Our journey comes to an end

Tuesday June 20: (Part of the surrounding Alps)

Mine and Carter's days here in Grenoble are all about rest. Rest from the travels in Spain! He is still upset and cranky! While Rj works we spend the whole day in the room. We both rest up, which feels really good.

When Rj gets back we head to Carrefour (a local grocery store) to stock up on wine and chocolates to bring home!! :) Then we met a couple of Rj's coworkers for dinner. We ate at a steak house and it was so good. I had a sirloin steak and Rj tried steak tartare (that's rare meat...um yuck) But he was actually the beginners tartare because it was a little bit cooked and it actually tasted good! Then for dessert I had the most delish ice cream smothered with chocolate and chantilly (whipped cream)! yummy!!! Man such good food again.


Wednesday June 21

Today was actually a good day! Carter was in such a good mood! He is really beginning to grab things and move them around and of course they go straight for his mouth! He is also jabbering up a storm!!! So we got up and got ready to go out. I was ready to brave the streets by myself with Carter but once we got out it started to rain! AH! So we headed back to the hotel. There we waited for Rj and some football (NOT american football! hello World Cup!!) Carter loves it. It's been great because everywhere we go it's all about football and it is on just about every channel!! France is really disappointed with their national team this year and everyone in Spain is cheering theirs on! (Rj still thinks he needs to grow a mullet so he will play better! ha!)



For dinner we meet up with a couple other of Rj's coworkers. We head to a place that serves food from the French colonies from back in the day. It was good and we even tried escargot! yes that's right...snails! It actually wasn't that bad. The dipping sauce made it taste good!!!



Thursday June 22:

Time to go home!!! We get up SUPER early like 4am early. We take a taxi to Lyon airport and fly out to Frankfurt, Germany. While flying to Germany we crossed over the Alps. They were breath taking. And while we were landing we saw a huge World Cup welcome sign in the field and once again our camera was packed away! So we missed all those great photo opps! ARGH!! In Frankfurt airport there were fooseball tables with hoards of people surrounding them and each screaming for their team. World Cup fever can be found just about anywhere!
We board the plane and ready for our long flight (10hrs) home!!!
(even the planes have World Cup spirit!!)

We had such a fabulous time but it's good to be home! I will sure miss all the good food, wine and chocolates!!! (good thing we brought some back with us!!! but it won't last for long!)

Until next time........(we are already planning our next trip! heehee!!)

ciao!
love, The Rays

Our journey continues

Sunday June 18: Happy Father’s Day!

Sunday we wake up early and head to the train station to journey up to Grenoble, France. I head down stairs to the Starbucks next to the hotel to get a much needed white chocolate mocha. But to my surprise it was closed! YES I SAID IT WAS CLOSED!!!! The first ever Starbucks closed in the morning! What the heck?! Then I remember I am in Spain and no one rises before 9am. Gosh. No morning mocha for me. man.
My parents and the Grey’s return back to the states. Rj has to work in Grenoble, so we part ways from the others and board a train for a long trip north.

The first train we took was a couple of hours and then we had to change trains in Narbonne. Then we got another train (TGV, fast train) and we had to change again in Valence. That leg of the ride was awful only because Carter wasn’t feeling well, he was too hot and he cried a lot. Plus Rj and I had different seats so we couldn’t even sit together. UGH! The last train was even worse. We took it from Valence to Grenoble. That was a slow train and there was no AC! Carter didn’t like one either. It took us all day to get there but the scenery along the way was gorgeous. There were little towns after little towns, surrounded vineyards and castles dotted the hills along the way. Simply beautiful countryside, BUT unfortunately we did not have our camera (gasp, I know!) handy to capture the landscape! It was packed away. Gosh.

By the time we arrived in Grenoble, we were all drained off energy and it was super hot there. We ordered room service and crashed. Oh, this is the first hotel that actually has a clock in the room!!
Carter bear wiped out from the trains! poor babe!

Monday June 19: First day in Grenoble
(Fortress on top of a hill over looking the city)

Grenoble is nestled at the base of the Alps in Southern France. It is so amazing to see these giant straight up sheer mountains surrounding the whole city. It’s hot and humid here. Ugh. It’s really hard switching from Spanish to French. It’s weird to hear it and especially hard trying to speak it. I want to speak Spanish to everyone!

