The Hamiltons

Montana Canoe Trip

2009-08-19T16:33:00.000-07:00

Brian took a boys trip to Montana with several of his friends...here are the pics http://uppermissouririver2009.shutterfly.com/

Family Photos

2009-06-22T13:06:00.000-07:00

As we come across old famly pictures, we (OK, Kim) will be scanning them in and posting them here...ENJOY!

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Our Hanging Garden

2009-06-07T17:54:00.000-07:00

Christopher's Blog

2009-05-03T08:17:00.000-07:00

Christopher will be keeping a blog on our upcoming trip to Alaska

Foster City 2009 Weather Records

2009-02-09T11:03:00.000-08:00

Alaska Trip May 2009

2009-01-24T20:47:00.000-08:00

View Larger Map

Christmas Card Answer Key

2008-12-07T19:52:00.001-08:00

Chick Trip 2008 -- FRANCE

2008-11-27T10:03:00.000-08:00

Julie and nine other mom's go to France

My Obama Home Page

2008-08-14T09:41:00.001-07:00

Take a look!

Our Trips

2006-12-31T07:24:00.000-08:00

Big Trips

Little Trips

Camping Trips

High Sierra Scout Trip 2002

Chick Trips

Traveling Friends

Damiano is a very good friend who has started putting his ramblings down in writting. We have had to listen to them for years and we are more than willing to share them with others.
Patrick is pictured here. He's the one on the right.

Photos

Photos

High Sierras 2006

2006-08-22T17:11:00.000-07:00

The new pack (thanks Mom!) was great . I have also worked towards significantly lightening my gear --such a pleasure on the way out at 21 lbs! Even the way in at 35lbs was very nice. The last time I did this hike was at 53lbs on the way in.

The first day was the usual long one. The only hiccup was our wilderness permit was for Friday (we showed up on Saturday) . Fortunately they had plenty of room for walk-ups. It was odd seeing so much water in Florence Lake. It was only about 2 feet below the spillway. We caught the 2:30 ferry across the lake. The South Fork was a good 2 feet above the usual. No way to cross to the hot springs. We got to our usual campsite at Blaney Meadows about 6:30.

Sunday was long for some of our guys. One of the scouts got a little dehydrated (the downside of bladders is that they/we do not know how much liquids are being consumed). The usual crossing was closed and we had to hike up to the meadow to cross. After the first crossing I put on my boots only to find a smaller wet crossing about 150 yds further on. Two of my companins decided to carry me across.

Monday was the short hike day up to Colby Meadows. That has to be one of the best campsites with the river and meadow in front and a big creek to the side. Good fishing for goldens. We steamed them in the pie tins.

Tuesday was the day hike up to Evolution Basin. Didn't waste our energy on climbing that knob this time and made it well above Sapphire Lake. I fell crossing Evolution Creek on the way back. Everyone reminded me that I said the most dangerous thing we would do were river crossings.

We chose not to go into McGeeCanyon feeling here was too much water. The pass from Evolution was very apparent though--maybe next time.

Wednesday we hiked up to Darwin Bench. We headed up the switchbacks to Evolution Basin and then took off cross country the when near the top. Challenging, but within everyone's ability even if they were stretched a bit. We were at the bench in about an hour. Lots of fish in the lake (11,250) . The older boys wanted to go to the next lake while the others fished. We set a return time that allowed us a total of 5 minutes at our destination. We hit 11,600 feet and could see both Mendel and Darwin glaciers (Darwin glacier is where that WWII airman was discovered last fall). We were back to the campsite by 2:00 for more fishing. Caught some nice lake goldens and packed the in snow for the trip down the hill.

Thursday we hiked down to the bridge at Piute Creek. The rangers were wrapping up a Search and Rescue/Recovery for a woman lost in the South fork while cleaning up. Sad story, but a real illustration to everyone about the power of a full river--helicopters can be sobering. Camped a ways off the trail.

On Friday we pushed to Florence where we had bear boxes and an outhouse--luxury at last even if it wasn't a steak dinner. We had our only thunderstorm that evening. My hammock worked great in the rain and hail. Sure better than sleeping on the ground.

Up at 5:45am on Saturday to hike out. Made it to the store by 10:00 and bathed in the lake-felt good. Then just the 6 hour drive home!

France 2006

2006-07-02T08:57:00.000-07:00

PHOTOS from our trip to Paris and the Canal du Midi.

Some of you may remember that in 2000 we rented a canal boat on the Canal du Nivernais. We loved the experience and had always planned to repeat it. Last summer (2005) we spent part of our vacation in the South of France in a villa overlooking the Canal du Midi, a 300 year old canal that joins the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. Well the planets aligned for us when Julie’s college roommate Trish told us that they would like to take their first trip to Europe with us. ‘nough said and in June Brian, Julie, Patrick, Christopher, Peter, Trish, Mary, and Cindy stormed France for a few day of Paris and a week of canal boating.

This is our trip log……

Day 1

We (the Hamiltons) were all on the same United the flight to Chicago. The Loprestis were on the same flights the next day. We felt it important that theyhave an “advance crew” to make sure their visit was all that it could be. Bush does the same thing.

Knowing the fine culinary skills of UAL, Julie and I picked up sandwiches fro Boudins at SFO. The boys brought sack lunches from home.

Christopher loved the movie on the plane calling it 'the funniest movie since Madagascar'. Kinda weird since it was a chick flick called 'Failure to Launch'. All about a 35 year old who still lives with his parents. Hopefully the kids realized that is NOT acceptable life ambition.

We're arrive in Paris! Brian is cheap so we took the train from the airport to our apartment. This required taking a shuttle from the terminal to the RER station. Just as we round the last turn before the station the road is blocked by jeeps and military personnel. More worrisome--everyone is leaving the station. While we are waiting for things to sort themselves out, Christopher decides to get a bloody nose. Julie has only one tissue left because of her cold (a vacation would not be normal without a cold). The nose bleeding stops and then the station opens up. We bought out tickets and schlepped our bags through the turnstiles and onto a waiting train.

The good news is that it was an express into Paris—and ours was the 3rd stop. We transfer from the B line to the C line, then two stops and we transfer to the Metro (not the easiest transfer with all of the steps involved AND our bags).

A 3 minute walk brought us to our apartment. It was small, CLEAN, cheap, and in a great location. While everyone rested, Brian explored.

A block away is Rue Cler (of Rick Steves fame. Three blocks in the center of Paris with no cars, just bakeries, fish mongers, fromageries and cafes. Brian picked up some baguettes that were still warm, along with some camembert cheese that “smelled like the feets of the angels”.

Two blocks the other way is Parc Champs du March. Built by Napoleon as a parade ground for his troops, it is now better known for the Eiffel Tower. Our apartment building housed workers during its construction. Christopher loved it.

Everyone took an afternoon nap, except Julie whose stuffy nose kept her from sleeping. It didn't seem to help when I told her that if you're going to have a cold, Paris is a nice place for it. She went to a pharmacist who sold her something that seems to be doing the trick.

We took the metro to Saint Germain du Pres and ate dinner at one of the streetside patios. Periodically cheers would errupt and echo through the streets as people watching the World Cup (football) on TV saw something they liked.

Last night was the usual 'first night Europe jet lag' adjustment. We got to sleep around 9:30. Julie and the kids woke up around 3:00 am, Brian was able to sleep until 6--long enough to make every envious and/or grumpy.

Day 2
Our first full morning started as do most first mornings in Europe—EARLY. Brian had a nice run around Parc Champs du Mar. After a shower he waited in our little patio garden for Patrick to return with croissants, pan au chocolats and baguettes. To qoute our good friend Pat Houston--BEST CROISSANT EVER!!

In the morning we went to the top of the Arch de Triumph. Lots and lots of spiral steps up to the top. Quite a view from up there there. After looking at the view we started watching cars negotiating the traffic circle surrounding the arch.....very entertaining.

We got home at exactly the right time. The Lopresti's had just arrived and were having troubles getting into their apartment. Brian to the rescue..'turn the key and keep turning”(typical European lock).

Peter and Brian went out to stock up on some basics, then to the patiserie and fromagerie for bread and cheese for lunch.

After lunch we went to Saint Chapelle, a beautiful 14th century royal chapel filled with stained glass. The non-royals celebrated Mass on the first level which was painted and tiled. You then go upstairs for whole sections of wall filled with stained glass--this was where the royals celebrated Mass.

Afterwards we took the metro to Trocadero for the wonderful view of the Eiffel Tower. From there it was a15 minute walk across the Seine and to our apartments.

We just ate dinner at a small nearby restaurant, 7 Sud. Good salads and wonderful crème brulee.

Its was 10:00 in Paris and time for bed. Christopher had already been asleep for 3 hours.

Day 3
We paid for Christopher falling asleep early last night....he was wide awake at 3:00 am. His tossing bothered Patrick so Julie threw Patrick in bed with Brian while she slept with Christopher. That lasted about an hour or so until is was musical bed time again. Julie put Brian in bed with Christopher and took Brian’s previous spot with Patrick. Brian was able to sleep through all of this, the others not so much.

This morning we got going pretty early ( after Patrick bought croissants) and went to the top of Notre Dame. Beautiful views of the city and close ups of the gargoyles. Then we toured the cathedral and light candles to remember the grandfathers and Jeff the Fish.

After a French lunch (wonderful salads) for some and Italian for others (pizza and pasta) we were off to the catacombs.

100 feet under the city there are the bones of 6 million people put there for 1780 to 1870 as they closed and moved cemeteries. Kinda cool and creepy at the same time.

After that it was back to the apartments for a little relaxation and snacks. Well needed.

About 6:00 we headed out again to Montmatre, a hill above Paris that is known for art. We did a little shopping, I talked with Mom on the phone, had a simple dinner at sunset (about 10:00pm).

We then took off for the Eiffel Tower. We had not been up it since Julie was pregnant with Christopher and we met Mike and Remy in Paris. We got there a little past 11 and were back down by 12 when the tower comes alive with flashing lights.

We were back in our apartment by12:45 and went to bed. We were all very tired.

Day 4
Today we did the unthinkable...we slept in. Not just until 8 or 9 but to 11:15 and the kids slept even later. I think this means we are fully adjusted to the time zone change. We did some marketing and at lunch on the little patio garden--cheese, bread, meats, fruit, and a little wine.

By 16:00 we were getting ready to take off for the day. Today is the summer solstice. In Paris that means the Fete De l' Musique. All over the city there is live music so we plan to stay out late and enjoying the festival.

We started off at l'Orangeire which just reopened last month after 7 years of refurbishing. It houses two of Monet's oval works. Each room is about 60' long and you are surrounded by water lilies. We waited in line for about 30 minutes or so to get in. There was a busky playing music to keep us entertained.

We were also entertained by a couple of boys playing soccer wearing the requisite Zedan soccer jerseys. At one point a nice kick ended up with the ball stuck in a tree. Patrick went to help them get it down and when it did the small crowd in line applauded. We thought that it was a very sweet scene until we realized that the “charming French kids” were actually Americans—oh well…..

Then it was off to the Louvre. Before entering the pyramid, we walked around the plaza looking for the Rose Line from the Da Vinci Code. As we were rounding one of the large reflective pools the wind blew the hat off a midget in a wheel chair. To be helpful, Brian went around the man a leaned out over the pond and retrieved the hat. As a reward for giving it back to the gentleman, he got yelled at in French. Not quite sure what he said or why he said it, but it did give us some laughs later.

We saw the usual--the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, and Venus dl Milo. It is a beautiful museum that just keeps getting better. Christopher enjoyed mimicking all of the paintings. His arms would be back for Winged Victory, his arms were under his shirt for Venus, and he just had a subtle smile and his arms crossed for Mona.

About 20:30 or so it began some light rain showers. We ate dinner near Notre Dame. We tried the Left Bank, but it was packed with people and music. Spoke with a nice French woman....no matter what people saw about the French, we love them.

Then off to the 22:30 boat tour on the Seine. We were right at the Eiffel Tower when it began with the sparkling lights. Along the river quays were bands, revelers, fire jugglers...just about everything you could imagine.

We started heading home about midnight and the music and partiers were in full swing --people just having fun in a very non-threatening manner-no real drunks. We got back to the apartment a little after 1:00 am. Patrick, Cindy, and Mary had a card game while the rest of us just fell asleep.

Day 5
We got going a bit earlier today and left the apartment by 13:00. Saint Suplice was first thing on our list. This is the church in the Da Vinci Code that had the Rose Line running right through it. Quite something to see, although there were several signs explaining how Dan Brown, the author of Da Vinci Code took some literary license with what was actually at St Suplice. Still worth a visit and the huge pipe organ that was playing added to the ambiance as well.

Trish, Mary, and Cindy did some shopping for gifts and such, while the rest of us just wandered around St. Germain des Pres. We ended up getting paninnis to eat for lunch in the Jardin du Luxembourg. The girls were also thrilled to find a Starbuck’s in this land of quaint French cafes—guess there’s no place like home.

