Pickpockets in Barcelona

The conference organizers warned us that there were lots of pickpockets in Barcelona so I was pretty careful, or so I thought.

I carried my purse close to me and it is a zip up purse. Well, that was not enough. As I was walking along the street with a friend at about 6 pm, I suddenly felt something behind me and it was three women and one of them had her hand in my purse which was hanging my my side. I swung around and smacked her hard and yelled at the top of my lungs, "Get out of here," much to my own surprise, and she ran off. I was shocked at my own reaction but it worked. I must have been trained somewhere but I don't remember. Fortunately, she did not get my wallet, but she did get my little notebook with notes (hope she likes Open Education).

Meeting Einstein and Darwin

The Open Education Conference was on Monday and Tuesday and was a typical conference with lectures every hour. I am sure all of you would have been bored, but they were pretty interesting for me. It was held in a museum and I got lost and accidentally went down stairs and that's where I found Charles Darwin, just sitting in a chair in the museum. At first I thought it was a real person---then I got up close and figured it out.

Later I also found Albert Einstein sitting behind the desk at the entrance to the museum. He looked pretty real too, but kind of pale. He looked a bit anemic....of course he wasn't alive so it didn't really matter.

On Wednesday and Thursday, the conference changed locations to the Contemporary Art Museum which was not as nice a location but easier to get to. It was right in town.

Met a couple of very interesting characters---Einstein and Darwin

The Open Education Conference Barcelona

My yummy dessert

Some crazy statutes and more

Can you believe...they put a Christmas tree on the top of the church?

In subway ready to take a photo; next to Sagrada Familia, Gaudi cathedral

Barcelona Cathedral next to my breakfast place! Pretty yummy food

Main Street in Barcelona in the early morning

Monday in Barcelona

It turned out that Monday, November 1 was a holiday in Barcelona---it was the Day of the Dead---and thus all the stores and museums were closed. So the city was literally 'dead,' nothing much happening. However, we went to see the Gaudi cathedral--Sagrada Familia. There were about 1000 people lined up to get inside so we did not go in.

Chocolate Towers, Cuckoo Clocks, Swatch Watches, all in Zurich Airport

Staying at Hotel Catedral Barcelona

The hotel is in a great area of Barcelona....right behind the enormous cathedral and close to everything. It is pretty exciting. Today I am walking around and checking out the city. This evening is the first part of the conference on Open Education 2010.

Arrived in Zurich on Swiss Air

Getting ready to go

It is pretty exciting to be going to Barcelona. The only thing I don't like is having to spend the night on the plane. Sleeping on planes is not fun. I am going to Barcelona to go to two conferences. One is called Open Education and here is the link to it. The other one is called Drumbeat Conference. They are one after the other in the same week!