Le Grand Large Biarritz

Tom and Sue took the day to zip to Bilbao (1:45 south of Biarritz) to see the famous Guggenhiem Museum. Wow, what a building!! The exhibits pale in comparison, but still we enjoyed a solid 4 hours at the museum. Afterwards, we drove back to San Sebastian where Sue introduced me to Alona Berri, the ...

I don't really need to tell you what we did do I? Take one part playground, one part beach, and one part sunset and you have a Kramer day in Biarritz.

           

Judy spent the day with Pierre, a former wrestler and French Olympic wresting coach (he went with the team to Atlanta) who she had met on the train ride a few days ...

We spent the morning touring our recently discovered Bayonne with the kids and Judy continued exploring during the afternoon ...

Another lovely beach day was followed by an evening tour by Tom and Sue of nearby Bayonne, the financial center of Bayonne/Anglet/Biarritz. What a cute town!! It has a beautiful 14th century ...

San Sebastian is a wicked old town, literally full of tapas restaurants, bars and little shops. Our hostel was right in the middle of it all, it was ridiculously loud at night, but nothing wine and ear plugs can't handle. They have all these tapas laid out on the bars and you pick the ones that look good.... sometimes ...

... selling fresh local produce this good, self-catering is a pleasure.

On our first day, we explored them all and stocked the fridge with delicious patisserie, fresh baguettes, cheeses and salads for breakfast and lunch, and rose wine, olives and nibbles for aperitif time. The plan was that we'd eat these meals at the apartment or pack a picnic for the beach and enjoy ...

... growing line of disgruntled French people trying to head home. Luckily the women in the car behind could talk to the voice speaking French to us from inside the machine and obviously impressed upon her the need to actually appear in person. Obviously we expressed surprise and amazement to the woman who repaired the machine that anyone could be so stupid as to put money into the slot! We then headed home, happy, a tad sun-burned and very tired.

... town. After strolling the harbour, watching the sun set against a dramatic sky and taking in some of the towns landmarks, a bit of shopping was in order. I bought a pair of black boots to wear in Paris, as I had left all my smart clothes in London. We met up with the rest of the Kiwi's for dinner a-la-Basque. We chose a gorgeous French restaurant where we were served the finest cuisine I have encountered in my life thus far. An animated waiter by the name of Serge ...

Biarritz is the surfing capitol of France. Did I surf? Sadly, no. Did I see anyone surfing? Oddly, no. Did I lay out on the beach all day, shop up a storm, and dance until the wee hours of the morning with fabulous French gay men? Why yes! J'adore Biarritz! A couple of Kathryn's friends were going to join us on our trip but chickened out at the last minute on account of sour weather reports, so again Kathryn and I were left to our own devices which is always a recipe ...