I ended up staying in Bilbao for a few days.
The hostel where I was staying was not far from the river and about 800 metres from the Guggenheim Museum. It was quite good.
Walks through the City
I went on a number of walks through the city. It is quite compact and has a vibrant old town which comes to life after 7.00 p.m.
There are plenty of restaurants and small bars.
Guggenheim Museum
Of course the main attraction in the city is the Guggenheim Museum. It is one of the best known buildings that have been designed by the architect Frank Gehry.
I have seen his Disney Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles, the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago and the Dancing House in Prague. He has recently designed a Building for the UTS University in Sydney.
The Bilbao building is spectacular.
One of the features of the building is the titanium cladding and the way it changes colour during the day.
The exhibition areas are very big. Some of the pieces are an ‘acquired taste’. The work of a French artist, Louise Bourgeois, reminded me of the Damien Hirst’s stuff – a bit weird.
There is currently an Andy Warhol exhibition on show. It is the only are where you can take photos of the paintings.
Problem with the Bike
Some readers of this blog will know that I have a rather interesting bike with a single shock absorber on the front. It is ‘air filled’. It occasionally requires charging. I have a special pump to do that. When I tried to charge it in Bilbao I managed to ‘cross the thread’ on the connection between the pump and the shock absorber.
I took the bike to a bike shop near to the hostel.
The mechanic only spoke Spanish. When he looked at problem, he said something in Spanish. I took what he said to mean: “what the fu&$k have you done”. He managed to charge the shock absorber. I hope I have not done irreparable damage. I have had to replace it once before. It isn’t cheap.
Haircut
I had a haircut in Bilbao. I won’t need another for a while. I tried to indicate I wanted one centimetre taken off. The barber seemed to assume that I wanted only one centimetre, or less left.
Flick Links
Guggenheim
Other
Links to Guggenheim Museum
Collection
http://www.guggenheim-bilbao.es/en/the-collection/
Building
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