Sunday, May 04, 2008
Valencia retrospective
I've just had a number of hours playing with iPhoto and iWeb dealing with the photos from Valencia.
While I appreciate the fact that I can process things in iPhoto, transfer them across to iWeb and then upload them to .Mac relatively easily and, assuming that I have the necessary uploaders, upload them to other places as well, I must say that I still find Google's Picassa much easier (and faster) to work with. In spite of this (and not without a couple of muttered curses) I've now managed to upload 99 photos to Facebook. Why 99? Because iPhoto won't let you transfer more than 99 to iWeb and I'd originally planned to use that to generate web pages etc.
So, on to Valencia. After the chaos and stress of the India trip, this trip was much, much smoother - once I'd visited the travel agent to sort out the name issue and ignoring the fact that the taxi driver ripped me off on the way to the hotel (I later found that several of the other delegates had that particular problem, so I suspect it may be an endemic issue).
The hotel - the Beatriz Rey Don Jaime - was clearly a business hotel and was very comfortable. The restaurant was small with a rather limited menu, but I suspect that most people go out to eat rather than eat in. I generally eat in on my first evening anywhere just because it's easier after a long day's travel. Breakfast was good, though, with both continental and cooked options.
As the hotel is one of a cluster of hotels on the same block, there's a taxi rank just over the road from the main door. This was quite useful, as it made life much easier for the trips out to the university. The event was held at the Polytechnical University, which is based on its own large modern campus. The campus is beautiful; lots of open spaces, sports facilities and environmental artwork. One of the locals told me that the previous rector had a policy whereby every time the staff went on strike for the day he used the money they forfeited in pay to buy a new piece of sculpture for the campus.
Once we'd finished our peregrinations for the day the summit organisers had laid on a tour of the city centre for us. This started on a bus to go from the university into town, then turned into a guided walk around the old city. I managed to get a number of photos of more municipal art - I was impressed by the amount of this - architectural detail, the bullring and the odd historical monument. The bus disgorged us outside the silk market, a beautiful renaissance hall in which silk (then the mainstay of the Valencian economy) was traded.
We then wandered past a couple more churches to the central square and the cathedral. The cathedral is a curious building, having been built over an extensive period of time and hence in quite a range of styles. The different doorways, for instance, come in Baroque, Romanesque and Gothic depending upon which part of the building you're facing:
Although I didn't get to go into the cathedral immediately I did pop back in later to have a quick look at the holy grail. Or, at least, at an agate cup which has been scientifically dated to the first century AD and is in a style common to many archeological finds from Judea in that period. Unfortunately the chapel was in use so I only got to look from the doorway, which means that I think I can say that I have seen it but haven't actually looked at it. It's the thing in the illuminated alcove:
There are a number of other interesting buildings in the city centre, but one that particularly interested me wasn't actually a building - it was the ruins of Roman Valencia. The city was originally built by the Romans as a retirement town for ex-legionaries. The remains of this settlement can be seen underneath a water-covered, glass-ceilinged area in one of the squares next to the cathedral:
That concluded the walking tour, after which I headed back to the hotel to batter my head cold into submission before the next day's presentations. A second tour was arranged for the next day, this time visiting the local national park, but the head cold got the better of me and I spent a fair chunk of the time between the end of the summit and the evening meal asleep.
I did, however, head out to the restaurant a couple of hours before dinner because the restaurant was at one end of the City of Arts and Sciences, the collection of striking avant-garde buildings I'd noticed on my way into the city form the airport. My plan was to locate the restaurant and then use it as a starting point for my wanderings around the other buildings.
