Day 16: June 29 (Bilbao- Madrid)

We got up and went across the street to a very new, elaborate shopping center named Zubiarte fronting the river across from the hotel.  It was 10:00 am and the stores were just opening. Much of the shopping center interior was still being finished.  We were looking for an umbrella of our very own and some breakfast.  Many of the stores in the center were in the same chains as we saw last night walking downtown along Gran Via - Zara, Zara Home, RomaMode and others.  We were successful at finding a small umbrella that we could pack in our luggage.  We then went over to an open bar / cafe for some coffee and toast.  Most of the other customers were construction workers having their morning beer.

Guggenheim Museum

We stored our luggage at the hotel and set out for the Guggenheim.  We walked down the side of the river opposite the museum to get a good wide view, crossed a bridge and then swung back and walked around before entering.  As we passed the museum, mist was being injected over the pool as part of the "fog sculpture" exhibit.  We saw the giant spider "Maman" and, around the corner the giant "Puppy" of flowers by Jeff Koons.  The building itself was very different, all curves with shiny metal "scales".  The price of admission included a detailed audio / video guide to lead us around.  This was the first time we had run into a guide handset which included a video screen.  I gave up on mine, finding it very interfering.  There were times, however, when it was very necessary because the art was pretty much incomprehensible.  We walked around in the big, disorienting Serra installation with strange ellipses. I liked the installation with a room full of chairs placed in front of televisions playing different video interviews of people from a Turkish slum.  We had a sandwich at the museum bar / restaurant and did a little more art exploration before heading back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and catch a taxi to the bus station.  Neil made his first ever spanish phone call to tell the hotel in Madrid we would be late and to ask the name of the nearest metro station.

Spider and Fog

Puppy

Spider

The cab driver was very surly.  As usual, we muddled around trying to find the departure gate for the Madrid bus.  I waited in a long line to ask at the ticket counter but, before I reached the front, Neil pulled me out of line because the bus showed up on the departure board in the station. We boarded with little problem.  This was a special deluxe service bus and it came with a stewardess who checked the baggage in the storage compartment below.  The seat arrangement was luxurious, with each row having one seat one one side of the aisle and two seats on the other.  Neil picked a seat that had been totally trashed.  Everything was broken: the headrest, the recliner, the footrest, the food tray, and more!  It was like sumo wrestlers had been fighting there!  This seemed a unique problem seat; and Neil picked it.  Neil is good at this.  We switched to another row with perfectly functioning seats.  During the ride, they showed two movies and served a meal consisting of a sandwich, drinks, and a peanut snack.  The trip lasted about five hours and passed pleasantly.  The landscape was green with rocky hills.  We saw a lot of windmills and I saw a flock of sheep being driven by a man and two dogs.  I only noticed one town of any size, Burgos, on the route between Bilbao and Madrid.  As we drove, the air temperature increased about 30 degrees Farenheit.  By the time we got to Madrid, we had returned to the heat.

We arrived at the bus station in Madrid and walked quite a ways and descended quite a few levels to reach the Metro train platform.  Once again, we were happy to be carrying only one carry-on sized bag each.  The Metro worked the same way as the one in Barcelona, so we bought our tickets and checked out the map.  We had to make one transfer to reach Callao.  Coming up out of the station at 10 pm at night we were immediately engulfed in noise and people.  I asked for directions and we found out hotel (Hotel Preciados) easily.  The hotel was very nice and service oriented.  The bellman insisted on taking our bags up the elevator for us.  The minibar, pretty well stocked, is free!  The hotel room faced a side street and everything looked very soundproofed.  We wanted to stretch a little so we went out at about 11:30 pm.  We grabbed an ice cream from a chain store restaurant place and walked down to Puerto del Sol.  The Puerto del Sol appeared to be the center of all activity in Madrid.  It looked like there were thousands of American college girls there.  Political protesters had staged a tent city in the middle of the plaza - right across from the main police station.  I was not exactly sure specifically what they were protesting.  After a short time we wandered back to the hotel.  We found that we had been lucky in getting to our hotel so easily because the street the hotel is on, Calle Preciados, does a hairpin turn at Callao and we could have gone down the wrong side of the hairpin as the correct side.