Wednesday 16 October. It’s our twentieth wedding anniversary! We’ll take off in the afternoon for a long weekend in the Ardennes, but first there’s a working morning, so the alarm is still set at six. It’s a complicated morning: I have work to finish before noon and also a few remote meetings planned, plus I’m… Continue reading Our (the hamlet)
The agreement yesterday was to not get up before six thirty. I do wake up a few times during the night - unfamiliar bed, unfamiliar noises - but I feel rested by the time my mom shouts a good morning from the next room. The plans for today have changed after a brief review of… Continue reading Modern architecture and modern food
Only one plan for today, in some ways the culmination of our gastronomic adventure here in Spain: lunch at Arzak. We have breakfast a bit earlier, then find an activity both relaxing and conducive to working up an appetite. We park in the center of Donostía-San Sebastian. If you’ve been wondering why I don’t write… Continue reading Idle, eat, idle
Only one thing on the plan for today: lunch at Mugaritz near Donostia-San Sebastian, a restaurant famous for its experimental style. We’d just gotten used to Spanish hours, but early this morning we switched to winter time, so three pm became two pm and we get up at eight, which is actually nine? Or something?… Continue reading A challenging meal
Up at eight, breakfast at nine, packed and ready to go around ten or so. We have a lunch reservation at the restaurant Txispa (pronounced tsjispa - it means spark) in the tiny village of Axpe-Atxondo, about a ninety minute drive from here. We were politely informed by mail that we should arrive between 13:20… Continue reading Basque-Japanese cuisine
It’s a bit weird to start a daily post with yesterday’s dinner, but what can you do when dinner time starts only at eight thirty.. We have dinner in the hotel restaurant, where we’re the only customers until another guest walks in around ten. The waitress speaks English and they even have an English menu… Continue reading Unexpected pleasures
Since the planning committee found out yesterday that the duomo is closed on Wednesday, it's a must do this morning. We have tickets for the fast track elevator at 10, a gastronomical lunch reservation at 12:30 and no set plans for afterwards. We get up around seven and walk to the Esselunga supermarket for breakfast… Continue reading A bit of everything
Up at seven again, it’s just impossible to get used to Spanish time unless you really make an effort, but then afterward you’ll have to make a similar effort to get back on Belgium time. Both are in the same time zone, but the Spanish do have a different rythm. Fruit salad and goat yoghurt… Continue reading Shop & Eat
I wake up around seven, I can tell mom is awake as well by the light of her phone coming through the frosted glass door, so we confer briefly and decide to get up. We have some crackers and dark Belgian chocolate for breakfast and spend the early morning looking up plant info for the… Continue reading Guggenheim
Up at eight. Eight! It’s just that there’s nothing to do early in the morning, plus restaurants start serving lunch only at two or so, so we’re shifting our whole day out of whack. First job is to get the DHL shipment ready, so after a quick run to the bakery and a breakfast of… Continue reading A day by the sea
After a quiet flight of about 90 minutes the plane lands in Bilbao, Spain. It looks a bit rainy, or foggy, hard to say. Since I’m in a seat way at the front, I can exit the plane pretty efficiently and, admiring the design of the building, make my way to the luggage carrousels and… Continue reading Logistics
No alarm today! Yesterday we managed to make a lunch reservation at a nearby gastronomical restaurant somehow. The website said a spot was open on Friday, we took it and then got a very polite call from the restaurant: website was wrong, there is no spot, much apologies, do we want to go on the… Continue reading Sealife, good food and a dolmen
I love shopping for clothes in Düsseldorf, there's a great mix of designer stores and malls and plenty of room for pedestrians. Whereas in Paris I often have to buy the largest size, here I'm absolutely average and have no trouble finding items in my size. We take the car, there's plenty of highways to… Continue reading Shopping in Düsseldorf
We get up and start packing. I fold all the dirty clothes in one side of the trunk, determined not to open the zipper until we’re near the washing machine at home. We leave around 9 with an ETA of 3 pm at La Butte au Bois, a Relais & Chateaux hotel with a Michelin… Continue reading A smooth drive to la Butte au Bois
Our last holiday day and we decide to chill out. Breakfast outside, although the sun is too warm already and we need a parasol. More chill out time at the pool under a parasol. Blue sky, sunny, a little wind: excellent chilling conditions. I continue on this journal and Arne reads until it is time… Continue reading Likoké
This is our unplanned gastronomical surprise. Arne has managed to secure a table at Quique Dacosta, which is about 1h30 drive from Algimia de Alfara. First we do a walk to work up an appetite: a part of the Via Verde in Denía, where the restaurant is located. This is beach land, very different from… Continue reading Quique Dacosta
This is our day off, all we have planned is lunch at Azurmendi. The weather at Aretxabaleta is still bad, so we drive to the coast and do some scenic driving. We see some cute fisher villages and impressive landscapes and then go to the restaurant. Food is great, the wines as well. Service is… Continue reading Azurmendi
we try to get up a bit later, to get into the Spanish time zone. breakfast is great, with homemade scones and marmalades. we pack up everything again and have some trouble fitting it into the car. we take off, first taking national roads to get to Bordeaux and then on the highway to Donostía.… Continue reading Etxebarri
Febe writes 