Provence, France

Provence was the first time we rented a car. We got a Peugeot with GPS who became our new best friend with an English accent. "At the roundabout take the third exit."

We chose AIX en Provence as our home base. This first day we walked through the town center and checked out the fountains along the main street.

La Rotonde

The town is very cute with cobble stone walking streets, cafes and shops.

From the town we walked up to Paul Cézanne's art studio and home. While we were there, it was still rainy but we did get glimpses of spring time here and there.

Cézanne's studio

Wisteria in bloom

At one point we got on the right bus but heading the wrong direction. Here's a photo of us unknowingly riding into the suburbs. After a difficult conversation with the bus driver. An elderly lady got on the bus a told us "You sit down." Using hand signals she got us back to the other side of town.

We had the luxury of a small kitchen in AIX. I really liked grocery shopping in France. The cheese selection is amazing. It puts the snooty cheese guy at Whole Foods to shame. Here we are enjoying some home cooking.

Our second day, we visited Avignon on the Rhone River.

Palace of the Popes

Looking back at Avignon from Fort Saint-André in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon.

The next morning we drove to Gémenos for our visit with Arnauld (former co-worker at PDI) at his new company, The Bakery. I was happy to see Arnauld again. His studio is growing quickly and it was exciting see all the progress they have made. The visit made me realize that I miss the challenges of production.

Photo from The Bakery's website.

Arnauld recommended that we take a drive to Cassius. It is a beautiful seaside town and from there we took a high coastal road south. We didn't know where we were headed but since we had GPS we didn't have to worry about it.

Beach in Cassius

Looking back down at Cassius

While driving back we cross another toll road. There were so many in France but we think the system makes sense. The people who use the roads pay for the construction costs and maintenance.

From AIX we took a bus to Nice where we sampled the nicoise food and relaxed on the beach before departing for Italy.

Paris, France

(t) The night we arrived in Paris it snowed. It was such a surprise. As it was early April but still very very cold.

Mike was sick when we got to Paris. So, I spent a day at the Louvre by myself. Believe it or not, this was the first time we did something apart. It worked out well because Mike tends to visit museums at a much faster pace than I prefer. Plus, this was my first time visiting Paris and the Louvre.

We met up later and enjoyed an excellent late lunch at Le Fumoir. For dessert we shared the Granny Smith Apple sorbet. It tasted just like a crisp tangy apple. Thanks to Jannette at PDI for the recommendation.

While in Paris we also visited Catherale de Notre Dame. I was taken aback by the massive scale and beauty. We just sat in the pews and took it all in. The glass and stone work was truely impressive. I felt like I was in a movie. Like there should have been a score playing the background. When I have those moments I just love it.

Of course we made our way to the Eiffel Tower and climbed the stairs to the second observation deck. That also happened to be the day that the Olympic torch was traveling through Paris. While we didn't see the actual torch mayhem, we did see a large protest making its way through the city.
Paris was our first opportunity to eat sushi since our Miami layover. Needless to say we pigged out a little bit.

The Chateau de Versailles was a fun but very cold day trip. We enjoyed the audio tour through the interior. Here I am with my dorky tourist headphones. It's not that bad when you are surrounded by hundreds of other people doing the same thing.

I was really looking forward to the gardens but because of the bitter cold weather we quickly ate our picnic, looked around a bit and headed back to Paris.

Our hotel was very close to Arc de Triomphe and on our last night in Paris, we walked up and visited the Unknown Soldier beneath the Arc.

The following morning we caught an early bullet train to see Provence (region in southern France) and visit Arnauld (my former co-worker at PDI).

Barcelona, Spain

(t) We had some ups and downs in Barcelona. When we arrived at our "hostel" we learned it was actually an older gentleman's apartment. We stayed in one of three bedrooms and shared a bath with one other couple and our host, who was more often than not walking around in his knee length blue bathrobe. It was an interesting experience which we laugh at now.

Some of the highlights included multiple trips to the Mercat de Boqueria. The fresh fruit was great. Mike always says, the fastest way to put me in a good mood is to take me to a open air market.

We also visited the Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia and La Pedrera. Seeing the cathedral was worth the long line. It is hard to imagine how crowded it must be in the summer time.
On our last day in Barcelona, I decided to do a little shopping. Our clothes had already taken quite a beating in So. America and we were feeling rather grungy in our backpacking attire. According to our book, Spain's economy has been doing well and the shopping areas reflected that. The stores were so... crowded. It was really overwhelming. At one point Mike thought I ditched him at H&M because it took me so long to come back from the dressing room. But, we survived. Barely.

Madrid, Spain

(t) First of all Madrid was our first European city. As we drove into Madrid I was reminded of all the things I had been missing without knowing I was missing them. It was contemporary man-made beauty. Fashion window displays. Home decor stores. Beautiful buildings rather than cement cinder blocks with re-bar protruding from the roof. I know. I know. This makes me sound terribly materialistic. But, I really thought, Oh, yeah I like these things. I am not saying South America doesn't have these things but where we had been we hadn't seen them for some time.

