Barcelona

Together with Giovanni and Alessio, I made a quick (2 day, 1 night) visit to Barcelona for a project meeting. Although we went straight from the airport to meetings, and spent most of the time indoors, we did get a chance for a walk around before our flight out on Friday.







Barcelona is in Spain, but don't assume they speak Spanish. In fact, by local reckoning, “Spanish” is a language spoken in Latin America. In Spain, the main languages are Castillian, Catalan, and Basque. People in Barcelona can speak Castillian, the language of Madrid, but their language is Catalan. This airport sign is bilingual. One sees both languages on signs around town, but signs by and for the locals are mainly in Catalan.



We stopped at a market so Giovanni could buy some jambon to bring back to friends. The good Spanish jambon is eaten thinly sliced, like prosciutto crudo. The flavor is a bit more robust and maybe a bit saltier. Both are wonderful, but distinct.



Then we walked up to Parque Güell, which features several sculptures/buildings/whims by Gaudi. Although rain threatened and then briefly made good on the threat, we managed to get back to the hotel without getting soaked.

Haifa, Israel

I spent last week in Haifa, Israel for a research project kickoff meeting at the IBM labs there.





One of the first things you notice in Israel is a lot of young people with guns. They are doing their compulsory military service, and so of course they're in uniform, but basically they are young people with guns. Often bored, often talking on cell phones, looking like they don't sleep enough, and carrying around big guns. Maybe you get used to it after a while, like you get used to being looked over by guards when you enter a supermarket, or wanded at the entry to a mall.




As many of you know, I'm interested in different ways of preparing coffee. This is one I hadn't encountered before: Spoon grounds into cup, optionally add sugar, and poor hot water over them. It's obviously a variant on the middle eastern / Mediterranean preparation (often referred to as “Turkish” coffee) in an ibrik, adapted to cafeteria dining. Not bad, actually.




We toured the German colony, which borders the Bahai gardens. I knew a little about Bahai, but didn't know about the garden where the Báb's bones are buried. The picture doesn't do it justice.





My favorite food by far was at this little hummous joint about a block from the hotel. I ate dinner here Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, missing only Wednesday when the whole meeting group went out for steak. Hummous with mushrooms; hummous with Egyption beans; humous with grilled or baked eggplant. Wonderful hummous. I already liked hummous, but this was way better than what I've had before, and now I want to experiment in the kitchen to see how close I can come to that smooth texture and those flavors.