The Last Hurrah - One Night in Barcelona

July 20, 2013

Barcelona, Spain

After saying farewell to our barge-mates on Saturday morning as we all went our separate ways, we headed for Barcelona, where we would catch our flight home the next day.  We had a stressful ticket-buying experience at the station in Narbonne - the clerk could not get her credit card machine to work and Scott had to run all over town looking for an ATM while fearing we would miss the train - but eventually we arrived at the pleasant, modern station in Figueres de Vilafant, located just over the border in Spain.  Here, we would transfer to a Spanish RENFE train traveling on to Barcelona.  We had planned to have lunch at
the station while we waited for our transfer but were dismayed to discover that the only food available at or near the station was located in a vending machine.

Life on the Waterways (Still Enjoying the Good Life, But Now in France)

July 13 – 19, 2013

Canal du Midi, France

On Saturday afternoon, after a pleasant, high-speed train ride into Narbonne, France, we met up with our traveling party at the small but bustling station.  From there we taxied on to Le Somail where our barge was moored, ready and waiting for us.  It was hot as blazes, with little shade in sight, but we gamely unpacked our bags in our floating accommodations and did some preliminary food and supply shopping in the only shop in town, charmingly located aboard a permanently moored barge.

The Narbonne, our floating home for the week

Enjoying the Good Life in the Spanish Countryside

July 9 - 12, 2013
Can Ferrer, Catalonia, Spain and Around

After brushing off our travel dust, we spent an enjoyable four days relaxing and catching up, in very low-key fashion, with our friends whom we had last seen seven years ago.  It wasn't your typical Spanish vacation, spending sweaty days touring the sights, bemoaning sore feet, tired legs and sunburned shoulders.  As Daniel and Leonne are Dutch, not Spanish, and speak fluent English and we encountered very few people in our countryside wanderings, at times it was easy to forget we were even in Spain.

Off to Europe...Eventually...

July 6 - 8, 2013  
San Francisco International Airport to Barcelona

About three years ago, while we were still living in Albuquerque, our friend Christopher began talking about the European adventure he was dreaming of in celebration of his 50^th birthday.  It began as ‘5 for 50’ as in five months in Europe for his 50^th birthday.  Well, the trip went through many iterations over the years (not the least of which saw five months turn into a mere three), but in the early stages when Christopher mentioned inviting friends we knew that we would be there!

Looking for the 'old' scottandcaroline.com? Here's the link!

Interested in seeing what we were up to between 2004 and 2013?  Click this link:

http://sco3110.ipower.com/archive.html