Bandits in Barcelona!

December 26th we headed off for a 3 day trip to Barcelona, Spain. We'd chosen this destination for a number of reasons: none of us had ever been there so we could discover it together, it was an opportunity to go to a different country and it was a mere 4 1/2 hour drive from Aix. We had a fairly uneventful trip; not much traffic on the roads, good weather, easy route to follow....that is until we arrived in Barcelona. We accidentally got off the auto route too soon and found ourselves lost on a major boulevard without a clue as to how to find our apartment! We stopped and asked a young couple who helped us as much as they could with the language barrier and we set off using their directions....it was here that we encountered the bandits!! I'll let Nick explain it to you:

"Here’s how they do it…as the unsuspecting tourist enters the city, a watcher points out the prey and two or three motorcyclists start to follow you into the center of the city. At a stop light, one of the cyclists will come along the passenger side and spear your tire. As you move with the flow of traffic, both your tire pressure is going down and your future blood flow is getting ready to go up! We went probably ten or more blocks when suddenly a motorcyclist came along side and started pointing at our back right tire. I pulled over on the one way street and both Nicholas and I got out to see what was going on. At that moment, Nicholas was looking at the tire and the other cyclist had now driven up onto the curb and was suggesting, I presume in Spanish, that we follow him to some Gas Station to have the tire repaired. At the same time a lady came out of nowhere and said “Watch out, they are trying to rob you!” She started to yell at the motorcyclists and before we knew it there was a crowd around the car and the cyclists zoomed off.
Thank goodness for Nicholas. He was somewhat like a waking bear! The more pissed off he became at how we might have been robbed, the more energy he put into the tire change. I think I even heard him speak some Spanish...
Anyway, some bystanders came over with advice on the easiest ways to get to our apartment and everything was uphill from there. Yet two days later it became necessary for the spare tire to be replaced and a new tire obtained. Sounds simple but no easy feat. First I had to locate a Peugeot dealership from the Spanish white pages, take our car out of the parking garage and try to figure out where the dealership was in relation to where I was parked. needless to say, I got lost a few times, finally paid a non-English speaking cabbie 10 Euro to have me follow him to the Peugeot address. He didn’t speak a word of English and gave me 5Euro back when we arrived at the dealership! Once there, we had to contact Peugeot in Paris to obtain clearance to have the tire either replaced or repaired. An hour later, I was back in the car, at rush-hour, getting dark, trying to navigate my way back to the Gothic section of downtown Barcelona where we were staying. Well as you might surmise, I made it.
The lesson learned is in Europe motorcycles are prevalent and have easy access to get through traffic. When we departed Barcelona my rear view mirrors were focused on the sides of the car and the gap between cars. When we came to stop lights we really watched the cyclists next to the car…Nicholas had the proverbial “hand grenade” ready to do some damage if push came to shove!"
NLB

So, there you have it...for life after the bandits...read on....

Orange

About an hour and a half's drive north west of Aix is the town of Orange(pop. 30,000). Until recently, we'd NEVER heard of it and maybe neither have you but read on, this place is interesting....
Nick and I have been interested in Orange as we have been reading about it in a fascinating book "The Road from the Past" by Ina Caro. In this travel/history book, Caro takes you on a driving tour of France northward from Provence. Caro "demonstrates that the best way to encounter a country is to examine its landscapes, architecture and history in chronological order..". Reading this book, it's easy to see her point and if we had the chance, we'd love to do the entire route she travels though out France using this book and following her trail. I think we'd need a few more years here however!
Orange is practically at the beginning of her book and her fascination with it was contagious and we were eager to see it for ourselves. Although sunny, the temperature Friday was barely above freezing. Not the best conditions for sightseeing but we bundled up and the five of us set out on our journey.
Established in 35BC as a Roman colony, Orange was built for the veterans of Caesar's Second Legion as a reward for their service in the Gallic wars. With a circus, theatre, baths and temple, the town possessed everything a retired Roman soldier could wish for- it was a miniature Rome! Today, over 2000 years later, Orange is well known for having some of the best surviving ancient Roman structures. Specifically the Theatre Antique and Triumphal Arch. We chose to begin our visit at the Theatre Antique built between 27BC-AD14. When you enter the theatre, you are almost standing in the large pit at the foot of the stage. You are beneath the massive stage wall-described by Louis XIV as the finest wall in his kingdom.

