Back to Seattle Gloom

After taking Elsie to the Spa at SageCliff (after we sprung her from Jail), we headed back to Seattle. John, Sylvia and Jennifer decide to go see Carrie Fisher in her one woman show "Wishful Drinking", all about her train wreck of a life ever since she was Princess Lea in the original Star Wars. It made all of us feel like we were not so dysfunctional after all. We were in the front row, so were called on to verify things and answer rhetorical questions. I was embarrassed, so when she asked me my name, I said "Sylvia", of course that makes one a bit more brave when anonymous. She wanted to smoke on stage, but it is illegal, so compromised with clove cigarettes. When I identified her clove cigarette as "most certainly BC bud", she stuck it down my shirt. The coolest thing about Carrie Fisher is she has her likeness forever immortalized as a Pez dispenser.

Visit to the Farm

So, ElsieCoyote goes on a trip to see her country cousins in Royal City. Upon arriving at the farm, cousins Chinook, Zeus, and Shania, all who weight 90-120 pounds each, pack mob her and push her off the lounging deck. There were 6-7 cats hanging around and so Elsie spent the next hour trying to figure out how to get the cats without going on the deck. She finally figured there was nothing to do but go on the deck in order to get the cats (MUST GET CATS was all she could think) she got up to a cat and then all the other dogs held back and waited until she started chasing the cat (stray) and then they all joined in the game, cats all got away every which way. The only cat that did not scatter was George (not a stray) so Elsie turns her attention to George. Just as she has stalked within 5 feet, Chinook comes tearing around the corner and gets between Elsie and the cat and just takes Elsie to task for trying to get George. Evidently George is the dogs' cat. George also never runs away and very nearly succeeded in poking Elsie's eye out. Afterwords Elsie went to Jail.

Well it has been a rough few months. Nora Lea passed away unexpectedly just after Christmas. For some reason I think it has been hard on her, too, where ever she is. I am sure she is in a great place, but she left so many friends and people close to her behind. I miss her always.

I have decided to continue blogging, not only for family and friends, but also because Nora always wanted us to get into writing and this is an excellent playground for honing the skills. I figure no one is interested in my inability to get out of bed in the morning and how sad things are, so I am going to concentrate on travel and excellent and not so excellent adventures that I wish I could share with Nora Lea.

The travel in 2009, so far, has taken me from Phoenix to Seattle, back to the island, Salt Lake City, Omaha, Nebraska, Laramie, Wyoming, Burley, Idaho, back to the island and then Phoenix. And Yes, I do have a few adventures to share later...

Bordeaux - Nora

We said a sad farewell to Spain and boarded a train in San Sebastian. This farewell was doubly sad as we had lost a dear companion at the train station.

We crossed the border into France, and immediately our pathetic, halting Spanish seemed like a comfortable old friend as neither one of us has any French (and I thought trying to figure out Basque was a challenge!). But we got to the station, found a taxi, and with the help of some written directions – in French, that Jenn was clever enough to print out – made our way to the 19th century Chateau where we were staying.

The Chateau was about 10 miles out of the city along the banks of the Garonne, and was once a large wine-producing estate. But, French inheritance laws being what they are, most of the parcels were sold off one-by-one, until our hosts and the present owners bought the house and about 12 acres and run it as the base for their wine country tours. These people are really proud of their wines and their history and heritage. I’ll let Jennifer fill you in a little on the history angle as she was reading up on it, but wine has been produced in this region for a thousand years, so they feel that they’ve pretty much “gotten it right”.

