Weekend in Valencia

With three and a half months under our belt, we have realized just how fast two years is going to fly by.  Initially I had given myself permission to use the first six months as a "settling in" period, giving us some slack if we didn't travel as often as we would have liked, with the perspective that anything we did manage to see would be a bonus.   Now, looking ahead towards a very busy summer, I realized it's time to start being a little more proactive in our approach.  What do they say? If you don't have a plan, you plan to fail...Though, Chris and I never seem to have plan...we figure it is never too late to start.  So last week we decided to sit down and "map out" what we wanted our travel plans to look like over the next 6-12 months.  It was a blast! 

Mia being cute. 

Once we DID start to plan, that's when we realized -- summer is BUSY.  Business trips, trainings, little weekend getaways, and visitors...all capped off with a two week trip home for the whole family to the US in August!  It feels like the whole summer is planned already, but definitely not in a bad way...it's all good stuff!  We have our first wave of visitors (hooray!!!) coming almost back to back.  Chris' father, John, and Lynne (aka Granddad and Meemah) were the first to arrive-- pulling into port (literally) at the end of a two week long trans-Atlantic cruise earlier this month.  It was so wonderful to see some familiar faces and to share our day to day excursions and adventures with family.  Sadly, the kiddos had a stomach bug for a chunk of the week they were here, making it a little challenging to do a lot of the bigger excursions outside the city we had planned to do together as a group, but our guests were understanding and had a great week regardless.  They saw a huge chunk of the Barcelona city sites, and were happy to spend some time staying local, strolling the streets of Poblenou enjoying the bocadillos, pastries, and local charm. 

Next up is Chris's mother, Judie, set to arrive in one week!  And just three weeks after that, my mother will be here for the first half of July...we are beyond excited for all these visitors.  

Then there are the things you do not plan...As I sat at the dining table drinking coffee after breakfast one morning last week, I saw a new groupon email pop up for a discounted hotel stay in Valencia.  I get groupon emails daily, and read them mostly for a daily Spanish lesson to see if I can understand what they say, but lately have been seeing some great deals on hotels in various places we are looking to go.  I already passed up one offer for a super cheap hotel in Budapest which I should have grabbed, so when I saw this offer for Valencia -- a place we had talked about wanting to travel-- I thought, NOW is the time.  It's time to stop talking and start doing.

"You wanna go to Valencia this weekend?  It's 32 euros for a night with this Groupon..."  I asked Chris, knowing full well what his answer would be. 

"Yeah, man." 

And that was that. 

Within one hour we had a rental car booked, the hotel booked, Molly's doggie sitters booked, and a weekend trip to look forward to. 

We had one night of hotel, so we decided to drive down to Valencia Friday night after Chris got out of work, then spend all day Saturday in the city and come home Saturday night.  It is about 3.5 hours south of Barcelona, right on the coast...there is something about having a car that just feels "normal" again.  I can't really explain it. 

One night, and we still can't travel light

"We're in a CAR!"

We got on the road around 7pm Friday night, and flew through the city...shocked by how little traffic there was.  Here we are, it is rush hour and we are heading south on a Friday before a long weekend (Monday was a holiday here in Spain too).  I had to wonder what 93 in Boston would look like heading south to the Cape at rush hour before Memorial Day weekend....not the same, I would imagine. 

Leaving Barcelona

Yet, as soon as my haughty-little "isn't Barcelona so great" remark came out of my mouth, the traffic stopped dead.  And I mean, DEAD.  Like, not moving in 45 minutes dead.  Yet, in typical BCN fashion, everyone got out of their cars and started milling around the highway chatting it up with other people and catching some rays.  Me?  Not super happy, and I didn't take a picture of that, as it was an hour of my life I'd rather not remember.

