Day 31, July 23

San Sebastian is hosting a 5 day Jazz Fest.  We went to see Chick Corea, Lenny White, and Jean Luc Ponty in Return to Forever.  The old guys are still really amazing.  Not sure that Brendan fully appreciated the show...

Day 30, July 22

Jacqueline and Brendan had their last day of Spanish camp today.  The camp offers both a Spanish and an English language program. The Spanish program remarkably had many kids from California.  However, Jacqueline made a French friend who was learning Spanish as her third language.  We had gelato to celebrate.

Day 29, July 21

I went on an eating tour of the old town today.  Our guide led us through the market and talked about local produce, then took us to several of the small bars which serve tapas, known in Basque as Pintxos.  In the bars, there are large platters filled with these fingers foods.  They are generally loaded onto a slice of bread, or held togetehr with a toothpick.  You help yourself to whatever looks good, and pay at the end.  Toppings include lots of fish (sardines and tuna), egg (we have seen ostrich and quail), Jambon Iberico (like proscuitto, but much better).  There are also hot Pintxos which include an egg and potato torta, foie gras, and whatever else might delight the chef that day.

Day 28, July 20

Today while the kids were at camp I went to the San Telmo Art Museum.  A new addition has just been completed by Nieto Sobejano.  It is a contemporary juxtaposition with the existing Renaissance facade of the former church turned museum.   Inside the church naïve are wonderful paintings by Sert depicting Basque life.  A bit of culture...

Day 27, July 19

Today Connor turns sweet 16.  He is spending his special day with the Prujas, his French family, and his former French tutor, Barbara, who we got to know in Menlo Park.  Connor was offered wine, but says he refused…  This is a self taken photo.

Day 26, July 18

As part of our house exchange, we also swapped cars.  Our new car we affectionately call the Yellow Submarine.  It is a bright yellow Renault camper van.  It has no power steering or power brakes and has a manual ignition.  This morning we came out in a hurry to get to camp and discovered the battery was dead due to leaving the lights on.  We spent the next 2 hours trying to explain to a local car mechanic that we did not want a new battery, just a jump.  I-translate on my I-pad was very helpful, much to Jacqueline's embarrassment. I am missing my fully loaded mini van.

Day 25, July 17

We went to Hendaye today which is a small seaside town just north of the French border.  It was raining and very windy.  The surfers were however loving it.  We had a menu de jour at a local tavern; 10Euro for checken leg, mushroom mouse cake, creme brulee.