And in sum...

Ok, I totally intended to be good and post more about our travels. But time got away from me, and it's just not going to happen. A very fast pictorially illustrated summary. During our time in Spain we went to Carcassonne.



Spent lots of time on boats.





(Kitchener stitching a sock)

Visited the Val de Nuria



and took a funicular to the top.



Went to Barcelona for the day on a date with just my sweetie. No munchkins.



Visited the local cathedral in Castello de Empuries, which dates from the 14th Century.



Visited the Fortress of Roses, which managed to compress almost of all of Spain's history into less than 3 square kilometers. Definite must see if you're in the area.



Had a few date nights with just my Mister, thanks to the generous babysitting of the in-laws. We went to Roses, which is where you'll find El Bulli. We strolled the pedestrian area and ate in a restaurant that was filled with just native Catalan speakers for three dates in a row.



And ate LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of chocolate croissants. Oh, they were divine. Best chocolate croissants ever. Seriously.



Once we landed in mid-October, we had six weeks at home. During which we bought a new house. Whirlwind much? Yeah. I'm still catching my breath.

In December, we flew to Toronto for the holidays. After an epic New Year's party at a good friend's house (I haven't passed out during a party and then woken up and rejoined the party at 3 am in a looooong time), the Mister and I flew to Maui. For his work, and also to celebrate our ten year anniversary.



It was pretty. But a definite once in a lifetime place to visit.

And now?

I'm elbow deep in renovations. We gutted the master bathroom, ripped out the carpet, painted every room in the house, and we carved out an office for the Mister in the basement. And we're still not finished. Phew. But I think that it'll be worth it. Want to meet my new neighbors?



A very small herd of deer.

In the immortal words of Ferris Bueller - Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. Myself, I intend to go mad quite happily in the new house. I'll be the crazy lady sitting on her dock, playing her cello to the birds and bees. How've you all been?

Dali is weird.

Another direct quote from Mr. Munchkin.

One of the very few days that there was rain (and it stayed mostly on the Plain, while we were in Spain - sorry, couldn't resist), we decided to go to Figueres and visit the Theatre-Museum Dali.

It was the theatre in Dali's hometown. He and his wife bought it after it had been turned into ruins during the Spanish Civil War, and they turned it into a museum to house some of Dali's works. And Dali, too ... eventually. His tomb is in the basement, surrounded by incredible jewels of Dali's design.



The outside of the building is covered in what looks like little golden nuggets. But it turns out that they are supposed to be the local meat pies. Yeah. It gets weirder.

The place is covered in HUGE murals, filled with installations specifically made for the museum, and the sounds of Dali's clanking, unfolding, mechanical pieces fill the air.



While I thoroughly enjoyed myself (and spent more than a few euros just to see the coin operated mechanical pieces unfold) ... I think that it was eventually too much sensory overload for everyone. Eventually, we escaped back into the rain, and ran away from the headless dolls and tortured sculptures that lurched over the balconies of the Museum.

The town of Figueres is charmingly decrepit...but even that wasn't enough to erase some of the nightmare images conjured up by Dali.



In the end, I watched the storm clouds roll away at the end of the day, while perched on the balcony. Perfect antidote to the too much-i-ness of Dali.

Sand between my toes...

On the Costa Brava of Spain.

We spent a month of total decadence in Spain. It was ... heavenly. Most of the days blended together in a haze of good food, cheap Cava and lots of swimming in the pool. Our daily routine mostly went something like this: homeschooling Mr. Munchkin in the morning, followed by escapades in the afternoon. I'll be showing you some of the highlights in the next few posts.

One of the first adventures was trekking down to some local Roman era ruins in Empuries. (Geeky factoid - the Spanish highway that we travelled on was the II. It still retains part of its Roman name - the II Augusta - as it was one of the primary roads to Ancient Rome.)



The town started as a Greek/Eutruscan trading port, and then the Romans took over and really built the city into a major stop on the Roman highway. It was fascinating seeing the construction techniques that the Greeks used initially. As you continue walking further through the site, you get to see how the Romans later dramatically improved on the Greek techniques.

There's only about 1/5th of the city that's been uncovered. And since the site isn't swarming with tourists, many of the original mosaics have simply been left where they were found. And you can walk right up to most of them.



There were three domus (houses) that were fully uncovered in the Roman town. Here's my favourite. The mosaic floor on the left is a HUGE banquet room. Since the site was only minimally cordoned off, we were able to walk around the house (except on the mosaics), and were left alone to dream a little.



Apart from a forum, arena and the requisite baths, there was also a small museum housing some of the finds from the digsite.