We had a private driver who took us to six different wineries in two days. His name was Marc, he is a business student, and a more charming young man there never was. And apparently we were lucky to have him (or anyone at all) as there was a general transportation strike beginning Wednesday afternoon (we arrived Wed. a.m.) and ending Friday afternoon (we left Sat. a.m.). We also dodged a bullet on the Air France strike. To be honest, we were very lucky in many of our adventures this trip. Don’t get me wrong, Ms Jennifer is the most accomplished travel agent a girl could ever want, but sometimes the universe just steps in, and that can go either way. Luckily for us, it went the best way.So I’ll let Jenn give you the low-down on making wine in the Medoc and St. Emillion regions. Let me just say that our trip to Europe was not only fun (and fattening), but very informative. We learned how sherry is made, saw olive oil being pressed, visited some of the most prestigious wineries in the world and, best of all, got to get outside of our comfort zone and mingle with different people, cultures and histories. Except for one day of rain, the weather was perfect (well, it was bitter cold the one night we were in Paris, but who cares?! We were in Paris!) and except for one snotty French chef (could there be a bigger cliché?), the people were all marvelous. All in all, I’d have to say that this was Jenn and Nora’s Most Excellent Adventure!

In Memorium

So our last day in San Sebastian, I had been scouting around trying to figure out the most efficient way to get to Hendaye, just on the other side of the Spain/France border. That would get us hooked into the French train system and on to Bordeaux. You can go with the national rail and take a few hours, or take the completely confusing Basque train, the Eusko-tren, for 1.45 euros and it only takes 30 minutes. We took the Basque train. Unfortunately HoneyCrisp was eavesdropping on my plans. She had fallen in love with Spain and did not want to go to France. She was also suffering severe depressions, vapors, water on the brain, a distinct lack of firmness and was terribly worried about her wrinkled skin. Not to shock everyone, but bottom line is, she jumped. Right down on to the train tracks and try as we might we could not coax her to safety. Well, the train was on a schedule, and pulled out.

As you can see there were many many signs for and about safety and what not to do posted about, which she ignored. I think she just decided it was time for a brave stand to finish her day(s) in Spain. Nora was inconsolable. I did not push her.

The Grocery Store in Spain

While walking around the streets of San Sebastian, we saw a big glass roof covering an escalator and decided to see where it went. We found the best grocery store. Everything you could possibly want, except maybe gummi bears.

Ok, so these are not Alaska spot prawns but at least they don't come from Thailand's depleted mangroves. Plenty of Iberico pork to go around too!

I don't know what these sort of foot/snailsnout looking things are, but they are really fresh.

Bread and Pastry anyone??


Nora is mentally calculating how much this Spanish beef costs in US dollars. You know that great "entrecote" cut can set you back a euro or two.

San Sebastian

San Sebastian is the western world capital of cuisine. It has more top rated restaurants per capita than any other place. Of course we get here in November when everyone takes a vacation and the world famous chefs are in Seattle for a food conference. I still had the best meal ever. The language and signs are unrecognizable in Basque, so we had to just stumble on things and did a very good job of it. There are the obligatory churches under repair and the scenic alleys and streets. But the added bonus is the beach plus a river that runs through the middle of the city. Here is a shot of the city hall and the surrounding tamarind trees. Since San Sebastian is in the Pyrenees mountains, it has been a hot bed of terrorist activities by a group called the ETA. While we were here the French and Spanish government had a combined group activity which resulted in the arrest of the head of the group. We also have been lucky in that there was a transportation strike last Friday and Air France, our ride home, is on strike.

There are lots of surfers even though the water has to be 5 Celsius. The only rain we have seen has been here, and it is only a cheepy-cheepy drizzle.

HoneyCrisp went out to make new friends and found a playful cupid that seemed friendly enough initially. Little did HC know, but the cupid already had a friend and tried to push HC into the river. Nora saved her, even though she is going through that phase of life with depression, wrinkling, bad smells and skin discoloration (HC, not Nora).

Nora and HC decided to go to the beach. HC demanded an umbrella so her skin didn't burn and then headed out to catch a wave. Unfortunately she washed back up.

