Bilbao

It rained much of our drive from Madrid to Bilbao yesterday and was still drizzling when we went out to explore last night. But today was very nice -- mostly sunny and highs in the 70s.

The Guggenheim Museum - Bilbao

We slept in late and went to the Guggenheim Museum. The entire 2nd floor and one exhibit on the 1st floor were closed as they prepared for new installations, so tickets were discounted. The famous Puppy out front was also covered with scaffolding as they replaced the previous flowers covering the sculpture with pansies.

And, of course, we walked, and walked, and walked as we often do when on vacation -- exploring Bilbao street by street. We stopped in one of the many bars/restaurants along the street for the obligatory tapas (in Basque: pintxos -- pronounced pinchos), a beer and glass of red wine. 

Then we went to the grocery store for a few drinks and snacks for our drive to Andorra tomorrow. It's a 6 1/2 hour drive. We'll go along the coast of northern Spain through San Sebastian and through France to get there. 

We'll begin our nightly quest for dinner soon. It's currently 8:22 p.m. here, and no one eats before 8 -- although some articles say not before 9 or 10 p.m. It seems mighty late to us, but I'm sure we'll get used to it by the time we leave Spain. :-) Here's an interesting article about it from the New York Times earlier this year.