The top picture is of a very detailed mosaic showing the sacrifice of Iphigenia. I found the bronze bust of the woman to be particularly interesting, as its eyes follow you as you walk around. I didn't get a picture of the magnificent marble statue of Aesculapius, but here's a link. He was the patron god of the town, and there's a replica statute standing in the remains of his temple in the city.

And the best part of the day?

Moonrise on the beach afterwards.

LEGO!!!!

Or to be more precise, Legoland.



This part of the trip was notable for two reasons.

One, we car camped. And it was AWESOME. I may have to "acquire" a VW camper just for this purpose. Never done it before, will definitely do it again.

Two, it's FREAKIN' LEGOLAND.



First roller coaster ever for Mr. Munchkin. And his very own Driver's License.



Lego pony ride for Miss E. (See this ride? I took her on it 23 times in a row. And there were squawking German marionettes everywhere. Never say that I don't love my kids.)



Two days was not enough, I could have stayed for a week. But the siren call of Spain's Costa Brava was whispering in my ear...

Yadda yadda yadda...

Ok, last little bit of Iceland. Glacier fields are fun, as long as you keep the toddler away from the mile deep crevasses.



and reconstructed longboats are even better.



And that's about it. (Yes, even I'm getting bored with all the stunning scenery. Time to move on.)

Germany was much the same old, same old.

Castles.



This one's haunted! And for good measure, had a display of chastity belts



weaponry and seige engines.



Hokey but fun.

Here's Mr. Munchin's journal entry for the day: (Direct quote, I swear.)

August 25

I woke up and ate breakfast. Then we went to a castle called Burg Berwatstein. The knights became robbers. We went around the castle. For lunch I had scrambled eggs.

The fact that we drove from Germany to France to have lunch was totally lost on him.



The Alsace region may just be my favourite part of France. Ever. Especially because they're the ones who invented flammkuchen. Yum.

Oh, we also went to a few medieval/Celtic festivals. Guess you're wondering how the Viking costumes turned out?



and



No pictures of me, as I refused to wear mine out of fear of death of heatstroke. I kid you not. UN retrospect, I should have used matching coloured thread in my serger. I had no idea that the seams would show up as often as they did. But I'll know better for next time.

Landmannalagur.

Try saying that three times fast. Landmannalagur is a vast hiking area in the middle of Iceland. You NEED a 4x4 to get to it - there are several rivers/streams to ford before you even get to the hiking trails. Even before you arrive at the campsite, you will see:



A lake in a volcanic crater



and deserts of volcanic sand whipped into weird formations by the wind (please tell me that I'm not the only one who sees the figure of a man carved into the hillside).

Base camp is very picturesque, and fairly crowded by eager campers.



From here, there are many hiking trails to try, but we decided on something low-key, seeing as there was no way in hell that we were taking Miss E's stroller along. So, headlong we plunged into the lava fields.



The mountains in this area are the strangest colours.



It's just a very very odd place. Filled with obsidian boulders, sulphuric vents



and very NON-TODDLER-FRIENDLY terrain. Seriously, we were lucky that we made it out of there with only three scraped knees, one sprained ankle and some tears.

Yeah.

But other than that, I'd go there again in a heartbeat.

Longhouse!

As I was saying. We also went to see more waterfalls...



This one is called Háifoss (High Waterfall), and it plunges into this massive crevasse. The walk down is a little treacherous, especially because of the very strong winds that threaten to throw you over the edge of the cliff. I know it doesn't look like much, but when you're crawling on your belly just to peek over the edge, the sheer drop becomes much more apparent. On the way back to the cottage from Haifoss, we stopped at the reconstructed longhouse at Þjóðveldisbær.





Inside is surprisingly warm and cozy, and the platforms on each side were inviting if lacking in privacy. I can see how Vikings gained their notoriously liberal sexual reputations, as there's just no where else to go when the birds and bees start knocking boots. I mean, there's a dairy/pantry(where the HUGE buckets of skyr were kept),



the women's room (for weaving, spinning and gossip), and the toilet. That's it. The only people who get their own private room are the owner and his wife. They get a closet to sleep in.



Needless to say, this is going to impact the sex scenes in my book. Not that I'm complaining about having to revisit that part, but...y'know. I'm lazy.

The only other building on the grounds was a tiny little church.



After that, back to the cottage for more soaking. And ice cream.

Get this - the ice cream truck drives right up to your front door. Not at the end of the driveway. Right to the front door. So, you buy ice cream and then go and then go and sit in the hot pot while you eat said ice cream. In addition, it may be just the most perfect, fresh and delicious (remarkably free of preservatives or additives) ice cream you'll ever eat in your life.

God, I love Iceland.