Celebrating our Fifth Anniversary with a weekend trip to Santander and Bilbao
Photos taken August 20, 2010 - August 22, 2010

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Eating a brownie dessert in our studio apartment, on our anniversary.
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At Madrid Barajas airport, at about 4:45am for or 6:30am flight. Hundreds of people camping out sleeping on the floor! The subway from Madrid to the airport shuts down between midnight and 6am, so many backpackers catch the midnight subway and camp out at the airport overnight to avoid another night's lodging fees and the expensive middle-of-the-night taxi ride. (We went middle-of-the-road and booked a shared-taxi.)
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Kelly trying to catch a few zzzs while waiting for our flight.
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Arriving in Santander, just in time for sunrise!
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Santander airport.
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We spent Saturday afternoon in Bilbao, famous for its Guggenheim museum. Here is another contemporary building
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Bilbao
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Bilbao Guggenheim museum
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Bilbao Guggenheim museum
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Bilbao Guggenheim museum
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Giant spider sculpture at Bilbao Guggenheim museum
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Bilbao Guggenheim museum
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Bilbao Guggenheim museum
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Bilbao Guggenheim museum
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Bilbao Guggenheim museum
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Dino Radja's house in Split? No, still at the Bilbao Guggenheim museum.
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This giant flower dog was only meant to be a temporary exhibition celebrating the opening of the museum, but everyone liked it so much they decided to keep it as a permanent installation.
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Inside the main lobby of Bilbao Guggenheim museum
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LED art exhibit in the museum
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Children's masks - for Kelly's mom
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Children's masks - for Kelly's mom
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Apparently it is popular for wedding couples to get their photo taken underneath this giant spider -- awesome!
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Interesting exhibit, fun to walk through all of the causeways.
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Giant paint cannon. Now THAT is art :)
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Fun clown mirrors. Part of Indian-born British artist Anish Kapoor's exhibit. He also designed the Cloud Gate / giant bean in Chicago's Millenium park.
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Kelly pretending to be a princess in Shrek.
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Cool house in Bilbao
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Guggenheim Museum in perspective with its surroundings
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I always try to find shade wherever I can find it!
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Catching the tram back to Bilbao's train station -- too hot for a 30-minute walk back :)
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On the bus back to Santander.
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Ready to go out to dinner
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EXCELLENT potato appetizer for 5 euros. A bunch of boiled potatoes cut in half, oiled up and seasoned, with an amazing creamy garlic dipping sauce!
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Dinner - we shared a ground-beef pizza and a chicken with lemon dish.
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Walking along the beach at Santander, looking towards some old palacial buildings.
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Walking along the beach at Santander.
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Walking along the beach at Santander.
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Santander
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Santander
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Santander
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Palacio Real de La Magdalena
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Some replica boats on display
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Penguin lost in Spain. (The beach had a free mini zoo with some sea lions and a couple penguins.)
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Santander
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Crowded beach!
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Paddle Ball was quite popular on the beaches here.
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Out in the distance is a golf course -- definitely would have provided great scenery!
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Very much enjoying the sandy beach. It's fun to compare to the pebble beaches in Dalmatia. To me, plenty of room for both!
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This was the first time Kelly had felt the cold water.
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We got to play doubles sand volleyball!
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Santander port
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On the bus heading back to the airport. We were the only ones who caught the 6:30am bus for our 8:00am flight. I guess everyone else caught the 6:50 bus.
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Flying back to Madrid.
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Flying back to Madrid.
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