The first downcast day of this Spain trip happened today in Bilbao – what was initially a cloudy day turned monsoon-like for a few minutes this afternoon, and luckily our hotel is right in front of one of the world’s most famous museums, which easily solved that problem. We had an hour before our 4 p.m. museum appointment – they’re that popular – to wander around Jeff Koon’s famous puppy, the Spider-like sculpture close to the the bridge, and of course Frank Gehry’s now-iconic, titanium-clad museum building itself, and that was what it took and then some to wander the perimeter, appreciate the larger than life art, and take photos for posterity. It was all quite impressive.

Once we’d finished scouring the grounds, it was easy enough to get past the sea of humanity by the entrance door and inside the building itself. We had four hours till closing to get around to everything, but first thing on the agenda was a late lunch. We missed the Bistro as it just closed but the Bar was still very much open and the selection was exactly what I was looking for. The wine though at €1,70 was understandably bad.

With lunch taken care of, it was time to feed the soul. I could only handle so much contemporary art though as a lot of it was so out of my appreciative reach, I might as well have been wearing a question mark over my head. The textile octopus monster in the atrium and the video installations in particular were expectedly strange.

Oddly out of touch, the museum had a ‘no photos policy’, a notion that boggles my mind to this day. I can’t imagine they would be that strapped for cash as to encourage merchandise sales this way but I made it through somehow and was able to catch my share of abstract memories.