The CAS is stunning. It looks, as I mentioned before, like something out of Logan's Run:
The science museum - the building with the overarching spur - looks very familiar. I'm sure I've seen something similar in a Jim Burns painting at some time. I walked down in the shaded section underneath the upper garden, next to what was a very inviting pool. It was very quiet and peaceful down there, probably because the museums had closed and so the only people there were just enjoying the architecture. I came back along the upper section, a set of open archways surmounting a garden:
It's a strange place, as the overhead arches provide a very strange tunnelling effect. There's also a small cafeteria - unfortunately closed when I was there, as I could have done with a nice cold drink by that point. It did amuse me, though, that this place obviously has another function; the Valencians are clearly operating a Rover farm:
By now the sun had dropped below the buildings on the western horizon and it was time to head back to the submarine restaurant at the Oceanographic for dinner. The restaurant is a little like an inside-out fish bowl; the fish swim round and round the edge but you're sitting on the inside watching them instead of the outside. In some ways it's a little distracting, as the movement of the fish does catch the eye:
I believe that the meal was quite tasty, but unfortunately my taste buds were still suffering from the head cold. We started eating at about 21:30 and finished dessert just after midnight - this is, I'm told, normal for dinner in Spain. Some folks then went off to find a bar or two, but I returned to the hotel for what was to prove my best night's sleep for a while.
The flight back was uneventful, although we had what is probably the best flying weather I've ever known. It was good enough to photograph the ground from the air right the way until we got in to northern France. The Pyrenees were particularly impressive:
It would certainly be nice to go back to Valencia at some point when I can dedicate a full couple of days to visiting things. My original intention was to do that on the Thursday morning before flying out, but it being May Day it was a national holiday and most things were closed. As it happens, we have an Erasmus exchange agreement with UPV, so I might just be able to swing another visit, I'll have to see how everything goes next year.
The whole photoset can be found here on LJ or here on .mac.
2 comments
While I appreciate the fact that I can process things in iPhoto, transfer them across to iWeb and then upload them to .Mac relatively easily and, assuming that I have the necessary uploaders, upload them to other places as well, I must say that I still find Google's Picassa much easier (and faster) to work with. In spite of this (and not without a couple of muttered curses) I've now managed to upload 99 photos to Facebook. Why 99? Because iPhoto won't let you transfer more than 99 to iWeb and I'd originally planned to use that to generate web pages etc.
So, on to Valencia. After the chaos and stress of the India trip, this trip was much, much smoother - once I'd visited the travel agent to sort out the name issue and ignoring the fact that the taxi driver ripped me off on the way to the hotel (I later found that several of the other delegates had that particular problem, so I suspect it may be an endemic issue).
The hotel - the Beatriz Rey Don Jaime - was clearly a business hotel and was very comfortable. The restaurant was small with a rather limited menu, but I suspect that most people go out to eat rather than eat in. I generally eat in on my first evening anywhere just because it's easier after a long day's travel. Breakfast was good, though, with both continental and cooked options.
As the hotel is one of a cluster of hotels on the same block, there's a taxi rank just over the road from the main door. This was quite useful, as it made life much easier for the trips out to the university. The event was held at the Polytechnical University, which is based on its own large modern campus. The campus is beautiful; lots of open spaces, sports facilities and environmental artwork. One of the locals told me that the previous rector had a policy whereby every time the staff went on strike for the day he used the money they forfeited in pay to buy a new piece of sculpture for the campus.
Once we'd finished our peregrinations for the day the summit organisers had laid on a tour of the city centre for us. This started on a bus to go from the university into town, then turned into a guided walk around the old city. I managed to get a number of photos of more municipal art - I was impressed by the amount of this - architectural detail, the bullring and the odd historical monument. The bus disgorged us outside the silk market, a beautiful renaissance hall in which silk (then the mainstay of the Valencian economy) was traded.
We then wandered past a couple more churches to the central square and the cathedral. The cathedral is a curious building, having been built over an extensive period of time and hence in quite a range of styles. The different doorways, for instance, come in Baroque, Romanesque and Gothic depending upon which part of the building you're facing:
Although I didn't get to go into the cathedral immediately I did pop back in later to have a quick look at the holy grail. Or, at least, at an agate cup which has been scientifically dated to the first century AD and is in a style common to many archeological finds from Judea in that period. Unfortunately the chapel was in use so I only got to look from the doorway, which means that I think I can say that I have seen it but haven't actually looked at it. It's the thing in the illuminated alcove:
There are a number of other interesting buildings in the city centre, but one that particularly interested me wasn't actually a building - it was the ruins of Roman Valencia. The city was originally built by the Romans as a retirement town for ex-legionaries. The remains of this settlement can be seen underneath a water-covered, glass-ceilinged area in one of the squares next to the cathedral:
That concluded the walking tour, after which I headed back to the hotel to batter my head cold into submission before the next day's presentations. A second tour was arranged for the next day, this time visiting the local national park, but the head cold got the better of me and I spent a fair chunk of the time between the end of the summit and the evening meal asleep.
