Another museum

Just down the hill from the botanical garden is the Museu Olímpic i de l'Esport Joan Antoni Samaranch (Olympic and Sports Museum).  Two of us decided to visit after putting the kids on two different buses as they headed on their own way.

I had always thought of the former president of the International Olympic Committee Juan Antonio Samaranch, which is also the way his name is written in his obituary, but the museum lists his name in Catalan, Joan Antoni Samaranch. After a bit of looking, this is the only place I see his name written this way.  He was born and he died in Barcelona, but Catalan was not the language of the land most of the time he lived there. I guess the locals want to claim him (even though he worked for Franco, although D. points out that all old people worked for him, otherwise they wouldn't get to be old people).

The format of the museum was started with an historical focus, but it was also by sport, partially based on what pieces the museum owns. Despite the mildly random feel to it, I enjoyed the variety. I never knew roller hockey was so big in Spain.

"Mia Hamm
(United States), best football player in history"

Suit used by synchronized team in honor of the centennial of Salvador Dali's birth.

World Aquatics Championships 2013 in Barcelona
Orland Duque on the 27-meter platform

Braille was on the medals for the first time for 1992 Paralympics.

One of our favorite displays showed the different Olympic torches.

Sydney 2000

Los Angeles 1984

The collection of mascots made me think of my younger sister.

The pin collection made me think of my dad. I think my younger sister collects these, too.

The enormous stamp collection made me think of my mom and her older sister.

JA Samaranch had a lot of collections, including buckeyes!
Shown is only a portion of what he had.

We are lucky to be here for the 25th anniversary of the Barcelona Olympics. The Barcelona Olympic Foundation has all sorts of activities. They even have an art activity, which makes me think of my older sister!

I am ready to go to Switzerland to see their Olympic museum. 

Family outing

A futbol game at 9am was the only thing on the schedule so we decided to use some more of those coupons and take a trip to Montjuic and the botanical garden. We could have taken a train, metro, and funicular, but we chose a train and then a bus that would take us a little closer to the garden. 

We had a nice view of Plaça Catalunya and Banco de España
(one of the few places to see a Spanish flag in Barcelona).

I hope you aren't tire of laundry pictures. I love taking the bus and looking at laundry!!

The theme of the garden is, "All the World's Mediterranean." It has a collection from
places that share Barcelona's climate. That is why everything looked like Claremont!

Artsy picture with trash can, chairs, and parabolic curve made with straight wires.

bee hotel

The garden received a collection of bonsai trees, which I love to see.
A helpful employee answered lots of questions we had about them.

I think A. took even more pictures of the trees than I did and he would definitely like one of his own.

California Poppies and other wildflowers
photo by A.

Port Jackson Fig
photo by A.

photo by R.

photo by R.

Going Hjem, it is hygge!

 Guest post by D.

Back in October I had the pleasure of attending a conference at Fraunhofer ISE in Frieburg, Germany and seeing many of my former European collaborators there.  One was the host of my last sabbatical leave in Denmark.  We had some very nice conversations, and I got to see meet one of his current PhD. students who presented a very nice paper on environmental impacts of plastic solar cell production.  She did a full cradle to grave analysis as well as experimental measurements on leaching of materials from cells into rain water and soil.

Not long after, I was pleasantly surprised to be contacted by my Danish colleagues asking if I could be an external examiner for this PhD candidate an one other who would both defend on the same day.  I readily agreed, and looked forward to a chance to visit in Denmark.  J. and A. have been back regularly, but I had not been there since we left in 2011.  While I have attended PhD. defenses at several universities in the US, in Denmark, and in Spain, this was my first chance to be an official PhD. examiner since my own institution does not grant PhDs.  My Danish colleagues booked my plane and hotel including a few extra days on each side of the defenses, so I could enjoy being there.  I reached out to several friend in Denmark (with help from J.) and managed to see most of them.

Arriving by plane, I knew I was in the right place when I recognized one of the first non-food stores in the airport.

One of two that I passed in the CPH Airport!

I bought my train ticket to Roskilde and was truly surprised how much it warmed my heart to get off at the Roskilde Station.  It really felt like going home to see the square with the three giant vases...

The Iconic Roskilde Jars sculpture across from the train station.

I checked into my hotel, and my friend J.D. picked me up and took me out for dinner.  This does not sound like a big deal, but eating out at a restaurant was a very rare event for me in Denmark, where the cost of a restaurant meal is significantly higher than in the USA, in part because everyone working in such places gets paid reasonable wages.  That night I unpacked my folding bicycle in the hotel so I could get around on my own without worrying about bus schedules or tickets.

