More Barcelona snapshots

Here are a few more snapshots — click to enlarge. Many have problems (stray body parts in the frame, bad lighting, etc), but they include a few details and viewpoints that were omitted from my earlier selection. The panorama taken from Parque Güele was stitched together in Photoshop.

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.

Airolo

Sunday, June 1, I rode from Lugano to Airolo and back. This is roughly the same route I took three weeks ago, but instead of turning around at Fiesso I continued on to Airolo, at the base of the San Gottardo pass. San Gottardo is also know as the Gothard pass. It divides German-speaking Switzerland from Italian-speaking Switzerland, and is also a continental divide with respect to rivers; to the north of San Gottardo they drain to the Atlantic, to the south they drain to the Mediterranean.







Gottardo is a prime example of the Swiss penchant for going through mountains instead of over them ... there is a 17km tunnel in operation, and the tunnel currently under construction will be 57km long, the world's longest. Meanwhile, the older highway snaking up and over the pass still exists. Across the valley on stilts is also an option for the freeway ... this bridge connects directly to a tunnel. I shot it from the older highway snaking along under it and then up and around the side of the mountain that the freeway pops through.

While planning this ride last week I briefly entertained the idea of trying to climb the pass, but when I looked at the altitude gain it became clear that I'd never make it up and back in a day, if I made it up at all. And by the time I got to Airolo, it was clear to me that there was no way I'd make it up. I was thoroughly cooked. I stopped for a coffee and an ice cream cone and started back.







There are a handful of older Swiss-style buildings along the way. Most building is in the modern Italian style, although there are still lots of older stone buildings as well.




I don't snap a lot of photos when I ride, because photos require stopping. Besides, there is really no way for static snapshots to convey what I see out on the road. Maybe in a few years when helmet-mounted video cams are cheap and high resolution, it could make sense to try to capture a ride that way, but I'm not sure even that would do it. Anyway, it was a fantastic ride.

Physically it was right at my limits. I made it home fine, but I was really crawling up Monte Ceneri (below 4mph at times). A knee was bothering me a bit, so I took some Advil as an anti-inflammatory (not so much for pain as to prevent injury) and was extra careful with it on the way home. Upper and lower back and neck pain got pretty bad at points, but were helped by stopping to stretch ... basically my body was telling me that I was not trained up for this length and intensity of ride, with just 50 miles the previous week and none the week before that. My back is fine today (the day after), my knee is a little tender but will be fine with a couple days of rest.

Stats: 200km (125 miles), from 8:19am to a little before 7pm, with 9 hours 34 minutes moving time (which means about an hour or so of time stopped to eat, stretch, etc). 6544 feet of climbing, with the lowest point being 708feet in the plain of Bellinzona (below my starting point of 970 feet in Lugano) and the highest point being 3877 feet near Airolo.

Giro up close

Cyclists know what the Giro is. For everyone else: The Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy) is the second most famous bicycle race in the world, after Tour de France. Like the Tour, the Giro is a stage race, consisting of a series of one-day races which together make something like a grand tour of a region. And like the Tour, the Giro isn't always confined to its home country. Last year the Tour began in Britain. This year the Giro had one stage that started in Italy and ended in Switzerland, and another that starts in Switzerland and ends in Italy. The Italy-to-Switzerland stage was today, and it went right through Lugano.

Being a master of organization, of course I was scheduled to give a public lecture not only on the day the Giro came through Switzerland, but in fact at the very time it was scheduled to pass through Lugano. After some cajoling by graduate students I asked to postpone my seminar by half an hour, and a small group of us made an expedition to a particular roundabout that was close (10-15 minute walk) and seemed like a good viewpoint.

Some minutes before the cyclists reached our viewpoint, a van selling souvenirs drove through. A recorded voice exclaimed, in Italian, what a wonderful deal it was to get a souvenir T-shirt for just 10 Euros, or a bandana for 3. I actually approached the van, but heard the driver telling another prospective customer that the prices were in Euros and he would only accept Euros; Swiss Franks were not accepted at any exchange rate. Just as well, probably.

The street was edged with a curb of two or three inches to the sidewalk, which formed a corner at the exit of the roundabout where we were stationed. A policeman told us to stand back, because the cyclists would go over that section of sidewalk. We obeyed, but I knew he must be mistaken because there was no way you'd want to hit that curb at high speed. It would surely break rims or at least spokes.

I was wrong ... the cyclists did indeed pass over that corner of the sidewalk. Most did an elegant little bunny hop (at about 30mph) to just clear the lip. A few didn't quite hop it but still cushioned the blow a bit. I was very surprised, and impressed at the skill and quick judgment.

As expected, the opportunity to actually see the riders was short. The first group of three (the "break") passed, and then a couple minutes later the main group passed, and it was just a few seconds for each. After that quite a convoy of team and other support vehicles passed. I might have stretched that time out a bit if I had ridden out to the Monte Ceneri pass to watch them go up the hill. As it happens, that is part of my regular weekend route to Bellinzona, and it would have been fun to watch these top professionals riding the same rode I have ridden many times. But it was fun anyway to see a top professional race, and it was a good return on an investment of only about an hour and a half all together, counting the walk to and and from and time waiting.

Wet ride

It's monsoon season ... the weather report calls for rain pretty much every day. It doesn't always rain, actually, but it always threatens and sometimes delivers. So my choice was to miss another weekend of cycling, or take my chances. Since likelihood of rain was given as 30% Saturday (with a range of predictions, but most saying there would be a few showers) and 100% today (Sunday), it made sense to give it a shot yesterday.

On the way to Bellinzona I encountered only sprinkles, though I was pretty sure I would get more as I pedaled into the cloud hanging over Monte Ceneri. Pavement was damp but not wet. I pedaled up to Castello di Sasso Corbaro again, and it went well, but I decided against going to Ascona (near Locarno) and just headed home again instead. By the time I got up to the top of Monte Ceneri again it was drizzle turning into real rain, with small drops but coming down steadily. I switched from my open-back, sleeveless windbreaker into my light rain jacket (and was awfully glad I brought it) on the way down. From then on it varied between light drizzle and light rain, with pavement varying from damp to downright wet.

I was a little nervous about the short, steep pavé section near Mezzovico (stones, not paving bricks). I expected they could be quite slick when moist. I took it very slow and didn't have a problem. I did feel a couple of wheel slips earlier in the day, when crossing a wet manhole cover and on some paint, but had no serious problems. I definitely wasn't pushing speed on the level and downhill sections.

52 miles overall, and the 3 mile segment of Monte Ceneri that I check time on was 24:48, which I'm happy with. Overall it's only about half the ride I had two weeks ago, but it was sure better than going another week without a ride.

Special delivery

It seems like this can't be a very economical way to move construction materials. The helicopter made two trips, and seemed to be moving windows just from a parking lot to the other side of the apartment building.

ICSE in Leipzig

The International Conference on Software Engineering was held in Leipzig, Germany. I went Tuesday (catching the 5am shuttle to Malpensa) and returned Saturday.

One evening we attended a concert at the Gewandhaus.

I flew to and from Berlin, and used the train system to get to Leipzig.