7-2
It’s funny how language works. Even when you know someone doesn’t speak your language, you keep talking to them in hopes that something will get through. And they do the same to you. Maybe just standing there without saying a thing is too awkward. This is the way our day started in a French boulangerie just outside of Geneva. In the end we successfully ordered juice, croissants, donuts and coffee but we got raspberries instead of strawberries. Oh well.

Now we are in Alps territory and it is stunning. Jagged green peaks and lush green trees. Grazing horses and cows. A-frame chalets. After an hour or so we reached Lake Geneva, which reminded us a little of Tahoe, but with water a striking aquamarine color. This must be due to the glacier melt-off. We traveled to the far side of the lake to visit the most famous castle in Switzerland, Chateau Chillon. Chillon was first built around the year 1,000 and was added onto many times over the years. It’s positioned strategically on a llitte island on the edge of the lake and its many towers seem to rise out of the water. The reason I wanted to see the castle was because of the literary connection. In the summer of 1816 the English poets Percy Shelley and Lord Byron visited here and were inspired to write several well-known pieces, one based on the gloomy castle dungeon. They stayed in a nearby village and created quite a stir with their bohemian lifestyle and support of “free love” and aethism. Shelley’s lover and soon-to-be wife, Mary, wrote “Frankenstein” during their stay. Supposedly Byron challenged the group to write ghost stories one stormy night and Mary, only 19, came up with her tale about a scientist who creates a being from various body parts. It’s still a classic today. And it’s certainly not a stretch of the imagination to see how one could be inspired by this landscape. For me it’s like all the breathtaking places I’ve seen all rolled into one.

It was only a couple of hours to travel from Geneva to our destination: Interlaken. Last time we were here we camped at a picturesque spot called Camping Hobby with a view of the majestic Jungfrau. This time we decided to stay at the campground next door with the same view but also with a pool: the temperatures were in the 90s and weren’t promising to come down anytime soon. The receptionist at our campground, Lazy Rancho, speaks fluent, almost accentless English as well as German and probably French and Spanish too. She was a model of Swiss efficiency, explaining the layout of the campground and all the possible excursions in the area so swiftly and concisely that we were left in a daze. Our main interest was in taking the train to the top of the Jungfrau, a spectacular two-hour journey that takes you right to the top of a glacier. We caught enough of her commentary to learn that if we caught the earliest train, at 6:50 a.m., tickets to the top were only 140 francs compared with 250 for the later trips. Plus we could avoid the crowds, though she did say they limit the number of tickets each day to 5,000 so we should purchase them one day ahead of time. We decided we’d take one day to relax and take the Jungfrau train our second day. 

Setting up a tent in 90+ degree heat is not much fun. Luckily we can do it pretty quickly and we were able to get a site partially in the shade. As usual our fellow campers were from all over Europe as well as the U.S., a fact easily learned by looking at the car license plates and listening to people talk. There were still many vacant sites since it’s not yet August here, when all the Europeans take their vacations.

The kids’ first question when we check in somewhere is, “What is the wifi password?”, not “Where is the pool?” or “Where is the ice cream?” During the trip Miguel has been in touch with lots of friends, some of whom are also traveling in Europe. Just by chance one of his friends from school, Max, happens to be traveling with the Berkeley High Jazz School and tonight they had a performance scheduled in a town 15 minutes away from our campground! We decided we must go. We thoroughly enjoyed the evening and this lucky coincidence. The concert was on the terrace of a hotel’s restaurant and we arrived early to get a good seat. The restaurant specialized in Indian food–at Swiss prices. We easily paid three times as much money for our dinner here as we would have back at home. It was worth it, though, to get such great entertainment after dinner. The Jazz School is well-known, with a long history, and is made up of young musicians not just from Berkeley High but from around the Bay Area. Max plays the bass. There were five trumpets, five saxophones, five trombones, a drum player, a pianist and a flute player. Thomas thought the music sounded messy and lacked a strong melody, which I thought was a pretty accurate description of jazz. In any case, we were mesmerized by their sound. We didn’t get back to the campground until 10:30 and by that time, unlike the Spanish campground, everyone was snug in their tents. It had finally cooled down a bit and we slept well, with the dramatic backdrop of the Jungfrau rising from the valley behind us. 

7-3 – 7-4–I thought the Swiss portion of our trip would include a lot of time for relaxing, but it has turned out to be the busiest part of the trip. There is just so much to do in Interlaken. That, combined with a lack of electrical outlets at the campground, made me miss a few days of blogging. Since I’m writing this as much for myself as for others to read, I’m motivated to record a few details of the last two days. Time seems to be flying by; it’s hard to believe two and a half weeks has passed so quickly. 

