Our new office








Extremadura sunset









View on our walk













Plaza Mayor, Salamanca, at night













Martin and his tapas













The gang watching football Spanish style















The cafes in the Plaza Mayor get ready for the game









Martin and his chocolate con churros











The lovely Marisol and that cat!

Salamanca

So, a bit more about Salamanca...


...we went there for 5 day Spanish course. Martin got 1-1 tuition while Kara was in a class with only 5 others. We had opted for "home stay" accommodation which turned out to be awesome...
...Home cooked food everyday, made for us by our "Spanish mother", Marisol. You can see the paella photo. This was cooked in a friend's garden as they had the paella BBQ thing. Ahhh. The most perfect paella in the world, washed down with homemade sangria, followed by ice-cream and some pastries. Marisol is a goddess.



We had to adapt to the Spanish way of life. This was our timetable:

10.00-14.00 Lessons with short breaks in between

14.00 ish Lunch with the two other students staying at Marisol - always 3 courses

15.00ish Siesta

20.00 Take a stroll, head out for football match watching with fellow students

21.00 Dinner (a light meal, only 2 courses!)

23.00-24.00 Bed



We kind of had to adapt it a bit though as Kara has some work to do and we both had homework. It was kind of strange to be up so late and eating all the meals so late, but the siesta felt good!



Well, we were meant to leave Salamanca on Friday when school ended but we extended our stay by one night...that was when our "routine" went out the window...



Things that happened to us that evening / night:

• we began with a stroll round this beautiful city, stopping at a chocolateria (shop totally dedicated to drinks, cakes and sweets that are chocolate) for chocolate con churros and a cold chocolate drink. Stuff to die for. Did a bit of people watching from our street side table.
• watched Spain beat Chile, while sat outside a bar with our fellow students. Much Spanish partying ensued.
• Went for tapas just off the main square. Was awesome. Martin has decided that now he is almost 31 he would rather pay £3.50 for half a pint and 3 tapas than one pint.
• Then it got..."interesting"....
• We spent half the night being accosted by a crazy Irish girl, whose trick was to walk up to people and say "I want that". Things she wanted included Kara's breasts, Martin's beer, and the drink any of the guys in our gang were drinking.
• Fortunately Martin is older, mature and immune to fluttering eye lashes and pouty lips. She looked a bit shocked when he refused to let go of his beer and said "The bar's over there".
• Alas, some of our companions were young and impressionable (16 year old Swedish students - all together now - ahhhh!)
• Then, we saw our first fight of the night... guess who was in the middle of it...yes, pouty, crazy Irish chick...
• Then we saw our second fight of the night. Or rather, Martin walked out of the gents to find himself in the middle of the 2nd fight of the night. Fortunately it turns out that the Spainards are less inclined to bottle random passers by when there is a 6ft blonde chap grabbing them from behind...
• Then we all noticed that the 17 year old Swedish student (brother of the 16 year old) was missing...big stress. Some of us went to look for him and found him quite happily in another club. We learnt the Swedish for "Where the hell have you been?"
• So, Martin, Hamish (top top semi Scottish bloke) and I chose to move on from the scene of craziness...and we ended up in a hip hop club.
• Witness this: the white German 21 year old and the Danish chap, grinding away next to some very rythmic black-US students...yeah, it was as painful as you're thinking...we really hate to confirm stereotypes but...

So, as we are old and had to be out of our room by 11am, we chose to leave early (at 2.30) saying fond farewells to our lovely fellow students, all of whom we hope to meet again. European guys don't go in for the manly handshakes any more - straight into the man hugs. Martin was perturbed.

Luckily the cat woke us up in the morning...

Extremadura

A region not often visited by Brits as it is bloody far away and not by the sea. You have to drive to get here.

Hot, dry and beautiful in a kind of "sit by your tent drinking cool drinks and don't think about moving" kind of way. Plus it does a nice sideline in evening thunder and lightening storms while still being crazily hot.

We came here to hike and were warned to get up early to do so. We've done one walk so far, which was great when we began at 9am but a bit toasty when we finished it at 12.

This area, Parque Nacional De Monfrague, is bird heaven - eagles, vultures, and lots of bloody annoying rose coloured magpies that harrass us near our tent. Oh, okay, they are pretty and quite cute so we forgive them.