I, in the mean time, wanted to follow Dad's admonition that you can always survive anything if you have clean dry socks. We have been traveling for almost three weeks and the strange thing about Spain is there are no laundromats. Everyone just looks at me with a blank stare when I ask, and try and send me to the tintoria (dry cleaners). The hotels all offer to send laundry out but it is 5-10 euros for a pair of socks. I finally got desperate and sent out 3 pair of socks, 3 undies, one shirt and two pair of pants. They did a lovely job and delivered it back to the room, tissue wrapped and in a basket. All for a mere $97.75. I am buying new stuff next time.

More Bilbao Art

So hanging out all over Spain, we noticed that the dogs are off leash and go everywhere with their owners, and here in Bilbao, even imitating the hands behind the back stroll. I can't figure out how they don't get hit by cars in all the heavy traffic. When we were in Seville, and a car would come up the tiny roads, we would have to slam our backs to the wall and hold our breath in order not to get sideswiped and the little dogs just sort of scooted to the side and managed not to get smooshed, but of course all dogs do seem to have the marking instinct world wide.

Some of the art INSIDE the Guggenheim is of the "what the *^*%$#@? is that supposed to be?" variety. But there was a very cool exhibit by Richard Serra, an American minimalist sculptor. It had 8 parts that were from 12' - 14' high and each weighed between 44 and 276 tons. They were huge shaped sheets of steel that reminded me of the canyons in
Southern Utah. You can walk around in these and get very disoriented. One is like a Nautilus shell, another like varying canyon walls. The steel is variegated and streaky which makes it look like windswept sandstone. They took years to shape and were made in a shipyard in Baltimore then shipped and installed in Bilbao. They are free standing, though I would not want to be wandering inside them during an earthquake.

I really wish Nora would learn to take pictures with my cell phone in under 6 minutes. She probably couldn't think straight because she had been traumatized by Momma minutes earlier. Momma even has a very realistic looking an egg sack ready to drop, but Nora would not even get underneath for the thousand euros I offered.
The workers that are all hanging around arranging things at the museum, even have to use plastic bags and duct tape to wrap their wheels so they don't mar the travertine sidewalks.

We had to go across the river to get far enough away from the main building to take pictures. The smoke puff on the left side by the water is a "fog sculpture that shoots off every hour and then floats away in an 'artistic manner' reflecting the natural environment and wind" (looked like a puff of smoke to me) There are all sorts of little surprises about, including some shooting fire that we did not get to see because we had to go home at dark to check on HoneyCrisp. She was fine, but had pushed Heimi into the profundo desfiladero between the beds and it took me 30 minutes to find and rescue him.

The Guggenheim serves as not only a museum with art exhibits, but a city icon with itself being a huge installation of art and makes for an impressive experience.

Espana Xtra - Bilbao

More Bilbao...HoneyCrisp pretty much stayed in the 5 star hotel room with her friends Sombra and Heimi, and looked out the window at Puppy in front of the Guggenheim, taking baths and ordering room service. (the little white-ish figure by Puppy's foot is the groomer)

The city is on a great river and has a "new city" and an old quarter with small winding streets and not too many churches. There are lots of arts and theatre and if Nora and I get stuck in Europe, we are going to live in Bilbao.

We had the hotel make reservations for us at the fabulous restaurant in the museum. The world famous chef Martin Berasategui really hooked us up with Cream of Cara Negra cheese and sauteed Ballobar capers, roast Aubergine with olive oil made from 1000 year old olive trees, pasta in Joselito ham stock with parmigiano reggiano foam, and roasted leg of suckling veal, lamb with lemon jalapeno broth, creamy chocolate with coffee ice cream on hot marzipan sand, and to finish, a coffee-salty yogurt drink (Sylvia, you would have loved this one!!) Dad modified his saying "eat right and get a little exercise" to keep up with the French. It is now "eat less, move more", so here are some of my portions, with my fingers included for scale.

This last photo is my finger bowl that the waiter poured hot lemon water over and it turned into a bath towel. (don't forget to bring a towel!!) ...jah