97 Days, 12 Countries, 1 Kangoo

Greetings everyone!

Hope the Patriots continue their winning ways against the Ravens tonight - hopefully Pete's presence at the game does turn out to be a jinx.

Apologies for the sporadic entries, as soon as you get over a 100 pics to edit and caption, the task is quite daunting - so for the last week or so, we decided to split it into two separate blogs that will come to you in rapid-fire succession.

We last left you in Rome with Carlos. From there, we headed to Barcelona and made a few stops along the way. The first night we spent in Verazze, just north of Genoa. (yes, the Salami was good). This being the offseason, the town was rather dead and our hotel was pretty empty. However, we did have some lovely weather and fully enjoyed being on the water. Here is a glimpse into the inner sanctum of the Kangoo:

What did you think of my demo tape that we were listening to?

The second night was in Marseille, which is the 2nd largest city in France and possesses a reputation for heavy drug use. We did not see any evidence of this, unless you counted the folks dressed up in wacky costumes scaring children in the market. The holiday spirit was in full force in Marseille; there was hot wine and chestnuts on the street, a Christmas market and decorations galore. Add to this the waterfront and Marseille impressed us a bit more than we expected.

From here we entered Spain with the usually; "here is the border crossing, are people stopping?, maybe, get the passports out in case", slow down, begin to put the window down, exchange awkward eye contact with border guard and continue on. Spain's landscape is just what we pictured, lots of sandy hills with scraggly bushes popping out everywhere. We saw our first Spanish prostitute in a lawn chair on a country road. If we were to compare her to the myriad of prostitutes we have seen across this continent, she would get a 'D' for location and an 'A' for personal comfort. We spent our first night in Spain in Lloret del Mar, along the Costa Brava. Again, this being the offseason, all of the 'beautiful people' were NOT there. Nevertheless, we browsed the endless souvenir shops full of soccer jerseys and raunchy aprons and stumbled upon a bar that served liters of beer. So we stopped and felt like we were in Germany again. Or more like a couple of americans in an irish pub drinking german beer in Spain - whatever.

Just north of Lloret del Mar is Figueres, birthplace, and resting place, of Salvador Dali. During his life, he purchased the theater where he had his first exhibition and converted into a bizarre surrealist palace, with lots of drawings, paintings and installations. This was a very interesting place. After a quick Nutella crepe, we were off to Barcelona.

We spent 4 nights in Barcelona, and there was a dramatic event after the first day which serves as a natural place to split this blog into two parts. Let the suspense build...

The highlights from the first day in Barcelona:

• Architecture, especiually Antoni Gaudi's. Barcelona has some of the most unique buildings we have seen. Just strolling the streets and looking at ordinary office buildings and shops was a pleasure.
• The Market. Barcelona gets the prize for best food market so far. La Boqueria market is a treasure-trove of fruits, veggies, olives, cheese, meats and seafood. And the freshness is almost sickening - giant piles of squirming prawns, rabbits strung up and bleeding, chickens with the feathers still on. There are a number of bars among the stalls where people can go for a quick bite and a beer - just an awesome atmosphere.

  
  

Much more to come from Barcelona as well as Madrid.

The pics:http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=184050042/a=7226152_7226152/t_=7226152

Couple of Blogger notes:

Which market are you back on Pete?

Welcome back Mrs. O - way to make your presence felt!

Looking forward to seeing Steph, Dave and Caleb at the end of the week!

Missing everyone. Till next time!

Chris & Taice