Bilbao

After the nice morning on the beach in San Sebastian and enjoying some solitude there, I went back to the hostel and woke up my friends. We headed out shortly after that toward Bilbao, which was on our way home to Salamanca. We stopped there for one major attraction... the Guggenheim. This modern art museum was built in the 20th century and is known as the most ¨vanguardista¨architecture of its time. I found the structure to be amazing, not just because it was such a neat looking building, but because it was built AFTER everything around it. For example, a huge part of the building is underneath a bridge. That bridge existed prior to the Guggenheim structure. That is to say that the architects and engineers had to design everything to allow the city to stay as it was... not to mention the fact that there is a major river that runs along one side of the building! Honestly, it was an architectural marvel!

Outside of the museum (where I was allowed to take pictures) there was a dog made of flowers. Mom, you would have loved it! I included a picture here, but I´m not sure that it does justice. So much work probably goes into the daily care of this ¨art.¨ Also, I was able to see a huge sculpture of a spider. Pretty life-like... YUCK!!

The museum itself holds modern art, much of which was interactive. You could walk right through the middle of someone´s masterpiece. Pretty cool stuff!

I was pretty tired after that adventure. We didn´t stick around much longer in Bilbao... sort of just got a feel for the modern style city... and then headed out for a 3.5 hour drive home. I was glad to get back to Salamanca. Classes today were a little rough because I felt so sleepy. The hour long nap I took when I got home was quite helpful though! Tomorrow I begin exams... grammar first, then literature, then history. It´s going to be a long week! Wish me luck!!

I miss everyone... especially my little Zoie. How´s she doing this week, Mom?

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