Mission Accomplished.

I have a list of things that I needed to get done here in San Sebastian before I went home.

I accomplished a ton yesterday.

Weather.com failed me yet again, yet this time in a good way. When I checked on Monday, it said the weather for Monday would be sunny and nice, Tuesday would be rain rain rain, and Wednesday would be super sunny and warm.

Instead, it was SUPER nice on Monday, then later (luckily I was in for the day at this point) it was a HAIL STORM. Yes, it was bright and sunny, kids were eating ice cream, dogs playing in the park, then (while it was STILL SUNNY AND NICE), golf ball sized hail started raining down from the sky along with heavy rain, then there was lightening and thunder. It did this until early evening.

Tuesday was supposed to be terrible, then it ended up being 73 and sunny and cloudless. What!??! Everyone on facebook posted their statuses as "at the beach" "hanging at the playa" "sitting in the sand and soaking up the sun!" It was completely unexpected. To think San Sebastian has NICE weather? I dunno, it sure did surprise me.

And as of now, Wednesday is looking pretty nice too. There are clouds in the sky, but they are wispy and light. Other than that, it is sunny, and it is about 70 degrees.


Anywho, what I am trying to get at is that I got a ton of stuff done yesterday because of the unexpectedly nice weather.
I got to rollerblade around Jesus Mountain, which isn't really called that, but there IS a giant Jesus statue on top. I think it's actually called Mount Urgull or something.
I got to HIKE UP Jesus Mountain. It used to be some kind of fortress back in the 1800's and there are ruins all over the mountain of different stations. There are old cannons, withering stone walls, and lots and lots of greenery. It's also pretty touristy, which isn't what I was expecting. What I mean is not that it was crowded, but that there were signs pointing out what was in which direction, plaques describing what stuff was, and...
When I got to the top where Jesus was, I thought it would just be the statue and stuff. Instead it was a large lookout point with cannons, then some security guide summoned me into this building under the statue and it was a tourist center for the site! You could buy postcards, there was a mini museum of artifacts from San Sebastian, movies playing about the history of the area, posters, maps, etc etc. Up the stairs you could get to the top and see a panoramic lookout of the whole town. It was gorgeous.

After that I went to lunch at this restaurant I've been dying to go to (it was on THE LIST), called La Perla. It is right on the ocean, and there is a fancy restaurant part as well as a cheaper outdoor grill. I got a DELICIOUS cheeseburger with grilled onions and plopped down at a table right on the balcony overlooking the beach. From there I got a wonderful view of the ocean as well as a 65 year old woman tanning topless.

Then I went to La Parte Vieja where I did my last minute souvenir shopping for friends and family. I also got myself a scarf, one of the things here that EVERYONE has.

Finally, I got a "Cookie"-flavored ice cream on the boulevard. That wasn't on the list...but I couldn't resist.

I tried calling up people to do all this with, but as always that failed. Instead I accomplished everything on my own, which was a lot better because I found it more peaceful and fun that way.



Now, all I have left is to get Chocolate y Churros today (wednesday) or tomorrow before I leave for Madrid. It's a super common snack here of rich hot chocolate (basically a liquified chocolate bar served warm) and churros (you know, those fried pastries with cinnamon and sugar...YUM). My host mom recommended a good place to go in Parte Vieja for that, so I am excited.


PS: Sun down here since daylight savings has been around 9:30pm. Like, straight up brightness until 9:30. My parents told me that sundown is like 7pm in the states. That will be weird to come home to.