France

Shawn is on a quest to find the perfect French pastry. His method, however, is flawed. He keeps going in to bakeries, looking at the choices, and leaving. He says he will know it when he sees it. Today Baylie & I decided on a different strategy; we will know it when we TASTE it. So now we buy one and all sample. It's working out quite well!
We do have a new food related rule: Shawn is not allowed to choose cheese. Cheese & crackers are a major staple for us, but the grocery stores haven't had much we recognize. In fact crackers have been completely nonexistent in both Spain & France. We have had to make due with little crusty/crunchy pieces of bread. Anyway, Shawn was in charge of cheese. He says he didn't notice the goat on the picture. The runny, sort of slimy goo was not good.
Baylie noticed today that the long, skinny baguette of French bread in its little half wrapper is quite the fashion accessory. She was happy to carry one around like everyone else as we strolled through town.

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We have had all kinds of luck today. We had no idea what time the bus would run to take us to the train, but we got to the stop as it was arriving. The next one would not have come for over an hour. We had no idea what time the train would leave for Nice, but when I bought the tickets it turns out we barely made it. We raced to the platform and pulled away. I had been emailing with a guy about an apartment we saw listed on Craigslist and he was waiting for us when we arrived. This place is GORGEOUS!! A beautiful apartment, modern building with antique furnishings, right on the beach. Stunning view...I am in love! I will definitely need to remember this good fortune when we have a day where everything goes wrong! Now off to the market so we can eat dinner on our terrace as we look at this amazing blue water.

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We meant to stay in Montpellier as a stop-over on our way to Nice, but as it turned out our hotel is in a suburb a LONG way from town. Shawn was up for some hiking so he set off this morning, but Baylie is fighting a little cold and wanted to nap & sit by the pool. At the pool we met the nicest group of people! They live near Paris and are on their way to Barcelona. Since they had a car they weren't trapped out here at the hotel and they invited us along for a meal in town. What a fun afternoon! Thank you so much for letting a couple of Americans tag along and for helping us with the menu! We never would have seen that great little beach town without you and the boat jousting competition was the perfect ending! Enjoy Barcelona