Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Barcelona

I've just came back form Barcelona!!! :)))

Yes, yes... I had a business trip there... So, according to the HP policy (try to choose the cheapest solution), I've arrived to Barcelona on Sunday moring, spent the whole day with sightseeing, than on Monday left to the HP site, than on Monday evening came back.

It was cheaper to spend 1 night in Barcelona, rather than flying and coming back on the same day...

It was amazing.

When I was in Grenoble and in Lyon, I followed Coelho's advise: you can visit a city if you just let yourself walk around it... without any goal, or map.

Well, I didn't want to risk that in Barcelona, so the first thing after my arrival was to get a map from a toursit office. I already checked earlier the famous bulidings, and important things I want to see... So this time, even myself was really amazed, how prepared I could be... :)

Anyways, after checking in the hotel... (the guy at the recption was really helpful and nice... ;) ) I made my plan:
- would like to see everything... :)))

What a great goal!!!! :)

I have to say, - maybe because it was 20°C, and the sun was shining- but Barcelona is AMAZING!!!!

I visited some famous buildings:

La Sagrada Familia - it is the big art of Gaudi, ha had been working on that church for 40 years, and it is still not ready. Hopefully it will be finished by 2020...



Arc de Triomf


It 's not a typical Arc de Triomf, like in Paris, but definitly not an ugly one. :)

Actually that was the entrance of the World Exhibiton in 1888. If we walk from that Arc the Triupmph we end up in a beautiful park, with the Zoo inside:

The Parc de la Ciutadella

In the middle of the parc there is a huge fountain:



Ok, to tell you the truth, it was under construction, when I arrived.. so... yes... i stole this photo... :)

Casa Battlo and Casa Milà

Both house was bulit by Gaudi, however, Casa Milà was bulit only by a scatch..there was no plan for that.

Basicly the idea was: not to have any straight line:






You can visit these houses, and also living there is possible.. however, of course for a fortune... :)

What really surprised me, was a hospital, Hospital de Sant Pau.

You can visit it, as a museum... however, somehow I didn't feel approriate to take photos in a hospital...

The famous Guell Parc:



It is also the art of Gaudi - the famous catalan architect.
Originally the park was planned to be a huge park with houses, however, nobody wanted to live there, so as a business it was a total failure. Gaudi lived here with his family.

Tha park is amazing, the branches are also made from this mosaic, there are arcades, and the best view of Barcelona.

Tha famous avenue is the Ramblas.


This street is full with restaurants, bars, pubs, living sculptures, shops, souveniers, etc.

One of the main reason, why I should go back to Barcelona, is the Font Magico, the magic fountain.

I haven't seen the show...so I definitly have to go back there once, ando f course, I missed the bull arena, the FC Barcelona match, the Picasso museum... so lot to do still... :))

So, more information about Barcelona is here in hungarian or in english.

Than on Monday we had meetings, presentations, etc.

I think it was useful, and it was great to meet face to face with some of my teammembers.

So now, at least I can associate a face to each voice... :)))

I am wondering, how others picture me after my voice...

From a business point of view, it was maybe not the most useful meeting, however it was nto that bad... netmeeting, presentation, work, fun. :)

The WW HQ of Graphic Arts is in Barcelona, with a huge LFP museum... (those huge printers, that makes the huge advertisements...) pretty impressive...

I definitly have to go back there once for a demo or a training...

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