Bilboa, Spain

I got up early this morning and went for a long run in Bordeaux.  It was drizzling and gorgeous.  The entire city has bike paths along the roads.  The french people are bike crazy.

We had a pretty decent breakfast at the hotel [which was included].  You cannot screw up croissants in France.  We were back on the A10 by 830.

The drive to Bilboa was incredible.  Northern Spain is mountainous, with farms and buildings perched on the side.  Here is a picture I took as we crossed the border:

The drive into Bilboa was interesting.  My french is much stronger than my spanish.  We made it to the hotel without too much difficulty.  There are massive traffic circles that are a little intimidating, but I just grip the steering wheel and rip through them.  So far so good.

Our hotel is a couple blocks away from the Guggenheim.  It was fairly easy to find.  Here is the outside:

The room was amazing or "royal" accordingly to Ella.  We had a complimentary bottle of spanish wine waiting for us.  The food; however, was pretty terrible.  Everything is saucy and they seem to sneak ham into everything.  I think I will be doing a lot of cooking in Spain.  Here is a shot of the kids waiting for us in the lobby:

The Guggenheim was incredible.  The building itself is a work of art:

We took a few photos from the outside as photos were, once again, prohibited inside the museum:

We have a long drive ahead of us tomorrow to Girona.  It will be nice to settle into an apartment again for a week.  We are in Girona until June 17, 2011.  Then we are off to Nice!!  As most of you know, Cristin and I spent 2 weeks in Nice for our 10th anniversary [5 years ago].  It will be great going back.