Europe - April 1-9, 2003

The images would have been 24-bit JPEGs and should be viewed on a 24-bit display. Quality is likely to be very poor when viewed on an 8-bit display. Most images would have been shown at a resolution of 640x480, but would have available in 800x600 and full 1600x1200 sizes by clicking on the links after the captions.

Why are there no pictures? On the way to the airport in Barcelona to come home, I lost my backpack, including the computer that had the 200+ pictures I had taken throughout the trip.

April 1, 2003 - Williamstown to Boston

• Ride from Williamstown to Logan Airport in Boston - including the new I-90 extension through the Ted Williams Tunnel right to Logan. Flight from Boston around 7 PM.

  April 2, 2003 - London

• Arrival at 5 AM BST at Heathrow. Underground into Victoria Station, around 7 AM. Walk around looking for Luna Simone Hotel, found before too long. Able to check in immediately to rest, given that this was 1 AM EST to me.
• Late morning: walk around London. Imagine plenty of pictures of the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. Lots of people near the front gates as a band was playing some very odd selections, such as Dancing Queen. I half expected that the queen was going to come out and dance. Imagine more pictures of the Queen Victoria Monument across the closed street from the palace.
• Next walk around the nearby parks. Imagine more pictures. Walk toward government buildings. Imagine pictures of the Parliament buildings, and the clock tower housing Big Ben (the bell's name is Big Ben). Soccer and cricket in a park near there along the Thames. Imagine more pictures of the Thames.
• Long, difficult search for lunch. Every place that has any kind of seating was packed.
• Westminster Cathedral (not Abbey). Took a look around inside. Imagine more pictures. Got some soup for lunch there. Went up the elevator, I mean, lift, to the top of the bell tower. Imagine pictures of sweeping views of London.
• Underground to Tower of London/Tower Bridge area. Imagine lots of pictures, especially of the Tower Bridge. No time or energy to go in anything.
• Underground back to Victoria and on to the hotel to wait for Sue and Karen to arrive.
• Dinner later up near Victoria Station at "Jenny Lo's Tea House". There was also a picture of this place.

  April 3, 2003 - London

• Sightseeing with Sue and Karen, much from the top of a double decker sightseeing bus. Yes, yes, lots of good pictures. Imagine Trafalgar Square.
• First stop: British Museum. Not much time, so mainly looked at Egyptian stuff (Rosetta Stone) and Greek stuff (major Parthenon display). The British sure did know how to take stuff back to London.
• Lunch at a pub, walk to the Picadilly Circus area. More pictures...
• Back on a bus and into the City of London itself. Passed the dragons guarding the actual city. Financial District. St. Paul's Cathedral. Much of the area devastated by the Blitz. One old Roman ruin. Imagine a lot more pictures. Pass the Australian High Command, better known to many as Gringott's Bank. Cross London Bridge (ugly, modern one). Pass London War Museum and more. Cross back over Tower Bridge. Many more pictures.
• Boat ride on the Thames from the Tower of London area back to Westminster. Many, many more pictures to imagine. Shakespeare's Globe Theater. Cleopatra's Needle. The London Eye. The "wobbly" bridge.
• Wait to go inside Parliament. Saw a few minutes of an MP talking about things like keeping post offices open, promoting education choice, and pride in the Union Jack. No missing pictures from there, though.
• Attempt to see Westminster Abbey, but it was closed.
• Walked back to the hotel to get stuff. Cab to Paddington Station. Train to Oxford. Walk to Karen's and late-night Indian deliver food.

  April 4, 2003 - Oxford

• Morning walking around Oxford, visit to Karen's lab. Imagine lots of great pictures.
• Visit to Oxford Museum of Natural History and the adjacent Pitt Rivers Museum.
• On to a bus tour of Oxford. Many pictures of the many colleges in Oxford.
• Visit to the Museum of Science History.
• More walking around Oxford. Magdalen College. The dining hall that was the inspiration for the Hogwarts Great Hall. The University College Cathedral. Deer. Imagine still more pictures. Walk down a path to the Thames/Isis River.
• Break at a pub, stop at a pizza place for dinner on the way back to Karen's.

  April 5, 2003 - Oxford to Barcelona

• Early morning cab and bus from Oxford to Heathrow, and uneventful flight to Barcelona.
• Arrive in Barcelona, train into the city, walk to the Hotel Abbot.
• Bus tour of Barcelona - art museum area, Montjuïc, Olympic Stadium, La Rambla area, Mediterranean beach area, Sagrada Familia cathedral, lots of plazas, Palau Reial. A pretty large number of pictures to be imagined only at this point.

  April 6, 2003 - Barcelona

• Metro and walking around Barcelona. Walk around Port Olímpic, beach area.
• Ride up the Montjuïc Furnicular (think the old Skyway at Disney) to a neat old fort. Imagine lots of excellent pictures from there, of the fort, of the city, and more.

  April 7, 2003 - Barcelona

• COMPLAS 2003 - VII International Conference on Computational Plasticity at Universitat Politènica de Catalunya.

  April 8, 2003 - Barcelona

• COMPLAS 2003 - VII International Conference on Computational Plasticity at Universitat Politènica de Catalunya.

  April 9, 2003 - Barcelona to Williamstown

• Lost backpack at Sants-Estacio on the way to the airport - attempt to find it - no luck. So, no need to imagine pictures from here on, they never existed.
• Iberia flight to London, connection at Heathrow to catch the flight to Boston.
• Arrival in Boston around 7:30 PM, home to Williamstown before 11 PM EDT (which is 5 AM CEST - Barcelona time).