Storms around!

We got up, had breakfast and headed back to the walled old town section so that we could get some pictures - since we forgot the camera yesterday.  There was a mist in the air and as we walked around it got a little heavier.
Walking around in the old section right below the castle was interesting - narrow streets and lots of interesting balconies.

Hey, we could buy this one!  This place is for sale!

We made our way up to the castle and walked around in it.  It was very interesting.  Here Guillermo is going up some very tight steps.

Standing by the lighthouse

Peñiscola in the background

A nice view from up on top

The view from the castle looking in the other direction.

And from a slightly different angle.

It was very interesting in this town.  We left around 11am so that we could get to Miguel's house hopefully around 2, but after stopping for lunch, we ended up arriving at his house at around 3pm.  The GPS was fantastic, taking us practically to his front door.  It would have been somewhat difficult to find his place on our own.  So, Miguel's house is very nice and we think we are going to enjoy living here for a while.  The day we arrived and the next day, Sunday, we spent mainly doing things with Miguel and his wife Eva.  They showed us around El Campello, and on Sunday we drove to the seaside town of Benidorm.  That was nice - we went in the evening and walked along the sea wall with what seemed like thousands of other people.  Every meal at Miguel's house was great and always included a great bottle of wine!

We are in Spain

On Friday we drove on from Montelimar, France.  The country side started changing, looking a little more dry and with not so many trees.  It was still pretty, though, and once we got to Spain, we started seeing castles and look-outs on some of the hills in the distance.  It was so interesting and it made us think of what went on around there so many hundreds of years ago.  No highways, no easy way to communicate - that kind of stuff.  Here are a few pictures of some hills with lookouts.
This was the best picture I could get of a castle on a hill in the distance.

And here's one with a castle AND lookouts

There were lots of hills with these kinds of lookouts most of the way along the road.  Around 5pm, we decided we'd better start thinking about where we were going to spend the night.  Guillermo picked out a town along the beach that was coming up named Peñiscola that seemed a good stopping place so we pulled off the road when we got there and stopped at the first hotel that came up.  Although the place looked like it was going to be very expensive, it turned out to be very reasonable, so we gladly took a room there.  Then we decided to drive to the waterfront to walk around a bit and to find a place to have dinner.  Here is a picture of the castle of Peñiscola.

And this is where we had dinner in the evening, at one of the tables right on the edge so we could see the water.

Time to leave for Spain

WE got up really early this morning because we needed to be at the airport by 8 to pick up our rental car.  But it's a good thing we had to get up so early since it gave us a chance to see Martina before she left for work.  We said goodbye to her and a short while later, we hurried to the bus stop.  We took a bus all the way to the airport.  Andrew continued on the bus to where he works (he needed to drop something off there) and we went to the Europe Car rental car desk and took care of the paperwork for our car.

Andrew was soon back with us, the paperwork for the car went fast and we were on our way, using our new GPS, back to Andrew's apartment to pick up our luggage.  We said our goodbyes to Andrew and we were on our way.  It was sad leaving there as we had such a nice time with both of them.

Thank goodness for the GPS, it got us easily through the streets of Basel and out of the city.  Whew!  That was such a relief!  My goodness the country side was beautiful as we drove through Switzerland.  The mountains and the lakes and all the little villages nestled up on the mountain sides were just so picturesque.  Switzerland really is a beautiful country.  We stopped in the town of Orbe for lunch (way too expensive) and shortly after that we crossed into France.   By about 5pm we decided we should look for a hotel, so we got off the toll road at the town of Valance and TRIED to find a hotel there but we just couldn't.  We were glad we had the GPS because we ended up far from the highway down a little old country road and the GPS brought us easily back to the highway.  That was so nice!!!

So, we kept on driving some more once we were back on the highway and decided that the next time we stopped, it wouldn't be such a big city.  And sure enough, when we got to the outskirts of the town of Montelimar, there were hotels right there at the exit, so that turned out way easier.  After getting our room, we drove into Montelimar to get something to eat and we were dismayed to see a big old nuclear power plant on the lake nearby.  The town of Montelimar itself was kind of interesting - it seemed like an ancient city with lots and lots of Sycamore trees lining the downtown streets.  It was a very unique look.