I did, however, head out to the restaurant a couple of hours before dinner because the restaurant was at one end of the City of Arts and Sciences, the collection of striking avant-garde buildings I'd noticed on my way into the city form the airport. My plan was to locate the restaurant and then use it as a starting point for my wanderings around the other buildings.
The CAS is stunning. It looks, as I mentioned before, like something out of Logan's Run:
The science museum - the building with the overarching spur - looks very familiar. I'm sure I've seen something similar in a Jim Burns painting at some time. I walked down in the shaded section underneath the upper garden, next to what was a very inviting pool. It was very quiet and peaceful down there, probably because the museums had closed and so the only people there were just enjoying the architecture. I came back along the upper section, a set of open archways surmounting a garden:
It's a strange place, as the overhead arches provide a very strange tunnelling effect. There's also a small cafeteria - unfortunately closed when I was there, as I could have done with a nice cold drink by that point. It did amuse me, though, that this place obviously has another function; the Valencians are clearly operating a Rover farm:
By now the sun had dropped below the buildings on the western horizon and it was time to head back to the submarine restaurant at the Oceanographic for dinner. The restaurant is a little like an inside-out fish bowl; the fish swim round and round the edge but you're sitting on the inside watching them instead of the outside. In some ways it's a little distracting, as the movement of the fish does catch the eye:
I believe that the meal was quite tasty, but unfortunately my taste buds were still suffering from the head cold. We started eating at about 21:30 and finished dessert just after midnight - this is, I'm told, normal for dinner in Spain. Some folks then went off to find a bar or two, but I returned to the hotel for what was to prove my best night's sleep for a while.
The flight back was uneventful, although we had what is probably the best flying weather I've ever known. It was good enough to photograph the ground from the air right the way until we got in to northern France. The Pyrenees were particularly impressive:
It would certainly be nice to go back to Valencia at some point when I can dedicate a full couple of days to visiting things. My original intention was to do that on the Thursday morning before flying out, but it being May Day it was a national holiday and most things were closed. As it happens, we have an Erasmus exchange agreement with UPV, so I might just be able to swing another visit, I'll have to see how everything goes next year.
The whole photoset can be found here on LJ or here on .mac.
Labels: Valencia
2 comments
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Eating with the fishes
I think I've just had a really good meal. Unfortunately I'm currently so congested that I've got no sense of taste/smell. :( The setting was astounding though - it was an underwater restaurant so it felt a little like an inverted goldfish bowl. The fish were still going round in circles, but we were on the inside.
Lots of photos to come, and lots of the Ciudad de las Artes y Ciencias - A&S City, which amused me greatly. It really does look like something out of Logan's Run. Impressive though.
1 comments
Lots of photos to come, and lots of the Ciudad de las Artes y Ciencias - A&S City, which amused me greatly. It really does look like something out of Logan's Run. Impressive though.
Labels: Valencia
1 comments
Black food
Not dark purple, or dark brown, actually black.
At lunch today I tasted what must be the strangest thing I've ever eaten - squid cooked in its own ink. And it was black, very black. The sort of black that had me wondering about taking a broad-nibbed dip pen to the dish and testing it for calligraphy purposes. For the record it was rather tough and rubbery and I don't think that I'd order it in a restaurant, but I have at least tried it.
I'm also seriously considering having a badge made for events like this: No, I'm from England. I only work in northern Iceland. Everyone wants to talk to the person from Iceland because they've never met an Icelander before. Even the other Scandinavians view Icelanders as exotic. I may have no voice again after tonight's convention dinner (to be held in an underwater restaurant, of all places) as the throat is going with the head cold. Fortunately I don't need to talk to too many people while flying tomorrow. :)
The other first for the day was that we had live translation for one of the sessions - not a translator on the stage with pauses for him to keep up, but rather the stethoscope-type earpieces you see at the UN. A little strange, but something else to file in the been there, done that, used them category.