Perhaps the one thing I’ve noticed most about Switzerland this time is the number of tourists. There were a lot twenty years ago, but now there are even more. Many today are from China, which is a big change. I’ve never liked crowds much and being in a crowd certainly affects your experience of a place. It’s a little hard to feel the impact of natural beauty when there are dozens of other people around you. The beauty of Switzerland is certainly no secret.

Like most other tourists in Interlaken, we decided to take the train to the top of the Jungfrau. The Interlaken valley is dominated by three mountain peaks, capped by snow and glaciers all year-round. The highest of the peaks is the Jungfrau, at over 11,000 feet tall. You can ride a series of trains from the valley floor to the top, which takes about two hours and will set you back a minimum of $150. Twenty years ago Peter and I took the train to the top and it became one of our favorite memories; we’ve always wanted the kids to see this sight. In order to save money, we took the early train, which left at 7 a.m. The trip did not disappoint. Despite our worries that the Jungfrau glacier might have melted, it was still there. Just like before, the sensation of stepping out into freezing temperatures in the middle of summer was a bit surreal. And the ice tunnels filled with sculptures were still quite impressive. Now they’ve added a cute sculpture of the little squirrel from “Ice Age.” The scenery along the way looked almost too perfect, with lush green mountainsides and pictureque villages. One the way down we got off the train at the village of Gimmelwald to have lunch and we noticed a sign advertising paragliding. We had been watching paragliders descending from the mountain next to our campsite and thought it would be fun. As it turned out they only had two more open spots left for the afternoon. I didn’t have the nerve to try it and Miguel decided to generously give his spot to Dad. So it was Peter and Thomas, off to the ride of their lives! They and two guides caught a ride on a tram high above the village, then strapped themselves into a harness connected to a colorful parachute. They ran off the edge of a hill and caught a thermal that took them up, up and away! Miguel and I waited at the landing spot and saw them descend about an hour later. They both had big smiles on their faces.

Another must-see in Interlaken is the Trummelbach Falls. It is the spot where all three glaciers drain into the valley below. 20,000 liters of water per minute flow through this area. The amazing part is that you can walk right next to the falls–there is a walkway carved through the hillside that takes you. The cold spray was refreshing. We climbed so many stairs that my legs ached for a couple of days after this. 

I hadn’t remembered the food being anything special in Switzerland, but we had some very good meals. Of course we ordered fondue one day and it was quite tasty. Another day we had maybe the best meal of our trip. We each ordered something different. i had raclette, which is a local cheese melted on a skillet with tomatoes, boiled potatoes, and pickles. Thomas had a fried onion-potato dish with bacon and cheese. Miguel had a delicious roasted chicken and Peter had potatoes and sausage. Two nights we ate pasta at our campground to save a little money and dined al fresco at our little camping table and chairs.

In between our excursions we did laundry at the campground, swam in the pool, took a stroll down the little lane behind us that led to a horse pasture, tasted chocolate bars, wrote postcards and read. Thomas is reading a mysterious book on his phone and won’t tell us the title. He says it’s “Harry Potter” but we suspect otherwise. Miguel is making a silly video of us to post on his Instagram site. 

We’re glad we made it back to Switzerland before there are even more tourists or melting glaciers. Peter had an interesting conversation with one of the paragliding guides. He said the glaciers have been receeding and the increase in runoff every spring has been a problem. They have had to create several dams around the villages in the valley so the water doesn’t destroy them. Tomorrow will be another travel day as we head across France back to Spain. We’ll see if we can make it in one day. 

6-30–There’s nothing quite like French pastries. Andy met us at our hotel this morning and led us a few blocks away to the central square in Poitiers where we enjoyed croissants and other goodies with our cafe au lait. Afterwards we walked to the city market where Andy bought some fruit, nuts and cheese for our picnic later in the day. Andy told us the best part of living where he does means he rarely needs to use a car. His studio, the kids’ school and shopping are all a short walk away. After living here so long, Andy recognizes many people in town and stops to say bonjour. The day here was already very hot by noon so we agreed to rest a while and meet again at 4 to see more of the town. 

Poitiers is a picturesque town, filled with many important medieval churches and buildings. Many visitors from Denmark and Great Britian make excursions here and Andy used to lead tour groups for Elderhostel. The town actually dates back to Roman times when there was a large city wall (still partially intact) and a coliseum that held 30,000 people, second in size only to the one in Rome. One of the most important sights here is a low, round stone building that was used as a baptistry. It is the oldest Christian building in France. When the Romans converted to Christianity in the fourth century the bishop in Poitiers used this building to perform mass baptisms. Next door is the town cathedral, which boasts of some of the oldest stained glass in France and the oldest choir stalls. Andy flipped up one of the choir stall seats to see if there was anything unusual carved underneath. Apparently some rogue carvers sometimes added humorous touches in hidden spots. There was nothing though. A short distance away we visited the town museum, which housed many Roman artifacts that have been dug up during building projects. There were beautiful stone statues, delicate glass bowls, etchings and mosiac tile floors. It reminded me of seeing Pompeii many years ago, where the whole city froze in time when a volcano buried it. 