We made it to our hotel around 11:30pm, and checked in, got some sleep, and were up and out around 9am the next day.  I have to say, we were pleased with our groupon hotel.  When we arrived, I could see why it was so cheap.  We were about a 5-10 minute drive outside the city, and our check-in involved someone checking off our name from a penciled in list of "guests" and then handing over one card key with the room number and a remote for the TV, not a word said.  OK, nothing fancy, but it was clean and cheap and we were in Valencia.  Plus, breaky the next AM was free and really, REALLY good.  Also important to note, the restaurant inside the hotel was decorated with huge, life size photographs of nude people in yoga poses.  Boobs.  Butts.  It was all out there.  Have your OJ, and enjoy some nudes.  Chris suggested we take a picture, but I had to refuse that one...the American tourists with the loud crazy kids running around are snapping photos of the nudie pictures on the wall...not the look I'm going for :)

So, Valencia. 

Valencia is a beautiful city, the third largest behind Madrid and Barcelona...and surprisingly not as touristy as I would expect on a holiday weekend in May.  While we do do our research before we travel, I'm not one to write a ton of facts and history on the places we will travel -- I'll leave wikipedia to that.  I will say that it is a gorgeous city, full of a mix of old and new architecture that was the most impressive I've seen in my life so far.

There is a lot to see and do there, but we decided to focus our efforts this time on the Arts and Sciences section of the city, home to the Aquarium - known as the best in Europe.  We had planned to spend the morning walking around there, then head over to the "old town" for some famed Paella (invented in Valencia) for lunch and do some wandering around the market until early evening (or until the kids started to lose it --which ever came first) then head home.

The Aquarium was beautiful -- huge, with lots of outdoor spaces and, shockingly, not crowded at all!  The kids loved it.

My little Mia surrounded!

They loved this -- Evan especially. A little child-sized tunnel into a little room. Every minute or so a wave would break over the glass, Evan was in there for at least 30 mins.

We spent about 4 hours walking around the Aquarium, then headed down the rest of the strip to see all the architecture and let the kids nap a bit in the stroller...The Arts and Sciences area is about a mile long, lined with incredible sci-fi looking buildings (I'm sure there are lots of architects names I should be dropping).  Some of the most awe inspiring buildings I've ever seen. 

We stopped to sample some horchata - a Valencian drink made from Tiger nuts, unique to this area.  It tasted a lot like iced chai, delicious super refreshing on a hot day...

Tiger nuts

We ended our day in the old town...wandering the streets around the huge fresh market.  There were live street performers, and plenty of street vendors with huge pans of paella serving folks sitting at street side counters with cold draft beers and fresh olives.  We peaked inside the fresh market, then settled into a outdoor table to enjoy some paella for lunch and take in as much as we could before heading out. 
An electric guitarists came by, playing some Hendrix, and wooing our kids out of their seats and onto the street for some dancing. 
Sadly, my picture taking had slowed at this point, as I was more concerned with my fork getting to my mouth, then capturing everything on film (something I need to work on), but here are a few from our afternoon stroll in old town.

All in all, a great visit -- a place we'd love to come again.  Spain itself has so much to offer, so it felt good to "keep it local" for this one, and have a little family adventure close to home yet a world away from the everyday.

Lessons Learned

Prior to our arrival in Barcelona, I had heard from many folks who had either traveled, or lived, abroad that I will find Spain to be a relaxed, slower way of life. They sit down to drink their coffee, they take a long 1-2 hour lunch complete with three courses and cocktails, and, most importantly, they work to live, not the other way around. Who wouldn't want this? Sign me up! I had assumed when I arrived here in Spain, that mindset would wash over me, instantly creating an easy-going more relaxed version of myself.

This did not happen.

I think it was that expectation -- that I would seamlessly slide into a completely new persona-- that made my transition as difficult as it was. Because it was difficult. The first two months here were really more about survival than anything else, as evidenced by my extremely sparse blog entries :) I am happy to say that as of the last two weeks, I have eased into a happier, more settled lifestyle and mindset. My chest no longer aches when I think about our old house and town (well, maybe it still does a little), I no longer wonder what we were thinking coming here, or feel like everyone here is silently judging me for being an American in Barcelona. The folks in my neighborhood seem to now realize we are here to stay...the ones I pass on a daily basis who smile warmly and greet us with a wave. I have the confidence to find what I need, ask for what I want, and attempt this all in Spanish. I have a network of wonderful new friends who offer comic relief, tips, and insight into this experience. All of this has allowed me to look back on what was a rather difficult first 2.5 months here in Barcelona. Yes, we were also all ridiculously sick this whole time, and yes, moving anywhere comes with its own truckload of stress, but ultimately I think it was the pressure I put on myself to assimilate that caused a lot of my unrest.

I've heard it before -- you can't run away from your problems. This is not to say I have problems to run away from, but rather it was coming to terms with the fact that a person does not change simply because their environment does. I was a multitasking mother of two very young children coming from the suburbs of Boston. My day was about efficiency. Coming here was like shoving a square peg into a round hole. Yes, Barcelona is an incredible city that I wish everyone has the chance to see and experience, but that doesn't make it any less difficult to realize that you need to completely change your approach to life if you want to a.) enjoy this experience, and b.) grow as a person.

You have to change. You have to slow down. You have to embrace this new lifestyle, and stop trying to live your old one. This is not vacation, this is us, here for two years, trying to raise a family in a completely unfamiliar environment. If I was going to survive, I had to stop the endless mind spinning -- the "shoulding" myself to death. I needed to let go of the expectations, open my eyes, and see what was in front of me. Because I was missing it. And I don't want to miss another second.

I think one of the big turning points for me was talking to an old friend on Skype one day -- one who is facing her own challenges in life -- who told me "when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at will change".

And so that's what I did. I think it's a realization every person must come to at one point or another in their lives.

How did I do this? I came to some logical conclusions pertaining to our daily life here. Granted, it took me about 3 or 4 times running into a brick wall before I finally stopped what I was doing, but once I did, life became a whole lot easier.

#1 -- KEEP IT SIMPLE. Eat local, fresh food. Better yet, get what is in season. Fresh fruit, bread, veggies, olives, cheese, wine, and, of course, ham are amazingly fresh and cheap. If you can stick to these most days, you will save a lot of hassle (and money). If it is something that exists outside of Poblenou, ask myself "Do I really need this?". Yes, it is important to leave my part of the city for entertainment and exploration purposes, but it was the trips across the city for things like maple syrup and sound machines that were causing more stress than it was worth. These excursions were never enjoyable and were often met with more frustration than anything else. If it is hard to get here, you probably don't need it.

#2 -- SLOW DOWN. OK, the stores here open at 10am, close around 2pm, and don't open back up until 5pm (most days more like 5:30, or whenever folks feel like moseying back to work). Everything closes early on Saturday (usually around 3pm) and nothing is open on Sunday or the 100+ holidays here in Spain. Basically, whenever you need a store to be open, it's not. The was frustrating at first, but it really helps you shift your focus -- errands are always secondary here. If you can do it, great, if not, go back to your life which doesn't involve running to and from stores. I've learned not to get coffee to go, you won't enjoy it, and it will probably end up spilling down the length of the mall (see previous blog entry). I sit down outside, in the sun, with my baby girl and enjoy a cafe con leche. Look around. Listen and see the amazing things around me. The ten minutes I would save balancing that coffee in the crook of my arm isn't worth it. On the same note, if all I end up doing during the day is getting milk and bread at the store, I'm not going to sweat it. My happiness isn't worth a night of self loathing because I didn't cross everything off my to-do list.

#3 -- LIFE IS NO LONGER DEFINED BY MY CAREER. This one is hard. I grew up in a generation of folks that was extremely competitive and career focused.  I spent a lot of time and money in order to realize my dream career.  It was, and is, the perfect job for me, and I felt lucky every day when I went to work -- no joke, EVERY DAY at work I sat down at my desk and smiled, still amazed that I was finally doing what I had dreamed of doing. Now, I very willingly came to Spain, knowing full well that I could not work as a nurse practitioner here, but never anticipated the shift I needed to make in my own mind in order to be OK with that. And even though it's not like I'm sitting around drinking wine with my feet up all day -- two children are plenty of work (often TOO much work), but you still have to come to terms with the feelings of inadequacy that creep in when you leave your career behind. I can no longer define myself in terms of achievements. My sense of purpose, and feeling of accomplishment, needs to come from within now. My experiences will define my day. That's not an easy shift to make. I have found some freelance medical writing work to keep me involved in the field and provide a thoughtful outlet to my week, and do have some plans in the works for some other women's health related work here in Barcelona, but it is no longer who I am. I'm on a new path now, and I need to trust that it is where I need to be.

