thursday--my first official day in bilbao. i woke up late and then wandered around town. i walked to casco viejo. (for fall bcn kids, that is the area of town where we stayed.) i found one of my favorite restaurants, la deliciosa, our hostel, and one of the best chocolate stores ever. naturally i went into the chocolate store and bought my fave, dark chocolate mocha. it's as good as i remembered. that afternoon i picked O (my friend's cousin-she's 6) up from her bus stop. we played in the park afterwards.
friday--i was mostly lazy. i searched for jobs. mostly looked into teaching english and how to go about getting a visa. it's going to be tricky. hopefully not impossible. after O got home from school we ventured to ikea. this was my first ikea experience. needless to say i was overwhelmed. if you have never been to ikea, it is unreal. the store is a total maze. i perused through living areas to kitchen furniture to bedrooms to closets and anything and everything in-between. it is the mecca to end all home furnishing stores. the number of customers there is unreal. not only do they have a restaurant upstairs, but a grocery store downstairs with swedish imported foods. i found some twizzler-like licorice. it was pretty good. strange at first, but it grew on me. we also got some pretty good cookies as well. the store literally has everything!
saturday--C's (my friend's aunt, a bilbao native) parents have a beach house in bakio. it's a 30 minute drive from bilbao. we left saturday afternoon to stay the night. the beach is breathtaking. it's situated in a valley. the north atlantic is a little to cold for my taste. the water is much more blue than the atlantic down south. if you enjoy surfing and don't mind cold water, it's not a bad place to go. i walked along the beach, but it was too chilly to layout.
sunday--i spent most of the day on the beach. it felt wonderful. not too hot, not too cold. so far this european beach trip was much more successful than the first. we got back to bilbao this evening. nothing overly eventful to report though.
bakio beach
the end of the land
i wish i knew what the house on the cliff was for, or who it belonged to
mostly, i've been reveling in the spanish lifestyle. i sleep late, eat late, stay up late. the food is wonderful. i've consumed a lot of fish, olives, beer, bread, tomatoes, and olive oil. all of which are some of my favorite things. siesta is great too. i don't know what it is about spain, but i just feel more laid back and i don't feel guilty for being lazy. i've also been watching a lot of csi miami, spanish tv, and movies in general. we actually found csi in english last night.
bilbao is just as i remember it, if not more beautiful. there are several new constructions next to the guggenheim. speaking of, it still catches my attention every time i see it. i guess i'm not a local yet. it's strange to rediscover semi-familiar places. in a good way. it's hard to believe i am back in spain. hopefully to stay.
had to
gug-n-bridge
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