The next day went out on my bike and rode around the harbor and the fjord to the Boserup Forest where we used to mountain bike.  It was a bit cool, but there was no snow while I was there.  I only got caught in the rain once during my stay.

Out around the Roskilde Fjord on my way to Boserup Forrest.

I enjoyed looking at the outdoor portion of the Viking Museum and then up the other side of the fjord to our old neighborhood.  I was disappointed to see that a historic old building (once a finishing school for girls) was being renovated in way that seemed to lose its charm for me, even if the cause is a good one and I know the building was in need of restoration.

Baldervej building under restoration.

Then I went by our old neighborhood, including Klostermarken school where R. and A. were students when we lived here.  The pro-bike culture here is so much stronger than other places I have lived.  I love it.  Here is just one of the smaller bike parking areas around the school on a cold winter day.

Cykel parking outside Klostermarken School.

I also stopped at the library which was one of our regular haunts when we lived in Roskilde.  In the park outside the library was the first place I remember seeing one these public book swapping stands.  This one is still there and still among the best I have ever seen.

My first and favorite book exchange spot

After this I went to meet J.D. for lunch and to see INSP! where she works on a variety of projects.  One of the things I liked at INSP! was the outdoor patio furniture made from recycling shipping palettes.

Clever recycling of ubiquitous shipping palettes.

I enjoyed more sight seeing in the afternoon, including continuing my visits to a variety of Cykel shops, some I remembered, and some new ones.  I did not find myself purchasing anything, but enjoyed seeing what was popular there.  Fewer motorized bikes than in Germany.  Fewer folding bikes than in Spain.  More cargo bikes though including this one I saw while out shopping.

This custom bike is orange, for the Roskilde Festival, and has the name "Clockwork" 

In the evening I had the pleasure to reconnect with two families we knew.  It was extemely hygge (cozy homey Danish feeling) and we talked about our families, politics, work, friends, and many other items.  There were five adults and six kids at the dinner.  It was a fantastic evening.  I enjoyed seeing the boys playing a three person chess game which was new to me.

Three person Chess in the round.  Pieces can move across the center circle on prescribed paths.

The next day was completely dedicated to my official work at DTU.  They have a rule that a thesis defense and examination must be completed in three hours.  We had two of them to do and we had to write up our reports on each as well.  Interestingly enough in the DTU system, the examiners read the theses and provide a preliminary assessment report two full weeks before the defense of the PhD.  That is the only time where the examiners are allowed to request changes to the written document.  In this case, both theses contained impressive amounts of work representing several published papers by the large number of scientists in the research group.  Unfortunately, it was not always clear how much the work presented was led by the two particular students.  I am hugely sympathetic to these students who had to write their PhD. thesis in English (lucky for me) which is not their native tongue (one is from Brazil, the other from Germany.)  One thesis was right up my area of expertise (plus I had heard the student present some of the work at the conference) but the for the other I learned quite a bit of chemistry, as her thesis was much more focused on synthesis of new polymers for making solar cells.  Since both candidates passed their examination, there was a nice social celebration afterwards, and I toured some of my colleagues' labs as well.  At the end of the day, the two PhD. advisors (who are not on the examination committee) took us out for a nice dinner.

I made plans to return the next day to visit with some of my former colleagues who I had not seen while I was busy with the defenses.  This was my second day of riding out to the labs where I used to work.  I rode every day that we lived in Denmark in all types of weather.  I always loved the ride and I still do.  Here are some views from my ride on a sunnier day than the day I arrived.

The Roskilde Fjord looking toward the campground and beach.

The windmills from DTU collaborations, the most financially successful part of the DTU Energy program.

In the windmill picture you can see the main road, but on the far right is the separate road for cycling which exists on both sides of the main road.  It was great to ride there again!  I enjoyed seeing people there and stayed through lunch in the cafeteria before returning to my hotel and packing my bike up to head into Copenhagen.  There was a Scandinavian bike show in Copenhagen, and I was tempted to try and squeeze it in, but instead I chose to visit with old friends.  One in our old neighborhood, and another my former Danish teacher, who was super fun both in and out of class.  We enjoyed a great visit and then I headed for the airport.  Unfortunately my return flight was delayed, so I had extra time in the CPH airport.  In addition to the Lego stores, I enjoyed the bookstores, including this section:

Can you identify the books by their Danish titles?