# 4 -- IF YOU START TO FEEL DEPRESSED YOU AREN'T DRINKING ENOUGH. An important point made by my new ex-pat friends, and I think speaks for itself. Let's not jump to any worried assumptions that we are turning into drunk, belligerent parents...Just simply embracing the European attitude on drinking which basically incorporates a drink into anytime of day. Beer for breakfast? Why not. (This one I have not yet attempted) Beer at the zoo? Of course. Wine with lunch? A given. Why have a glass of sangria when you can get a pitcher? Which also leads me to the next lesson learned...

#5 -- IF YOU MUST GO TO IKEA IN SPAIN BE SURE START THE TRIP AT THE CAFETERIA WITH A BEER. Again, a vital suggestion made by an ex-patter which has made all the difference. Chris and I had to bring both children to IKEA this past weekend...which is a blog entry in itself. Moral of the story, we kicked the trip off with two soft serve ice-cream cones for the kids, and one beer a piece for us, and the trip was exponentially more enjoyable for all. Well, the kids enjoyment ended when the cone was finished, but we had successfully numbed the pain for the rest of the 2 hour walk through. We smiled through two screaming fits, laughed at a complete soak through pee-in-pants session, and shrugged off dealing with sketch ball delivery men. Highly, HIGHLY recommend this tip.

So there you have it...my lessons learned. Now, with all the deeps stuff behind us, it's time to start livin' it up!

Easter in Carcassonne

Has it really been almost a month since my last post?!  I've been waiting for a free moment to write a thoughtful and descriptive post about Sunday afternoons strolling la rambla while eating marinated olives soaking in the sun...however, the moment has not presented itself for quite some time.  Part of this has to do with the fact that for the past three weeks someone in this house has been violently ill requiring constant attention and care...one of those weeks, it was me, but sadly the role of "patient" does not exist well with the role of "mother", so recovery for all has been slow going and life has been more about survival than anything else.  Now, it is not my intention to spend the entire blog venting my frustrations, talking about how hard it is to live here, or how crazy my kids are driving me, but sadly I think that is all part of the "initiation" here.

Some Williams family numbers from the last three weeks:

Business trips for Chris: 2
Days I've been alone with sick kids: 6
Doctors visited: 3
Doctors who have spoken English: 2
X-rays received: 2
Antibiotic prescriptions filled: 6
Number of bottles of medication on our counter: 11
Eyes that were affected by conjunctivitis: 6
Days Evan has been in school: 30
Days Evan actually was healthy and went to school: 12
Days school was cancelled for strike: 1

Ok, with that said, let's move right along to happier times...CARCASSONNE, FRANCE!!!

Now, part of the beauty of living in Barcelona is living about a two hour drive from the south of France.  Yes, I know I'm in Spain, and yes, I know there are endless sights to see and things to enjoy in this beautiful country where I live, but I have the softest of soft spots for France.  Most know that I was lucky enough to spend a semester abroad in Paris during my junior year of college, and did quite a bit of traveling around France with my program.  I LOVED it.  The food, the countryside, the history, the wine, the cheese, oh man, there is nothing like France.  Traveling back there this weekend was almost like going home for the weekend.  I got to eat all my favorite foods, I could speak the language, and it felt incredible to be out of a city for a little while and back in the country where life is slower, calmer, and a little more familiar.  It seemed a bit soon to be traveling, especially with all of us just getting over being sick and getting life settled here, but Chris insisted that we take advantage of this opportunity to get out of the city for a couple days, and I'm so glad he did because it was exactly what we all needed. 

