It's official, we are legit backpackers. Our overnight train arrived in San Sebastian at 8am. We had no map or plans or hostel so we set off wandering in the rain.
It was our first time in Spain and we were so happy to be here, despite the rain, we instantly got a great vibe from this place...pretty sure we are really gonna dig Espana. Not sure why but our theme song for the day was a great classic throw back that some of you will remember from our bar mitzvah party/school dance stage of life: Sir Mix-a-lot's "Baby Got Back." We white girl rapped and danced around (not an easy task when wearing a backpack that spans from over your head to below your butt) the streets of San Sebastian on this fine morning, stopping only for a quick cup of coffee, until we found a place to stay almost 4 hours later.
The world is our playground and it's recess all the time. We have really been digging this playground analogy recently. We like some kids more than others. Some are nice, some are scary, some are mean, some are our friends. The only thing missing is a packed lunch from mom and a jump rope...although we contemplated joining a double dutch competition in Amsterdam.
Bad news folks, it continued to be a seriously rainy day on the playground. We decided not to let that stop us so we ventured back out into town, which is SO beautiful. we both made a little wish for sunshine tomorrow so we could see how pretty it really was. As peoples umbrellas turned inside out and the gray drizzle engulfed everything we got totally soaked. After getting a sandwhich and realizig everything was closed for siesta we decided to head back to our hostel. Getting rained in was a serious damper on our moods (haha we are such punsters) but it had some positives. We embraced the wonderful Spanish custom of a siesta, catching up on some much needed sleep, we discovered the rain covers on our backpacks, we realized that the weather has been all sunshine up to this point (pretty remarkable for winter in Europe) aand most importantly we realized something about ourselves. We have been so used to using every minute to its full advantage: exploring, sight seeing, meeting people, engaging locals in conversation, trying cultural foods, getting lost, laughing, appreciating the little things and realizing they mean more than we often give them credit for. We are exhausting ourselves in the pursuit of life. Our frustration with the rain made us realize our spirit of adventure was not burnig out. We were proud of ourselves. We know a lot of travelers would embrace an excuse to have a couch potato session but we were not fans. I mean, we're in Spain ya know? It made us thankful to realize we still wanted to be out playing in our playground.
The great thing about tonight was...everything We were totally over our lazy day. We did enjoy our long hot shoe-less showers and the hairdryer in the room had Miss Foster one happy camper. After Kelly deciding to stop moping about the sickening UL game she followed on her phone, we threw on jeans and headed towards old town. Old town was about a 10 minute walk from us - which was a breeze now that the rain subsided. Here, we read, was the place to find endless tapas (Spanish snacks) bars right on the coast. Endless alley ways off a grand boulevard were full of kids and adults snacking and drinking. Most importantly, they were wearing giant ST. Patricks day hats... Success! Both of our goals in one place- ST. Patty's and tapas. In San Sebastian they call tapas "pintoxs"; they line the counters of bars and you pay by the item or toothpick, most are about 1 or 2 euros. Some look like sandwiches, some are fried, some are smaller mouthfuls on toothpicks, most are open faced small items with toppings. We stopped in a tapas bar listed on a map we had acquired from a nice hotel concierge (...obviously not where we were staying, budget accommodations don't come with a concierge) to get a feel for how this pintoxs thing works. It was a quieter spot but we explored this cultural tradition. San Sebastian prides themselves on their pintoxs and they are everywhere! You're meant to eat one with a beer or wine, then switch bars and repeat. Kelly tried a small pastry with king crab filling while Jenny munched on a ham & cheese mini. Yum! We were ready for another... We carefully picked our next location based on their selection and the crowd. We stopped in our 2nd place where a few people were socializing and the variety looked tasty.
There were 2 British guys standing bar-side who we talked to about our dinner options - there strategy was just pointing at a mystery snack and digging in, which gave them both a mouthful of super fishy tapa and made us lean toward some safer options. No octopus pintox for us, the San Sebastian favorite. The four of us started chatting and getting really into who picked what pintox. Its easy to understand why this is such a social part of the region. James and sam were great friend choices on our part. They had backpacked after school also and traveled a lot in general. James just got sacked, which we had a hard time understanding as he said he owns his own company (just kidding James, we know we know, you "quit" - PS Jenny wrote this sentence, Kelly would never be so rude to her future boss). He has a house about 20 minutes away in France that he will be giving to us to take care of for free starting Monday! (just throwing the option out there again bud). They had just gotten into town like us, to spend a long weekend here. They had lots of fun stories and weren't too weirded out by us, which is always a plus. The four of us set off down the street to a bar where green lights glowed, kids stumbled out in big green hats and the sign said 2 for 1 Guiness and a hat! Perfect. Here we found out James had retired from the British army; he was actually the guy who shouted orders during the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. Naturally we inquired about being so serious, the fur hats and all the other questions London left us with. He taught us a few moves (stay tuned for proof). Now he is moving to Australia and taking Kelly on as the best employee ever (she hopes).
Sam had some big kid job that only got him a few days off to come spend some time here. They just needed a nice quiet romantic weekend together... Ha! Just kidding you guys- we know you're reading this saying "Get out! Shut up! What tards!" (all helpful American slang they picked up from us throughout the night). Naturally they were impressed with our intellect and pensive travel lessons.. It had nothing to do with how great we look in giant green hats and killer cerveza drinking skills. we all strolled through town a bit more before saying goodnights.
We were so happy not only to have made new friends who were such fun, but also to be in Spain and celebrating this great holiday.. But to have hung out with 2 people who, at the end of the night, said see ya later with no invites or creepy offers. Well done you guys- y'all win for favorite and least creepy new friends.
We walked home so happy to not be freezing, after a great night, in a new place, and to not be in Paris. That shit was bogus.
Sleep tight sugarplums
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