Eskerrik Asko eta Hurrengo Arte! - Tomorrow we say goodbye to the Basque Country after a lovely, relaxed stay. So we wanted to say a big "Eskerrik Asko" (thank you!) to everyone who helped make it a nice stay for us.

Bilbao Guggenheim - Here is the amazing architectural feat by Frank Gehry (adorned with an attractive Dutch gentleman for decorative purposes).

Bilbao Guggenheim - And not to miss my chance, here I am (and yes, I was exhausted as I look!)

Bilbao Guggenheim - Here Wilbert is standing in front of the gigantic flower-covered dog that is the theme of the amazing Guggenheim musem in Bilbao.

Aste Nagusia Bilbao - Wilbert, Marcos and I hit the streets of Bilbao to enjoy the upbeat atmosphere offered by the year's biggest festival: Aste Nagusia (or Big Week). One week after San Sebastian's version, the bigger city of Bilbao offers a much different atmosphere (but equally enjoyable) than San Sebastian. Here the boys are wearing the traditional blue bandana the Bilbainos wear every year for the event.

Lizeaga Sagardotegi - Here we are enjoying our dessert (sorry about the blurry picture - blame the waitress!). The traditional Basque dessert is whole walnuts, quince (a hard fruit jelly called "membrillo" in Spanish & Basque), and Idiazabal cheese. Light and yummy!

Lizeaga Sagardotegi - The meal you get in a sagardotegi is almost always the same: Start with an omelette with cod that is salted, dried, stored, and then rehydrated for use (the ancient, traditional Basque way of storing cod), then some blocks of sauteed cod with green grilled peppers, and finally a gigantic t-bone steak that is always rare. A salad is optionally served with the steak, and bread always accompanies the meal as well. And your cider glass is your best friend for the evening.

Lizeaga Sagardotegi - Normally at a sagardotegi, you get up and walk to the various huge kegs of cider when the cidermaster comes out and shouts "Txotx!" at the top of his lungs. People line up and use their glass to catch the two-meter long stream of cider shooting out of the keg (in order to ensure maximum aeration of the cider). But off-season, you have to settle for the bottled product.

Lizeaga Sagardotegi in Astigarraga - To contrast/compliment our night at a restaurant with three Michelin stars, we decided to go to a traditional Basque sidreria (or "sagardotegi" in Euskera), a place that makes hard apple cider and serves wonderful traditional food. There are few that are open this time of year, but we found one that was.

Arzak - A Taste of Heaven

We've all eaten on average about three times a day every day of our lives thus far. So to have a single meal stand out in your memory for the rest of your life is a pretty big deal. And last night, for Wilbert and I, Jose Mari Arzak (pictured with us above) and his amazing staff accomplished this feat. Our dinner at Arzak in San Sebastian will go down in our memories as one of the most special and outstanding meals we've ever had.

Every detail from beginning to end was painstakingly thought out and well-executed (as one would hope from a restaurant with THREE well-deserved Michelin stars!). From the moment we arrived to the moment we left, we were treated like royalty. The atmosphere was friendly, elegantly casual, and while sophisticated, not at all ostentatious. We were approached in English (by a member of staff who had accurately judged us not to be Spanish or French like the majority of guests), but were accommodated when we chose to speak Spanish instead. We were expertly helped through our choice of menu items and wines.

The food was nothing less than edible art. We ordered the five course "Tasting Menu", and were proactively offered seconds (and thirds) of individual courses at no additional charge, giving us a chance to try as many as twenty separate dishes over the course of the evening (including complementary hors d'oeuvres and various desserts). We finished off the evening with cofee and a delightful "copita" of thier homemade pacharan, an anis-based Basque liqueur far better than any one we've ever had from a bottle.

We paid by far the biggest price we've ever paid for a meal, but in retrospect it was worth it for a unique experience that we'll remember for the rest of our lives.

Hondarribia Christopher - Felling a bit under the weather (think I'm coming down with a cold), so I look a bit grumpy. But all in all, it was a nice day in Hondarribia!

Hondarribia Airport - Hondarribia is also the site of San Sebastian's regional airport. Here, one of the regional Iberia flights from Madrid or Barcelona lands at the local airstrip. Local residents are strongly against the addition of more runways, but the provincial government considers it important for economic growth in the region. Where else have I heard this story?

Hondarribia Port - Wilbert gets some sun and smiles for the camera on a sunny day across the bay from the French Basque Country.

Hondarribia Market/Hotel - Wilbert poses in front of a hotel in Hondarribia with a decidedly un-Basque color scheme. But it matches his outfit.

Hondarribia Parador - One of the many "Paradores" in Spain - historic old buildings converted into tourist hotels. This one is in a beautiful old building (probably about 17th century).

Hondarribia - Another one of the typical Basque stone homes, beautifully decorated for summer.

Hondarribia - Today's outing took us to the beautiful border town of Hondarribia; the last outpost of the Spanish Basque Country across the bay from France. The town was celebrating a festival today, so there was an open-air market, art fairs and Basque dance and music demonstrations. The weather cooperated nicely as well. The town has lots of historic buildings like the one Wilbert is standing in front of.

At the old port is this beautiful tiled house. The tiles aren't actually different colors as it appears in the photo. They're made using a coloring and glazing technique akin to an oil slick, where they reflect light at different wavelengths in a rainbow-like fashion. Wilbert has gotten me a few pieces of pottery from Ibiza that use the same technique. Easily the most beautiful house in the port.

The old port of San Sebastian. Today the weather is really spotty, so we walked to the acquarium and took a tour. Afterwards we had lunch at "Old Dutch", a former Dutch pub that is now a restaurant, but hasn't yet changed its decor.