If I come back to France again for any longer period of time I’ll be sure to learn some French. It’s amazing how insecure you feel when you can’t communicate even basic things with people. Fortunately we had Andy to help us most of the time, but the few times he wasn’t around we ran into trouble. It seems like the average person here knows just about as much English as we do French. C’est la vie…

At 7:00 the temperature was still stifling. It seems we have entered a heat wave here. Ugh. After downing two bottles of Perrier at a little cafe while we listened to a a group of American high school students perform some jazz, we headed over to the city park for a picnic. Andy prepared a delicious salad with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, duck, radish and peanuts, tossed with a ginger-soy dressing. We also had fresh cantelope, bread, cheese, wine, bing cherries and ice cream bars for dessert. The kids played frisbee and badminton and we watched other kids frolicking in the fountain and a young couple kissing on the grass. 

Back in our hotel room, we luxuriated in the air conditioning and took cold showers. We listened to the world news for the first time in a week or so and heard about the big heat wave in Europe. Unfortunately the temperatures won’t go down any time soon. The other big story was the Greek debt crisis. Greece is a tiny country. The news reporter said China creates another Greece economically every 26 days! However, Greece is a powerful symbol of European culture. For Greece to leave the European Union would signal a real loss. Pretty soon Peter turned the channel to sports. He’s been away from sports for several weeks so he was pretty excited to watch the women’s World Cup, even though it started at 1 a.m. He stayed up until the game was over at 3. I fell asleep as I do most nights, with a book in my hand. 

7-1–Today was a travel day. We bade farewell to Andy and Poitiers (after more croissants for breakfast) and hit the road for a six-hour drive to Geneva. The first five hours of our trip consisted of the unremarkable, flat farm land of central France. The only sight that caught my attention were the rolls of hay in the fields, which reminded me of the haystack paintings by Van Gough. Finally during the last hour of the trip we crossed into mountainous terrains, with many tunnels and high passes. We were approaching the Alps. 

We made one stop at a gas station / restaurant and filled up on snacks, including our favorite Kinder chocolates. The European rest stops are quite nice, much cleaner and spifier than their American counterparts–with sleek architecture and full-service restaurants. I knew I was in France when I saw a full section in the store of mustards. I bought my dad a gift pack with three types. 

Twenty years ago Peter and I traveled through Europe in a small Renault car and enjoyed sights all the way from Amsterdam to Spain. One of our favorite places was Interlaken, a small town in the middle of two lakes in a Swiss valley. Interlaken is a perfect base camp from which to make many day trips. There are incredible hikes, cute Swiss villages, waterfalls and the famous Jungfrau glacier. In planning this trip, we decided the kids would love this place and taking them would be a good excuse to visit again. 

We couldn’t make it all the way to Interlaken from Poitiers, so we stopped for the night in a town near Geneva. Our hotel here looks like something from a Swiss postcard, with lots of natural wood, a sloping roof, but sigh, no chocolate on our pillows. We broke down and, gasp, went to a McDonald’s for dinner tonight…the kids had noticed one and were begging to go. Just like the rest stop, the McDonald’s was ultra-modern, clean and of course, tasted exactly like the ones at home. The only difference was that my burger was called a “California.” Tomorrow we will drive a short distance to see Chillon castle, where Mary Shelley wrote “Frankenstein” and then we’ll look for a campsite in Interlaken. 

6-27–My fears have been alleviated. Last night we all slept well in our first night in the tent and the kids next door didn’t wake us up too early. Thanks God for air mattresses! The weather here is perfect, with a slight breeze off the ocean, warm sun and no rain in sight.

We set off by about 10:30 for the small town of Tolosa, about a half hour inland, where we heard there were festivities and a family connection (I’ll explain that later). The town was packed with people. In addition to being a market day, as it was Saturday, today was the day of the jovenes (young people). All up and down the narrow streets were groups of kids dressed in matching T-shirts. Apparently these are clubs. There was a band playing in the old town square. We walked a little further and saw a surprising sight–people dressed like giants with scary faces were chasing young children and hitting them with a balloon-like bag. The bag made a huge popping sound on contact but it didn’t look like it hurt very much. Every time one of the giants would approach a group of kids, the kids would squeal with laughter and run away. We learned later that this is a tradition meant to “scare away” bad children from the village but now it continues as a form of entertainment. There were also large giants dressed as royalty and later on they danced through the streets spinning around. We couldn’t figure out how the people inside these enormous costumes could spin so well. More bands with drums and accordians flowed through the streets and people of all ages were enjoying free-flowing beer and vino. We wondered if the tables of beer in the main plaza were just for locals or for everyone. We weren’t brave enough to ask.

