Spain - Day 9 - Poking around Pamplona

The next morning we all gathered at Bar Txoko. I'm not sure how that's pronounced, but all that mattered for me that morning was that it was a bar.



Mr. and Mrs. Sosa joined us for breakfast. How lovely!



What was being served, you ask? Well more tapas, of course.



One of the guests in attendance was this couple who made the trip with their newborn baby all the way from the states. And if I remember correctly, they were doing the entire round trip in about three days.



Ingrid took an immediate liking to the couple and particularly their newborn baby girl. I'm sensing something here. I'm sensing Ingrid would like to be a mother and have a baby of her very own.



But first, a final drink from the wine glass... while holding the baby. Great.



Next on the agenda was a tour of the town, led by none other than Manuel himself.



As most of you know, Pamplona is the city in Spain where they have the annual Running of the Bulls. It's such a huge event, they even have a countdown clock. Only about 45 days until these streets are filled with crazy people running from crazed bulls.



This is the stadium where the bulls eventually end up. The square-shaped holes in the ground serve as anchors for barricades to keep the bulls on the right track -- the track to their ultimate demise.



We traversed the path where the bulls run, and in fact, Manuel had run with the bulls once before. The sign says, "In this popular street the runners get involved in spectacular races. The bulls tend to run more slowly in this, the longest and straightest stretch of the run."



Pamplona is a romantic city with tons of charm. Ingrid and I loved just spending time walking the streets.



Wandering the streets and taking pictures of the architecture...



... and pictures of friends.



There was a lot of walking on this trip in general, and tons of walking to do that afternoon. No wonder the Spanish people stay so trim.



Do I sense a possible love connection between Manuel's sister and Racquel's brother? Hmmmmmm....



What's difficult to tell from the pictures taken on this day is that pollen was blowing everywhere. I had never had a problem with it before, but you could literally see it floating around the air. It had everybody sneezing and rubbing their watery eyes. If you've never experienced anything like it, imagine breathing in pepper with every breath.



See? Everyone felt the effects of the pollen that day. I must have sneezed over a hundred times that afternoon.



In between sneezes, I captured this cool shot.



They've got the strangest thing over in Pamplona. I'm not exactly sure what to call this, but it's like a zoo, except it's sunken, and it's free, and there aren't any boundaries between the different types of animals, which all wander freely.



What an amazing place - a place where a goats and geese can play together.



It eventally came time to say goodbye to the group, but not before I caught this albino peacock strutting his stuff.



We joined the couple with the baby and headed back to Otano bar for some dinner. On our last visit we ate upstairs at the restaurant part of the place, but this time, we were looking to eat some tasty tapas downstairs at the tapas bar.



Apparently, we weren't the only one with that idea. In fact, a group of people (all dressed in black shirts) were having their annual tapas bar crawl and just happened to be there. Despite the crowd, we managed to secure a table in the back of the bar and once again, feasted on some wonderful dishes.



Later in the evening Ingrid and I enjoyed some drinks in the plaza and toasted to another amazing day and promised to return Pampona one day.