We found some chairs in the sun in front of the palace built for Maria de Medici (of the Florence Medicis) in the early 1600's eating smoked salmon with goat cheese sandwiched—travels pretty rough, huh?

Nearby there is a beautiful Medici fountain with a large pool of water in front. There was a temporary art exhibit consisting of a woman's nose and lips coming out of the water. The name of the piece?--'Part of Venus'.

From there we walked to the Pantheon. There is a beautiful view from the top which we had never seen before and which Christopher loved. Below in the crypt is the final resting place of many French heroes--Alexander Dumas, Victor Hugo, both Curries, and Christopher's favorite Louis Braille. Both Braille’s and Marie Currie’s had handwritten notes on the tombs from visitors. Most of Curries were from women scientists. All were very moving.

It was then a quick ride to Arch de Triumph where the Loprestis went up and took our kids as well. Julie and Brian watched a memorial ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Lots of old soldiers in uniform with medals and swords. It seemed to be a special occasion. Julie then got her dose of Jessica talk on the phone.

Tonight we ate in after finding a store that sold roasted chicken, green beans, and potatos au gratin. Really good food. We ate on our patio and the kids in the Loprestis apartment.

Packed up tonight as we leave Paris at 11:00 am. We travel the 500 miles to Narbonne in 4 1/2 Hours INCLUDING STOPS. Top speed 180 mph.

Day 6
The weather in Paris was very good. It started off sunny in the lower to mid 80's. Then it cooled down to the low to mid 70's with cloudy skies--perfect travel weather. We had a light rain on our boar tour Wednesday night, but other than that it was dry.

The apartment has been great. The building is on a passage with very little car traffic. Therefore it is VERY quite—unusual for an apartment in a big city. Our apartment was downstairs and was basically a studio. Small kitchen (with a clothes washer), a bathroom with a shower, a bed and a futon bed. It had French doors (well I guess that describes every door over here) that opened on to a 8X10 garden patio.

Stone walls are in each side with the back wall going up 5 stories. Our building is 3 stories. It is surprisingly welcoming to sit out there, eating cheese, sipping wine, and looking at the ivy in the walls. The Loprestis were right upstairs. They had a 1 BR apartment with 1 1/2 Baths. They also had a small eat in kitchen so when we ate the kids were up stairs and the adults outside or visa versa.

Two short blocks away was Rue Cler and it was about 3 blocks to the Metro Station. In other words the apartment has worked out great. We got all of our bags packed, the apartment picked up, and out the door to take the Metro to Gare de Lyon to catch our 11:00 train to Narbonne.

We had all purchased and printed our tickets on the internets © to keep the prince down. In the US and Canada, the French rail system (SNCF) has give an exclusive license to another company for ticket sales. By going directly to the SNCF website and requesting to print them out online we save about $200. Not bad!

While we were waiting for our train we decided to check if our internet printed tickets needed validation. So there we were standing in line at an information counter behind a couple and film crew.

We realize they were Americans, but still don't pay too much attention. Then the guy says 'let me check one more time' and pulls out the Amazing Race Route cards (easily to recognize when you watch EVERY episode). Both of us noticed at the same and look at each other with those cartoon eyes that shoot out on springs.

So Julie goes to tell everyone else....Christopher is jumping up and down ... Patrick has this 'I'm too cool, but this is cool too' smile. So Brian starts talking to the guy. His name was Ludo and was from Mexico, but lives in Los Angeles with his partner, originally from Colorado. They could not say how they were doing in the race.

Talking to the film crew we found out that 1) it’s hard work to be a film crew on The Amazing Race, 2) this team was really fast.

Postscript
We were snookered. It was a few months until this season of The Amazing Race began showing. We thought we were following “our couple”, but by the time they got to Paris we started looking at pictures. Turns out near the end of the race they send out decoy teams to fool people. Got us!

We just checked into the Hotel du Midi in Narbonne just after 5:00. Everyone took a taxi to the hotel but Brian. He walked (sans baggage) to the boat rental company to ask some final questions. Everything was set for 2:00 departure tomorrow.

Tonight we had a very casual dinner on the main square in Narbonne. Peter and Brian had great steamed mussels. While we were there the was a children’s festival in the square. Pipers, drummers, and lots of kids dancing and playing in front of the city hall

Tomorrow morning we are going to the indoor market, Les Halles. Then provision at the supermarket, then the boat and locks.

Day 7
We got up this morning and had our continental breakfast at the hotel (well, we are on the continent). The Lopresti’s are swimmers and when Trish saw a Dutch swim team eating in the dinning room she decided that it would be great to trade t-shirts with them. Evidently this is NOT a custom in Holland as her attempts were quickly rebuffed, much to the embarrassment of her girls.

Then the Hamiltons and Peter headed to the city market, Les Halles. Trish, Mary, and Cindy went “proper” shopping looking for clothes, souvenirs, etc.

MORE COMING SOON!!!

San Diego

2006-05-23T20:40:00.000-07:00

Easter brought a trip to San Diego to see Brian's Mom. We also toured several colleges that Patrick might be interested in, The University of San Diego, Occidental in Los Angeles. But the one he was most interested in was the University of Tijuana--Go FIGHTING DONKEY-ZEBRAS!!

Death Valley

2006-01-02T08:11:00.000-08:00

A couple of years ago we had spent part of an Easter vacation in Death Valley and loved it. We decided to go back right after Christmas to see all of the sites that we missed on our first trip. We were joined by Brian's sister Kim and her husband Rob from Jamul CA (near San Diego).

Death Valley Photos
Click Here For Video

December 26th -- Foster City to Furnace Creek Ranch
Death Valley is not the most convenient place to get to from the Bay Area, especially in the winter when three of the mountain passes are closed. To get there from here requires driving I-5 south, cutting across the San Juaquin Valley to Bakersfield, head over the Tehachipis to Mojave, head north towards Ridgecrest Once there it's about a two hour drive to Furnace Creek. About 9 1/2 hours in all.

Driving Interstate 5 is much different that driving around Foster City and we thought that this trip would be a great way for Patrick to get some driving practice in. So he drove the first 2 1/2 hours and by all accounts did pretty well ("I only got honked at twice").

The trip was uneventful. This time Brian did not make us stop at the Tehachapi Loop as he did the last time through here. There were also few planes stored at the Mojave airport than there were in 2004.

July 30 to 31 -- San Francisco to London

2005-08-15T08:30:00.000-07:00

Uneventful, albeit long, flights to London. Because we were using United frequent flier miles Julie and Patrick were on one flight while Brian and Christopher were on an earlier flight. The Heathrow Express worked great to get from Heathrow to Paddington. From there quick cab rides took us to our hotel, The London Marriott County Hall.

The location of the hotel was almost perfect. The London Eye was right next door, Big Ben and Parliament were just across the Thames. Our room had a great view. Christopher and Brian did the London Eye while waiting for the room to be ready. When Julie and Patrick arrived, it was another trip on the London Eye. Not everyone does it twice in one day, but Christopher LOVED IT!!!

Then it was a river tour up and down the Thames. This was just the sort of passive/active activity that we needed to help adjust to the time change. (OK, it wasn't active enough for Patrick who slept for most of it.)

August 1 -- London

2005-08-15T08:29:00.000-07:00

The alarm went off at 7:30 and Brian did the reasonable thing--he shut it off and fell back to sleep. Luckily Christopher woke up to the chimes of Big Ben at 8:00. We actually got moving pretty quickly and caught a cab to our first sight of the day, Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum.

Brian was not looking forward to this as he felt it was a ripoff and a waste of money, but Patrick insisted (and was right). We had a blast being photographed with stars and historical figures.

We then headed off to Kings Cross train station and Platform 9 3/4 of Harry Potter fame. This station was also the site of one of the London bombings three weeks earlier, but Christopher REALLY wanted to do this. Surprisingly, they actually have Platform 9 3/4. Lots of fun! On a more somber note there was a memorial to the victims of one of the July 7 bombings.

We then walked towards the British Museum , just meandering through streets in the general direction of the museum. We came upon Russell Square, a charming park with a small outdoor restaurant. We ate lunch there, then walked through another bombing memorial, this time summertime the victims of the Tavistock Square bus bombing.

We finally made it to the British Museum. Our primary objective there was seeing the Rosetta Stone which was something. But the unexpected treat was the stumbling on The Kings Library. This library was originally donated by King George III and has been fully restored. A great place to just wander through, filled with all sorts of collections from The Age of Enlightenment.

From the British Museum we stopped for ice cream in Covent Gardens, then walked to Piccadilly Circus. We continued to walk towards our hotel, spending time exploring St Martin in the Fields and the cool flea market on its grounds. We walked through Trafalgar Square and the kids climbed up on one of the lions for their picture. We ended up in front of Buckingham Palace. There the boys had their picture taken with the palace guards in the background.

Across from awesomeness Abbey was a very large protest to the Iraq , similar to the ongoing protest across form the White House. Obviously not everyone in the UK support war--got love the British!

That night we had dinner with the Morris' at an Italian restaurant near our hotel. Brings cell phone rang during the meal. Turns out it was a Vis security guard wanting him to sign someone in to the building. Needless to say he couldn't do it as he was 6,000 miles away!

August 2 -- London

2005-08-15T08:28:00.000-07:00

This morning we took a taxi to the Tower of London. We got there early, about 10 a.m. , so there were no lines. Julie and Brian had been to the Tower before, about 17 years ago and had vivid memories of the Crown Jewels. Either time made our memories more vivid, or they have removed some of them. Quite frankly, we were a little disappointed. But the Tower is a great place to visit and just explore.

The highlight for Patrick was in Beauchamp Tower. In one of the rooms there are carvings that prisoners made. Patrick found the one for Thomas Pooper (although we later found out the last name was Rooper). He took several photos of this carving.

As we were wandering through the White Tower Julie walked over and glanced out the window. There below us standing in a large crowd was the Morris family. So we called them on their cell to watch their confusion when they couldn't see us, but we could see them. (Julie and Brian grew up making fun of tourists and it shows!)

We left the Morris' to discover the Crown Jewels on their own and crossed over the Tower Bridge to meet Brian's cousins, Nigel, Faye, Colin, and Lucy (a new baby). We ate lunch outside at Cafe Rouge and had a wonderful time. After lunch we trekked over to Saint Paul's. Nigel entertained us while we walked with his memories of working in the area in the 60's and early 70's.

They left us when we started talking about climbing to the top of the dome. Christopher loves "going to the top" and has been to the top of St Peter's in Rome, San Marco in Venice, the Campanile in Florence, The World Trade Center and Empire State Building in NYC. So he had to go to the top of St Paul's, and we did--all 552 steps--no elevators!

We then walked across the Millenium Bridge and headed to the Tower Bridge. An elevator takes you to the top where you are able to walk between each tower on an enclosed catwalk. After enjoying the views we watch a short film on its construction. At the base of the bridge is the engine room where they have restored the steam engines that used to provide the lifting power for the bridge. It is a great example of Industrial revolution design.

In front of our hotel there were four trampolines with tall sets of poles above them. Attached to the poles were bungee cords and attached to the bungee cords is "the rider". Christopher announced that he wanted to do "the jumping thing". So out we went, paid the 6 pounds, and off he jumped. At times he was 25 feet in the air with Big Ben and the setting sun behind him. Asked how he liked it, he said "It Rocked!"

August 3 -- London to Barcelona

2005-08-15T08:27:00.001-07:00

We had a great time in London and saw lots of sights. It is a very easy city to do with kids. But it is expensive!

In the morning we took a cab to Paddington and boarded the Heathrow Express to the airport. We arrived in plenty of time for our Iberia Airways flight to Barcelona. We also met up with the Morris family as they were on our flight.

The flight to Barcelona is not quite two hours. We arrived in Terminal B and cleared immigration. Most of us needed to use the restroom as well. When everyone was done we followed Emily through the one way revolving door to baggage claim. After looking for our flight at baggage carousels and not seeing it we asked an Iberia agent. Turns out our bags were in Terminal A! So we trudged off, all eight of us, to Terminal A.

We get there and find out we can't just go to baggage claim, we need to go through security. So we leave Suzanne with some of the kids and all of the carry ons so we could quickly get through security. It must happen all of the time because we were able to use our London to Barcelona boarding pass stubs to get through. Fifteen minutes later we were all back together with all of our bags.

It was about a 30 minute cab ride from the airport to our apartment, located just off the Ramblas on Calle Ferran. There are nine apartments in the building of which we had four. It was like The Village moved to Barcelona with the Hamiltons, Morris', Houstons and Moreheads. The Morris' had the best apartment because they had a large private courtyard with an outdoor table. We ended up drinking and noshing a lot around that table. Brian brought a small set of portable speakers for his MP3 player so their place was Party Central.