0 comments
At lunch today I tasted what must be the strangest thing I've ever eaten - squid cooked in its own ink. And it was black, very black. The sort of black that had me wondering about taking a broad-nibbed dip pen to the dish and testing it for calligraphy purposes. For the record it was rather tough and rubbery and I don't think that I'd order it in a restaurant, but I have at least tried it.
I'm also seriously considering having a badge made for events like this: No, I'm from England. I only work in northern Iceland. Everyone wants to talk to the person from Iceland because they've never met an Icelander before. Even the other Scandinavians view Icelanders as exotic. I may have no voice again after tonight's convention dinner (to be held in an underwater restaurant, of all places) as the throat is going with the head cold. Fortunately I don't need to talk to too many people while flying tomorrow. :)
The other first for the day was that we had live translation for one of the sessions - not a translator on the stage with pauses for him to keep up, but rather the stethoscope-type earpieces you see at the UN. A little strange, but something else to file in the been there, done that, used them category.
Labels: Valencia
0 comments
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Embroidery market or holy grail?
That was this evening's big question.
In fact it turned out not to be a problem, as I shall explain later. :)
Today's material at the EurosummIT has proved to be considerably more interesting than all of the stuff at the Indian conference put together. Quite possibly because it's in my field, not business stuff. Particularly interesting was a presentation from a woman from one of the Swedish universities who was talking about the issues they face in terms of international student recruitment. I had a chance to talk to her later, and it turns out that they have all of the same problems that we have. Extremely interesting.
Lunch was something of a culture shock. It was a very large meal, with three different appetisers (calamari, tuna with salad, deep-fried bechemel and bacon balls) plus bread, cheese and nuts, followed by paella with rabbit (quite tasty, and an interesting alternative to chicken) and then ice cream for desert. This took over two hours.
Once we'd finished for the day we were onto a bus to do a tour of the city centre. This started on the bus but became a walking tour later on. It was quite fascinating and I have a number of interesting photos... which the hotel internet link won't let me upload (it seems to be quite limited in terms of speed and acceptable sites). So unfortunately I can't post the photo of the holy grail. Yes, I have seen the object thought most likely to be the cup in question. The chapel in which it sits was in use at the time, so I only saw it from the doorway, but tick!.
The chapel being in use was what simplified the big question I asked earlier - embroidery market or holy grail? In the end I popped into the chapel on my way back to the embroidery market. This is in the centre of the old market area, and although I managed to make it back there before they closed up I didn't have enough time to have a good root around. Mind you, I suspect I'd have needed rather more than the twenty minutes I had by the time we'd finished the tour. I would go back on Thursday, when I have time before I fly back to London, but unfortunately that's a holiday so nothing will be open. :(
Once I'd wandered back to the market, then wandered out again I realised that I had a bit of a problem: I was in the middle of Valencia about 5km from the hotel with no organised way to get back. Oops! Eventually I found myself a taxi and even managed to pronounce the hotel name well enough to be recognisable and have returned to try to get some rest. Unlike last night, when I was so congested that I couldn't sleep and ended up watching the first episode of the latest season of Torchwood at 01:00.
I'm still very congested, but I hope tonight that sheer tiredness will win out.
0 comments
In fact it turned out not to be a problem, as I shall explain later. :)
Today's material at the EurosummIT has proved to be considerably more interesting than all of the stuff at the Indian conference put together. Quite possibly because it's in my field, not business stuff. Particularly interesting was a presentation from a woman from one of the Swedish universities who was talking about the issues they face in terms of international student recruitment. I had a chance to talk to her later, and it turns out that they have all of the same problems that we have. Extremely interesting.
Lunch was something of a culture shock. It was a very large meal, with three different appetisers (calamari, tuna with salad, deep-fried bechemel and bacon balls) plus bread, cheese and nuts, followed by paella with rabbit (quite tasty, and an interesting alternative to chicken) and then ice cream for desert. This took over two hours.
