Hello again, it's amazing that we are fast approaching
two months out.  Only 10 more to go!  Yeah, okay maybe
we still have alot to see and do.  And yes, this is
probably the easiest part of the year, but we are
doing our best to make the most of it.  Hopefully,
making the stupid mistakes here where it is easier to
recover.

So, Thursday in Geneva we fully intended to leave for
Chimonix where we could hike on parts of Mont Blanc. 
It was our hope to visit the tallest mountain in
Europe.  Alas, we were aborted due to unforseen
circumstances.  You see, the day began with us driving
into Geneva where we promptly inquired and bought our
train tickets to Chimonix which left later in the day.
 So we relaxed, ate, and made our way to the other
train station where we were to leave from.  We waited
and no train came.  Come to find out the whole train
system in France is on STRIKE!  So we had to return to
the original train station and refund our money at
which time it was too late to go anywhere else.  So we
visited Nyon up the lake from Geneva on Friday with
hopes to hike a mountain there during the day before
leaving overnight for Spain.  Well, the train from
Nyon up to the mountain was not leaving till 3pm and
left us with no time.  So we were left deflated having
been rebuked twice on our attempts at hiking
adventure.  

So Friday night we took the train to San Sebastian
Spain.  This is on the northern coast of Spain in the
Basque region.  We have learned that the Basque people
have their own language and separate history.  So they
label everything in the Basque language and Spanish. 
And virtually every resturant is a tapas resturant. 
The food and wine was great.  We met up with a Cali
girl, Kat, who stayed in our Hostel.  She hung out
with us in San Sebastian and Bilboa the next day.  San
Sabastian was beautiful.  It has a very cool bay with
a rocky island in the middle and nice waves for
surfing.  In both San Sebastian and Bilboa it rained
mostly so we could not enjoy the beach in it's full
grandure.  So we walked to the castle ruins on the
hill and enjoyed the nightlife in San Sebastian.  

Sunday we headed to Bilboa to visit the Guggenheim Art
Museum.  This is an absolutely stunning piece of
modern architecture made of crazy curvy lines covered
in a shiney metal clad and somewhat resembling a
sinking ship.  Unfortunately, only 1 of three floors
was open due to preparation for a new exhibit.  But we
did see some amazing art.  I was most impressed with
the Miro and the Cubist selections while Than was
taken by the more modern artist Keifer and Jackson
Pollack.

Monday we found a train to Lisboa Portugal that left
at 11pm.  So we spent Monday hanging with Kat and I
contacted a previous work contact that resides in
Bilboa and visited his office for part of the day. 
Can you say Tax writeoff!  Hehe...  Well, I am trying
to use this opportunity to keep up contacts for the
future.

So last night (Monday night) we took the HELL train to
Lisboa.  Yes it was a horrible ride.  Actually we took
a pretty unpleasant night train from Geneva to San
Sebastion but this one took the prize.  You see, we
asked for a reservation but they just gave us a
supplement that gave us the right to be on the train
(Kinda nutz considering we already had tickets, but
they seem to suck money from you any way possible). 
In addition, we were pushed back to 2nd class even
with our 1st class tickets!  Well, this train was
packed and we did finally get a seat for a while but
every inch of the floor was filled with bags and all
the seats were full so it was quite uncomfortable and
loud.  Eventually someboday came and took my seat so I
was forced to spend most of the night in the hallway
of the train sitting on my bag and dodging people
plowing by.  So we arrived today with about 30 minutes
sleep.  I think I'll let Than take the hallway next
time ;-)

We just ate and wanted to make contact.  It is sunny
and warm and we plan to enjoy it.  Tonight I think we
will drink Porto.  By the way, we just noticed they
sell a White Porto.  I've only known of Ruby and Tawny
Ports.  Guess we my have to try it out.  We met some
travellers on the train so we will have company
tonight at dinner.  Should be fun.  I'll let Than fill
you in next time.

Okay, take care everyone.  Don't be shy to send us a
note every once in a while to say hi and how you are
doing.

Adeus,

Chris and Than