Adventures 2013 - Volume 3, Tough Love

So, here we are.  Thursday.  I'm sad.

I'm sad to be leaving San Sebastián.
I'm sad to be saying goodbye to Alex & Raul.
I'm sad to say that I'm sick.  Like full blown yucky sick.
I'm sad (well, more frustrated and annoyed and plain out pissed) that each of these past blog posts have taken me no less than 2 hours to compose.  I often forget that an iPad is really just a phone with big dreams, so posting has been nothing short of a nightmare.  Ask Andrea - she had no idea that someone could say 'fuck' so often in a minute.  I feel bad, I do.  I really, really do.  It feels like I made a promise and am now faced with possibly breaking it.  I really don't want to.  That's not how I roll.  So, imagine my glee when I read my horoscope today:

"You are putting too much pressure on yourself, Sagittarius. This is unnecessary. You have taken on a lot recently, and yet you are still tempted to take on even more. Although you are always a conscientious and hard worker who is very dedicated to filling your obligations, you may want to consider excusing yourself from at least one of the promises you made. You don't have to bow out completely - perhaps you can just take a rain check and tackle it later, and that way you won't have to feel bad about backing out."

And with that, I wish you all a most happy Valentine's Day.  I will tackle this later.  At home.   See you all there ... xoxo, Love Bugs.

Adventures 2013 - Volume 2, Take me to the Bubble Beds!

Looking out our window Tuesday morning offered no sign of weather reprieve - more rain, more wind, more yuck.  But, you know what?  Who cares!  We're going to the spa!

La Perla (www.la-perla.net) isn't what North Americans would consider a typical spa.  Sure, it has facial and massage type treatments, but it's known mainly for its 'water therapies'.  Located right on the beach, I suppose they know from water.

Over a mandatory coffee, Alex gives us a lay of the land and we all head downstairs to begin our morning of relaxation.  We start in this enormous whirlpool where jet stream stations pulse at different areas of your body as you walk through the circuit - shoulders, quads, hips, glutes, calves and even feet are given full attention and it doesn't take long to see why this place is so popular (it's a workday Tuesday morning and the place is doing brisk business).  In fact, the locals don't consider this type of spa a luxury at all, it's a necessity of relaxation and general life therapy.  I can dig it.  After being pulsated almost to the point of jello, we head to our second pool, and lie for what could have been hours on the most luxurious bubble beds.  Bubbles.  All over you bubbles.  Bubbles on your back, flip over and bubbles on your tummy.  I love bubbles.  I want a bubble bed.  Next, downstairs.  A bit of a trip here, really.  It's a bit darker and the pool itself looks like something out of that mid - 1990s Matthew Broderick movie "Road to Wellville".  There are stationary bikes, rowing machines and other fitness apparati in the pool.  People are exercising.  It's all so odd.  We must try!  It's hard not to laugh, really as we're so used to a 'more you sweat, the better it is' type of workout mentality at home.  We try our hands and feet at a few machines and then onto the sauna and steamroom.  Joy.  Our two hours are almost up and after a traditional whirlpool and little laydown overlooking the beatch, it's time to go - the water circuit runs on time and this two hour glimpse of heaven was purchased for 25 euros.  A bargain in any language.

Relaxing works up an enormous appetite and now it's time for our pintxos tour of San Sebastián.  Pintxos are the Basque equilvalent of tapas and the best pintxos in Basque Country are found in San Sebastián.  Perfect.  The whole idea of pintxos is perfect.  You have a small (literally translated pintxos means pinch) plate, accompanied by a small glass of wine or beer and off you go to the next place, to sample more pintxos and drink more beer.  Pintxos are laid out on the bar and you take what you want, sometimes ordering hot ones to order.  Everything is delicious, fresh, unique and local.   The whole concept of 'food to table' and '100 mile diet' is laughable here (and of course in most parts of Europe) - that's just what they do.  

It's time now for our mandatory afternoon siesta.  We have a big night ahead.  More eating at Arzak.

The Basque region is known all around the world as a gastronomic paradise: from pintxos to wine to more Michelin rated restaurants per capita than anywhere else in the world.  I'm well aware that fine dining, coupled with more expensive, doesn't necessarily mean better but when in Rome ... So, we decide on Arzak simply because it's located closest to the hotel.   As an added bonus, the restaurant is run by a father / daughter team who live with their families above the restaurant.  So adorable.

The experience itself is beyond compare - a staff of thousands (okay, no, but LOTS) whisking away cutlery, pouring wine and water.  A tasting menu so intricate it's hard to know where to begin.  Flavour combinations so peculiar, until they land in your mouth and you believe it was always meant to be.  The dining room itself was small and intimate but in pure European fashion not at all snooty.  A lovely French couple next to us struck up a conversation mid - meal and when Chef Arzak made his rounds later in the evening, we all squealed with joy.  I've heard that many people plan trips to San Sebastián around reservations here and I can see why.  For 5 hours we were treated like princesses, eating innovative food made with care and even whimsy - purees shaped like clothespins, chocolate balls playing marbles with each other, pop rocks on candies of coca-cola!  I can't say I would do a 230 Euro (now, that is including lots of wine) dinner every night, but once or sometimes you simply must.  It's simply a must do.