So: Carcassonne.  A city founded in the 5th century, most notable for a larger than life fortress, fully restored in the 1800's and one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites.  Now, I'm not even close to a history buff...to an embarrassing degree.  So I'm not going to pretend I know a ton about what went on within these castle walls, all I know is that it is an awe inspiring sight to see and even cooler that an entire CITY is located inside the castle.  Chris's co-worker and his fiancee were headed up there with some of his family for the weekend, and had kindly extended the offer for us to join them.  This was perfect because, although it proved to be very easy, renting a car and securing a foreign hotel was a little bit daunting at first, so it was great to have someone kind of take the reins for us and show us the way.  By Friday afternoon, the dog was on her way up to her mountain retreat (no joke, she may have had an even better weekend than we, she was boarded at perhaps the nicest dog "hotel" we've ever seen, located an hour north in the mountains and pristine, cared for by a British guy who runs the place...and they pick up and drop off right at your house!) and we were loaded into our Peugeot crossover headed north out of Barcelona.  We did not spring the extra 30 euro for the GPS system, so we were left with an old school map and some cached ipad directions to lead us out of the city, which was surprisingly adequate.  We are located in Poblenou, which is essentially north of the main part of Barcelona city and on the coast--right on our way to France.  Easy on, easy off, perfect.  It was pretty exciting to be back in a car again, after almost two months of not driving, it felt very freeing...only thing I missed was having my obligatory jumbo iced coffee in the cup holder. 

The kids seemed to enjoy the drive too.  Once their most hated enemy, the car seats have become somewhat of a novelty to them.  For the first hour they sat nicely, sensing the excitement of the trip and looking out the window as the scenery changed from city...to coast...to highway...to country.  However, the serene road trippin' vibe screeched to an abrupt halt when Mia suddenly decided she wanted her binkie...

Quick back story on the binkie:  For those who don't know, Mia was a colicky, sad little newborn.  Neither she, nor I, slept more than two hours at a time during the first seven months of her life, and there was very little aside from me that brought her comfort...until the Wubbanub.  A Nobel prize worthy contraption, the Wubbanub is a green soothie pacifier attached to a little stuffed animal.  They are magical little pacifiers that stay put in a newborn mouth, are easy to find for older babies in their cribs, and are machine washable.  Most importantly, they helped Mia sleep.  They brought her comfort, and gave me a break from the near constant nursing, rocking, and singing that was involved in her first year of life.  In the Wubbanub hay day, we had about 6 of them.  We could just add more into the mix when she was smaller and she would happy plug any of them in, and pass out.  However, typical Mia, once she hit around 13-14 months, she stopped accepting new members.  If we lost one, and tried to replace it--even with an identical match--she knew it was a replacement and rejected it.  It was pretty amazing to watch.  We would casually hand her the new one hoping she wouldn't notice and just use it, but sure enough she would immediately hold it at arms length, inspecting it with a furrowed brow, look into the stuffed animal's eyes, then throw it out of her crib with a vengeance.  Slowly, slowly, the binkie population has been dwindling.  Little kitty was lost on a trip to the wading pool in Topsfield during the summer...Blue pony made his exit during a trip to Whole Foods during the fall.  So on and so forth.  And unfortunately, as the population dwindles, she seems to be becoming more and more attached to them.  It used to be a "sleep only" kind of thing, and now she is wandering around with the thing hanging from her mouth night and day.  Some may argue: "Just take them away!  She is 18 months, and too old for a pacifier anyway".  True enough, except I'm sad to admit I'm afraid of what life would be like without them at this point.  I'm still somewhat scarred from the sleepless year of 2011 and I'm not sure I'm ready for an epic battle to the end (which is what it would be) especially with all of this change going on.  So, as we took off for Barcelona, we had just two left.  The dog, the original who started it all and her very favorite, and the giraffe.  As soon as we got here, I had a bad feeling the binkie days were limited.  I mean, we spend the majority of the day traveling around via stroller all over the city, and Mia has a bad habit of tossing them out randomly when she gets excited or angry.  There have been many days of back tracking during a walk, or having store owners chasing after us to give us the binkie they found inside the store.  However, we managed to hang on to both of them since we've been in Barcelona.  Until last week. 

