in Barcelona

I was mainly at the meeting today listening to talks.  Some were good.  Another guy looked like he had watched one too many TED talks.  He was loud and annoying and waved his hands a lot.  I walked out.  After the talks were over, I joined a few thousand people from the conference at the very large and new banquet hall on the east side of Barcelona for a fine Catalan feast.  Sat with many friends:  ND graduate student Temistocle Grenga, ND colleague Karel Matous, former UIUC colleague Jim Stewart, my student Ashraf's boss, Tod Larson (president of Khalifa University), Duke Prof. John Dolbow, and some faculty from UIUC, Michigan, and Johns Hopkins.  Lots of crazy Catalan medieval instruments and dancers with big paper mache heads.   I placed a couple photos of the banquet hall below.

in Barcelona

I took a long snooze this morning and following the nice hotel breakfast buffet, took the tram to the conference, where I heard a few good talks.  Just after lunch I joined my Notre Dame colleague Prof. Karel Matous, for a nice long tour of Barcelona.  We took the subway to the heart of old Barcelona, and commenced at the statue of Christobal Colon.  Apparently upon his first return from Hispaniola, Isabella and Fernando had set up court in Barcelona, and he paid his respects here.  Here is a statue of CC:

Following this we rambled up La Rambla, which I remember featured in Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia."  Here's Karel and me not rambling on La Rambla.

La Rambla is very busy with pedestrians, urchins, and people selling noisemakers.  From there we turned right into Barcelona's old city.  It sits on the outlines of the Roman city which stood here, and retains its medieval street pattern.  This means narrow and winding.  Fortunately, the medieval smells and annoyances are no longer with us, but it is easy to get lost.  Pictured below is La Catedral, built between 1298 and 1460.  

Following more exploring, we found the Placa Reial, which in the 1960s was mainly populated by unfortunate people.  Today's occupants seem more optimistic, and it houses a photogenic set of buildings and cafes.  We retreated to one and enjoyed sangria and tapas (squid). Here is a photo in the Placa.

The ensuing walk burned off the sangria and brought us to many places including the church of St. Maria del Mar, whose interior is pictured below.

Close by is the Arc de Triomf, shown below.

We then made our way to Antoni Gaudi's Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia, which I visited Sunday, and for which another shot is featured below.

We then took the subway back to the hotel and had a fine fish dinner nearby.  I learned the Barclonians like to rub Garlic, tomato, and olive oil on their robust bread, and we were given lessons on its proper application.  The cold melon soup with cold thin bacon was a special treat.  I can recommend.

in Barcelona

Took another 3 mile run at 6:30 AM, followed by a big hotel buffet breakfast.  Then took the tram to the conference, missing the 30 minute walk.  Listened to talks all day long, including some good ones.  Joined my former office mate Dr. Jim Stewart, originally from Alton, IL, and for many years at Sandia National Labs and his friend Prof. Roger Ghanem of USC for dinner. We took the subway into the old medieval quarter.  It was full of people and festive things.  We sat down for a fine relaxing outdoor meal with tapas, paella, and sangria.  Some photos below.

Day 1 of the conference, which focuses on computational modeling of problems in solid and fluid mechanics.  Turns out there are 3600 attendees, mainly from Europe, the US, Japan, and Korea. I know several people, but for the most part this group is a little outside of my regular crowd.  Did run into UIUC officemate Jim Stewart, now at Sandia, and we had lunch together, in my case a 10 Euro cheese sandwich.  The bread was good.  I spent most of the day in technical sessions, and gave my talk mid-afternoon.  After the happy hour, an ND graduate student and I went to a dinner at the same fine place I was last night.  There is a lot of attention given to good food in this town.  We shared for starters roasted potatoes, really fresh grilled shrimp, roasted peppers, and bread.  The main course was a thin steak along with sautéed mushrooms, peppers, and a really sweet onion.  Mmm. Mmm. good.

in Barcelona

My plane landed this morning around 10:30 AM.  I packed light, making sure to include laundry soap to enable washing out my unmentionables, and so did not have to bother with luggage retrieval.  Read the fine history "Barcelona" by Robert Hughes, the late art critic for Time Magazine.  He is a sprightly writer who spares few details about the Roman days through modern times, and gives a lot of insights into Catalan exceptionalism, especially with regard to art, architecture, and urban planning.  Here's a link to the book

Hughes' "Barcelona"

For the prurient, he notes that the Catalans are more interested than most in a fully functioning digestive system, and have graphic artwork through the ages to support this.  It turns out the George Washington of Catalonia is a fellow known as Wilfred the Hairy.  He was a man among men and had many interactions with Charles the Bald.

After arrival, I took a cab to my hotel, which is in La Zona Alta East, not far from the University and the soccer stadium, just off the Avinguda de la Diagonal, a major thoroughfare.   After unpacking, I took a long walk down the Diagonal.  I passed the Casa de les Punxes, pictured below, which was my first exposure to whimsical Barcelona architecture.  I'm sure the will be more.

After a quick Big Mac and a total time of about an hour, I arrived at perhaps Barcelona's most iconic sight, the Sagrada Familia Basilica by Antoni Gaudi. They're still working on it.  I stayed outside and had a photo shot, per below.

I then took the subway back near my hotel.  On the way there, I came upon this fine church, nearby.

Later I met my Notre Dame colleague Karel Matous, with whom I work closely on a research project.  We walked towards the conference stopping at the marvelous La Limona for fish, spinach, and watermelon.  It was delicious.  At the conference registration, I found several people I knew.  Karel said my former UIUC officemate Jim Stewart was on the plane, and so I hope to see him soon.  Talked at length with a colleague from Georgia Tech.  Walked back to the hotel to try to get a good sleep tonight.

