American tourists enter Frank Gehry's amazing and continually surprising building.
The Bilbao Guggenheim is a stunning complement to Frank Lloyd Wright's creation
in New York. I can't forgive Gehry for his hideous Experience Music Project
junkpile here in Seattle (although it does, admittedly, reflect the ugliness
of owner Paul Allen's ego), but his work in Bilbao is truly a treasure. Interestingly,
the $120 million museum was offered to just about every city in Spain before
it landed here. It seems the Guggenheim folk didn't care for the industrial
atmosphere of Bilbao's riverfront. Fortunately for the Basque, everyone else
turned down the offer.