(For whatever reason there are several Irish pubs in Barcelona--ALL located just below our apartments. So we did occasionally wake up to drinking songs being sung loudly at 5:30am. On the other hand, the apartments were very clean and well designed. The location was central and the price was reasonable. Plus, Julie had brought a bag ear plugs.)

Just across the street was the entrance to Placa Reial. We found a small bar in the shade and all of us were eating tapas and drinking beer and sangria. We spent several hours there catching up on everyone's travels and experiences. That night we went wandering for a restaurant and found one that had pretty good paella.

That night we were so tired that we didn't have too much problem falling, or staying, asleep.

August 4 -- Barcelona

2005-08-15T08:27:00.000-07:00

We woke up this morning and a few of us walked up the Ramblas. The Ramblas is a boulevard that stretched from the harbor well into the city. While there is basically only one lane in each direction, the charm of las Rambla is the wide, tree-lined pedestrian mall down the center. Street artists of all sorts and abilities perform for passerbys; everything from musicians, jugglers, and "human statues" vie for your attention and an occasional euro.

Our destination was Sagrada Familia, the Antoni Gaudi designed church. After a bit of meandering we got there, just after the others arrived by cabs. The church has been under construction since 1882 and still has another 30 or so years until it is complete (Christopher announced that he wants to be there for the opening and will bring along Brian and Julie). There are two distinct facades to the Sagrada, the Nativity facade has fluid lines, almost like melted wax. The Glory facade is angular in its lines.

There are spires that rise up from the church and seeing that we had Christopher with us, "we went up". Tiny, crowded steps in the heat made it seem more like a mini-pilgrimage. (The Moreheads and Christine's mother waited and waited in the slow-moving elevator line to get to the same spots.) Being up among the spires was a real kick. Small windows allowed you to get glimpses of views, both near and far. At one point you walk along a bridge between two of the towers. All of it was definitely worthwhile.

From there our group, about 15 of us at the time, kind of took over the sidewalk tables at a nearby restaurant. For whatever reason the Moreheads ended up at the "kids table". So while CB, Damian, Suzanne and Julie were enjoying beers and sandwiches, the Moreheads were translating menus for kids. Oh well.....

We cabbed it up to another Gaudi project, Parc Guell. Built on a hillside, this park is quite unique. A fountain greets visitors and provides a great place for a group picture. At the top of the steps is a covered plaza with unique columns. On top of that is a large outdoor plaza with mosaic benches and stupendous views of Barcelona. When we to that level we caught the end of some jazz musicians showing off their stuff. It is a great place to spend some time.

From there we cabbed it down to the top of the Passeig de GrÃcia to walk past the various Gaudi designed buildings. The sidewalks of this street are covered with pavers that were designed by Gaudi. These same tiles cover much of the floors of Casa Battlo. This city oozes with Gaudi's influence in all sorts of ways. We walked down the avenue and stopped at Placa Catalunya for Pat to take pictures of the kids.

Dinner tonight was at an Italian restaurant at Placa del Pi in the Barrio Gottic. Good food reasonably priced. After dinner we left the kids at the apartments and walked the Ramplas. Pat listened practically alone to a duo playing flamenco guitar while a huge crowd surrounded some break dancers.

A little farther down we found a outdoor cafe for desert. Anna, Pat, and Suzanne drank champagne. They joined Brian smoking some Cuban cigars. Everyone else ordered deserts of one type or another. By midnight we were done and headed back to the apartments.

August 5 -- Barcelona

2005-08-15T08:24:00.000-07:00

This morning we got up early and walked to the Gaudi Museum in one of the apartment buildings he designed around the turn of the century. He designed everything in the building, even down to the hinges and knobs on the cabinets. The most distinctive element was the way natural light reaches into the building, even in the interior.

After lunch we walked and shopped in the Old Gotic. The walls of the original city were built in the first to fourth centuries AD. This is a great area to walk around and wander. We roamed around the cathedral and its peaceful inner courtyards.

Julie had arranged for a group visit to the Picasso Museum. The museum is located in a collection of very old mansions. Julie had been there before and knew this one room that had Picasso's interpretation of Los Meninanas by Velasquez. There were about 15 of them and she got the kids to find the different people from the original in Picasso's versions. The museum covered his early years through his early cubism.

In the late afternoon we were again sitting on a Placa drinking beer and sangria (the adults), ice cream and cokes (the kids). We spent hours figuring out what to do for dinner that night. We eventually decided that we would get pizza for the kids at a nearby pizzeria and have them eat it at the apartments. Well the pizza joint Brian saw was actually more of a bar with a few slices of pizza. So the kids ended up having a choice ofMcDonalds or KFC, perhaps not the most culturally enlightening meal, but it filled them up.

The adults finally decided that we did not want to go far. There were a couple of restaurants on the placa, one being Taxidermista (not so appetizing a name to our friend CB). The other choice was les Quinze Nits. The reputationn of this restaurant is good, cheap, and long lines. Fair, cheap, and long lines may be a better description. The line moved very quickly which was a good thing. Otherwise Julie and Suzanne would have had a cat fight right in the middle of the placa.

August 6 -- Barcelona to Paraza France (The Minervois)

2005-08-15T08:22:00.000-07:00

Today our goal was to leave the apartment by 10:00 so we could pickup the rental car by 11:00. Under the best of conditions it would be a 3 hour drive to france. And seeing that it was a Saturday in August, we were not expecting the best.

Our first hiccup of the morning was when Sam had to go to the doctor again for her throat. Pat called from the doctor's office looking for CB. Brian got sent out to find her and began walking the Ramblas. Pat called him a couple of times to see if he found her. Of course while Brian was talking to Pat he walked right by CB who said hi! And Brian didn't hear her. All turned out well when CB returned to the apartment on her own. The only thing was they forgot to tell Brian who was still searching for her.

Finally we got away with Brian being a touch cranky. We walked down to the Ramblas where we quickly caught a cab to the Hertz counter near Barcelona's train station. When we got there Bob was standing outside waiting to go in. Saturday's are busy and they pass out numbers, just like a deli. But becasue of Brian's Hertz Preferred status we were able to get right in.

We headed out of Barcelona in our Renault with no map of Spain. We brought one for France, but not Spain. We wandered through town in the general direction of France. We took several laps around some of the traffic circles. We finally got an an autopista heading north. At one point we had the choice of going the inland route or the coastal route--we chose the coastal route. We drove on and on in the general direction of France, but saw no signs for France.

We stopped at a toll plaza and, at Julie's insistance, Brian asked for directions to France with his very very basic Spanish skills. A smile always helps. We figured out that we were on the wrong road, but also got directions to get to the right one. We headed inland, through a long tunnel, then finallly on the right road.

We stopped for lunch in Girona. For those of you that don't know, this is where Lance Armstrong lives in Europe. We stayed out of the center of the city, but found a great Argentine restaurant that made pizzas and salads. Just what we needed. Julie spent about 45 minutes on the phone booking our airfare to Europe for next summer.

We headed north again and crossed the border into France (finally). We kept in touch with the other families by cell phone, the mileage markers along the highway let us know who was "leading". We heard a little crankiness in some of their voices. We called Thalia and Regis (the owners) to let them know that the Houstons and the Morris' would be there first (short lunches at an autoroute reststop).

We got off the autoroute and started heading down the local highways towards Paraza. Both of us were smiling knowing we had done the right thing in picking du Viala. The roads were lined with plane trees and surrounded by vineyards. Soon we were paralleling the Canal du Midi--we knew that we were almost there. Over the bridge and through the village of Paraza. Up on top of a nearby vineyard covered hillside was du Viala.

We drove up the driveway road (versus the Houstons who drove up a farm track) and as we approached the house CB came out with a huge smile on her face. She loved it. We quickly unloaded the car and got settled. The Morris's arrived a little later (evidently their navigator made a navigation error). Even the kids thought that it was pretty cool. It took about 30 minutes and two bottles of wine to figure out the sleeping arrangements.

Brian and Julie volunteered to go into the village to get some groceries. We were planning on eating out that night, but knew that we needed something in the house for Sunday breakfast. We drove into the village and stopped along the road where several women were sitting on a bench talking. Julie brought out her best french and tried to ask where the grocery store was-- a little difficult when she couldn't remember the word for grocery store. Finally one of the women said "epicerie?". THAT was the word!

We found the butcher shop and asked about the epicerie. The owner mimed "just a minute" as he finished the helping his customer. He then grabbed a key, went outside with us, shut the door, walked across the street and opened the door of the epicerie. You have to love small villages. We stocked up on some basics and ordered croissants, pain au chocolats, and baguettes for morning pickup.

Since we did not have enough groceries for dinner (and we were tired!) we went to the little restaurant in Paraza called La Barraca. Thalia and Regis recommended it and called ahead to let them know that we were coming. If you have seen the movie Chocolat you may remember a scene in which they hold a garden birthday party for the old lady with lots of wine and food. That pretty much sums up the experience we had. The restaurant is outdoors in a garden with lights strung in the trees. There were two swinging chairs hung from the trees that the younger kids played on. There was even a birthday party being held for an old lady. The food was rustic (for french food) and wonderful. And of course we drank lots of wine. The waitress/owner was wonderful and even spoke a bit of english. She had a great sense of humor and we enjoyed her schooling Pat on his pronunciation of french words. (Pat at one point had tried to ask for bread which in french is pain. Instead he asked for pont which is french for bridge. Gotta love him for trying though!)

Finally we got back to the villa and went to bed. It was a busy day and all of us were very happy with the villa choice that Julie had made.

August 7 -- Domaine du Viala, Paraza France

2005-08-15T08:21:00.000-07:00

The villa is in a word, WONDERFUL. It is several hundred years old and built from the stones of a fortress that was here from several hundred years before that. It sits atop a vineyard covered hill about a kilometer outside of Paraza. The views are spectacular! Distant hills and mountains are like the layers of stage scenery. To the south you look across a very wide valley to the Pyrenees. To the north are the hills of the Minervois. It is a beautiful location.

When they purchased the house it had been abandoned for about 50 years. They showed us a picture of what it looked like--falling down walls and no roof. Being artists, they were able to envision what it could and what they could make it. Lots of money, hard work, and vision created what they have today. We felt very lucky to be able to live in it for a week.

Brian and Julie got up early and went down to the village to pick up our bread for the day. Everyone thought that we were nuts when we came back with two dozen croissants and pain au chocolats, as well as 8 baguettes. Everyone thought that we bought way too much, but there is something about the croissants in France. By the end of our week EVERYONE was eating at least two pastries every morning.

The women volunteered to go to supermarket to do shopping. Thalia gave them directions to St Nazaire which was only about 10 minutes away--IF you didn't get lost. Eventually they made it there and parked in the FULL parking lot. Once inside the store they realized that the store closed at 12:30, giving them about 30 minutes to buy a weeks worth of groceries for 12 people. They started off taking their time looking and talking about each piece of produce. Then the lights started flashing which meant the store was closing soon. The each went into a shopping frenzy. Finally they checked out of the store and walked into an empty parking lot--the last out of the store.

On their way home they saw a sign for "fresh produce" and they stopped. Across the street there was a sign for wine tasting, and the ladies being who they are, thought that they should check it out. There was no sign of people at the building, just a door and darkened room. As they turned to leave, a family poked its head out of a window. Julie's french was no help. Finally a 3 year old boy comes out of the building and rings a hanging bell.

A couple of Irish brothers come out to sell their wine. Evidently there was a problem with the bottling and 1/3 of the wine went bad. Their solution? A buy two, get one free sale. So they bought three bottles-all of which turned out to be good.

We actually decided to cook dinner at the villa. Nothing fancy, Pat made some pasta with a fresh pomodoro sauce and Brian grilled some chicken. Damian put together a great salad. Face it, the women got a pretty good deal. The kids spent much of the day swimming in the pool, which was very cold.

The day ended up being the relaxing day that we needed to recharge our batteries after a week of cities. The company was great, the villa spectacular, and France was what it usually is--WONDERFUL!

August 8 -- Domaine du Viala, Paraza France

2005-08-15T08:20:00.000-07:00

Todays adventure began at 9:30 when the Hamilton and Morris families drove to Pont du Gard, about 2 hours away. This aqueduct was built from 32-56AD by the Romans. Its three levels of arches cross a river and the structure towers 143 meters above the the river. Long after the Romans left it continued to be used as a bridge across the valley.

As you walk from the museum and gift shop buildings down to the river you pass the oldest olive tree in the world. This 1000 year old tree was transplanted from Spain. We have no idea why, but figured that it would be a great backdrop for a picture of Brian and the boys phooning. (Unfortunately our photo was rejected becasue both Patrick and Christopher were phoon-deficient.)

The highlight of todays adventure was going upstream and renting kayaks to paddle the 8kms down river to paddle under the Pont du Gard. Julie and Damian decided to skip and spent their time visiting the museum and just hanging around. It was about a 15 minute drive up to Collias where we rented kayaks through Kayak Vert. Christopher and Brian teamed up in one kayak, Suzanne and Emily in another. Patrick and Matt each had solo kayaks.

