October 08, 2012

Fuzzy Balls

Touring the Spanish countryside…oh that sounds nice doesn't it. Somebody pinch me. Life is pretty good. Graham says that you need to have bad times to recognize when things are good. Well do I ever!

I can't tell you how nice it is not to have a long boat job list. The list is short and the items are less mission critical than our previous lists :-). My list consists of things like vacuum under the floor boards, defrost fridge and laundry. Graham's list is a few odds and ends like install wind generator, fix light switch, put up hooks for me and rig up preventer.

So in light of the fact that we are in SPAIN with not many jobs!!! we decided it was time to see the countryside. We rented a car for a few days and off we went. On our list was Santiago, Fragas De Eume and …..IKEA. Lol

Santiago is famous for being the city where the remains of St James (1 of the 12 apostles) was found. People come from all over the world to make a pilgrimage (a long walk) to the end point of Santiago. The city is beautiful and the cathedral is the kind of place you look at with your mouth gaping open.

……ok….I want to be the person who tells you all the history and is informative and interesting…but OMG….seriously it seems that every corner you turn around…there stands yet another awe inspiring building or monument. Totally crazy.

We had fun walking around the city and we had a neat meal in a cafe. Funny thing…we figured out that the menu said it was $2 cheaper to eat inside…so we all pushed in our chairs and made our way inside and crowded around a teeny tiny table only to decide that ….$8 was worth eating outside. LOL…back we all go outside. I am sure the waiter thought…insane Canadians. We ordered the mystery lunch special. 1st course was a potato egg pie, second course was yummy homemade fries and a piece of meat….Amelia made the unfortunate decision of ordering a hamburger and received a fried egg and raw patty…lesson learned. Never order the burger :-). The meal came with a glass of wine or beer and a coffee. Yummy. They had no problem serving Alex a beer. He was happy.

That night we hit IKEA. Turns out that everyone in Spain spends their Friday nights shopping. Total insanity. Traffic and people like crazy. After a long day of touring around it was pretty much the last thing I felt like but Graham, Amelia and I managed to fill our bags with IKEA goodies prior to closing time. It was pretty neat to be able to make our boat more homey with things we recognized. Oh and of course we had to have IKEA meatballs for dinner!


Yesterday we did the day long hike through Fragas De Eume. Gorgeous Spanish forest. The hike was long, uphill and humid hot! There were moments of yelling things like…"Are you sure we are going the right way???" It was really beautiful but omg I am so out of shape. My whole body hurts. shocking to hike and hike and hike and then to come across a really cool huge monastery built into the hillside and you wonder…how the heck did this get here…when I have trouble dragging my butt up here? The ground on the hike was littered with these fuzzy balls with nuts inside which look like hazelnuts. You can just imagine how many jokes and laughs were had about these fuzzy balls. Oh the immature sense of humour we all have.

Today is Thanksgiving and we are making a big meal here on Salty Ginger. We all have a part to do. Unfortunately we forgot about the small oven…so we have had to share oven time and now here it is almost 9pm and dinner is still not ready. but man it will be good once it is done. Chicken, stuffing, potatoes, asparagus, gravy, salad, homemade buns, and homemade cinnamon buns!! yum.

Graham is also downloading the latest episode of The Office as a treat for us to watch tonight…oh and I have a bottle of champagne chilling in the fridge. I have to tell you the bottle looks so pretty with a nice bag on the outside and only $5!!!! Seriously I have still not got over the price of alcohol.

We are all talking and thinking about our Canadian Thanksgiving in Tonga when we rafted up with all our friends. Oh how we miss our cruising friends. For those of you reading, you should know how special you made our trip last time and we think of you all often.

Weather here is looking a bit windy so we will focus on school for the week and then we will be off to Portugal! Enjoying the day.

10 comments:

  1. So jealous when I looked at your pictures today and realized where you are! Santiago is on my bucket list. At some point, when the kids are a bit older, Shane and I are going to walk part of the pilgrimage of the way of Saint James. You must have more pictures. Post them!

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  2. Happy Thanksgiving Perrys. Always pick the patio in life!

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  3. Florence is planning on doing that walk as well, not me, a hike that goes on for weeks is not my thing. Spain does sound wonderful, I am so glad that you guys get to experience it, while you are young. The fuzzy balls by the way also grow on a tree in Tugwood park in Kingston. That is just across the street from my cousin Maryanne. have fun and keep posting pictures.

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    1. what kind of nuts are inside those balls mom? They look like hazel nuts

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    2. That's what I thought of too.

      -Chantelle

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  4. I have been having trouble replying Julie. Hope this works this time. I remember thanksgiving at your place last year. Great meal. I am sure the one on the boat was well worth waiting for. Don't think I would have survived the hike though especially up hill. It was an experience for sure. Keep writing I love to follow. Happy sailing hope the weather stays good on your passage to Portugal. Trese

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    1. awww so nice. I remember thanksgiving with you guys to. I loved sitting on the front step with you all. fyi...thanks for the sweater!

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    2. What? Did Theresa knit you a sweater? Totally jealous!

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    3. What? Did Theresa knit you a sweater? Totally jealous!

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    4. Mom why did you write the same comment two times?

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