oct 17--Coullioure

oct 17-- Coullioure
Vicky and Bobby (Sven's best friend from Harvard) and their two girls, six and four, slept in late after traveling from San Francisco to Paris and an all-day train ride to the coast.
At 11:00 the nine of us tromped down to the market and vicky bought some of her favorite foods from when she lived in France--cheese-- mantego and mimolette; sausages--Catalan, olive, fig, Serrano, chili; and bread--whole grain and walnut. I bought two kilos of oysters. Bobby bought some of the local wine. I watched the rowing ten-man, boat races from the beach, out around a buoy 200 yards offshore and back in a thirty knot wind. Parker clad spectators cheered them on.

Back at the house, we snacked on our goodies, turned up the heat in the pool, and the kids played around in it despite the fifty-five degree weather and the persistent wind. I found some lemons on a tree and white grapes on a vine in the backyard.

While the kids warmed up in the bathtub, we poured over guidebooks as everyone wanted to go to Barcelona! Vicky was so nice; she thanked me for getting stuck so they had to an excuse to go to one of their favorite cities. So, the plan is to drive two hours to Barcelona, go to the Gaudi park in the morning and the Rambla in the afternoon before they drop me off at the airport. Whohoo! The French strike just bought me three more days with my grandkids and a bonus trip to Barcelona! That more than makes up for the two hotel rooms that charged me the full room rate in spite of my cancellation.