It is richly decorated with columns, ledges and niches. At one time there were different levels and platforms for the productions. Looking up you see a massive, white marble, statue of Augustus. He stands at over 11 ft tall, twice the size of any normal man. clearly he thought of himself worthy of the stature and position of the gods.

The theatre seats over 10,000 and has been being used for elaborate performances for over 100 years. We watched a small group of technicians setting up for some kind of Christmas performance and could only imagine what a big full on opera would be like here.

We watched a film about the theatre's colorful past. It was used a different times over the past 2000 years as theatre, prison, military outpost and at one time they even built dwellings inside of it!! Wow, if walls could talk!

By this time we had frozen fingers, toes and possibly other body parts as well....and we were hungry so we set off to find a warm spot for lunch. We were thrilled to find Restaurant Le Bec Fin(rue Second Weber, 04 90 34 05 10) not too far from the Theatre. Not only did the menu look delicious and well priced, but there was a fireplace with an open table for 5 right in front of it as well!! Heaven!

We ordered several kinds of pizzas, salad verte, pichet of rose, a few Cokes and, naturally, Nick's spaghetti bolognese. The paper thin pizzas were some of the best any of us have ever eaten! Nicholas' was our favorite with onion confit, cheese, tomato sauce and ham. Lindsey, Sarah and I had one with tomato, cheese, mushrooms and black olives. We had a long leisurely lunch with many laughs and took turns standing by the fireplace to warm up!

After lunch, we felt warm enough to spend some time strolling around the town. We window shopped and admired how the town was decorated for Christmas.

We ended up in a shoe store where Lindsey "Imelda" Bates found a darling pair of leopard ballet flats...the rest of us are holding out for leather goods in Spain next week.

Back in the car, we drove to the other side of town to see the Triumphal Arch which stands on a grassy roundabout("rond pont" en francais). With three archways, reliefs and fine coffered vaulting this 72ft high monument ranks as one of the grandest and best-preserved Roman arches in all France. Built in 20BC, all four sides are decorated with ornate coverings such as battlefield drama, naval accessories, roman armour, trophies and banners. As you can see in these photos, it is impressive.

Even though it was way above our heads, we could still see much of the detail of the carved scenes.

As the shadows lengthened,the air got even chillier and we all agreed it was time to head for the warmth of home!

Second Christmas Package

The second of our special Christmas packages arrived Sunday...this time it was Nicholas!!! He had multiple delays getting to Marseille from Boston...we waited and waited for hours and hours with great anticipation ....

and he finally arrived!!

Now, we are a family of five again for the first time since August!! What a blessing!!

Joyeux Noel!!!!

Cassis I

Note: This trip to Cassis was on September 13, 2006. I'm finally publishing some of my earlier drafts now that I can upload the photos properly.

This morning, after we dropped Sarah off at school at 8:30 am, Mom, Dave, Nick and I set off to visit Cassis. We'd been told it was about a 45 minute drive south on the coast-perfect distance to go while Sarah had her morning half day at school. The route to take was the A51 to Marseille which we did but the turn off for the tunnel, which takes you under the city itself, alluded us and we ended up in downtown Marseille at morning rush hour! To make matters worse for we 4 New Englanders, it resembled the Big Dig in Boston! What a nightmare!

Fortunately, we had an uneventful, pretty drive the rest of the way. Quite windy going over the mountains down to the sea however. We were rewarded with a great visit to this lovely, seaside village. Our first stop was a small beach just to the south of the harbor. This beach was covered with nothing but smooth limestone pebbles of all different sizes; they really felt good in our hands. There was literally no sand whatsoever. We all wished we'd brought our bathing suits-the water was invitingly warm. To the right side of the beach, up on a cliff, was this lovely, big, old hotel. We walked on the beach a short ways to our left and followed some steps up to a large landing.


