Bilbao arrival

We left our sweet B&B close to the Sagrada Familia this morning.  It was actually a four bedroom apartment with accommodation for 8, a shared bath and common great room with breakfast, TV, eating and sitting areas with a little balcony looking out to the backs and balconies of other flats.  It was pleasant to meet other travelers with whom we shared breakfast - a mother and daughter from Holland and two young women from Rome.  The others had limited English and it was a little harder to chat.  Everyone else was out later than us so it felt like a private apartment except for breakfast.

As we left Barcelona, I was continuing my meditation on "stuff".  Every museum, church and the Gaudi houses that we visited often had us exit through the gift shop.  They were of course, beautiful and were full of things that were well-designed and attractive.  The streets around most of the tourist destinations were full of shops with tschoskies (sp?).  Usually I would browse these gift shops and find presents, or find a souvenir for myself -what about those great Sagrada Familia tee shirts?  This time, I see all this "stuff" through a new lens - i am so aware that I can not carry another item.  I am even wondering if there are things I could eliminate from my pack now.  It seems too heavy and it also seems like I will need everything I brought.  It is hard to know if I will need rain gear or a light jacket.  I would love to unload more.

After a short and uneventful flight from Barcelona on Vueling airlines, we arrived in Bilbao, home of the Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim museum.  We took a walk to confirm our bus tickets for Tuesday to Bayonne and found that we'd messed up that reservation online (not quite enough Spanish yet).  But it all worked out better and we are now on an earlier bus!  We walked around the museum, got a pizza and are ready for bed!  We'll visit the museum in the morning.  The dog statue in front of the museum is made up of real flowers!