Camping along the French coast

Yes I know these posts are all over the place, but I figured it'd be better to separate them rather than throw everything all together in one.  So anyhow, way back when the days were sunny and warm, we went up to France to the region called Les Landes, for a short camping trip to see another region that was new to me.  It's the most famous surfing area in the country, so of course that was another reason for the trip. :)  The main towns are Hossegor (surfing mecca that feels very resort-y), Capbreton (quaint little coastal town that's more relaxed and residential), St Jean de Luz and of course the famous Biarritz (glam and glitz).

After looking and looking on endless websites for campgrounds, we managed to find a few that weren't insanely expensive (being high season and all).  Unfortunately, the little one we discovered was so small (and unknown) that they didn't have a website to book.  Only a phone number.  Oh dear.  So with my forgotten broken French, I called and tried to get the lady to understand me.  Well, and to get me to understand myself and find the vocabulary that I have long lost!  Then my phone got cut off and I had to call back again and make sure everything was okay.  What a mess.....In the end, we stayed in a lovely little place in Leon called Le Petit Jean.  Highly recommended if you want peace and quiet, and don't need lots of amenities like a restaurant, volleyball area and swimming pools for your camping pleasure.  The only issue is that you will need a GPS to find your way there to the middle of the forest, since Google Maps didn't help at all, and in the end Tom Tom got us there with no help from my printed directions.

We bought a disposable bbq from Lidl before leaving and cooked dinner by flashlight upon arrival.  It was fun, though a bit of a challenge...

Centre of Capbreton, with its lovely planters and cute buildings

Strolling along the waterfront of Capbreton

Where there's coast, there's beach!

Scorching temperatures of mid to high 30s that weekend, so we had to cool off and dive into some lovely sundaes at night!

The crowded beachfront of the Biarritz casino

Hobnobbing with the high society in the streets of Biarritz

St Jean de Luz

Peppers!

A local Running of the Bulls

When people think of Running of the Bulls, they think of Pamplona.  That is the famous place for it, but small towns in other regions do their own version as well.  In Cantabria, the famous one is held in Ampuero, and so being a foreigner, I had to go and see it for myself.  :)  Can't be in Spain and not see one of these at least once, despite what your opinion of this crazy tradition may be.

If you aren't aware of the concept, this is how it works.  Basically, they take a bunch of bulls, let them loose and they race down the streets on a pre-determined course (fenced off from the spectators) with lead bulls that don't attack but know where to go.  I have no idea how, but the brown ones lead the black ones (the dangerous ones that will gore) and they end up at the bullring at the end.  Then there is the typical bullfight and whatnot inside that I personally do not want to see in person, having seen enough on tv.

Oh yes, and did I mention that crazy "daring" people race alongside the bulls, dodging so as not to get run over or jabbed??

People everywhere, behind the fence hoping to get a good view of the race.

Specially made holes in the cement to hold the huge posts, which are then held in place with smaller wedges.  The fences are reinforced with steel and super solid......just in case........... We felt pretty safe behind it all.

The crazies *ahem* brave people warming up for the run.

It happened so quickly that I managed only a very short snippet of it.  We waited a long time and then it was over in a flash!!  But hey, another thing to check off my "experience Spanish culture" list. :)

Dia de Cantabria

I suppose that every region has its own day, but I'm not sure....in this case, it was Cantabria Day, the region where Santander is located.  Spain is divided into different "autonomous regions" which contain provinces and within them, cities and towns and villages.  How you decide whether a place is a town or village or city is really beyond me....I don't know what the official population limits are for those! :)  

Anyway, we went to check it out in a town called Cabezon de la Sal (literally "Big head of the salt"...something related to some guy from there connected to salt mines way back when....) and took in some activities and people-(and animal)watched. :)

Special Tudanca bulls (their horns stick straight out and up) pulling stones around the field.  I think the record for that day (there were 6 pairs) was 1800kg!!  

Then the wild horses came out....

And these crazy guys (some experts, some with no clue at all) were trying to corral the animals and then grab one to ride bareback....they tried that with the cows too, only grabbing one to brand rather than ride.... :)

Out of the way!!

