JUICY

It's official.  Annie E. loves nectarines.

HAPPY TRAILS

One of the things I really missed while living in New York City is trail running.  We had some fabulous bike trails along the river, but no hilly terrain to speak of.  There is nothing quite like feeling the burn in your legs and in your lungs when you crest a hill and then the almost reckless abandon, speed, and sense of letting go of the downhills.  Running trails is a constant game of strategy of where to place your next step, constantly taking into consideration rocks, branches, holes and stairs.  It keeps you sharp and makes long runs seem to fly by.  One of my favorite aspects of running trails is there tends to be some sort of unexpected, awesome view that you would never encounter on a track or a treadmill.   

Just across the street from our apartment is a portion of an amazing trail called the Littoral.  The Littoral is 25 kilometer trail that connects 5 towns along the Basque coast.  Most of the trail hugs the cliffs above the beaches and leads you around the snaking coastline to reveal beautiful beach after beautiful beach.  My morning run includes a portion of this trail, full of challenging steps worthy of Dipsea training and some really fun downhills. 

We have further explored the trail by hiking further south than my normal run takes me.  Aside from the gorgeous coastal views, the trail also showcased some amazing country landscapes, farmland and a ton of wild flowers.  Tomorrow we are looking forward to hiking the trail north.

THESE SHOES WERE MADE FOR WALKING

Our Internet has been down since Saturday which has been extremely frustrating.  No checking the weather, email, blogging, WNYC in the mornings, looking up recipes, etc.  Funny how reliant we have become.  We have literally been off the grid and now I feel is though there is so much to catch up on.

Last week was a particularly big week for Annabelle.  She has officially joined the ranks of the walkers.  Walking is something that took a while for her to master.  She was not one of those babies you always hear about that just automatically grasp the concept of walking.  In fact even in the airport on the way here, a complete stranger shared with me, “The second we put shoes on little Wally he was off and about!”  Well, not Annabelle.  She definitely took her time and true to her careful nature still hates when she takes an unexpected spill. 

Before we left New York, Annabelle was definitely on her way.  She would walk across the living room back and forth to our outstretched open arms  (mind you, our living room was far from big).  Even at JFK when we were waiting to board she was taking a few solo steps here and there.  As soon as we landed in France however, all attempts to walk were aborted.  She was back to extremely content on all fours. I head read that some babies just take their time – one step forward, two steps back so to speak.  It wasn’t until last Wednesday, however that Annabelle decided she would join the ranks of the walkers.   We were attending a BBQ of a friend-of-a-friend out in Hossegor.  We placed Annie E. in the yard with the other kids (all a bit older) and kept an eye out as we socialized with the adults.  Low and behold, after an hour of watching the older kids run around her, we saw her pull herself up to a stand, hold out her arms in a zombie-like position, and waddle her way across the yard veering left the whole way until she eventually fell on her bootie.  Outstanding.  Then, a few days later in San Sebastian, she gave a repeat performance, only this time she didn’t stop.  We were attempting to get her to walk to Nathan, when she veered right and with some speed took off across the lawn chasing some little girl’s Dora the Explorer ball.  Below is a clip from her San Sebastian walk.  She is getting more and more confident with her steps and it is fun to watch her little wheels turn.  When she wants to get moving, she starts to squat as if going to crawl and then remembers she can walk, stands up straight and takes her sweet little steps.  Everyday her walking improves and I am sure soon she will be running away from us. 

A couple of other achievements on the trip so far: she has learned to climb up onto the sofa, she can get off the bed and sofa by going “feet first”, and in the bath she understands “tilt your head back” as to not get soap in the eyes.  Little milestones that make us so proud.  We love you Annie E.  

PAIN

I am loving pain, not the kind that hurts, but the crusty, warm, delicious variety that we have been eating everyday since we arrived.  Pain (bread) seems to be a national treasure here in France and I can see why. Somehow, a daily trip to the boulangerie has become an essential part of our schedule to ensure we have a baguette on hand for lunch and dinner.  Some days our baguette does not make it all the way until dinner depending on how warm the baguette is when we purchase it, in which case it is likely gone before 1:00 in the afternoon.  We have been testing different boulangeries to see which have the best pain.  So far, our favorite baguette is in Hossegor (about 30 minutes out).  We only make it out there about once a week, but its almost sourdough-y spendor and brownish hue keep us coming back for more.  Our favorite croissant is just on the outskirts of town, in Milady, (convenient to Annie E.'s local playgound) and the crumbs in the front seat of the car are a testament to its buttery crisp.  Most days, however, we pick up a fairly average baguette at our local bakery in Guethary. If I am out for my morning run, or we are doing a 'wave check' walk, we will stop in.   For our outings we always bring along a tomato, some local cheese (an avocado if we have one on hand) to accompany our bread.  Completely satisfying, budget friendly and delicious.   Like a true Frenchman, Nathan purchased a paring knife to travel with so he can readily prepare our sandwiches where ever our journeys take us. 