Robert Hughes, "Barcelona," Vintage Press.

To Barcelona

Preparing for a ten day trip to Barcelona, Spain, to attend the 11th World Congress on Computational Mechanics and then do some touring.  I traveled by train to Wilmette, IL, where brother John Bernard Powers resides in a beautiful home.  JB prepared a fine dinner of garlic-encrusted steak, pasta salad, and sautéed peas.  We shared with nephew James at table.  Here is an old picture of James at that same table at Christmas time with Mom in the background.  Mom was not there yesterday, nor was it Christmas yesterday.

After a good night's sleep in JB's basement cave, he drove me to O'Hare airport, where I took an Air Canada flight to Toronto.  I had a six hour layover there.  Someone spent much treasure in making a iPad-infested wonderland of electronic recharging, accompanied by very good food and drink and very bad service-picture below.  Note no servers in sight.  Not much food in sight either.

At 8:30 PM, the Boing 767 was loaded for Barcelona, and departed on a long trans-oceanic journey.

to San Luis Potosi, Mexico

I give a short summary of my trip to San Luis Potosi, Mexico.  Over the past 20 years, several students from San Luis Potosi have completed our Ph.D. program at Notre Dame, and many of them have been in my classes.  Of those, many are now on the faculty at their home institution, Universidad Autonoma San Luis Potosi.  This week their electro-mechanical engineering department is celebrating its 50th birthday, and they invited me to participate in their festivities.

So, grateful that my colleagues Bill Goodwine, Sam Paolucci, and Mihir Sen agreed to teach some classes of mine at Notre Dame, I set out on my journey to the South on Wednesday afternoon, October 24.  I took the South Shore train to Chicago and checked into the Silversmith Hotel in the Chicago Loop.  Around 7, I met college chum Paul Link for a good dinner and conversation in the nearby Berghoff restaurant.  I had the bratwurst and sauerkraut with potato salad, washed down by a Berghoff beer.  We had a fine talk.

The following morning, Thursday 25 October, I got on the Blue Line CTA train and made my way to O'Hare Airport.  There a fine breakfast of spinach omelette and hash browns was procured, and I got on the 9:15 American Airlines flight to Dallas.  The Dallas airport is fancy and largely empty this day, with a very good internal train system and luxury shops abounding.  Around 2:30, my American Eagle jet departed for San Luis Potosi.  The fellow behind me turned out to be a physician who knew my cousin, Dr. Robert Toohill, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  I was met at the San Luis Potosi airport by my former student and colleague, Dr. Antonio Cardenas, who is now the department chair.  We had a snack at my hotel.  Later, I joined Antonio and met some old Notre Dame contacts along with some new friends at the university's performing arts center, where we heard an address from a faculty from U. Washington who has used good science and engineering to start a large business in San Luis Potosi.  He gave a fine talk.  Pictured below is the atrium of the performing arts center.

I finished the evening with a snack at the hotel with Prof. Terry Chambers, of U. Louisiana-Lafayette who has had many interactions with the faculty here.  He was the other external faculty invited by the department for the celebration.  It turns out Terry is a good friend of my former graduate student Keith Gonthier, at LSU. 

The following morning, Antonio picked up Terry and I, and we went to a lecture hall where we heard a  good talk from a local leader.  Below is the logo for the 50th party on display in the lecture hall.

Then we recessed to a classroom, where first Terry, then I, delivered our talks on our research to the graduate students and faculty of the program.  After a meeting where the San Luis Potosi faculty discussed their own research, we recessed for lunch at a nearby Italian restaurant.  Below are the lunchees.

Next, a former ND student Gilberto and his wife Irma gave Terry and I a tour of the town. San Luis Potosi is an old silver mining town founded back in the 1500s.  The university was founded by the Jesuits in the 1600s, and its main building is pictured below.

The old city center is dotted with churches, plazas, and lovely Spanish colonial architecture.  Below is a facade at the Church of el Carmen.

Here is a street vista in the city center, followed by a church and plaza.

Gilberto, Irma, Terry (all pictured below), and I had a nice enchilada supper with fancy artisan beer outside the Franciscan church and plaza.  

Soon after, we returned to the hotel to prepare for an early morning trek to the famous pyramids of Teotihuacan, near Mexico City.

So, Saturday, we were met at 6:00 AM in the hotel lobby, and a group of seven of us piled into a university van for the four hour drive to the pyramid site.  Our route was down El Camino Real, now a superhighway, but built on the path of the old royal road from Mexico City to Santa Fe, New Mexico.  When living in Santa Fe, I was housed about 100 yards from the terminus of El Camino Real.  We had some snacks and rest breaks along the way, and arrived late morning at the site.  Below is a residential area for the old-timers.

Here is a kind of side alter, likely for things that didn't merit appeal to the facilities of the magnificent pyramid of the moon, which we climbed, or the pyramid of the sun, which we also climbed.  As opposed to my other two visits here in the 1970s, you can no longer climb all the way to the top.

The pyramid of the sun, below, invites the sun, and so I repelled the sun with my trusty hat, which has also done duty at the China's Great Wall and Forbidden City.  This was accompanied with Titanium-based sunblock all of which gave me a ghostly pallor.

We retreated to a nearby cabana where cervezas y pollo were procured topped off by cinnamon-spiced coffee at the end.  Here is our crew.

The long ride back had some sleeping and lots of talk.