Yesterday we went shopping, the lure of a boutique which stocks Issey Miyake proving too much for Susie. Though I must admit to joining in too and we are both now assured of having designer clothes for Tiffany and Amir’s wedding in July. Persuade , which we visited last year is one of the nicest places to be relieved of your pension and to be reaquainted with Andrea was a pleasure.

In the evening we dined at Porrue , which we’d called in to the night before and were so impressed we booked for the following night. Inventive and delicious food, with a touch of theatrics, a friendly and welcoming staff and a warm atmosphere. We decided to go along again on Saturday..

Then today began with rain and a cold wind. Spain, this is not what we expect!! Luckily, having the car allowed us to be prepared and we’d brought along some additional English outer wear. Entry to the Guggenheim was prebooked for 11am and we hopped on the tram for one stop and hurried into the museum along with a large group of French school children. We really enjoyed the Guggenheim last year and were a little underwhelmed this time. It seemed empty without the huge installations from last October and the featured exhibitions were mostly not to our liking..there are only so many still life paintings of the same rearranged pots and vases you can see before your eyes glaze over. I dubbed him the ‘Tupperware Painter’. We did find Jenny Holzer to be interesting, if challenging. She’s one angry woman going by her body of work. It was interesting to see large metallised reproductions of the Meuller report, complete with redactions.

We love the building, that’s without doubt. Every twist and turn reveals a new aspect and we found part of the atrium which reminded us of another Ghery building, The Dancing Towers in Prague.

Despite our lessened enthusiasm we found that over two hours had elapsed and we naturally went in search of sustanance. We couldn’t get in to the Guggenheim Bistro last year, but we were much luckier today, and the charming manager found us a table quite quickly. We were blown away by the food, the service and the lovely atmosphere. It’s really quite exceptional value as well. It’s on our list for next time…

The rain had eased when (slightly more rotund than some hours before) we exited the museum. It was still cold and blustery so, with a slight diversion to purchase snacks for this evening we were pleased to come back to our snug hotel room…More culture tomorrow, hopefully with some sunshine…