Barcelona and home

On Saturday morning I caught the bus to the train station, where I caught the Ave high speed train to Barcelona. The highest speed that I saw was 299 km/hr, or 185 mph. My friend Francesc picked me up at the Sants station in Barcelona.

He showed me his architecture office and some of his work. Francesc and Merce live and work in the same building. We watched one of his two sons play hocky on skates. We walked over to the traditional market to shop for pasta and vegetables, and had a nice lunch at their house. 

Barcelona was in the cup of Europe, their Super Bowl, so the team colors are everywhere. We watched the game on TV. Barcelona beat Turin. Every time the team scored you could hear the excitement coming in the window. The streets were celebrating, again like the Super Bowl. 

It is hot here, and they don't have air conditioning. It cools down some at night, but not as much as Colorado. 

We slept in, after staying up late for the game. After breakfast we drove a hour or so north to Calella de Palafrugell, where the family has a condo.  This is near the Costa Brava. 

Monday was a normal work and school day for them, so I went on a walk through the old city and newer areas. 

Of course, Las Ramblas is well known to tourists. My friends complain about the tourists, and I can see why. Not that they are bad, but they seem to be everywhere. In many places I think that they outnumber the locals. 

And how could I produce a blog post on Barcelona without mentioning Gaudi?  This is his apartment building. 

I did visit the contemporary art museum. There were some interesting pieces, including a collection of models and samples from one sculptor. There were also two interesting videos from Arab artists, both with political aspects. 

Tuesday Morning, I said bye to Francesc and Merce. Francesc took me to Plaza Cataluna, where I caught the bus to the airport. I arrived in plenty of time, and the United flight was on time. 

However congestion at Newark meant that we took the long way, as you can see in the map. 

The Newark airport has pay phones everywhere, but with stickers on them saying that they no longer offer that service. They claim to have 30 minutes of free Wifi; however, I found the hoops that I had to jump through for free Wifi impossible to get through, probably by design.  I had a long layover in Newark. I did have a nice chat in the food court with a Boeing manufacturing engineer who knew southern France and northern Spain very well.

The flight was overbooked, and I volunteered to be bumped, but I ultimately got on.  I was very tired by the time I got to Denver, but I took the bus to Boulder and walked home.   The cats were glad to see me.

It will take some time to digest the trip, I think.

Zaragoza

On Thursday, Blanca gave me a ride to the train station in Vitoria. I took the Aliva train to Zaragoza, top speed 160 km/hr or 100 mph.  This is their semi-fast train.  I arrived at the train station in Zaragoza, and took the bus to the Ibis hotel, across the river from the Basilica of our Lady of Pilar. I walked around some after the sun got lower in the sky, watched the light change on the Pilar church.

On Friday, I visited Our Lady of Pilar Basilica, the Seo Cathedral, the tapestry museum, the tower for a view of the city, the Roman theatre, the Roman Forum, the Roman port, and the Aljaferia palace. I may have overdone it a bit. ;-)

The Roman theatre was perhaps the most impressive thing that I saw. I had not realized that the Romans had a big presence in Spain.  In Roman days the town was called Caesaragusta, surprisingly enough. 

The Muslims also controlled this area for hundreds of years; the palace is evidence of that, as well as some of the tilework in the churches. 

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Warning: Geek section. The photo compares Ronan cement with modern cement; there is not much diference. 

Also, they have lead pipes that they excavated out of the site, part of the water system which the Romans are known for. It took Western civiluzation more than 1000 years to catch up with Roman technology. 

Vitoria and Bilbao

I took the bus from Estella to Vitoria, and Blanca picked me up at the bus station. She grew up in Vitoria, and worked there, so she knows the city well.

Vitoria was a walled city built on a hill. It is the government center for Avala, part of the Basque autonomous region. 

We walked around the city center extensively. We started with a hard hat tour of the Cathedral, which has been under reconstruction for many years. It was not built in the best way to start with, and modifications did not help. Columns are  leaning, arches are obviously distorted, and this is after a lot of work. We started in the basement, and got as high as the upper walkway, well above the floor of the church. 

Vitoria is known as a green city, because of its many parks; we had lunch in one of the parks. 

We visited the modern art museum, but were not too impressed. They did have a Richard Serra work outside. 

We had dinner with her sister at her house in Elosu, a village of 100 people and 800 cows. It was pleasantly rural, near a lake. 

On Wednesday we headed for Bilbao, and the Guggenheim.  This involved a steep and twisty mountain road. 

The Guggenheim building was a Geary design, like the Denver art museum. 

The amazing thing was a huge hall, with a series of large works by Richard Serra. We could walk inside the pieces, and understand the pieces from the inside out. There was a lengthy explanatory video. I am not sure that I have ever seen any modern artworks which were as impressive. 

After that we headed for the Vizcaya transporter bridge, a UNESCO world heritage site, and one of only a handful of these bridges ever built. We walked across the top, and rode back in the car, suspended by cables from a carriage above. Blanca had ridden the bridge many times, but had not been on the overhead walkway, which was relatively new. My friend Mike is a big fan of these bridges, but had not ridden this one. ;-)