Europe

Windy Wednesday, January 22

Posted on by Susan

What a windy day – all sorts of things are blowing around. It is not pouring rain though, as it has been for two days straight.

Despite the rain, we drove to Lagos yesterday, about an hour from here. It’s a cool walled city and you have to park outside its walls. Luckily it wasn’t raining when we got there, so we could walk in to the fairy-tale-like place. We had lunch at a very old restaurant and it was interesting to see the artifacts and wall hangings displayed. After lunch we walked around and I went to Owl Story, an English language used book store that’s impressively stocked.

We drove back, still largely escaping the rain although overnight it started again and seems to be ready to begin anew today.

At least it isn’t snow.

Sunday, January 19

Posted on by Susan

We drove to Querenca yesterday expecting to go to their annual Sausage Festival. It’s a sweet and charming town in the mountains and the festival is a huge big deal for the town’s people and those of surrounding areas.

But it wasn’t Saturday, we learned we were away day early. We had lunch instead at a fabulous restaurant (there are only two of them in the town) where I had grilled octopus, my first of the trip.

We went back today and fortunately arrived early so we could park and we walked around before having the best grilled chorizo sausage on a roll ever. Hundreds of people were there and it was an awesome way to spend part of the day

Wednesday, January 15

Posted on by Susan

This week has been quiet and nice, with a morning trip to the pool, then a little work, a long walk, then enjoying some fish from the market cooked in the apartment.

It is perfect to just live life here in this beautiful environment in our tiny apartment on the beach.

Sunday, January 12

Posted on by Susan

We drove to the beautiful old fishing village of Ferragudo today, about an hour from where we are staying. On the second Sunday of the month they have a massive flea market along the river. Literally anything can be found there, from clothing to toasters, to ceramics. Handmade rugs, jewelry, and many one-of-a-kind items are sold there and it’s fun to walk along and see all the people and all the wares. I bought a nice leather purse and we got a few kitchen items for the apartment where we are staying.

We had lunch and drove back, having spent most of the morning and early afternoon there.

Monday, January 6

Posted on by Susan

This morning I checked out the municipal pool and it’s perfect so I got a membership and happily swam some laps. It’s a busy place with all sorts of classes going on seemingly all day, every day.

We walked for an hour, and the Alsace region is bustling for off-season. The weather is perfect, 68° and sunny after a rainy Sunday. Nice day for a bakery stop and a view of the sand alligator.

Wednesday: Paris

Posted on by Susan

Today, our last day in Paris and the last day of our trip, we walked to Montmartre to see the Sacre Coeur church and to wander around the neighborhood. Then we walked around the city for hours, checking out the store windows, having lunch, and doing a little shopping.

We leave for home in the a.m. so it is over and out for my blog for a while.

Have a wonderful Christmas and a fabulous year ahead. I’ll be traveling in 2020 so I’ll check in from time to time.

Thank you for reading my blog.

photos: some of the freelance artists in the square in the Montmartre area of Paris today; a nativity scene protected from the elements; paart of the 300 stairs to get to the highest point in Paris

Tuesday: Paris

Posted on by Susan

Today we went to the Museum d’Orsay, the French museum with artwork from the 1840s to about 1914. It is housed in an old railway station and is huge. Because of the transportation strike here in Paris, the museum was free today. That meant that lines to get in were very long. It was worth the wait, of course.

After lunch we shopped at Galeries Lafayette, along with it seemed about half of Paris. We walked back to where we are staying, grateful for warm weather our last days here.

photos: from the rooftop at Galleries Lafayette; the huge tree at the store; a painting that is part of the Degas Opera series being shown at the Museum D’Orsay

Monday: Paris

Posted on by Susan

We went to Museum L’Orangerie this morning and viewed the eight Water Lillies murals by Claude Monet. I never realized these paintings were so huge, and so dark. It was nice to spend time looking at those and some other exhibits at the art museum.

We had lunch in a pub in the Tuileries/museum area, then walked over to Notre Dame, where a tragic fire in April destroyed part of the roof and the spire, among other serious damage. There is a fence around the cathedral because construction and restoration is going on, and there is scaffolding all over the building.

From there we went to the iconic Shakespeare & Company – an English language bookstore in a charming shop with many small rooms. It was not crowded but I can imagine it can be claustrophobic with many people browsing.

From there we walked across the bridge to the Ile Saint-Louis, an island with a population of about 4,000. It has a nice city center. We stopped for coffee and then began our walk back. Public transportation is still very much on strike so the car traffic is a mess.

photos: the Seine today; Notre Dame; traffic standstill in Paris

Sunday: Paris

Posted on by Susan

It is the last leg of out trip. Today we drove to Paris to drop off the car we gave been driving for the past many weeks. That went smoothly mainly because it is Sunday and there are few cars on the road. During the week traffic amid the strike is said to be extremely awful. We will deal with that in a few days.

For now, we are enjoying Paris. We walked around this afternoon, found an open restaurant and had a late lunch, and went to one of the many Christmas markets in the city, this one by the Tuileries Gardens. There were crowds of people there but it seemed everyone was having a festive time.


photos: Paris this evening; a deluxe Christmas tree; a deluxe Christmas window

Saturday: Sens, France

Posted on by Susan

Saturday is market day in Beaune, so we walked up to the center of the city this morning before driving north.

Part of the market is indoors where there are refrigerated cases although most of it is outside.

Aside from a wide assortment of bread, pastries, meat, fish, and produce, there were oysters and snails galore and of course many varieties of cheese.

We got some baguettes and a few kinds of cheese for lunch later, and I wandered over to a part of the market where there was live entertainment. A woman was singing holiday songs and it was delightful.

We left for Sens in the late morning and arrived at about 1pm. The holiday market was going on – it is just today and tomorrow – so we took our time checking that out and then scoping out the town. Tomorrow we drop our car off in Paris.


photos: local celebrity singing Christmas songs at the Beaune holiday market this morning; snails for sale, the real deal; oysters were plentiful