El marco incomparable

San Sebastián is a beautiful and famous city, Donostia in Basque.

On our first sight-seeing tour Alberto took us up a mountain for the best view of the Bahía de la Concha, which the cursi (pretentious or affected locals) call el marco incomparable (the incomparable frame or view).

A part of abstract sculpture El peine del viento (The comb of the wind) by Eduardo Chillida seen here on the right tip.

The above are some of our best photos. Now go to local photographerYosigo's website for his artistic set entitled Donostia.

What do you think, are the locals being pretentious or is it indeed the most beautiful place on earth?

Three of the Basque teens in Upland for the month are from there.

Finding Waldo

We came across a most interesting page in Real Simple magazine's latest issue, which arrived this week.

Finding Amaia on her own hometown beach may be just as challenging as Finding Waldo!

The photographer quoted above mentions the breathtaking views from the nearby mountain. We can attest to that, although my photographs will never do justice to the scenery.

 This is my best effort, taken from the Jaizkibel mountain or ridge.

You probably cannot read the small upside down print. The first town on the west side of the river (see inlet on the left) is Hondarribia and the peak in the range to the left is Jaizkibel. The east side of the Bidasoa river is France. This may help you imagine the beautiful  hilly/mountainous country we fell in love with.

2010 Week 28

The week began celebrating the USA's 234th birthday and ended celebrating Spain's victory in the World Cup final, and in between we went camping, experienced muchísimo calor y más mosquitos que nunca!

My way of bringing together the USA and Basque Country.

We enjoyed sparklers and fireworks at the hija's place.

Monday was a holiday, Mike joined his cyclist friends all morning and again today insisted on more torture in the heat!

Tuesday mid morning we left for three days of camping at Indiana Dunes State Park where we endured the heat, suffered the mosquitoes, enjoyed the Lake Michigan beach, ate good food, played games, told stories and hung out with great friends.

 

Once the tents were up we went the long way to the beach via the Devil's Slide; after that we always drove.

One smart thing we did was to assign meals. I made tacos for one lunch and Swedish pancakes for Thursday breakfast. I was quite pleased with how this system worked out: shape the crepe in the pan; cook the other side on the end of the grill cover over the other burner; keep one warm on the outside end; constantly rotate and serve.

On the last morning some of us, the more competitive, enjoyed a rousing game of Nerts.

And Tess found a little friend.

We drove to Mt. Baldy to enjoy the view, the sand, the beach and the waves.

The three adventurous teens went back up to the summit for the thrill of running down again.

This morning we sent our teens off to Miracle Camp for the week.

This afternoon we were glued to the TV watching Spain and Netherlands battle it out for 120+ minutes in the World Cup!

Sunday...three weeks ago

On this lazy Sunday afternoon, I am remembering our last Sunday in Onyarbi.

We walked to the old city center, the Walled City, for the Medieval Festival--straw strewn all over the cobblestones, the vendors dressed in medieval costumes, fire throwing acts and other actors walking around, old world music.

Fire-Throwing Dance

Strange Medieval Creature

Music Machine

Medieval Marching Band

Around noon we walked through the San Nicolás Gate and left the walled city. 

The informational pamphlet says,

Hondarribia is, today, the only Gipuzkoa town that still retains its Renaissance walls.

Imagine that--while they celebrate medieval customs and and still have structures that date back to Roman times, our nation just celebrated only 234 years!

We crossed the bridge, over the old moat, into modernity to hear our own Amaia perform.

Hondarribiko Musika Eskolaka Banda

She is the very serious one on the right.

I began this reminiscing yesterday. I post it today, Monday, hoping you find time to enjoy it on this holiday.

2010 Project 365 #27

Fun and Games

Our first full week with Amaia we may have worn her out! Every day a new experience and most days two or more special activities. I will not tire you with photos of each and every one, even so there are more than one per day.

Monday:
Ivanhoe's--we met Laurie and another Basque girl and her hostess.
Game of LIFE--Amaia won.
Malachi's Little League game

Wonderful Monday Meal at Chef's and games of chess after.

Tuesday we took the three Basque girls to Connor Prairie where they stepped back in time and experienced a bit of life in the early 1800's. (More photos and commentary here.)

Wednesday was Fort Wayne zoo day and if that was not enough, we went to a water park on the way back. Two grandboys were along. Elijah said, "That was the bestest day ever.

