Up at seven thirty. We take our time at breakfast, thinking we might skip lunch today. We don’t dawdle though, because we have an appointment at ten. I take the wheel for a change, our first stop is Avenay-Val-d’Or, a fifteen minute drive. The villages here are quite old, with narrow streets and confusing intersections,… Continue reading Champagne – part 2
We slept in a gîte, a rented appartment belonging to the champagne supplier we visited yesterday, so there’s no breakfast. We don’t mind, we’ve had such copious amounts of food the last days that we’re happy to take a break. We skip breakfast, leave the key in the lock box and set off north. Champagne… Continue reading Champagne – part 1
Up at seven, breakfast at eight, they have - aside of the normal offerings - really delicious cookies. We’ve been keeping an eye on the news, the storm Ciarán is expected to do its worst today, with high winds, strong gusts of wind and rain squalls. My mom was house sitting (or cat sitting, more… Continue reading Driving through Ciarán
We’re coming to the end of our Spanish holiday, so today’s goal is simple: get to Tours in France. We take our time with breakfast, because lunch will be highway food, which is not often appetising.. It’s been raining the whole night and morning, fortunately our car is parked inside and we can pack up… Continue reading A rainy ride to Tours
Only one plan for today, in some ways the culmination of our gastronomic adventure here in Spain: lunch at Arzak. We have breakfast a bit earlier, then find an activity both relaxing and conducive to working up an appetite. We park in the center of Donostía-San Sebastian. If you’ve been wondering why I don’t write… Continue reading Idle, eat, idle
The alarm goes off at eight. It’s already light outside, it looks like it’s going to be a sunny day. We take our time at the breakfast buffet and then try to make up our mind about what to do, there’s a lot of options, but also quite a few things we’ve seen already. In… Continue reading Moutains and sea
Only one thing on the plan for today: lunch at Mugaritz near Donostia-San Sebastian, a restaurant famous for its experimental style. We’d just gotten used to Spanish hours, but early this morning we switched to winter time, so three pm became two pm and we get up at eight, which is actually nine? Or something?… Continue reading A challenging meal
I’m up at all hours in the night, but around nine I feel steady enough to leave the hotel room. I sip ginger tea, gingerly, while Arne has breakfast. We scroll through Google maps to find a quiet activity or two on the road to our next destination. We give the mountains a final wave… Continue reading A quiet drive
Up eight, breakfast at nine. Breakfast is served in the veranda, first the usual meats, cheeses and fruit arrangement, with homemade yoghurt and local honey, then a choice of warm dishes, of which I select the pancakes. Delicious. It should be dry today, but we’re in the mountains, so we pack rain jackets and put… Continue reading Anboto mountain
Up at eight, breakfast at nine, packed and ready to go around ten or so. We have a lunch reservation at the restaurant Txispa (pronounced tsjispa - it means spark) in the tiny village of Axpe-Atxondo, about a ninety minute drive from here. We were politely informed by mail that we should arrive between 13:20… Continue reading Basque-Japanese cuisine
Up at eight, breakfast at nine, away by ten, we’ve finally acclimated to Spanish time. We plan to spend the whole day at Cabárceno, officially called Parque de la Naturaleza Cabárceno, which we have visited on our first trip to Spain in 2008 and always wanted to see again. It’s situated in a green valley… Continue reading Cabárceno
It’s a bit weird to start a daily post with yesterday’s dinner, but what can you do when dinner time starts only at eight thirty.. We have dinner in the hotel restaurant, where we’re the only customers until another guest walks in around ten. The waitress speaks English and they even have an English menu… Continue reading Unexpected pleasures
We had a delicious dinner yesterday, as typical of the region it started late but was very quick, with the glasses of wine delivered immediately after ordering and food not ten minutes after. I had the trout (local style, which includes ham) and Arne octopus. We made an effort to stay up a bit, but… Continue reading El Monasterio de Piedra
I wake up before the alarm at seven, so I grab my tablet and browse for new books, it’s a weekly struggle, even though I always read at least one old book before I buy a new one.. I decide to read an old favourite again: The Hob’s Bargain by Patricia Briggs. We have breakfast… Continue reading To Spain
It’s an odd start for a holiday, we had planned to get organised and packed yesterday afternoon and evening, but Arne’s come down with a viral infection and spent all Friday in the couch. I’ve at least managed to get the laundry done and some of the specific stuff like camera equipment, shoes, finalising the… Continue reading To France
It's a wash and repeat of yesterday, except this time we'll be walk all over Basel center - as opposed to the Klein Basel neighborhood yesterday. Up at seven, breakfast in the bakery at the mall, hop on the tram and start walking at nine. First we explore the area around the Bahnhoff SBB, which… Continue reading More modern architecture
I sleep all the way to my alarm at seven! It's a pretty quiet room and we have air-conditioning, that makes a difference. It's supposed to be a pretty hot day, so we dress coolly. We have a quick look at the car and then we set out on our morning architecture tour. The city… Continue reading Modern and old
I wake up around six, a bit early but that's okay, we have a lot to do this morning! We first pack up mom's trekking gear, which we won't need again until I drop her off at home, and stuff that in the trunk of the car. Next we drag the bike rack and bike… Continue reading To Basel
No rush this morning, we're planning to visit the fort Castello Sforzesco and it opens only at ten. We're up before seven, have some leftover olive bread and meats/cheeses from yesterday. I try the Ethiopia blend of coffee this morning and I like it a bit better than the Cioccolatino, less bitter. I still don't… Continue reading Castello Sforzesco
Since the planning committee found out yesterday that the duomo is closed on Wednesday, it's a must do this morning. We have tickets for the fast track elevator at 10, a gastronomical lunch reservation at 12:30 and no set plans for afterwards. We get up around seven and walk to the Esselunga supermarket for breakfast… Continue reading A bit of everything
Up at seven! More accurately: alarm at seven, but up at six thirty! The thunder and rain have continued through the night, but right now it's more or less dry. We walk to a bakery half a kilometer away, in the hope that it's open and that it has something that we might consider breakfast.… Continue reading Working around the weather
Febe writes 