Greetings family and friends,
I hope this email finds you in good health.
In August we headed to Bilbao, Spain to observe the total solar eclipse, which took place on the 12th. For the two of us, this was the first total solar eclipse either of us ever experienced and, it was very cool. Obviously we were not the only people to travel to Bilbao for the eclipse, as the town was teeming with tourists. Nick observed the eclipse from along the Nervión River front, close to our hotel, while I took the metro out to the point where the Bizkaia Bridge (more commonly referred to as the Hanging Bridge) crosses the mouth of the river, connecting Gexto, a cruise port, with Portugalete, a city west of Bilbao just before the river widens into the Port of Bilbao, and where there are fewer high-rises that could obscure my view. The bridge is also a UNESCO world heritage site and considered one of the most remarkable achievements of the Industrial Revolution in the field of metal architecture. I arrived at the bridge with ample time to explore and walk across the top of the 45-m high (148 ft) bridge and learn about its history. Suspended below the bridge is a hanging gondola that runs continuously, 24 hours a day, between Gexto and Portugalete,transporting cars, bikes and people. As I walked across the top of the bridge, I read all the many plaques describing the history of the bridge, which opened in 1893. Unfortunately, I don't know the date these plaques were installed, but one indicated that since it's opening in 1893 the equivalent of the entire populations of the United States and Europe combined has crossed the bridge, approximately 650 million people. The gondola is suspended on 18 cables and has travelled the equivalent of at least 31 times around the world. Empty, the gondola weighs 22 tons and when it's full it weighs up to 50 tons. A few days after it opened in 1893, Her Royal Highness the Infanta Doña Isabel de Borbón visited the bridge and was so enamored by this masterpiece that she crossed the river seven times that day on the gondola. If you ever visit Bilbao, definitely put this on your list of things to see!
Bilbao is a cute little town in northern Spain, close to the border of France. Naively, we thought we would be hearing Spanish, not realizing that we had entered Basque Country. Nick kept trying to speak Spanish to people but soon realized that it he wasn't being understood. The Basque language, I later learned, is called Euskara and apparently has no known relation to any other language on earth according to Wikipedia. We heard lots of the "th" sound, and they seem to love using the letter x in many words.
In spite of the heat, we had a very enjoyable stay in Old Town Bilbao, close to the river and to a large number of Pintxos bars. Pintxos are similar to tapas but they are not meant to be shared and consist of a small piece of bread with layers of toppings held together with a toothpick. Since we were staying in a more touristy area, the restaurants nearby typically offered six pintxos for a set price, but I understand that in the non-tourist areas, bars charge by the number of toothpicks you have left on your plate. Sadly, I didn't get to see the Guggenheim, other than from the outside because entry tickets had been sold out for weeks prior to our trip but I did walk around the outside of this impressive building. Not far from there I crossed over the Puente Zubizuri pedestrian bridge. I have no more space for photos here but you can see it on this link: https://architectuul.com/architecture/zubizuri
Finally, my second cousin Heidi Rich and her husband Jeff visited Porto and we got to reconnect after at least 50+ years. Neither of us remembers the last time we saw one another. Her mother, Janice, is my oldest cousin, and I was the flower girl in Janice's wedding in maybe 1954 or 55. I posted a few photos of us with Heide and Jeff on Instagram. We took a Douro River cruise and passed through two locks, the biggest one of which dropped us abut 115 ft down, roughly 11 stories. Wow! I was starting to think that we were dropping into hell, because it just kept going down. If you have Instagram I hope you will check out the photos, even though I couldn't get a photo of the total drop, I managed to get a partial photo of it.
Out of the blue, during the final week of August, after yet another heatwave in Porto, we were suddenly pummeled with rain and thunderstorms. None of this is normal. But don't worry your pretty little head because according to dear leader, climate change is a hoax.
We will be heading to Berlin later this month to meet up with our friends John and Sylvia and spend some time together, after which Nick and I will take a train to Basel, Switzerland to meet up with my sister Bonnie and BIL Randy. The four of us will be taking a Rhine River cruise from Basel to Amsterdam, assuming there is enough water in the Rhine to cruise. It seems that all the major rivers in Europe are well below average right now.
I will leave you with this .... VOTE EARLY!!! And for f_ _ _ sake, wake up and Vote Blue!
Adeus, abraços e beijos,
MaryLou
No comments:
Post a Comment
Any thoughts on this post?