Thursday, March 15, 2012

Tercer día

Ben and Jess are playing a card game, Melissa is working on Spanish phrases...and I'm looking at pictures!  I really do wish that I could put up ALL of the pictures that we've taken over the last few days, but that would come to... *goes to check* okay...only 995 pictures...that's not too many, is it?  Ben thinks that it is, so I will try hard to keep the amount of pictures that I post while we are away within his limits...  

We spent yesterday up at the Picos de Europa, also known as the Peaks of Europe!  It was INCREDIBLE!!!  After our beautiful drive over there, we took a walk around the park area to escape the scary French school children who were heading up the peaks.  Once we were sure that they were gone, we got our tickets and took a 800 meter tram ride up to Torre de Cerredo...which is 1,800 meters tall!  The view was breathtaking!  Jess kept saying that she felt like she was in The Lord of the Rings. *grin*  Melissa doesn't really like heights, so she offered to stay behind and babysit.  I could seriously go back again...  Okay, I won't bore you anymore with my stories...I'm sure you are here for the pictures...

 Ben's breakfast.  The rest of us had Cafe con Leche.

 The road we took to get to the Picos.  I think it was more impressive than Yosemite!  Ben says that is blasphemy.
  
The very old town of Potes...it's been around since the Romans...and it's sooooo obvious!  We LOVED this town.

"How much are those girlies in the window?"

 My doors.

Ben and Jess in front of another castle.  We love castles.

Sweet!

Ahhh...what a view!  Can you imagine living in this town?!?!

Family fotos (as they say over here).

YUM!!!!!!!!!!!  REAL Spanish Flan...sooooooo veeeeeeeeeeeeery gooooooood!

Yeah, cafe and vino are served at almost every meal.

Anybody know what these are for?

Our lunch place...lots of good food here!

Lilyana love the water.  They have HUGE water bottles here!

Hanging out in the sun.

Ben wants to live in the stone house out in that field.  I do too.

Ahhh!!!!  Spanish sheep!!!  They ignored us until we said "Hola!!!"

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!  Almost as cute as my baby....
Okay, not quite. :)

See that little house at the top....that is where we were headed.  But, as I said earlier in the post, we wandered around to avoid the scary French kids.

 You can do anything in a long dress.

Ben and Jess calmly freaking out before entering our tram.

Just before boarding...saying our last goodbyes to Mel and Lilyana.

Adios!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let the screams commence.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Yes, she is totally freaking out here.

More AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!  

 Mel and Lilyana are down there somewhere!

WE MADE IT!!!!!  What a view!

The crisp cool air and the scaaaaaaaary porch with the MESH GATE for a floor!  

 It's a long drop.

Cute, eh?

She's at the top of the world...

So relaxing...no really, once you got off of the tram it was actually quite comfortable up there.

The way we went...but if you ever go there, don't touch the "grass".  It isn't grass.

Ben is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out there.

Yup...a blonde moment.  The snow is deeper than it looks.

Love.

Jess and I laid down on the rocks while Ben went exploring.  We sat up when we heard him coming back and almost screamed when we looked down at our feet. 

What I saw when I looked over.

Going back down.  Actually, we almost missed the LAST tram ride back down!  

Hola!!!  

Lilyana was very happy to see us return.  

And Ben will be very happy to see me get off of his computer so that we can get to bed.  Early morning tomorrow and we missed our naps this afternoon...so I had better run.

Adios!

Tiffany for BLT and the Traveling Clan

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Día uno y dos días

After a looooooooooooong flight on two planes, we FINALLY arrived in Barcelona!  Yes, that's right...Barcelona, Spain!  Wow...it's gorgeous over here!  We are all considering staying here for the rest of our lives...oh, wait, I'm getting ahead of myself...

So, we flew into Barcelona, and the first thing we noticed after getting on the road was that the Spainards drive like maniacs!  Seriously!  However, they look down on the Italians and their driving "skills". *grin*  Ben was very amusing as he drove us to our little home on the coast.  We only had a paper map (of the WHOLE COUNTY!  WAY too big to get where you want to go....), so we hit the road, learned to read the signs as we went and had oodles of fun...until we started to fall asleep...  We were so very tired!  We made it "home" at 11:00 pm (yes, we took the scenic route...) and crashed into bed.  Lilyana has been an absolute angel!  Yes, she's had her small grumpy moments, but overall she has handled the trip, chaos, time change, etc...quite well.   We are having so much fun (which is why this post is late) and are so looking forward to what tomorrow will bring!  Enjoy these pictures from Día uno y dos días!  




 Waiting in the airport as Ben worked out the final details for our rental car.

 Lilyana was SOOOO happy to be off of the plane!  STRETCH time!

 Our Astra...I want to take it home!
 Reading a Spanish map...fun?

 Spain's version of California's Hwy 1.

 The beautiful church in the TINY town we stopped in.  We passed through so many tiny towns (they are all over Spain!  LOVE it!) and each one has a beautiful church!  Why don't we build like this anymore?

 In the little bakery that Melissa found by following a native.  Best. Bread. Ever.

 Melissa's doors.  We all found doors we want to take home.

 Homemade pastry with a chocolate hazelnut filling...YUM!

 A castle we saw in the distance.  We had to stop!  Took us a while to find it, but it was worth it!

 Beeeeautiful!

 The entrance to the church.

 We were soooo exhausted that day!  Ben was so sweet and treated us all to cafe con leche...
Best. Coffee. Ever.
We are so getting spoiled over here!

The last shot of the day...it started getting dark and we were too tired to whip the camera out.

When we woke up the next morning, we walked outside to see our view:
 Yeah...this is the good life.  We got dressed, met our sweet Tinin and Paco (we love y'all!!!) and after they showed us how to run European washers/dryers, etc...they bid us adios and we went for a lovely walk!

 We found the Bay of Biscay, but we weren't sure how to get down to it.  So we kept walking.

 Good times!

 Lovely view!

 The path down to the ocean doesn't come close to meeting up with California park standards!  

 Ben exploring.

 Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

 Perfect weather!



 The girls standing in the BAY OF BISCAY!!!!!!

 Pretty girl.  Pretty beach.

 Pretty girls.  Pretty beach.

 The water likes Jess.

 Daddy and baby.

 Reflections in the sand.

 Ben looking epic as we climbed back up to land.

 More cuteness because we know you don't get enough.

 Love.

Two sisters...the other one was looking for shells.

 Family hug!

Lilyana says "Adios!"

Okay, I need to get some shut-eye so that I'm all rested for our adventures in the morning...
Catch us tomorrow for more pictures!  

With love from all...

Tiffany