After a night of rest, Allan and Benton were the first two up, heading around the corner to get cappuccinos at a place called Gürekoffee (probably the best coffee from the entire trip). After coffee, Allan and Benton continued to roam for a bit, and saw the Bilbao soccer stadium Estadio de San Mamés, before walking along the river, through a park, and back to the apartment. At the apartment, everyone was able to meet up (Elizabeth had just arrived in the morning after taking a pretty early flight from London).
After Elizabeth arrived, the entire group headed to get lunch while walking towards Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, and then we went to the museum. Overall the museum was neat, though I don’t think any of us are that into modern art, and the building felt a lot like walking around the Stata center at MIT (both buildings are the work of Frank Gehry).
After the museum, we took the subway to the old town area (the indoor market only had a few vendors open, and it started raining, so this wasn’t the most exciting endeavor). We decided that it might make sense to just hang out in a bar and get some drinks since the weather looked pretty bleak for the rest of the day. We ended up going to quite a few different bars in the old town area (Casco Viejo), and at one of the bars, David and Elizabeth ordered “chupitos” (shots). The bartender was at first confused, then double checked that they really wanted shots, then asked (in Spanish, so Elizabeth just said “si”) if they wanted ice in their shots, and finally pulled out some extremely large glasses, poured in vodka, and laughed while telling David and Elizabeth that he wanted to see them drink the shots 🤡. Overall pretty funny.
Later, we went and got dinner at a restaurant nearby (ordered paella; wrong region of Spain but oh well). Yilinn and Benton got a paella with “old cow” meat (can’t recommend; it’s just really fatty), while David and Allan got shrimp. The shrimp paella was insanely salty.
Finally, we mosied back, walking along the river, stopping for one more drink, before making it back to the apartment. We ended up staying up pretty late (2:30am or so), playing tractor 🚜, and the main takeaway from playing cards was that David having the kidde is a disadvantage. Elizabeth also ordered ~$30 worth of junk food late at night (it was quite a mix of stuff, but more food than anyone expected $30 would be).
Memorable thing/highlight of day:
Benton: Salty paella with old cow meat
Yilinn: The lettuce art (lettuce on a rock). Also 2 quotes on benches “Men don’t help us anymore” followed by “Let your hand wonder on flesh to make possibility multiply”
Elizabeth: Woke up tipsy for flight at 5am
Daidai: Tractor 🚜
Allan: Had a blast with the bar crawl
