Barcelona to Côte Basque By Car

June 26, 2011 HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!


After five hours of driving through farmlands, vineyards, truck stops, big and small towns, and the beautiful mountains in the Pyranees, we finally arrived in Guethary, France, a small town on the Basque Coast between San Sebastian in Spain and Biarritz in France. We chose this area because we've never been to San Sebastian, which everyone we know whose been there loved it, and also because it's a surfer's paradise. Our friends Mika and Noelle are avid (and awesome!) surfers and Doug wanted to try it out, too. 


We're staying in a great house in a really cute town (see pics on my Guethary Zapd). The house is very well equipped for two families, and even has a biotope natural pool, which came in very handy for the first two day of 90+ degrees weather. I highly recommend this place for anyone seeking a vacation home in the area for 2 or even 3 families. 

Barcelona Beach Day!

June 25, 2011


NINA The second half of our vacation has turned into a "beach vacation" according to our kids. So no more "sightseeing," we are now going to have some fun! And the weather was perfect for it! The Salmis took us to Port Ginesta, just south of the airport, a spot that Mika and Noelle go to for surfing. This was a great intro to the rest of our "beach vacation" on the Basque Coast.

 

Group surf...

Cy learns how to surf...

Erica learns how to paddleboard...

Then we ate Indian food, which was a nice little break from all the Italian and Spanish fare we have been enjoying...funny, Indian food at a random Barcelona marina.

Visiting the Miro Museum

NINA  One of my favorite places to visit in Barcelona is Fundació Joan Miró, a museum dedicated to the life and work of one of city's most famous artists. This is my third visit and I like it even more each time. The guy had a spectacular career -- he worked in the same period as Picasso as well as later in his life during the period of Abstract Expressionism.


The kids enjoyed his work, which was quite a contrast to many of the classical paintings they saw in Rome and Venice. It was a nice and easy place to see art compared to the gargantuan spaces at the Biennale.

 

Calder's mercury fountain
dedicated to Miro

 

Girls matched the painting

Tibidabo Amusement Park

ERICA  On our first whole day in Barcelona, the Salmi family took my family and the Carpenter family to the Tibidabo amusement park. Obviously as an eleven year old this was one of my favorite things on the trip. Before we arrived at Tibidabo, I asked what kind of rides they had. Noelle, the Salmi mom, told me that there weren't too many rides, but a lot of them made you really dizzy. So, of course, I was already psyched. We all took the local bus to Tibidabo, where we found ourselves in a tram (funicular) that would take us up the Tibidabo hill. Going up the tram was amazing because you could see everything as you ascended up the mountain. When we got to the top, we saw the famous church which we took a brief look at, but most of us just ran to the amusement park entrance. (I was one of the ones who actually wanted to take a look at the church.) When we all got our tickets we went out to a viewpoint where, if it was even possible, you could see even more than you could from the trolley. It was pretty easy to spot our house from up there because of the large swimming pool. It was also really interesting because I had no idea how big Barcelona was when I first got there. 
When we finally got started on the rides, we easily picked the roller coaster to start on. It was pretty good size, and really fun to ride with my friends. We loved it so much that we rode it twice, and it was especially fun to know where the camera was. And, of course, we took the opportunity to pose some funny faces.  Next, we went on the water ride, where there were two drops, each soaking all of us. I sat in the front both of the two times that we rode, and it was super refreshing from the Barcelona heat. 





After that we all rode the "Tchu Tchu Tren". The train is the four year old Salmi son, Aksel's, favorite. It was actually pretty fun because it went really fast and there were the occasional jolts that were really fun. After the train, we all went into the Haunted Fun House. Sophie, the Carpenter daughter, and I were really scared, and we were clinging onto each other the whole time. There were also obstacles on the ground, such as rolling cylinders that almost made me fall on my back. The obstacles were also really hard because it was pitch black inside. After that we all had a lunch at  an amusement park stand. I had cheese tortellini with bolognese (meat sauce). It was pretty good, although it was hard going from the pure Italian version to an amusement park one. After stuffing ourselves, my dad and the kids (with the exception of Aksel) went on the flying chairs ride. It was really fun because it went super high, and, again, you could see everything from up there! I'm not afraid of heights, but even I thought it was pretty scary! 
The next thing that I wanted to do was the Hurakan ride. In the Hurakan, you are seated in a long platform, with two rows of chairs. You get securely strapped in, and the ride begins. The platform is attached to a long pole that spins in circles like a clock hand. Then, the platform can swing, too. Don't worry, it doesn't swing freely, it has a certain routine. No one else wanted to ride it, so I happily rode it by myself. When I told my friends how you feel really safe, and it's super fun, next thing you know I rode it twice more with all the other kids! (Again, with the exception of Aksel.) It was easily my favorite ride in the park. We thought that that would be the last ride of the day, but then we saw the mirror maze, and we all had to go for it. It was super fun, and there was one part where it opened out into a room with a variety of mirrors that each performed its own trick. When we exited, we found out that Aksel and Noelle went inside the maze after us, so the kids decided to go on a little train ride. The train is attached to a pole up above, like a ski lift. The first part opens up into the fresh air, and can see almost the same view that you see from the viewpoint. It was really cool, because you don't feel like your just looking out from a platform. You feel like you're soaring up over the mountain. Then the train goes into these little tunnels that are filled with creepy objects, and fake people. It's meant for kids a little younger than we are, but it was still fun to pass the time on it. At the end of the ride, we all gathered together and went back down the tram. Tibidabo was a really fun amusement park, and a great way to celebrate San Joan.

 

Fireworks!

