I miss common courtesy

I miss it most days, but I particularly long for it when spending hours walking the floor of a massive trade show, such as the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, where I am now.  My mom brought me up to believe that when you're in a crowd, you have certain responsibilities, including to be aware of your surroundings, to be considerate of others in the crowd, to watch where you're going, to apologize when you bump into someone, and so on.

Either my mom was unusual in teaching these lessons, or the people at this trade show have decided the rules simply do not apply here.  People stop in the middle of busy walkways to stare at their phones.  They smash into you while staring at their phones or in conversation, and then they glare at you or curse at you.  Each person acts as if they are alone in the world, with their decisions having no effect on others.

As you might imagine, I hate this behavior.  At times, I get so frustrated that I have to find a wall to lean against for a short break in a tiny zone of personal space.

It strikes me that if we all were more considerate of others in every way, including these small ways, we might all be better off.

Renewing acquaintances

Mobile World Congress wrapped up today, so though I spent some time there, I also took advantage of being in Barcelona to renew a few acquaintances.

For lunch, I strolled through the Boqueria Market, a treat for anyone who likes food.

Click an image to see a larger version.

In the course of my brief tour of the market, I passed by the stand where Scott once bought more gummi products than I knew existed.

Across the street from the market is a place I did not visit, an "erotic museum."  The only aspect of it externally visible was rather more sad than erotic:  a woman tasked with the unenviable job of portraying Marilyn Monroe while standing on a balcony and entreating passersby to enter the shop.

I kept my distance and felt only sad for her.

From the profane I now take us to the sacred, one of my all-time favorite churches, Gaudi's Sagrada Familia.  The exterior is breathtaking and mesmerizing, weirder and yet more powerful the longer you study it.

They've finished a great deal more of it since I was last here, and supposedly they are on track to complete the construction by 2026.  I do hope to see it then, and I encourage you to visit it at any time.

The inside is grand, humbling, and holy, a feeling that I could not escape as I sat in the quiet area today and contemplated the things that are troubling me.

When I was finished in the cathedral, I indulged in further sentiment and stopped at Farggi, a shop across the street where Scott and I had grabbed a snack during our visit here.

Dinner gave me a chance to renew my acquaintance with the food of the Adria brothers, Alber and his far more famous brother, Ferran, at their Mexican restaurant, Nino Viejo.  The setting was amazingly informal,

but the food was as fantastic as you'd expect from these two.  My pork and pineapple taco, for example, tasted rich and tangy and was entirely delicious.

Tomorrow, I head to London.

Another MWC day

Get up.  Work.  Shower.  Grab lunch.  Cab to MWC.  Walk the show floor, talking to companies when possible.  Cab back to the hotel.  Work.  Walk somewhere for dinner.  Eat.  Walk back to the hotel.  Work.  Sleep.

That's my entire rhythm right now, days built around the show, whose last day is tomorrow.

I hope to break the rhythm tomorrow and see a bit of the city, ideally La Sagrada Familia, but we shall see what tomorrow brings.

I made it three days in Europe

without having gelato, but today my will caved, and I had a small cup after walking the Mobile World Congress show floor.

Wow, is that thing huge!  With eight halls, nine if you count halls 8.0 and 8.1 as separate, and about a quarter of a million attendees, this is by far the largest trade show I've ever attended.  I'm tweeting bits of the show via the PT Twitter feed, so head over there if you want to catch my take on it.

The six-hour time difference between here and home means I tend to work very late before going out for dinner, which fortunately works in Barcelona.  I was in the mood for pasta tonight, so I went walking up the street until I found a serviceable Italian restaurant.

I sat facing the front of the store and could see a bit of the entrance to the justly famous Boqueria market.

Click an image to see a larger version.

After a slightly too large Caesar salad, my rigatoni alla carbonara arrived.

Though it wasn't great, it was tasty, full of meat and warm sauce, and just the right thing on a cold Barcelona night.

I hope to get a bit more time this trip to see some of the city--beyond the conference, that is.

Sunday, sleepy Sunday

I finally fell asleep around two a.m. Barcelona time.  I got up in the mid-morning to try the hotel's breakfast, then slept until the early evening.  I clearly needed the rest.

After work and final unpacking and writing down expenses and so on, I showered and went walking in search of dinner.  Had I done this at ten-thirty local time in Raleigh, I would have been out of luck or seeking fast food.  In Barcelona, though, dinner is just getting into full swing at that hour.  I ended up at one of the restaurants on the square I can see from my hotel window, where I enjoyed jamon iberico and pan con tomate

Click an image for a larger version.

as starters (there's way less ham there than it appears, because they so thinly slice the meat) and a chicken paella as a main.

I ate all the ham, a third of the bread, and a third of the paella, but these were the smallest portions I could order.

Eating alone as a sixty-year-old man, I am practically invisible.  I thus was privy--whether I wanted to be or not--to intimate details from people at all the tables around me.  All spoke English, all were in town for Mobile World Congress (MWC, which is also the reason I am here), and all were discussing their various indiscretions or plans to commit indiscretions.  I was quite amazed at the amount of information people were willing to share, though I expect they also thought I did not speak English.

No one was discussing a fact that is likely to make all of our lives worse:  the metro and bus workers have chosen to strike during MWC.  Oh, boy.

MWC's effects have spread to my small hotel, where the bandwidth has gone from quite good as hotels go (yesterday) to positively painful (this evening).  I have no real choices here, but wow is my hotel overloaded.

Taking a brief stroll on La Rambla after dinner, I couldn't help but recall the night when Scott and I walked its length and then walked, at my insistence, all the way back to our hotel.  The journey proved to be way longer than I had thought, and we spent much of it joking about how long it was taking, even as we were both suffering a bit.  I worried that I never gave Scott enough time or enough love, and that now I won't have the chance to make it up to him--can we really ever make up anything to anyone?--and so I fell into a bit of melancholy.  I love my son very much, and I do miss him.  I hope we get the chance for many more good times together.

It's going on two a.m. here, so it's time for more sleep.  Tomorrow, I do work email and hit the show floor!

Heading out soon

Saturday morning, I begin a three-week trip to some interesting places and events.

First up is TED in Vancouver.  If you don't know about TED, you need to; check out its site and the amazing talks on it.  I've gone to a satellite show, TEDActive, for many years, but this marks my first time at the main event.  I'm quite excited to be going, and I expect to have a mind-blowing time there.

From Vancouver, I head to a very different type of show, Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.  Barcelona is a fantastic city that I first visited with Scott, and I'm looking forward to seeing it again.  The show itself promises to be interesting, educational, and tiring--it's rather large.  I do love tech gadgets, though, so it should be fun.

I then jump over to London, where I plan to spend a week doing, well, whatever looks good.  I'm probably going to eat at a few fantastic places, take in some great live theater, renew my love affair with Pre-Raphaelite art at the Tate, visit other museums, and generally enjoy one of the world's greatest cities.

If you're going to be in any of these places at the same time and want to get together, drop me a note, and maybe we can work it out.  I'm certainly up for unexpected adventure of the fun kind (as opposed to, oh, losing my baggage).

Three weeks is a long time on the road, and a long time away from home, but I'm still excited at all that's ahead of me.