Gas

Hi y'all. We had a great day today - well, great really isnt the correct word. Its more like surreal. First things first though, so you can visualise our journey a little better, here is a pic of us in our snazzy car. Its very cool. It had 5 km's on the clock (yes 5) when we picked it up and it now has 3654 km's! I'm thinking we will clock up over 6000 km's when all is said and done. According to Wikipedia, NZ is 1600 km's long which means that we (actually that should be 'me' not 'we' cause 'we' decided that only I would drive) have already driven 400 km's more than driving from the very top of the NZ to the very bottom - twice! Holy shit, thats crazy!

Anyhow, once again I digress. The plan for today was to visit Leibnitz, the birthplace of Herr Rudolph, mein vater (my father). There we planned to see the house (in which he was born), the school (in which he learnt fuck all cause he left early to become a cabinet maker) and the grave of his father (in which he buried his father) also named Rudolph Schwarz. Isn't that the weirdest thing naming your child after yourself? "Hi, my name is Jason Schwarz and here is my son Jason Schwarz". What if you had picked an androgynous name for your daughter, like Sam. Then you could say "Hi, my name is Sam Schwarz and this is my son Sam Schwarz and this is my daughter Sam Schwarz" Christmas could get real confusing.  

Sign

Its cold! We have been used to average temperatures of 25 odd degrees and suddenly its 9 degrees. I made the mistake of going out today in shorts! I'm pretty sure that I was the only person in Austria wearing shorts. I got some seriously funny looks. Dickhead.

Leibnitz is a lovely town. It was neat to see the house where Dad grew up. It was almost exactly the same as it was 70 odd years ago. Showing us where he used to hide when the bomb siren went off as the Allies were bombing or telling us about when the Russians came through and tore the whole place to bits was really interesting. Going to see my Grandfathers grave pulled on the heart strings a bit. Dad was a bit upset and its never nice to see your parents upset. His sister, Inge, still comes here and looks after her Fathers grave, tending to the flowers and lighting a candle once a year on the anniversary of his passing.

From Leibnitz, we stopped by the hotel to put some clothes on then drove onto my Fathers niece Brigitte's place. My 1st cousin and I have never met or spoken so the evening was always going to be interesting. It turned out to be a little awkward but ended up being fine. A glass of schnapps to start the evening relaxed us all somewhat. Austrians love their schnapps.

Schnapps

The language thing was tricky. You find yourself sitting around in a group with half of the group speaking German. They then crack up laughing at something someone said, and you sit there with absolutely no idea what was going on. Then the same thing would happen with the others that speak English. It was a bit odd. However, due to the universal language of food - all was good! Brigitte cooked an amazing traditional Austrian meal. It was a stunner. Picture below with description in German. Translated it is braised pork with sauerkraut and dumplings. Wicked. We ended up having a really nice evening and it was great meeting these newly discovered relatives.

Dinner with the relatives 

 

 Schweinsbraten mit sauerkraut
und semmelknoedel und bohnen salad mit styrische

Tomorrow, we are off an hour away to the Austrian hills (not their real name) to pick mushrooms (no shit) then have a vineyard lunch with the family. Apparently we are having some famous crumbed chicken dish - sounds nasty :) We will then tram into central Graz to have a better look around the old part of the city.

By the way, thanks for the emails from those of you that emailed us recently. Its great to get contact from home and its nice to hear that you are enjoying this blog. Catch up soon, one last photo to share.

Summary of atmospheric conditions

 with all 4 of us sleeping in one room

Switzerland, Austria and more meat

I write this from my bed in our little hotel in Graz, Austria. But before I recap on yesterday (our last day in Switzerland) and talk you through today (our journey to my homeland, Austria), as promised, some photos of our second day in Switzerland.

Jamie and half of my father overlooking a vineyard overlooking

 the beautiful Lake Geneve - Swiss Alps in the background

Lake Geneve and Swiss Alps - breathtakingly gorgeous

View from breakfast table at Oliviers in Bex, Switzerland - not bad huh 

First tasting with Cousin Benjamin - food accompanying tasting at front
- beautiful Swiss cheeses and cured sausages 

Second tasting - 2 levels underground. Those are bottles hanging from the

ceiling filled with grappa

So, our last morning with Olivier was spent taking a stroll around his village. Like all our hosts, he was so generous. We have not paid for a thing since we have been in Switzerland. We have hosted all of these Swiss cousins on Waiheke Island, so I guess they may see it as pay back - we see it as wonderful generosity by some pretty cool people.

