The Reverse of the Curse of Collioure!

So my last 2 attempts to go to Collioure have not gone so well.  Last year when Meghan was visiting, the one day we had to go up to France, it was downpouring rain - I'd even go as far as calling it torrential.  The normal 2 hour journey took us closer to 4.  And it was pouring when we got there and somehow NOT ONE THING was open.  We had to opt for pizza and a quick run thru the rain and then less than an hour after we had arrived, we headed back to Barcelona.  Total fail.  But at least I was able to say that I took Meghan to France.

My last attempt was even a bit worse since it involved my car.  While Caryn and Urs were visiting in June we decided to hit Collioure on our way back from Provence.  Hit being the operative word apparently.  When a bus hit my car, smashing in the passenger side, upon our arrival into Collioure, I wasn't exactly thrilled.  And it was then that I decided there must be a curse upon Collioure!

And while I was a little apprehensive about making the voyage yesterday, I'm so glad we did.  The sun gods were shining on us and we made the trip in just over 2 hours.  Along the way we decided that if we had enough time we would also head up towards Perpignan and go to the Sigean Africane Reserve - a wildlife reserve smack in the middle of France.  We'd been a few years ago but it was summer, crazy busy and super hot - we figured it could be a fun side trip (and it was).

But first Collioure.  We arrived just around 11 and walked around for a bit, meandering in and out of the little streets filled with artisan shops, cafes and colorful homes.  We also walked along the water getting a birds eye view of the town from the jetty area.

Love the colorful homes behind the boys

And the boats are probably my favorite part of coming here

Family portrait!

Me, Liam and Meghan

A friendly moment among brothers

Do you see a theme with the boats?

Me and my boys :)

Many famous artists painted in Collioure and there are these frames placed in areas where those works of art were painted.  I think this "Aidan in a frame" will be worth something some day...

Josh and his boys

Walking along the wall to the church

Liam in front of the church

Aidan on the rocks

My view of the town from the church

This may be my Christmas card this year...

Look at how deep it gets in the middle!

Flowers along the building

Castle

Watching the fish

We finished up lunch and a little more walking by just around 2 and decided it was worth it to head to the Sigean Africane Safari near Perpignan, about an hour drive from Collioure.  It was a pretty drive and one that I recognized most of along the way from previous drives to this area.

It was refreshing to see that there was no line of traffic lined up outside the zoo.  The last time we were here, 3 years ago, it was literally a caravan of cars, bumper to bumper thru the entire park.  It took something out of the safari like feel that you are supposed to have.  Now with this reserve, the animals are actually able to come right up to your car.  They cannot leave their areas of the zoo - like the lions can't head over to the gazelles - there are borders that prevent them from leaving but allow cars to enter and exit and at the areas where there are dangerous wildlife, like lions, bears and rhinos, there are guards to make sure everyone is safe.  And in those areas, windows must stay up (something Josh was trying to convince the kids otherwise - thankfully they finally have chosen to listen to me!!).

It was pretty cool seeing all the animals right up close to the car and we saw a lot of babies too which was cool - baby giraffe, ostrich, zebra (OMG soooo cute!), bears and more.  And the animals didn't seem phased by the car at all which shows how immune they've become to them.  That for some reason gave me a little bit of a level of comfort, though when the ostrich was near those windows went right back up!

It's Pumba!

How cute is this baby zebra???

And the baby ostrich?

This looked like a zebra donkey combo (his legs were striped) - apparently endangered

Liam ran near the flamingos which just had one chain (nothing else) blocking them from the zoo - apparently that was enough because they stayed on the correct side of it... but I was a little nervous they might go after Liam after he scared them!

By far, our favorite, and most hysterical part of the drive thru the safari was the bears.  Right at the entrance there were bears attempting to mate and a few others just lying around.  If I had any beverage in my mouth, I would have spit it out upon arrival at that gate and seeing one bear on top of the other. Perhaps a "holy shit" might have come out of my mouth.  The boys were fascinated.  But the best part of the conversation went something like this:

Josh:  Hey look, two bears are doing it!
Julie:  Oh that poor girl bear, she looks like she's trying to get away!
Liam:  Well boys like doing it.
Julie:  Where in the world did you hear that?
Liam:  Big Bang Theory

Perhaps the boys have been watching a little too much tv these days!

If you could see the look on her face you'd see she's not a happy camper!!

Anyways, that was the highlight of our trip to the zoo.  We walked around the actual zoo for a little bit before heading back to Barcelona since the kids had school today and Meghan had to head back to the US :(  this morning.  But I'd say that the curse has in fact, been reversed!!

