wow, bilbao – guggenheim museum

the guggenheim museum – one of the architectural stunners in bilbao

after we got our baggage, we hopped in a taxi and headed to the apartment. the nighttime drive along the riverside was beautiful. the cabbie pointed out the palace of congress, the sheraton hotel, and then a few seconds later, the guggenheim museum: three thoroughly modern buildings all in a row. then we passed by a couple of modern, design-y bridges too. aside from paris, i couldn’t remember when i saw this much modern architecture in a european city. then we got to our neighborhood, casco viejo (old town), and it was back to tiny alleys and old-world charm.

the main attraction in bilbao is hands down the guggenheim museum. i know people who’ve traveled to bilbao just to get a gander at the guggenheim — not so much for the art inside but for the design of the building itself. it’s no wonder. the building is impressive and unlike anything i’ve seen before. on our many walks through bilbao, i’d stare at the guggenheim from all different angles. i couldn’t get enough of it. it’s just so interesting to look at. i was almost as equally enamored by the art outside of the guggenheim: puppy by jeff koons and mamán by louise bourgeois, pictured below:

puppy by jeff koons

mamán by louise bourgeois

i don’t know why some people poo-poo the art inside the guggenheim. it had a terrific collection of american art and a special exhibition on surrealism. once you’re inside, you can also see more of frank gehry’s brilliant design.

want more photos of the guggenheim and bilbao? click here.

from sun to snow and back to sun again – málaga, spain

after jamaica, i flew DIRECT! on virgin-atlantic-the-most-kickass-airline-evAR back to london. the UK is my least favorite part of europe with its crap weather and crappier puritan values (and one of the most expensive places for food and wine, adding insult to injury). alas, i was house-sitting for friends which meant free rent for two weeks.

when i say that the weather is crap, i mean it. this is what i woke up to on easter sunday:

friend’s backyard in cambridge , UK– boo!

after a chilly, rainy, hail-y and generally craptastic fortnight in cambridge, i was back to suntanning on the beach in málaga, in the south of spain.

malagueta beach in málaga, spain — hurray!

málaga (pronounce MAH-la-ga) reminds me of other cities with beaches, like nice in france or even a mini-barcelona without the gaudi influence. the people are friendly and the food is awesome! the restaurants on the beach turn out deliciously charred sardines grilled on a stick, an assortment of fried local seafood called, “fritura malagueña” and all manner of tapas.

málaga is the birthplace of picasso (and also antonio banderas). the newly renovated picasso museum here is a must-see. it contains twelve rooms of his art which amounts to something like 155 works and each one is worthy of contemplation. it’s amazing to see the body of an artist’s work from a young age to his death. the stuff picasso was creating right before he died at the age of 92 still looks fresh and full of energy. there’s no doubt in my mind that the man was a genius.

málaga, like every other city in europe, has the obligatory castle. i’m kind of growing weary of castles but i feel like i have to visit each one just in case there’s something there i might miss. at the very least, they’re high up so i have some nice views of the city. one unique part of malaga’s castillo gilbralfaro is a fortification built by the moors called the alcazaba (from the arabic word al-casbah for “fortification”). this was the palace fortress of málaga’s muslim governors back in the day before the spanish inquisition got rid of all the non-christians. the alcazaba is more interesting than the castle but you might as well go to both of them because it’s a long hike to get up there and the combined ticket is like 3 euros.

you can see pho-tos of the alcazaba, castle and more in málaga on my flickr site.

normandy

normandy american cemetery and memorial

the thing about the transit strike in paris is that it doesn’t just affect the metro service in paris, it extends to commuter lines and trains to other regions. i took a day trip to the city of bayeux when they finally resumed the morning trains going to the normandy region in northern france. normandy is the home of camembert, an apple brandy called calvados, and tarte normande made with the region’s apples. it’s also famous for the d-day landings during WWII. i’d come here to take a tour of the battle sites.

on my train ride to bayeux, i saw a crazy homeless man terrorize the passengers. he paced up and down the aisles and stopped at the window occasionally to rub up against it. he would drool and bark “connard!” at random passersby. (connard is a vulgar word meaning asshole or dick.) the nice french lady in my train car explained to me that he’s a regular fixture on this line and the train inspecteurs just let him be. i asked her, “il est dangereux?” and she shrugged to say she didn’t know.

i arrived in bayeux and noticed right away how clean, quiet and small the town is. i could see the calvados apple trees all around me. the crisp fall air seemed to carry the scent of those apples. i walked around the centre ville for a bit before meeting up with the tour guide, cristophe, a skinny young parisian with a lazy eye. i could tell that he was REALLY into WWII history. he was certainly well-informed but as with anyone who is that obsessed with anything, he seemed a little “off.” he said he’d watched band of brothers like ten times. i believed him.

a young aussie couple were part of the tour. we piled into a minivan and cristophe drove and drove us all around the region. oh yes, we were in cow country. the stops on our tour included:

la cambe german cemetery: the final resting place for german soldiers who died during the war in france

omaha beach: code name for the beachhead where the allied forces landed on d-day; they shot the opening scene from saving private ryan here; they call it “bloody omaha” because of the high casualty count (3,000 for the US and 1,200 for germany)

utah beach: the site of another landing on d-day

normandy american cemetery and memorial: for US soldiers who died in europe during WWII; it’s a beautiful cemetery that is kept in immaculate condition. you get a real sense of american lives lost when you face the sea of 9,387 grave markers

a war museum i can’t remember the name of: displays artifacts from the war, and recreated battle scenes

view my slideshow here (click on “view all images” to see the photos in their original color):

belgian centre of comic strip art

tintin et milou

the highlight of my trip to brussels was “Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée” / “Belgisch Centrum van het Beeldverhaal” or just “belgian centre of comic strip art” in english. it’s by far the coolest museum in brussels (with the worst web site). it’s located in a converted art nouveau warehouse on a tiny street that is hard to find, prompting me to wonder, “is this a museum or the hottest club in town?”

once inside, i got to see how comic strips are developed and printed. i learned about the history of belgian comics. there was also a special exhibition on european stereotypes like how the english are obsessed with tea, the french are always on strike, and the germans are so precise. (i wasn’t able to find the comic strip on italians closing their shops the exact moment you want to buy something.)

by the way, most of the information at the museum is in french only but you can ask for a guidebook in english. and don’t forget to check out the gift shop. they have tintin collectibles, figures of various comic strip characters and of course, comic books.

day 3: museums at ueno

naomi recommended a visit to ueno, which has a large park with lots of museums and galleries. the hubby wanted to check out the national museum of western art, not so much for the paintings and rodin sculptures inside but to see the interior and building designed by corbusier.

another architectural stunner was the gallery of horyu-ji treasures, a collection of buddhist statues, scrolls and artifacts from the first buddhist temple in japan.