You may have noticed the word..tent. Yes, we are camping! In a borrowed tent (thank you Steve Mc!) we have a veritable palace. We even got a little outdoor office going yesterday for both of us to do some work from...

Thursday... the epic journey to Lecce, Italy begins. Over 1500 miles, the width of Spain and France and the length of Italy...why are we going there? Because a bloke called Nicolo we met in a hostel in Argentina is from there and told us to come visit...why not ey?

Spanish Photos!

The beach we went to on one of our few fine days in Cantabria. Errr, this is the only photo of that week we can get hold of right now. Cute photos of the family Stanford to follow...

The main square in Salamanca. Georgeous.

Salamanca's two cathedrals. Why are there two cathedrals next to each other? Kara knows, but she has too much Spanish homework to be writing blog updates.

Our host Marisol, and her amazing paella

Main square again at early evening. Buzzing.

Viva Espana!

So, we left the baguettes of France to head over the Pyrenees to the Basque Country. With Rob, Emma and Jenny, we had a great night in San Sebastian, doing a bar crawl eating "pinxos" (tapas). There are many bars that serve pinxos - we chose ones that had large hams hanging up in them.

Some tips for people who are choosing to visit foreign cities:
1) Check the location of your hotel. Is it near the local football stadium?
2) Check if the local football team is playing that evening
3) If they are, try to avoid timing your arrival at the hotel 30 minutes before the match begins
4) Perhaps find out if it is an important match, such as one that would get the local team promoted from the second division to the first...
5) When the local team wins and get promoted, sit back and ejoy watching people of all ages celebrating in bars and cafes across the city.

Cantabria
So, saying au revoir to Rob, Emma, and the tapas munching baby (turns out 6 months old like calamari too), we left El Pais Vasco (Basque Country) and their love of words with the letter "x" in them and headed to Cantabria to meet Martin's brother and his family.

Unfortunately their arrival coincided with the worst flooding that area has seen for years. Great. The Stanford "very unusual weather for this time of year" curse struck again!

However, we made the most of it, going to a (partially flooded) zoo to meet a parrot who said "Hola", visiting beautiful medieval villages, and eating nice food (mostly - did manage to have the worst meal out in our year away).

Luckily the weather perked up so - vamos a la playa! Yes, we got to the beach! Our first true sunshine and beach since Australia. It was a bit of a novelty to be able to go in the sea without fearing you'd be attacked by the crocodile riding a shark waving a jelly fish monster.

What next? Well, we thought we should actually achieve something on this year out... so, we're now in the Castilla y Leon region (our third in Spain so far!) in the AMAZING old city of Salamanca on a Spanish course.

Things we have done:

• had the shock of going back to school but on a Spanish timetable ie lessons from 10-14.00
• get used to living the Spanish way as we opted for the "stay with a Spanish person" accommodation. This means sweet stuff for breakfast, large lunch at 2.30 (!!!), siesta (everything closes from 2 - 5), then light dinner at...9...!!!
• wandered round the city last night when Spain was playing Honduras. It's ragingly hot here, so all the plazas (squares) have tables and chairs outside. Last night these were all facing the same way - towards tv screens, either in the bar windows or hooked up outside. It was pretty cool - lots of flags, lots of dressing up... and when Spain scored their two goals, lots of singing of "Viva Espana!".
• a guided tour (in Spanish!) of the city. We cannot tell you enough how beautiful it is - if you like history, if you like lovely buildings and shady gardens and tiny squares with cafes on, this is the place for you...

The other BIG and important thing is that we have met a cat more annoying than Kit and Nicky's. We thought Ripley was noisy with her constant squawking at you but the lady we are staying with, Marie Sol, has a cat called Buffy. This animal LIES IN WAIT so that when you get up in the morning she hears and stands outside your door squawking. This racket continues until you feed her.

Oh, and Marie Sol is convinced Martin needs double the amount of food I eat so he is on BIG portions. She's very tiny, sweet and energetic and so Spanish.

LOVE IT OUT HERE!

Photos

Forgot to put this in yesterday.Yes, we were surprised when we saw it too.


lycra and nerves. Not a good combination.


village of Sers


Us looking outdoorsy


Rob and Jenny


He looks in shock...