Thursday we took the girls to a big shopping mall and then joined the crowds for Family Day at the Indianapolis Children's Museum.

Friday a second time to the Splash House for all kinds of water fun and more sunburn/tan? (That was the ongoing debate after--burn or tan?) The wave pool is new this year.

While they were there I went for a walk with my friend Viola. She rides her electric scooter and I trot along.

In the evening the Mississinewa Valley Band gave a concert in our church parking lot.

There was a large crowd, but we had back row seats in our friends, Dane and Laurie's yard next door.

After that we were off to another venue, downtown Marion First Friday where they showed The Blind Side on a big outdoor screen.

 But here we have front row seats and plenty of blankets for the night cold air.

How to explain the title to Amaia? The context is American football and because there is no Spanish equivalent, they gave it another title--Un sueño posible. For those readers who speak Spanish wordreference.com's forum explanation is  "se refiere a como el "offensive tackle" protege el ángulo muerto del "quarter back" en football americano."

It was past midnight when we got to bed, even so Mike got up early today, Saturday, and went for bike ride with two friends. However, he found a shorter way back and here he is raiding the fridge for nourishment.

I think he was simply too eager to watch the start of the Tour de France. The historic review of the 100 years of the stages in the Pyrenees was especially interesting having "been there done that", well...sort of.

And the day is not over yet. I stayed home, but the others went to Marion again for another concert and fireworks. Mike and Dane left earlier to watch the Marion Classic bike race.

The weather has been beautiful all week. We hope it accompanies us next week when we go camping.
Anyone else going camping this summer? Go to Sara's for more.

Monday/lunes/Lundi

European adventures continued...

So, that first Monday afternoon we went across for a paseo into France to see the other face of Basque Country and get a glimpse of the area where the guys had been cycling earlier that day, 57 miles in the foothills of the Pyrenees.
There are three Basque departments or provinces in France, so the formula for Euskal Herria (the Basque Country) is 4 + 3 = 1. We learned that on the French side they are much more into the folklore. You see the flag and the lauburu everywhere and on everything.

We walked, talked and gawked.

Some shops caught our attention for different reasons.

Sweets, macaroons, and Basque cake.

Skateboards!

A memorial to honor Basque fishermen, mariners, and corsaires--good pirates commissioned to prey on the commercial shipping or warships of an enemy nation?!

So much to see and learn!

And best of all the people!

Our day ended with a meal at Gonzalo and Elena's. He had prepared Spanish tortilla.

 

They are neighbors, colleagues and close friends of our hosts and share meals together once or twice a week. We felt immediately accepted into their circle. Gonzalo even loaned us a vehicle to use during our stay. 

 Thank you, Gonzalo and Elena!

2010 Week 26: Welcome back!

The week began with a welcome back dinner as a family and ended with a welcome dinner for our Basque teens. Most of the days in between were spent getting ready for Amaia's arrival.

We were eager to return to chef-son's Monday meal and be with that circle of friends again. The food was great!

A type of flat bread with wonderful pesto

Polenta with meat sauce, tomatoes, fried squash and goat cheese.

Fresh pineapple, sliced paper thin, with sherbet

. 

My camera stopped working in Europe, the lens refused to retract. I sent it in for repair or replacement, another reason why I've struggled with photos this week.

The World Cup holds our attention (and takes up our time!). Here next to the computer I have a pop can that I brought back from Spain. Of the seven possible collectibles, we were served Coca Cola from these cans. Is that cool or what?

Argentina won twice. I couldn't watch the game today, but am going online to look at the 600+ photos...or not.

Friday was the long/exciting/scary day. 

Very looooong for those traveling from Basque Country. Amaia's family got up at 3:30 to take her to the airport in Bilbao and the group finally arrived in Fort Wayne at 5:30 pm our time, near midnight their time.

There was much excitement at the airport, families with brightly colored welcome signs...and some scared bewildered faces of the new arrivals.

We did not have a sign this year, but could have stolen borrowed this one from another family:

These, BTW, are the names of the three girls in our Upland group; they are common Basque names.
As the bus drove by Dane and Laurie's house, next to our destination, we saw they had put up the Basque flag. We knew they would be so excited to see Amaia again, so we walked over to their house. As you can see we also welcomed our granddaughter Kayla for the month.

Saturday was Orientation and Welcome Dinner, and then all the young folk played some get-acquainted games.