02062006 San Sebastian

Guided by a local, we toured around the old part of San Sebastian. To the two city girls, San Sebastian is a nice quiet small town with building not higher than 7 stories. They are all painted in different colour according to the owners' preference.

Then we walked to the sea side. Gonzaga (Itsaso's better half) showed us the shipyard where he used to work. He then brought us to the cliff that oversees the Atlantic Ocean.














Time for lunch. Itsaso's mom prepared us home cooked lunch. Salad and grill chicken. The ingredients were grown and raised by the family. I could taste the love and care from the family! After lunch, the three girls had a siesta at the pool side cradled by the warmth of the sun and the summer breeze...














Some more bar hopping in the late afternoon followed by dinner. After the meal, we all moved on to witness the clubbing scene of San Sebastian.

Two boats

Itsaso's papa put these two boats at the garden for Itsaso and her brother Xabi.

The house is decorated in the theme of sailing, which is in memory of their grandpa who died in a ship.

I am a sea lover too. If I have a garden, I would also put up two boats, one green and one purple. One wrote - Ming - 3A-SS-04-12-82; The other wrote - King - 3A-SS-26-02-77

Pintxos

Itsaso couldn't wait to show us off to her friends and colleagues in San Sebastian. The Asian population in the city is minimal. So having Asian visitors is a big deal.

We started an early bar hopping in the old part of San Sebastian where pintxos (means tapas) bars line up along both sides of the street. At each bar, we had a half filled glass of beer and pintxos selected from the bar table. They were displayed like a buffet yet they charged by each single piece. There were jarmon sandwish, anchovies on toast, calamaris, mini crab cake, etc. Delicious! It's tough to decide which one to chose... Limited stomach space and unlimited desire, that's economics!

pintxos bar

Itsaso and Ming chatting over small beer

Old part of San Sebastian where whole stretch of Pintxos bars are located

To do Pintxos, a guide to pintxos bar in San Sebastian

01062006 Bilbao

Itsaso picked us up from Bilbao airport. We arrived at the Basque country.

After a bite, we marched to Guggenheim Museum, the sole purpose for Bilbao. I happened to see a review of the museum on the Discovery Travel & Leisure channel, and then I was standing in front of it. The feeling was amazing. Under the blue sky and bright sun, the architechture was glowing on its shiny metal surface.

The two chatties kept on talking as they haven't seen each other for ages (I supposed), while I was reading about the exihibition brochure. Failed to cheat my way through with my DB employee pass, we got in with Itsaso's free coupon instead.

The Matter of Time by Richard Serra is the all-time highlight. Eight gigantic metal installations which visitors could appreciate the art by experience and senses. It claimed to change one's emotions, perception and experience. Well, I agreed after visiting. Walking in between the curvy gigantic iron walls, the actual development surprised me as it was different from what I have expected. Between the walls, a certain part was narrow and then wide. When the wall leaned away from me, I tended to lose my balance and almost fell. Another "tunnel" was a square maze which led to the centre. During the journey, I have lost the sense of distance and was disoriented.

The rest of the museum was so so. Some funny pieces which were created during the cold war in Russia and was brought out of the country for exhibition first time. Then we moved outside to the flora puppy for some pictures. We sat down for a cafe, then started driving to Itsaso's home, San Sebastian.

Best Friend of the Trip

Nobody would object

That is... the stainless steel mug, electric spoon and the instant noodles. Unforetunately, we didn't have a single picture taken while cooking or eating.

Everyday, Ming and me took turn to wake up first and shower. Usually before shower, I would start boiling the water. By the time I was done, I got to eat.

Then, we would go for the morning cafe opposit to our hotel. Tallet, Tellat, Tallat or whatever... No matter what I called it, I was wrong. Anyways, we got what we wanted. After a doze of caffine, we were all set for the adventure.









Remark: "you drink café con leche (or café amb llet in Catalan). At other times and after meals, you drink café solo (simply un café in Catalan), which is an espresso, or un cortado (un tallat), an espresso 'cut' with a dash of milk. Café double, a double shot of café solo, is a fearsome caffeine hit, but be careful when you order it - if the waiter sees that you are foreign they might bring you a café Americano, a solo with water. Ask for a café solo corto or muy corto - a solo with less water - if you want to take caffeine to extremes. The muy corto is just one small gulp of coffee at the bottom of a cup." sourced from http://www.cntraveller.com/Guides/Spain/Barcelona/

A revisit of the journey...

31052006 HK/ London/ Barcelona
# waiting at Heathrow
I swore I would not go for British Airline again (as if I got drunk badly and swear of not drinking anymore). The service is just lousy. I don't want to even compare it with SQ or CX.

2 hours delay of the flight from Hong Kong to London made me missed the flight to Barcelona. Bloody Heathrow. The queue at the transit inspection was incredibly long. No one gave a shit about you being late for the next plane, cos' everybody did so.

Queuing behind 30 people, before the "rescue" counter of BA, I was worried that the last flight has left. Ming was alone in Barcelona.

Well, luckily, I was assigned the next flight which arrival was 21:30. After everything was settled, I immediately joined the rest of the smokers and had a fag. Then I spent the next hour at the duty free stores.