Once we'd finished for the day we were onto a bus to do a tour of the city centre. This started on the bus but became a walking tour later on. It was quite fascinating and I have a number of interesting photos... which the hotel internet link won't let me upload (it seems to be quite limited in terms of speed and acceptable sites). So unfortunately I can't post the photo of the holy grail. Yes, I have seen the object thought most likely to be the cup in question. The chapel in which it sits was in use at the time, so I only saw it from the doorway, but tick!.
The chapel being in use was what simplified the big question I asked earlier - embroidery market or holy grail? In the end I popped into the chapel on my way back to the embroidery market. This is in the centre of the old market area, and although I managed to make it back there before they closed up I didn't have enough time to have a good root around. Mind you, I suspect I'd have needed rather more than the twenty minutes I had by the time we'd finished the tour. I would go back on Thursday, when I have time before I fly back to London, but unfortunately that's a holiday so nothing will be open. :(
Once I'd wandered back to the market, then wandered out again I realised that I had a bit of a problem: I was in the middle of Valencia about 5km from the hotel with no organised way to get back. Oops! Eventually I found myself a taxi and even managed to pronounce the hotel name well enough to be recognisable and have returned to try to get some rest. Unlike last night, when I was so congested that I couldn't sleep and ended up watching the first episode of the latest season of Torchwood at 01:00.
I'm still very congested, but I hope tonight that sheer tiredness will win out.
Labels: Valencia
0 comments
Monday, April 28, 2008
Third time lucky
It took three attempts to land in Valencia this afternoon.
We had a bit of turbulence on the way in and ended up going around twice. I've never done that before - the seconds where the engine sound changes and you're suddenly pushed back into your seat by the changing acceleration vector is quite interesting.
Other than that the journey went quite well. Well, that and the fact that I have the mother, father and several grandparents of all head colds (with taps turned on) and, as a result, have been on the ground for over six hours but still have un-popped ears. I had planned to pick up some Contact 400 at Boots - or at least some Lemsip - but I was wandering around like a zombie after not a lot of sleep last night an a 4am start. Such is life.
I got off the plane an thought it's warm, but nowhere near as hot as India. I can handle this. It seems to have got warmer and warmer over the hours... unless I'm developing a fever, that is.
I also think that I was ripped off by the taxi driver on the way from the airport to the hotel. I was charged just under 30 Euros; according to the assorted tourist booklets it should be about 14 Euro. Grrr.... at least the office is paying, not me. The route we took seemed to include quite a lot of freeway-style roads, and approached the hotel from the north paralleling the old river bed. That's quite strange - it seems that there was a major flood in 1957 which led the government to completely re-route the river leaving a broad rock-strewn channel spanned by a variety of bridges. Very strange.
We also came past the City of Arts and Sciences, a complex with the most fantastic architecture. It looks rather like something out of the original Logan's Run movie. We're due to have the summit dinner there on Wednesday so I'm hoping to get some good photos then.
In another SF-related item: you know you're a Sci-Fi looney when... you move the tines of your fork through the dark fruit sauce artistically dropped into the lemon sauce and think ooh, that looks like a Shadow ship!. Sad but true. The dinner in question was in the hotel restaurant (I generally eat in the hotel on the day I arrive as I don't have to worry about going and finding somewhere) where I started with a cold melon cream with port-soaked melon balls and crunchy ham (strange but pleasant). For my main course I had pork medallions in an apple sauce with caramelised yucca and stuffed courgette. I had to try that just for the yucca (it was a little like a sweet but slightly stringy potato). Finally I opted for the orange blossom mouse with citrus and plum sauce and candied orange. It was all rather tasty and I'm now feeling pleasantly full.
Time for me to get some sleep ready for a deeply thoughtful day tomorrow.
0 comments
We had a bit of turbulence on the way in and ended up going around twice. I've never done that before - the seconds where the engine sound changes and you're suddenly pushed back into your seat by the changing acceleration vector is quite interesting.