Now, today, it's Wednesday and - guess what. It's raining AGAIN. We seek refuge in the Museum of San Telmo, a museum devoted to Basque culture. The featured exhibit now is on the Basque language and it's an extremely well put together exhibition bringing thoughts of language and culture extinction to our minds. I heard much of this in Hawaii last year, and the notion is just so sad, but a sign of our modern times.

We're now off for a short siesta, as pre dinner cocktails await.

Adventures 2013 - Volume 1, Born to be Basque

Well, hello!

Hello from the opulent, stunning, luxurious (and every other over the top adjective you can summon) Hotel Maria Cristina in San Sebastián, Spain! At this moment, I am listening to howling winds and a hailstorm as I eat the most delicious chocolate and contemplate having a beer.  It's all good.

Getting here was a bit touch and go.  Leaving the night before official "Snowmageddon" at home had us a bit concerned.  We stared at this:

from the inside of our cosy airplane and wondered if we'd take off on time, or at all. We were off without much of a worry though, and a short 6.5 or so hours later landed in Brussels, a city whose slogan simply touches my heart "Welcoming.  European.  Efficient."  Love Brussels.  More of that (hopefully) next week as for now, we're onto Bilbao and then a sleepy bus ride to San Sebastián.  In truth, the entire trip has been sleepy.  Or at least attempted sleepy - time shifts and the act of actually flying gets me pretty tired, but it's wired and tired which is not necessarily a good sleep combination.  You grab what you can when you can but all in all it's tiring.  Poor me.  Even worse?  When we arrive in San Sebastián, we can't head to our hotel and sleep because our dear friend Alex is here to pick us up at the bus station and deliver us to our hotel.  He'll likely want to talk.  Jerk.

We arrive in our room and can't really wrap our heads around the crazy beauty of it.  The Santa Maria Cristina is San Sebastian's premier hotel, part of Starwood's Luxury collection and on Conde Nast's Gold List.  The place is pretty awesome.  I'd never think of staying here at full pop, but through some luck and an amazing friend we are lucky to call the palace (not a typo) home for the next six nights.

The view, from our very own Juliet balcony, is equally stunning giving us perfect eye access to a square and the Urumea River where you can see (crazy) surfers riding waves 365 days a year.

After a short nap (I mean, we only really did this to accommodate Alex) we head out.  First, for coffee.  Coffee the way it was intended to be : dark, rich, strong and clean.  I could drink coffee forever here, but then I'd be up forever here which isn't really so great a trade off.  I will ration my joy.  Next up, dinner, where we meet Alex's love bug of a husband Raul.

We all make fast friends, eating, laughing, drinking, talking and soon head out into the chilly night for an orientation walkabout and ... ice cream.  Loving it already.

Saturday morning now, and we decide to go full throttle and order room service.  Everyone does this, right?   Yeah, I know.  But once?  We can do it once?  Eating croissants in your cozy bathrobe after being awoken by said croissants at, what, 930am is a pretty normal thing to do on holiday, right?  Yeah, I know.  But once.  We did it once!  Andrea can never have orange juice again.  The bar was just set so high.

   

We're soon off to meet Alex, Raul and their friend Uri who is in town for the weekend.  It's a big weekend here in San Sebastian - it's Carnavales!  Everyone is dressed in costume and the beauty of this is that no one is too cool for school - when I say everyone dresses up, everyone does! Young and old take to the streets ready for fun and adventure.  Our first adventure of the day takes us to one of two of San Sebastian's vegetarian restaurants.  Featured on the menu is typical fare - quinoa, tofu, salads and duck.  Only in Europe.  It is here we meet the last member of our weekend sextet, Adrian. Everyone is quite excited for what the night will bring. To be honest, Andrea and I have no idea what to expect but in the care of these Fab Four we are in 110% - Vamanos! as they say in Spain (and Dora The Explorer).

We need a nap. A good one. As a bit of a precursor, tonight is a perfect storm of fun for our boys - first, it's the airing of the Melodifestivalen. This is the 53rd year for the festival - Sweden's music competition to select their entry for Eurovision. Most countries just pick their performer, but not Sweden, oh no. Swedes are very serious about their pop so they run this competition over what seems like months - complete with live telecasts and dial in voting - to determine who will represent. We are all gathered at Alex & Raul's tonight for (I think) the semi-finals and the whole thing is completely insane but totally fun. We hear a 'back when he was cute' (sorry, Andrea) Leo DiCaprio lookalike, some Swedish Housewives (their real name), an Ali G wannabe and one of the winners to the next round, a woman whose song is titled "Only Dead Fish Float Upstream". It was pretty catchy. We're eating fondue and drinking wine and laughing at our costumes. Which brings us to the second part of our evening: a Carnvale party themed to a popular 80s Spanish television program called UNO DOS TRES. We are all in 80s garb (which suffered a bit of a translation gap as Andrea and I were cast offs from Dynasty and the boys looked like cute geeky nerds). The party, hosted by Drag Queens, was in a cavernous warehouse, with two dance rooms and Raul will be DJing in both rooms over the course of the night. What can I say about this party that will make it sound as fun as it was? It was the type of party where you wished all your friends were there to see it, live it, experience it and dance it. No one was hanging by the wall. No one was waiting for better music. I'm not sure if anyone was even talking. But everyone, and I mean everyone, was in costume and everyone was dancing. Most guests dressed up in groups, so we had the Flight Attendants, the Equestrians, the Amazons. There were lotsa abs and lotsa leg and not much cellulite.  It was a straight girls nightmare.