This stretch of the Gard is a popular lunch and swimming area. As we wound through canyon bends we would come upon groups of people swimming and playing in the river. Being the south of France, some of the women were topless. Didn't seem to bother the boys (or Brian) one bit. Finally we came to the Pont du Gard. It was truly a memorable experience paddling under this ancient structure. By this time it was getting a little later that we wanted it to be and we had to hurry to paddle that last kilometer or so to the drop off point.

We got home about 7:30 and the cooks were cooking up a storm! We invited the owners to join us and they brought the wine-all of it was from their grapes or their neighbors. The food of Languedoc includes a lot of seafood and very fresh ingredients. I can't describe how wonderful it was. The cooks were a young couple who spoke decent english (they had lived in the UK for awhile).

Sitting outside with good friends, eating wonderful local food prepared just for us, drinking wonderful wine made from grapes grown just a stones throw away---life doesn't get a whole lot better.

August 9 -- Domaine du Viala, Paraza France

2005-08-15T08:16:00.000-07:00

This morning we took a short drive to Minerve, an ancient village about 15 minutes away. It sits at the junction of two river gourges and is reached by a tall stone arched bridge. In 1210 it was under siege and held out for 5 weeks until a catapult shot destroyed its well. The cathar residents had a choice to convert to catholicism or be burned--180 chose the latter. We chose to wander and take pictures.

You park outside the town in a village owned parking lot (the cost is just a couple of euros). Then it is a short walk across an ancient high bridge into the village proper. From the top of the bridge you can look down on a river and the farmed fields that line its banks.

After lunch at the gite, we walked along the Canal du Midi from Paraza to to the next village. Ventenac. This stretch of the canal is very historic because the canal actually crosses a stream by way of a canal bridge.

Ventenac is larger than either Roubia or Paraza, but still quite small. Brian spent about 15 minutes walking around the town. The highlight is the Chateau Ventenac, the local wine cooperative. There is a free tour through this combination working winery and museum.

In the late afternoon we drove to Carcassonne which is the largest preserved walled city in Europe. It too was very important during the crusades. The church dates from 1200 and the walls are even older. It is full of art shops and restaurants. Julie knew enough to get there late as the tour busses leave. We shopped and ate, then waited for them to turn on the lights that light all of the walls and castle.

August 10 -- Domaine du Viala, Paraza France

2005-08-15T08:11:00.000-07:00

I must say I could get used to this daily routine. Up at 8:30, a run into the village to pick up our baguettes, croissants, and pain au chocolats. That is quickly followed by eating same, with a couple of cups of coffee. Then a little rest to let the food settle and the coffee to have its effect.

The most trying thing of the morning is taking a shower. The bathrooms do not have separate showers. The floors are designed to have water flow into a corner drain. The showers are all handheld so it took a while to come up with an effective strategy to keep from soaking everything in the bathroom. It went something like this;

Step 1 -- Stand in the corner and squirt yourself with the handheld shower. ALWAYS AIM THE SHOWER HEAD TOWARDS THE CORNER.

Step 2 -- Turn off the shower and soap up.

Step 3 -- Turn on the shower again and rinse.

Step 4 -- Repeat as necessary.

Step 5 -- MOP UP THE WATER THAT HAS GONE EVERYWHERE.

Today we went to a pre-roman archeological site of Oppidum d' Ensérune. To look at these ruins that date back to 600 years before Christ is truly a memorable experience. Add to it a spectacular view and what could be better. It sits atop a hill/ridge and through the centuries cisterns were added to collect water to keep the inhabitants from having to go to streams to get water. There is a very nice museum there as well.

Just below the hill it sat on was a former lake known as Lake Montady. About 750 years ago it was filled and converted to farm lands. It is circular with fields fanning out like the spokes of a wheels. In the center is a round canal that collects all of the runoff which is then channeled by a separate canal to a distant river.

We then went to the nearby village of Colombiers along the Canal du Midi and had a 2 hour lunch of salad (the French know how to make salads) pizza, and ice cream (oh yeah, 2 bottles of wine).

This evening we had the cooks again for a simple meal--a fancy salad, cassoulet, fromage, and dessert.

August 11 -- Domaine du Viala, Paraza France

2005-08-15T08:10:00.000-07:00

August 11 -- Domaine du Viala, Paraza France
Vacation is winding down, but we are doing our best to keep the French economy vibrant by continuing to drink their wines and eat their food.

Last night we had a great thunder storm. Mostly wind, lightning, and thunder with just some rain. Quite a show. It was still kind of funky this morning. Julie, Christopher, and I went to Narbonne, a nearby city. It was market day along the canal there. Beautiful french fabics, but we did not buy anything. From there we went to les Halles, the permanent market in the town. Lots of cheeses, wines, produce, and fresh seafood. We bought a couple of pizzas for lunch, as well as some local sea salt and honey. We have a new favourite appetizer--warm goat cheese with just a touch a honey on it.

After our outdoor lunch we found the company (Connoisseur) that we are renting our boat from next June. They even let us go aboard the boat we are planning to rent, the Magnifique . It was quite a boat and we know that it will work out well for us.

We went wine tasting with with Regis (the gite owner) to Roubia, a nearby village. There we visited Pique-Perlou winery owned by his fried Serge. A once in a lifetime experience as we drank wines right out of the tanks with the owner. We had a late harvest grenache dessert wine. The Minervois AOC (appellation) is 40km by 25km and very unique. Only 5 types of grapes can be grown (grenache, syrah, mendevois, carlleon, and something else). The vintner poured wine right out of these huge tanks into bottles which we corked ourselves. We have subsequently found Pique Perlou wines in the the San Francisco Bay Area at Odd Lots Wines in Albany.

While we were tasting, the kids were picking berries. Tonight was leftovers as we did not come close to finishing our dinner last night. Casoulete, poulet basque, chevre with miel (goat cheese and honey) crepes with orange, creme fraiche and chocolate.

The circus is in the village for one night and Patrick and Emily went on their own. This is not a huge circus as it all fits in two small trucks. But at 5 euros per kid it is a cheap evenings entertainment.

August 12 -- Domaine du Viala, Paraza France

2005-08-15T08:09:00.000-07:00

This morning's news had word of the British Airways strike at Heathrow. Luckily we are flying Iberia to Heathrow tomorrow, then United out to San Francisco on Sunday.

This morning began (after my 1km trip to the village epicerie to pick up our bread, croissants, and pain au chocloats) with a tour Regis's vineyards. Pat Houston and I climbed into the back of an old Land Rover without a roof to drive through the vineyards. We would stop at different points and Regis would explain different things. Regis is proud of what he has done with his land, and he is proud of France--all with good reason.

Two points stood out. The first was in his oldest vineyard (about 80 years old). Every so often among the grenache grapes would be a white grape vine. Those would be planted so that the pickers could have something refreshing to eat while working in the hot fields. The second interesting point was when Regis told us it took him a whole month in the winter to trim the vines-WORKING FOUR HOURS A DAY! These French don't have it so rough.

After the tour we all went to the beach which is about 30 minutes away. A broad sand beach loaded with French on their August vacations. About 10% of the women are topless which was a treat for the boys. And there were a few women that were a treat for the dads as well.

We had dinner in the village. Sitting with great friends outside under the lighted trees with a warm breeze blowing. It doesn't get a whole lot better. Tomorrow we begin our trip home by driving to Barcelona, then flying to London for the night. Work is only a couple of days away.

August 13 -- Paraza France to Barcelona Spain, to London England

2005-08-15T08:08:00.000-07:00

We actually almost got away on time and left the gite at 9:09. A little bit of traffic on the Autoroute near intersections with highways headed for the beaches. It took about 4 1/2 hours to get to the airport in Barcelona.

Of course it could have been quicker if we didn't have a border incident involving Julie. Before you assume that she was strip searched and thrown into a cell like the main charachter in Midnight Express, I need to explain what happened.

Right at the border there is a rest stop with a gas station, convenience store and small restaurant. It was also time to use the facilities. Prior to our trip we had read that there is a lot of theft in the parking areas of these places so we choose to go individually. I went first and took the car key, leaving Julie in the car with the kids. I was back in a couple of minutes, then Julie went.

After about 5 minutes my phone rang. It was Julie -- "Brian, I am locked in the stall of the womens room. You need to get help". (Prior to calling Julie was yelling in French ' help please' over and over but no one could hear her.)
So we are literally on the border of France and Spain--which language do I use, French, Spanish, English, pantomime?)

There are only two workers in the entire building, so I go up to one of them. "Pardon, ecluse la femme toilette" (French for "excuse me, lock woman toilet"). The woman led me into the womens room with a butter knife to rescue Julie.

Julie didn't know why she grabbed her phone just to go to the bathroom, but she's glad she did. She actually was reminded of the Italian movie Bread and Tulips in which the family leaves the mom at a rest stop near Venice when she gets locked in a stall.

The rest of the trip to Barcelona was uneventful. We just forgot to get gas before returning the rental car.

We cleared security at the airport pretty quickly and found a place to eat lunch. We are glad that we did because our plane took off about 3 1/2 hours late. (Acutally we had to leave our first plane, take a bus to a new one with an A/C problem which left us hot and sweaty. Perhaps Julie should have locked herself in the lavatory to spice things up a little more.)

We finally got into London and to our hotel. Room service was the popular choice for dinner that night, and then quickly off to bed.

Europe 2005

2005-08-14T00:04:00.000-07:00

Our last trip to Europe was about two years ago when we visited Italy with our friends the Morris' and Houstons. Last year they asked Julie to plan another trip to Europe because if she didn't, they would not get there again. So Julie got to work.

This year's trip included London (with the Morris'), then Barcelona with the Morris', Houstons, AND Moreheads. Then up to the South of France (no Moreheads there!). Here are the details....

Photo Slideshows

Videos (Broadband Needed)

July 30 to 31 -- San Francisco to London
Uneventful, albeit long, flights to London. Because we were using United frequent flier miles Julie and Patrick were on one flight while Brian and Christopher were on an earlier flight. The Heathrow Express worked great to get from Heathrow to Paddington. From there quick cab rides took us to our hotel, The London Marriott County Hall.

The location of the hotel was almost perfect. The London Eye was right next door, Big Ben and Parliament were just across the Thames. Our room had a great view. Christopher and Brian did the London Eye while waiting for the room to be ready. When Julie and Patrick arrived, it was another trip on the London Eye. Not everyone does it twice in one day, but Christopher LOVED IT!!!

Then it was a river tour up and down the Thames. This was just the sort of passive/active activity that we needed to help adjust to the time change. (OK, it wasn't active enough for Patrick who slept for most of it.)

August 1 -- London

The alarm went off at 7:30 and Brian did the reasonable thing--he shut it off and fell back to sleep. Luckily Christopher woke up to the chimes of Big Ben at 8:00. We actually got moving pretty quickly and caught a cab to our first sight of the day, Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum.

Brian was not looking forward to this as he felt it was a ripoff and a waste of money, but Patrick insisted (and was right). We had a blast being photographed with stars and historical figures.

We then headed off to Kings Cross train station and Platform 9 3/4 of Harry Potter fame. This station was also the site of one of the London bombings three weeks earlier, but Christopher REALLY wanted to do this. Surprisingly, they actually have Platform 9 3/4. Lots of fun! On a more somber note there was a memorial to the victims of one of the July 7 bombings.

We then walked towards the British Museum , just meandering through streets in the general direction of the museum. We came upon Russell Square, a charming park with a small outdoor restaurant. We ate lunch there, then walked through another bombing memorial, this time summertime the victims of the Tavistock Square bus bombing.

We finally made it to the British Museum. Our primary objective there was seeing the Rosetta Stone which was something. But the unexpected treat was the stumbling on The Kings Library. This library was originally donated by King George III and has been fully restored. A great place to just wander through, filled with all sorts of collections from The Age of Enlightenment.

From the British Museum we stopped for ice cream in Covent Gardens, then walked to Piccadilly Circus. We continued to walk towards our hotel, spending time exploring St Martin in the Fields and the cool flea market on its grounds. We walked through Trafalgar Square and the kids climbed up on one of the lions for their picture. We ended up in front of Buckingham Palace. There the boys had their picture taken with the palace guards in the background.

Across from awesomeness Abbey was a very large protest to the Iraq , similar to the ongoing protest across form the White House. Obviously not everyone in the UK support war--got love the British!

That night we had dinner with the Morris' at an Italian restaurant near our hotel. Brings cell phone rang during the meal. Turns out it was a Vis security guard wanting him to sign someone in to the building. Needless to say he couldn't do it as he was 6,000 miles away!

August 2 -- London
This morning we took a taxi to the Tower of London. We got there early, about 10 a.m. , so there were no lines. Julie and Brian had been to the Tower before, about 17 years ago and had vivid memories of the Crown Jewels. Either time made our memories more vivid, or they have removed some of them. Quite frankly, we were a little disappointed. But the Tower is a great place to visit and just explore.