Amigos/Amis/Lagunak Elsa & Erramun

El Pupo con Producto Tipico

Plaza de Guipuzkoa - Renovated & Fixer Upper

A Song of Peace

I recently rediscovered some 22-year old recordings of my high school church choir and have been listening to them for the last week. One that continues to be one of my favorites is called "A Song of Peace", done to the traditional tune called Finlandia by Jean Sibelius (ca. 1899).

I love it both for the amazing, powerful crescendo it reaches in the section I've italicized below, as well as its subtle but firm call not to let patriotism and national pride blind one to the fact that people in other parts of the world feel the same about their own countries - and that no one country is inherently superior to another - a thought that I fear is far too prevalent these days.

Note that I've seen alternate texts to this one, but this is the text we always used. Click on the title to download/stream the MP3 of this 1983 recording (levels are a little low).

"Song of Peace" (Finlandia), text by Lloyd Stone
Matins Choir, Plymouth United Church of Christ
Des Moines, Iowa - June 1983

This is my song, O God of all the nations
A song of peace, for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is.
This is my hope, my dream, my shrine.
But other hearts in other lands are beating
With hopes and dreams the same as mine.

My country's skies are bluer than the oceans
And sunlight beams on clover leaf and pine.
But other lands have sunlight too and clover
And skies are sometimes blue as mine.
Oh hear my song, thou God of all the nations
A song of peace for their land and mine.

May truth and freedom come to every nation,
May peace abound where strife has reigned so long
That all may seek to love and build together
A world united, righting every wrong;
A world united in its love for freedom,
Proclaiming peace together in one song.

Wilbert surveys La Concha from our lunch spot on the terrace of La Perla.

The beautiful architecture of San Sebastian, which I love. Details are everything...

Wilbert's into bears...

Three kids with the biggest teddy they'd ever seen

La Concha beach as viewed from La Perla, a luxurious restaurant and spa.

Traditional old Basque houses right next to San Sebastian's bay, La Concha.

The barandilla, the symbol of San Sebastian.

Semana Grande Fireworks

El Buen Pastor behind the ginko trees

The Bay of Biscay

Reminding us where we are...

Wilbert sees La Concha in San Sebastian for the first time.

Ahh... vacation!

Believe it or not, for the more than eight years that I've lived in Europe, I've never really ever taken a proper two or three week holiday. I've almost always smacked a week of holiday on the beginning or end of a business trip (often with Wilbert). That's been nice (and especially economical), but this year we decided to do the "European Thang" and have a proper two-week holiday. We're sitting on a long layover in Charles de Gaulle's Air France Lounge on our way to Biarritz in France, where a car is waiting to whisk us away to San Sebastian in The Basque Country, where I spent one year going to school and learning the Basque language in 1990-91. It will be the first time I've spend such a long time there on vacation, but more importantly it will be the first time that Wilbert has gone with me, and I'm really looking forward to that. When you travel with someone who's never been somewhere you've already been, it almost forces you to see it with new eyes, so that will be fun.

We got a cushy deal at San Sebastian's finest hotel, the Maria Cristina, partially because I'm a platinum member of Starwood Preferred Guest (the world's best frequent guest program!), and partially because I'm renting out the entire hotel for four days next month for a company meeting. :-) So we'll be getting a Junior Suite with a balcony overlooking ocean and sea. It's Aste Nagusia/Semana Grande/The Big Week (the Basque Country means by definition linguistic complexity), so we'll be enjoying the many musical performances, nightly fireworks competition, and generally jolliness in the streets for the next week.

This holiday couldn't have come at a better time. I'm loving my job but reaching burn-out because of the huge proejcts we've bitten off as a team this summer. It's normally our busiest time of year already, but we've complicated it further by choosing to do a major rebranding of the company as a whole, all of which has to be ready for our fall events. I just feel lucky to be working with a good crew of professional, cool people who will take care of everything just fine while I'm gone.

So the timing of this holiday is both good and bad. Guess I'll really get to see what my staff is made of while I'm gone. I think they're up for the job! Besides, it's not every day you get to spend 12 days in the junior suite of a five-star hotel and eat at a restaurant with three Michelin stars (Arzak)!

For 10 years he was the sweetest and most loving cat in the world. In the last four years his behavior has slowly spiralled out of control to the point where we just couldn't deal with him anymore. He was my oldest and dearest friend in this country, and the decision to have him put to sleep was one of the most difficult I've ever made. I shed many a tear today (and suspect there are more to come), and I will miss his sweet soul dearly. And at the same time I'm glad our home life can go back to some semblance of normalcy. I love you and I'll miss you Inaki. Holding you in my arms as you slipped away was one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do in my life. And at the same time, I'm glad you left this world without pain and in the arms of the parent you've known your entire life, and not of some stranger. God bless you and goodbye.

Amsterdam Gay Pride 2005

Amsterdam Gay Pride 2005

Amsterdam Gay Pride 2005

Amsterdam Gay Pride 2005

Expatriation

I still sometimes have trouble really imagining the enormity of what it means not to be an American citizen anymore. It also at the same time seems so completely trivial to me. Its really far more emotional than anything that impacts me in the here and now. Being American hasn't meant anything to me from a practical standpoint for the last 8+ years other than having a double tax burden. My life is in Europe, and it was primarily my desire to stabilize that life long-term that lead me to make the decision to become Dutch. But every once in a while, I get that slightly freaked out feeling one gets when you've solidly and consciously closed the door to a particular path in your life, burned the bridges behind you, and know there's no going back. But I've been lucky in life with those kind of decisions, so I assume this decision (which still feels right) will prove correct in the long term as well.