Our first day in Grenoble wasn’t such a great one. Carter was done with all of our traveling and was upset most of the day. I tried to venture out but he ended up being upset the entire time! So I had to head back to the room and let him sleep.

For dinner, we took a stroll down the streets to find a restaurant. We found a cute little quaint French style restaurant. French you say? Hello you are in France Kristy what else is it supposed to be?! When I say French, I mean the cuisine. Since Grenoble is so close to Italy, there are a lot of Italian type restaurants. Anyhoo…we had a fabulous meal. Rj and I both had the best salad ever. It was spinach with little sautéed raviolis! Yum! Then for the main course we had the grilled lamb. It was DELISH!! Gosh the food here is SO good! Our tummies are full and happy! And once again, we forgot our camera! AH! so no photos of our scrumptous food! :(

Last day in Valencia

Friday June 16:

Rj and I headed down to the old part of downtown while the others went to the beach. It was too hot for Carter bear to be at the beach. Our first stop was at the Mercado central. It was large food market. There were so many delicious looking fruits and veggies. We bought some Valencia oranges and a couple of peaches.

We continued our day by wandering the streets and decided to stop for a bit to eat. After lunch, we headed back to the cathedral to check out the holy chalice. Inside the church was amazingly beautiful. We saw paintings by Goya and there was a left arm of a saint in a glass box on display! Eventually we got to the chalice. It was golden and displayed in a glass case. Is it the real thing? Who knows, for some reason I just don’t think the cup that Jesus drank out of during his last supper was gold…..

Anyways, we met up with my parents and sister after touring the church. We walked around some and then headed back to the hotel. That night we ate at a great place known for its tapas (Spanish style appetizers) The food was sooo good and we ate the best paella ever!

It was our last night in Valencia. Saturday we are to head back up to Barcelona. We really enjoyed our stay here in Valencia.

Saturday June 17: Back to Barcelona

We head back up to Barcelona by train. Rj, Carter and I are seated in first class while all the others are chillin back in second class! Ha! We had, I don’t know what to call them, train attendants? Anyways, they served us food and drinks! We had a snack and a drink served to us and then later on we had lunch! Rj drank red wine with his lunch. Of course we took photos of us enjoying the luxuries of first class so we could rub it in, I mean show the others our ride. :)

Back in Barcelona, we arrive at the hotel, drop our stuff off and then head out to shop! It was the last day in Spain so we needed to get our souvenirs’ bought!!!

For dinner that night we ate at a Mexican style restaurant by the hotel. It was actually quite good and plus the Italy vs. USA match was on the big screen. We were the only Americans in the place! (gulp)

Well its adios to Spain!!! We had an awesome time but now its time to move forward with the rest of our journey!!!

CIAO

El Mercado y Los Torres Serranos

Thursday June 15, 2006

Today we got up and headed off to find an open market that is only open on Thursdays. We walked and walked some more and finally found it. It was an open street market with food, clothes and the like. I really got to use my spaninsh there. I was my parent's translator!! It was fun to walk around and check out all the goods. Tyson + Dave2 = bored men while the woman shop!! hahaha!!!

After a while we headed back to the hotel for a bit of rest. Then it was off to find these Roman towers. They were built in 138BC and there were 4 that were connected to a wall that surrounded the city. But only the towers remain. It was a pretty impressive structure with a ginormous wooden door.
As we continued to wonder the streets of the old part of the city we came across a basilica and it seemed to be some sort of mass going on inside. We peaked in and watched for a few. Supposedly there is a church in Valencia that claims to hold the Holy Chalice from Christ's last supper. So we popped in for a gander. Unfortunately we took the wrong way (there were two ways to go once inside the church) and we ended up hiking up a million winding stairs to the top of this tower. it was awful. i hated it. carter did too. he cried the whole time. poor boy. Anyways, we didn't get to see the Chalice.
We found a cute lil cafe for dinner and we had some delish paella and afterwards sipped the most delish cafe con leche. yum! We strolled across the street to a place that sold gelado. Sherry got a purple looking one that was called violets and it tasted like perfume! yuck! she didn't like it and tried pawning it off on somone else! hahahaha! I think Tyson ended up eating it. And that just about sums up our day on Thursday!!

ciao for now...

