The First 10 Days

Hola. We've been here about 10 days, and I thought I'd share some of the highlights.

Barcelona - One of the coolest big cities I've been to. I may be alone on this one, but I'd never heard of Gaudi. In case I'm not the only one, he's an architect who worked in the early 20th century on a completely unique style. The two major Gaudi sites we visited were Park Guell and La Sagada Familia. Both were very cool. If I could, I'd post pictures, but I can't at this point.

Additionally, Barcelona has a tourist area that would put Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco to shame. There's all the standard stuff (people dressed in costumes who want you to pay them in order to take their picture, souvenir shops, overpriced restaurants, etc.), but there was also an entire section of La Rambla devoted to birds for sale. I must say, when I'm on vacation and looking for a momento, I'm typically thinking parakeet. And now I know just the stop to find them.

There was also a nice city beach. It was super crowded, but the water was clean and very refreshing. I'd love to say I have first hand expereince with the nightlife, but we didn't really make it out past midnight. Seeeing how everyone is just finising dinner at this point, I can't comment further. But speaking of dinner, we ate a hectic but fun meal crowded into a bar with great tapas.

Pamplona - In my previous travels, I've never really sought out local festivals/holidays. It's hard to find a place to stay, expensive when you find one, and it hasn't seemed worth the trouble. But when you're thisclose to the Running of the Bulls, you go. And so we did. I was considering running with them, and watched for the first day to get an idea of whether this was reasonable or not. The course is short, there aren't very many bulls (6), and everyone only runs about 50 yards.

So of course I chose not to run. It's a very narrow course, the bulls are huge, and there are thousands of other people running. Compared to this, mountaineering seemed reasonable. At least on the mountain, you won't be undone by some drunk who hasn't slept in 24 hours. And for anyone following the news from here, the day the person was killed was the day I would've been running. All in all, I'm good with the choice.

With that out of the way, San Firmines (the whole festival surrounding the running of the bulls) is a phenomenal party. Everyone, and I mean everyone, dresses in white with a red belt and red kerchief. Then they party like rockstars with a few hundred thousand of their closest friends. There are people everywhere, all having a good time. With all the red and white and excessive drinking, I was reminded of going to football games in Madison. Except they do it every day for a week straight. The only downside was out hotel. Since we only booked a couple weeks in advance, we were a ways out of town and had to rely on busses that didn't run late enough into the evening.

San Sebastian - Thanks to Brian Hansen for the recommendation on this one. We're on the northern coast, where it isn't quite as hot and not nearly as humid as Barcelona. It's not far from the Pyrenees Mountains, so the fantastic beach is surrounded by hills. It makes for a beautiful setting. We went sea kayaking this morning, have spent some quality time on the beach, and took an old school railcar up the side of the mountains. Good times all around.

Adios muchachos.