Catching up from November and early December 2013

It is currently Easter weekend 2014 and I am playing catch-up with my blog for my loyal blog-followers! As you may already know, Pat and I moved from the house at Torrenova 3 around the corner to a third floor condo in a building called Mirador. These pictures were the first I took from our new abode one morning just after sunrise. This is "our" old house as seen from the terrace of the condo:




On a clear day, we can now see all the way to Barcelona. At night it is especially impressive!



The view of Caldetes and Sant Viçenc directly in front of the condo building overlooking the Med:



The same view on a windy and blustery day mid-November!




The ladies of the International Women's Club of Barcelona in the "café" of the Modernista Museum on Carrer Balmes after a lovely visit there one Friday. I am in the far back against the wall in a pink sweater.




Pat and I discovered this delicious fruit at the market this Fall. I believe they are called custard apples!







IWCB Friends Liz from Scotland and Susan from Malaysia at our first GLIT luncheon at the Hotel Majestic on Pg de Gracià. I offered to organize on occasion a special luncheon at some upscale restaurants in the city and decided to call the new group, Gourmet Lunch in Town.



We were about 19 for this first luncheon. Here I am in the argyle sweater.






Desserts included a colourful fruit salad and a delicious cheesecake:







Pat and I spent a few days in London during the first weekend of December. We attended our second André Rieu concert at Wembley Arena on the Friday night, stayed at the very lovely Milestone Hotel opposite Kensington Park, took a longtime family friend from McKinney, Texas, Thomas, our for dinner and spent time in the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square. Below are pictures of a busker doing some pretty bizarre contortionist moves!














Hasta luego...

Location:Barcelona, Spain and London, England

Bordeaux Wine Country

As promised in the last blog, some long overdue photos of our rainy weekend in Saint-Emilion, outside Bordeaux which we visited for the first time on our way back to Spain from Paris.

We stayed in a self-contained housekeeping room at Les Logis du Roy on the top floor:




One night we enjoyed a wonderful dinner here at L'Huitrier Pie, just down the street from our hotel:




Market day in the main parking lot in the village:



Dinner the first night was at Restaurant Le Tertre:










Some views of the village:





































As it was harvest-time, only three local vineyards were open to visitors on Saturday. We made arrangements to visit two of them, Château Laniote first:
















Then it was on to Château Coutet and a lengthy wander through rain-soaked and muddy vineyards and fields before a delicious wine tasting! We bought enough cases from both wineries to fill up the car!
















Hasta luego...

Location:Saint-Emilion November 1-3, 2013

Sainte-Chapelle, October 31, 2013

This was the trip to visit and re-visit famous sites in Paris. I arrived at the entrance to the famous Sainte-Chapelle, the royal medieval Gothic chapel on Ile de la Cité just before opening and struck up a conversation with a Parisian woman about my age. She had been in the area to renew her driver's license and decided to visit the chapel for the very first time. Below are some views of the beautiful stained glass windows, a few of which were under plastic and being restored at the time. Here is the description of the windows taken from Wikipedia:

Despite some damage the windows display a clear iconographical programme. The three windows of the eastern apse illustrate the New Testament, featuring scenes of The Passion (centre) with the Infancy of Christ (left) and the Life of John the Evangelist (right). By contrast, the windows of the nave are dominated by Old Testament exemplars of ideal kingship/queenship in an obvious nod to their royal patrons. The cycle starts at the western bay of the north wall with scenes from the Book of Genesis (heavily restored). The next ten windows of the nave follow clockwise with scenes from Exodus, Joseph, Numbers/Leviticus, Joshua/Deuteronomy, Judges, (moving to the south wall) Jeremiah/Tobias, Judith/Job, Esther, David and the Book of Kings. The final window, occupying the westernmost bay of the south wall brings this narrative of sacral kingship right up to date with a series of scenes showing the rediscovery of Christ's relics, the miracles they performed, and their relocation to Paris in the hands of King Louis himself.















From the Chapel, I continued to the Conciergerie, a former palace and later a prison. It forms part of the Palais de Justice, which is still used today for judicial purposes. One of the most famous prisoners interred here was marie Antoinette, whose cell was converted into a chapel to her memory.

The Palais de Justice:



The Conciegerie:



Courtyard at the Conciegerie:


From here, i took the metro across the Seine River to the Left Bank and checked out the Bon Marché department store, enjoying a nice lunch in the Italian restaurant there. Stay tuned...next stop Saint-Emilion for some great Bordeaux wines...

Location:Paris