Crazy buildings and the aquarium:

Wednesday June 14:

So today we headed across the street from the hotel to La Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias which are a funky bunch of modern buildings. They look like giant space ships that landed there. Rj said they look like the cylon resurrection ship from Battlestar Galactica. um yah.....Anyways, we strolled on by those buildings and headed towards the aquarium, L’oceanongrafic . It is supposedly the largest aquarium in Europe and the third largest in the world……but it didn’t seem that large to me! Ha! So who knows.

Anways, it was neat to see. There were large tubes that you could walk through and it looked as though we were right in the water with the fishes swimming all around. Carter loved it! He was mesmerized by all the colorful fish swimming by. He even squealed a couple of times!!! (yes being the photogs that we are we caught it all on film!) In one tube there were sharks lurking in the water and a gianormous one scared the you know what out of me! I was looking the other way and I turned around to only see a huge set of teeth in my face! YIKES!!!!!!!! And yes Rj got that on film as well. Awesome.

In the artic area there was a tank of two beluga whales. I would have to say that was my favorite. One of the whales was super playful with us. He swam all bround and showed off for us and even stopped to pose for some photos….quite the ham he was!!!

After the aquarium we headed over to a shopping area and found a resturante for some much needed grub….tapas. We all shared plates full of delish food!!

Ok ciao for now!!

El tren a Valencia

Tuesday June 13

Tuesday morning we hauled our bags over to the train station (luckily it was w/in walking distance of our hotel) and tried to figure out how to catch the train to Valencia. My Spanish could be a lot better than it is but well oh well. We figured it out anyways. As we were waiting to board the train my dad was videoing (of course…he is like a Japanese tourist I tell ya! Hahaha!) and a security man came over and told him that he couldn’t video and he had to delete it! But of course he didn’t understand and the man didn’t understand him either. It was quite interesting to watch! Needless to say he ended up deleting it.

We boarded the train (we were seated in first class) and off to Valencia! It took just over 3 hours to get there and the sights along the way were interesting…some along the coast and some in little towns.

We arrived in the afternoon and it was really warm. We made it to the hotel and threw our bags down and headed out the door to find something to eat and explore. Unfortunately it was siesta time and everything was closed so we ended up at a Burger King. I know what you're thinking....in Spain and they went to a BK?! gasp! but well when you are starving and nothing is open...well......

Ok so this was pretty uneventful so here is some photos from the long ride! Enjoy!!

look at how strong rj is! he can lift a whole car!!! hahahaha!!!

-Ciao

Barcelona-Montserrat, Gaudi y Sagrada Familia

On Sunday, June 11 we headed off to visit Montserrat which is about an hour by train outside of Barcelona. It was a nice ride out to the country and of course Rj and my dad snapped photos the entire way! hahaha!!!
Montserrat is an old monastery located way up on the hills. It's absolutely breath taking. It is just fasinating to see this place perched way up there and wonder how in the world they built it!
We walked all around and sat outside the square in the front of the church watch some local kids perform some traditional dance. My dad and Dave went in to Mass and they said it was really neat to see.

We took this tram like thing even higher than we already were up to this area called Sant Joan. From there you could hike even higher up to this old run down house. There was a little church of some sort located next to it as well.

We spent most of the day up there exploring and taking in the beauty of this secluded place. So peaceful and tranquil, its no wonder monks went up there to be close and one with God.

Monday, June 12 went ventured on down to check out La Sagrada Familia, a church that was designed by Gaudi. It is not complete yet and they are still working on it today. I must admitt that I didn't understand his work and thought of it as completley weird but after going and seeing this magnificant piece of work and learning about his inspiration I have come to really like it. Gaudi got his inspiration for the architecture from nature.

Ok well, there is more to talk about but it's late and I am tired! so more is to come later!!

ciao

Barcelona-the first few days

We made it to Barcelona!! (actually as I write this I am sitting in the hotel in Valencia...we didn't have a good internet connection in Barcelona) our trip there was good and Carter did well on the plane. When we got to the hotel we met up with my parents and the Grey's. We got settled in and then headed out to explore and to what our little eyes was a surprise....a Starbucks! yes in Spain. oh boy after flying for 12 hrs and lugging our luggage to the hotel it was a delightful treat.