Listen, there isn't really much I can say here. We photobombed about 1000 pictures. I caressed the abs of a wee Amazon. We returned to the hotel with bouillon cubes and a sleeve of condoms at approximately 6am. Oh, relax. It was a straight girls nightmare, remember? *eye roll* I'm sure Alex & Raul do this every weekend. Lucky bastards.

Good Morning Sunday. Or, suuunday?! Already?! Alex, Raul & Uri are set to pick us up at 2pm for an afternoon at the Cider House. Adrian, who lives 15 minutes away in France (I don't understand how this is possible either) will meet us there. Surprisingly, we're all coherent! And starving! A quick drive takes us outside the city and we arrive at a rustic farmhouse dating back to 1527. This particular cider house, the Petritegi, is family owned and run. You walk in, grab a glass, sit at a large picnic table and continue to eat and drink all the cider you can for about 3 hours. What a way to spend an afternoon!

Pleasures like this don't come easy, though. I became a rough and tumble woman this afternoon, learning to crack walnuts WITH MY FINGERS! I am so much better prepared for life now you have no idea - there is video. It is awesome, as, obviously, am I.

The food was incredible - fresh bread, chorizo, omelettes, cod with peppers, big ass steak, cheese, and those hard earned walnuts.

We leave, stuffed, happy with belly aches from laughter. God, I love it here.


Monday brings us to a planned walking city tour with our Alex acting as tour guide. Unfortunately, the weather isn't quite cooperating. To be honest, the weather has been horrible - damp, rainy, cold. Simply not weather we are used to at home. No matter how much you layer, your bones are still cold. Not fun, but tough luck, get on with it! We manage to walk the length of the gorgeous (weather or not) San Sebastián beach before it starts to pour - a remarkable type of rain, really. Hard, almost hail, coming at you from all sides making an umbrella pretty useless. We seek refuge at the funicular (come on, who doesn't love a funicular?!), the top of which is a landing pad for spectacular city views and a rather interesting amusement park, now closed as it's off season.

More food, more ice cream, more pop songs and the promise of more tomorrow ... spa day, and Arzak. I know what you're thinking ... you were Born to be Basque too.

H is for ...

... HOLD! 

Let's take a little break, shall we?  Une petite pause, as it were.  Yes?

This Alphabet Game has been quite delightful - I'm enjoying the organizational aspects far better than a bowl of Alphagettis, that's for sure!  - and I hope the same level of enjoyment has been there for you.  It's just that right now I'd like to press the hold button for a short little while as I attempt to try something new.

You see, in ONE SLEEP I'm off on a wondrous adventure and I'd like to try my hand at a travel blog.  I don't know how it will go.  I can absolutely commit to writing everyday when I'm gone (remember the fun times we shared at TIFF?) as in general I think this is how travel blogs are best consumed, but I just don't know if I'm that kind of writer.  I'm not big on descriptions.  I don't want to write stuff like "today we went to a cafe and drank wine".  That doesn't sound much fun, does it?  I also don't want to write stuff like "today we walked down a cobblestone street and happened upon a charming outdoor patio, full of natives and tourists alike partaking in the universal activities of drinking wine and sharing laughter".  See what I mean.  ?!

So let's just see how it goes, okay?  I did spend a fair chunk of time editing a travel blog last year.  Editing is really hard - especially for a bossypants know-it-all like me. At one point I actually re-wrote an entire day but thankfully came to my senses before returning it - I mean, how insulting AND conceited can you be?  (Rhetorical, people.  Rhetorical.)  In the end, I think the blog was quite good and well received - certainly not because of me, but I'd like to think I helped it along just a little.  A little. - and now I want to see if I can do it all myself.  I know what I want to accomplish and I figure the rewards are twofold:  first, it's like you're coming on my adventure with me and, most important, when I come back I won't bore you with all the details because you've heard about them already!  WIN/WIN!

All that's left to do now is put everything on my dining table into my suitcase (my travel wardrobe is distinctly Fifty Shades of Black), get some Euros, watch two seasons of Happy Endings, figure out how to use my new camera (because travel blogs need pictures!), think of a catchy slogan for this travel blog, and, well, GO! 

Nos vemos en Espana mis amigos!

H is for Hold!  And ... Hasta Pronto.  ;)