Outdoor Adventures: Los Torreones de Jaizkibel

Our second excursion this month was a hike among the Torreones de Jaizkibel (12 September). A torreón is a tower or turret. Monte Jaizkibel sits between San Sebastian and the French border and is the last peak of the Pyrenees, although it is only 545 meters high. Carlos selected this hike for its relative ease, beautiful views, and historical towers.

During the third and last Carlist War (1872-1876), six fortified towers were built along the summit of Jaizkibel to help warn and defend the local cities from attack. Five of the six towers remain, although the years have not been kind to them. Still, it was fun to imagine what it might have been like to stand guard from the highest point in the area. The concept of a string of towers reminded us of that remarkable scene in “The Return of the King” where the beacon at Minas Tirith is lit, setting off a chain reaction of beacons being lit across the mountains of Gondor all the way to Rohan.

The trail was scenic, green and lush. Due to Covid, trail maintenance has not been a priority for the local government and nature has certainly taken advantage. Still, it was easy to follow the path and it was great to be out without our masks for once. Because we were out early, we avoided the heat of the day and most of the other outdoor enthusiasts who had the same brilliant idea to get out of the city and enjoy the local trails.

Here are a few photos from our morning hike, including one of the towers, the view towards San Sebastian, and the view towards France:

It was a particularly good day.

Hasta luego,

Shana & Jeff

Outdoor Adventures: Revisiting Chillida Leku

Over the past few weeks, we had a chance to enjoy a pair of fun adventures outside. The first was a visit to the outdoor sculpture museum Chillida Leku (4 September). We had been there once before for a special concert event last summer, but we wanted to return and experience the museum at our own pace.

The museum is a bit out of town and, while it can be accessed via train and bus, the most convenient way is by car. This time we went with our friends Ploy and Carlos who drove there. Neither had been before, so it was fun to experience the museum from new perspectives; especially because Carlos, as a local, grew up knowing the Chillida name, and Ploy, who is Thai, knew very little about the artist.

The museum grounds are a large open space sprinkled with sculptures, providing the opportunity to enjoy the art as the artist intended:

Chillida created large scale abstract pieces that focused on the theory of space and how it is perceived and conveyed. It was a beautiful day and we had the place practically to ourselves, which made for some fun photo opportunities:

We enjoyed walking around, the fresh air and sun, and the overall peaceful environment of the museum. Afterwards, we enjoyed lunch at a local golf club. It was good to be out and about taking advantage of the good weather and a covid-safe activity.

Stay safe and healthy,

Shana & Jeff

The Pompidou Centre

We had originally planned to return to the Musée d'Orsay, but when the Louvre was more crowded than expected, we changed the plan and visited the Pompidou Centre for the first time instead. The modern art collection – it is the largest modern art museum in Europe – as well as the special exhibitions made it an attractive destination. 

We first visited the “Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Paris!” exhibition, which is dedicated to the famous artist couple’s time in Paris between 1958 and 1964, before they moved to New York, and their project to wrap the Pont-Neuf bridge. Honestly, the early pieces were mostly forgettable. But the behind the scenes history of their effort to wrap the bridge was fascinating. The project took 10 years to come to fruition, while the bridge was only wrapped for a very brief period (from 22 September to 6 October 1985). Most interesting were the photos and detailed drawings of the endeavor, along with a model:

The amount of work, preparation, and gear that went into such a short-lived piece was astounding. We learned that since 1962 Christo had also wanted to wrap the Arc de Triomphe, and that despite his recent death, the Arc will be wrapped in 2021. I see another trip to Paris in our future.

We also enjoyed a special exhibit titled “Global(e) Resistance,” which included works about political protest and injustice primarily by artists from the global south. It was really interesting to see an artistic perspective that is often not displayed in the European museums we usually visit.

The modern art collection was robust and spanned a number of well-known artists like Kandinsky and Chagall, but my favorite was a comical piece called “A Time Coloured Space” by Philippe Parreno, which consisted of “My Room is Another Fish Bowl,” fish-shaped balloons moving through the room; and “Orange Bay,” orange filters; together with the amplified sound of the fish moving through the room. Check it out:

A Fish With a View

It is always fun when you get to be part of the art. Note that you can see the famous Sacre Coeur Church from the exhibit. But the best part was that this room had a docent whose job was to ensure none of the fish balloons escaped!

