I am back from Barcelona, currently recovering from a pretty bad flu and fever. In all, I had a great time attending the conference and visiting the city. Hopefully I can bring the whole family there some day. It’s a truly wonderful place.

I spent most of day 4 and 5 attending sessions, socializing with attendees and speakers, and just trying to have fun in general. It was great seeing my Swedish friend Chris Hedgate, his buddy and pair-programming partner Andrés Taylor. Congratulations to Chris and family on becoming parents soon!!!

It was also nice talking with Randy Dyess, Wayne Snyder, Kevin Kline, Marin Mamić, Rick Heiges, Rushabh Mehta, James Luetkehoelter, Tom LaRock, Greg Low, Bill Wunder, Bart Duncan, Joe Webb, Bill Graziano, Reed Jacobson, Haydn Richardson, and fellow co-author Darren Green, and a few others whose name I couldn’t remember at the moment. I have good excuse, though. The flu and fever knocked me out real good. Anyway, in my view, networking and learning from others is the biggest benefit of the conference, followed by attending sessions.

Marin suggested, an excellent idea I might add, we go to town Wednesday night and watch the football match between Barcelona and Chelsea in a bar/restaurant. We had a great time, although the main dish left a lot to be desired. I hadn’t seen a real football match (according to the rest of the world) in years, ever since I came to the US in 1995, so that was a nice change.

Thursday evening we went to Port Olimpic for dinner. The food was much better. Chris has been to Barcelona before. I was totally impressed by his accurate memory of places he’s been to. There are many restaurants in Port Olimpic. In front of each one, there is usually one person trying to talk you into eating at his/her place. That actually reminded me of restaurants in southern China during my travel to my university town, because the same practice was used.

Friday evening we saw a beautiful water show in front of the Museum of Contemporary Art. We then had pizza for dinner. The pizza looked and tasted the same as American pizza.

On Saturday Marin and I did a walking tour of the city. We took the Metro so we could get close to Parc Güell. From there we pretty much walked the whole day around the city. We walked to Sagrada Família, Casa Milà, La Rambla, the Cathedral, and finally back to the hotel. It was a great day. I assure you, you couldn’t find a better tour companion than the one and only Marin Mamić. We had a great time together, talking and learning from each other. We also had a memorable snack/lunch.

Water show in front of Contemporary Art Museum, Friday evening

As hilly as San Fransisco? I’ve never been there.

A nice house behind Parc Guell

The famous bench in Parc Guell

Inside Parc Guell

The famous lizard/iguana. It’s hard to take a good shot because there are usually a lot of people here.

Old and small BMW

A carnivore’s heaven

Our tapa lunch. Not sure what kind of bird it is (quail, pigeon?), but it sure is delicious.

Our tapa lunch. Yummy.

Outside of Casa Mila

I guess bidet must be common in Spain. Inside one exhibit room in Casa Mila.

Interesting sculptures on top of Casa Mila.

The Gate of Triumph (I still have trouble pronouncing the word, after living in the US for so long.)

IKEA on the way to Barcelona airport