The highlight for Patrick was in Beauchamp Tower. In one of the rooms there are carvings that prisoners made. Patrick found the one for Thomas Pooper (although we later found out the last name was Rooper). He took several photos of this carving.

As we were wandering through the White Tower Julie walked over and glanced out the window. There below us standing in a large crowd was the Morris family. So we called them on their cell to watch their confusion when they couldn't see us, but we could see them. (Julie and Brian grew up making fun of tourists and it shows!)

We left the Morris' to discover the Crown Jewels on their own and crossed over the Tower Bridge to meet Brian's cousins, Nigel, Faye, Colin, and Lucy (a new baby). We ate lunch outside at Cafe Rouge and had a wonderful time. After lunch we trekked over to Saint Paul's. Nigel entertained us while we walked with his memories of working in the area in the 60's and early 70's.

They left us when we started talking about climbing to the top of the dome. Christopher loves "going to the top" and has been to the top of St Peter's in Rome, San Marco in Venice, the Campanile in Florence, The World Trade Center and Empire State Building in NYC. So he had to go to the top of St Paul's, and we did--all 552 steps--no elevators!

We then walked across the Millenium Bridge and headed to the Tower Bridge. An elevator takes you to the top where you are able to walk between each tower on an enclosed catwalk. After enjoying the views we watch a short film on its construction. At the base of the bridge is the engine room where they have restored the steam engines that used to provide the lifting power for the bridge. It is a great example of Industrial revolution design.

In front of our hotel there were four trampolines with tall sets of poles above them. Attached to the poles were bungee cords and attached to the bungee cords is "the rider". Christopher announced that he wanted to do "the jumping thing". So out we went, paid the 6 pounds, and off he jumped. At times he was 25 feet in the air with Big Ben and the setting sun behind him. Asked how he liked it, he said "It Rocked!"

August 3 -- London to Barcelona
We had a great time in London and saw lots of sights. It is a very easy city to do with kids. But it is expensive!

In the morning we took a cab to Paddington and boarded the Heathrow Express to the airport. We arrived in plenty of time for our Iberia Airways flight to Barcelona. We also met up with the Morris family as they were on our flight.

The flight to Barcelona is not quite two hours. We arrived in Terminal B and cleared immigration. Most of us needed to use the restroom as well. When everyone was done we followed Emily through the one way revolving door to baggage claim. After looking for our flight at baggage carousels and not seeing it we asked an Iberia agent. Turns out our bags were in Terminal A! So we trudged off, all eight of us, to Terminal A.

We get there and find out we can't just go to baggage claim, we need to go through security. So we leave Suzanne with some of the kids and all of the carry ons so we could quickly get through security. It must happen all of the time because we were able to use our London to Barcelona boarding pass stubs to get through. Fifteen minutes later we were all back together with all of our bags.

It was about a 30 minute cab ride from the airport to our apartment, located just off the Ramblas on Calle Ferran. There are nine apartments in the building of which we had four. It was like The Village moved to Barcelona with the Hamiltons, Morris', Houstons and Moreheads. The Morris' had the best apartment because they had a large private courtyard with an outdoor table. We ended up drinking and noshing a lot around that table. Brian brought a small set of portable speakers for his MP3 player so their place was Party Central.

(For whatever reason there are several Irish pubs in Barcelona--ALL located just below our apartments. So we did occasionally wake up to drinking songs being sung loudly at 5:30am. On the other hand, the apartments were very clean and well designed. The location was central and the price was reasonable. Plus, Julie had brought a bag ear plugs.)

Just across the street was the entrance to Placa Reial. We found a small bar in the shade and all of us were eating tapas and drinking beer and sangria. We spent several hours there catching up on everyone's travels and experiences. That night we went wandering for a restaurant and found one that had pretty good paella.

That night we were so tired that we didn't have too much problem falling, or staying, asleep.

August 4 -- Barcelona
We woke up this morning and a few of us walked up the Ramblas. The Ramblas is a boulevard that stretched from the harbor well into the city. While there is basically only one lane in each direction, the charm of las Rambla is the wide, tree-lined pedestrian mall down the center. Street artists of all sorts and abilities perform for passerbys; everything from musicians, jugglers, and "human statues" vie for your attention and an occasional euro.

Our destination was Sagrada Familia, the Antoni Gaudi designed church. After a bit of meandering we got there, just after the others arrived by cabs. The church has been under construction since 1882 and still has another 30 or so years until it is complete (Christopher announced that he wants to be there for the opening and will bring along Brian and Julie). There are two distinct facades to the Sagrada, the Nativity facade has fluid lines, almost like melted wax. The Glory facade is angular in its lines.

There are spires that rise up from the church and seeing that we had Christopher with us, "we went up". Tiny, crowded steps in the heat made it seem more like a mini-pilgrimage. (The Moreheads and Christine's mother waited and waited in the slow-moving elevator line to get to the same spots.) Being up among the spires was a real kick. Small windows allowed you to get glimpses of views, both near and far. At one point you walk along a bridge between two of the towers. All of it was definitely worthwhile.

From there our group, about 15 of us at the time, kind of took over the sidewalk tables at a nearby restaurant. For whatever reason the Moreheads ended up at the "kids table". So while CB, Damian, Suzanne and Julie were enjoying beers and sandwiches, the Moreheads were translating menus for kids. Oh well.....

We cabbed it up to another Gaudi project, Parc Guell. Built on a hillside, this park is quite unique. A fountain greets visitors and provides a great place for a group picture. At the top of the steps is a covered plaza with unique columns. On top of that is a large outdoor plaza with mosaic benches and stupendous views of Barcelona. When we to that level we caught the end of some jazz musicians showing off their stuff. It is a great place to spend some time.

From there we cabbed it down to the top of the Passeig de GrÃcia to walk past the various Gaudi designed buildings. The sidewalks of this street are covered with pavers that were designed by Gaudi. These same tiles cover much of the floors of Casa Battlo. This city oozes with Gaudi's influence in all sorts of ways. We walked down the avenue and stopped at Placa Catalunya for Pat to take pictures of the kids.

Dinner tonight was at an Italian restaurant at Placa del Pi in the Barrio Gottic. Good food reasonably priced. After dinner we left the kids at the apartments and walked the Ramplas. Pat listened practically alone to a duo playing flamenco guitar while a huge crowd surrounded some break dancers.

A little farther down we found a outdoor cafe for desert. Anna, Pat, and Suzanne drank champagne. They joined Brian smoking some Cuban cigars. Everyone else ordered deserts of one type or another. By midnight we were done and headed back to the apartments.

August 5 -- Barcelona
This morning we got up early and walked to the Gaudi Museum in one of the apartment buildings he designed around the turn of the century. He designed everything in the building, even down to the hinges and knobs on the cabinets. The most distinctive element was the way natural light reaches into the building, even in the interior.

After lunch we walked and shopped in the Old Gotic. The walls of the original city were built in the first to fourth centuries AD. This is a great area to walk around and wander. We roamed around the cathedral and its peaceful inner courtyards.

Julie had arranged for a group visit to the Picasso Museum. The museum is located in a collection of very old mansions. Julie had been there before and knew this one room that had Picasso's interpretation of Los Meninanas by Velasquez. There were about 15 of them and she got the kids to find the different people from the original in Picasso's versions. The museum covered his early years through his early cubism.

In the late afternoon we were again sitting on a Placa drinking beer and sangria (the adults), ice cream and cokes (the kids). We spent hours figuring out what to do for dinner that night. We eventually decided that we would get pizza for the kids at a nearby pizzeria and have them eat it at the apartments. Well the pizza joint Brian saw was actually more of a bar with a few slices of pizza. So the kids ended up having a choice ofMcDonalds or KFC, perhaps not the most culturally enlightening meal, but it filled them up.

The adults finally decided that we did not want to go far. There were a couple of restaurants on the placa, one being Taxidermista (not so appetizing a name to our friend CB). The other choice was les Quinze Nits. The reputationn of this restaurant is good, cheap, and long lines. Fair, cheap, and long lines may be a better description. The line moved very quickly which was a good thing. Otherwise Julie and Suzanne would have had a cat fight right in the middle of the placa.

August 6 -- Barcelona to Paraza France (The Minervois)
Today our goal was to leave the apartment by 10:00 so we could pickup the rental car by 11:00. Under the best of conditions it would be a 3 hour drive to france. And seeing that it was a Saturday in August, we were not expecting the best.

Our first hiccup of the morning was when Sam had to go to the doctor again for her throat. Pat called from the doctor's office looking for CB. Brian got sent out to find her and began walking the Ramblas. Pat called him a couple of times to see if he found her. Of course while Brian was talking to Pat he walked right by CB who said hi! And Brian didn't hear her. All turned out well when CB returned to the apartment on her own. The only thing was they forgot to tell Brian who was still searching for her.

Finally we got away with Brian being a touch cranky. We walked down to the Ramblas where we quickly caught a cab to the Hertz counter near Barcelona's train station. When we got there Bob was standing outside waiting to go in. Saturday's are busy and they pass out numbers, just like a deli. But becasue of Brian's Hertz Preferred status we were able to get right in.

We headed out of Barcelona in our Renault with no map of Spain. We brought one for France, but not Spain. We wandered through town in the general direction of France. We took several laps around some of the traffic circles. We finally got an an autopista heading north. At one point we had the choice of going the inland route or the coastal route--we chose the coastal route. We drove on and on in the general direction of France, but saw no signs for France.

We stopped at a toll plaza and, at Julie's insistance, Brian asked for directions to France with his very very basic Spanish skills. A smile always helps. We figured out that we were on the wrong road, but also got directions to get to the right one. We headed inland, through a long tunnel, then finallly on the right road.

We stopped for lunch in Girona. For those of you that don't know, this is where Lance Armstrong lives in Europe. We stayed out of the center of the city, but found a great Argentine restaurant that made pizzas and salads. Just what we needed. Julie spent about 45 minutes on the phone booking our airfare to Europe for next summer.

We headed north again and crossed the border into France (finally). We kept in touch with the other families by cell phone, the mileage markers along the highway let us know who was "leading". We heard a little crankiness in some of their voices. We called Thalia and Regis (the owners) to let them know that the Houstons and the Morris' would be there first (short lunches at an autoroute reststop).

We got off the autoroute and started heading down the local highways towards Paraza. Both of us were smiling knowing we had done the right thing in picking du Viala. The roads were lined with plane trees and surrounded by vineyards. Soon we were paralleling the Canal du Midi--we knew that we were almost there. Over the bridge and through the village of Paraza. Up on top of a nearby vineyard covered hillside was du Viala.

We drove up the driveway road (versus the Houstons who drove up a farm track) and as we approached the house CB came out with a huge smile on her face. She loved it. We quickly unloaded the car and got settled. The Morris's arrived a little later (evidently their navigator made a navigation error). Even the kids thought that it was pretty cool. It took about 30 minutes and two bottles of wine to figure out the sleeping arrangements.

Brian and Julie volunteered to go into the village to get some groceries. We were planning on eating out that night, but knew that we needed something in the house for Sunday breakfast. We drove into the village and stopped along the road where several women were sitting on a bench talking. Julie brought out her best french and tried to ask where the grocery store was-- a little difficult when she couldn't remember the word for grocery store. Finally one of the women said "epicerie?". THAT was the word!

We found the butcher shop and asked about the epicerie. The owner mimed "just a minute" as he finished the helping his customer. He then grabbed a key, went outside with us, shut the door, walked across the street and opened the door of the epicerie. You have to love small villages. We stocked up on some basics and ordered croissants, pain au chocolats, and baguettes for morning pickup.

Since we did not have enough groceries for dinner (and we were tired!) we went to the little restaurant in Paraza called La Barraca. Thalia and Regis recommended it and called ahead to let them know that we were coming. If you have seen the movie Chocolat you may remember a scene in which they hold a garden birthday party for the old lady with lots of wine and food. That pretty much sums up the experience we had. The restaurant is outdoors in a garden with lights strung in the trees. There were two swinging chairs hung from the trees that the younger kids played on. There was even a birthday party being held for an old lady. The food was rustic (for french food) and wonderful. And of course we drank lots of wine. The waitress/owner was wonderful and even spoke a bit of english. She had a great sense of humor and we enjoyed her schooling Pat on his pronunciation of french words. (Pat at one point had tried to ask for bread which in french is pain. Instead he asked for pont which is french for bridge. Gotta love him for trying though!)

Finally we got back to the villa and went to bed. It was a busy day and all of us were very happy with the villa choice that Julie had made.

August 7 -- Domaine du Viala, Paraza France
The villa is in a word, WONDERFUL. It is several hundred years old and built from the stones of a fortress that was here from several hundred years before that. It sits atop a vineyard covered hill about a kilometer outside of Paraza. The views are spectacular! Distant hills and mountains are like the layers of stage scenery. To the south you look across a very wide valley to the Pyrenees. To the north are the hills of the Minervois. It is a beautiful location.

