Monday, October 11, 2010

Barcelona


I was in Barcelona all last week for a Bluetooth conference. It was a nice break from the cold weather in Trondheim but now it's back to 8C and a bit of drizzle for the next month. Barcelona is a great city, there are lots of things to see there, unfortunately we didn't have so much time for sightseeing as we had to work during the day until around 5 or 6 pm. We did get downtown in the evenings and on Friday afternoon we had some free time so we went to the Sagrada Família church and to the Park Güell. My friend Bjørn Tore got his wallet stolen on the metro on the way to the church, that sucked. The pickpockets are rampant on the subway there so if you go there keep your hand on your wallet! They will pick out people on the subway and then when it stops and everyone pushes up to the door they will grab your wallet and take off. I talked to another guy on the way to the park who also had his taken the day before. He chased after the guy screaming POLICE! until the guy got scared and threw his wallet back to him (minus all the cash). Other than that I thought it was great there, the food is good and not that expensive, there are tons of stores to shop in and lots of nice architecture and public art to see. I recommend avoiding most of the restaurants along La Ramble ( the main sort of tourist shopping street ). The places along the side streets are cheaper with much better service. The Sagrada Famila you pretty much have to see at least once in your life to discover what happens when people spend more than 100 years working to the design of an architect who must have been slightly touched in the head. It's awesome in a sort of head-scratching way.
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