Beatrix pottering: Museum amusement

We were woken by the rain. It was absolutely chucking it down, and continued relentlessly all morning. We were meeting Ben at lunchtime so had a quiet morning in the van, playing games. Then thankfully the rain stopped (or at least slowed) just as we headed out.

Our destination was the Maritime Museum. To be honest, I had slightly struggled to find a Jemima-friendly rainy day amusement in Bilbao that wasn't the Guggenheim (which we've already seen). I didn't have very high hopes for my eventual choice - but there weren't really any alternatives. But actually, it turned it to be rather good. We met Ben at the entrance, which was thronging with children - it happened to be holding some kind of fair trade event, and the kids were making things at a craft table in the foyer, for selling in aid of charity. Jemima and I got stuck in while Kevin bought the tickets, then Kevin duly "paid" €2 for the pleasure of taking her masterpiece home. Then into the museum proper. It combined serious charts and exhibits and models of shops with hilarious Playmobil scenes of Bilbao in bygone days (weirdly, every one including a drowning person) - Jemima loved them. And it also had a recreated barge to climb in, and Pirate Stations with various games for kids: throw the ball in the pirate's mouth, hook the fish with the rod. Us grown ups tried the knot tying, with varying degrees of success. But the best bit (for the grown ups) was a brilliant room with a huge model of Bilbao and big screens behind showing the history of the city. As the story developed, different parts of the model lit up - it was really clever. And the best bit for Jemima was another part of the event: a man was making huge bubbles outside, and there were places where we could do it too. We had to tear her away.

Off to lunch - we found a friendly local restaurant with (of course) a great menu del dia. Jemima fell asleep before we got there, so missed out, but the rest of us had fun. She also missed saying goodbye as we went our separate ways after lunch, Ben back to his hotel, and us back to Beatrix. She woke up when we arrived, and the first thing she said was, "where's Ben? I want to see Ben! I miss Ben!". Distraction in the form of food was effective, plus a promise to see him soon, and then we headed off to our last destination in Spain: Santander. Kevin found an Aire at the marina to do some motorhome servicing, then we moved on to a parking spot on a road with a view of the boats. A lovely family day; and our penultimate night in Beatrix. Our last proper day tomorrow. Bittersweet.

Museum fun: