Day 14 - England

I dont think I mentioned we are staying here in Kent with my Great Aunts family. Its alot of fun. Today we did a little shopping and went to see a normal castle called Tombridge. The rest of the day we spent at with my dads counsins and all. We are there now. Tommorrow we travel.

Day 13 - England

Went down to the english coast .. best oysters in the world supposidly. Had some wonderful fish for lunch. When the tide went out there was alot of sand bars that streach out real far. Strange how shallow it is. There were wind sailers but since there was no wind they were going no where. It was an odd sight. After lunch headed to canterbary to see the cathedral. Diffrent than the other ones in europe. seemed vary spacious.

Day 12 - France to England

We woke up early and headded to versailles to see the palace. The paintings on the ceiling was amazing.

Day 11 - France to Versallies

So off we go again thru france. We drove thru more of the wine area here in france. Alot of vinards. We then started into loires valley where we went to three diffrent chataues. Sorry about spelling. These houses were huge, they were the french royalties summer homes.

Day 10 - Vitoria to Saint Emilion

Did a little shopping in the morning to get a nut cracker for the walnuts my uncle sent with us from one of the trees around Granon. We then headed for Pamplona to follow the "Camino de Santiago" (a pilgramage) thru the Pierennees. Joe had to see the bull rink in Pamplona so he can say hes been there. Not really anything interesting and there was alot of traffic. So then we headed up the mountains. Twists and turns that remind me of the road out of oat creek canyon, it winds thru the mountatins thru diffrent villages all the way up. We stopped to eat near the top where the pilgramage starts in Spain, Roncevalles. We then kept going down the other side, its almost like crossing us state borders here, just a sign telling you what the speed limit is on the diffrent types of roads. It apears they have 4 set speed limits here in france and they only tell you when you have to slow down and when the slow down ends. Very strange. We stayed off the main highway so it was very hilly and winding thru numerous little towns. Alot of neat trees surounding the road, and the roofs on some of the older houses are kinda diffrent. They are very pitched or have strange pitches. We hit the vinards close to sunset so are now sitting in a hotel that is in a town up on a hill. I think the place is called Saint-Emilion. I have heard little french since we arrived at this place, all the tourists seem to be english. Anyway on our way again.

Day 9 - Granon to Vitoria

We had to get up early to head to a winery tour my cousin setup for us. So we went to a small town in the Basque country that boarders La rioja (wine area) and is part of the Rioja wine organization. The town where the winery is is all the way on top of a hill, all original surounded by a wall with a church and houses within. So after somehow finding a spot on the narrow streets we walk into what looks like a residence but is actually a bodega. They are two of the only artisan wineries in their town. The first thing you see is big holding tanks with pictures of them stepping on the grapes. They still step on the grapes first and then after that use a press to lightly get anything else. The stems and seeds that are left over and sent back to the vinards and used as fertilizer. So next she show us the map of the town, under each house are tunnels that were originally used when the area was a fortification. Later the tunnels were turned into bodegas. So down the steps we go. This place had three tunnels. The first directly below the stoping tanks is used to forment the wine. It is and open concreate basin, but the room is closed of during the process. The next room is where they keep the barrels, they make about 35K bottles of wine a year. The last room is the tasting room, it contains arches that supposidly the nobels would only drink wine under the arches because it showed their rank. So after seeing all these neat original old things we went to see where my other cousin works. He works in a bottling company that everything is new, they have huge stainless steel tanks that they keep the wine and a new production floor located in a wharehouse in an industrial part of town. Very diffrent setting. So then we head for lunch in Vitoria, I belive it is the capital of the basque country. After lunch in my cousins bar we head to the old town (casco viejo) to see the cathedral. It is in the process of being restored but it is open to the public during the restoration. So you walk in on scafolding underneath where the original floor would have been and the show you and older structure from 1200 ad they discovered under the floor. As in many cathedrals there are barried nobelmen and bishops but as part of this escavation they found hundreds of skeletons under the floors. Id say they must have escavated 30 feet below where the floor would have been. The whole project is based on getting to the foundation so they can reinforce it inorder to save the structure. It is situated on a hill so alot of the columns have started to shift under presure. Thats about the extent of todays activities. Tommorrow we head back into france hopefully we have connectivity.

Day 8 - Granon

Joe was feeling much better, we had to get up earlier because we had to be down at the other church of the town La Ermita de Carasquedo. Which I'd say is about 1 km away or so. This part is all new to me but on May 1st it is the churches patron saint day, so what they do it take a statue of the patron saint from that church up to the town church. In august or september they do the opposite. So we walk down to the Ermita and go to mass. They have a song that is sung that says we your children of Granon thank you and so on and so forth. They then take the statue out side where people pay their thanks then dancers begin to dance and they carry the statue toward the town. Four people on each corner have to hold the statue and carry it all the way up. The dancer danced on all the flat areas and rested on the hills. People switched carrying the statue and eveyone else walked behind. Then as we reached town a statue of the patron saint of the church in town comes out to meet the other statue and welcome her home. An elder of the town says a little thing the dancers dance and they carry the two statues into the church into town. Its an amazing thing that they do every year. This marks the end of the festivities so there is a mass exodis from the town. That night we actually went to bed by midnight.

Day 7 - Granon

Joe had a migrain the next morning so he didnt get out of bed until lunch around 2pm. I went to church with my aunts and mother at around 1pm, its always interesting because its alot shorter service than in the states. So after lunch eveyone went and did the traditional siesta (nap). After the nap I went out with my friends and joe went with my family for a walk. They showed him their garden that had the faba beans, garlic, wheat and such. They went to the cemetary and saw where my grandmother is barried, and saw that my grandfathers grave had been excavated to make room. The cemetary is small so as time goes they pull out the old and put in the new. From the cemetary they hiked up to a wooded area then back toward town. On the way to town the sheep hearder was also on his way back so they had to be careful. Watch where you step. So they headed back and did some more resting until the music began at 8:30. This time the band had a three piece brass section and a bigger truck. We all danced until the music stopped close to 10pm then headed back for dinner. After dinner Joe and the rest of them went to bed. I myself met up with my friends at 12am. We met at the bar had a couple drinks and headed to the town center. There we did a little dancing then up to the bar to get a couple drinks and back down for more dancing. Thats about how it went until the band left then everyone heads to the bar for some final drinks. When the bar begins to close we headed to the basketball courts where the local gents had a bar setup and music playing. I went home about 6:30am :-)

Day 6 - Granon

Slept in which is always good (11 am or so). We went into Santo Domingo, about 7 km from Granon. We went and saw a market they had behind my aunts appartments, lots of fruit and vegtables and things all from diffrent regions of spain. Due to the labor day weekend and all the festivities it was very busy. After we went back to granon my uncle decided as my aunt prepared lunch ( the biggest meal of the day) we would go have a drink with the neighbors so we head to the bar at the top of town (cuatro cantones), and thats when it began. We soon found out that if you went to one bar you had to be fair and go to all three in town. So after the first one down main street we go to Bar Teo. Here joe found out that the old folks that cant handle too much wine drink this thing called Musto, which we havnt figured out what it translates to but its like a sweat white grape juice. So next we go to the oldest bar in town El sindicato. This place is so old it use to be men and members only. So after the round back for lunch. It should be noted that no one lets you pay for anything, so other than the tolls to get to spain and a then a couple glasses of red wine(tintos) for 45cents each it was hard to get anyone to let you pay. At lunch you start with the chorizo and cheese as an appetizer, then salad or vegtables of some kind, then some kind of meat, followed by desert or fruit. Alot of food. Oh did I mention the wine, congac, or numerous other drinks they try to feed you. So later about 8pm or so we headed out to the town square to see the band. Joe found it interesting how the band has an instant stage they have a huge semi that has hydrolics that thrun the truck into a stage. The other thing is the stage was setup right next to the cathedral and the music was blaring load, but no one in town minds because the town pays for the band to come. The music was a mix of spanish and english tunes that they sung the words in spanish. So the band plays for about two hours then takes a break, so eveyone heads to dinner to return at 12:30am. After about and hour or so they then take another break until about 2:30/3:00am. So if I recall we headed home about 6:30am. Joe also found out that cheap wine gives you a headache the next morning. Also that europeans smoke too much.

Day 5 - Tours to Granon

Nothing of real interest here just lots of driving. I will say the toll roads in France are crazy expensive. One section was about 27 Euros the other 20 something as well. We did stop for lunch/dinner in Biarritz France. Very close to the boarder with spain, suppose to be known for its sandy beaches. For me the fact that there are these huge rock bolder cliff things with beaches in between was diffrent. There were waves that some people were trying to surf, I say trying becuase they sure didnt stay up for long if they even did stand up. After leaving France as we went into spain we hit a traffic jam.. complete stand still some car somehow went behind some construction baricades and was smashed up. Joe found it interesting because somehow the car lost its motor. So we roll into my moms town around 9pm. No one knew we were comming because we were not suppose to arrive until the next day. Note someting odd about europe is the sun was just setting at the time we rolled in so it really wasnt too late. Anyway so we go to one aunts house and no ones there. Oh no you would normally think but not in this town, here you do this.. you first check the others aunts house, on the way you cover half the town and two of the three bars, still no luck as the old ladies sitting in the corner and they will point the way to someone you are related to. So anyway to make a long story short we found my aunts. So this is wear i narate for joe.. we meet my cousins and second cousins and ate dinner. Everyone eats eggs at about 10:30pm. We found out that monday would be a big procession in honor of the patron saint of the towns second church, and that one of my 2nd cousins would be dancing (her & 10 guys).