"Vacation Re-Wind" - Evening 5

Young French WineA vineyard we drove by with perfect grapes.
The French Beach

Look at this manicured beach....

Most of you know I don't really like the beach, and I'm afraid of water, however I had to get my feet into the beach before we left France. (I have to touch everything) I got a little more wet than I intended, but managed to keep from falling in.

"Vacation Re-Wind" - Day 5

Fort de Salses, France

Built at the end of the 14th Century. See a few more pictures from the post below.

This picture is strictly for scale. This is the largest moat that we saw on our Castle tour. Look at how small I look standing on the edge. It must be 30 foot high, and 50 feet wide.

Notice the sign (warning you about falling over), and my husband standing on the edge! It's impossible to get this whole castle in a photo. Google Earth has a great shot from the air.

This castle takes up 2 acres, and is mostly complete. All the walls/moats are intact.
"Its layout and architecture, innovative for the time, present a rare example of the transition between medieval castle and the fortresses of the modern period."

The Courtyard

Here are two video clips. One is on the outside, the other in the courtyard. Yes - I realize I'm not a great filmer.

Roger how big would you guess this Moat?

A Battle Ground State

I've never voted in an election where my vote mattered.

I have only voted in the state of Washington. I've only lived in the Northern Seattle area, and it's obviously VERY BLUE.

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Washington State is always blue, so my vote hasn't really mattered, except maybe for the most recent Gregoire/Rossie election. Don't get me wrong, after the events in Florida a few years back, I hope for blow-outs - for all Americans.

I'd also like to point out that I have not always voted blue. My very first presidential election was not a blue vote.

I live 8 miles from West Virginia, and 15 miles from Maryland, but I do in fact live in Northern VA. Virginia has voted red since 1964, but this year - its very purple.

Rumor has it that Virginia's 13 electoral votes could go blue.

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So - how are things different in a swing state?

First off, it's all over the place - I'm so sick of it. Do I really care what people in a bar think?

I can assume that Virginia is being bombarded with more (and different commercials) - but there is a different atmosphere here. Northern VA is purple, but southern VA is red. We were in Southern VA at the amusement park this weekend, and I was too afraid to even carry a blue 7-11 voter cup.

"Vacation Re-Wind" - Day 4

THE Carcassonne Castle, France

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The city inside the two walls.The largest fortified town in Europe today, dating back to the early 13th century. Carcassonne's double walls are more than 2 miles long with 52 towers. Walt Disney visited with his family in 1957, and built his theme park castle after this one. Parts of Robin Hood (1991) with Kevin Costner were filmed here.

A day at the park.

Its toward the end of amusement park season here. It was about 1/2 off, so we decided it was time to start checking them off!

This is "Kings Dominion"

http://www.kingsdominion.com/attractions/index.cfm

Spenser and I needed some quality coaster time together.

We rode wood ones, upside down ones, standing ones, feet dangling ones, one that go under water, one that shoots you from darkness out a volcano, and one that drops you 272 feet at 70mph! Wood ones, old steel ones, and a nice smooth new steel one.

Behind us is my friend Jen, and her friend Marshall.

Look at my hair!!

"Vacation Re-Wind" - Day 3

The Puivert Castle, Southern France

This castle was built in the 13th century, and has a long history of battles. I think it's too far out of the way for most tourists - so we had it mostly to ourselves. There will be pictures of the inside posted on ofoto.com, as well as down a few posts.

It was a VERY hot day, while we cooked on the outside, much of the main part of the castle is still intact, and we were able to go inside all 3 floors. It was amazingly cool on the inside. If we built our houses like these castles - we would not need A/C.

We did alot of stairs this day. As you can imagine all castles are built on the top of a hill - and each floor had flights of stairs. You take a sprial stair case to get the top ... I had to stop along the way cause I was getting dizzy.

A well preserved Castle/Fort, well worth the visit.

"Vacation Re-Wind" - Days 1 and 2

Andorra and the Pyrenees Mountains

Andorra is a small country between France and Spain in the Pyrenees Mountains.

It's 181 sq miles, with about 171,000 people. Tourism accounts for about 80% of their economy - more than 9 million people visit every year. It's a tax haven for banks, and duty free for visitors.

We met on Sept 1st in Barcelona. We found each other, found our rental car and headed north. We made it to Andorra -and then spent day 2 at this small ski resort country/town.
We rode the lift up to the top, and here was the line for the lift. I can only imagine what it looks like during ski season. When it's 85 degrees - not one person in line.
We saw these HUGE horses along side the road - I had to see them! They were quite different than the horses you see in the US. He is standing in a ditch, as he was much bigger than I when he came up next to me.

In Italian - Zucca means Pumpkin

Ask me how I know this?

We asked our B&B owner in Venice to recommend a restaurant for us. He gave us a great "fish" place, and when we explained we'd prefer meat - he was excited to tell us how to get to LaZucca's. He even made reservations for us, so we would be able to "get in".

We mazed our way through Venice to a small local restaurant. We were surprised that Zucca means pumpkin and most the dishes were made with this ingredient.

It wasn't all bad, and we did get the what we asked for.

Something authentic.

Now we all know what Zucca means.

Homeword Bound

It's 10pm in Venice, and our private water taxi is due at 4am.

We will say Goodbye tomorrow morning for another few months.

The Grand Canal in Venice

We've made it to Venice.
While it was challenging to get through the water bus, and up the bridges with our lugguage - we've made it to center of town. The busiest part of the city...
Its hard to imagine a life like this - but we are off to spend some time and money.

More later.

Party in the Riveria

Another Castle in Spain, and now we are in Monte Carlo, Monoco. We gambled at the Grand Casino (and lost), and got a look at how the "beautiful people" live.

No pictures as the internet is slow... I guess the super rich don't care about high speed.

Andorra

Okay, How many of you knew there was a country hidden in the Pyrenees mountains between Spain and France?
Okay -- well I didn't! Reminded me of Whistler/Blackcomb. It's a sky resort that is empty in the summer.
Many more great pictures as we rode the lift to the top - but Internet limited.

It's back to Barcelona, and off on a cruise tomorrow.

Forteresse De Salses

Castle/Fortress of Salses

Puivert Castle

A much lesser known Castle in Southern France.

"The" Castle at Carcacassonne

This is the Famous Castle in France.
Built 1260, 52 towers, 2 rings of walls at almost 2 miles.

The trip...

5 days in the South of France

12 day Mediterranean Cruise

4 days in Venice

don't hate.

A moment of Zen

White's Ferry

We live in a part of VA that has no bridge across the Potomac River. You have to go 40 miles north, or 40 miles south to get into Maryland.

However - this is White's Ferry.

When I first heard of White's Ferry, I envisioned a 300 car Ferry and when I came around the bend and saw this... my response was something like.... Oh hell no, I'm not getting on that!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1738mXTOMok

It's the only Ferry left on the Potomac River, and the coast guard has tried to shut it down. It's basically a barge that they pull by cable across the water.

Oh yeah in that video it's summer and green, but look at it in the winter, and since the water is higher it takes longer in the winter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p67fW7dIsMA

It's not so bad, and it is very pretty in the summer.

The mid 1800's

War Recruiting
Fire Fighting
Eating... lard

Harpers Ferry - with the Ingstads

Roger's family is in town, and yes again we went to Harpers Ferry.

Here are some different pictures from the town. You can find 3 other visits of Harpers Ferry in the blog list.