Permanent Residency

As we noted in a post back in July, we have been living in San Sebastian for five years (http://vinoconvino.blogspot.com/2022/07/time-flies.html). After our initial one year visa, we renewed our non-lucrative visa twice (in 2018 and 2020). Back in May, we were entitled to apply for residencia de larga duracion -- permanent residency.

Surprisingly, the application process for permanent residency was relatively easy. We had to get a police background check -- complete a form online to get results in 24 hours, compared to the US where we had to get fingerprints, mail them to the FBI and wait over three months for our results. Other than that, it was just forms and various documents that we had to collect. We submitted everything online after figuring out how to get the security key we needed to do so, and then we waited.

Although the government had up to three months to act on our application, after about a month we received confirmation that we had properly submitted our documents and just a few days later we were approved! Yes, we did a little dance when we got the news!

Now, we are just waiting to receive our new IDs, which will be good for five years. But, the best part is that we no longer have to renew our right to stay here, we just have to obtain a new valid ID every five years, which is easy.

The next potential step would be to seek Spanish citizenship, but we will not be eligible to do so for another five years. Will we do it? We will see.

Hasta pronto,

Jeff and Shana

Bilbao Blues Festival

We spent a weekend in Bilbao for the first ever Bilbao Blues Festival (July 29-Aug 1). The festival was quite small really, consisting of only two stages, but the site of the main stage, on the banks of the Nervion River, was quite spectacular.

All of the music and events connected with the festival were free, and we spent a good amount of time each evening (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) sitting by the river and listening to music. In addition, we obtained tickets for a presentation about women and the blues at the Guggenheim Museum.

The presentation, in Spanish of course, was a combination of a speaker who talked about the history of women and blues music, along with a woman who played a number of relevant songs related to the discussion. We were proud of our ability to follow the discussion in Spanish, although much of it was about US historical events that we are familiar with -- slavery, the Civil War, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Movement, etc. Nonetheless, we did feel that we learned something and enjoyed the presentation a lot.

Of course, since we were in town, we took the opportunity to see the current exhibitions at the museum. "Motion: Autos, Art, Architecture", which was mostly about cars, was definitely a crowd pleaser. There were a number of classic cars displayed, but also a lot of concept cars that ranged from high tech to ideas for "people's cars." The car below is a Bugatti Type 35. It is considered the most successful race car in history, having won over 1,000 races. We chose this picture because the race posters that are behind the car (difficult to see, we know) are for the San Sebastian Grand Prix, which took place from 1923-1930, and which was won by a Bugatti Type 35 four straight years (1926-1929).

We also had an opportuntiy to see drawings by the famous pointellist painter, Georges Seurat who we didn't know had done extensive drawing, and an exhibition of a modern French painter named Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985), who we had never heard of before. Dubuffet's art was "interesting", but in many ways I was more impressed with the philosophy of the meaning of beauty that was behind the art.

It did not rain at all while we were in Bilbao, which for us is unusual However, the days were somewhat cloudy, which may have helped keep the temperature modest, and also provided beautiful views from our hotel room.

Finally, we were walking through the city one evening when we noticed a statue of someone we knew (well, knew of): John Adams. So, why is there a statue of Adams in Bilbao? It turns out that John Adams visited the Basque Country in early 1780. It happened as he was travelling to Paris to work out an alliance with France (during the Revolutionary War). His ship had problems and had to land in Galicia on the western side of Spain. Rather than wait for the ship to be repaired, he travelled through Northern Spain to reach France. As a result, he came in contact with the "fueros" (code of laws) that dictated the rights and laws of Bizkaia, which had a significant impact on his political thinking and on his part in drafting the US Constitution.

In his 1787 publication A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, Adams cited Bizkaia as one of the top republic democracies of Europe, admiring their self-governance and independence within Spain. In that document, he wrote the following, which is reproduced on the statue: "...this extraordinary people have preserved their ancient language, genius, laws, governement and manners, without innovation, longer than any other nation in Europe." Amazingly, 235 years after writing that, the Basque people have continued to do this despite the interruption of a 36-year dictatorship that definitely aimed to wipe those things out.

We thought this collision of American history with the history of our adopted home was super interesting.