When they purchased the house it had been abandoned for about 50 years. They showed us a picture of what it looked like--falling down walls and no roof. Being artists, they were able to envision what it could and what they could make it. Lots of money, hard work, and vision created what they have today. We felt very lucky to be able to live in it for a week.

Brian and Julie got up early and went down to the village to pick up our bread for the day. Everyone thought that we were nuts when we came back with two dozen croissants and pain au chocolats, as well as 8 baguettes. Everyone thought that we bought way too much, but there is something about the croissants in France. By the end of our week EVERYONE was eating at least two pastries every morning.

The women volunteered to go to supermarket to do shopping. Thalia gave them directions to St Nazaire which was only about 10 minutes away--IF you didn't get lost. Eventually they made it there and parked in the FULL parking lot. Once inside the store they realized that the store closed at 12:30, giving them about 30 minutes to buy a weeks worth of groceries for 12 people. They started off taking their time looking and talking about each piece of produce. Then the lights started flashing which meant the store was closing soon. The each went into a shopping frenzy. Finally they checked out of the store and walked into an empty parking lot--the last out of the store.

On their way home they saw a sign for "fresh produce" and they stopped. Across the street there was a sign for wine tasting, and the ladies being who they are, thought that they should check it out. There was no sign of people at the building, just a door and darkened room. As they turned to leave, a family poked its head out of a window. Julie's french was no help. Finally a 3 year old boy comes out of the building and rings a hanging bell.

A couple of Irish brothers come out to sell their wine. Evidently there was a problem with the bottling and 1/3 of the wine went bad. Their solution? A buy two, get one free sale. So they bought three bottles-all of which turned out to be good.

We actually decided to cook dinner at the villa. Nothing fancy, Pat made some pasta with a fresh pomodoro sauce and Brian grilled some chicken. Damian put together a great salad. Face it, the women got a pretty good deal. The kids spent much of the day swimming in the pool, which was very cold.

The day ended up being the relaxing day that we needed to recharge our batteries after a week of cities. The company was great, the villa spectacular, and France was what it usually is--WONDERFUL!

August 8 -- Domaine du Viala, Paraza France
Todays adventure began at 9:30 when the Hamilton and Morris families drove to Pont du Gard, about 2 hours away. This aqueduct was built from 32-56AD by the Romans. Its three levels of arches cross a river and the structure towers 143 meters above the the river. Long after the Romans left it continued to be used as a bridge across the valley.

Sitting outside with good friends, eating wonderful local food prepared just for us, drinking wonderful wine made from grapes grown just a stones throw away---life doesn't get a whole lot better.

August 9 -- Domaine du Viala, Paraza France
This morning we took a short drive to Minerve, an ancient village about 15 minutes away. It sits at the junction of two river gourges and is reached by a tall stone arched bridge. In 1210 it was under siege and held out for 5 weeks until a catapult shot destroyed its well. The cathar residents had a choice to convert to catholicism or be burned--180 chose the latter. We chose to wander and take pictures.

Ventenac is larger than either Rubia or Paraza, but still quite small. Brian spent about 15 minutes walking around the town. The highlight is the Chateau Ventenac, the local wine cooperative. There is a free tour through this combination working winery and museum.

In the late afternoon we drove to Carcassonne which is that largest preserved walled city in Europe. It too was very important during the crusades. The church dates from 1200 and the walls are even older. It is full of art shops and restaurants. Julie knew enough to get there late as the tour busses leave. We shopped and ate, then waited for them to turn on the lights that light all of the walls and castle.

August 10 -- Domaine du Viala, Paraza France
I must say I could get used to this daily routine. Up at 8:30, a run into the village to pick up our baguettes, croissants, and pain au chocolats. That is quickly followed by eating same, with a couple of cups of coffee. Then a little rest to let the food settle and the coffee to have its effect.

The most trying thing of the morning is taking a shower. The bathrooms do not have spearate showers. The flows are designed to have water flow into a corner drain. The showers are all handheld so it took awhile to come up with an effective strategy to keep from soaking everything in the bathroom. It went something like this;

Step 1 -- Stand in the corner and squirt yourself with the handheld shower. ALWAYS AIM THE SHOWER HEAD TOWARDS THE CORNER.

Step 2 -- Turn off the shower and soap up.

Step 3 -- Turn on the shower again and rinse.

Step 4 -- Repeat as necessary.

Step 5 -- MOP UP THE WATER THAT HAS GONE EVERYWHERE.

We then we to the nearby village of Colombiers along the Canal du Midi and had a 2 hour lunch of salad (the French know how to make salads) pizza, and ice cream (oh yeah, 2 bottles of wine).

This evening we had the cooks again for a simple meal--a fancy salad, cassoulet, fromage, and dessert.

August 11 -- Domaine du Viala, Paraza France
Vacation is winding down, but we are doing our best to keep the French economy vibrant by continuing to drink their wines and eat their food.

Last night we had a great thunder storm. Mostly rain, lightning, and thunder with just some rain. Quite a show. It was still kind funky this morning. Julie, Christopher, and I went to Narbonne, a nearby city. It was market day along the canal there. Beautiful french fabics, but we did not buy anything. From there we went to les Halles, the permanent market in the town. Lots of cheeses, wines, produce, and fresh seafood. We bought a couple of pizzas for lunch, as well as some local sea salt and honey. We have a new favourite appetizer--warm goat cheese with just a touch a honey on it.

After our outdoor lunch we found the company (Connoisseur) we are renting our boat from next June. They even let us go aboard the boat we are planning to rent, the Magnifique . It was quite a boat and we know that it will work out well for us.

We went wine tasting with with Regis (the gite owner) to Rubia, a nearby village. There we visited Pique-Perlou winerey owned by his fried Segre. A once in a lifetime experience as we drank wines right out of the tanks with the owner. We had a late harvest grenache dessert wine. The Minervois AOC (appellation) is 40km by 25km and very unique. Only 5 types of grapes can be grown (grenache, syrah, mendevois, carlleon, and something else). The vintner pour wine right out of these huge tanks into bottles which we corked ourselves. We have subsequently found Pique Perlou wines in the the San Francisco Bay Area at Odd Lots Wines in Albany.

While we were tasting, the kids were picking berries. Tonight was leftovers as we did not come close to finishing our dinner last night. Casoulete, poulet basque, chevre with miel (goat cheese and honey) crepes with orange, creme fresh, and chocolate.

The circus is in the village for one night and Patrick and Emily went on their own. This is not a huge circus as it all fits in two small trucks. But at 5 euros per kid it is a cheap evenings entertainment.

August 12 -- Domaine du Viala, Paraza France
This morning's news had word of the British Airways strike at Heathrow. Luckily we are flying Iberia to Heathrow tomorrow, then United out to San Francisco on Sunday.

This morning began (after my 1km trip to the village epicerie to pick up our bread, croissants, and pan au chocloats) with a tour Regis's vineyards. Pat Houston and I climbed in to the back of an old Land Rover without a roof to drive through the vineyards. We would stop at different points and Regis would explain different things. Regis is proud of what he has done with his land, and he is proud of France--all with good reason.

Two points stood out. The first was in his oldest vineyard (about 80 years old). Every so often among the grenache grapes would be a white grape vine. Those would be planted so that the pickers could have something refreshing to eat while working in the hot fields. The second interesting point was when Regis told us it took him a whole month in the winter to trim the vines-WORKING FOUR HOURS A DAY! These French don't have it so rough.

August 13 -- Paraza France to Barcelona Spain, to London England

A Friend's View Point on Our Vacation

2005-08-13T00:04:00.000-07:00

A very good friend of ours, Damian Morris, joined us on our European trip and decided to write his own recap. Enjoy.....

My Best European Vacation Ever --by Damain Morris

We got into London in the afternoon and rolled our suitcases half a mile from Paddington to our Hyde Park St. digs. I thought at first they had mistakenly given us the key to a walk in closet. However there was another room with a bed in it so we figured we were in the right place. We were able to find an Indian/Persian restaurant that first evening. After being up for almost 24 hours, I was looking for comfort food, and fusion cuisine does the trick for me. But we stuck to the basics like Curry Chicken and Tandoori mixed grill. The kids scarfed it up. Curry Chicken was one of my favorites as a kid as well. Upstate NY was overrun with ethnic restaurants. But enough about me. Let’s talk about the Hamiltons. While we were using a shoehorn to get ourselves into bed, they were luxuriating at the London Marriott. They felt sorry for us and bought us a drink one rainy afternoon.

We did the standard red bus tour of London, after we spent about half an hour negotiating the pedestrian subway near our apartment. I pulled out the detailed map of Southern France that Brian gave us but to no avail. The tour brought us to many of the tourist hotspots. The guides all had their comedy routines down pat. I felt like telling them to stick to the facts and I’ll crack the jokes. But I was a guest in their country and kept my mouth shut.

One of our first stops was the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. There was a big crowd but we got some good pics and signed Matt up for the Junior Beefeater Club. We also saw Big Ben (yeah, I know it’s the bell, not the clock tower), Parliament, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Trafalgar Square and 10 Downing. We couldn’t get inside Westminster Abbey until the second day. They were open but the ticket guy took a dislike to me after I asked him what kind of accent he had.

We rode the London Eye that first day too. It’s a Ferris wheel that gives you a 360 degree view of the city. We had heard about a new exhibit called the London Toe but the reviews were not very impressive and we skipped it.

We did the Churchill Museum, which was very interesting. I told them I took British history in college so they let me in for the regular price. We need to smoke a cigar in honor of Winston. If not for him Brian would have had to dust off his German for our London visit.

We say many other sites as well. We toured the Tower of London and saw the crown jewels. The Hamiltons were there as well but acted like they didn’t know us. I almost made it out of the place with a jeweled scepter but got foiled at the last minute. They canceled our lunch with the queen for that offense. I’ve always wanted a jeweled scepter. After that we took a Thames River cruise and saw all the bridges, the London Bridge, the Tower Bridge, as well as the Millennium Bridge, the new one for pedestrians.

We had many good, if expensive, meals in London. Dinner the first night was on the Garners, Louise’s parents. I of course put up a good front, pulling out my wallet and
saying “No, we’ll split it” and acting disappointed when they wouldn’t accept any money. We ate at an authentic English pub close to Parliament. It has a division bell that rings when it’s time for the MPs to go back to vote.

One of our last visits was to Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum. I thought it might be hokey but it turned out to be pretty amazing. We got many pictures there and we’ll be featuring them in a slide show on paella night. Party on!

We then moved on to Barcelona and hooked up with the Houstons and Moreheads. Although I had a good time, I’d have to agree with Z that maybe Barcelona wasn’t the best environment. Suburbanites can’t handle the big city for too long. It was nice being near the Irish pubs however. The traditional Irish folk music emanating from them was soothing at 3am. Plus the size of the apartment was a big surprise. Lots of room to get away from my kids. Our patio served as party central, with Brian supplying the music and our resident oenolophile Christine picking out the finest in Catalan wine for under four Euros. CB did a great job sweeping the patio but got a little pissed when I asked her to pick up the rest of the apartment.

Anna hung in with us every step of the way. I had to hit the hay early one night but she was out having champagne until midnight. Suzanne was surprised that I retired early that evening, given I had taken a nap that day. We had a frank and open discussion on that topic.

It’s a shame that we didn’t get to smoke our stogies at the Placa but I really wasn’t in the mood to hurl. The Placa did provide us with some wonderful afternoons. The big mugs of Damm Beer went down smoothly as did the Sangria. And the tapas were pretty good too. We couldn’t get a pitcher of Sangria but our friendly waitress patiently explained that their establishment did not provide that. A pleasant wait staff can brighten any occasion.

I think we all enjoyed the group walk to the Picasso museum. It was bit warm that day but overall we were very lucky with the weather. The Picasso museum was very interesting and I know all the kids were enthralled. We have such a sophisticated crew.

The three evening meals, which, in order, were authentic Spanish, Italian, and cheap, were all outstanding in their own right. Once we figured out that the first restaurant was not Greek, we settled in for a big dish of paella and several bottles of wine. Our Italian meal featured some good food and wine and a great waiter. He even helped us with our map. I thought that’s what Brian was for. Bob made sure that the waiter was well compensated

I enjoyed our third meal the most, and not only because it was very inexpensive. The kids stayed at home and the boys got to sit together. The only snag was that the waiter got somewhat miffed when I sent him back to heat up my gazpacho. Other than that I think everyone enjoyed their meal. There was a lovely couple of young ladies next to the girls side of the table smoking up a storm but they weren’t there very long. We wanted to strike up a conversation but we’re all pretty shy. My only regret about food in Barcelona was that we did not get to try the stuffed specialties at the Taxidermia restaurant.