We hit the road at about 11am on our way to Teufen, Switzerland. This was not only our mid way point between Bex and Graz, Austria but also the home of the uber cool John and Daniella Carabain - Christine's 2nd cousins. The drive was a relatively short one, only 4 1/2 hours. Where previously we had been in French speaking Switzerland, we were now heading for German speaking Switzerland. We stopped on the way for our first "German" lunch then onto to the Carabains, arriving about 5pm. It was pretty cool to see my Father speaking in German. I have hardly ever had the opportunity to see him speak in his native tongue, so it was actually a bit surreal.

Swiss German lunch

John and Daniella (along with 3 of their 6 children - Anna Barbara, Ari and Jerun) looked after us like family. I realise that we are family, but my old man was there also and they were so, so kind. Dad was actually quite handy as a translator as Daniella spoke no English. Chris's Dutch heritage as well as her brief German studies at school meant she had a  more than reasonable understanding of what was being said. I understood nothing. The conversation was a mix of German, French and English. The nice thing is that regardless of what language you speak, with enough effort, sincerity, wine and gesticulation, communication is not a problem.

Daniella made us all a beautiful 4 course meal and we talked and laughed deep into the night. I felt like I had known these awesome people for ages, I was so comfortable. John was particularly excited to have us in his house and had so many questions for Chris, so he got the full update on everyone in the family. The night was capped off with a few songs from Jamie and Ben and a film showing on an 8mm projector of very old films shot by John's Grandfather (so Christine's Great Grandfather). Very cool.

Dinner at the Carabains 

Selfie by Ben as the night got late

We rose the next day (this morning) at 8am with an ETD of 9.30am. Today I finally got to go to the country of my Fathers birth - Austria, a mere 750 km's or about 8 hours away. Very exciting. So after a great typical Swiss breakfast (bread, cheese, meats, coffee, juice) and a more than emotional farewell, we were off. We cant wait to cross paths with these people again. I can honestly say that there is very little chance that we wont - either in NZ or in Switzerland. They are just too cool to not see again.

Swiss breakfast

The drive was long but manageable. We checked into our place and then met up with the first of my relatives - my Dad's sister Inge. She is 87 years old, a bit deaf, a bit blind and speaks no English. It was so sweet to see Dad with her. He spoke to her in German, argued with her over the bill at the restaurant and held her hand in the carpark on the way to the car. Its hard to explain, but this is one of very few Austrian experiences that I have ever had in my life. Very cool. Hard to put into words kind of cool. Dad speaking German to his Sister over dinner in Austria with me and my family. A life long dream realised for me

Brother and Sister - Rudi and Tante (Aunt) Inge

 

 First Austrian meal 

Tomorrow - off to Leibnitz where Dad was born and to fulfill another life long dream. Finding and eating a schnitzel that is bigger than my head.

Switzerland

Just a note to say that we arrived safe and sound in Switzerland. I don't have access to my photos but will give a quick update of our last 2 days.

Firstly, I need to say that I write this now with a sad heart. I have just watched Oracle whip our Kiwi arses to take the Americas Cup. It would have been so cool on so many levels if we had it back in Auckland. Oracle was just too damn fast. As someone just said on Facebook, we were out teched. Somehow they were able to make their boat go faster when they needed to. It almost looked too good to be true, if you know what I mean but I am in no way implying that they cheated in any way...

Anyway, c'est la vie, back to our holiday.

We left Cadaques in Spain at 8am and headed for Lausanne in Switzerland. According to Jane, my GPS, Lausanne was 7 hours and 21 minutes away. 20 minutes in, all was going well until Ben realised that he had forgotten the iPad. Needless to say, I was not impressed. I had to drive back and grab it which put us 1/2 hour behind schedule, which sucked a bit but I got over it.

The drive wasn't too bad. I averaged about 120 kmph, top speed was about 155 kmph. The speed limit was 130 kmph but I was just going the same speed as the traffic. We took the toll roads to expedite the trip - it cost a cool 100 euros in tolls to get us to the front door of our destination! After stopping twice, we made it safely in Lausanne at 5pm having left Spain, and driven completely across France.

We were greeted with open arms by Christine's cousin Anne-Catherine, Anne- Catherine's husband Benjamin, their 3 kids Colin, Darrel and Eliot, Christine's other cousin Olivier and her Aunty Sabine. Sabine cooked us a great meal and we chatted until late - only going to bed at 11.30pm after yet another disappointing race.

