Days 22-25: 20th European Literacy Conference

This is really a great conference.  

Went to lots of good sessions and met some new people who are doing really interesting work.  Also, there was a lot of entertainment at the conference.  The conference dinner had great tapas and a wonderful flamenco show.

At the end of each day of the conference there was also some type of performance.

My presentation went well.  Really glad I participated.

Day 21: Barcelona to Madrid

We took the high-speed train from Barcelona to Madrid—two hours and 45 minutes.  Very comfortable.  The views were nice from the train.

We saw signs of lots of sustainable energy.

In the afternoon we took the metro to the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, where my conference will start tomorrow.  I now can get there easily from our hotel.  I stayed in the hotel 13 years ago.  It's still nice.  We have a balcony overlooking the plaza.

The blog will stop for the time I’m at the conference.

Day 20: Last Day in Barcelona—The Gothic District

We spent today wandering the old town of Barcelona.  We went to the Quatro Gats café, where Picasso designed the menu and also held his first art show.

We slipped out of the Gothic district for a bit to go to the Catarina Market.  It had lots of restaurants.

This shop had 33 different varieties of olives.

There was a Jewish Quarter and the main synagogue that some historian found by looking back at tax records.  The building dates from the 3^rd century.  This is the synagogue door. 

We visited on Saturday so couldn’t go inside.  There wouldn’t be anything original in there anyway because of the pogrom in 1391 and the expelling of all Jews in 1492.

We even found the remains of an old Roman Temple.

There was so much to see.

As we walked back to our hotel in the evening we saw an Asian inspired building that we had never noticed—On Ramba street.

We ended our time in Barcelona with a trip back to the Palau de Musica to see a show with four guitarists.  Nice ending for a vibrant city.

Day 19 Barcelona: Passig de Gracia

This is the street is where the city expanded and major architects remodeled existing apartment buildings into masterpieces.

 I love the street lamps/benches.  Very modernista.

Our first stop was in an over-the-top Barcelona futbol shop.  It was actually really fun.

Here are some of the wonderful buildings.

I finally understood Gaudi when we visited La Pedrera.  Aside from the amazing ironwork and statues on the roof, I learned a ton from the exhibit that explained how he used animal skeletons and natural arches to inform his building.

The views on top were spectacular.

Steve spotted a roof-top restaurant across the street which had great views of both La Pedrera and the Sagrada Famlia.  What a treat eating good food and looking at both of these masterpieces.

It’s pretty clear, the best way to view Sagrada Familia is from a distance.  It’s just too tall and too mammoth to view from its site.

We went into a huge Nespresso store that had pods made for Barcelona.  That was surprising.