Now that we are on week three (already!) of our trip I am tempted by the other varieties of pain on boulangerie shelves.  There are all sorts of loaves filled with succulent grains, fruits, herbs or chocolate, not to mention the pastries.  Yum.  Supposedly 80% of French eat bread with every meal.  I can see why.

SAND CASTLE DESTROYER

She may look sweet, but don't be fooled.  She is a sand castle destroyer.  Not old enough to understand the concept of "building castles," Annabelle has become a pro at destroying them.  In her attempts to make friends with the French children, Annabelle has been known to approach kids digging away.  She gets on her knees, smiles and then SWAT - sends castles to their demise.  Nathan and I have become quite good at recognizing her attempts to destroy and we try our best to swoop her up and distract her before the damage is done. Being a big fan of sand castles myself, I look forward to our days of building together.  Someday we will build a sand castle empire and will be understanding when a 1-year-old seeks to destroy.

WEEK 2 IN POLAROIDS

 

BASQUE-ING

On days when the waves are lacking we have been exploring.  Yesterday's exploration took us down to explore the North of Spain. San Sebastian is just 35 'clicks' as Nate calls them (kilometers to the rest of us) away from our place in Bidart.  No worries. Of course we took the "scenic route" on the way there in hopes at stopping at a new boulangerie for croissaints for breakfast, which ended up taking an hour and a half as opposed to the 30 minutes getting back. Bad call on my part.  Oh well!

I visited San Sebastian when I was back packing ten years ago, but did not remember how beautiful it is.  The buildings have such character, the ocean radiates the most amazing turquoise blue you can imagine, and the beaches are flawless.  After finding parking our first stop was a walk through the Parte Vieja, the old quarter.  The cobblestone streets are lined with narrow buildings with balconies looking out to the street.  Many have window boxes filled with flowers which add to the charm and at the end of each street you can catch a glimpses of the lush green hills that surround the city or the occasional church.  The first story of most of many of the old buildings are tapas bars where you can sample the Basque cuisine.  We were getting a little hungry for lunch by the time we made it through the Old Quarter so we began to  look for a spot to eat our self-packed picnic lunch (Europe on a shoestring).

Alongside Playa de la Concha we found such the place - a great park bench right in front of a carousel, which of course we took for a ride.  It is so amazing seeing Annabelle light up when she sees something she loves.  In this case it was the carousel which she rocked out to the music and kept wanting to switch animals mid-ride.  After the carousel ride we hit up the aquarium - a great activity for all three of us.  They have great white sharks in a humungous tank with a glass tunnel going through it.  Sharks, rays, eels, and giant fish of some sort pass directly by you - not inches away!

After the aquarium we strolled back to the old quarter for a cold brew and some tapas.  Nathan is not quite sold on the idea of tapas.  To him it is mayonnaise-y, egg-y, oily bits thrown together into miniature bites.  I have to agree that much of the selection is exactly that.  I however, definitely enjoy sampling the local fair, and he was game so I carefully selected our tapas to be to both of our liking and believe I was fairly successful.  Not to mention it was very comforting to be able to order "dos cervezas por favor" with no hesitation.  Funny how just a mere 30 'clicks' away we are speaking a completely different language, which is SO much more comfortable for me.  Something else to love about the tapas bars: you order your drinks and a plate and then select your tapas of choice.  When you are ready to pay, you hand over the pate with all of toothpicks and tell the staff how much you have had.  It is completely on the honor system.  The perfect snack.  All in all, we loved our day trip and will likely be back.  Here are some pics from the day.  Cheers.

POOL TIME

I mentioned in a previous post that we didn't necessarily pack light for our trip.  One of the things we lugged with us a blow-up pool for Annabelle.  I am sure they have blow-up pools available in France, but we didn't want to chance it, plus this one had the benefit of some shade.  Here is Annabelle testing out her new pool sans water. 
(Ignore my voice in the background - I hate how I sound in these videos!)

