Walls in Spain: February 2018

Sunday, February 25, 2018

Exciting discovery

This weekend, Bucky and I decided to stay in Barcelona so that we could get some things accomplished - fun things like cleaning the apartment, grocery shopping and washing the dog. Needless to say, we decided to postpone those tasks as long as possible so decided to do something out and about on Saturday. Neither of us had been to Sarria, a neighborhood in Barcelona that used to be a village of its own. Bucky also wanted me to see Sant Cugat del Valles, the town where he works. Since both destinations are on the same train line, we decided to go out to Sant Cugat first and then stop in Sarria on the way back into the city.

I was feeling like a flea market or vide grenier so googled a bit before we headed out and found a place that looked promising in Sant Cugat. It was called Mercantic and looked to have some potential so we figured out how to get there and decided to start at Mercantic.

OMG! It was the mothership of vintage shopping! It was AMAZING. There were buildings joined together and FULL of stuff. There were even cafes with people sitting outside enjoying the weather and live music! Every step we took, we found a new treasure or interesting place. We spent hours wandering around and talked about how the next time we would have to drive (for any big purchases we might make) and plan to spend the entire day there. We are definitely taking anyone who comes to visit us there because so far, it is our favorite find in Barcelona!! The photos below do not begin to give Mercantic justice, but at least you can get an idea of what we experienced!

Just so you don't miss it!

We took a bus back into the town of Sant Cugat after shopping. We did end up buying a cool little vintage lamp!

A view of ONE of the areas where stuff is being sold.

One of the vendor's stalls!

Another view!

Friday, February 16, 2018

New York, New York

My mom, sister and I have been doing a weekend girls' trip to New York City for years! We included Lucie and Kathleen as they got older and it is always a trip we look forward to. Since I was coming to Barcelona to live, I wasn't sure I would be able to swing it this year, but I looked at flights in November and found a deal on Norwegian so went ahead and made plans then. We coordinated the trip so that we could be there for Lucie's 21st birthday on February 8th.

I arrived on Wednesday night and Kathleen and her fiance, Venice, picked me up at the Newark airport! Kathleen spent the night with me at our hotel, the Washington Square Hotel, in the Village. She and I ran some errands the next day and then she had to go to class. She is studying at Parsons School of Design!

The rest of the gang, Tutu, Kate and Lucie, arrived on Thursday afternoon. All of the girls went out to dinner our favorite Village restaurant, Olio e Piu! Usually, our New York trips consist of eating, shopping and a Broadway show and we stayed consistent this trip! Per Lucie's request, we saw "Chicago" which was fantastic! The second night, we ate at a cool French restaurant called Boucherie. The service wasn't great, but we had a fabulous time! Venice joined us! He was also able to join us for our third night out at Empellon Taqueria. He and the other young folk - including Tutu! - had a tequila shot in honor of Lucie's 21st!

Of course, the weekend flew by and before we knew it, it was coming to a close. We took our time to check out of the hotel on Sunday and then headed to Chelsea Market. Kathleen met us there and after lunch, I bid my mom, Kate and Lucie farewell. They headed out to the airport to go back to Charleston and I was able to go meet Venice's family with Kathleen and Venice before I came back to Barcelona. It was a wonderful weekend!!

Kate and Lucie on the subway!

The birthday girl and me seeing the sites!

Tutu, Kathleen and Venice at Boucherie!

It rained!

Venice, Kathleen and Lucie at Empellon Taqueria. Not sure if this was before or after the tequila shots!

Three Walls!

For meat lovers

Just in case you get a craving for meat when all of the meat stores are closed, you can buy various meats via this amazing vending machine which is available for meat lovers 24 hours a day! We came across this during our walk through Besalu last month and I just could not get over it. Interesting to say the least!

Memory Lane

On the first of February, Bucky and I loaded India (and our weekend things) into the car and headed to Eygalieres for a trip down memory lane. For those of you who followed our adventures on www.wallsinfrance.blogspot.com, you should be very familiar with all things Eygalieres including the lovely little house we lived in on Place Marcel Bonein from 2009 to 2011.The house has since been sold to a new owner and I contacted him to see if it was available for rent. Usually, he only rents it per week, but since we had a personal connection to the abode, he graciously allowed us to rent it for a long weekend.

The new owner, Amaury, is a lovely gentleman whose family is from Eygalieres. He has recently retired and returned to the village from Paris. He has upgraded the house with great taste, but kept it essentially the same so the soul of the home remains. Bucky and I were thrilled to be there and I think that Amaury felt our appreciation for the home and the magic it held for us. Once Amaury got us reacquainted with house, he handed off the keys and we settled in.

We had traveled to Eygalieres on Thursday evening purposefully so that we could be there for the Friday morning market. Because it is winter time and there is a lot of construction in the village, the market was small and held up behind the boules court. We ventured there with nostalgia and bought cheese from the same cheese guy from before and purchased roasted chicken like in the good old days, There were lots of fruits and vegetables for sale so we got loads of those too since we rationalized that we could always take home what we didn't eat!

After the market, we headed to Saint Remy to wander around and have lunch. We then did more shopping at the Intermarche which was our grocery store of choice when we lived there. We certainly bought more than we needed to, but we couldn't resist. We had a lovely evening at the house, eating roasted chicken from the market and drinking wine we had bought from the local vineyards earlier in the day.

On Saturday morning, Bucky and I got up early to head to a couple of vide greniers in the Vaucluse area. I had researched the closest vide greniers and plugged three locations into the navigation system - Vedene then Monteux then Velleron. The first two vide greniers were fine, nothing spectacular, but fun to wander around. We were hopeful the the third one would be great, but once we got there, we discovered that they were selling only fishing equipment so that was a bust! We were in hysterics as we left, but luckily went unnoticed!!

We then headed to Isle Sur La Sorgue to wander around the brocantes and have lunch. Numerous canals run through the town which make for lots of photo opportunities. It was a blustery, cold day, but we enjoyed a glass of red wine at lunch to warm us up. We were anticipating the arrival of our firends, Emmanuelle and Eric, from Lyon that afternoon so we went back to Eygalieres to get prepared. They were coming down to spend the evening with us and it was such a nice reunion.

We wandered around the village together and caught up on life and our families. Emmanuelle is a lover of vide greniers too and we found one to visit on Sunday morning in St. Etienne de Gres. It turned out to be a really good one and we all ended up coming away with some treasures!

It was a lovely weekend walking down memory lane. I especially loved hanging out in the huge yard behind the house with India. While we ran around, I reminisced about picking olives, getting eggs from our chickens and the magical time we spent there with our children. Our time together in Eygalieres when our children with growing up was remarkable and we feel so proud that we made it happen. I wept when we left Eygalieres after such a nice weekend, but I know we will be back.