Lunch in San Sebastian

Set off for the Coast this morning, with the intention to visit a couple of towns or cities either side of the border and have lunch.  Our momentum carried us first to San Sebastian (just south of the border), where we got tied up in knots by Garmin and worried about missing lunch.  But not to worry!  Parked the car, walked in the rain to an area rich with restaurants and selected "La Muralla."  Turned out to be a great choice-- the 24 Euro menu included an aperitif, appetizer, main and dessert, plus coffee and wine.  Betty was having fish and I ordered steak, so it was white wine for her and red for me.  Next thing you know, here comes the waitress with our wine-- a bottle of white for Betty and a bottle of red for me!  Two further points.  1) neither of us finished our bottles and 2) our day was over, with the only two tasks remaining-- to find the car in the immense underground parking garage with multiple entrances and to drive the 90 minutes home.  The first was pretty tough.  The second came off without a hitch.

Here's a couple of shots of San Sebastian:

But I really like this shot of a small river we crossed on the way home in the fading light:

 

Espagne!

As it turned out, we did hop in the car and set off yesterday afternoon to explore a bit of ski country.  In the process, we actually did make it into Spain, but with the EU, there's no longer any border crossings-- didn't even have a sign.  The road signs did change, however-- from French and Basque to Spanish and Basque!  From home to the top of the pass, the temp dropped from about 65 degrees to one degree above freezing - and windy.  Only a matter of 30 - 35 kilometers, but not a straight one in the bunch.  And the views!

 

 

I'm also going to try to post a video here-- cross your fingers!

 

 



 

 

I'll put some more pics up on Snapfish.  Also, some more of the outside of the house and the cemetary at the local church (taken on our way out of town)-- yesterday was Toussaints! 

The House

We were going to venture out today, after 3 days of concentrated paper grading on Betty's part.  Then discovered that today is a national holiday (All Saints' Day) and it's probable that everything, including most restaurants, are closed.  So, we're going to have a reading day-- a "for fun" reading day!  So what you get is the house.

So, this is what the house looks like in Mendy.  When Alastair and Louise bought it, the roof was caved in and it was in pretty rough shape.  They lived in a trailer for the first 18 months while renovating.  I haven't got any pics of the inside, simply because we managed to clutter it up so quickly.

The house is attached to a large, two-story barn.  The original idea was to convert the barn and make the place into a B&B, but apparently, it's too far off the beaten track to make that pay. 

The first floor of the house is open, kitchen, dining and living room.  Second floor, 3 bedrooms and a large bathroom.  Third floor, master with plans to add a bath.  There is another bathroom in a room on the first floor between the house and the barn, which holds the washing machine, dishwasher, hot water heater, etc.



Another detached barn on the property, strictly storage so far.

And the vegetable garden