A quick run to Madrid
Oct. 8th, 2003 08:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jayYesterday I had a meeting at the Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB) in Madrid, so Monday afternoon I left Rio Tinto around 4pm for the 600km (400 mile) drive. I also carried Dave and Nancy back there, where they caught a flight to Amsterdam. Then returned back to Rio Tinto after the meetings, arriving yesterday (Tuesday) evening.
Sunday evening I turned in the Chrysler van at the Seville airport for something with an automatic transmission... I still popped the clutch about half the time from a standing start, needed to constantly think about what I was doing, and hence couldn't focus on traffic threats. Without others in the car, this would be a foolish approach, driving alone in European cities... so here's the new car:
A baby Mercedes with a 1.5L turbo-diesel... it easily cruises at 160-170 kph (100-105 mph) and still gets about 45 mpg on the highway. It's a bit cramped with three or four adults, but is fine for two.
Arriving in Madrid at 9pm, we checked in to our hotel, freshened, then went to dinner at a local flamenco club near the Plaza Mayor. The food was indifferent, but the dancing was sensational...
Yesterday I left early, fought Madrid morning traffic and went to CAB (which is part of the Spanish R&D administration, itself part of the Ministerio de Defensa -- vaguely DARPA-like) located on part of the large air base at Torrejon (suburban Madrid). I met with CAB folks and worked out the satellite communications links for next year's efforts, and the data redistribution and archiving functions they'll perform. Then tracked down a shipment of special oxygen-impermeable plastic sheathing that was shipped from the US on Friday. CAB has a sparkling new research building... I looked at possible sites for our mission-operations simulation, like this robotics lab:
Then left CAB around 1pm. On my way back to Rio Tinto, I first stopped at Madrid airport and had a last lunch with Nancy and Dave before they boarded their flight to Amsterdam.
It was a bit sad to see them off... we've gotten on each others' nerves at times, and our travelling styles aren't quite compatible, but they're still part of my extended family, and I'll miss their respective perspectives... far different than mine, sometimes.
Then the drive south... rolling down the N-V freeway in the baby-Benz at 150 kph, sunny countryside passing by, RHPS soundtrack on the new portable CD player I bought Monday in Nerva (the new car has no CD player, and I need music ;). I stopped for an hour in Merida and looked at a Roman stadium and amphitheatre there... it is open to the public. Simply walking down 2ka-old steps, or leaning against a 1900-year-old doorway... looking at kitchen frescoes... I find that mind-blowing, coming from a country where "old" is pre-WW-II and "very old" typically means the mid-19th century.
I arrived at the lab in Rio Tinto at sunset, around 8pm... worked another two hours there until we closed up and went back to the hotel for dinner. Since it was Tuesday night, I calledgeekchick (surprise!)... it was lovely to hear her voice again... thanks, dear!
Today... lots of imaging of cores. Maybe we'll finish this borehole, it is down to 127m-deep. And this afternoon at 4pm is my webcast lecture.
Sunday evening I turned in the Chrysler van at the Seville airport for something with an automatic transmission... I still popped the clutch about half the time from a standing start, needed to constantly think about what I was doing, and hence couldn't focus on traffic threats. Without others in the car, this would be a foolish approach, driving alone in European cities... so here's the new car:
A baby Mercedes with a 1.5L turbo-diesel... it easily cruises at 160-170 kph (100-105 mph) and still gets about 45 mpg on the highway. It's a bit cramped with three or four adults, but is fine for two.
Arriving in Madrid at 9pm, we checked in to our hotel, freshened, then went to dinner at a local flamenco club near the Plaza Mayor. The food was indifferent, but the dancing was sensational...
Yesterday I left early, fought Madrid morning traffic and went to CAB (which is part of the Spanish R&D administration, itself part of the Ministerio de Defensa -- vaguely DARPA-like) located on part of the large air base at Torrejon (suburban Madrid). I met with CAB folks and worked out the satellite communications links for next year's efforts, and the data redistribution and archiving functions they'll perform. Then tracked down a shipment of special oxygen-impermeable plastic sheathing that was shipped from the US on Friday. CAB has a sparkling new research building... I looked at possible sites for our mission-operations simulation, like this robotics lab:
Then left CAB around 1pm. On my way back to Rio Tinto, I first stopped at Madrid airport and had a last lunch with Nancy and Dave before they boarded their flight to Amsterdam.
It was a bit sad to see them off... we've gotten on each others' nerves at times, and our travelling styles aren't quite compatible, but they're still part of my extended family, and I'll miss their respective perspectives... far different than mine, sometimes.
Then the drive south... rolling down the N-V freeway in the baby-Benz at 150 kph, sunny countryside passing by, RHPS soundtrack on the new portable CD player I bought Monday in Nerva (the new car has no CD player, and I need music ;). I stopped for an hour in Merida and looked at a Roman stadium and amphitheatre there... it is open to the public. Simply walking down 2ka-old steps, or leaning against a 1900-year-old doorway... looking at kitchen frescoes... I find that mind-blowing, coming from a country where "old" is pre-WW-II and "very old" typically means the mid-19th century.
I arrived at the lab in Rio Tinto at sunset, around 8pm... worked another two hours there until we closed up and went back to the hotel for dinner. Since it was Tuesday night, I called
geekchick (surprise!)... it was lovely to hear her voice again... thanks, dear!Today... lots of imaging of cores. Maybe we'll finish this borehole, it is down to 127m-deep. And this afternoon at 4pm is my webcast lecture.
