Haven't blogged since I returned from Spain (via London and DC). I blame the bad cold/mild fever I caught on my last day in Barcelona. Thanks to Janeite and Rupa for taking care of me in London. To wrap up the goings-ons of the trip: Saturday we went to Figueres (Salvador Dali museum) and then Girona (Roman ruins and Jewish museum), both of which were a Train ride from Barca. The Dali museum had some very inventive "art". For instance, you would look through this pair of reverse-binoculars and the room which you had been walking through all of a sudden turned into a face. Girona's Jewish museum had gravestones from the 13th Century and other ancient artifacts (e.g., Passover Haggadahs).
Sunday, we met up with the Utes and headed off to the beach. As with most beaches in Europe, the women were not nearly as modest as they are in the States. A fully naked guy was told to move to the nude beaches around the bend -- though there was some "disagreement" on that point. He managed to gain a few followers who also dropped trou in a display of civil liberties solidarity. Coincidentally, we later saw Naked Guy walking the streets of Barcelona in his usual outfit! No cops harassing him there though.
Then, one French head-butt later, Italy WON THE WORLD CUP, and the streets of Barca went nuts. A couple of flash mobs sparked in the vicinity of our hostel -- see pics for visuals, and note the guy who has climbed the lamppost. Obviously there were bigger celebrations in Italy (Elf traveled to Rome just in time for the parade the next day), but it was still a cool sight.
Monday, my rhinovirus and I traveled back to London, where Janeite, Rupa, and I swapped stories for the previous week before heading to the Royal Opera House for a performance of Turnadot. The plot outline promised riddles, but they weren't very good ones...though I guess the whole point of Opera is the music and singing. Both of those features were impressive, but to be honest, I wouldn't really know.
And now I'm back, working (and procrastinating) on projects before the methods conference in California (UC-Davis) at the end of this week.
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