A Day In Bilbao

Today I made it over to the Universidad del Pais Vasco in order to meet with Professor Luis Vega. He is a harmonic analysis/PDE expert who has done a great deal of important work in my field over the course of the last 25 years or so. I thought he was going to be at the University of Chicago during my time here, so it was a pleasant surprise that he was actually here this week and I was able to talk with him about some interesting problems. Finding the UPV was my first order of the day, which turned out to be a bit harder than I anticipated. Strangely enough, Bizkaiabus, the system of buses that travels the most locations, has the least information posted online and only has innocuous blue signs with no route information as bus stops. So, after taking the rather nice Metro to a location near the university, I asked around and eventually found the campus, then strolled until I finally found the math department. I wound up getting there 20 minutes early so I worked until we had the chance to talk, grab a nice full Spanish lunch at the University cafeteria and drink a coffee. Fortunately, I found a much more efficient route home, so I read and worked a bit more after I got back.

Upon a recommendation, I went to the cafe affiliated with a famous restaurant here in Bilbao called El Viejo Zortzi. It is a small restaurant and when I arrived all the tables were reserved. However, since I was only one person and got there when they opened, they let me sit down as long as I promised to be out before 10 PM. Since I did not feel I needed to eat for an hour and a half by myself, it sounded like a fine deal to me.

To eat, I had local cheese, duck and even an ice cream made from a local citrus fruit. There was a soft cheese that I literally would have bathed in if given the chance. It was such a delicious meal on the whole that I could not help having an after dinner espresso. I know I should not have caffeine after 4 PM, but if a meal is good enough I like a coffee afterwards dammit. So, it is truly a measure of a meal's success for me if I am willing to sacrifice a night's sleep to complete the experience.

Tomorrow is my last day here so I am headed up to see the coastline. Once I have a more reliable internet connection I will be posting pictures from everything I have been doing here. Basque Country really is beautiful with fantastic food and great people. The people have to be great since otherwise you would never figure out how to get anywhere!