Other than that the journey went quite well. Well, that and the fact that I have the mother, father and several grandparents of all head colds (with taps turned on) and, as a result, have been on the ground for over six hours but still have un-popped ears. I had planned to pick up some Contact 400 at Boots - or at least some Lemsip - but I was wandering around like a zombie after not a lot of sleep last night an a 4am start. Such is life.
I got off the plane an thought it's warm, but nowhere near as hot as India. I can handle this. It seems to have got warmer and warmer over the hours... unless I'm developing a fever, that is.
I also think that I was ripped off by the taxi driver on the way from the airport to the hotel. I was charged just under 30 Euros; according to the assorted tourist booklets it should be about 14 Euro. Grrr.... at least the office is paying, not me. The route we took seemed to include quite a lot of freeway-style roads, and approached the hotel from the north paralleling the old river bed. That's quite strange - it seems that there was a major flood in 1957 which led the government to completely re-route the river leaving a broad rock-strewn channel spanned by a variety of bridges. Very strange.
We also came past the City of Arts and Sciences, a complex with the most fantastic architecture. It looks rather like something out of the original Logan's Run movie. We're due to have the summit dinner there on Wednesday so I'm hoping to get some good photos then.
In another SF-related item: you know you're a Sci-Fi looney when... you move the tines of your fork through the dark fruit sauce artistically dropped into the lemon sauce and think ooh, that looks like a Shadow ship!. Sad but true. The dinner in question was in the hotel restaurant (I generally eat in the hotel on the day I arrive as I don't have to worry about going and finding somewhere) where I started with a cold melon cream with port-soaked melon balls and crunchy ham (strange but pleasant). For my main course I had pork medallions in an apple sauce with caramelised yucca and stuffed courgette. I had to try that just for the yucca (it was a little like a sweet but slightly stringy potato). Finally I opted for the orange blossom mouse with citrus and plum sauce and candied orange. It was all rather tasty and I'm now feeling pleasantly full.
Time for me to get some sleep ready for a deeply thoughtful day tomorrow.
Labels: Valencia
0 comments
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Mostly sorted
I'm almost ready to go.
I'm also seriously considering seeing if the hotel, which I know has a pool, also has a masseu(r/se), as my neck and shoulders - particularly my neck - are so tight that they're painful and tender. If things don't improve by the time I get back from Valencia I might have to go see a doctor. Maybe.
Other than that, I've packed, sorted out all of the electrical stuff, got all of the necessary information together, and hoped very hard that this trip will be less stressful than the last one. Then, once I get back, I can catch up on everything that's been delayed over the last month and clear the desk again... just in time to do all of my marking. Having said that, I do have an exam paper to write while I'm away.
I've also checked my flight times and discovered that I have an entire morning free on Thursday before I have to leave for the airport. My plan, then, is to do the tourist thing and take a wander around the old town centre... and, of course, see the holy grail. :)
According to the BBC weather forecast I'm only going to be doing a jump of 25 C (0 C to 25 C) compared to the 50 C (-5 C to 45 C) jump I did last week. Should be a doddle. I will, however, pack the fan I bought the last time I was in Spain for a conference. I think I might need it.
0 comments
I'm also seriously considering seeing if the hotel, which I know has a pool, also has a masseu(r/se), as my neck and shoulders - particularly my neck - are so tight that they're painful and tender. If things don't improve by the time I get back from Valencia I might have to go see a doctor. Maybe.
Other than that, I've packed, sorted out all of the electrical stuff, got all of the necessary information together, and hoped very hard that this trip will be less stressful than the last one. Then, once I get back, I can catch up on everything that's been delayed over the last month and clear the desk again... just in time to do all of my marking. Having said that, I do have an exam paper to write while I'm away.
I've also checked my flight times and discovered that I have an entire morning free on Thursday before I have to leave for the airport. My plan, then, is to do the tourist thing and take a wander around the old town centre... and, of course, see the holy grail. :)
According to the BBC weather forecast I'm only going to be doing a jump of 25 C (0 C to 25 C) compared to the 50 C (-5 C to 45 C) jump I did last week. Should be a doddle. I will, however, pack the fan I bought the last time I was in Spain for a conference. I think I might need it.
Labels: Valencia
0 comments