More tourism in Barcelona: Transbordador Aeri

This week I took the Transbordador Aeri, a cable car that goes across the port area, from Barceloneta to Montjuic. This is something we didn't do on our family trip here a couple of years ago. The views were great! Below you can see one of the towers in the distance and one of the cars. Then I hiked back to the station through Ravel, got home and soaked my foot in cold water - it was a bit too far of a walk for it. I forgot my camera so these are pictures taken with my iPod - not bad resolution, actually.

If you are going to do this, I would suggest doing it in the other direction: hike up to the Miramar lookout on Montjuic (there was a restaurant there with a great view) and do the route to Barceloneta. The waiting lines were much shorter that direction (in the afternoon in late October...). 

Possibly the greatest CD playlist ever

I amuse myself putting together playlists in iTunes that can be burned onto a regular CD, so with duration of about 75 minutes. Of course, being away from home with no family or work administrative duties, I have a lot of time for this kind of thing. This week I came up with an especially good one.

I (not me personally) was on drugs when I wrote this song CD:

1. Lucy in the sky with diamonds, the Beatles
2. Can't get it out of my head, ELO
3. Lucid dreams, Franz Ferdinand
4. Rest my chemistry, Interpol
5. In-a-gadda-da-vida, Iron Butterfly
6. Purple haze, Jimmy Hendrix
7. The dreaming, Kate Bush
8. The court of the crimson king, King Crimson
9. Snowblind, Black Sabbath
10. Julia dream, Pink Floyd
11. Mad surfer, Asai Kenichi
12. Bohemian rhapsody, Queen
13. Sister sleep, Rasuputina
14. Bang a gong (get it on), T. Rex
15. Space oddity, David Bowie
16. White Room, Cream 

There were so many songs that could have made the cut, I have a longer, non-CD sized playlist full of other wonders. 

Other playlists I am working on are "Inspiring CD", "Songs from Someone's Youth CD" (well, my youth) and possibly another great one, "Gaming Songs CD". 

What am I doing in Barcelona in Fall, 2011?

Well, I am still on sabbatical leave and for October and November I am visiting Barcelona. I am actually in the suburbs at the Universita Autonoma Barcelona, at the CRM (a math institute) here: http://www.crm.es/. My host here is Tim Myers, who is an expert in thin film flows with phase change. He has had many collaborative projects with Industry. I have picked up a couple of things working with his group: 2D computational modelling of freezing in micro channels and models of solidification into undercooled liquids.

Barcelona is a pretty exciting place. We were here on a Summer family trip a couple of years ago. We saw many of the sights then, some of which I feel like I need to revisit. I wrecked my foot somehow before I came, so my mobility is somewhat limited, but I am still trying to be a tourist at least once a week. Today, I revisited la Pedrera, an apartment building designed by Gaudi. Some pictures below: