We spent a couple of days of preparation to ready for
Dave and Anthony's visit here in Pouzolles.
It is incredibly hot and
we're wondering if we can make it fun for them.
We start by renting a car in Beziers on the 31st of July.
Air Conditioned car - nice. We may spend a lot of time in it.
July 31, Dave arrives Barcelona. He proposes to stay in Barcelona until Anthony comes in on the 2nd so they can travel to Pouzolles together.
It is so hot here in Pouzolles, John and I propose we meet them there so we can get out of the heat into an air-conditioned hotel room.
Dave finds a hotel for the three of us. We rent a car for the two weeks Dave and Anthony will be with us.
Aug. 1, John and I drive the 3.5 hours to Barcelona and meet Dave at the hotel. The hotel parking is across the street and secure (this is very important for the future.)
With Dave, we walk La Rambla and eat at the Boqueria. Dave and I sit in the roof top wading pool in the hotel while John naps. We try a Tapas at a restaurant along La Rambla. Anthony texts us...
HE MISSED HIS CONNECTION IN CHICAGO
so won't arrive until the 3rd at 1:30 pm. We can't extend our stay in this hotel, so we make reservations at the 4 Points Hotel.
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| On the road to Barcelona |
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La Boqueria
for lunch with Dave |
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| Walking La Rambla |
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| Lorenza Hotel stairwell |
Aug. 2, Have breakfast at the Leonardo Hotel, then pack up the car and drive to see Sagrada Familia. Check in at the 4 Points. Lunch, nap and then shopping at the Glories Shopping Center. While Dave takes a 3 hours nap, John and I have some cava at a place at the shopping center and chat with the owner of Odkhuss, who reminds us of Anthony. Dinner at a restaurant nearby and then to bed.
Aug. 3, Breakfast, a quick stop at the Shopping center and then to the Airport to pick up Anthony.
From the airport it is supposed to be a 3.5 hour drive - horrific bumper to bumper stop and go traffic - after 6 hours, the traffic clears and no clue as to why. We arrive Pouzolles in the dark of night. That means we've been in the car from 3:00 pm to 10:00 pm. Not a good start for Anthony.
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| Anthony has arrived!!! |
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We are arriving France after
5 hours of driving |
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We only have an hour to go...then
POUZOLLES! |
Aug. 4, A day for adjustment and rest for us all. We enjoy Pouzolles.
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| Café au Lait and Croisannts |
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| Walk to our "maison" |
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Dinner at the village restaurant
with C'Dric for entertainment |
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| Mom and Dad |
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| Enjoying the food and entertainment |
Aug. 5, We go to Avignon - an easy 1.5 hour drive. Beautiful and enriching.
Aug. 6, We go to Beziers - another lovely French City that was built by the Romans. Ancient and modern.
At the Polygone Shopping Center
to eat and shop
the modern part of Beziers
Aug. 7, Dave leaves for home on the 8th - to get out of the heat again, we return a day early to Barcelona so Dave can spend a day with Anthony in Barcelona and we can be sure that he gets to his flight. We stay in the Gothic Quarter again for one night. No hotel parking, we have to use the public parking down the street.
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Waterside Eatery
Dave's last looks at Barcelona port |
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Our last supper with Dave
Delicious Tapas |
Aug. 8, We have reservations at the 4 Points for 3 days so Anthony and I can tour Barcelona. We drop off Dave at the airport and proceed to the 4 Points. Just before we arrive at the 4 Points, the car alerts us that the back passenger side tire is flat. A guy on a motorcycle says to follow him to a tire place. The tire place is closed, the motorcyclist leaves us. We are two blocks from the hotel. We unload to go to the hotel and leave the car. This is when I notice my purse is gone (with ALL my cards - credit, insurance, medicare. driver's license.)