Besos,
Julie

The Curse of Collioure

Collioure, France is one of my favorite "go to" places when we have company.  With France only about a 2 hour drive, it's kind of like going to New Hampshire or Maine for us but at the same time... it's France.  Really, can you beat that?

And so for the last 2 years (once we discovered it), it has been on the list of must see places when we have company for more than a few days.  We've taken Josh's sister and brother-in-law (http://megustatuzapatos.blogspot.com.es/2011/04/road-trip-to-collioure-france.html), our friends Kyle and Kelly (http://megustatuzapatos.blogspot.com.es/2011/05/more-visitors-kyle-and-kelly-come-to.html) and my cousin Meghan (http://megustatuzapatos.blogspot.com.es/2012/03/meghan-visits-barcelona.html) so far with plans for this year to take Michelle, Meghan (in a second attempt), my parents and my aunt and uncle - all who are planning to visit Barcelona this year.

Too bad they aren't going to get to see it... why?  Because I've decided Collioure is cursed.  This is only my second visit to Collioure in the last year and like the past trip, it was a bit of a distaster.  The good thing is both disasters were met with lots of laughs and ahhh, France kind of moments.  So thankfully they weren't as bad as they could have been.

So how is Collioure cursed?  Well, it's probably not, but given my track record at the moment, I'm not sure that I want to tempt fate.  I'm sure there are plenty of other cute seaside towns, right??

My trip with Meghan was set up for disaster from the get go.  It was POURING rain out.  Like nothing I'd seen before in Barcelona.  Torrents of rain flooding the roads.  But it was our last opportunity to go to France before she left and I wasn't going to have her come all the way here without at least getting to France too!  So off we went in our rental car and we couldn't find our way out of Barcelona.

At the time, I wasn't driving in Barcelona regularly and so had to completely rely on my GPS which never took me the same way twice.  The first attempt I felt was taking us in the completely wrong direction ... south.  So I turned around and it didn't like that.  3 1/2 nerve wracking hours later (it's normally about a 2 hr 15 min drive), we made it to Collioure.

Too bad Collioure was "closed".  Now I recognize what it means to be a tourist town.  It means that often restaurants and shops are seasonal.  However, never have I been to a tourist town where EVERYTHING shuts down for the season.  This did not appear to be just a siesta deal as you could tell many of the shops had not been open for some time.  And for lunch... well we went to the one place that was open.  A pizza shop.  So much for our fancy French lunch.

After lunch we attempted to walk around and see if anything was open... anything.  Nada, zip, zilch.  And the roads were completely flooded to the point where it was a small river coming down any streets at an incline (which many of them were).  And we were soaked to the bone.  Total time spent in Collioure, 1 hour.  Total time driving?  SEVEN HOURS.

Streets of Collioure flooded with rain

It's actually flowing down this staircase like a river

Still beautiful even in the rain

That is a sidewalk that looks like a lake...

But I thought after Meghan's visit that it was just one time of pure misfortune and had every intention to bring her back when she comes to visit this September.  Sorry Meg!! Because incident number 2 happened while Caryn and Ursula were visiting and as we all know, these things happen in threes!  And I'm trying to avoid number three!!

After driving 2 hours from Arles, France with Caryn and Ursula about 2 weeks ago, our plan was to stop in Collioure on our way home.  Given it's quaintness and charm, it was a village I really wanted them to see.  Ursula had lived in France years ago and it was an area she had never been to and this was Caryn's first trip to the area as well.  

All was well until we attempted to look for a parking space.  We pulled into a U-shaped parking lot that already looked full but was also an opportunity for us to turn around.  To our right was a tourist bus with it's hazzards blinking, located in a striped lane which is not meant for driving.  We were on the left which was the only actual driving lane and even had an arrow on it to prove that!  

So our plan was to turn left to look for additional parking.  We were about mid way down the bus when all of a sudden the bus decided he, too, was taking a left.  I was stopped now and just watched in stunned silence as the bus slowly started to crush against my car, the driver oblivious to my existence next to him.  Finally the realization of what was happening set in and I beeped my horn.  

I was afraid to get out of the car for fear of what I would face given how horrific the sound was.  However, I was "pleasantly" surprised that the damage wasn't as bad as I had feared.  It could have been much worse.  And we were safe.  But the door to my passenger side would no longer open and I wasn't sure if there was any tire damage.  

The damage to my car - it doesn't look bad but the location of the dent meant the passenger door would not open  

My car was in the lane with the arrow - the bus in the one with the diagonal stripes.  I was turning left...he decided to turn left.  Which one is wrong??

In the end, everything worked out (yet another entry with the details) but now concerned with their being a curse on my beloved Collioure.  I may send Josh on his own just to give it a "test run" before attempting to go back again!

Besos

Julie