San Sebastian Saturday

It started with a wedding in the Parte Vieja (in the old town)

Weddings are hard to resist, aren't they?  The guys pretend to admire the car.  We ladies want to see the dress(es). But mostly......

  We just seem happy to share in the hopefulness of the day and someone else's good fortune.

San Sebastian is a beautiful city.  Unspoiled, shall I say.

Where many generations of families still live close all together.

And enjoy each other.

In fact, there were two weddings.  This group was waiting for the wedding party to emerge

from an other church.  But the Paradis family did not wait with them.  Because.....

it was getting close to pintxo time.

It's possible to get a good deal of window shopping in while you're scoping out the best

prospective pintxo options.

And bringing yourself up to date with the events that celebrate San Sebastian's

designation as a "Cultural Capital of Europe 2016" (shared with Warsaw).

With pintxos come long lines, and crowds (and for bread too - some in San Sebastian actually eat at home!)

It's a hectic way to live - queuing up and crowding into small spaces

or hustling and serving mobs.....especially when your specialty (battered fried shrimp)

makes people so happy.

Everyone seemed to be in the bars.  And not on their bikes.

The beach was quiet because rain was in the forecast.  San Sebastian can be a fairly rainy place.

When the deluge came, the Paradis family raced into Zara (just like last year in Barcelona when the torrents came funny, that!  "The rain in Spain......." is not just a song, we're learning but - a real thing!) 

It was either Zara, or pintxos.

And post-rain, we wanted to see more of San Sebastian before we succumbed to pintxo charms.

So it was back to window shopping.  Though

many shops close for lunch and for the siesta that follows...it seemed.

Making a hole-in-the-wall automated pharmacy a handy convenience.

Eventually, the famille Paradis began to feel that famished and fragmented sensation that only

 PINTXOS COULD FIX!  But I'll have to give you those details later.

Yeah.  Prolonging the suspense.  I promise.  The pintxos will be worth the wait.

Pub Perfected - The Old Queen's Head, Islington

You know the old expression - "never judge a book by its cover".

This Islington pub is the perfect embodiment of that.  A very ordinary exterior on a drizzly

London day gives way to.........

Utter tranquility and deliciousness on the day of our visit.

Little bouquets.  Miss-matched chairs.  A faint festive Scottish flair in the tartans and the antler chandeliers.  It's hard not to feel every so slightly transported to somewhere extra and special.

Old paintings.  BIG bouquets.  And that (Turquoise! Tiled!) BAR!

An intimate courtyard at the rear.  Overhung with vines and overlooked by poets (?)

A slightly louche and spooky staircase.....

and THAT BAR!  (I wanted to take that bar home with me - or sit with my knees against it for forever.....)

YE OLDE SECURITY DETAIL.

Ye Olde  fireplace details.....  (ye old wood fire)

ye olde fireplace swept clean on a spring day details.......

 Ye olde great big windows for the rare bright sunny days when the rain has stopped.

Star-i-ly covered stools (more details after mine own heart!)

Squishy leatherette banquettes.

"Ye olde Queen's Head"?  Neighborhood  in-joke?  (I wonder.)

You can check out the website here.  The Old Queen's Head in Islington is a pub of many faces.  You might find one or two that you like.

Clifton Nurseries - More Tales of the Unexpected

It's the unlikeliness of the location.  Nestled within a block of Victorian

and Edwardian buildings...you pass through a black metal gate and down a planted alley into.......

an urban Paradise where all things "gardens" rule, and the best of them are a bit

out of the ordinary.  I mean, how many of the usual suburban garden centers will try to sell you twine in all the colors of the rainbow - for tieing up your sweetpeas and nasturtiums?  

Clifton Nurseries will supply you with the usual roses and daffodils

camellias, geraniums 

and primroses, but it's not everywhere

that will offer you the VERY LATEST in garden furniture in that distingue Hermes orange

to take home with your ancient olive tree for "instant Mediterranean" in your backyard.

Some people die for rhubarb pots (I do).  You might need to send a man to collect them for you, they won't fit in your tote bag......I know - you weren't expecting to find rhubarb pots on this trip to the shops - me either.

And in case you've been feeling left out of all of this season's Sakura viewing?  Clifton Nurseries can help you plant your whole neighborhood.

Surprise, surprise?  Those yellow orchids are fake!

But the garlanded amphorae and the stone sphinxes are 100% percent real.  Wait a minute - which of your suburban big box stores has one or two of those overseeing their sales floors?  None you say?  No, I didn't think so.  And if you are thirsty.  There is a cafe at Clifton Nurseries, inside a greenhouse, for a nice chat with the light pattering of raindrops overhead......

(The Warwick Castle)

Or if you are like me, there is a nice pub around the corner!  The planting will wait.