So, this morning we got up at 7:30 ate our breakfast and walked (in the rain of course) across town to the bus stop. We didn't really know where to get the ticket but after talking to a few locals we found the small shop to but them. We also got a cappuccino from a machine for ,50 and it was so yummy! We stood at the bus stop trying to figure out which was bus 3. We tried getting on a bus that had the number three and they said it was the wrong one so we went to another one with the number three and it was correct so we sat down and rode for an hour and a half. They told us to bring our passports, but nobody checked them so we didn't even get a stamp:( It was 10:30 when we got there, gloomy and it sort of looked like a ghost town. We stopped by the tourism building and got a map and tried talking to the lady there about what was good to do there.
Our first stop, The Chocolate Museum, which was on our list of things to do there. We walked for about a half an hour trying to find it and when we did, the museum was closed. The store was still open though, so we went inside to try to find something yummy. There was a bunch of random chocolate in boxes, in bags and just some chocolate on shelves. I picked up a back of chocolate melts and the lady told me "chocolate, don't touch," uh okay? So we looked at more stuff and then saw a laminated pamphlet about chocolate making. We picked it up and started looking at it, not being able to read a thing because it was in French, and the lady came over to us and showed us the sign that said how much the pamphlet was. Apparently you can't look at things without buying them first. We ended up buying a little bag of mixed chocolate melts to share. They were good, but nothing too special.
We then walked around by the ocean for a while and then back into town. There was finally a few people outside. We became really hungry and decided that pizza is what we wanted. After asking two women in stores that spoke English where a pizza place was, they both answered "pizza, uhh no?" We decided to trek around town for another hour in search for pizza. We finally found a place that said pizzeria, and it was closed. So we walked longer. Finally we found a restaurant that said pizza on its wall. We walked in, sat down and looked at the menu. It was all in French so naturally we picked the pizza with the least amount of random cheeses and ingredients on it and ordered some orange juice and a sprite. The pizza came really fast, we watched them bake it in a brick oven ten feet away. It was amazing! So delicious. It had ham and mushrooms on it. We ate it with a fork and knife, like the rest of the people in the restaurant did. After lunch everyone had dessert. We kept seeing these really yummy icecream things go by so we ordered one that had three different types of caramely flavors. It was incredible! The yummiest thing we have had in days! (hard life right..) Anyways after that we sat and talked for awhile, paid then left for more exploring.
Apparently after 2:00 everybody is outside! The shops were busy, there were people on the streets and on the beach. We walked around down by the ocean through some rocks and then to go back up to see the lighthouse we had to walk up 176 steps. When we reached the lighthouse it was closed because it was too windy. We sat on a bench and soaked up the amazingly warm sunshine. When the sun began to go behind the clouds we realized it was time to start walking again. We couldn't find the Museum of the Sea before this point, so we decided to keep looking. We walked for about 45 minutes and then decided to walk over to this area where there is a bridge going over part of the ocean onto a big rock formation with a statue. The whole thing is kind of like in a cove where people were playing around in the sand and climbing the rocks and taking pictures. As we walked to the bridge, to our right was the museum! We finally found it! YAY! First we had to go take a picture of the statue on the other side of the bridge. Walking onto the bridge Tara got out her camera and I was looking at some other people taking a picture of some weird rock formation. (That wasn't even cool.) As I turned to look at the statue 50 yards away(we were only 7 feet onto the bridge,) I saw a lot of ocean water spraying up close to the people. I started to say "I don't want to go over there, it looks like you could get wet," as I finish saying that a huge wave plummets over the side of the bridge devouring Tara and me as well as another couple. Everyone started laughing. We were soaked from head to toe. Salt water in our mouths I started to cry, Tara started to laugh so I stopped crying to laugh, and we decided the next best move was to take a picture. The best picture we will ever take. After being laughed at enough, we walked into the museum and asked for the bathroom. The kind lady at the desk was trying so hard not to laugh at us as we stood there soaking wet trying to ask for the bathroom in English. We tried to dry off but we didn't do that much. After realizing that both Tara's camera and ipod were broken, we began to walk to the tourism building.
As we arrived, still soaking wet and waddling, the lady at the desk didn't understand that a wave had hit us and couldn't tell us where to buy cheap clothes. She directed us to a large department store, similar to Macy's. We searched and searched but couldn't find anything that was cheap enough to buy to just wear one time, and we couldn't take off our clothes to try on new ones, because they were never going to be able to go back on. Defeated, we walked around in search for a cafe to warm up in. Nowhere to be found we walked into an American 50's diner in the middle of the city. It had dr.pepper and rootbeer, sodas not usually found in Europe. We ordered fries and tried to warm up and dry off before riding the bus home.
When it was near the time to go home, (two hours after we got soaked,) we walked to the bus stop and waited, and waited and waited. Once it turned 6:45, the time the bus was supposed to leave, we kind of freaked out. I asked another bus driver if he was going to San Sebastian and he told us no, the other bus was around the corner. Frantically, we waddled over to the other side of the block and saw it turning the corner. It stopped, we bought our ticket and sat down thanking God we didn't have to stay in this town another minute longer.
When we got home, we had another 15 minute walk home. Still wet, we practically ran home to change our clothes. Finally, 2 hours later, our bodies have warmed back up, but our feet are still wet. (Even after putting on new fuzzy warm socks and slippers.)
Even though half of our day was spent in misery, we are still very glad and thankful for the oppurtunity to get to go to France for the day. We can't wait to go back!
Until our next adventure,
What a wonderful time you two are having, making lifetime memories!
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