Around 1 p.m. we decided to take a little break from Tolosa and drive over the mountains to visit Peter’s ancestral village, Labeaga. We visited once 20 years ago and found that it was a tiny pueblo of about five houses and a few barking dogs. Probably it hadn’t changed much. The drive itself was a treat. The road was narrow, filled with switchbacks, and around every turn was a beautiful view of lush green forests and fields. We passed several fields of grazing horses and cows, everything looking like a postcard. At one point we came to a large plateau, probably created by some receeding glaciars thousands of years ago. Finally after about an hour and a half we descended into the town of Estella, which Peter and I stayed in 20 years ago, and we stopped to have lunch. We asked some old men in the bar if they knew where Labeaga was and they laughed: “It’s close to here,” they said, “as long as everyone hasn’t died yet.” Indeed, the town was only about five minutes away and still had the same five houses and barking dogs. We got out briefly to take a few requisite photos in front of the large sign with our last name. One man peered out of his house to examine us, but he didn’t approach us. His dog barked. Other than that the town was quiet and tranquil, surrounded by fields of softly blowing wheat. The closest large city is Pamplona, home of the famous running of the bulls but probably no one who visits Pamplona ever makes it this far. Twenty years ago we saw the running of the bulls and we even met some Labeagas. We weren’t sure exactly how they were related but they were definitely cousins of some sort.

Leaving Labeaga we headed back to Tolosa for a 6 p.m. tour of the Gorrotxategi chocolate museum. Sometime in the late 1700s Peter’s great-great-great-grandfather Jose Antiono Labeaga married into the family of the Gorrotxategis. Since the 1930s the Gorrotxategis have run a famous chocolate company with a store and museum in Tolosa. They sell their line of gourmet chocolates at upscale stores all over Spain. We enjoyed a nice tour of their museum, which had an assortment of old chocolate-making machines, and then sampled some delicious hot chocolate at their shop 

We discovered the Gorrotxategi connection four years ago when researching Peter’s roots. At that time we had only traced the family tree back to his great-great grandfather, Jose Vicente, and we knew he had been an important person in the little town of Urretxu, which is not too far from Tolosa. In fact, his portrait hangs in Urretxu’s town hall because after emigrating to the U.S. sometime in the 1800s, he sent money back to the town yearly to support a school for girls. Four years ago we saw all of Jose Vicente’s letters that accompanied his money, which are carefully archived in the town records. In the letters he recounts his life in the New World in beautiful flowing script. It was amazing to step back in time and see these intimate thoughts from a family member! The town archivist was thrilled to meet us and filled us in on all his knew about the Labeagas, including the connection with the Gorrotxategis. We promised the archivist we’d keep in touch and he would update us on any further discovories.

Our night ended with some tapas with Ana, a friend of our nephew Jake. Ana was Jake’s nanny for three months two years ago, and thanks to Facebook, we easily got in touch with her. We met Ana and her parents and had some delicious croquetas and a couple of cervezas–the end to a very full day.          .  
 
6-28–As I mentioned in an earlier post, campsites in Europe are outfitted with most modern conveniences, like stores, hot showers and restaurants. Most also have laundry facilities. Today we took advantage of the washing machines and did a few loads of laundry. They even had a drier, which most Europeans don’t own at home, and this sped up the process considerably. 

Campsites here are a real melting pot of European culture. There are many Danes, a lot of Spanairds of course, a few Brits and French, and a very few Americans. It’s interesting to walk through the campground and see the variety of tents and campers people use. Some have basic tents like us; others have elaborate RV setups with screened in rooms and sometimes a whole separate little structure for cooking. VW campervans are also very popular. There are a mixture of retirees, families and young backpackers. The day we arrived here was a Friday and the campground was especially full since it was a weekend. When I went to use the bathrrom Friday night it was packed with teenage girls fixing their hair and makeup to go out to town. As I write this now, on Sunday, the mood is much more subdued. Many have packed up to go home. 