I came back home very late in Barcelona.  It was good to be home, both here and there!

Mail saga

This topic amazes me, even after living here for many months.

As I was collecting the mail I noticed a postcard with my handwriting. I couldn't imagine what it could be. Had I mailed something that had been returned? I hadn't put my return address on a postcard. It took a long moment, but then I remembered I had written from Madrid.

But we had left Madrid 1 March!

I checked the back and noticed my date, 27/2/17.

Then I checked the postmark, 10/3/17.

I probably mailed the card in the evening of 28/2, so maybe it was not picked up until 1/3. And maybe it got stuck or fell out of a bag so that explains why it was not mailed for another nine days. What I have no guesses about is why it would take an entire week to get from Madrid to a suburb of Barcelona.

On the positive side, it was the first time I had bought a stamp for use within the country and liked the origami elephants.

Adding to my collection

I used to want to attend a game at every Major League Baseball stadium, but they kept knocking them down and building new ones. Yesterday I added to a different collection, which is swimming in or attending events at Olympic pools. It is getting harder since they use temporary pools more often (see the 2016 Rio pool here).

One thing in my goody-bag from the marathon people was a group of coupons
for places on Montjuic, which is close to the start of the run. One was for a
swim in the Olympic pool, which was just a train, metro, and bus ride away.

I don't usually give money to people who play music on the metro, but I was
impressed by the guy lugging around his double bass, not just an accordion.

Not a bad view while waiting for the bus.

This is where I imagined I would be swimming. There were plenty of people
sunbathing, but I saw only one person in the water. Maybe it wasn't heated?

Instead I swam here (photo from website). It was still a 50-meter pool, but set-up short course (25m), as shown here. I am guessing this was the warm-up and cool-down pool, so I will still say I swam in the same place (probably not the same water) as Summer Sanders and Pablo Morales.

Nice view of the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya as you leave the building, which
is a municipal athletic facility with paddle ball courts, yoga classes, and such.

The only interesting thing on the way home was seeing one of these folding bikes, STRiDA EVO.

A few things I learned

from rtve.e

Looking at all the stats, pictures, videos, and news stories about the marathon was educational.  Here are some things I learned.

There were a total of 4554 men and women in my age group. There were 829 women, or 18.6%. 

Indeed though women’s participation globally is up 27% (men’s by 8%), on average women make up only 30% of marathoners. In many southern European nations women make up only around 10%. The UK is the ninth most gender equal nation (34%) and the US is number one (45%).      from The Guardian

Along the course were men and women with these backpacks and flags.
They helped people with cramps, blisters, or other minor issues.

I knew there would be massages after the run and I probably would have
benefited from one, but I generally do not like people rubbing my body.

What I didn't know was that there were also podiatrists on site. I would definitely have
benefited from someone dealing with the blisters (not uncommon in a marathon).

Maybe you don't want to know this.
See the port-a-potty? A bit further behind the runners is another plastic thing.
Do you know what that is? I would not have known if I had not seen a bunch of men standing by it.

I always wondered how runners were connected with their personal refreshments
not something they do for the everyday people). I see from this shot that a volunteer
holds a runner's number and food or drink and the runners know to look for the
person with their number. I would like a volunteer job with less responsibility.

I had watched a video someone had made about last year's marathon and was
surprised when he talked about his pace per mile, but I figured he had just
done the conversion. I was surprised to see a mile sign every five miles.
(This is about where the leader drops her closest competitor, the woman in blue.)

This year is the 25th anniversary of Barcelona hosting the Olympics. The organizers invited the medalists from the marathon to participate in some social and running events and the men's bronze medalist, Stephan Freigang from Germany, ran the marathon and "managed to finish the event in 3:02". I have no idea what managed means in this context. The guy is 49-years-old and that is significantly faster than a Boston qualifying time, but I guess the running governing body was not impressed.

The men's winner, Jonah Kipkemoi Chesum, was in the race as a pacer. I knew there were pacers for some people (trying to 3:30 or 3:45, for example - the slowest pace group was for 4:30), but I had no idea the leaders had pacers. It was Chesum's first race at this distance and he wasn't expected to go the whole way, but he felt good and kept going and no one kept up with him! Most people had no idea who he was because his bib said only, "Pacer." On top of that, he is a Paralympian!

Helen Bekele was the fastest woman ever on the course and is congratulated by
one of her pacers. Even though my Spanish is very basic I thoroughly enjoyed
watching the coverage here (which is where I got many of these pictures).

A nice day of sight-seeing!