A short trip to Spain... Un petit tour en Espagne

Some pictures and comments after our trip to Pays Basque and Spain, a beautiful Region only 5 hours away from Montpellier... The Bernard's Baedeker - Part One

Quelques impressions de voyage (court mais intense...) au Pays basque... à cinq heures de montpellier.

The famous Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the "Mommy" spider of Louise Bourgeois honestly the only thing to see there, but really impressive, even for those who prefer straight angles... Also the cheapest Tapas ever found on the planet : 7 euros for the two of us, in a local pub, excellent and really good, but I could hardly tell you where it was...

Le Guggenheim, vraiment la seule chose à voir à Bilbao, mais ça vaut le coup, même pour un inconditionnel de l'angle droit !

Autre chose quand même : les Tapas les moins chers de toute l'histoire de l'humanité (7 euros à deux, dans un boui boui perdu mais super sympa... pas contre j'aurais bien du mal à retrouver...)

And then, monasteries, medieval cities, bridges, old stones in Aragon and of course more Tapas and good food...

Et pour le reste : monastères, cités médiévales, vieilles pierres et Tapas à tous les étages :

The castle and church of Javier : birth place of Saint Francois Xavier, in the middle of nowhere, although close to Pampelune. Xavier went to Japan in the 16th century to evangelise the natives. Lucky he did not end up as sukiyaki...

La ville de Javier, pres de Pampelune, en pleine cambrousse. C'est de la que Saint Francois est parti évangéliser les Nippons... il a eu de la chance de ne pas finir en sushi...

The monastery of San Salvador de Leyre, there is a very nice hotel there, too bad we did not know that before....

Le monastere de Saint Salvador de Leyre, avec un super hotel mais on ne le savait pas.. dommage car nous sommes alles à 4 km de la dans un hotel banal...

Ochagavia, a beautiful town in the north of Aragon, near the border, a very good restaurant there, but beware of Spanish timetables : they open at 13h30, better take a good breakfast.

Ochagavia, un petit bijou au nord de l'Aragon, super restaurant, mais horaires à la Basque/Espagnole: rien d'ouvert avant 13h30, tant pis pour ceux qui ne prennent pas de petit déj...

A street in SOS DEL REY CATOLICO, a really beautiful place, there was a medieval fair going on , lots of activity, concerts and so on. If you go there, try the Parador, the local 4* hotel, very good and not so expensive..

Une rue du village de SOS del REY CATOLICO, genre "plus beaux villages d'espagne". Si vous être perdus dans ce coin, essayez le Parador, très bon rapport qualité prix...

San Juan de la Pena, another monastery, with the 12th Century section built under a cliff, very impressive. The newer section is 18 th century but completely remodeled with a museum and hotel. A beautiful mix. the Spanish architects are really talented...

Le monastere de Sa Juan de la Pena, un mix d'architectures du 12 eme (bati sous une falaise) du 18 et du 21eme. Un musee et un hotel, tres belle integration, les architectes espagnols sont vraiment doues...

The good use of your kid - Comment rendre son enfant utile

This is how we make our kid earn his food!
Still a lot of work to do in the house.

Voilà comment Antoine gagne sa nourriture.
Encore beaucoup de travail à faire !

Claire

A taste of Provence in Lisbon, Ohio

Rondes de Nice, seeds that I got with Me Ha last March.

Tignes

A few days in the Alpes with the cousins!

Here are some pictures!!

We had a lot of fun, the weather was really great, thanks a lot!

Quelques jours dans les Alpes avec les cousins!

Voilà quelques photos!!

On s'est bien amusé, et le temps était super, merci!!!

Carrot Cake

Would someone please show this to Chi Hai. Ely said she was asking about her Carrot Cake. Looks good!!

Oh no! This may become like the garden pictures. What have I started?

Ely's Interview

I thought everyone might be interested to see some pics of Ely interviewing a gold medal chef.

The pictures did not come out as I would have liked but she will let you know when the piece will air so you can see the entire interview.

Jim

Our garden

our garden, 1m50 on 3m, on the fourth floor, but there is of all: banana tree, canes with sugar, pepper, peppers, beans, tomatos . Little Vietnam in France for BE CHIN (small ninth). Note the small stool made with the bamboo of her house. The bench is made with recovered wood .

Just married ( 1 year after ! )

"Ao Dai Khang Dong"

The 04/05/2007, I left with grandmother to Vietnam, one month after I returned with Be Chin, my wife, it is 19 year old less than me, like dad and mom, and it is of sign DRAGON (Binh Thin) like grandmother. Me I say that it was registered in the sky .

san francisco!

We just returned from touring San Francisco and attending a wedding at a Vineyard...the boys were so good and we had a great time.