THE GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM BILBAO

THERE ARE NOW EIGHT ARCHITECTURAL WONDERS OF THE WORLD

Our flight from Rome to Bilbao arrived in the late afternoon. By the time we had settled in at our hotel it was approaching dusk. Airplane travel can knock you off your feet and mess with your drive to do much more than kick your shoes off, lie back and pretend you're the blanket stretched out on an eider down bed. Rick did just that, he pretended he was a blanket and fell immediately to sleep on our cloudlike bed. I had a moment of resistance that lead to the mistake of opening the drapes of our room. It was like opening night at the theater when the curtain rises and the first act begins. The klieg lights popped on mixing with the amber gels of a descending sun and then the main actor walked on stage. The Guggenheim in this light was more than even the need of sleep could overcome. I bought my ticket and I was out the door to get a first row seat for the show.

Jeff Koons' mammoth floral covered Puppy sculpture dominates the courtyard. Its prominence seems intended to ward off intruders and vandals but then it's only an adorable puppy more likely to jump into your lap and lick your face than take a bite our of your shin.

There's a set of stairs that wrap around the building taking you on a journey of curved lines and cool glass facades.

The pathway along the back of the Guggenheim is sandwiched between the river and a reflection pond that is home to Tall Tree and The Eye a totem of mirrored balls by Anish Kapoor.

At intervals during the day and evening the pond is enveloped in a cloud of mist that comes and then dissipates giving the back of the museum an eerie ethereal presence.

Then as quickly as you've descended there's another staircase taking you up past the museum restaurant where you can become a voyeur into Bilboa's world of elegant dining at Nerua.

Once the Guggenheim was built the La Salve Bridge that traverses the estuary backing up to the building was given a crown to elevate its stature. A sculptural arch, L'Arc Rouge, designed by artist Daniel Buren was added to the majestic tableau that becomes a major part of the evening light show with twinkling lights and a flood of hot red.

We'd purchased tickets for early the next morning to go inside to look at architectural detail to see if that perspective could even come close to the outside shell.

Jeff Koons' Puppy was still there and even grander in the daylight lit by a background of blue sky and a skyline beginning to form from some of Bilbao's newest architectural landmarks.

Having only ever focused on Frank Gerry's fantastic architecture I knew little to nothing of the museum's contents. What I wasn't expecting once we had gone inside was the extraordinary sculptural pieces of rusted steel that are part of the museum's permanent collection by the artist Richard Serra.

Massive in size and powerful in scope with such intricate and striking patinas they required an entire football like arena to accommodate them. The installation is titled The Matter of Time. The forms are simple ellipses and wave like curves that you walk around or journey through as you would a maze changing your perspective and therefore the shape of the art itself.

I was foolish enough to read Serra's description of the work only to find out none of the pieces each weighing tons are not anchored in any way but rely on Serra's knowledge of math and weight to keep them from toppling over. Enter at your own risk.

The pairing of Serra's work with the brilliance of Frank Gehry's structure made my knees shake and my camera go into overdrive. I walked over and around, up and down, into and through and everywhere I turned I was compelled to try and capture my movement in relationship to Gehry's own vision. It became a photo essay that first went to Instagram and now to our blog. My bursting joy: Frank Gehry liked both my Instragram posts.