night then decided to head directly to barcelona. phone contact to come as soon as we have it figured out! tomorrow will be a travel day but then we will spend a nice amount of time in Barcelona and then dedicate the rest to Paris which is great for a two week trip:
today we went out to the vineyards and it was amazing! we had the best time and austin is posting to flickr right now so check it out. We toured the vineyard; learned about wine; had a lovely tasting, and saw outstanding countryside. best moment so far.
we have also eaten well... love the camemebert at only 1.5 euros! the baguettes; the wine, yes it is fantastique. oh and we are rocking with our french skillz. not nearly as good as i once was but together we have done a lot without reverting to english and everyone is amazingly patient with us.
that is all for the moment. sorry for the awful typing. will write in a few days when settled in to Bcn.
love and bisoux,
The Lunderoys
June 3, 2006
We're Getting Married Today!
