{"id":27,"date":"2007-12-06T21:38:38","date_gmt":"2007-12-06T20:38:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uhlfelder.com\/blog\/?p=27"},"modified":"2007-12-11T22:30:32","modified_gmt":"2007-12-11T21:30:32","slug":"week-16-december-5-to-december-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uhlfelder.com\/?p=27","title":{"rendered":"Week 16 — December 5 to December 11"},"content":{"rendered":"

December 5, 2007<\/u>.\u00a0 <\/span>I must have burned 10,000 calories today.\u00a0 <\/span>At 9:00 a.m. I was supposed to meet a couple of guys for a run and I ran over to meet them (about 10 minutes plus a subway ride) and we ended up running about 1:20 with about half an hour of fast running; then I went home, and turned around and rode my bike to my Spanish lesson \u2013 about five miles round trip with lots of stops and fast starts.\u00a0 <\/span>Then I met Anne for lunch and we walked around to buy sandwiches, then to another park with the dog.\u00a0 <\/span>Then I went to buy food for dinner (bought too much) at the market and met Anne and walked and rode the bus to Joshua\u2019s school to have his seventh birthday <\/a>at school, then back on the bus<\/a> and walking.\u00a0 <\/span>Then I had to pick up the rental car and a mere three hours later and four metro\/tram rides, I managed to drive home and park and walk home.\u00a0 <\/span>Yikes!<\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/font><\/o:p><\/p>\n

December 6, 2007<\/u>.\u00a0 <\/span>Off to Carcassonne<\/st1:city>, a windy three-hour drive from Barcelona<\/st1:city> in our rental Mercedes, where the \u201cCit\u00e9\u201d of Carcassonne<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> is a walled city built between the 11th<\/sup> and 13th<\/sup> centuries and renovated probably over the last 150 years.\u00a0 <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/font><\/o:p><\/p>\n

On arrival we were downtown and ended up eating a good meal at a good price except the restaurant was smoking.\u00a0 <\/span>Dogs, and especially Rocket, were welcome<\/a>.\u00a0 <\/span>Strangely, some Spaniards came in and asked for the non-smoking section.\u00a0 <\/span>Since we were it, they seated them next to us.\u00a0 <\/span>I ended up finding out that as of January 1, 2008 all public spaces in France<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> will be non-smoking!\u00a0 <\/span>We got here a month early.\u00a0 <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/font><\/o:p><\/p>\n

Our hotel was a short walk to the walled city, and we ended up walking around the perimeter <\/a>of the entire city, about a mile or so, at night.\u00a0 <\/span>We were basically alone except within the city itself where there are restaurants, shops, and lots of Spaniards taking advantage of the holiday. \u00a0<\/span>There were places where we walked that were 15 to 20 feet above the ground with no guard rails, something that would NEVER be allowed in the US or probably even in Spain.\u00a0 <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

December 7, 2007<\/u>.\u00a0 <\/span>Pearl Harbor<\/st1:place> Day.\u00a0 <\/span>We started out with a nice hotel breakfast, lots of choices, tons of coffee, fruit, fresh OJ, etc… Then we decided it was time to visit some of the local stuff that we were told about including two villages.\u00a0 <\/span>So we headed north and arrived, totally by mistake, in a village that had a lot of castles on a hill called Les Quatre Chateaux de Lastours<\/a>.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/o:p><\/p>\n

We found a way in, which required a five Euro entrance plus two for each boy.\u00a0 <\/span>And we hiked about 500 vertical feet to the four chateaux.\u00a0 <\/span>This was a bunch of steps and as we started the rain got worse.\u00a0 <\/span>By the time we visited the Chateaux, it was raining pretty constantly and we were getting wet.\u00a0 <\/span>As you topped out at the Chateaux, the wind and rain was coming sideways.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/o:p><\/p>\n

After that nice hike, where we found the place completely by accident, we went to the original destination, the town of Cabrespine<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>.\u00a0 <\/span>We had no idea what was here; it was just a place circled on the map we were given.\u00a0 <\/span>A note here about the roads: imagine driving on the narrows of independence pass but with no traffic; welcome to Languedoc back-roads<\/a>. \u00a0<\/span>The place in incredibly beautiful with pine forests, narrow well taken care of roads, views that are consistently breathtaking, castles everywhere, in short a real disneyesque experience.\u00a0 <\/span>Locally they call this region \u201cL\u2019Aude\u201d and it\u2019s sort of the soon to be discovered Provence<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>.\u00a0 <\/span>Right now it\u2019s still kind of run down (\u201ccharming\u201d in Peter Mayle-ese).\u00a0 <\/span>Once Peter arrives, though, voila, c\u2019est fini.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Anyway, the place is crawling with Spaniards who do not speak a word of French, and we\u2019re happy to report that either there is no communication or it\u2019s attempted in English.\u00a0 <\/span>The Spaniards don\u2019t really speak English and the French generally don\u2019t speak Spanish and neither really speaks English.\u00a0 <\/span>Today we learned that the Spanish haven\u2019t even taken the trouble to learn the word \u201ccheese\u201d in French (fromage).\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/o:p><\/p>\n