CY- We went to Barcelona and we got picked up by Noelle. While we were driving home Noelle told us it was the San Joan festival. When we got home we saw Natasha,  Annika, Aksel, and Sophie. We also saw Anika and Natasha’s parents Mika and Noelle (we saw Noelle before but whatever), and Sophie’s parents Joan and Jeff. We ate burgers without buns for dinner. I ate 3 bunless burgers. They were goooood. 

Then we saw fireworks. We even used some ourselves. We watched fireworks for about 3 hours. Then we went to bed.

Venice Biennale

NINA I was looking through all the photos and videos I took at the Biennale and realized it's going to be very difficult to chronicle our experience there through this blog. So I shall reserve that for another time. But here's an exhibit that was a highlight for all of us.

 

The most unusual way to take money out of an ATM machine

NINA This was it. The day I've been waiting for. Ever since the first time I visited Venice, I vowed to myself that I would go during the Venice Biennale sometime in my lifetime. And what a better time than when my kids are old enough to absord at least some of the art that was presented. So we agreed to meet Noel and Stefan in front of the US Pavilion in the Giardini. I'll talk more about the Biennale in the next post but first I'd like to show you a most unusual way to get money from an ATM... this was at the US Pavilion and created by artists Allora & Calzadilla.

Murano and Burano

NINA Since I've been to Venice a few times, I wanted to do something that I had not done before. Everyone says Murano is a rip off but that's probably if you paid a tour company to take you there. We took the vaporetto, the local bus system, and hopped the islands in the Veneto Lagoon. Murano is the most visited one, mainly because of the popularity of Murano glass. As soon as we got off the boat on the island, we went straight to a glass blowing demonstration at one of the factories. Here's a taste of it...

After walking around the sleepy island for a bit, we bumped into a fantastic art show called Glasstress, in which artists, architects, and designers express their ideas in glass. Not the typical "Murano glass" that you would see in the tourist shops in Venice. The show was a great intro. to the Biennale, which we were planning to visit the following day. Here are some of the cool things we saw at Glasstress:

 

 

Plus a interesting installation ...

 read more on the chickens here...That was pretty much it for Murano.


Our next stop was Burano, one of the islands further away from Venice. It took a while to get there but it was fun to see all the other islands on our way there, and that the vaporetto truly was the way that Venetians get around. While Murano is known for the glass industry, Burano was known for its lace industry, which has all but died except for a few families that still produce on the island. Not sure what else is going on here except that it is very pretty, especially houses on the tourist path.

 


It was a special treat to head back to Venice during sunset...

 

And also have a decent pizza meal and paying a visit to Mr. Giant Crab...a good day!

Palazzo Ducale (Doge's Palace)

NINA Whenever Doug talks about his past trip to Venice, he always mentions the Doge's Palace and how earth-shattering the paintings are. So naturally we had to go back with the kids, and it did not disappoint. We were lucky to get there just a few minutes before the "Secret Itineraries" tour (can you tell we love secret tours?) that took us to areas in the palace that were used by the "common" people at the time, the bourgeoisie, as opposed to the nobility. Historic rooms such as the archives, a torture chamber, the prison, and great stories about the palace's most famous criminal, Casanova.

Grand Councilor's office

Palazzo Ducale's version of the
Boca della Verita

Sentencing room

Torture chamber

DOUG  After emerging from the dungeons of the Doge’s Palace, we emerged in the swanky Palace proper. More than any other palace I’ve seen, this one is covered with paintings. The Great Council Hall is the best part. It must be bigger than a football field, with walls over thirty feet high and entirely covered around the entire perimeter with paintings by Tintoretto.

On one end is the great painting Paradiso, which is thirty feet high and 74 feet long, reputed to be the largest painting ever done on canvas. It has hundreds of figures, similar to the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel. Every other painting around the around is at least half that size, and every one has a massive crowd scene with hundreds of figures. The paintings continue in another room almost as large, where similar-sized paintings depict massive battle scenes, mainly taking place in boats on the water (since this is Venice after all) complete with arrows through heads and pouring blood. It’s one of the most massive art experiences you can have.

Battle of Lepanto 1603

Roaming around Venice

NINA  We're getting a bit behind on our blog for a couple of reasons -- my computer decided to die on me a couple of days ago. I literally had to take it apart to get its life back. The other reason is that we are now in Barcelona with the Salmis and the Carpenters (actually they just left this morning) and it's been so much fun just hanging out and stepping out of the the go-go-go routine we had in Italy. More on Barcelona later...trying to keep this blog chronological.


This is how we arrived in Venice...

Our hotel, The Westin Europa and Regina was very near Piazza San Marco, and right by the mouth of the Grand Canal. This is the view from our hotel...beautiful Church of Santa Maria della Salute.

The "street" going to our hotel

A typical bridge

On the Ponte dell' Accademia,
one of the two bridges linking
the two sides of the Grand Canal

Sunset in Dorsoduro

Dinner at Locanda Montin in Dorsoduro

Great bakery near San Marco

 

Campanile

Sadly we did not go deeply into these two landmarks simply because there were too many people. We decided to concentrate on the Doge's Palace and the Biennale.

 Basilica San Marco

On the Rialto Bridge

Rialto Bridge

Santa Maria dei Miracoli

This was a beautiful church inside and out, which is why Venetians like to get married here. The facade has different types of marble in different colors, which makes it look like a jewel box.












These are just a few landmarks that we bumped into, while roaming the narrow alleys, stretching at the little piazzas, and crossing the little bridges that make up the city.


A tip for anyone flying in and out of Venice. I did not find this in my very old guidebook. A water taxi to or from the Marco Polo Airport to San Marco will cost you over 100euro. There's a private company called Alilaguna that takes people to and from the airport for 15euro each. You can even buy your tickets online.


Goodbye Venice! Til we meet again...