The next day, today, we rose late and headed to our first of 2 organised wine tastings. The first was with Anne-Catherine, Benjamin and Sabine at a local vineyard. The wines were amazing and the cheese and cured meats that accompanied the wines were also amazing. They treated us like royalty. Swiss wines are really very good.

The next was later in the afternoon at Olivier's part of Switzerland, about 45 minutes drive away. Smack bang in between two awesome mountain ranges. Spectacular landscapes here, so different to anything I have seen before. Mountains, lakes and vineyards. Stunning. Photos to follow - promise.

It was kind of surreal. We were a little late for the second tasting so we were a bit rushed. Before we realised it, we were bundled into a van with all French speaking men and a Polish driver. We were then hurtling along at 130kmph going somewhere to taste wine. We turned up at a place that looked deserted and entered this ancient lift which took us 2 levels underground into a cellar. There we were once again treated to about 20 wines and a lengthy presentation in French. It was a bit difficult to understand everything, but we got the gist.

We then returned home to Olivier's house (crazy big, 4 levels, 2 years old with about 27 different rooms/ spaces) for a traditional Swiss meal - a raclette. There are 2 traditional Swiss meals, the first is fondue (you may have heard of it) and the second is the raclette - both involve melted cheese. With a raclette, you have a massive semi circle of raclette, the cheese, which you hold in this contraption which sits under a heat lamp. The cut face of the cheese melts, and gets scrapped off onto your plate. Pretty much a mound of melted cheese. This is them eaten with boiled potatoes, cornichons and pickles. De frickin licios. You gotta love a meal in which the star is a pile of freshly melted cheese.

As dinner was being served (everyone is served one after the other as the layer of cheese is melted), Jamie decided to run into the glass door because she thought it was open. All of us either know someone who has done this or have done it themselves. It's never good. She was fine as it turns out, only her nose and her pride were bruised.

Tomorrow, off to Christine's 2nd cousin in another part of Switzerland - this time, only 3 hours away. I wonder what's for dinner?

Figueres y Cadaques

As per my last post, this was our big shopping day. For the last few months prior to us going away on this overseas jaunt, the kids had been saving so that have some money of their own to spend. Grandparents and others threw in some Euro's and at the end of the day, they both went away with 300 Euros. That's a decent pile of cash.

The differing approach of our 2 children to both having and spending a large wad of cash is interesting. Amazingly, Ben still has some left - and we have 2 weeks to go. Basically, quality or buying something that you actually need, is not an issue and doesn't come into the decision to buy. Translated that means he buys any old shit. Where ever we are, Ben will wander off (we make sure he is OK of course) and invariably come back with something useless. He just cant handle having money in his pocket and not spending it. Jamie however, I am convinced will return to Auckland with Euros. She hates spending! Every decision is meticulously calculated. Those of you (and that's all of you), that know our children realise these spending traits mirror their respective personalities perfectly.

Anyway, big shopping day. It was Sunday and Figueres is closed!

Nice planning Mum and Dad. Needless to say the reaction from our kids was not one of a positive nature. However, the day turned out fine. Apparently not all of Figueres was closed, Zara was open. Zara is open? That's great news! Zara was one of our key shopping destinations. To cut a long story short -  we came, we shopped and we spent. All of us got some bargains, even Jamie - Spain is soooo cheap.

After a long day shopping at one store because the rest of the city is closed, we headed home to regroup and get ready for dinner. We managed to find an awesome pinxtos and tapas restaurant (thanks Trip advisor) and had a superb meal. The pinxtos (or small Tapas from the Catalan region) are sitting on the bar top. You walk up, grab a plate and take however many you want. At the end of the meal, they count the toothpicks that you have left and charge you accordingly. Its a great way to dine and they are only 1.90 euros each.

Pinxtos

84 euros later (!) and we headed home for the evening to watch the Cup. 2 races to those bastard's Oracle. Really worried that the only way we will win a race is if Oracle make a mistake... They are not really bastards, I just want us to win cause firstly I'm a Kiwi and secondly, winning might make us some money. Purely selfish :)

The next day, we headed for Cadaques to meet up with Pop Rudestar AKA my father. The drive was short and easy - a bit like Christine. Sorry Lesley. Cadaques is on the Costa Brava coast and was the playground of the aforementioned Salvador Dali. Its a beautiful place - full of white buildings and the crystal blue of the sky and the sea.

Gorgeous Cadaques

We spent the day checking out the city then relaxing by the pool in our hotel. Another hard day. As of 5 minutes ago, we just arrived back from a lovely dinner which we had just down the road from our hotel. 2 good quality, large courses including bread and a bottle of wine for 14 euros each - that.s about NZ $25. Ludicrously cheap. Its so cheap here. I'm not sure why - I'm thinking economies of scale, access to well priced produce or the plethora of other restaurants and therefore the increased competition dragging the prices down. Either way, its good for me.