We had a choice today between going to San Sebastian, where in the past we’ve had the best tapas in all of Spain, or to a new town we’ve never seen that was recommended by Peter’s cousin Linda. We decided to explore the new town, called Hondarribia. Hondarribia is on the coast right on the border of France and Spain. It is about 20 minutes north of our campground. Besides a beautiful harbor, it has a wall from Roman times and a well-preserved old section. We splurged on a big lunch at a restaurant overlooking the harbor, had some ice cream at an heladeria, and then strolled around the old section. I took a lot of pictures of the quaint, older houses, which looked like something out of a fairytale, and got a lot of grief from the boys. “Put away the camera Mom,” they said.

Back at the campsite, Peter and I took a walk from the campground, which is on a bluff overlooking the ocean, into the town of Zarautz. We got into town around 8:00, the time when many Spainards are out taking their evening stroll. It stays light here until 10:30 so evenings are long and relaxed. We passed by young people and old people, most speaking Basque. The Basque language has experienced somewhat of a resurgence in recent years, and it is the primary language taught in schools here. It is totally unrelated to Spanish or any other language in the world, though it does borrow some words from Spanish. Fortunately all Basque speakers also speak Spanish, so there’s no trouble communicating. We did learn two Basque words while we were here: hello is “caixo” and thank you is eskerrik asko. We had a late night dinner around 10, a huge racion of jamon and a tortilla de bacalao–a fitting last meal as we leave Spain tomorrow for a week in France and Switzerland.                   .

6/25–Today was a day of travel and readjusting to a new place. After a week in Madrid, we packed up and drove to the northern coast, with a short detour to see the university town of Salamanca. The week in Madrid, filled with social gatherings, flew by, especially when I compare it to our stay before, which lasted a whole year. I wish I had more time. But we love the north, with its beautiful beaches, green mountains and wonderful cuisine, so here we are. 

We are fortunate to once again stay in a house instead of a hotel. Our Madrid house exchange family owns a second apartment here in Santander so we have a nice place to stay. It is only about a 15-minute walk to the beach and shops. Our exchange family has relatives here too so we received a nice invitation to their house for dinner tomorrow night. These relatives actually stayed in our house for a few weeks in California the year we were in Madrid. In addition, we saw this family four years ago when we were here before and together in their apartment we watched Spain win the World Cup. That was a memorable night, with dancing and fireworks in the streets until 2 am. At that time, it seemed that everyone in Santander was flying a Spanish flag in their window. The people here said they’d never seen such patriotism. 

Traveling with teenagers, ages 17 and 14, definitely has its challenges and we felt those quite intensely today. Teenagers have opinions, and lots of them. Today, for example, they both complained loudly about having to stop in Salamanca. The stop would add about two hours total to our travel time. Peter and I were interested in seeing Salamanca, which has the oldest university in Spain (established in the 13th century) and the biggest plaza. The boys, though, have little interest in historical sites, and preferred to just get to their destination. They protested and said they would just stay in the car during our stop, which of course was silly. Then, when we sat down to eat our lunch, they insisted they would just sit there while we explored the city. Of course they came with us in the end. As it turned out, we had a lovely lunch and we were able to see the main square, cathedral and university in a short time. We even found the famous astronaut everyone says you must see. It is a tiny astronaut carved into the cathedral facade by an enterprising stoneworker who helped renovate the building 20 years ago. 

Our teenagers’ desire for wifi connections also drives a big part of our agenda. No sooner had we rolled our suitcases into our new house than the boys started searching for wifi. The house had no server so they tried to get on other servers in the area. When that didn’t work they begged us to buy the $10 a day service they found. We broke down (we wanted it too) and they spent the rest of the evening chatting with friends and watching videos. Exploring Santander would have to wait, but it was late anyway. Fortunately I had packed some Top Ramen in our suitcases so we had an instant dinner and didn’t have to go out. 

We heard a little about Miguel’s party last night. He attended the school’s end-of-the-year party and saw many old friends. The funny part was that he didn’t recognize many of the kids. They have changed a lot in four years; most, though, remember him. He was the famous Californiano, the only one they’ve ever met. A lot of them last night asked him to say some things in English just so they could hear a real American accent. Evidently he was swarmed by girls, just like he was four years ago. His friend Gonzalo referred to the girls as “the mafia.” I’m sure Miguel didn’t mind the mafia too much–on the other hand it might have brought back bad memories. Four years ago a girl one grade older than Miguel became obsessed with him. She had an American stepmom and spoke some English so she could communicate with him easily. She pursued him every day on the playground, asking him to be her boyfriend. He kept saying no but got worn down. He didn’t really want a girlfriend but he did like having a friend who spoke English and she was cute. Finally he agreed to be her boyfriend. She monopolized all his time and we were worried he wasn’t making any other friends. Pretty soon we got reports from Miguel’s little brother Thomas that Miguel and his girlfriend were kissing under the stairs during lunch hour. I got more and more worried by the day about this blossoming romance of my almost 13-year-old. I’ll save the rest of the story for another day though. Now it’s late and my goal is to make it to bed before 2 am. One of these days we’ll get on the right time. 

