How I Gained 10# on my Vacation ;)

This has been a non stop eating vacation! :( First we went to the Equinox resort in Vermont for a board retreat where they fed us gourmet food three times a day. Then our friends, Karen & Lou from Boston picked us up for a road trip through New England- first stop Polly's Pancakes in New Hampshire then on to New Brunswick, Canada to visit PV friends Fred & Clara, now in Bar Harbor, Maine area. Cocktails last night with another PV friend, Ellen Reynolds, who has a house on Mt. Desert Island. Still eating...the big diet will start Thursday!



Pancakes






Lobster, clambakes, lobster stew -food to die for at every stop



Blueberry french toast brunch with mimosas ;)



Lots to drink.....



And three more days to go! (I actually resisted dessert yesterday but only after two popovers with fresh butter and jelly that came with the lobster stew!) ;)


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Picnic With The Pops

Our tailgate friends organized an evening at Picnic with the Pops last night. The Pops performed during the first half then they brought out the Ohio State Marching Band. We bought a table and brought some great food. As usual Albert-George Schram was entertaining as the conductor and they played some great music from Star Wars among others followed by OSU favorites. The drum major snaked through the crowd with a lot of people following behind to Script Ohio. ;) The beautiful evening ended with a huge fireworks display. I captured a brief portion on video.

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Larry's 70th Birthday

We surprised Larry at 9:30 Saturday morning for his ride on the Wright B Flyer, a replica of the plane built for the Signal Corps in WWI.



Here is the video:

Later in the day we went bowling! Larry came in 2nd right behind Josh! He still has his flair at 70.

We had a great dinner at Bravo. Brenda had some great decorations and provided all the right touches!






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Churches in France

One thing I neglected to blog about in our trip to France was the magnificent churches! There are a number of them that were stopping places during the
Middles Ages when people made pilgrimages to the shrine at Compostela in Spain. Rather than trying to tell the interesting story of Compostela I will offer this link you can go to at your leisure.


http://www.csj.org.uk/history.htm

Below I have added a number of pictures from various French churches. Some important, some not, but they all have incredible beauty and craftsmanship.

15th C. Grosse Cloche in Bordeaux

St. Michel a pilgrimage church over 1000 yrs old- Bordeaux

Lourdes

St Catherine in Albi 13th C.

Tomb of St. Catherine

Small church in the Pyrenees with typical style spire for region

The art and stained glass was amazing in even the smallest churches.

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Heron Bay July 4 Golf Cart Parade

Our neighborhood at Buckeye Lake has an annual golf cart parade. This is the first entry for our neighbors, Hannah, Billy, and Brian and their puppy, Zöe.











If you take a close look in the 2nd or 3rd frame of the video you will see one "float" with blue waves and can hear me asking what it is....it is "Buckeye Petroleum" and you can see the oil rig on top. we voted for the neighbors but the BP was pretty clever and came away with the prize.

The food was amazing!

One thing for sure, this is Foie Gras country! Bob and Joan LOVE it, Dennis can do, me no way. :(. Every little shop sells it and as you drive along there are places where it is produced.














The fresh fruits and vegetables are for sale in little markets everywhere.









Also the fresh seafood in Arcachon as well as all the towns along the Atlantic are plentiful in the markets.

Oysters (huîtres) and mussels (moules) are plentiful.






Our favorites were Les Moules á la creme fraiche. They come with pomme frites for just 9.5€ . Yum.








Speaking of the €, although we give them a dollar and they give us just .80 cents worth, tips and tax are included in everything you buy so we did not find it to be particularly expensive in most cases. We stayed in darling hotels with private baths for €60 and as I say that includes all tax. The food was excellent and inexpensive. In most cases you would see a menu with 3 prix fixe choices with appetizer or first course they call entree. The main plat or main course and a dessert for as little as €11. Some as high as €25 but that was rare. Again this includes tip and tax.

The house wine - vin rouge de la maison- was very good in almost every case and very cheap. €3-4 Euros at most. Dennis drank some but red wine has been bothering him so his drink of choice was usually biere. 1664 is quite good and almost always on draft but costs as much or


more than a glass of wine. Baldy enjoys one here but in this case a Heineken. He has expensive taste. :)

Wine tasting room at Chateau Palmer.





We can't forget the bread! The baguettes are outstanding and we pick them up fresh daily. They seem to be sticking out of every backpack and bag.




The desserts are so incredible they deserve their own blog! One thing we tried and now love is Gateau Basque. A cake with a center I can't describe or even place the taste. Maybe like a cheesecake consistency but a crust top and bottom. Unique taste. And Choclatiers on every block!







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Location:Southwest France

Cows are now in Bordeaux! And miscellaneous sightings

I guess people never tire of seeing the cows!









I've noticed a lot of man purses over here. This is a man with his wife and child so don't jump to any conclusions. :)



A fabulous sunset over the bay in Arcachon.


Although my favorite is still from our second day when I captured the sun setting over the Atlantic so I will post it one more time.




¡Pase un buen día!-- Post From My iPhone