Boulevard Lascrosses
June 4, 2015 in France ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
The view from the patio at dinner.
Airbus museum
June 5, 2015 in France ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
Nice museum, but I suspect it was just a holding area for us while our passports were checked against a database. We had to turn them in for the duration of the museum visit before being givenRead more
Traveler
Me and my roommate Dan. He's a turbine engineer at Honeywell so he might even have been more interested in this stuff than me. Many of his company's products are in the A380 that we're going to see.
Tell Airbus that the entertainment systems on their USAirways/American A330s suck. The user interface is abysmal, the screen rarely registers a touch, and it's not fair that ours didn't work but the guys' across the aisle did. Wah, first world problems. Pal
Airbus A380 Final Assembly Center
June 5, 2015 in France ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C
Final assembly and testing center for the A380. No pictures allowed and access was tightly controlled. Pretty amazing to see.
Carcassonne canal cruise
June 6, 2015 in France ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
Carcassonne, Languedoc-Roussillon
June 6, 2015 in France ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
The immense castle & town of Carcassonne. A little touristy but the castle and town inside the old city walls were cool. Huge- our guide said the city walls were 5 km long with over 50 towers.
Toulouse
June 6, 2015 in France ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C
Barcelona
June 7, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C
Arrival in Barcelona after 5.5 hours on the bus
Hotel Yurrban
June 7, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
Rooftop pool, lounge, and bar. The view's not bad...
FC Barcelona Victory Parade
June 7, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
Crowds are out lining the parade route to celebrate Barca's 3-1 Champions League victory over Juventus last night in Berlin
Montserrat
June 8, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
Train ride out of town to visit the cliffside abbey, cave of St. Mary, and the Black Madonna. The cable car was built in 1930...but it was the Germans, so we could trust it.
Barcelona bus tour
June 8, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C
Full-on tourist mode. Headphones and audio track in English. They seem to like some old architect named Gaudi here...the cathedral is La Sagrada Familia, it's a very famous Barcelona landmark forRead more
Camp Nou
June 8, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
Home of FC Barcelona and Messi. Some consider it the second-most famous cathedral in the city. It was awesome standing in the tunnel and then coming out on the pitch like the players do.
Casa Batlló
June 9, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C
One of Gaudi's masterpieces, designed in 1904, it was a renovation of an existing residence. It was hard to get good pictures but it was really nice- a very clever structural design and layout, evenRead more
Pronovias
June 10, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
Company visit...apparently they are a world famous maker of wedding dresses? I've never heard of them but the girls in the group are very excited.
La Rambla to the beach
June 10, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C
A nice walk down from the hotel to the beach, via the famous (infamous?) La Rambla. The beach was packed and the sand was rough and funky. Someone said it was all brought over from the African coast;Read more
Hotel rooftop
June 10, 2015 in Spain ⋅ 🌙 23 °C
Post-dinner session on the roof after another really tough day.
La Roca Village
June 11, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C
This was a company visit for a "luxury outlet shopping" operator. They have multiple villages around Europe and now in China. It looked like a fancy outdoor mall but it was all outlet. It's apparentlyRead more
Iberico Ham!!!!
June 11, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
Look it up...and if you're ever in Barcelona, find Cafe Alfonso. You won't regret it.
Final exam
June 12, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
I haven't handwritten that much in a long time. Apparently the norm over here is still basically the blue book, which I think is actually better at testing whether you can get your thoughts togetherRead more
Futbol
June 12, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
It's no surprise the Spanish are good at it. Here's the rooftop playground of a school that I can see from our hotel roof.
Sitges
June 12, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
One last group excursion before dinner tonight and departure tomorrow. Sitges is a very nice little beach town where we plan to eat lunch and sit in the sun for a while. My new friends think they'reRead more
Hotel Yurrban
June 12, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C
One last rooftop session before a birthday dinner and a long trip home tomorrow. Contemplating all I've learned here? It's a beautiful evening.
Barcelona airport
June 13, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
Heading home
Atlanta airport
June 13, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C
Back in the US after a 10 hour flight. 4.5 hours until the flight to Phoenix. Customs and immigration, luggage pickup and drop off, and the decision to walk from E terminal to A only wasted 1.5 ofRead more
You seem to be working hard....RB