The Museo Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain

Bilbao

, Spain —

Sunday night, along the river that runs through Bilbao, young children scooter and run and are carried on the shoulders of their parents.

As a mother, the first thought is what are these children doing out so late?

But as I walk along the pedestrian bridge that skirts the river and gives the most glorious view of the Frank Gehry-designed Museo Guggenheim Bilbao, I realize that although it is indeed late – I’m not in Memphis anymore, Toto.

Europeans don’t follow what we in the States consider standard dining hours. In Spain, lunch is taken at 3-ish, dinner rarely earlier than 9:00 p.m. It’s the continental way of life, and frankly it’s pretty damn charming.

In this cultural capital of northern Spain’s Basque country, there’s no rush to go home. Every café, every coffee shop, every vinoteca is filled with patrons, the sidewalks are filled with families and strolling couples, and wedding parties are having their formal portraits taken with the Guggenheim as the backdrop.

And why would there be a rush to return home, when the backdrop is a river that glistens with the lights of the city, a river that runs by one of the world’s most architecturally fascinating buildings?

The Bilbao Guggenheim – part of the Guggenheim in New York – is a gleaming testament to a city that did not give up when faced with an economic crisis. When shipbuilding and other industries hit a slump in the 70s into the 80s, Bilbao’s leaders – both from the regional Spanish government and the autonomous Basque government – knew something had to be done.

One of the Guggenheim

I’m a bit sketchy on the details, but the end result was that Bilbao bid for the Spanish version of the Guggenheim and won it; Gehry was engaged to create a structure which not only celebrated modern art but would also become an icon for all of Spain.

Bilbao could have been a victim of an economic downturn, could have become a ghost town as many cities do when the main industry pulls out or severely downsizes. But Bilbao pulses with life, thanks to the vision of its leaders.

One can’t help but draw a parallel between Memphis and Bilbao, wonder what our city and our leaders will do with our icons – the river, the Pyramid. I fear that Memphis is not as visionary a city as Bilbao, and depends much too strongly for our vision to come from a few men who have frankly defined our city in so many ways – including Pitt Hyde and Fred Smith. But we can’t keep running to those men to solve our problems, create our solutions and fund our visions. We must, as a community, do something on a grander scale as a united citizenry, and – to paraphrase Ghandi - be the catalyst for the change we want to see.