From here we had a spectacular view of the harbor around the corner and the coastline to the east. There was a sweet lighthouse which Dad would have enjoyed immensely .



Mom, Dave and I enjoyed the view...

A mother/daughter shot...

The view looking back at the limestone beach...

and the waves were crashing on the rocks below....

We left the beach and drove around to the little harbor of Cassis. What a quaint little village! We poked around in some of the shops, looked at the boats...

and then settled into a harbor side cafe for a cafe creme and pain grille-that's sort of our equivalent of a cappuccino and toasted baguette with butter and jam.

We really couldn't think of a better spot to spend this beautiful, sunny morning!!

Lindsey's Arrival

The first of our Christmas 'packages' arrived yesterday....Lindsey!!
Her flight arrived in Marseille at 12 noon, right on time. She was a great sport and allowed us to wisk her straight from the airport into 'downtown' Aix. We dropped Sarah at her weekly youth group and Nick, Lindsey and I took a stroll along the Cours Mirabeau and stopped at one of our favorite little lunch spots for a little bit ot eat. After we picked up Sarah, it was home to our house where Lindsey got a chance to settle in and take a well deserved nap.


We had special plans for the evening, as it just happened that friends from church were going to sing Christmas songs at our favorite restaurant, Pasta Cosy!! What a way to welcome Lindsey. Our friend, Didier, came up from Marseille and his daughter, Alicia, who goes to university here in Aix, joined us as well. Here we all are enjoying the music and each other!




Here's a French version of Peter Paul and Mary.... Dominique(head of music worship team), Darrin(our pastor) and Hilary(our choir director). They sang many wonderful christmas songs while we enjoyed a yummy dinner!

During their second set, our friend, Fabian, the owner of Pasta Cosy, joined in and they really had fun!!

Marseille

We enjoyed a great and beautiful day yesterday in Marseille. If you can believe it, this was our FIRST visit to this city of over 1 million people just 30km down the road from Aix. We were invited to the home of our friends, Didier and Francoise, who are natives of Marseille. They were the perfect tour guides to show us around. From their home in the center of the city, we walked up to the famous and well known landmark, Notre-Dame de-la-Garde. Here we had the most amazing 360 degree view of all of the city and surrounding area. It was just breath-taking! It was a very windy day but those winds gave us the most crystal clear skies and endless visibility as well.



Looking to the south...

to the west, with Vieux Port just below the middle of the photo...

to the south east...

looking just below Notre Dame to Didier and Francoise's neighborhood....

outside the cathedral....trying to stay warm!

We went inside the church and to our surprise this statue greeted us! He is Saint Eugene de Mazenod-that is the name of our street and we have always wondered who he was!! Little did we know we would come 'face to face' with the man here in Marseille!


















The inside of the cathedral was lovely. they were doing a lot of refurbishing but this photos gives you a glimpse of the beauty. All the work is mosaic tile!!
After our walk, we walked a bit more and then drove to Didier's tennis club, William Tennis, for lunch. It is situated in a part of Marseille where there a many large, beautiful homes. Once private homes, they are now foreign embassies and consulates. After lunch, we drove to the east along Marseille's shore line toward the Calanques. Very lovely, but rugged!

On the drive back, we stopped to see this sweet little harbor and village....

Now that we've had an introduction, we'll be back Marseille!!

O' Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

In anticipation of Nicholas and Lindsey's arrival next week(hooray!!) we are trying to make this place a little festive. For starters, Nick, Sarah and I put up a little Christmas tree on sunday night. We are doing the minimalist thing this year; small tree, using a large clay pot as tree stand, single strand of white lights, star on top and best of all it's decorated with beautiful, foil wrapped chocolate ornaments! There are pine cones, bells, Santas, round balls and snowmen. They look wonderful now, will be delicious later and won't need to be packed up to bring home next year!

