B is for ...

... Brussels, Bruges, Bilbao - BOO YAH!

YES, math people, I know that is way more than one word, but when I think of the letter B right now, my brain just brims with the kind of excitement only little girls with ponies know about.

In a few short weeks I'll be heading to all these wondrous places visiting wondrous people.  Coming along with me is a wondrous new friend.  The genesis of this little trip is pretty typical for me, but amazing just the same.

I'll take you back to my most favourite time of year, TIFF, where one of my oldest & dearest friends and I met two of the most hilarious and lovely people anyone could hope to meet.  Since that night, there have been movies and dinners and lectures and emails and laughs galore.  Laughs, laughs galore.  We all know the world is small, and of course we share mutual friends, one of whom lives in ... San Sebastian, Spain.

Over dinner one night, New Friend suggested we go visit Mutual Friend.  To which I responded, YES!  WE MUST!  Old Friend, well schooled in the ways of Olga simply said to New Friend "You know you have to go now.  That's the way she is."  And so, a few weeks later tickets were booked and off we go ... with a pit stop to visit yet another wondrous soul who you first read about here http://curiousyetdelicious.blogspot.ca/2011/05/zadow-rocks.html.  I mean, come on! 

We're going to Carnavale (I need a costume, help!) and the ciderhouse and the thermal baths and a top - Michelin Guide rated restaurant.  We're going to see the Guggenheim and a Glen Hansard concert and an opera.  We're going to stay in some of the most luxurious hotels I've ever internet searched.  We are going to eat lots of tapas and chocolate and cheese and frites.  I'll be eating all those frites with lots of moules.  Best?  We're going to Bruges!  We are going to be IN Bruges!  And, once it's all done and our suitcases are full of chocolate, we will come home and revel in our photographs (damn, that new camera better get here soon!) and our own ability to just DO, not to think and ponder and wonder but to DO. 

I'm lucky I'm able to DO things.  I'm lucky to find people along my way who want to DO things too. 

Is it time yet? Can we go now?!

B is for Brussels, Bruges, Bilbao - BOO YAH!