Hasta pronto,

Jeff and Shana

Delft – The Sweetest Spot

We took a day trip to Delft, famous for its blue pottery and as the birthplace of Johannes Vermeer. It turned out to be the most enchanting and delightful place! Like Amsterdam, it also has canals, but it is much smaller, and it takes Amsterdam’s charm to another level.

We started out with a “second breakfast” of coffee and traditional Dutch apple cake at a café with the “world’s smallest art museum” – a revolving art exhibition in a former phone booth.

Now we were ready to explore the town, which was founded in the early Middle Ages. The Old Church, with its leaning brick tower, was built in the 13^th century.

Jeff is standing in front of the oldest stone-built house in the city (1505), where the Delfland Water Authority has been based since 1645.

You must be careful if you parallel park next to a canal in Delft – there is no barrier to prevent you from going in!

We visited on a Saturday and the town had a lively market set up along the canals. We tried fresh herring but found it to be very fishy. Jeff likes sushi but barely choked down a bite; I tried it for the sake of saying I did. You can tell how much I enjoyed my bite. The Dutch love it – we would stick with the stroopwafels!

The city hall and New Church (where Dutch royalty is buried going back to William of Orange in 1584) sit on different sides of the main square. In front of city hall, we saw a Dutch family of 6 on their bikes. There are more bikes in the Netherlands than people (which is far better than having more guns than people, like the U.S.). Parents do an amazing job of carting their small children everywhere – we saw mothers with a baby in a chest carrier riding with another child in a bike seat. Dutch mothers are strong women!

We also visited the Vermeer Center, which provides a deep dive into the artist’s life and unique style. None of his original works are there; instead, scale copies of all 37 paintings he did are displayed chronologically, giving the visitor an opportunity to see the evolution, contrasts, and similarities among his masterpieces. This approach works well to see Vermeer’s use of light and attention to detail.

Our last stop was the Royal Delft porcelain factory, where we met their “Proud Mary” – named after Mary II, the wife of William III. And you thought Proud Mary was a river boat!

Royal Delft has been creating high-end Delft Blue porcelain, modeled on Chinese porcelain, since 1653. There are examples all over the city from lightposts to benches.

Our visit to Delft was the perfect day trip. We want to return soon and use it as a base to explore the Hague, Rotterdam, and more.

Hasta pronto,

Shana & Jeff

Amsterdam -- Country Bike Tour

Bicycling is big in The Netherlands, really big. There are bike paths everywhere both in and out of cities, and many people use bikes as a primary means of transportation. Their ability to do this is aided by the fact that the country is almost entirely flat. So, we figured as long as we were there, we should take a bike tour.

We met up at the bike shop and learned that the tour was just us and our friends the Greens. Great! After getting our bikes, we headed toward the northern part of Amsterdam. Right outside the main train station we boarded a free (!) ferry to take us across the Ij (pronounced "eye") River. It only takes about five minutes for the ride, but it is apparently the only thing you can do in Amsterdam that is free.

After disembarking in North Amsterdam, and a brief introduction to how the Dutch have managed to control all of the water that it must deal with (better over time, with some serious floods in the past), we set out.

First, a note on biking in the Netherlands: they are serious about it! I guess because they are truly using it as a means of transportation, no one is really out for a casual ride, even on a Sunday. We quickly learned to stay to the right, and to listen for the bells of bikes indicating that they were going to pass you -- often at high speeds.

Our first stop was, of course, to see a traditional windmill. There are actually not that many of these left in the country, but this one is actually still used to run a factory that makes high-end paint (for paintings, not walls). Unfortunately, since it was Sunday, it was not running.

After that, we just meandered through the countryside with views of many cows along with some sheep and horses. We let this horse pass us since he was much bigger.

On the ride, we learned that in the Netherlands, golf is considered a game for the very rich, and that no one likes people who cycle for sport as they come up on you really fast and pass without even letting you know they are there. We can testify to that!

We stopped for lunch in a little village the had once been a competitor of Amsterdam, but has clearly faded over the years. We did climb the village's tower (a church belfry that was left unfinished when the money ran out) for great views of the surrounding countryside.

Overall, we rode about 14 miles on the tour, but it was at a very relaxed pace, so no one was too tired as we waited for the ferry to recross the Ij. However, the bike seats were not super comfortable, so we all were in some pain, although we managed to smile for the camera.

More to come on our visit to the Netherlands.

Jeff and Shana