Happy late February, darling readers and readerettes! Now, join me in a spot of time travel back to the end of October 2013...

So my last blog was a tiny bit inaccurate, inasmuch as it claimed to cover the whole of October. In fact, there were two other things that happened - or at least began - in that month: a long weekend in Bilbao with Bénédicte (more on that in just a sec); and my first viewing of a flat for sale. Which was simultaneously my final viewing of a flat for sale. Because I have now purchased said flat!! Lots more on that later later...

Anyway, so I flew to Bilbao on 31st October with Béné. And it TOTALLY ROCKED!!!!! The only thing that can possibly improve on a fabulous tapas bar is LOTS OF fabulous tapas bars. And the only thing that can top that is when each of the many wines - red and white - to go with them is DELICIOUS. And the only thing that can top THAT is when I get to enjoy the tapas and the wines (and a whole raft of other Spanish and Basque delicacies) with someone who loves them as much as I do: Bénédicte!!!!!

Okay, so here's a little gold mine of tapas/pintxos recommendations for Bilbao (although to be honest we didn't find a single one that I would recommend): Thursday night was Café Iruña (for the best pintxos morunos in the universe - and that claim wasn't far off being true); Bar Antomar (for a plato de ibéricos in a classically Spanish looks-like-shite-but-actually-rocks ambience); Bar Gure Toki (for posh pintxos on the Plaza Nueva); Taberna Txiriboga (for free croquetas); and Bar Ormaetxe (for kicker red wines on the street in a cloud of weed). Not forgetting the "nightcap" that became a whole hat shop's worth of nightcaps in the form of patxarán on ice at Ambigú - off-the-wall DJane 80s selection, conveniently opposite the hotel!

Friday's breakfast at Café del Arenal was a REVELATION: totally Spanish, unpretentious, overlit, chrome-and-glass bartop, and then manna from Spanish heaven in the form of a pintxo de tortilla con jamón york with my café con leche plus txokolate con txurros for Béné. Oh my! Then we wandered back into the Casco Viejo and ended up in Café Brasil for rabas and a txakolí white wine - hello! Then we walked to near the Guggenheim museum and stopped for a supa dupa fly selection of pintxos at Abando y Barra. Then we walked all around the Guggenheim and stopped for a coffee at Larruzz. Then we had a siesta back at the hotel. Then we did a pintxos crawl along calle Santa María: Irrinzti (okay wine, okay tapas); Gatz (fabulous, inventive pintxos); Restorante Arriaga (average balacao, fabulous wine and cheeses); and back to the hotel for some digestion time.

On Saturday, after brekkie at Arenal, we actually DID the Guggenheim Museum rather than looking at it from the outside! A well-earned pintxos lunch at Abando y Barra (this time at an outside table) was followed by a sudden downpour, which we eventually ran right through to take shelter in El Corte Inglés, where we proceeded to buy a checked-baggage-weight-limit-stretching amount of meats, cheeses and oil. Back at the hotel we had a rest and a celebratory drink - because I got an SMS from the estate agent in Munich telling me I had GOT THE FLAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We continued to celebrate by going back to the Casco Viejo and doing the tapas places we hadn't already done: Sorginzulo (for TO DIE FOR foie gras); Basoa (for über blackberried thick red wine); a corner shop (for empanadas argentinas); La Korrala (for ouch-ouch bright lights and high-energy disco music in a quirky gay bar); Lamiak (for our first corked wine - which the scary barkeeper woman wouldn't change for me - but then totally DID change for Béné - my hero!); and back to Ormaetxe (for one last wine before bed).

Sunday morning after brekkie at Arenal (I seriously couldn't get enough of their tortilla - it tasted of my memories of Santander from 20 years ago!) we did a final sweep of the Casco Viejo for pintxos that we hadn't done yet - and found a corker! Bar Charly had imagination and sparkle. Then we headed back to Plaza Nueva for another discovery there - Kukusoak (more txakolí, more pintxos) - and then more delicious foie gras at Sorginzulo, plus a gigantic pile of rabas in the hot lunchtime sun. And then we had to go to the airport. But WHAT a weekend it was!

Let's see if I can condense the rest of November down a bit more than I did the first three days!

Well, there was a Wednesday night disco sesh at Harry Klein with Jürgen, Nina and Andrea (which started with a couple of drinks at Hotel Anna). I had a weekend visit from Matthias in Zurich, which overlapped with dinner with Béné and Véro & Suzy who were over from Amsterdam. I had a Schnitzelfest with Marko & Franz at Krablergarten. I went to Rich Myers' fancy-dress party at SUB (this year's theme was Bollywood; at last a chance to crack out the gear I bought in Mumbai!). Charlie's birthday dinner at Roma was lovely. The choir concert went well on 24th. And the Catalan cinema festival I went to with Rudi (with a cheeky Greek meal beforehand) was great too!

And I wrapped the month up by having my first Glühweins of the year with Michaela on Saturday 30th. In fact it was a mini Christmas market crawl from Stachus to Marienplatz and Rindermarkt. Roll on Xmas!!