Divamensch
SUN AUG 9
I slept until 9am. Karen and Bruce had scheduled a chef to come to the house to make breakfast for us, they thought that would be a lovely way to spend our first morning together. Unfortunately the two of them, Mallery, and Mike were either in Brussels or on a flight from Brussels so they missed breakfast. But Richie (the chef) fixed plenty so there were leftovers. Scrambled eggs, bacon, chorizo, yogurt, fresh fruit (peaches, strawberries, blueberries), bread, and homemade lemon poppy seed bread. All of it super delicious.
Karen, Bruce, and Mallery arrived at about 1:30pm.
I think I got in the pool that afternoon…?
Let me tell you more about the house. Mike was the only person downstairs, with a bathroom down the hall. There was a library between my room and Karen and Bruce’s room, we mostly used that to hang up our laundry. Mallery’s room was next, then Donna’s room with the four beds. Then Francesca and AJ’s room, then Liz and Tom’s. Two of the rooms had en suite bathrooms and the rest of us used the big bathroom at the end of the hall. The door to that bathroom had a loud and distinctive squeak. Not like a creaky door in a creepy old horror movie - - I thought it sounded more like the song of the humpback whale.
Mike arrived at maybe 7pm? Karen, Bruce, and I picked him up at the airport. We all walked down to the town (less than ten minutes) and had dinner at a pub with seating in the street. Donna and I split a pepperoni pizza which was undistinguished but just fine. We sat with Liz and Tom, we shared some grilled calamari, which was sensational.
This might be a good time to mention the "Bilbao Song." My primary reference point for Bilbao before this trip (and after, judging from what's going through my brain right now) is the "Bilbao Song," the opening number from *Happy End,* the show that Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht wrote after *The Threepenny Opera.* I became a big Weill fan in the 80s when he had a major resurgence. This song is best heard as sung by Weill's wife, Lotte Lenya:
It also became a pseudo hit for Andy Williams in 1961, peaking at #37.
This song would start playing in my head whenever I saw the word Bilbao on a sign. Easily twenty times a day. Karen said I have the most obscure earworms of anyone she knows. Other people are afflicted with "Karma Chameleon" or "It's a Small World." I go for Brecht and Weill.
