Hola!
It's been long overdue but I only had time after my exams to even go thru my photos. The trip was rather a rollercoaster ride; with its fair bits of ups and downs- being the maiden voyage with the SYC (Singapore Youth Choir) people. Four concerts and one competition.. it was definitely tiring but worthwhile. Plus a great deal of shopping time at Bilbao and San Sabastian tho didn't had much cash with me then.
Anyways, the layout of Bilbao was rather different than other european cities I've been- houses were lined in meandrical fashion along slopy contours. The place was really hilly.
~ waiting for our turn outside the competition ground~
Honestly, the sights were rather disappointing and the weather was awfully cold- but great for ice cream! The gelato was heavenly till it makes you a little sick. It came in XS, S, M, L sizes. I had the XS for only 1.80 Euro but it took darn long to finish. I don't even want to know what's the L size is like.. Food over there was kind of horrible but perhaps I was just not acquainted to saltish food. Cafe joints were littered everywhere and only offered tapas (spanish snacks, mostly pastry) or sandwiches. Hardly any fastfood or restaurants. OH OH OH... but the freshly fried churros dipped in thick, molten, diabetes-inducing hot chocolate was simply orgasmic in the cold cold weather.
~calamari baguette~
The zara boutiques were really interesting.. they had like 4 different outlets situated around the same vicinity selling different items- Zara (main), Zara Accessories, Zara Kids and Zara Home. It's like Giordano over there.. everybody was just grabbing things off the shelves and and throwing them everywhere. The clothes were definitely much cheaper than those in Singapore!
The last picture above was taken against a backdrop of protesters just outside the competition venue. It was quite creepy to see a real protest for the first time. There were those huge panels of display boards with pictures of those politicians exiled sometime ago. Didn't really know what was the protest all about but I'm pretty sure they weren't happy at all.
I was so annoyed to find out that Guggenheim Museum of fine arts was closed on the Monday we were there- not to mention that it took a good 30 min walk to get there. But the building itself and the sculptures located outside was good enough I guess.
In retrospect, I think it was rather crazy to leave half way through the semester to go on this trip but it all worked out in the end. It was a great de-stresser albeit the "singing stress" that I had to deal with over there- being a newbie in the choir and all. Can't wait for the coming trips: off to Russia, Moscow and St. Petersburg (June 2008) with NUS choir, and Tokyo (2009 January) with SYC again!
Anyways, the layout of Bilbao was rather different than other european cities I've been- houses were lined in meandrical fashion along slopy contours. The place was really hilly.
~ waiting for our turn outside the competition ground~
Honestly, the sights were rather disappointing and the weather was awfully cold- but great for ice cream! The gelato was heavenly till it makes you a little sick. It came in XS, S, M, L sizes. I had the XS for only 1.80 Euro but it took darn long to finish. I don't even want to know what's the L size is like.. Food over there was kind of horrible but perhaps I was just not acquainted to saltish food. Cafe joints were littered everywhere and only offered tapas (spanish snacks, mostly pastry) or sandwiches. Hardly any fastfood or restaurants. OH OH OH... but the freshly fried churros dipped in thick, molten, diabetes-inducing hot chocolate was simply orgasmic in the cold cold weather.
~calamari baguette~
The zara boutiques were really interesting.. they had like 4 different outlets situated around the same vicinity selling different items- Zara (main), Zara Accessories, Zara Kids and Zara Home. It's like Giordano over there.. everybody was just grabbing things off the shelves and and throwing them everywhere. The clothes were definitely much cheaper than those in Singapore!
The last picture above was taken against a backdrop of protesters just outside the competition venue. It was quite creepy to see a real protest for the first time. There were those huge panels of display boards with pictures of those politicians exiled sometime ago. Didn't really know what was the protest all about but I'm pretty sure they weren't happy at all.
I was so annoyed to find out that Guggenheim Museum of fine arts was closed on the Monday we were there- not to mention that it took a good 30 min walk to get there. But the building itself and the sculptures located outside was good enough I guess.
In retrospect, I think it was rather crazy to leave half way through the semester to go on this trip but it all worked out in the end. It was a great de-stresser albeit the "singing stress" that I had to deal with over there- being a newbie in the choir and all. Can't wait for the coming trips: off to Russia, Moscow and St. Petersburg (June 2008) with NUS choir, and Tokyo (2009 January) with SYC again!