A WEEK IN POLAROIDS

LE MOUSTACHE

After a year of sporting a beard, Nathan decided it was time to shave.  Of course he could not see it all go at once and opted for a moustache which he thinks looks very French.  I think it looks a little more Gatsby than French, but that's just my opinion.  Since the big shave he now walks around speaking with a French accent and making what he considers very French faces.  Hah.  Annabelle thinks the moustache is funny and points to it and laughs. 

STEALTHY

Day #5 and we are starting to feel comfortable in our new space and the surrounding villages.  Today we stumbled upon what seemed to be the perfect beach on our drive between Bidart and Biarritz.  We spotted a playground from the road that had an amazing view of the ocean  It was the first playground we had seen and thought would be just right for Annabelle.  It turned out to be just right for all three of us.  Beyond the playground are manicured lawns with several paths perfect for walking and baby naps.  At low tide there are tide pools to check out and the middle of the beach is virtually rock and seaweed free - perfect for body surfing.  There was also a nice left breaking for Nathan to try out his new board.  Annabelle and I hung out in the sandbox for a long while and then walked one of the paths lining the beach while Nathan surfed.  I am happy to report that Annabelle has finally figured out that sand does NOT taste good, and is no longer shoveling it into her little mouth.  Later, while Annabelle napped, I read on a bench until Nathan joined me.  Just as we were discussing how ideal this new spot was, and not moments after the above photo was taken, some stealthy thief made off with Nathan's wetsuit that was drying on the ground not three feet behind us.  Such a bummer.  It definitely put a damper on our morning and reminded us we need to keep an extra eye out.  Tomorrow we plan to revisit the same beach, so a word to all you stealthy French thieves:  the Ellis' are on our guard and will not be taken twice.

BONJOUR!

Bonjour from France!  After two long days of travel I am happy to say that we have arrived safely at our first destination, Biarritz, France.  In order to get here, many different things had to come together, most of which happened smoothly, though a few were challenging.  The first "challenge" presented itself on Saturday morning.  The movers were scheduled to arrive at 8:00 am.  We woke up early to finish sealing the final boxes and to stash away final items into our luggage for our trip.  8:00 am came and went with no sign of the movers.  After a few calls to the moving office whose voice mail claimed to be out until normal business hours of Monday - Friday, we began to worry.  With our plane leaving the following day, we needed to be out of the apartment.  With nothing to do but wait, Annabelle and I hit up Hudson River Park for one last romp down the boardwalk.  At around 10:45 we checked back to find no sign of a moving truck outside the apartment.  Aye.  We checked out the playground at Bleeker St. where we ran into some friends and still no sign of the truck.  Finally around 11:00 Nate texted that the movers had arrived. Phew.  As the movers shuttled our boxed belongings to the truck, Nate and I painted and cleaned (actually Nate painted - I have to give him credit for that one!).  We spent our final night at our friend Alex's apartment which has an awesome view of the city.  As any local New Yorker would do, we ordered thai take-out and finally broke open that bottle of champagne we had been saving for a special ocassion.  It was a perfect final night in the city.

Morning came too soon, and with the sun we were off to remove the final remnants from the apartment and take care of some final NY business before we left for the airport.  The next challenge that arose was the luggage.  Traveling with a baby for an extended period of time requires a lot of stuff.  Between the three of us we have 2 60-lbs. suitcases, the toddler car seat, an umbrella stroller, two medium-sized carry-on's, a back pack and the travel crib.  When I was in Europe ten years ago, I had my backpack and that was it.  My things have changed! We quickly learned that it is all about leaving enough time.  I hold the baby and watch the stuff as Nate moves each piece little by little to the next location.  As we went to check in the bags, one of the two large suitcases that we had just purchased that same day for the trip sprung a leak at the seem, giving us a view of two tiny baby shoes and a tiny clothes ready to spill out. Yikes. Too late now. We fastened a luggage strap around the bag, and prayed that the case would hold together until Paris. 

