……….when it began to hail on our planned beautiful walk along the bike path to the ocean and onto San Sebastián city centre!  Fortunately we were right in front of the bus stop so we ran for cover and jumped on the bus two minutes later for a dry ride into town.   And then the rain poured right after we got off the bus so we had to take cover in a cafe with a cappucino…..no problem once you learn to live in the moment and go with the flow…….and give in to your addiction!   Shortly thereafter the sun came out and we walked around this gorgeous old city with a population of almost 200,000 for about two hours.   Not long after the above picture was taken we were walking along the boardwalk admiring the beach and the surf when this rogue wave came ashore and totally covered us in salt water……….what could you do but run and laugh and think “what the hell?”  Good thing we had nothing planned and no place to go so we continued our walk and then decided we needed a brandy to warm us up. I decided I wanted mine in a Spanish coffee and when I asked for that the bartender didn’t have a clue as I was trying to explain what I wanted.   He called over someone who spoke better English, we chatted as I explained to him what we call a Spanish coffee in Canada and then he told me there was no such thing.  Next he rattled off something to the bartender and back came this wonderful Spanish coffee which warmed me up………success!  San Sebastián is beautiful even if the weather wasn’t  and is situated on a shell shaped bay with two beautiful beaches.   The city is well known for its art festivals and the theatre festival is in May, the jazz festival in July, the classical music festival in August and of course the international film festival in September.  Cuisine plays a big part in local life and I was telling Jim that many Basque men belong to gastronomic clubs where they gather to cook, eat, drink and talk.  He seemed quite interested until I mentioned that women are invited to their meetings but they don’t partake in the preparation of the food…….you never know!    We also treated ourselves to a chocolate treat from the fabulous bakery we found today and while there a man and his wife came in.   As he heard us struggle in Spanish he began to chat and recommended a basque dessert from the San Sebastián region.   As we were buying what he suggested for a treat he asked us where we were from and when we said Canada he told us that 300 feet from where we were the Basque fisherman used to head out for Newfoundland.   He wondered if we knew where that was and we proudly told him so…..and he in turn told us where we could get some good baccalieu/cod!   That night we had a feed…….and the rain continued!   Here’s hoping for tomorrow and some good hiking.