Tomorrow, we are off to Switzerland. Its our BIG drive. Up at 7am, out the door by 8am, in Lausanne, Switzerland (out of Spain, traversing France and into Switzerland) by 4pm if we are lucky - that's 8 hours. Ben is going with Dad, I have the girls. Bring it on..

Espana

The Final Cut - last meal in St Chinian

Au revoir France, hola Espana!

Its great to back in Spain. We were last here exactly 4 years ago although then, we were in the West of Spain and today, we find ourselves in the East - the Costa Brava more specifically or even more specifically, Figueres. We were welcomed by 30 degrees and crystal clear blue skies

Spain

Figueres is Salvador Dali town. He grew up here and today, it houses his lifes work - the Dali Theatre Museum, the largest surrealist object in the world.

Inside, we found a wide panorama of his works which traced his artistic progress from impressionism, futurism to cubism plus the many surrealistic creations of his entire life were on display. He is even buried in a tomb below the museum. The scope of his work was mind blowing - paintings, sketches, drawings, etchings, sculptures, settings and many more. The guy was a freak. Many of his works include his muse and wife, Gala.

We had arranged to meet up with Tanya (me old mate Graeme's wife) and her son Jordan, as they happened to be in nearby Girona today. A text from France to London organising a meet up outside the Dali Museum at 1pm in Figueres worked to typical half Austrian precision. Chris and I (with some but little help from the sprogs) blitzed the clean up in St Chinian and we arrived in Spain right on schedule. We found our hotel and checked in early. Its always a sense of relief when you book accommodation on the internet 2 months in advance and it turns out great. So far, touch wood, all has gone to plan.

So after catching up with Tanya over a couple of cervezas (ive been waiting for 4 years to bust out my 4 favourite Spanish words "dos cervezas por favor" we weaved our way through the museum, which was great.

Galatea of the Spheres by Salvador Dali

After that, we were a bit knackered so we headed home to rest a bit before we headed out to find some of that Spanish food for dinner. It was about 8pm which is not late to eat in France or Spain - everyone dines very late here. We had no idea where we were going so we just meandered towards the middle of town where most of the people seemed to be. We stumbled on to the Ramblas or the main street. the place was heaving. It was such a buzzy atmosphere. It was also really weird not being in France. Chris or I do not speak Spanish so we are relying on the "Top of her Spanish class" Jamie to take the lead. She was great - a bit nervous at first but quickly into her stride. The funniest moment so far was when she was asking for the bill after dinner, the "quenta" apparently, she asked the waiter for a beer! The guy was laughing with us which is cool.

Dinner was a selection of tapas - patatas de tortilla, jambon iberico, patatas bravas, calamare, pan con tomate and of course dos cervezas. Muy bien!

 First selfie photo in Spain

Tomorrow - clothes shopping. We haven't been shopping yet because we have been waiting for the better prices that you find here. Jamie cant wait - she is totally in her element and loves Spain.

Adios amigos :)

Domaine Paul Mas and our last day in St Chinian :(

Today is our last day in St Chinian. Our time in this little village has been really very special.

The AOC St Chinian (Appellation d'origine controlee which was awarded to St Chinian in 1982) is considered to be the oldest wine making region in the Languedoc as the vineyards that are EVERYWHERE have been cultivated since ancient times. The Languedoc region that AOC St Chinian sits in is largest wine growing region on the planet. Our village of St Chinian is one of 20 that are situated within the AOC St Chinian. Here endth the geography lesson.

Right now, it is harvest time in the Languedoc. There are vineyards heaving with ripe fruit and harvesters and pickers and trucks carrying grapes, everywhere. I think the enduring image that I will take with me (apart from our increasing waist lines) is that of the vineyard. They really are situated in every corner of every part of the region we drive past. The main roundabout in St Chinian even has a small vineyard on it!

So, this is probably going to surprise you but the plan for our last day involved lunch.

One of our suppliers in NZ had put us in touch with a French Domaine that supplies them with wine that we then buy for our shop. We had an appointment at 11.15pm for a tasting and tour followed by lunch in their fancy arse restaurant at 12.30pm. In actual fact, we were kind of working.

