Uhlfelder News

June 4, 2008.  Another active day showing Ellen and Matt around Barcelona.  First we hiked at the top of Collserola Parc, which provides fantastic views of the city.  Then we went to lunch at our local Turo Parc followed by a visit to Mont Juic, and the “El Puble” Espanol, which is supposed to be a Disneyesque small world visit to the various parts of Spain.  It’s not as cheesy as you would expect, and in fact all it really is is some B+ art collections plus some nice vendors with some pretty nice crafts.  I especially liked the glass designs, which are decorative only, and something I have not in fact seen in Spain.   Anne, Ellen and Matt went to a concert at the Palau de la Musica, to see Diego El Cigala sing.  They reported a very good concert. 

June 5, 2008.  Yet another active day.  I went out for a three-hour bike ride, checking out some of the roads made popular by me for me on my bike.  Anne, Ellen and Matt visited Park Guell (didn’t like it — too touristic) and Segrada Familia (too church-like).  We went to a going away party for D.R and his wife which was next to our building. 

June 6, 2008.  And yet another active day for Anne, Ellen and Matt.  They went to another music concert (starting at 10 p.m.).  I am watching and worrying about the US Economy, the astonishing lack of leadership from the Executive Branch, and what will happen to the airlines and leisure travel and skiing as gas prices continue to rise.   The increase is clearly speculative, but how it will shake out is an unknown.  I think the price of oil will drop below $100 a barrel and probably below $90 a barrel within six months.

June 7, 2008.  We saw Matt and Ellen off today.  I drove them in a bit of a rush to the airport.  Why the rush.  Well, we attended a poorly planned soccer game (an hour late, luckily since it took us an extra half hour to find the place).  Then, while the car was parked, someone broke the window trying to find something to steal, and only found Matt’s jacket.  He left my baseball cap and Matt’s hat too.  As I approached the car, I noticed the glove compartment was open and realize after a minute the back window was broken.  Bummer since we thought we’d get out of Barcelona without having any crime incidents.  It’s a real pain to deal with, that’s for sure. 

It seems to be happening.  Our friends Dan and Amy reported someone trying the “mustard” scheme on them (put mustard on someone, act like you want to help them wipe it off or otherwise distract them, then pick-pocked).  It didn’t work.  Another friend had his mother out to visit and her wallet was stolen.  It happened so stealthily that she didn’t even notice.  It’s clearly time to go before something else happens.

I went to the police station to report it.  The guy who was working there when I walked in was obviously playing video games (with sound — star wars type game) and didn’t want to be dragged away to help me so he asked the guy who spoke English to help.  That guy was very nice and even though I’d done all the work on-line, apparently they had to do it again.  It took a while, but was basically enjoyable.  They have nice digs, large spartan offices with high ceilings.  It was in a residential neighborhood and looked like a house they converted over. 

June 8, 2008.  We started packing stuff today since we want to be organized and get out of here with as little hassle as possible.  David asked how long before we are home.  Specifically, could I design a count-down timer until we arrive in Aspen.  Here it is:

Timer is here

June 9, 2008.  I started the day with a call to Paris (that sounds cool) to try to get the car insurance going.  They were very nice, gave me my options (screw you or up yours — just kidding) and told me to find a place that can fix it.  Then email them the police report with the phone and fax numbers of the garage and voila.  Actually, two calls in French, two in Spanish and I was there, more or less.  It happens there is a strike of all trucks in France and Spain, so they can’t get the glass, etc… 

Anyhow, Anne and I started packing our stuff, even though it’s early, just to get a jump on it and we had the time.  Hopefully, trucks will be moving VERY soon so we can get the stuff to UPS and sent back to the US.  It also affects availability of gas (diesel), which could be a problem. 

June 10, 2008.  I managed to get gas this morning and drop Anne and the kids at the running path and school.  It only took about 15 minutes extra and I put enough in to get us to Cadaques this week-end and make a trip to the airport and school or so.   Anne and I have noticed how cranky people around here are — the weather, which is lousy, the summer coming but not really, who knows.