So we arrived at Cabrespine to find a sign saying something up the hill.\u00a0 <\/span>So we went up the hill, then got to a place to find a cavern that makes anything I\u2019ve seen in the US<\/st1:country-region>, including Carlsbad Caverns<\/st1:place>, look very petit.\u00a0 <\/span>This was a giant cave<\/a>, with stalactites, stalagmites, lighting and about a five hundred foot drop into whatever was below.\u00a0 <\/span>They had only opened it for the week-end because they know Spanish people may visit (otherwise it\u2019s closed in December) and the guy in charge was sort of, well, uninterested in working.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Anyway, I negotiated a discount for Anne and myself, got us all in including the dog and a box of cookies and took photos, ate our cookies, had the dog walking around inside.\u00a0 <\/span>No rules here.\u00a0 <\/span>They have a more advanced tour for spelunkers that is 35 Euros by reservation and would probably be worth it if you were into caves.\u00a0 <\/span>We saw people way, way below walking around with headlights, probably eating and drinking with their dogs, on the tour.\u00a0 <\/span>It was probably at least 500 feet below us.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Then we had to find someplace to eat<\/a>, it was about 1:30 and there was a tiny town below with one open restaurant where the chef\/cook\/server\/busboy\/waiter took our order after about 30 minutes of his trying to cook a menu for the 15 or so Spaniards that had wondered into the place.\u00a0 <\/span>It was no smoking, which was the only reason we continued to sit.\u00a0 <\/span>As opposed to the Spaniards, we were only interested in some sandwiches.\u00a0 <\/span>No such luck, so I ordered four crocque misseurs, got six, we ate and were happy.\u00a0 <\/span>It only took about an hour.\u00a0 <\/span>Then back to the hotel, finally.\u00a0 <\/span>Of course, we took a wrong turn, went through the town of Carcassonne<\/st1:city><\/st1:place>, David had to poop, we had to stop at the train station, etc…\u00a0 <\/span>I went for a run, after washing my hands.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/o:p><\/p>\n

We had a very nice dinner at the hotel, which was very reasonable.\u00a0 <\/span>The food here is very good, and reasonably priced, when compared to Barcelona<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>.\u00a0 <\/span>The people here are also nice, and very easy to deal with.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

December 8, 2007<\/u>.\u00a0 After a long breakfast, with fantastic French croissants, off we went for a drive in the country <\/a>back to Spain.\u00a0 It was kind of dreary weather and we were on the narrowest country roads you can imagine, lost and on detours to try to find the other town we were told about, called LaGrasse.\u00a0 We found it, and went on our way not even stopping.\u00a0<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Anne and I observed that while France and Spain to a lesser extent really allow people to do what pleases them (e.g. want to walk on a wall with no handrail and a 20 foot drop — go ahead if you want to), they provide free (not very good) health care when the person falls off and requires hospitalization for a few months.\u00a0 On the other hand, in the US there is a barrier, warning sign, and guard to make sure you don’t get exposed to anything dangerous, but no health care at all unless you have money.\u00a0 Lawyers, I guess.\u00a0<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

December 9, 2007<\/u>.\u00a0 We went to the port this morning via bus, walked around, and were blown around like crazy<\/a>.\u00a0 It was super busy with people and crowded everywhere.\u00a0 The winds were incredible, which means that the drive from France to Spain would have been worse today than yesterday, when the winds were plenty strong.\u00a0 Last night I got rid of the car (turned it into Hertz two days early) and noted how nice it is not to have one.\u00a0\u00a0Cars are a burden here.\u00a0<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Anne has made potato latkies and David and Joshua have made home-made menorahs so we can light candles and celebrate Hanukkah\u00a0here.\u00a0Photos to come.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We were giving the kids their third gift for Hanukkah and there was a racket outside in Turo Parc.\u00a0 We went downstairs and found a bunch of Chabad having a celebration in front of our house.\u00a0 Imagine, there were about 200 people, most just curious Spaniards looking for a place to smoke and enjoy being with lots of people.\u00a0 Then the Chabad people put on a film, in English, about their Rebbi which was hard to hear since everyone was talking.\u00a0 In fact, we ran into a friend, Isabel, and ended up chatting ourselves.\u00a0 Anyway we ended up watching the “lighting” of the Menorah outside with a few other Jews.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

December 10, 2007<\/u>.\u00a0 Studied Spanish, went for a run through the huge park next to Barcelona, Conserrola Parc, using a map to get back since I took a train well into the park to make it a point to point run (1:20 minutes).\u00a0 Then a lunch with another American who has lived here for four years and is a refugee from the Microsoft\/Amazon world and finally to get David, drop him at soccer, then come and go and do business with Colorado.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

December 11, 2007<\/u>.\u00a0 Anne and I met for lunch at a wonderful restaurant, which was at some point in it’s history a meeting place for Picasso and his friends.\u00a0 It’s called “Les Quatre\u00a0Gats<\/a>” (I’ve hotlinked into their annoying website) which means the four cats in Catalan.\u00a0 Anyhow, we were disappointed since we fully expected to see Mr. Picasso but he wasn’t there, I guess.\u00a0 For 13 Euros we had an first course, a second course, desert, a glass of wine, a bottle of water and a wonderful almost tipsy conversation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

December 5, 2007.\u00a0 I must have burned 10,000 calories today.\u00a0 At 9:00 a.m. I was supposed to meet a couple of guys for a run and I ran over to meet them (about 10 minutes plus a subway ride) and we ended up running about 1:20 with about half an hour of fast running; then […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uhlfelder.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uhlfelder.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uhlfelder.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uhlfelder.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uhlfelder.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/uhlfelder.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uhlfelder.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uhlfelder.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uhlfelder.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}