Collioure, France

Quite a lot has happened it seems in the 24 hours or so since I last posted. Before leaving Barcelona, Gaffer and I got a chance to vistit one of the world's largest Stadiums - Nou Camp Stadium in Barcelona....It's world famous and can hold up to 120,000 spectators. It is the home of the Barcelona Football Club and is a truly amazing place. There were people there from the world over, checking it out and taking a "backstage" tour. I've tried to include some photos. Later that evening (last night), we attended a match between Barcelona and Levante football club....Barcelona won, thankfully. It was just terrific. You really get a feel for life in Barcelona by going to a match....especially after the game when it seems like the whole city is pouring out of the stadium whooping it up and enjoying life. Barcelona is a very very livable city....the people seem very happy with life, and life for them seems to be quite leisurely and easy going.

This moring after breakfast at a cafe around the corner from the hotel, we rented a car and headed to France. Navigating out of Barcelona and toward France was a considerable challenge, but once we got our footing, it was pretty easy. We decided to take a small, narrow coastal road and ended up in the town of Collioure, which is just north of the French border. This is an amazing town, quite beautiful with a marvelous view of the ocean and a real relaxed atmosphere. Surprisingly, it seems most of the tourists are French themselves,and there is absolutely no evidence of restaurants or businesses catering to either British or German tourists. The food, as always is fresh and very good. We are going to stay in this part of the country for a couple of days at least....I wish I could post some photos, but I'm finding the internet speed of these places to be super, super slow....so I will try to get some photos as soon as I can......