Au revoir,

Shana & Jeff

A Quiet Louve, But Not Entirely

Since going to a quiet Louvre was the original impetus for our trip to Paris, we thought we would do a quick post on our experience there. While it was certainly much quieter than normal during the height of tourist season, we have seen it nearly as quiet when visiting Paris during less busy times of year. 

To begin, there were no hordes in front of the Louvre, which was likely due to the fact that you had to buy tickets with a timed entry in advance:

I spent a good amount of time evaluating when we should go to the Louvre and determined, based on the advanced-reservation ticket sales system, that late afternoon would likely be best as those time slots were not selling out like the early morning time slots. So, we reserved Monday at 3:30 p.m. Normally I don’t take pictures of art in museums – the art is there to be enjoyed and experienced. After all, you can look at a better photo of the art anytime you want. But for the sake of sharing our experience with our readers I took a few shots.

As you may know, there are 3 supposed “can’t miss” pieces in the Louvre. It was easy to enjoy Winged Victory of Samothrace and the Venus de Milo practically alone, which we have not experienced even at quieter times of year:

But the famous portrait of that Italian lady is still – even with the museum at 30% capacity – just too darned popular:

We did not get in line to see the Mona Lisa; just quickly snapped this photo and got out of Dodge. The main halls displaying the various French masterpieces by Delacroix and David were also congested but manageable. To get away from these more crowded areas, we went and visited the museum’s antiquities area, where we particularly enjoyed the pieces from ancient Persia.

After two visits to the Louvre and two to the Prado in the past two-and-a-half years, we’ve decided that the Prado is a better museum for paintings. The collection is broader and easier to visit, but the Louvre as a historical building is more interesting overall, and its antiquities collection is splendid. 

In the end, visiting the Louvre again was a great excuse to visit Paris to test drive traveling during the COVID era, it was hardly our favorite experience of the trip. Stay tuned for more details on the rest of our Paris activities.

Au revoir,

Shana & Jeff 

A Visit to Paris During the Pandemic

At the end of July, we took the train to visit Paris for five days. Our trip was inspired by reading in mid-June that the Louvre would be reopening July 6 with limited capacity, creating the opportunity to visit the museum without the normal massive crowds. We thought it was a great chance to finally travel again, still going somewhere relatively close, while Europe was experiencing some stability with respect to the level of COVID-19 cases.

We quickly made a hotel reservation, getting a great rate in the center of the city, knowing the reservation could be easily cancelled without penalty. We hesitated on reserving train tickets to see how the case numbers evolved. As the date of the trip got closer, having investigated the train safety protocols, and despite somewhat higher case numbers, we decided to bite the bullet and buy tickets. And then we watched to see what happened as our departure date approached.

Unfortunately, the COVID situation continued to deteriorate in Spain during July, albeit mostly in Catalunya and other areas not very close to where we live, which resulted in some European governments issuing travel advisories. France also had some outbreaks, but nothing alarming in Paris at least. We began to wonder if travel restrictions would impact our trip, but ultimately none did, and we left the morning of July 26..

We knew we were taking a risk by travelling, but we figured it was a calculated one with the overall benefits outweighing the risks. The biggest risk would be the train ride. While obligatory face masks and high-tech air filters might lessen the risk of contagion, it is still a five-hour ride in close quarters with lots of people. And watching people put their masks below their noses, and hearing people sneeze and cough was nerve wracking. With everyone getting off the train at the same time and exiting into a crowded Montparnasse station, the experience was not the typical relaxing one we enjoy. We arrived in Paris a bit stressed out and with a headache likely caused by wearing masks for such an extended period (nearly 6.5 hours door-to-door). Thankfully, the train rides were the only negative part of the trip.

Paris, in the middle of the pandemic, was a dream. There wasn’t a lot of traffic, there weren’t many tourists, and there weren’t a lot of crowds. It was like Los Angeles on a holiday weekend when everyone leaves town and you get to enjoy the city in a way you normally cannot. Paris has added a lot of bike lanes (designed primarily to get people off the Metro), which were filled with bikers and people on scooters. It was easy to get around and it felt laid back and effortless. We also got lucky with the weather with most days in the high-70s or low-80s. We even found we could socially distance on the metro.

