Christmas in Bilbao…
Yes, as the title of this entry might lead you to believe, I failed to make it out of Bilbao today. Here is a little summary of my Christmas Eve and Day thus far…
Christmas Eve…
Scene I: the Mercado de artesanía de Bilbao…
When I finally woke up yesterday morning, at around 11:00, late for me, I got dressed and headed out of the hotel just in time to see a big parade coming through the street towards the center of town in front of a theatre building. So pretty much I was in an excellent location, because as it turns out, they celebrate Papa Noel on December 24th, so I got to see the whole parade deal, all the kiddies dressed up in their adorable traditional Basque attire, and eat some traditional Basque food, which, surprisingly, my stomach did not reject {hooray}. I spent the majority of the day perusing the market, buying more Christmas gifts {can-t help myself}, and taking photos of all the cute kiddies… attempting to do so discretely without looking too stalkeresque. Good times. And I got some precious pics. As the day wound down, I decided to return to my hotel room to deposit my purchases and such before heading back out to find some dinner. And thus we arrive at Scene 2… empty Chinese restaurant…
Scene II: empty Chinese restaurant…
Now, some of you may be saying to yourselves, -- wait, Heather doesn’t even like Chinese food, so what the hey was she doing in an empty Chinese restaurant on Christmas Eve… Well, my friends, I was asking myself the same thing… Lets {can-t figure out how to do apostrophes…} just say I kind of missed the boat on the whole Christmas Eve things close early deal, and when it came time to get some dinner, everyone except the Chinese owners of a very empty Chinese restaurant were home celebrating, or perhaps already passed out after a day full of Basque songs, txakoli, sidra, and sausage in tortillas. So I ordered crab and corn soup {sounded promising}, chicken and vegetables {potentially not heart disease on a plate?}, and to top it all off, a bottle of Diamante Rioja white wine… and why the heck not?... and NO, I did not down an entire bottle of wine by myself, I had maybe 2 and a half glasses before I was more than set for the evening :o} in Scene III… my hotel room…
Scene III:
Heather eating greasy gross Chinese food because its all she has, drinking white wine to make the scene a bit more classy, and watching episodes of Scrubs dubbed in Spanish… oye vey… until I went to bed at about 11:00, having to get up at 4:30 to get dressed and ready to leave for my flight… Except, unfortunately, I woke up at 1 am, couldn’t sleep for the rest of the night, and was more than a little cranky sleepy when I arrived in the hotel lobby to catch my cab at 5:40 am, which I had to share with another guy there, although I had enough luggage to fill the entire trunk and then some, because no taxi drivers were even working on Christmas day, apparently… and WOW does this ever seem like forever and a day ago, and yet, to my surprise, all of this took place this very morning… yikes…
Scene IV: the Bilbao airport….
I arrive and instantly regret getting there so early, because it is completely empty, even of employees as of 6 am… Finally some ladies clad in green blazers show up at the airport info station, so I ask them if they know where Air France-s check-in will be, because I don-t see it anywhere. The lady tells me I will need to check in with Iberia or something like that, and then she rethinks what she has just says and asks what time my flight is. When I tell her 7:45 am, she says there is no flight at that time, and that the first flight to Paris is at 3:45… slight difference, ¿eh?... SO… although my dad called a couple days ago to confirm my flights, and I called THE NIGHT BEFORE, was looked up in the computer, and no cancellation was mentioned, I had no flight, and Air France wasn’t even going to have a representative there until 2:15 pm… sweet… That-s all the lady could tell me, because she didn’t work for the airline. She gave me the number to call Air France again, but no luck== no one answered the phone, because I guess stinking everyone was on holiday. So I accomplished the following extraordinary feats during my 8 hours at the airport before the Air France lady arrived on duty:
1 wrote Basque Christmas cards I purchased yesterday
2 took random pics of the inside of the airport… probably not legal, at least doubtful in the US, but this is España, so who knows…
3 posed with the lone straggly Christmas tree, using the timer on my camera and balancing it on my enormous cart of luggage which went everywhere with me, because obviously you can-t check your bags if you have no flight…
4 read more of The Professor
5 finished my journal
6 bought a nasty sandwich that was positively drenched in mayo
7 bought chocolate to eat instead
8 wandered around pushing my cart like a forlorn bag lady and hoping some rich person with a private jet would take pity on me and escort me home free of charge
oh=== and watched the sunrise, and photographed it…
Scene V: the Air France lady
At long last, it was 2:15, and the Air France lady arrived neatly clad in light blue neck scarf and matching eyeliner, as all of the Air France ladies dress themselves, I have noticed… I approached the counter, having prepared what I needed to say mentally ahead of time, since by this point I was in a sort of zombie state and yet needed to communicate my problems in Spanish without crying or being dismissed for inability to form coherent thoughts. The lady was very nice, but informed me that there were no flights at all I could take. Not one. She proceeded to book me a hotel with meals included, tell me I would be refunded for my taxi ride there and back, and that my new flight would leave at 5:45 am tomorrow morning, and I would be able to get the reimbursement for the taxi at 5:15 am that day. And so here I am…
Scene VI: the computer room of a very nice hotel in Bilbao, having eaten a very nice meal, but being very far from home on Christmas day.
And I think I will post this entry and go up to my room, because the front desk guy keeps walking by which makes me wonder if they just let me use the Internet as a favour because they feel bad for me and so he is anxiously awaiting the termination of my session… but no one is waiting, so whatever… Anyways, the hotel is playing Christmas music occasionally. Kind of wish it wasn’t. I think I will try to stay up and then go to bed early, because if I take a nap odds are I wont feel like waking up for a long time, and then I wont sleep again, etc., etc. I’m assuming that everything is closed today, but who knows… maybe I will venture out.
So to all of you and yours, I wish you a very Merry Christmas, I really do. I am doing a pretty good job at taking this all in stride, I mean, after all, I have had an amazing time this semester, so what can I have to complain about? And who knows, maybe I can get a free ticket out of this…? Anyone want to play lawyer for me, since I am not one for confrontations? Peace out, cub scouts… and if any of you are checking your mail on Christmas day or reading my travel journals and feel like sending me a friendly hello, that would be lovely :o} Thank you kindly.
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