Saturday morning I starred in “The Interpreter” at the local hospital. Poor Sam was not improving with her antibiotics so we had to go back to the doctor. I was proud to be asked to step in but it was unnecessary. Pat’s grasp of both the Spanish and French languages was uncanny. When we got back to the apartment Brian let me know I was severely behind schedule and then headed out to the rental car agency. We caught up with them in France.

The trip up was tons of fun. The Morris family did not exactly do a thorough job with directions so there was some confusion and several calls to the Hamiltons. By the way, it was very generous of them to lend us Patrick’s phone and we are considering actually paying for the calls when they get the bill, except for any butt calls. On our way to our village, Paraza, we missed our exit. We went to the next one and turned around. Suzanne shared with me her feelings that perhaps there would be traffic and we should seek an alternate route. I must admit I was not open to her suggestions. The trip up to France will be henceforth known as the recrimination rendezvous. The trip back to Barcelona had its moments as well. I’m looking into map reading courses this fall semester at College of San Mateo.

Our gite was fabulous as were our hosts, Thalia and Regis. Regis is a winemaker and gave us four bottles of his wares. We tapped into that as soon as we got settled in. We had lots of great wine and food in France. One of the highlights was a visit to the Pique-Perlou winery, where we tasted several wines and bought some bottles straight out of the tank. And the food!! We ate twice at a local restaurant and we had a local couple cook for us twice as well. We all walked away quite full from those meals. One night Pat ordered us a bridge for dinner. He is a polyglot gourmand.

Pont du Gard was an awesome site. Brian and Suz kayaked with the kids down the river and Julie and I hung out with the rest of the tourists, buying knickknacks and drinking overpriced bottled water. Travel agent Julie explained that this ancient Roman aqueduct was the second biggest tourist draw in France. I think the first is the Paris Toe. I’ll check on that and get back to you.

We had several small trips within the area. We went to lovely village called Minerve as well as a pre-Roman settlement about half an hour away from our place. I forgot the name but Julie will fill in the blanks. I did miss the beach trip, which was OK because I received a vivid description about the unsavory combination of middle age and a thong. We also spent one afternoon at a walled medieval city called Fisherman’sWharf Carcassonne. Suzanne bought me a t-shirt there so the trip was a success.

So that’s how I spent my summer vacation. I’m glad everyone had a chance to spend some time with me. I realize how much you were all looking forward to it.

Michigan

2005-07-07T21:00:00.000-07:00

Julie and Christopher spent almost two weeks in Michigan this summer.

Christopher's favorite part was going up to Mackinaw Island. They took the ferry over and saw lots of neat things. They saw The Grand Hotel, Fort Mackinaw, and Arch Rock. The almost missed the last ferry back!

While in Northern Michingan they went to Salt Saint Marie locks (or Soo Locks). They took a boat ride through the locks and actually touched Canada!

In Spring Lake they stay with Grandma Evie at a little red cottage. The highlight for Christopher was his daily visits to Joan's pool. It had a divinging and a slide. They also saw all of the realtives there.

Camping at China Beach State Park

2005-05-30T21:01:00.000-07:00

For the second year in a row we spent Memorial Day weekend camping at China Beach State Park in Marin with a bunch of other families.

Click Here For The Video

Philadelphia

2004-10-09T11:06:00.000-07:00

Christopher, Jessica, and Julie in front of Independence Hall

In October 2004 Christopher and Julie met Jessica in Philadelphia for a long weekend. They saw all sorts of different things, including a fountain with purple water, Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, Congress Hall, the Betsy Ross House, Ben Franklin's grave, and a great exhibit on the Titanic.

Congress Hall

They also went on a Duck Boat. A Duck Boat is a sort of small World War Two vehicle that drives on land through the city, but then drives down a ramp into the Delaware River. Everyone on board got a quacker to quack at everyone they saw (after all, it was a Duck Boat). While on the Delaware River they got a fish eye view of the Ben Franklin Bridge.

The Ben Franklin Bridge

On the last morning Julie and Christopher went up to the top of City Hall. The view was fantastic and Christopher and Julie were the only ones up there. It was a fantastic trip that everyone will remember.

Jessica and Christopher picking Ben Franklin's nose

Mendocino

2004-09-11T09:23:00.000-07:00

Julie and I have now been married for twenty years. We decided to have a getway weekend to Mendocino. We spent two nights at the Brewery Gulch Inn which was a wonderful place to stay. In the evening they served wine and appetizers that were unbelievable. It is a great place to stay.

On Saturday we went ocean kayaking from Van Damme State Park with Lost Coast Adventures. Our small group hugged the coast looking and both plentiful wildlfe and some huge homes. The highlight was when we went through several sea caves. This is a must do.

Self Portrait

The Sierras

2004-09-04T09:21:00.000-07:00

Brian and his friend Jeff have an annual backpacking trip to Yosemite. This yeara they decided to go to an area in the Tahoe National Forrest. Unfortunately the fire consitions prohibited them from using a stove. With overnight temptatures near 30 degrees, they opted for a long dayhike instead. It was a beautiful hike.

Jeff and Kathe recently bought a vacation home in Tahoe Donner, so Julie and the kids went up a stayed there as well. We had a lot of fun laughing at just about everything.

Feeley Lake near Emigrant Gap

When we got married Jeff was unable to make it out from Chicago to our wedding, something that we have never let him forget. Jeff however made up for it this weekend by dressing up in a tux and helping us cut our cake (with Patrick and Christopher). It was great.

Jeff finally made it to 'Our Wedding', tux and all.

Upper Missouri River

2004-07-31T15:45:00.000-07:00

Patrick and Brian spent a week traveling in canoes with 19 other Boy Scouts and leaders down almost 100 miles of the Upper Missouri River in Montana. This trip was almost a year in the making and worth all of the efforts.

Brian and Patrick at Hole in the Wall

After flying in to Great Falls Montana we were picked up by our outfitter Starwest Adventures who took us to our "put in" spot in Fort Benton. We spent the night at the fairgrounds there and organized 11 canoes and a weeks food for 21 people.

For the first two days on the water we saw no one! Just a couple of eagles, some deer, antelope, and a beaver. The third night we got what was to become a regular event, an evening thunderstorm. Days three and four were through the White Cliffs, a landscape only slightly changed since Lewis and Clark traveled through almost 200 years before.

We ended up at Judith Landing where there was a SMALL store, but they did sell ice cream. The outfiters came early the next morning and cooked us all blueberry pancakes and sausages as we packed up. We realized that we were still in the middle of nowhere when we had to travel 25 miles just to get to a paved road, then another 60 miles until we got cell phone coverage.

Le Barge Rock at Eagle Creek

It was a most memorable trip!

Alaska

2004-06-26T16:38:00.000-07:00

June 26 -- Anchorage
We left SFO on a United 757 non-stop to Anchorage. Christopher sat by the window and saw Mount Lassen, as well as Astoria, Oregon and its bridge. He really got a kick because he has been to both of them.

We landed at Ted Stevens Airport about 10:00 pm and the sun was still up! There was a lot of activity at the airport with people coming and going even at that late hour. We took a taxi to our RV and found the key they had left for us, climbed in and went to bed (with the sun still up!).

June 27 -- Willow
We woke up and Julie and Brian went to get checked on the RV while Patrick and Christopher watched TV. Our RV rental company, Great Alaskan Holidays, was great. They had everything we needed in the RV and it was all included in one price.

We headed out on our way to our adventure in the last great frontier. But first, breakfast at IHOP and shopping for supplies at Safeway. Finally we were on our way. The road heading north from Anchorage is a regular freeway for the first few miles, but the views are unlike any other. Large, craggy peaks, with traces of snow surround the area.

When we were in Wasilla we left the highway and went to visit the Iditarod Race Committee Headquarters. This combination museum/gift store was worth the stop. But the highlight was getting a ride on a wheeled dogsled. There were about 16 dogs that pulled the four of us with our musher around a short course. Our musher was the son of Remington, the “father of the Iditarod”. (Patrick said this made our musher the “Brother of the Iditarod”.)

Summer Mushing

We pulled in to the Pioneer Lodge in Willow at about 3:00pm. This small RV park is on the south bank of Willow Creek, a river teaming with king salmon. You could look in the river and sometimes see 15 or 20 of them heading up stream. Our visit coincided with the opening of the three-day fishing period on this stretch of river. We loved watching these fishermen land (and attempt to land) these fish that weighed up to 40 pounds. The best part was when our next store neighbors brought over some baked salmon that they had caught in the morning, but could not finish. We made sure it didn’t go to waste.

June 28 – Denali National Park
We got up this morning and got underway by 10:00. As we drove north we kept our eyes open to catch a glimpse of Mount McKinley. The day was overcast and we thought that we saw it faintly in the distance, but we cannot be sure.

Along the way we spotted a reindeer.   On closer inspection it had a harness and was staked to the ground in front of an very odd place called Wal*Mikes. Here was a combination roadside attraction and junk store run by a character that would not stop talking. It was a trip.

Wal*Mikes parking lot

We pulled over for lunch in Denali State Park at a viewpoint that was supposed to have a great view. We saw clouds!    We continued on towards Broad Pass. This pass had sparse vegetation and was surrounded by peaks. We saw a train of the Alaskan Railroad carrying tourist north, an interesting way to travel.

As we drove north the clouds were replaced with smoke. The closer we got to Denali National Park, the smokier it got. We got to the park and headed to the Visitors Center. From there we went on a 3-mile hike to Horseshoe Lake. I would have been beautiful if the air were not filled with smoke.

After the hike we picked up our tickets for Tuesdays Wilderness and Tundra Tour. It was then we found out that the fire was in Chicken AK, about 150 miles away. After leaving the park we drove to our campground for the next two nights, the Grizzly Bear Campground. Our site was on a bluff overlooking the Nenana River. This was the only RV park that we stayed in that seemed like a campground rather that a parking lot.

June 29– Denali National Park
We got up real early for our Denali Tundra and Wildlife tour. When I say early, I mean early because we had to be across the road at 5:30 am. We got breakfast and began our tour. We were the only ones on the bus who were not part of a ship tour.

Our driver/narrator Cliff had been doing this for 13 seasons and he never saw smoke like we had today. If you went on this tour to see mountains, forget it. We did see wildlife however. Early on we saw a Hoary Marmot and a Ptarmigan (the Alaska state bird). We then spotted a grizzly bear, almost blond in color, going trough the bushes about 200 feet away. Awhile later we spotted Dall Sheep high up on a rock hillside. The highlight was at mile 53, our turnaround. Up on the hillside we saw three caribou, two males and a female. We kept watching as they walked down towards us. They finally passed about 100 feet from us on their way to drink and graze in the river. The antlers on one of the bulls were enormous. Quite a highlight. We got lucky with the wildlife because the views were non-existent because of the smoke.

Patrick, Christopher and three of their wild friends

Christopher picked up a bug bite on his lip sometime during the day. His lip kept getting bigger and bigger. Julie finally decided that we should get someone to look at it and we unhooked and drove to the nearest “medical center” in Healy, about 20 miles away. The center was upstairs in the Community Center, combination fire station, courthouse, and lions club. The guy behind the counter said, “Just give him some benadryl (which he sold to use for $5.00 cash). Right out of Northern Exposure!

June 30--Hope
We decided to change our plans, as the fires were getting worse up north. We headed south towards the Kenai Peninsula. We drove about 350 miles to a little town called Hope. Driving in we saw a female moose walking along the edge of the road.

This town is an old gold mining town from the 1890’s. Julie has a friend who spends some time there every summer. This town had real character. Small log cabins, a café and bar, and a single retail store selling hand crafted jewelry—that was it. The Seaview RV park was in front of the bar and had a beautiful view of Turnagain Arm. If you ever saw the TV show Northern Exposure, this was it.

July 1, 2004 -- Seward
Today we drove down towards Seward. After getting a slot at Bear Creek RV Park, we went to see the Exit Glacier. This glacier flow from the Harding Icefield (Christopher thought that the ice field should have an ice sculpture of President Harding.) We hiked about a mile to the edge glacier and could clearly see what a glacier does to the underlying rock. This glacier, like all of the others in Alaska, has been receding. Makes you really think about he effects of global warming.

After the Exit Glacier we drove in to Seward and found a much-needed laundromat. While Julie waited for the laundry to finish, Brian and the boys went to look for a glacier cruise to take tomorrow. They found one, as well as a Segway rental place—more fun tomorrow!

July 2 -- Seward
After the kids enjoyed a couple of hours of morning TV (the RV park had cable hookups), we headed in to Seward. Seward is a town of about 4,000 residents that sees 70 cruise ships every year. It was nearly destroyed in the 1964 earthquake when a 75-foot tsunami swept over it.

Patrick and Brian headed for the guy who rented Segways. The price was reasonable, $15 for a 20-minute tour. There was another couple that were going to do it with us. Brian played his cards right and tried it first. This meant that while the others were getting checked out he was able to practice (i.e. more riding time). Riding it at first takes a little thought because it is very different, but shortly you adapt and are able to do it very naturally. We finally all got going and had a nice ride down the bike path that lines the harbor front.