Our first morning we ate breakfast in the Plaza Mayor where a government procession kept cruising through. They had the full getup with the powdered wigs and all.

After each pass though the vacuum truck would come though and clean up after the horses. Very clean. Another thing I like.

We made our way across town on one of our self guided walking tours and found the palace where the convoy was arriving. Perfect timing! We were able to see the palace guards march out and greet the leaders entering. We spent the rest of the day touring the city. The theme of Madrid for us was tapas bars. We loved the complementary snacks that came with our cold beers.

We had to try the churros and chocolate. We visited the popular Chocoloteria San Gines. Unknowingly we ordered two orders (one for each of us) and we were shocked when they brought us a mountain of churros. Mike did his best finish them but we just couldn't do it. And, then we had one of our - Why did we eat that? Moments.

We spent half of the following day figuring out the best way to mail our camping gear ahead to the Spirent office in Hong Kong. The Madrid Post Office was a tour worthy destination in itself.

Once our packages were on there way, we spent the rest of the day wandering in Retiro Park. Mike thinks I look like Mini-Trini in this photo.

From Madrid we took a recommended side trip (thanks Aimee) to Segovia. This was an easy bus ride from the center of the city. We saw our first of many roman structures in Segovia. The Roman Aqueduct which is 894 meters long.

While there we spotted a traditional barber shop and Mike decided to abandon his no haircut idea. Here is a last look at his long locks.

Here's the new clean cut Mike.

Lake Titicaca, Peru

(m) Our backpacks were leaning against the wall outside of the hostel at 6am as we waited for our shuttle to pick us up and take us to our Cusco to Puno bus. To our dismay (identically to Antigua) it would not show and we frantically came up with a new action plan. We hailed a cab and sped towards the bus station in an attempt to catch it before it departed. Whops, we arrived to the wrong bus station. After asking around, we found where the bus should be and grabbed a new cab. To our dismay, it had already departed. After discussing the situation with the bus company manager, we decided to attempt to catch the bus at the first of its six site seeing stops along the way. Thankfully after a crazed 45 minute ride we caught up with bus and group.

Another stop was a visit to a traditional Peruvian house which had a room full of guinea pigs on display. These cute little guys aren't just pets here. They are a popular main course as well. Later in Puno I would sample one and find, not surprisingly, they taste like chicken though it took quite a bit of effort to nibble bites of meat from its tiny bones.

A baked guinea pig. Yummie!

Six hours passed and we rolled into Puno. Puno is the main town along the shores of Lake Titiacaca. This massive, high altitude lake sits at about 10,000 feet and claims to be the highest navigable body of water on earth. Two-thirds is a part of Peru and the remaining third lies in neighboring Bolivia. Puno would be our base for exploring the nearby towns and launching point for our boat excursion to the nearby islands.

On our first day we checked out the town of Plateria just south of Puno.

Heading back to the square we settled on one of three tiny restaurants. After asking for menus, the owner/waiter/cook told us he had fried cheese and fried trout, which would we like? We said, one of each please!

We "chose" well, the trout was great.

Our meal was washed down with the tasty Inca Cola, a Coca Cola product and #1 soda in Peru. It tastes like bubble gum.

As we finished our lunch, uniformed school children started to spill into the square. A couple of curious ones walked over to us and shortly after we had ten bright eyed kids gathered around our table checking us out. We had a good, slightly awkward, time trying to chat with them about school and the area.

The following day we left Puno in a rickety boat with a group of twenty or so. Our first stop was the floating islands of Uros made entirely of reeds from the versatile totora reed which is harvested in abundance from the lake's shallows. The reeds constantly rot on the bottom and are layered on top to keep the island afloat. These islands are home to about 2000 Uros tribes people living off of the lake and more recently, tourism. Originally the islands were created as a way to escape enemies on land. In recent years boats were used to bring the islands closer to Puno to help make it easier for day trippers to visit. I enjoyed the spongy, squishy under foot as we were toured around the resident's small huts and boats also made completely from Totora.

The islands are in 60 foot of water.

Not just for boats and islands, you can eat it too!

After motoring for several hours we reached Amantani Island where we would stay with a family for the night. I really enjoyed spending some time in their back to basics lifestyle. The Amantani residents live out their lives with little mainland interaction in basic houses with adjacent small farms. Our host family used candle light to illuminate the rooms and sat on an earth floor cooking our simple yet tasty meals of soup and fried cheese on a small wood burning stove.

Watch your head!

We hiked up the nearby mountain to enjoy the sunset.

Following dinner we were loaned some traditional attire to attend a dance in the nearby hall. The room was booming with flutes and drums as we tried our luck at this spin your partner around kind of dancing. What a blast!

In the morning we thanked our host family and headed out for another nearby island, Taquile, which also has local residents. A collective society, known for their fine knit handcrafits. It is the men who do a bulk of the knitting, we saw a dozen or so gents in the town square knitting and chatting away. The hat color indicates their marital status.Photo from wikipedia.