The kids and I were out for an early morning walk last Wednesday with the dog while Chris was away in Amsterdam for business.  Chris had just called, so I was trying to talk on the cell phone while simultaneously pushing the double stroller, and holding onto the dog leash.  Usually I'm pretty good about keeping watch for any binkie tossing, but I was distracted and by the time I hung up, I realized that Mia was now holding her slipper, and not her binkie.  Shit.  I was almost home, tired, and knew that if I turned around, the kids would start getting cranky and antsy to get out.  However, ever a slave to the almighty binkie, I turned us right around and backtracked our entire 30 minute walk to see if I could find it.  Twice.  Nothing.  There are tons of sanitation workers constantly cleaning the park, which is of course a good thing, except when you lose something.  I had a feeling one worker in particular might have picked it up, so I walked back to where I thought it might be been lost, and saw the sanitation worker with a big bucket he was putting all the trash inside.  Ew.  I had to stop myself and think rationally--even if he had picked it up, could I even wash it enough to ever think about giving that to my child to SUCK ON?!  Probably not, but I was not thinking rationally, I was just panicked that I had lost THE binkie and I would go back to never sleeping again.  So I walked up to the man, and ridiculously said, "Tiene usted"  **insert motion of me putting something in my mouth** "para los ninos?"  The man looked angry, and shook his head.  I think he may have thought I was asking for a cigarette for my children, but who knows.  So we headed home, one binkie down, one to go.

One of the last pictures taken of doggie dinkie

The days followed, and there were moments when Mia would specifically ask for the late dog binkie, pitch a fit, and swat away the giraffe when I offered him as consolation.  I had hoped that after a few days, she would accept that doggie "dinkie" (as Mia calls them) was gone, and it was giraffe or nothing from this point forward.  The plan was to just leave it in her crib for sleep, and stop taking them out of the house, even if she missed them, it was time to start limiting them, and now was the time since there was only one left.

SO, back to the car ride.  After about an hour into the trip, we hear the little voice from the back...."oggie dinkie".  Mia is looking at me expectantly, waiting for me to hand the beloved creature over.  I hand her giraffe, and turn back to the front, only to see the giraffe hit the windshield 2 seconds later, followed by a whine and  "OGGIE DINKIE".  Again, I hand her the giraffe, and again it nearly pelts me in the head, only this time she is no longer whining, she is full on screaming like I didn't know kids could scream.  Evan did not even come close to preparing me for what a toddler is capable of.  Now, I'm not saying Evan is perfect, but he is pretty darn easy.  He always slept like a champ, rarely, if ever, has thrown a temper tantrum, and just generally goes with the flow.  I took away his binkie at 5 months, I don't think he even noticed.  I took away the bottle around a year, he didn't even bat an eye.  I had no idea that an 18th month old child is capable of asserting themselves the way Mia can.  It is actually pretty amazing sometimes, you can never put anything over on her, she is just so darn astute, and BOY is she strong willed.  And loud.  Girls have an extra vocal cord I think.  The next hour or so was less than pleasant, as Mia made it quite known she had not yet fully mourned the loss of doggie dinkie and there wasn't a cracker, drink, book, toy, doll, or song that would take its place.  Yes, the loss of doggie dinkie was bad timing, right before a fun trip, but eh, it happens.  I wasn't going to let a screaming child ruin the fact that we were in France, and I knew someday, we would look back on the miserable hour in the car and laugh...that day has not come yet, but I know it will.

I digress.  This is sad, here I am trying to describe a road trip to a medieval castle in France, and I'm rambling on about pacifiers and temper tantrums.  This is my life.

ANYWAY, as soon as we crossed the boarder into France (which is pretty much the same as crossing over from Massachusetts into Rhode Island--there is no "check point", just a sign welcoming us to France) it just looked different.  Even Chris, the biggest critic when it comes to France, said the landscape almost immediately changes to the most beautiful rolling country side you've ever seen.  We drive right by the Pyrenees--expansive and snow capped--and see pristine farms framed by windmills. 


Snow capped Pyrenees

The trees are shorter, and the landscape is soft, gentle and inviting.  We arrived at our destination, Carcassonne, around 5:30pm, and checked into our adorable little hotel.  The room itself was TEENY TINY, room enough for just a full sized bed, with a little twin bunk over head, and a bathroom that has a toilet essentially inside a "shower" that is really just a spout coming out from the wall and a curtain around the corner--it made Grandad's boat head look like a 3 bedroom apartment.

