Monday was a busy day, as we were starting to realize that on Wednesday we would be packing up for the move to the new office. We were counting the cabinets of files, etc. that we had to pack, and it seemed like an enormous task. Not to worry, as there was nothing we could do about it except do it!!

Tuesday went fine, and after work I took a taxi to the train station to pick up my ticket to Newcastle, where I was to catch my first flight on my journey to Bilbao, Spain. I met Kevin at Coopers, the pub at the train station, and we had a few, and then we went to Fiesta Mehicana for dinner. That was my first time at the Mexican restaurant here in York, and I must say, it was quite good. Afterwards, it was back home, and I had to get my packing done.

On Wednesday, we did our packing of the files, our desks, etc. Surprisingly, we had it all done by lunch time, and here we'd planned that it would take us forever! Were we ever amazed, and weren't we patting ourselves on the back. As Lil Sutton said, if nothing else, we were organized! So, we had the afternoon to just do odds and ends and get ready for the big move. After work many were off to the pubs, as it was a holiday on Thursday, but I was on my way home, since I had to be up at 5am the next morning!

I got up Thursday, got everything together and off I went to the train station. Got my train to Newcastle, checked in for my EasyJet flight to Stansted, and we left on time. Got to Stansted, and I'd planned to go into London and have lunch with friends, Orlando Salamanca, and Chris Hurren; however, that didn't happen. As it was an hour and 45 minutes into London and then the same back, it would have meant that I would have gotten there, said hi, and then had to leave. So, I wound up having lunch at the airport, and I got to know every single shop there! Finally, my flight was called for Bilbao, and off I went. We arrived on time at La Paloma Airport in Bilbao, and Connie and Kathy Kirkland were there to meet me. We took off and went to Ugartena Restaurant and had wine and tapas, and then strolled to several other places before finally arriving at Connie's apartment for some sleep!

On Friday we got up and got packed for an overnight trip, and as we were leaving, we were greeted with.....HAIL! Yep, it was hailing, but not to be daunted by the weather, we set out anyway. We left the Basque country and went to Cantabria, stopping at Santillana del Mar, a medieval village. We had lunch there, walked around and had a nice time. Of course, it rained, but we were prepared. By the time we left, the sun was out, and we headed to Comillas to see El Capricho, a home built by Gaudi. We also saw the Universidad Pontifícia, which was outstanding! From there we drove to San Vicente de la Barquera, where we were spending the night in the condo of Siobhan Nolan, a friend of Connie's who is from Ireland. What a lovely, entertaining and gracious lady she is! We had such a nice time visiting with her in her place that overlooks the harbor. Just lovely. Then we set off for La Dulcinea Restaurant where we had a delicious seafood dinner, and then to the Pub bar. In Spain, dinner isn't until at least 10pm, and we had reservations for 9:30pm. So another late night.

We got up on Saturday, and we all made our way to Cabezon de la Sal to meet Michael, Gary, George and Natalia at Cheers bar. We all had coffee there, and then we set off for Barcena Mayor, which is the oldest village in Spain. We drove up and up into the foothills, and the village was right on the edge of the snow. Gary said that it was new snow that had fallen in the last two days. We walked around the village and then had a wonderful lunch there, of typical Cantrabian food. Stuffed, we walked back up to the cars and bid our goodbyes to everyone, because we were headed back to Bilbao. We arrived in Bilbao tired by having enjoyed ourselves. Then, we went to have a wonderful Chinese meal and back home to bed!

Sunday dawned beautiful, and off we went to the Hanging Bridge, Puente Vizcaya. From there we went to the Guggenheim Museum and then to the old Quarter of the city, Casco Viejo. We wound up in the Cafe Boulevard and wouldn't you know it, when we decided to leave, it was raining! Nothing do but we stay for a bit and have another drink! We finally made our way to the Metro, only to find as we were riding it, that it stopped one stop short of Connie's stop. Come to find out, there was work on the line, and it was at HER stop! However, they had arranged for buses to take passengers the rest of the way; so we boarded our bus and off we went and then walked the 2 blocks back to her place. Connie fixed dinner that night, and we had a sort of early night, considering how late we had been every other night.

Monday we got up and got ready and off we went to the airport to deposit me. I bid my adieus to each of them, and made my way into the termimal to check in with Easyjet. Off we went ontime, and then at Stansted, I got the train to Peterborough, changed trains and was off to York. I got home about 4:30pm, unpacked and then went to catch up with Paul and Rachel at the Five Lions and then to The Last Drop for a couple and back home to write this. Tomorrow will find me in the new office, and I can't wait to see it!

Hope you all had a great Easter. I sure did!

Love,