At one point we had to all leap off the road as a local farmer was doing his annual "move the cows from the bottom of the valley to the top of the valley".


The village of Bareges, where Rob, Em and Jenny live


You're never too young for fresh air and a cuddle with your mummy


Stunning.

Hangin' in the Pyrenees

So, for those of you that don't know, our mates Rob and Emma (who have a baby - Jenny- they always were fashionable) have a great walking and adventure holiday in the Pyrenees. http://www.mountainbug.com/ How could we not come see them?

Because one of Team Stanford gets sea sick (this sounds familiar - ferry to Korea anyone?) we chose the cheapest and shortest ferry crossing - Dover to Dunkirk. Great for visiting Belgium, less good for the French Pyrenees. Still nothing that a 700 mile drive can't cure.

Interesting things that happened on our drive:

• we navigated the ring roads round Paris successfully and with our marriage in tact. This is no mean feat as the road network is like someone made the M25 out of scrabble tiles then shook the board. A lot. There is NO ring road.
• we found THE cheapest hotel chain in the world. So cheap, they didn't have a receptionist (you put your credit card in and got a room number and a door code).
• we were so cheap we ate our own breakfast cereal and made luke warm coffee from the flask of water we'd brought from Kara's parents (French cuisine at its finest)
• we did highspeed manoevring in order to avoid a family of ducks crossing the autoroute.The mother seemed very flustered and the chicks were all following her. We suspect they are all dead now. Very upsetting...
• ...but our minds were instantly diverted by the man driving along the autoroute with a rhino. Yes. A full size rhino sticking out the back of his white van. Was it real? Was it alive? We don't know. It looked real but the rational part of our brains want to believe that not even the French transport exotic animals via white van.
• stunning scenery - as you'd expect when you drive through the Dordogne
• mad drivers - as you'd expect when in France

So we finally got to Rob and Emma's and were put straight to work helping get dinner ready and serve it up to their guests. This effort has been totally rewarded by spending time with our friends and their newest team member (and getting to eat said food - fantastic) and seeing some of the Pyrenees.

Stuff we have done:

• walked round a mountain lake up to another lake then to a balancing stone. There were no paths.
• went to a refuge for hot chocolate
• did a 12km walk along their valley, passing through little quaint villages, and a pub. Beautiful sunshine, blue skies, rain. ????
• Martin took a challenge from their guests. Could he race a 62 year old Aussie woman, by the name of Rae, up the Luz Ardenne, site of a Tour De France finish? After receiving plenty advice on how to protect his virginal crack and borrowing lycra from Rob (tasty) he made it. Rae beat him, but it was a close thing. Kara provided support and had a fun few moments driving down the valley to pick them up in Rob and Em's 4WD.*

*note from Martin. This was over 1000m of ascent at an average of 7% incline. I hadn't ridden a bike for 9 months, have never cycled more than 8 miles, or ridden a racing bike. I thought I did pretty well. Rae cycles all the time and is seriously fit. Incredible woman.

So, on to our next adventures, which will be over the border in Spain...

Back in the Uoooh Kay!

So, we went home for 2 weeks. In no particular order, this is how we spent it:

packunpackpackunpackpackseeparentsseefriendsseeAvatarin3Dat11.45pminLondonsmeetbabymeet
meetbabymeetbabymeetbabyplaywithchildrenmeetbabyplaywithchildren(ourfriendshavebeenbusy)stayatGeorge'sgotopubgoforcurrygofordinneratBen'sdinneratRos'dinneratDana's
practicemakingweddingcakeseeparentsdrinkbeereatmorecurryphonetaxmangetcarinsuredshoutatOrangewho
aremoneygrabbingwankersleaveGeorgewithnotoiletrollplaywithRosieplaywithFinnwalkinMendipswalkinrainhavebusinessmeeting
packunpackpackspend3.5hoursstuckintrafficonM25shopforbridesmaiddressesbeonTubeinrushhourwith
bravemamagoontribalhendoshowerdrivedriveseeM4drivepackgotoDovergetonferry.

Sit down. Relax. Arrive in France and drive for 24hours (with break at world's cheapest hotel - we kid you not).