6/26–We woke up to sunny skies in Santander this morning. Evidently we were lucky. We thought it was always nice here but the locals tell us their are many gray, windy days. We are on the “green coast” of Spain after all, where it rains all year round. The terrain looks more like a mini Switzerland than what you would imagine as Spain. We took advantage of the warm weather to go to the beach, which was packed with people by the time we arrived around 1 p.m. The beach here has an elegant feel to it, as it’s lined with a long promenade dotted with restaurant terraces. At the far end of the beach are a few upscale hotels catering to both Spainards and other Europeans. Some cruise ships stop here, including a regular one from England, a 22-hour journey, according to the waiter who served us at lunch. “There are too many English here,” he grumbled. With the warm sun and the sound of the crashing waves, I entered a sort of beta state at the beach. I don’t remember the last time I’ve been so relaxed. After a few hours of sun, we moved to a restaurant terrace for a long comida. I had fried zuchinni for my primer plato and croquettas stuffed with fish and cheese for my segundo. All the lunch specials come with your choice of wine, beer or bottled water. I chose the wine. They also include a dessert, which is usually an ice cream, flan or piece of fresh fruit. I had an orange, which arrived on a little plate with a fork and a knife. I just peeled it with my hands. 

Antonio and Remy, our exchange family’s relatives here, invited us for dinner at their place, which is a snug little townhouse close to the beach. If you live in a townhouse or single-family house here it is called a chalet. If you live in an apartment you refer to the building as an urbanizacion. Almost everyone here lives in an urbanizacion, even in small towns or suburbs. Space here is at a premium compared to the United States. 

Remy had set a beautiful table for us, with pretty china and a lace tablecloth. Three plates of jamon, two plates of cheese and some bread lined the table. Plus there was a bottle of our favorite cava, Juve y Camps. Aproveche! The second course was bonita, tuna, in a mild tomato sace, followed by the famous Regma ice cream. Over dinner we talked about many things. Many Spainards are curious about the American presidential elections and want to know what we think of Hilary Clinton and Jeb Bush. They tell us a little about their political landscape, including the recent elections of many extreme leftist candidates, and the continuing saga of the Catalans who want independence from Spain. We also talk about the prevalance of guns in America and the recent shooting in South Carolina. They ask us if we know anyone who owns a gun. We don’t, but Peter points out that the average American owns several. That means that some people own none and some own a dozen or more. They gasp. As we start dessert Antonio and Remy’s 20-year-old son arrives. He is a beefy rugby player and has just arrived from practice. We are amazed as he quickly downs five pieces of tuna plus some jamon. We all laugh. Between our faltering Spanish and their rudimentary English we can communicate pretty well. We finally get up from the table around midnight. 

Last time we were in this area we visited Los Picos de Europa, a set of jagged, picturesque peaks. We took a tram high up the mountainside, to the peak of Fuente De. Our trusty guidebook go-to, Rick Steves, said there was a marvelous hike down the mountain, so off we went. Unfortunately the hike took several hours longer than advertised. We barely made it back to our car by sunset, which is saying a lot as the sun sets here very late. To motivate the kids we pretended we were on the set of “Man Meets Wild.” Seeing a slimy slug on the ground Peter lifted it to his mouth: “And now, Peter will eat this live slug to increase his protein level.” We got a few annoyed laughs; we were all pretty fried the last hour or so. However, this hike became one of our favorite memories of our whole year in Spain and we were all a little sad we didn’t have the time to do it again this time. 

6-27–Perhaps the only downside to doing a house exchange is having to close up the house at the end of a stay. After only two days in Santander it was time to leave, but we couldn’t just check out. We had to strip our sheets, clean up the kitchen, empty the garbage and turn off the gas. It’s a little extra work, but definitely worth the effort. By mid-morning we were off to the Basque region about two hours north of Santander. 

We received some good news today. Last time we were in Spain we discovered that Peter’s family, whose roots are in the Basque country, has connections to the owners of a gourmet chocolate company. We didn’t have time to visit the company last time but it was high on our agenda as we planned this trip. A year ago some cousins of Peter visited the company and got a great tour of their chocolate museum and even met one of the owners, a very distant relation. Today we called the company and found out that we could get a tour of their museum (explaining the chocolate-making process) on Saturday and even better, the town where they are located would be celebrated their annual saint’s day. There would be a special market and local entertainment. We were very lucky to arrive on this day, the chocolate company representative told us.