On our first day we headed out to Plaza Catulunya where there was a huge fountain and the beginning of Las Ramblas. Which is a road that hoards of people stroll down and you can see everything from a-z there. Speaking of which it is mullet central here! or other wise known as the cascadia catalan (translate= catalan waterfall! ahahahahahaha) man I wish I would have a photo to show you all but unfortunately I don't. and its not only the men who sport this trendy do....the women rock it as well! Rj says that he wants one now so that way he will be a better soccer player! HA! no way.

After strolling along Las Ramblas for a while we turned and ventured down a side street that lead into the Barri Gotic. It was so neat. Little tight roads that wide and turn and filled with fun shops! oh yes I did some shopping!!!

Then we came across a cathedral and we went inside. It was amazing beautiful. I want to say it was built in the 11th century but I cannot recall right at the moment. Inside there was a large thing of water where 6 Native Americans who were brought back by Christopher Columbus were baptized.
Then once again we made a Starbucks pit stop for a recharging! Then it was off to the Picasso muesem. That was pretty interesting as well.

Oh by the way, it's official that Carter is the cutest baby in the world! EVERYBODY in Spain loves him! All these people walk by and stare and say ¡que guapo! and of course he loves the attention!!!

Alright, its late here (12midnight) soIi am off to bed! Buenos noches amigos.

ciao....

En el Avion a Barcelona vía Francfort

Well, Rj tried to sign on and write a quick post while we were at PDX to show how connected we are in the modern world but we started boarding too soon and he didn't have time.

We got to board first, Yeah! Because now we have a small child traveling the world with us. After we got on board we found out what the universal language is. Some of you may be thinking mathematics of course or maybe physics. Nope, it's video games, at least for little boys. The boy on the left speaks English, Spanish & Italian. The boys tried to talk to each other but as you can imagine it didn't work out so well, until they found the common language of gameboy advanced.

This post is actually coming to you real time from the Airplane (Avion) via seats 32D and 32E, four hours into our flying time. Rj Needs to get his laptop back so he can Work, he can't be away from his email longer then a few hours or he has withdrawls and thinks that things will spiral out of control if he doesn't monitor what's going on. He did unwind a bit and have a couple very tasty German beers on the flight over.

Carter has been traveling very well. He was out cold for the take off and he has fussed a few times here and there but for the most part is happy. He took a nap and ate and then played and ate again, you get the idea of his schedule.

ciao for now...

¡nuestro viaje comienza a Europa!

Ok so here we are the night before our big trip across the pond. we are heading to barcelona, spain for 4 days and then down the coast to valencia for 4 days. then we will part ways from my parents and the greys & rj and i will head up to grenoble, france for 4 days.

we finally finished packing! i feel like we are taking everything but the kitchen sink! here is photo of our luggage! goodness! now just imagine me with my two carry ons, one checked bag, carter and then rj with two carry ons and his checked luggage! what a crew! it should be an adventure all right!

i am starting to get really excited about going. i am really looking foward to spending time enjoying the sights with family and friends. and most of all i am looking foward to taking photos and eating really yummy food!!!

ok well, i should get going. we are trying to stay up (which shouldn't be too hard for rj & i) because it is as of now 7am spain time.

ciao for now!

packing packing and more packing!

Ok so it's two nights before we embark on our Europe adventure. It's late and Rj and I are still up (we are night owls). I have packed and repacked my bag several times and I still have way too much stuff! You must keep in mind that my bag is also being occupied with Carter's things as well so needless to say why I have too much stuff! With a baby you never know what you are going to need so I think I packed it all! hahahaha......(this is where you think first time mom of course)
Thursday morning we head off on our journey across the pond. We (the Rays) fly Lufthansa, where I hear its a fabulous airline....so expect to see a blog from midair! The Ayers' and the Greys' will be arriving in Barcelona before us. So we have to make this trek with Carter all by ourselves! yikes!!! Wish us well and pray for a safe, smooth travel!

Ciao for now......