Arrival in Bilbao

September 13, 2017

An inauspicious beginning, that hopefully doesn't bode ill for this tour. We have a three legged itinerary to Bilbao, with stopovers in New York (JFK) and Paris (DeGaulle). I've been feeling really good about this itinerary, as it includes about two hour layovers at both spots - long enough to leave room for normal flight delays, short enough to be efficient. The plan was to arrive in Bilbao at 10 AM, leaving us all day to assemble our bikes, arrange for shipping our suitcases to Sete, and revisit a bit of the city.

This didn't allow room for the six hour delay we experienced at JFK though. After the plane was fully loaded and preparing for departure, the pilot announced that there would be a slight delay, of perhaps fifteen minutes or so. Over the next five hours we received a number of status updates and explanations. There was a problem with the flight management system, and they eventually had to acquire and install a complete replacement.

It was all quite stressful for us and everyone else on board. It wasn't clear that we would be leaving until about fifteen minutes for departure, and some passengers deplaned and planned to just catch another flight. Our seat mate, Nancy, was distrustful of the plane and strongly inclined to leave it. We, along with her partner, convinced her to stay; and for the whole flight I felt a nagging guilt about it. I planned out my apologies to her if the plane ended up going down over the ocean.

Finally, about 11:30 at night we departed (after having boarded about 5:30). The rest of the flight went smoothly and we arrived in Paris at noon, only five hours late. The airlines did the best they could, and had already booked us for the next flight to Bilbao - it leaves at 4. With luck, everything still pencils out - assuming our bikes arrive and we don't have issues with shipping our suitcases, we should still be fine with tomorrow's ride. It's a short one, to Urkiola, so we can afford to wait until midday to start biking. Hope for the best.

On the plus side, we had a very interesting and engaging visit with Nancy that we probably would have missed otherwise. I'm usually pretty reserved on flights, but the stressful situation broke down some barriers. Nancy leads a life I've fantasized a bit about myself, living with her partner for half of the year in the States and the other half in their second home in Normandy. She makes it sound very tempting.

Good so far - we arrived at the PDX airport with all of our luggage, and in plenty of time for our departure. It's a good thing we arrived two hours early though - it was surprising how long the lines were at 5 in the morning.

On the tarmac, JFK. Folks are getting restless and anxious already, and we've only been waiting about a half hour at this point.

In Paris, whiling away a few hours until our rebooked flight to Bilbao departs. We're very tired, but as happy as can be expected under the circumstances. It was a great relief to find that we'll still be getting to Bilbao today (with luck); and we're looking forward to redeeming the 15 euro lunch vouchers they granted us as compensation.

So the 'free lunch' at the airport was none too exciting, but it served its purpose. Anything any good would have been wasted on us anyway, groggy as we both were. An hour later we were boarding the small jet to Bilbao, and by six we were at our hotel checking in for the night. So far, all indications are that we've arrived with all the essentials, so the trip is on.

Flying in, we got good views to the south: green and rugged for as far as we could see, and very beautiful. In the distance Is a large trough that must be the Duero valley; and beyond that rises the Sierra Demanda range.

After checking in, I assembled the bikes without incident, while Rachael spent a frustrating and ultimately futile two hours trying to place an order with UPS to pick up our suitcases tomorrow morning. We'll have to sleep on the suitcase problem and think about it again in the morning. First though, I had just enough energy to step outside the door of our hotel (the Bilbao Plaza, right on the river about half a mile from the Guggenheim; nice place, reasonably priced) and look at the riverfront. Awesome.

The elegant, aerodynamic Bilbao airport. It is beautiful when we arrive - hard to believe that the forecast for tomorrow morning is for light rain.

Seeing the Zubizuri Bridge again is almost reason enough to have come back to Bilbao.

Th Zubizuri Bridge is stunning from every angle.

This is the second time we've seen the Bilbao Guggenheim now. Doesn't look like we're destined to see the inside this time either.

Maman, the gigantic bronze statue of a spider on the grounds of the Guggenheim. Interestingly, the sculptor, Louise Bourgouis, deccribes it as a tribute to his beloved mother, who was a weaver.

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