Amy & Walter visit Europe – WITHOUT the kids!

If you can imagine it, Walter & Amy actually took a kid-less trip to Spain, Andorra and France.   The kids stayed with Tante Laura & Uncle Craig – THANK YOU! 

We were very fortunate to be invited by our friends, the Marks, to join them in staying at a French home called Tardibail (near Foix, France).   The home was secluded and lovely. 

 

The Marks graciously provided us with the small cottage out back to stay in

While in France, we ate lots of bread, cheese, pate, cured ham & other meats. Walter even gave his special cured ham a name, Leftie, and ate it all week long -

 

And of course, good French wine – here’s our collection of empty bottles on the day we left Tardibail -

We visited chateau’s, saw a cool birds of prey show atop a medieval castle, a medieval walled city (Carcassonne), and the city of Mirepoix (apparently also a cooking term).  Here are some pictures -

On Saturday (July 11), Amy stayed at Tardibail to relax while the Marks went to Toulouse and Walter visited the Tour de France!   I’ll let Walter post his pictures.

We left Tardibail on Sunday and headed to Andorra.   The drive through the mountains was spectacular, although Amy couldn’t watch on a few of those hairpin turns.

Andorra was interesting – the city was located in the middle of mountains but ironically souvenirs were hard to locate – no Andorra t-shirts for us.   We did have some yummy tapas, and of course Walter was happy with his pitcher of Sangria.  He drank Sangria and ate cured ham whenever he could!

 

After a night in Andorra, we headed back to Barcelona and stayed for three nights.

The famous food market – Boqueria -

Architecture from Gaudi -

The famous Gaudi cathedral, still in progress -

We had a wonderful time!