Our other big accomplishment today was setting up our tent. At the end of our year here four years ago we left all our camping supplies in a friend’s garage. We weren’t really sure all of our stuff survived intact, but it did. We are camping in a beautiful campground, on some hills overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. You might pay hundreds of dollars for a hotel here at a spot like this but our nightly fee is about $30. 

We got hooked on camping in Europe 20 years ago, before we had kids. Peter and I traveled through Europe for two months and camped to save money. We found it was a great way to travel. The campsites were well-kept and clean, many equipped with stores, restaurants, bathrooms and sometimes swimming pools. Most of the travelers were families from Europe and we felt safe leaving our stuff in our tent while we would spend the day sightseeing in nearby towns. 

We’ll see how well we sleep on the ground tonight. I’m most worried about the fact that next door to us is a British family with two young and rather loud kids who went to bed at 7:30. Just our luck they’ll be up at 6 running around our tent. Ah well, at least we’ll be up into for tomorrow’s market. 

6/25–Today was a day of travel and readjusting to a new place. After a week in Madrid, we packed up and drove to the northern coast, with a short detour to see the university town of Salamanca. The week in Madrid, filled with social gatherings, flew by, especially when I compare it to our stay before, which lasted a whole year. I wish I had more time. But we love the north, with its beautiful beaches, green mountains and wonderful cuisine, so here we are. 

We are fortunate to once again stay in a house instead of a hotel. Our Madrid house exchange family owns a second apartment here in Santander so we have a nice place to stay. It is only about a 15-minute walk to the beach and shops. Our exchange family has relatives here too so we received a nice invitation to their house for dinner tomorrow night. These relatives actually stayed in our house for a few weeks in California the year we were in Madrid. In addition, we saw this family four years ago when we were here before and together in their apartment we watched Spain win the World Cup. That was a memorable night, with dancing and fireworks in the streets until 2 am. At that time, it seemed that everyone in Santander was flying a Spanish flag in their window. The people here said they’d never seen such patriotism. 

Traveling with teenagers, ages 17 and 14, definitely has its challenges and we felt those quite intensely today. Teenagers have opinions, and lots of them. Today, for example, they both complained loudly about having to stop in Salamanca. The stop would add about two hours total to our travel time. Peter and I were interested in seeing Salamanca, which has the oldest university in Spain (established in the 13th century) and the biggest plaza. The boys, though, have little interest in historical sites, and preferred to just get to their destination. They protested and said they would just stay in the car during our stop, which of course was silly. Then, when we sat down to eat our lunch, they insisted they would just sit there while we explored the city. Of course they came with us in the end. As it turned out, we had a lovely lunch and we were able to see the main square, cathedral and university in a short time. We even found the famous astronaut everyone says you must see. It is a tiny astronaut carved into the cathedral facade by an enterprising stoneworker who helped renovate the building 20 years ago. 

Our teenagers’ desire for wifi connections also drives a big part of our agenda. No sooner had we rolled our suitcases into our new house than the boys started searching for wifi. The house had no server so they tried to get on other servers in the area. When that didn’t work they begged us to buy the $10 a day service they found. We broke down (we wanted it too) and they spent the rest of the evening chatting with friends and watching videos. Exploring Santander would have to wait, but it was late anyway. Fortunately I had packed some Top Ramen in our suitcases so we had an instant dinner and didn’t have to go out. 

We heard a little about Miguel’s party last night. He attended the school’s end-of-the-year party and saw many old friends. The funny part was that he didn’t recognize many of the kids. They have changed a lot in four years; most, though, remember him. He was the famous Californiano, the only one they’ve ever met. A lot of them last night asked him to say some things in English just so they could hear a real American accent. Evidently he was swarmed by girls, just like he was four years ago. His friend Gonzalo referred to the girls as “the mafia.” I’m sure Miguel didn’t mind the mafia too much–on the other hand it might have brought back bad memories. Four years ago a girl one grade older than Miguel became obsessed with him. She had an American stepmom and spoke some English so she could communicate with him easily. She pursued him every day on the playground, asking him to be her boyfriend. He kept saying no but got worn down. He didn’t really want a girlfriend but he did like having a friend who spoke English and she was cute. Finally he agreed to be her boyfriend. She monopolized all his time and we were worried he wasn’t making any other friends. Pretty soon we got reports from Miguel’s little brother Thomas that Miguel and his girlfriend were kissing under the stairs during lunch hour. I got more and more worried by the day about this blossoming romance of my almost 13-year-old. I’ll save the rest of the story for another day though. Now it’s late and my goal is to make it to bed before 2 am. One of these days we’ll get on the right time. 