We had booked the 6-hour, 110 miles National Park Dinner Cruise through Kenai Fjords Cruises. There were about a 100 passengers on a boat that held 150, so there was plenty of space to move around. We felt that it was a good sign when we saw our first wildlife, a Bald Eagle, on a harbor piling as we left the harbor. Shortly after we ran into what would be the first of many pods of Orcas. The abundance and diversity of the wildlife and sea life was a little overwhelming. We also saw puffins, a mountain goat, sea otters, Dall Porpoises, Fin Whales (the second largest mammal in the world), sea lions, and lots more Orcas.

Us in front of Aialik Glacier

The turnaround point for our trip was the Aialik Glacier. This emends tidewater glacier has a face 1.3 miles wide. After working his way through the floating ice, the captain positioned us about a half a mile off the glacier and turned of the engines. A calving glacier can be a noisy thing as it sheds ice from its face.   We watched as large chunks of ice fell 200 to 300 feet and crashed into the water. Then a huge section, perhaps 200 yards wide, let loose with loud cracks and bangs. It hit the water and created a wave that was still about 6 feet high when it hit our boat. The captain said that was the largest calving he had seen this year. It was a spectacular trip, we even saw a bit of sun as we pulled back into Seward.

July 3 -- Homer
Today we pulled up and left Seward for Homer. The kids were looking forward to going to Homer because of the name (Doh!). They especially found it funny when they found out that we would be staying on the Homer Spit. Too much Simpsons?

The drive was beautiful one. We after retracing part of our route from a couple of days ago we headed down the Kenai. When we got to the Kenai River its beauty floored us. The color was an aquamarine blue, flowing through a verdant green forest. Unbelievable!

We were stopped for a while when the road was closed because of an accident. We decided that if you are going to be stopped in traffic and RV is the best way to do it. Julie and Patrick played cards while Christopher layer on the bed in back and looked at the view.

A few miles before reaching Homer the road goes through Anchor Point. This was interesting (at least to Brian) because it is the farthest west you can drive in North America. We didn’t make it to the Arctic Circle, but we did figure out another box to check off.

Homer

We arrived in Homer with a light rain falling. Our first choice was full so we headed to the end of the Homer Spit. A funky beach community (The Coney Island of Alaska) and a narrow sand and gravel bar reaching into the bay. Snow-capped peaks surround the town. Tomorrow we explore Homer.

July 4th --Homer
We took our time getting going in the morning as the kids found out that there were a couple of TV cannels that we could get on regular TV. The first thing that we did when we got going was head to the overlook high above the town. The views were spectacular across the bay. You could see a couple of large glaciers winding their way down rugged valleys. The snow capped peaks of green mountains that ran down to the blue/gray waters of the bay.

We then headed to the downtown district and its art galleries and gift stores. We set the kids up in the RV. Brian found a WiFi connection (from the library across the street?) so Patrick was able to surf for info about Lance Armstrong in the Tour de France. Christopher was watching a DVD, and Brian and Julie made a break for it to go shopping. It was then back to the RV park and down to the water. The tides here are enormous; typically there is 25 feet between high and low tides. The whole shoreline changes dramatically every 6 hours.

As we were buying some stuff in one of the stores we asked for recommendations for a dinner spot. There are several restaurants in town and on The Spit. We decided to go to one called Fat Olives. What a find! This restaurant could compete with any in San Francisco. An appetizer of smoked salmon and marscapone brushetta, followed by a seafood bisque for Julie and a ceaser salad for Brian. We shred our main courses; alder wood cooked red salmon topped with sautéed rock shrimp and risotto, and buffalo tenderloin wrapped with goat cheese and prosciutto with asiago polenta.

We followed up with a beer at The Salty Dawg. This is a funky old place that attracts all sorts; fishermen, locals, and tourist. It is a low building with a lighthouse on the side. When you go in the walls and ceilings are covered with one-dollar bills that people have written on and stuck up with thumbtacks. We left our mark as well.

The Salty Dawg Saloon

Homer is one of those towns that we would like to come back to.   Far off the beaten track there are not boat loads of tourist like Seward. The views are phenomenal and the people are friendly. This seems to be a place that Alaskans come to to relax, fish, and just enjoy the water. It gave us another Fourth of July that we will not forget.

July 5th – Cooper Landing
We woke up this morning realizing that we were quickly nearing the end of our vacation. Today would be an easy drive to the middle of the Kenai Peninsula where we would spend two nights. The day started off on a good note, as the skies were bright and sunny.

Leaving town we stopped at the viewpoint at the edge of town and were blown away (yet again) by the views. Looking across the Cook Inlet we could see three volcanoes capped in snow. We continued driving with the lunchtime goal of Ninilchik.

The village is very small with just one small shop. There is a narrow path that goes up the hillside. At the top there is a Russian Orthodox church and cemetery that was built at the turn of the century. We had bought a print of it in Homer so we had to see the real thing. On the way back down the trail we stopped to talk with a woman who was working on her yard. She and her husband live in Anchorage and had just bought the house as a getaway and vacation rental. It was appropriate that she was a Russian from Vladivastok.

We pulled into the Kenai Princess and got our spot. Eating leftovers for dinner and looking forward to the hot tub tonight! Tomorrow? Who knows what we will do.

July 6th – Cooper Landing
Today was a lazy last day in Alaska. We took a hike through the forest and down to the Kenai River, ate a lunch of whatever we had left in the RV. This was followed by an afternoon of shuffleboard and hot tubing. Then we spent about three hours on the deck eating, drinking, and looking at the Kenai River. It was a full day.

A Night on Alcatraz

2004-06-06T00:49:00.000-07:00

Alcatraz

Walking through underground tunnels built during the Civl War, seeing the spot where a prison murder happened, and one of us sleeping in the Birdman's cell. Yes, we spent the night on Alcatraz, sleeping in the actual cells of in D-Block.

Christopher's Cub Scout pack got lucky and drew a spot. There are only about 20 groups a year that get this lucky. Anyway, 35 of us went over on an afternoon boat with a ranger and had a wonderful behind the scenes tour of Alcatraz. We didn't go to our cells until midnight. Patrick and a friend actually spent the night in D-42, the cell of Robert Stroud, aka the Bird Man. And this was after hearing the stories of what a psychopath he was.

We were up early the next morning, just as 2,000 swimmers were entering the water for the "Escape From the Rock - Alcatraz Triathlon". As we pulled up to Pier 41, the Jeremiah O'Brien liberty ship was pulling out with a fireboat escort to the anniversary of D-Day.

This was not your typical Cub Scout camping trip!

Christopher enjoys the view on the trip over to Alcatraz

Patrick and Zachary get ready to go to sleep in the Birdman's cell.

CLICK FOR MORE PICTURES!!!

Las Vegas

2004-04-09T10:13:00.000-07:00

After the desolate wilderness of Death Valley, two nights in Las Vegas was something. Christopher wanted to go to Las Vegas to see the sites. I mean after seeing the real Venice, New York, and Paris, it's only natural to want to see the copies in the middle of the desert, right?

On our way in to town we stopped at Hover Dam. Even today, 70 years after its construction, it is an awe inspiring sight. There were thunderstorms passing through so we got to see lightning, rain, and even a rainbow while we were there. It is worth the trip to see.

We parked the motorhome in the RV park at Circus Circus and began exploring. In the two days we were there we saw almost the entire strip as well as the light show downtown on Fremont Street. Christopher, not surprisingly, loved the view from the top of the Stratosphere.

Las Vegas needs to be seen, but we are in no hurry to get back.

Patrick and Christopher atop the Stratosphere Tower

Death Valley

2004-04-04T10:04:00.000-07:00

Patrick and Chrisopher enjoy the view from the RV

More Pictures

Julie said that I've been talking about going to see Death Valley ever since we met over 20 years ago. We finally decided to do it this year by RV.

We drove from Foster City to Las Vegas where we picked up our 30 foot motorhome (more of a bus actually). The drive to Death Valley was an easy one. After about three hours we pulled in to Furnace Creek Campground. There are no hook-ups there.

The next morning we started seeing the sights; Golden Canyon, Devils Golf course, Bad Water (the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere). Standing 282 feet below sea level you could look up at snow covered Telescope Peak, over 11,000 feet high.

How low can we stoop????

After a couple of nights in Furnace Creek, we went to Stovepipe Wells where they had 14 sites WITH hookups (ahhh, air conditioning). From there we visited the nearby sand dunes, Salt Creek (saw lots of pupfish), Scottys Castle, and Ubehebe Crater.

Julie and Christopher at Scottys Castle

The Boys at Zabriskie Point.
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We loved Death Valley and hope to go back next year. The RV was great, but somewhat limiting as some of the sights are 20 miles down dirt roads. Next time we will stay at Furnace Creek Ranch and bring our SUV.

Washington DC

2004-01-19T16:59:00.000-08:00

When most people think of a family vacation in Washington DC they think of hot, muggy weather. They think of long lines and crowds. Well, not us. Yes, we went to Washington DC in the middle of January. We were able to walk directly to the elevator at the Washington Monument -- no lines. It wasn't muggy either. The high temperature? Twenty-seven degrees.

A cold winter day on The Mall

We stayed in Foggy Bottom about a five or ten minute walk from the metro. Our goal was to do everything in four days and we almost attained our goal. We saw the Washington Monument, the Library of Congress, the Supreme Court, the White House, the Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln Monuments, the Vietnam and Korean War Monuments, Arlington, the Holocaust Museum, the Spy Museum, and, of course, many of the Smithsonian museums.

It snowed our last night in DC. In the morning we got a shuttle to take us out to the new Air and Space Museum near Dulles. What a wonderful museum. And the best thing? Nobody was there!

Frozen fountains at the FDR Memorial

Cambria and Hearst Castle

2003-12-26T09:01:00.000-08:00

The day after Christmas Julies mom Evie joined us on a trip to Cambria. We have done this a couple of times before, but not since Christopher was little. We rented a house that the kids liked because it had a spa in the backyard. We liked it because it had a nice view out the front yard.

Patrick, Christopher, and Evie

Two days before our trip an earthquake struck just north of Cambria. There was little visible damage other than the buckled road on the way in and a few items knocked of the shelves in the house.

We love just taking easy there. We took hikes in the hills, visited Hearst Castle (when another aftershock hit), and saw elephant seals on the beach right along the road. We also went down to Morro Bay and saw Julies cousin Cheryl.

Yes, cows and zebras can and do live together on the Hearst Ranch

These guys are BIG!

Winter days in Cambria can be beautiful, cool with clear sunny skies. It is a great nearby getaway.

Italy and Germany -- 2003

2003-07-05T19:39:00.000-07:00

It was a year in the planning, but well worth it. Three families from Foster City took a trip to Italy. For many, it was their first trip to Europe

Rome
All of the families spent the first few days in different apartments in Rome. What a beautiful city. Everywhere you look, history is there. Our apartment was at San Giovanni Laterano, the home of the pope before the papacy moved to France for awhile. It was a funky little apartment with only two windows and no air conditioning, but the location and price were right.

Our apartment building

Our trip to the the Vatican was quite an experience. Patrick had had surgery on his leg in may and it was still not healed. Therefore we got him a wheelchair to roll through the Vatican ?Museum. To see the Sistine Chapel we had to go through the museum in the reverse path of everyone else. At one point the guards had to stop everyone exiting the chapel so that Patrick could go on a little wheelchair elevator down some steps. It was quite a production.

Ostia Antiqua is a must see. It's about a one hour train ride from Rome. Ostia Antiqua was the seaport for ancient Rome and had over 40,000 inhabitants. Malaria finally caused it so be abandoned and it as covered with blowing sand and then forgotten. Rediscovered about a hundred years ago and slowly being restored. There are a huge number of ruins that you can just wander through. It's a much easier trip than the one to Pompei.

Christopher and Patrick doing a little exploring in Ostia Antiqua

More pictures of Rome

Paris Chick Trip -- 2003

2003-03-05T19:37:00.000-08:00

Paris

Yosemite

2002-08-05T19:48:00.000-07:00

Yosemite

High Sierras

2002-08-05T19:47:00.000-07:00

High Sierras

Big Sur

2002-07-05T19:49:00.000-07:00

Big Sur

The Northwest

2001-07-05T19:54:00.000-07:00

We took our first real car trip vacation to the Northwest. We spent nights in Bend OR, Long Beach WA, Victoria BC Canada, Seattle WA, Grants Pass, OR, and CHICO CA!

Here are a few pictures!

Berlin Chick Trip

2001-03-05T19:51:00.000-08:00

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Bodega Bay

2000-10-05T20:01:00.000-07:00

Bodega Bay

San Diego

2000-07-05T20:02:00.000-07:00

San Diego

France

2000-07-05T19:57:00.000-07:00

France

San Diego

2000-04-05T20:02:00.000-07:00

San Diego

Michigan

2000-01-05T19:58:00.000-08:00

Michgan