Master Baggins!

Greetings from Basque country

I find myself in northern Spain in a place which calls itself Bilbo, and which the rest of the world calls Bilbao. So far, this metropolis, this economic engine of Basque country, seems to be reaching technological, cultural, and aesthetic heights unseen in neighboring regions. What was once all industry--bourgeois, business-minded, and ugly--has transformed itself into something new, avant-garde, and futuristic: wide boulevards lined with grandiose buildings, a new subway system, a stunning new bridge, and a stylish riverwalk. But the shining Guggenheim Museum is what has brought Bilbao to international prominence. The first time I ever heard about the city was when I visited the Guggenheim in New York. I'll be visiting the place tomorrow. You should see it. It looks like it's bursting out of the Río de Bilbao. I've been told to expect some non-traditional exhibition spaces, e.g., I might be asked to take off my shows, lie on the floor, walk through mazes, or even sing through various eccentric exhibits. I'll let you know.

Barcelona. Back during the conference last week.... we had the afternoon free on Wednesday, and I rambled about with two friends I met from the conference, Urban and Matej. We made a pilgrimage to that strange looking church I posted about before. It was fun to wander the whole city. Later that night, about ten of us conference goers went to a 'typical' Catalan restaurant, picked one of the conferences hosts´, Frederic (who may be spending next year working at Caltech in my dept.). I say 'typical' because that become a joke. All kinds of crazy foods, clothes, and behaviors came to be called 'typical.' For example, I asked about what the custom was for a man to wear to a Spanish wedding. I was told all black, with a tall black hat. And bring a goat as a gift. But anyway, the food on Wednesday was very good: tomato laden bread, hearty cheeses, thinly sliced meats, and some paté.

Thursday night I chilled a bit. I went out to get some clothes for that wedding. Foregoing Frederic´s advice, I bought a hip, but formal shirt. I also found that dress shoes can cost you nearly €200 if you´re insane and/or fashionable. So instead I went to a Payless Shoe Source-esque zapateria and got some decent shoes for much less. It was kinda hard to get the shoes. All the shoes were behind glass. I saw people trying shoes on but didn't know how they got them. So I finally tried some slow and broken Spanish and got me some snazzy shoes. And then I had the good fortune to run into some chaps selling ties on a blanket near the train station for only €2. Score!

Friday for lunch an even bigger group (¡a baker's dozen or more!) went out to a Lebanese place. We were almost late to the afternoon session, which was always the most difficult one to stay awake for. During my talk, I even thanked people for sacrificing their siesta for me. After the session, I taked with a guy from Uni Barcelona named Alex about our mutual interest in codimension 1 surfaces of 4D symplectic maps. ¿Isn't that cool? But things really got hotter when a big group of us went out to dinner, a drink, and later, dancing. There were only four of us in the dancing subgroup, as most people were hopeless lightweights :) The cool thing about Barcelona is that there are discotecas all over the place. And they have no cover charge! They make up for that with €8 drinks. We went to a couple places, and started flailing around. No Salsa or Merengue this time, just that techno pulsation stuff. At some indecent hour, I went to sleep.

Wedding in L'Ainsa. Saturday was the last day of the conference, but I had a wedding in the Pyrenees to go to, in the charming medieval village of L'Ainsa. I heard the first talk and then jammed. You might wonder why I was going to a wedding there, but it was because John, who know the bride and groom, Debrah and Jernej (pronounced: yehr NAY), in the economics dept where he works, asked me to go 'represent'. I met them once or twice, and it was cool to witness their vows. And you might be asking, why did they choose to have their wedding in Spain. Well, the Debrah is from Venezuela and Jernej is from Slovenia. They met while attending university in Barcelona (A ha!). So they decided to have their wedding in Spain. And what a great excuse for their friends and relatives to go on vacation, I say!

The wedding was performed in a thousand year old church and the was mostly in Spanish. Also, the vows were exchanged in three languages: English, Spanish, and Slovenian. The priest joked that having said their vows thrice, the marriage should definitely last. Apparently the priest cracked several jokes. Pero, no entendía mucho. :(

The reception was in a restaurant with a beautiful view of Los Pirineos Montañas (the Pyrenees Mountains). ¡They served an egg and potato thing in a martini glass! There were so many courses! My table was a real polyglot civilization. Two Slovenians, Yurij and Matej, who speak some English to my left. To my right, Mercè who knows four languages in addition to her native Catalán tongue, and also speaks the language of math. Across from me was an Austrian who speaks fluently en español. Near me was also a Spaniard who spoke no English but had a big beard, goes hiking, and wants to build a big telescope in his yard, so we had much more in common than language! And then a Caltech physicist dude across the way; not me, but some guy I've seen around campus named Paul. I think he'll be roaming Spain some this week as well. BTW John, I met some British professor dude who claimed to know you -- and like many Brits I've met, had a peculiar sense of humor. Fun was had all around. After cheers in several languages, no STRAH vee uh being the most common (Slovenian?), the after party began and was even cooler. There was a salsa style band, and people were dancing. Some guys dressed as musketeers showed up as well, some sailors that somehow got invited. I was tired, so at about 3 am, it was time to call it quits. ¡Viva los novios!