New GPS!!

Today we finally bought a GPS!  We had gone to several electronics stores with Andrew looking at them, and today we finally bought one.  It should serve us well on our drive down to Spain.

So, that's the big thing we did today.  We also went downtown and had lunch at a Mexican restaurant called La Fonda - we went there to compare their food with what Andrew fixed for us the other night.  La Fonda's food certainly wasn't better than Andrew's, but we had to admit that what we ordered (Beef Taquitos, Enchiladas Verdes and Posole) was quite tasty.

Back at the apartment, we did a little packing up and learning how to program the GPS.  For dinner this evening, Andrew fixed a good fish (Pangasius) with spaghetti and broccoli.  I don't remember what the dessert was called, but it looked like spaghetti in a little crust.  It was absolutely delicious.

Monday then Today

We were SUPPOSED to go eat breakfast at a little bakery near Andrew's house but we got up too late.  That is, Guillermo and I got up too late - Andrew was already up waiting for us.  Oh well, as it turns out, when we headed to the airport to change our car rental reservation, we passed by the bakery and it was closed.  Anyway, after changing our reservation at the car rental place, we drove to the downtown area so that Andrew could go to the DMV to get a parking permit so he can park legally close to his house.  We found a parking space close to the DMV but it looked very iffy about being a place to park without getting a ticket.  We told him to go ahead and run inside and we'd move the car if a cop came.  We sat there nervously while he was gone but he came back not too long after saying that it's pure chaos inside the office because the machine that dispenses numbers for your turn was broken.  And with no one really knowing who was next, it was just a mess.  So, we sat there a while and debated the whole thing and after a while Andrew decided to park in a grocery store parking garage where we would have to pay, (but at least we knew we wouldn't get a ticket) and go back and give the DMV place another chance.  We walked with him over to the DMV and we were so pleasantly surprised to see the machine that dispenses numbers was now working.  His number came very quickly and before we knew it, we were out of there with a legal parking sticker (for his neighborhood) in his hand!  Success!

After checking out a nearby bookstore for maps we walked to this nice fountain area that had Tingley sculptures.

Then we drove over to Germany where we had lunch at a Turkish restaurant and then went to a store to buy a few items.  Afterwards we stopped in a cafe to have coffee.  We were enjoying our coffee when I happened to look at my watch and couldn't believe that it was already 5pm!  So we rushed out of there and headed home so that we could be there when Martina got there.   Once at home, we waited and waited for Martina to arrive and Andrew was just about to call her when either he or Guillermo noticed that it wasn't near 5pm at all, it was more like 3:30.  We all felt like we had just received 2 hours free!

When it was REALLY about 5pm, we drove over to pick Martina up from work.  Then we all went to pick up a few items from the grocery store and when we got back to the apartment, we were delighted to see there was a parking spot right by the apartment!!  Andrew took this picture to document the beauty of such a great parking spot!  His car is the black one behind the motorcycle.

For dinner, Andrew fixed lamb biriyani and it was absolutely delicious with Martina's Bowle drink!  Mmmmm!!

On Tuesday the 11th, we had a relaxing lazy morning.  We went by bus to several electronics stores looking for a GPS system to possibly buy.  Then we walked over to a kebab place for lunch - this little restaurant was on a pedestrian street and since the weather was so nice we were able to enjoy our lunch outside.  After eating, we slowly walked to the Rhein River where we waited for Martina to show up after getting off work. 

This is the statue we were standing next to.

When she arrived we went to a cafe along the river that had outside seating so of course we took a table outside.  It was a little cool but with our hot chocolates and coffee, it felt really nice.  

From there we walked to Münster Church and walked up the many many little tiny narrow steps of one of the spires.  Along the way, we were able to go outside the spire to see the view of the city and walk completely around it to get full views of the city.

Starting to get a good view...

Getting higher...

Later we took the bus back to the apartment to rest up a little bit.  At around 6:30, we took another bus back into town because we decided to have dinner out this evening.  Here we are walking to the restaurant.

Dinner at Schaeble's

After dinner, we walked back to the MarktPlatz to catch a tram back to the apartment, which let us off several blocks away so we had a nice walk before settling in for the evening.

