Day 8: Bilbao & Guggenheim & Horses

We got on the road pretty early this morning to make our way to Bilbao (about an hour west) for a half day in the city.  Our first stop was the obvious first stop in Bilbao: the Guggenheim!  

If you've heard me talk about Frank Gehry, you know that I don't have much love for him.  I tend to think that his buildings are preposterous monoliths of shiny metal, all with the same basic metaphor (what would happen if I balled up a napkin and spray painted it silver?), and with little concern paid to function.  This one, however, surprised me with its beauty (inside and out) and it's thoughtful attention to flow. The museum was inviting, with little surprises hidden on patios (like Yoko Ono's olive tree) and around corners, opportunities to see pieces from various perspectives, and a wide variety of scale of space.  Jeff Koons's 'Puppy' greeted us at the entrance:

H and I had a great time wandering the museum.  I let her choose our destinations and pace, and along the way, I'd ask her questions about what she was seeing, how she saw it, and what she the thought the artist may have been thinking when they made the pieces.  For example, when we saw this piece, we talked about perspective, and how when you move around it (you could also see it from above), it changed form and shape:

H had some other thoughts about it as well:

The museum had an exhibit on motion, art, and architecture, which featured a LOT of cars.  H wasn't interested in the cars, though she did pose in front of one that she thought Grandpa would like (because of the Gullwing doors).

She was more interested in the paintings on the wall, particularly the ones that managed to convey motion:

Once she got going with understanding how to stretch her brain in a museum, she was on a roll.  With this one, she said 'oooo Daddy, I know what this is!  This is a white dragon in the middle of the night.'  She's not wrong.

We both really enjoyed Richard Serra's 'The Matter of Time,' which filled the great hall.  Each of the metal pieces created a slightly different acoustic phenomena, and we had a good time exploring them!

After we finished at the museum, our octet met upstairs in the cafe for a snack of Pintxos.  H, who really enjoyed anchovies last night, sucked down another anchovy at the cafe.

After our snack, H/O/C/D headed off to Butron Castle for a horseback riding trip!  D's sore knee prevented her from riding, but C/O/H had a great time with the horses. H came back wanting me to build a stable in the backyard for her to keep a horse.  Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha nope.

While the kids and their grandparents were horseback riding, the parents wandered town, before settling in at Zortziko for a super-fancy lunch.  Dish photos available on request :)

After lunch, we met up with C/D/H/O, who had returned from horseback riding and had both eaten and covered themselves in gelato.  I drove home with the four of them while A/B/S followed, stopping for groceries.  In my car, C & D snoozed while H & O sang and played.  When we got home, everyone had a siesta before we tucked into dinner of leftovers and quickie grocery store purchases.  After dinner, when the girls had conked out, I headed onto the back patio and took some cloudy evening photos.

Tomorrow we head east towards San Sebastian!

Days 5 & 6: Tate Modern, Soho, and traveling to Getaria

 I didn't post yesterday for reasons that will become clear later.

BUT

Yesterday was our last morning in London proper.  We packed up the bags and sent them down to Gatwick airport with C while the rest of us finished up checking out of the airbnb.  Shortly after, I took for my adventures while the rest of the gang (C/D/S/A/O/H) went to high tea nearby:

I started my morning at Tate Modern, getting my modern art fix.  The exhibitions were exceptional, and most of them were exploring the perspectives of folks who aren't traditionally featured in the modern art space.  Non-male and BIPOC artists were front and center, and some of the exhibitions focused specifically on institutionalized racism, societal racism, imperialism, colonization, and other similar issues.  One of the things I love to do with modern art is to look at it, think about the artist's perspective, and then try to learn something new about the world.  This visit did not disappoint.

After my visit to Tate Modern, I headed towards Soho to meet the others, but ended up stopping for lunch three times. The first was in this market the museum, which had lots of yummy stands.  I grabbed a scotch quail egg:

From there, I headed up to Soho and grabbed a more substantial bite at Nopi, one of the restaurants run by one of my favorite chefs.  The broccolini pakoras and negroni with peppercorn and cinnamon were delicious!  Along the day, I passed (and temporarily joined) this protest for higher wages and lower inflation.  It was a very diverse group of marchers.  Behind a group of black balaclava-clad young mean was a group of retired nurse.  

Third lunch was a little bun from a place called Bao.  Minced pork, peanuts, and cilantro.  Chinese in form, Vietnamese in flavor.

After that, I met up with the gang at Hamsley's, a seven-floor toystore. H & O each got to pick out a thing to take home! 

From Hamsley's, we took the tube to Victoria Station and then the express train down to Gatwick airport.  We slept at the airport since we had an early flight to Bilbao the next morning.  I didn't get a chance to update the blog since all three of us were in the same hotel room and we all turned lights out at the same time.

The next morning, our trip to Bilbao was relatively painless. After scorching heat in London, we were hoping for more of a respite in Spain, but it's unseasonably warm here too.  The house we're staying in is a lovely farm house near vineyards, with a few of the Bay of Biscay from the backyard:

Our host  Javier speaks some french but no English, so I'm relying on my Spanish to get through most communcations.  He's a nice older man who uses half the house as a vacation spot while he rents out the other half.  After we settled in, he drove me to Zumaia and Getaria to get a lay of the land while Chef Laura prepared a welcome meal for us.  She laid out leek cream soup, crab bricks, poached hake, seafood stew, steak and potatoes, fish-stuffed-peppers, and sauteed local peppers.  After all that, a glass of lemon gelato with cava before a cheesecake with a berry vinegar sauce.  We were stuffed.

The house is not designed for hot weather, and we ended up needing a few fans to get air moving, particularly on the top floor were C/O/H are sleeping.  Also, there are flies everywhere!  There are plenty of screens in the windows, but they still find us.  At dinner, I started attacking the flies with my steak knife and caught one!

We had a fishing outing planned tomorrow, but the captain has canceled due to weather.  So, we'll see what we end up doing!  It'll probably be a little lazy, as everyone had an early morning.