Images from Bilbao, Spain

 We returned Saturday evening and it's like Bilbao was a dream. We had 3 1/2 days there and, in spite of rain, did lots of walking. Our main objective was to see the Guggenheim, and we did, but we found out that there was more to Bilbao than that. To prove it, here is half of the dessert table at our hotel buffet (smile.)

 We took endless photos of the museum. You can, of course, see them on the internet in abundance, because the building is seductive and it's impossible to stop taking photos of it. This is our view on the first day, our first walk, though we did see it coming in from the airport in the taxi the evening before.

 Here's bit more of the building. I'll be posting my multiples views on Flickr should any of you be interested in seeing them. Again, I'll say it, I couldn't stop taking photos, and neither could my honey. To the last moment, in the taxi on the way to the airport, I was snapping photos through the window.

 We also went to the Museo de Bellas Artes, where we caught the final days of an exhibit of work by Antonio Lopez, which was very good. We'd not heard of him, as we aren't very knowledgeable about contemporary Spanish artist (other than Tapies.) This is a view of the museum cafe. I was sitting on a bench and noticed the reflections, how the people inside seemed like a painting, and the passersby, a blue of movement.

 Here's a view of the Guggenheim at night. Pretty amazing building. The exhibits were also very good. We enjoyed seeing the Richard Serra installation, the exhibit with Richard Serra and Brancusi, and works by Georg Baselitz. The 3rd floor was not open, which worked out great as we were pretty full seeing what we did see. Satisfied and happy that we had the experience of being at the museum. We returned another day to take more photos (only the outside can be photographed) and to visit the bookstore, where we found some books on sale. Who could resist? Not us. We got a book of Rauschenburg works and a photo book.

 What a surprise to come upon this bust of John Adams on the Gran Via. The 2nd U.S. president made some positive comments about the Basque people, culture, and language, which were included on the plaque.

 We had our umbrella this afternoon, though we'd forgotten it another day, when it was sunny and we'd assumed it would stay that way. We took refuge in a big indoor market in the Casco Viejo (old city) which was dicey for me as I don't eat meat and there were lots of butcher stalls. We hung out by the mushroom stall! Once there was a bit of a let up, we dashed out to continue our walk. Soon the rain let up and we could take more photos.

A nice view of the pedestrian bridge designed by Calatrava. Our hotel was just up a bit on the right so we had views of the bridge and part of the Guggenheim from our hotel window. We walked across the bridge in the daytime and the night, quite different experiences visually.
All in all, we were happy to have gone to Bilbao, where we celebrated our wedding anniversary.