Annabelle was a trooper on the flight.  She slept for a few hours and I managed to get a few short snoozes in as well.  We landed at Charles de Gaulle airport where we had a 2 hour layover before we caught our train to Bordeaux.  We picked up our luggage, all of which thankfully was still in tact, and lapped the train station a few times, keeping the little one busy with endless games of peek-a-boo.   Fifteen minutes before the train arrived they announced what track we were on.  As soon as the track was posted on the board, a surge of people made a beeline for the escalators down to the tracks.  With our luggage situation, we got in line for the elevator - the world's slowest elevator.  When it was finally our turn to board, a Frenchie cut in line and hopped on right in front of us.  Aye-again!  We watched the elevator floor counter as the numbers went up and then down again as the minutes ticked away.  Finally we made our way to the platform just as the train approached with just minutes to spare.  Then came boarding.  The luggage hold on our car was already full and we had yet to board.  Even the conductor was nervous for us when she saw our stuff.  With Nathan on the train and me off, we frantically tried to stuff everything in.  "Hurry!  Just get it in - anywhere you can!"  Apparently the train waits for no one.  Just as we got the last piece in the door, the whistle blew the doors shut and off we went for four hours to Bordeaux.  We had to laugh at the chaos once we were safely on our way.  We were all pretty exhausted at this point.  After checking out the train Annabelle crashed out in the Ergo for a long nap thankfully which took us about half way there. The rest of the way we read books and tried to make friends with some of the French kids on the train.  In Bordeaux we unloaded again.  Nate stayed with the stuff while I tried to round up some milk and fruit for Annabelle.  No luck on the milk, but we scored some yogurt and bananas.  Good enough.  After another 45 minutes we loaded up again for the final leg of the trip - our train to Biarritz.  We were expecting a similar situation to the chaos in Paris, but this train boarding was much more mellow.  There were just a few other passengers in our car - a drunk, creepy guy (from who we kept our distance), a couple back packers and few families with children.  This two hour stretch went by quickly and we enjoyed the views of the French countryside. 

Finally at Biarritz, we hopped a cab to the airport where our car was waiting for us.  When we pulled up there was a man holding a sign that read "Ellis".  Yeah - finally something easy!  At this point it was about 7:30 pm and it had been a very long day.   With our Google Maps we made our way to Bidart where our little flat is located.  We called Gregory, who coordinated the apartment, and he met us on his scooter to escort us into the complex.  He had a nice stock of milk, eggs, bread, cheese and wine waiting for us and made sure we were comfortable before heading on his way.  We showered off the two days of travel and hit the hay.

Yesterday, the jet lag hit hard.  We woke up at a decent hour, but then took a long family nap before we hit up the grocery store.  The grocery store was extremely large, but interesting to navigate.  Things to note - yogurt is incredibly popular here.  I have never seen so many kinds (they take up a full aisle).  Tofu and hummus, not so much.  We are having to adapt Annie E's diet to a more French cuisine.  We accidentally purchased the creamiest cottage cheese ever in our attempts to find Greek yogurt.  Luckily Annabelle seems to like it.  It is almost like alfredo when put on pasta (what's not to like?) Another thing - you put a Euro into the cart to get them to operate as a deposit.  Interesting.  Lastly, you bring your own bags - how very eco-IKEA (love it).  This made for a few trips back and forth the car - something we have gotten used to the last few days.

Around 4:00 we went for a long walk to start exploring the little town that will be out home for the next month.   Everything is incredibly lush and green here.  There are rolling hills dotted with trees that lead out to rocky cliffs over the ocean.  There are several surf breaks close by and a darling little village called Guethary that is just a quick walk from the flat that has darling restaurants, shops and an open air market on Wednesdays.  The homes sort of look like Swiss chalets, but with Spanish tile roofs. All of it is very quaint and charming.  The other thing we are noticing is surfers in Biarritz do the OC better than the OC.  They are head to toe in logo gear, as not to be mistaken as anything but a surfer.  Again, I anticipate the language barrier to be hard and even potentially a little lonely, but we are still counting on hopefully some English speakers amongst the locals.

Today we met up with Gregory and his girlfriend, Emily, who gave us a quick tour of the local spots and showed us around Biarritz.  There is another great market in the heart of town where we sampled Basque cake, local oysters and had a glass of white wine.  Then we had a nice lunch at an Italian place and then hit up the La Grande Plage where Annie E. got her feet wet and played in the sand.  As I write this entry, Annabelle is taking a snooze and Nathan is having a beer on the deck.  Tomorrow we will attempt to find some semblance of a routine.  So far so good.  Ce la vie!  More to come...