But we loved it...it appeared to be family owned, and the folks were very friendly and could put on a killer breakfast in the AM, complete with real French croissant and coffee strong enough to put hair on your chest.  We got settled into the place, then immediately headed out to the actual castle city, so we could walk around and meet up with the rest of our friends for dinner.  The city of Carcassonne actually has two parts--the downtown city area, which is actually pretty quiet and sleepy as far as cities go, and then once you pass through the down town area, you are smacked in the face with the sight of the giant castle, which encases a "medieval city".

Chris and Evan at the castle entrance

Inside the castle is now mostly just a tourist attraction, but beautifully kept and full of very quaint shops, restaurants, cafes, hotels, and plenty of nooks to find and explore.  This weekend there was a festival going on, so there were several free performances, tented expos, shows, street performers, and folks in medieval garb. 

The first night we wandered around the medieval city and I pretty much just sported a perma-grin.  All of us met for dinner at a fabulous restaurant, and I remembered how much I love French food...the best part is that most places have a fixed menu that offers three or four courses with a couple different options to choose from within each course, which is the best way to sample all the great local cuisine.  The salads are always incredible (something I've been missing in Barcelona, not a lot of salads or veggies unless you buy and prepare it at home) and you can have CHEESE for dessert.  This evening, I dined on amazing French bread, goat cheese salad, cod with a cream sauce and a side of mushroom/grains kind of thing, and creme brulee for dessert...heaven.  The kids even stayed awake and happy until 11 PM at dinner (and for anyone who really knows me and my children, this UNHEARD of), and seemed to enjoy their first taste of real French french fries :)  Our dinner table represented three different countries, and four different languages were spoken at one point or another.  It was a long, fun dinner full of wine and excited energy.

First French baguette

After dinner, we walked over to a huge courtyard inside the castle, where they were showing a projection animation depicting the Catholic crusades against the Cathars which took place at the castle in the 13th century...somewhat hard to follow in French, but a beautiful show, captivating even Mia and Evan. 

Not a great picture, but you get the idea

We headed back to our hotel late Friday night, put the sleeping kiddos in their beds, and tried to rest up for what would be a long day of sightseeing the next day.  Thankfully, we remembered our good camera on this trip,  so we made sure to remember it on Saturday and put Chris was in charge of documenting the day on film...we started the day early, of course, around 7am the kiddos were up and ready to go, so we got ourselves up and out, had a great breakfast at the hotel, and headed back over to the castle.  This time, we parked just outside downtown, so we could walk around the downtown city area, and then walk up the hill to the castle.  We found a beautiful park with some green spaces, and let the kids run around before heading up to the castle again. 

It was a short walk up the hill to the castle, here you can see it above the roof tops...

Chris powering the double stroller up the hill..Evan is on foot, and was in total awe of the place

Inside the castle

Mia enjoying my favorite French street food - ham and cheese crepes

Kids were getting a little cranky so Chris and I decided it was time for  a beer...

"Kids?!  I can't hear any kids."

On a mission...with a binkie.

We headed back to the hotel around 2pm so the kids could take a nap, and I did some exploring around the hotel area...there was a little shopping mall so I popped in to get some everyday stuff we needed, fully taking advantage of the fact that I can talk and find what I need!!!

Saturday was capped off with another late dinner, this time outside the castle in a wonderful restaurant downtown.  Sadly, we seemed to have pushed too far expecting the kids to stay awake until midnight TWO nights in a row, because about halfway through our fantastic dinner (mind you, it was now 10:30 at night, and 2 hours into the dinner), they started to meltdown and we had to bow out early...no worries, I got my stinky cheese to go, and enjoyed it with a nice bottle of French wine and a brick of chocolate back home in Barcelona for Easter Sunday lunch :)  All in all, I'd say it was a successful trip.  It gave Chris and I the confidence we needed to know we CAN in fact travel around Europe with two small children, even better that it can be done so cheaply...the car was only 60 euros for the weekend, and the hotel was also super cheap.  It was such a confidence booster for me to be back in France and remember that I also felt out of place and scared when I first arrived there as a college student, and eventually it felt comfortable to me and I grew to love the differences from the US.  This will happen here in Spain too.  Even now, crossing back over the Spanish border on Sunday afternoon, Chris and I both agreed it felt good to be "home".