6-24–Ah…today a refreshing rain came to Madrid and cooled us off. The last two days have been really hot and even with the air conditioning the house feels barely tolerable. Last night I was sweating in bed as I tried to fall asleep at 2 am. But the rain changed all that. It is much cooler tonight and the air blowing through windows of our fifth floor bedrooms feels magical.

When we came to Madrid four years ago we arrived on July 8, at the beginning of the hottest time of the year. It can get up to 100 degrees regularly in July and August and it is just about impossible to do anything in the middle of the day. We didn’t really understand this at first and packed our day full of activities. There was so much to see–the parks, the churches, the Royal Palace, the museums. Many of those first afternoons I remember just about dying from heat exhaustion as we walked through Parque Retiro or along the long boulevards of the Grand Via. After every block we would stop and rest and take a swig from our huge 2-liter bottle of water. We hadn’t learned yet the necessity of the siesta. Locals on vacation here get out for a few hours in the morning, rest or have lunch from 1 to 5 and then slowly make their way out for later afternoon/evening activities. Besides avoiding the heat, the siesta allows you to stay up later and take advantage of the long warm nights (the sun doesn’t set until 10:00). In fact the city really comes alive at night. Everyone is out taking a paseo or watching others take one. 

One thing we did understand about the weather four years ago was the necessity to take some breaks and get out of town. We knew being in 100-degree weather week after week would be difficult, so we did what a lot of locals do, go to the coast. In our case that was the northern coast, Santander. This is where our exchange family owns a vacation home and where they escape from Madrid heat each summer. The temperatures here are much cooler, but still warm enough to swim and play at the beach. This time around, we will also go to Santander for a few days and then up to San Sebastian in the Basque Country. 

Today’s highlight of the day was going downtown for churros. We do have churros in the States but they don’t resemble the ones here at all. The churros here, especially those from one of the well-known churrerias, are made to order, and are just the right balance of crispiness on the outside and tenderness on the inside. They are served with extra thick warm chocolate for dipping. After getting our fill of churros, we walked through Plaza Mayor, a beautiful old plaza in the center of town, and then sat down for a jarra of beer and some people watching. Afterwards I attempted to buy some new alpargatas, or espadrilles, at a famous shoe store next to the plaza, but it was swarmed with a tourist group. It’s amazing how much English you hear at this time of year in central Madrid. In contrast, you hear no English in the neighborhood where our exchange family lives. 

Since arriving we’ve satisfied many of our Spanish antejos (cravings). Besides churros, we’ve had Aquarius (a fizzy lemon drink) and Kinderbuenos (chocolate bars). Still on the list are Chupachus (Spanish suckers) and Cola Cao (hot cocoa). We also look forward to going to our neighbhorhood bakery and ordering some pepitos (cream-filled pastries). It’s amazing how many things you find to enjoy when visiting a new place.

During our year abroad we also had many antejos for American treats we couldn’t find here. The top of the list was probably chocolate chip cookies. After that was American cereals (stores here only carry three or four varieties), good Chinese food and good Mexican food. Early on we found The American Store, located in a swanky part of town, which sells high-priced American products. We made several trips during the year and delighted our friends with homemade chocolate chip cookies to celebrate the kids’ birthdays and pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. 

Last night friends Eduardo and Elisa came to dinner at our house and we made them a typical American meal–burritos with all the fixings (I had brought the tortillas and salsa in my suitcase). I think they liked them. We met Eduardo and Elisa because they know our house exchange family and like our exchange family, they also spent a year in Berkeley. (Eduardo is a professor here and taught at UC Berkeley in 2009.) When we arrived in Madrid in 2010, Eduardo took it upon himself to be our personal guide and showed us many things. He even ended up fixing a few things in our house. They are a family with a big heart. One of our favorite memories together is going to see a performance of Mama Mia–all the same tunes, but with Spanish words. After the show was over, we wandered down a side street and happened to pass by the stage door. We saw a group of people huddled around the sidewalk and realized that the performers were leaving. In the confusion of the crowd, several older women rushed at Peter and asked for his autograph and picture! They thought he had been in the show! He was quite flattered; he happens to be an ABBA fanatic. 

Tomorrow we are off to Santander and the northern coast. We will pack up our home exchange family’s SVU with our stuff, including our three bags of camping supplies. We’ll stay in their home in Santander and then camp for several days further north. We look forward to that. You feel like a full-fledged European when you are camping here–there are very few Americans at the camp sites. And it’s a very social activity. The camp sites are like KOA campsites back home–outfitted with pools, stores and restaurants so there are many chances to observe and interact with others. Before leaving on this trip I reread a journal I kept when we camped here 20 years ago and I laughed at my observations of the other campers, the Dutch, the Germans, the Spanish. I’m sure this experience will be just as entertaining. I just hope my older body can endure sleeping on the ground.