While we're on the subject of Christmas and trees etc, from what we've observed around here, there is definitely a pleasant lack of commercialism to Christmas. Don't get me wrong, the stores have decorations, the garden shops are FULL of every possible tree decoration it makes your head spin and their are lights decorating each town. Aix looks spectacular!! But, in general, there is just less of everything, in a tasteful way. The Cours Mirabeau is all lit up and there are little chalet like houses where the merchants sell their wares. You can buy all kinds of foods; cookies, sweets, chocolates, olive oils, jams and callisons(the almond candies this area is famous for) to name a few. There is jewelry, stuffed animals, crafts, soaps, lavender products, hats, scarves-you get the idea. Most of it is great stuff and then there are things you look at and wonder if they will sell even one item!

Lest you get hungry or thirsty while you stroll and shop, there are also vendors selling Vin Chaud, something like fried dough, roasted chestnuts, nutella crepes, cotton candy(and we thought that was an American thing) and more.

Christmas Carol Concert in Aix

This past Sunday, Sarah, Nick and I participated in a wonderful Christmas Carol Concert at the Cathedrale Sainte Sauveur in Aix. Sarah and I were in the choirs and Nick was an usher. This was a big thing for me as I'd quit singing in choirs when I didn't make the cut at tryouts in eighth grade ....fortunately, they are more forgiving in church choirs. Who knows, maybe voices improve with age and I just love to sing. At any rate, it was a fabulous experience. Our choir director, Hilary, is an energetic, young, endearing, Californian with a superb voice and spirit as well. Here she is reminding us to SMILE while we sing!


While the concert was held in the catholic cathedral, it was hosted by the protestant, English speaking church we attend, the International Christian Community of Provence. This is the biggest event of the year for this little church as nearly 1500 people attend the service. It was also a pretty big event for the Nick, Sarah and I as well!
St Sauveur is an interesting cathedral. The Michelin guide says "it is a curious building where all styles from the 5C to the17C may be seen side by side...the vast Gothic nave, Romanesque Provencal style doors, Gothic bell tower, 15C triptychs, Romanesque cloisters"...well, you get the point; it's VERY old, VERY big and lots of styles were used to build it over the years. It feels pretty awesome to be inside. Nick took this shot from the alter looking to the back of the cathedral.

We arrived about an hour before the service to help set up and go through a last bit of rehearsing. Hilary giving the kids some last minute instructions....

Helping two of my good friends with the decorations. (L) Julie Jones, our minister's wife, and (R)Christine Balandier, she also happens to be one of Sarah's teachers at IBS.

The afternoon concert began with singing by a gospel choir. Welcoming remarks were then given by our pastor, Darrin Jones, in English, followed by a French translation. Pere Gontier, the Father of the Cathedral also gave a blessing as well, only in French though. Then choir then processed from the back of the cathedral up to the alter singing "Joy to the World" and "Oh Come All Ye Faithful". It was an amazing sight and sound. Altogether, we sang about 10 songs, with the congregation encouraged to sing with us. (I'm over on the right.)



There were some scripture readings about the birth of Jesus, our pastor gave a short message and then there was a special presentation by the children's choir. They sounded wonderful singing "Little Drummer boy" and "Go Tell it On The Mountain".

Next, they asked each nationality to stand up when called...starting with the English, followed by the French and so on....Americans were about the 6th group asked to stand. It was interesting to see just how many nationalities were represented. They did a wonderful "Twelve Days of Christmas". This is evidently an annual tradition. We were instructed to sing the song but also to stand up when it came to whichever day in the song corresponded to the month you were born in...For instance, Sarah, being born in March, stood up when we sang "Three French Hens..." It was fun watching the congregation pop up and down for this!! The service ended with the singing of "Silent Night". While we sang the verses, all the lights in the cathedral were turned out and then one candle was lit at the front of the church by the Father, then he lit Darrin's candle and so on the light moved from the front to the back of the cathedral until the entire space was a glow with candle light. So incredible to see and experience! The final verses were sung a Capella....this was magical....the stuff of which goose bumps are made. Slowly the lights came back on and we extinguished the candles.... and the whole place was silent as people left the church....