It is hot, it is humid, we are upset, we go to the hotel - they are not ready for us we have to wait at least an hour. John goes back to the car to see if there are any phone numbers we can call and if there's a tire place nearby (he gets some help from the front desk of the hotel.) Anthony and I wait in the lobby, eat lunch and wait; John comes back having changed the tire, he's hot, sweaty and upset - couldn't find a tire place got lost looking. He then parks the car in the secure hotel parking lot. We get our room. We get our bearings, I have found an Enterprise office near the hotel, John and I go there - Spanish and French Enterprise don't help each other, we have to call our office that we rented from. By the time we get back, the French office is closed - we will have to wait until tomorrow morning. In the mean time, I call the Public Parking Garage we used to see if I dropped my purse there - "No, but I will check and you can call back in 20 minutes" he says in Spanish. I call back and they don't have any idea what I'm talking about. I then proceed to try to cancel the cards via the internet to no avail - my tablet can't support that kind of extended access - I don't want to use the hotel computer (I just hope the cards aren't used until I can reach the banks, etc.)
John showers and goes to bed. Anthony and I go to Glories Shopping Center to shop and have a nice dinner. Then shower and bed for us.
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At the bottom of La Rambla
Last Café with Dave before taking him to airport |
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The walk back to the Hotel
before the "unfortunate incident" |
Aug. 9, After a night's sleep, John figures out that the tire was punctured at the public parking lot where my purse was stolen...makes sense, but we carry on. Breakfast at the hotel. John uses the day to find out if he can get a new tire for the rental car and to contact the Beziers Car Rental Office.
Anthony and I have reserved seats on a Hop on Hop Off Bus Tour. This Tour Bus Line has 3 lines that go throughout the whole city. We hope to do all three, Starting on the green line to the Red Line to the Blue Line. We go by the Olympic Village, then through the Old parts (the Red Line), see the Gaudi Apartments and then to Park Güell (the Blue Line). Lunch in that area and then on the Blue Line bus again back to the Center of the city. We are tired and need showers, so we catch a city bus back to the hotel.
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| Map |
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We are on the Bus
It's raining so the top is covering the bus |
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| It stopped raining so the cover is brought back and this is what we see...Sagrada Familia |
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| Wow! |
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| Park Güell View |
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| Another View of the City from Park Güell |
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Great tapas here
Good Air-conditioning, too |
At the hotel, we meet up with John who has been searching all day for a place that will give him a tire. He found a franchise tire place that found the tire for him. He will go there tomorrow morning.
John has a drink and a sandwich then to bed. Anthony and I go back to the shopping center and have dinner at Odkhuss where John and I had cava. The owner, Odkhuss says hello, asks about John and then is gone, leaves us with his sister to serve us. We are tired, so we go back to the room for the rest of the evening to sleep.
Aug. 10, Morning coffee and then John and Anthony (as navigator with GPS on his phone) go off to find the tire store to get a new tire so we can drive home. I work on cancelling all my cards (credit and debit) with Anthony's laptop. By 11:00 the guys are back successful in their mission as I am successful with all of my credit stuff.
Anthony and I have reservations for a tour of Sagrada Familia at 3:00. So we go off to see Piccasso before our appointment with the Holy Family (oh, and try to fit in lunch, too).
When we return, we find a happy John Berteaux who is refreshed and said he got some work done on the paper he was working on. We then go to dinner and try to find some pajamas for John at UniQlo Barcelona. Then to bed.
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Arch de Triumph
Barcelona on our way to Sagrada Familia |
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| Leaving Picasso |
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| The Holy Family |
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| Beautiful Light |
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| Golden hues |
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| Afternoon light |
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Under the Cathedral
is where services are held |
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We have lunch at a cafe with
a glimpse of
Sagrada Familia |
Aug. 11, We say goodby to Anthony at the Airport who's flight leaves an hour earlier than expected - luckily we left for the airport in plenty of time for him to get there 1:45 minutes before his flight leaves.
We start back to Pouzolles. Again traffic going north, bumper to bumper, stop and go traffic for 2 hours. We are glad to make it back to Pouzolles in 5 hours in time to stop at the Super U for food supplies for the weekend.
It was a wonderful and pleasurable week with our "boys." Got to spend alone time with Dave at the beginning and Anthony at the end and being a family in between. Even the robbery and slashed tire made us all work together and be a problem solving team. Dave wants to do this every year.
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| The Berteaux Men 💕 |
Through Pouzolles and to the vineyards...
Through Pouzolles and to the vineyards...