Lots more details to come about our adventure in a quiet Paris, but we will leave you with a photo of the jazz band we sat and enjoyed after a visit to Shakespeare and Company, Jeff's favorite bookstore in Paris, which is right across from Notre Dame:

Au revoir,

Shana & Jeff

Jazzaldia 2020 – A Jazz Festival Reworked for a Pandemic

This past week San Sebastian celebrated the 55^th edition of Jazzaldia, the city’s jazz festival (22-26 July). As you can imagine, nearly every public event has been cancelled in the city and around the country, which is especially disappointing during the summer season. But somehow the organizers of Jazzaldia figured out a way to put on this year’s event – albeit in a highly modified way.

We love Jazzaldia and look forward to it every year, so I kept a close eye on the program as it was developed and revised. The first thing they did was cancel all the free, outdoor concerts. You might recall that last year we saw Joan Baez in concert on the beach. Well, that venue, and artists traveling to San Sebastian from outside Europe had to be jettisoned. Instead, they used four main indoor venues, determined that capacity would be limited to about 50%, invited local artists to perform, and cut ticket prices. As the event got closer, they added a few free outdoor concerts with seating at tables spaced wide apart.

Two concerts caught my eye. The first was a recreation of a famous Charlie Parker concert at Massey Hall (Toronto) in 1953, featuring Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus y Max Roach. 2020 is the centennial of Parker’s birth, and this was a rousing tribute. Listening to “Salt Peanut,” in an ornate Victorian opera house built in 1912 was amazing. The quintet did justice to many jazz classics. About half of the seats were blocked off, so we were spaced apart from other guests. They even organized the post-concert exit to avoid crowding. And, of course, everyone wore their masks and used hand sanitizer.

The second concert was a piano soloist, Paul San Martin, who is from San Sebastian. This concert took place at the San Telmo museum, in the former church cloister, so it was outside. The piano was set at one juncture of the cloister and the crowd sat in two of the cloister halls facing the piano, with seats spaced apart in a zig-zag pattern. The vaulted ceilings created wonderful acoustics and the program included many easily recognizable pieces, including Edelweiss (a bluesy-jazzy version), Georgia, and Swanee River.

Both concerts were quite a treat, especially because we paid less than $20 for both. It was a terrific opportunity to do something “normal.” Whether going forward with the concerts was the best idea considering there are small outbreaks here and there in our area, but none in San Sebastian itself, remains to be seen. Life is about choices and in these times all we can do is hope that the decisions we make, and the authorities make, don’t have calamitous results.

Stay healthy and safe,

Shana & Jeff

“A Hotelcation”

Earlier this month we took a short “hotelcation.” Surely you’ve heard of a “staycation,” a vacation taken while staying home or close to home. A “hotelcation” is a vacation taken while staying in a hotel in your own city. On July 7 we checked in to the Hotel de Londres y de Inglaterra, which is located right on the La Concha Beach, for 2 nights and a change of scenery. It is nice to go to sleep and wake up to amazing views:

Our friend Ploy who worked at the hotel until it closed for the lockdown alerted us to an amazing “locals only” deal to be offered when the hotel reopened. The room rate was incredibly cheap for a 4-star hotel, especially for July and August with an ocean view and breakfast included, so we decided, why not? While it seemed silly to book a room in a hotel that is 15 minutes walking distance from our apartment, it also seemed like a good way to contribute to the local economy.

It turns out that a change of scenery was something we needed. We spent the first afternoon on the beach relaxing, had drinks at the patio bar, and then went out for pizza with Ploy & Carlos. We felt refreshed and relaxed by the time we sat down to enjoy our pizza. The next day we spent several hours on the beach – something we rarely do – and then acted like tourists in our own town walking through the old city before lunch. After kicking back during the afternoon, we headed out to dinner at Xarma Cook & Culture, a restaurant we had yet to try but that had been on our list for a while. It was a great meal, with terrific service since the place was almost empty. The waiter even guessed we were from LA! We especially enjoyed the most amazing grilled vegetables, and the pork sirloin tataki with cream of carrot, vanilla, and celery root with pearls of wasabi – a house specialty.

All in all, it was a nice little getaway. While the hotel was not even one-third full, it was good to see the hotel’s high level of attention to the sanitation measures required. which also made us feel that much more confident in our decision to visit. It was a good way to test out how we will experience travel from now on.

No regrets,

Shana & Jeff