Ok, you can stop laughing now

The appointment was at Domain Paul Mas and Cote Mas. In 1999 the patriarch Paul Mas (a wine grower) had 35 hectares and today, the son Jean Claude Mas (a wine maker with a vastly different vision to his father) has taken the business to over 410 hectares. That's big and huge growth in 14 years. They now export to 58 countries worldwide and are best known for their Arrogant Frog brand.

Paul Mas

The tasting and tour was cool. The whole winery and restaurant are very new and we had an amazing lunch in the fancy arse restaurant. The prices here continue to be amazing. The menu called a "formula' which comprised either a entree and main, a main and dessert or all 3 was ridiculously cheap. The 3 courses were 26 euros. That's about NZ $48- for 3 very flash courses. Our mains alone would have been NZ $30 plus. The wines were also ludicrously cheap - fancy wines on the list with bottles available for 8 euros and wines by the glass for 2.50 euros. That's crazy value for money - we are talking estate and reserve wines, not the cheap shit. We were blown away with everything. We were treated very well and looked after like special guests by the staff and sommelier of the restaurant. Check out the pics of a few of our dishes...

In the restaurant in Domaine Paul Mas

Jambon cru

Monkfish

 

Beef tataki

After a very long lunch, we once again set the trusty GPS for home and set off.  Another superb day had been spent in this fantastic part of the world. We then spent the afternoon getting all our stuff together so we could be ready to head off in the morning to continue with the next part of our journey - Spain. We also needed to load up on red wine for our trip. There is no chance we will find wine of this quality and price any where else so it makes sense to stock up. We decided to splash out and spend up large - so we went for the 3.50 euro bottles (NZ $6) instead of the 3 euro ones (NZ $5). Crazy. 

No more living out of cupboards and drawers from now on, its 2 1/2 weeks of living out of our bags, moving them into and out of the different places that we will be staying. Your heart bleeds for us I am sure. We love this part of the world and cant wait to return. We will miss the stability and sheer beauty of St Chinian, but we have further, different missions to encounter. On the cards is Spain, as mentioned, then Switzerland and Austria with my Dad (which is a life long dream fulfilled for me) then back to France and off to Italy.

Truly, the trip of a life time.

Ribbit

Read the title of today's blog out loud to your self. Firstly, I cant believe you actually just did that. Secondly, did you sound like a frog? Thirdly, you just said it out loud again to check that you sounded like a frog. I'm happy to say that you did indeed sound like a frog, probably not to other frogs but possibly to another human.

The reason for the frog analogy is because somewhere around France, there are a hell of a lot of them pulling themselves around by their front legs. Poor things. This is because today, Ben ate a huge plate of their back legs.

We decided, as this was one of our last days in St Chinian, we would go back and have lunch in our favourite place. We chose Roquebrun and Le Petit Nice - a mere 25 minutes away. This is where Ben had the large plate of aforementioned Frog appendages for his lunch. Pic below. Check out the garlic! The French do not fuck around with their garlic, that's for sure. Having said that, although the use of the garlic may appear to be excessive, it wasn't and worked perfectly.

Les legs de les frogs (not real French)

No legs and lots of garlic

We also had snails, omelette and a sausage dish. the Old Trout (Not you Nana, Chris) had trout and almonds, which was superb.

Fancy French fish and chips

After lunch, we went down to the river for a swim then onto the go karting place to give the kids another rip around the huge course. They loved it and were both tearing around a lot faster this time with their confidence higher due to this being their second attempt..

Scott Dixon and Danica Patrick

When we returned to St Chinian, it was nose down time for the kids. the stability of our location ends shortly so they needed to catch up on their vast amount of homework. Nice one Mum and Dad, ask the teachers to keep them up to date and they get hit with tons of work. Oh well, they are both taking it on the chin and agree that it is better that they stay relatively up to date while they swan around Europe. We, on the other hand went wine tasting! There were 2 wines in particular that we were seeking out - a muscat from nearby St Jean de Minervois (to be drunk with our dear friends the Dashwood's and the Webb's who love their sweet wines) and a chardonnay from Mas de Daumas Gassac - a pricier number that is very hard to find. Too hard to find as it turns out, we couldn't find any. However, we were lucky enough to try lots of it with Susan and Frederic in Montpellier.

I am writing this at approx 8.15pm. We like to dine later when we dine in the South of France :) Dinner will be a light affair tonight as we build up to the final (here's hoping) America's Cup race in about 2 hours. We are thinking either baked beans on toast or a salad of crisp romain lettuce, jambon cru, heirloom tomatoes and grilled goats cheese. I'm thinking we go with the salad.

GO EMIRATES TEAM NEW ZEALAND!!!!!