Traditional Cantabrian clothing

Ugh, what is that on his back?

Traditional dances

The youngsters are keeping the culture alive

Typical Cantabrian footwear for when the farmers had to work in the wet muddy fields and didn't want to sink in up to their ankles!  These guys came down from the mountains for the special day, with all their gear!

And they brought their big dogs too, but they had to wait outside the bar....

Enjoy some traditional tunes!

They shuffle-danced pretty well in those shoes! :)

Eats and activities--so what else is new?

Been a loooooonnngggg time since the last post, yes I know.  I had a very good reason--computer issues, so now that is solved, there are tons of photos to share!! :)  All from summer and the warm days of seasons past......

First off, some good eats to tempt everyone....

A grand ole seafood feast at home...

...continues with more varieties of dishes!

Then one cold weekend, we made beans with clams...mmmmmm......the result was perfect, according to the panel of judges...

And who can forget tweaking and upgrading our sushi skills?  Thanks fujimama.com for the idea of the little balls!  They are fun and easy to make, look great and taste yummy!

Tuna tataki attempt--maybe slightly overcooked but still delicious...

And then of course we went out for food sometimes.  This was a big gathering to eat the famous beans with seafood in Pechón, a little town on the coast further west of here, near the border with Asturias.

Took forever to dig through all that seafood, but it was worth it--the beans with amazing seafood flavour was maybe even better than cracking shells for the meat itself!

To top off that stuffed belly, a humongous souffle (isn't it also a baked Alaska?) to share amongst the group.  Fruit and ice cream buried in a mound of egg white....

With all that eating, there must be a balance struck somewhere.  So during the end of the summer, there was a intro to circus school in the park, and so one day, I decided to go to a workshop.  Managed to convince David to come along and here is what we "learned"....or attempted, half-successfully.

The art of the balance for the person on top is just to lie back and trust that it works......easy enough to say if you're swaying around on top.  

We did it, with a bit of support by the teacher (the one in blue) and a fellow classmate (in green).

And if you think it's all about having the heavier person with stronger legs on the bottom, and a lighter one on top, then check out our small-stature instructor holding up David with no help from us, except to spot that he wasn't wiggling so much!

This year La Vuelta de España (like the Tour de France) came through Cantabria in a few areas, and we took advantage to go check out the race along with many others in the area.  Detailed route information here: http://www.lavuelta.com/11/es/recorrido/index.html

This was the top of Peña Cabarga, where they had to reach to claim the stage of the day.  It was a beautiful day and even the cows came out to cheer on the cyclists!

They zipped by quickly as if the incline was nothing....I didn't manage to grab a shot of the leaders as my camera was acting up, but the local guy got the lead snatched away from him just centimetres from the finish line....doh!

Oh Canada--celebrating red and white!

Holidaying in July means lots of fun stuff Canadian style!  Festivals and other celebrations awaited us as we arrived just in time for merrymaking reason #1: Canada Day!!! :)

Patriotism in a slightly subdued way--many little flags rather than one gigantic one! :)

View of Granville Island

Look at the little Aquabus headed downtown for the party!

Canada is multicultural and in Vancouver, even more so, so of course the Canada Day parade involves groups from various ethnicities!

Even the police joined in with the Blues Brothers!

And so did the rest of us! :)  

Canada Place convention centre...

Cool orca--reminds me of lego!

The remnants of the Olympic flame....

Then later on, one day there was a street hockey day where a group that was travelling around the country collecting donations for the food bank stopped in Vancouver.  They closed off part of Granville Street and set up areas for anyone to come down and play Canada's favourite game!

Decked out in goalie gear

Kids playing a quick game...

...and two big kids stopping by for a quick shift pre-wedding??

This year Vancouver is celebrating its 125 birthday, so there was a big weekend festival for that too!  Happy Birthday Vancouver and may you always be so youthful and green! :)  A big weekend full of music, performances, games, activities for kids, food and outdoor fun took over Stanley Park--so of course we HAD to go check it out!

