Barcelona

i have justs spent a few days in Barcelona for work, at the mobile world congress, one of the world's largest technology conferences, and which i also attended two years ago. The conference was just like two years ago: enormous, interesting and somewhat fun.

Huawei's booth was the largest by some way focusing on the latest trends and solutions we offer for telecommunications companies, then there was the smaller one displaying our latest phones and smart watches, and another one looking at more futuristic technology: the driverless car simulation, the high definition and virtual reality widescreen camera that you could control from home to select what you want to watch (e.g. of a football match), the robots playing music, and the merged reality which you watch through the headset but can still interact with by wearing special gloves. There was also the virtual reality zombie shooting game which was a little disorientating. Outside town there was a connected car demonstation we did with Vodafone at the Barcelona racetrack, which was also the location for the Formula 1 testing so we also saw (and certainly heard) the racecars zooming by.

Unlike my previous visit I had some time to explore the beautiful old town of Barcelona with some stunning cathedrals, churches and buildings (as well as the weird) and the pretty squares or piazas. I was very impressed with the gothic quarter in particular, and at how many old and beautiful buildings there were. It is a very walkable city, with some nice shops and interesting buildings, though nothing too modern or extravagent that would ruin the overall feeling. I also noticed a lot of kids playgrounds everywhere... i guess this is something that is near the top of my consciousness nowadays!

There is an excellent nightlife, a pleasent seafront, a few nice parks, and some good museums. The main one, next to the cathedral is incredibly well done and allows you to explore Barcelona throughout the ages by actually exploing the archaeological ruins under the building. I also managed to pop into the small Jewish museum. One evening was spent at a spectacular art gallery on a hill overlooking Barcelona at a Huawei party for customers and guests wich some great food and entertainment. Another evening was spent at the Nou Camp watching Barcelona win a football match 6-1. 

There was plenty of time to eat some nice croissants, excellent tapas and paella, as well as sample local beers and wines. It was a tiring trip with lots of walking and lots of working at the exhibition, but it was also good to see many colleagues from China and other countries around the world who also work in Public Affairs or other departments and who I had not seen for a while.