Visiting Andrew's work place!

This morning some friends of Andrew and Martina came over for breakfast!  Guillermo fixed Huevos Rancheros and Andrew fixed pancakes.  It was nice meeting Sylvie and Peter and we had an enjoyable breakfast all together.  Here we all are after breakfast.

After breakfast, we all drove together to one of the hangars at Jet Aviation where Andrew works.  Once we were all checked in at the front gate and had our badges, we walked to Andrew's work area - got to see the desk where he sits at everyday and stuff like that.  Then it was on to the tarmac where Andrew explained several interesting things about airplanes.  He pointed out to us which planes were ready to be picked up by customers and showed us interesting things on other planes.
Then we walked around to the front of the hangar and Andrew took us inside to show us the planes that are currently being worked on.  All of it was simply fascinating.  We walked inside one plane that was still basically a shell inside but had a few of the features of this particular plane already in process.  Like a wooden model of the bed that was going in the bedroom, the closets and shelving for that room and also a rough model of how the master bath was going to look.  It was amazing to see a plane being built like that inside.  Then we walked inside another plane and Andrew pointed out several features of planes that we had no idea about - like where a plane needs to be reinforced because of the wings and he also pointed out the rods on the plane that he has a hand in through his job.
It was also interesting to us to see that they keep a Falcon inside the hangar periodically specifically to kill the pigeons that invariably make it inside when the huge hangar doors are open.  These pigeons don't leave and make a mess all over the planes and the employee's desks.  When we were there, the Falcon squawked several times and we never did see one pigeon - so he's doing his job!
We all left there with a new appreciation of planes and a whole lot more insight into where Andrew is on a daily basis and what he does.  There are no pictures of this tour because picture taking is not allowed.
When we left Jet Aviation, Sylvie and Peter went one way and we drove to downtown Basel for cake and coffee.  This was taken close to the little cafe.

For dinner this evening, we had what is called Raclette.  This is how the table looked before we started dinner.

Andrew getting ready to fix his little dish

All our little dishes are cooking now

The Raclette when it comes out of the little oven.  That is melted cheese on top of vegetables.  Also, Andrew cooked chicken fajitas on top.  

Rainy, stormy morning - nice!

Wow, what a nice morning we had.  We all took it nice and easy, having breakfast and then just hanging around a little bit.  And while we hung around, we saw lightning and then heard some good thunder.  The plan this morning had been to "walk a dog", which Martina and Andrew do on some Saturdays for the animal shelter.  But since it started raining, they decided to abandon that plan and we all just did things around the apartment.  The weather was lovely - cold, rainy and then of course the lightning and thunder.  Just made us so glad we were inside nice and warm.

But by about lunch time, we figured we may as well go out and look into either train tickets to Spain or a rental car.  How nice it was to be able to get into their nice new car to go to the airport to do this.  It wasn't raining when we got to the airport, but when we got out, it was pouring.  We drove to downtown Basel, felt lucky because we found a good parking spot along the street and headed to a soup restaurant.  The hot soup was perfect for the day, which we enjoyed with bread and fruit.

After our lunch, we walked around in a nice store downtown called Globus.

Martina left to put our purchases in the car and she didn't come back and she didn't come back and we were wondering what was going on.  When Andrew took out his phone to call her, he saw that SHE had called and it turns out that there was a ticket on the car so she had quickly moved it from that spot and was trying to get into a parking garage.  So, we walked to the parking garage to meet her there.  What a pain.  Didn't have the car even 24 hours and already a parking ticket!!

After dealing with that unpleasant news, we walked to a Natural History museum where we spent several hours enjoying the displays.  From there Martina and Andrew showed us the store where they get their small supply of Mexican food items and then we walked back to the parking garage to get the car.

We stopped to admire the ivy at this building.

And an apartment building covered in ivy.

Walking back to the car

And on our way back, we came across a band playing good music in the street.

The tram in Basel

For dinner this evening, Andrew made chicken fajitas, picadillo, guacamole, and homemade tortillas.  It was absolutely delicious and really amazing to get such good Mexican food here in Switzerland.

Andrew rolling the tortillas

Martina cooking the tortillas

Another good ending to a really nice day.