Blogs from Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain, Europe
May 18th 2012
Friday This blog started as a diary to a semi-credible trip spanning several months – just the completion of the journey dictating its duration, rather than a few snatched weeks in the holiday schedule of someone stuck in more regular employ. It even had a credible strapline – “From the Fjords of Norway to the Sahara”. Still my abortive attempt at trying to limbo dance under a wire across a road whilst on the bike in Switzerland put a swift end to that. A painful, 3 hour ride on the bike back to hospital in Innsbruck, via Italy, and a couple of X-rays and CT scans later, and I was covered in more plaster than St Paul’s Cathedral. And that was that. A brief second abortive attempt to make North Africa the following Spring (after limbs ... read more
The Basque Region - Spanish, Gallego and now Euskera!
Published: December 30th 2011Europe » Spain » Basque Country » Bilbao
December 30th 2011
Pais Vasco – Bilbao We arrived to Bilbao with little time to spare before the rental car was due. We ended up having to return it at the airport since it was a holiday but when we got there we asked if we had time to fill up the gas tank and where we could find a gas station. She was very kind and said we could return the car at the other location in the city, which worked out way better for us getting to our hotel and not being charged an arm and a leg for gas. When we finally made it to town much later than anticipated, we still had a bit of a walk to our hotel. Luckily that nice woman had given us a downtown map. It was a rather lengthy ... read more
November 2nd 2011
Editor's note: this post is late due to limited wireless access at the end of our trip. My apologies... Well this is it, folks. We have come to the end of our journey. Before I start into the final few days, on behalf of the Choral Project, I would like to thank all of our supporters, financial, spiritual, and emotional. Without you, this trip would not have been possible, and we are all grateful. On the morng of the 31st, we rose early to rehearse for the last time prior to competing. We spent a bit over 2 hours working on ironing out the last few kinks in the music. We wanted every piece to be better than it had been before. After rehearsal, we adjourned to the hotel for lunch and a brief rest before ... read more
November 1st 2011
This morning, we woke up and found that only three people from our group could attend the closing ceremonies for the Tolosa Festival, so we took a vote and decided to just come directly to Bilbao. Our hotel, Hotel Hesperia, is really quite nice. It’s another contemporary space. Very clean and nicely appointed. And FREE WiFi that works! Since we arrived early, we got an earlier admittance into the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao. The same guy who designed the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles designed the building. It’s really cool. There is a statue of a slightly abstract spider outside. The spider is thirty feet tall, created by a lady named Louise Bourgeois. On the audio tour thingy, it said that she named the spider “Maman” (Mommy) because she saw her ailing mother in the same ... read more
October 12th 2011
Bilbao II Nachdem Tosc vorgelegt hat, hier nun mein kleiner Reisebericht über das Wochenende in Bilbao. Gebucht war MUC-BIO-MUC mit LH. (wem auch sonst ;)) Abflug in MUC bei schönstem Wetter: img=http://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-pK4guURvp-I/TiXuJ5zz12I/AAAAAAAAEc8/WEa6NV8hJ3Q/s912/Bilbao%252520007.JPG center Die Route führte an einigen schönen Flughäfen vorbei: Zürich: img=http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-f8OGkex9sDI/TiXuPYmA1GI/AAAAAAAAEdA/je8p1jamhrA/s912/Bilbao%252520016.JPG center Genf: img=http://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-eZsSQrgDMtA/TiXuS2M0lNI/AAAAAAAAEdE/P3kwj1JXV_M/s912/Bilbao%252520022.JPG center Landung in Bilbao: img=http://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-tXKscx-c7Jo/TiXvxHRTQOI/AAAAAAAAEdQ/2xnOiR-yw4g/s912/Bilbao%252520031.JPG center Terminal: img=http://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-3w3Oa5oh_wE/TiXvzPWMF4I/AAAAAAAAEdU/MelkAMri2d4/s912/Bilbao... read more
August 26th 2011
I really seem to get lucky when it comes to flights. On my first flight to Germany, if you recall or haven’t read the first post, ended up being with one of my long-time friends from home whose father subsequently got us all into the very-comfortable and luxurious first class waiting room. On my transfer flight to Bilbao, I originally thought I was not going to be so lucky. I took my seat next to the window being one of the first few people to board and was praying that no one would occupy the other two vacant seats to my right. I really wanted to get some much-needed sleep. At the very last moment however, a young couple sat down beside me with a little baby. Now, I like babies, but just not on a ... read more
August 21st 2011
Electricity—a shock—a sudden burst of raw energy—for me: Bilbao. One step off the bus from Santiago de Compostela and the city’s magnetic atmosphere bewitched me without a moment’s hesitation. The warm rain began to pour as I walked around trying to find the first street off of Google map directions as lighting light up the grey dusk sky, raising the hair on my arms. I walked, asked for directions, walked, asked for directions. An older couple took pity on me and took me to the closest bus stop while chitchatting with me about where I was from and other sorts of small talk. Half way through our conversation my temporary Spanish grandmother stopped mid-sentence, “You understand Catalán really well,” and continued what she had been telling me about the Festival week. I was under the impression ... read more
July 14th 2011
Alrighty, I know I haven't been blogging much but that's cause I've been too busy having a wonderful time!! I am really loving it here, I'm going to the beach about everyday that it is nice enough to do so. I got 2 swimsuits on rebajas (July is sales month) so I can get rid of my god awful tan lines!! Haha. Yesterday was the running of the bulls and San Sebastian, it was cold and rainy all day so I think we are going to head back to San Sebastian this weekend for the great beaches there! I'm excited about it it's only like an hour bus ride. The running of the bulls was really good I got some great video I'll have to post soon, but I also got a lot of great pictures! ... read more
July 1st 2011
Hey everyone!!! So today is Friday and I have been in Spain all week! I can't believe how fast it's been going! I am having a great time! Madrid was great!! We went exploring both nights we were there as a big group which was really cool!! And then I got to Bilbao and took a tour of the city and the school, we went to the really nice beach today! It was perfect weather which was awesome!!!! Not like last time where it poured the whole time! Haha! Then tonight we are going to explore downtown Bilbao and tomorrow is the really weird Guggenheim museum, hopefully it's more inspiring than last time! Haha! I have tons of pictures already I'll probably slowly load them up to facebook. But I'm meeting so many great people I'm ... read more
June 17th 2011
Last night we stayed in Getxo in a carpark on the beach front and today we biked into town to catch the Metro in to the Guggenheim. Awesome building designed by Frank Gehry. Here are a few photos from the day. Out... read more