Bike valet for those who came on two (non-motorised) wheels.  We did that one day and it was great--free, secured parking for our bikes!  What a great concept---I'm loving the green initiatives in the city!

Everyone sprawled out in front of the main stage enjoying the various types of music--not just big names, but a cool selection of the local best.

We were a bit weirded out at first by these random people, but turns out they are Butoh actors, and they were harmless.  Just ran around making strangely slow movements and not bothering or interacting with the people....just a bit unnerving having them around...

Later we watched a Bollywood show that went roaming around different areas of the park.  Each scene moved to a different location so the audience raced after them, and that made it more fun too.  The story even involved the beautiful scenery and Vancouver references! :)

Participating in a public art project.  You take some vines that are from an invasive species that has been pulled from the park (I forget which plant...), which someone has cleaned and dried, and then weave it around into a circular shape!  Yes the chopstick is part of the equipment!

We managed to make it into a nest-shape! :)  You can see rings of different sizes attached to the fence--reusing waste for art, I love it!!

Grilled corn on the cob sold as concert food--only in Vancouver?

Free concert drinks--chocolate milk!!

Little monkeys re-living a bit of their childhood

Another reason to celebrate this July was the wedding of Karin and Ronald.  It coincided with our trip back, luckily, and so we went to join in their special day.

The pink bubblegum bridesmaids lead the way... ;)

Congratulations!

The reception was at a golf club in Richmond...what relaxing surroundings!

Everyone crowded in and ready for dinner!

Besides all these celebrations, we managed to take some time to explore more of BC this time around.  The weather was amazing and we took advantage of it to see some parts that we didn't get to last year, or those that needed to be repeated! :)

Burnaby Lake...a hidden gem sheltered amongst the trees, where you can walk around or paddle through, away from the noise of the city, despite seeing it not too far away...

Sun Yat Sen gardens in Chinatown.  This is the free section of the park just beside the actual museum.

This bike would be great for carrying groceries or riding around selling flowers!

A few of the locals enjoying a small park space by False Creek

We stumbled upon a birthday party on Granville Island, and stopped to watch the piñata-bashing for a while...it was hard to get through and we saw a few near misses....of hitting other people, that is!

I miss the pineapple bun!! =(

Public art from recycled materials

That's YVR as seen from Iona beach park--you can see the planes but you can't hear them!

Once again, we didn't have enough time to make a trip out to Tofino, but I decided we should at least go visit the Island a bit!  So instead, a short day trip out to Victoria, riding the ferry on one of the most scenic crossings in the world! :)

I can never distinguish which islands we're passing through and which you see in the distance, but it's all beautiful anyway!!

Snow???  Mount Baker peeks out at us from across the border

The parliament building in downtown Victoria

This local spots a picture opportunity...

....all in the name of pleasing the tourists!

This was really cool because Ruben had sat down and we were taking his photo with the sculpture, when suddenly a family came along.  It turned out they were bringing grandpa to have his photo taken with his statue!  His son was very proud and offering his dad for photo ops with the public, so Ruben joined in and met the man behind the memorial!

Pretty and artsy houses, but maybe a bit cold in the winter?

The famous Empress--we didn't stop for tea though

And of course, it's not a holiday (or a regular day) without some mention of food for me! :D  Lol.  So here is a selection (very small) of the yummy eats of the trip!

Last year it was blueberry picking, and this year it's strawberries!  Digging for plump red ones with funny shapes--someone is becoming a fruit-picking expert!

The teams show their results--Desi won by a hair!

Look, besides picking, you can also enjoy some fresh goods right at the farm!  We cooled off with some smoothies, pie and ice cream....mmmmmmm....

Korean BBQ--grill your own meats just to taste!

While waiting for your meat to cook, snack on the little plates of things they give you!  Be careful, some are spicy and some are not... ;)

What's a trip without sushi for us?  Impossible! :)  Getting more ideas for our elaborate Japanese meals at home!

Mmmm....picking up some tips on presentation.....

To top off all the yummy meals, a trip to the ice cream factory!!  It took us ages to choose, as usual, but it was great fun to sample!! ;D