Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Spain, June 21 - July 9, 2007
I left Brussels on the morning of June 21. I took the high-speed train to Paris, then a slower train to Montpellier, and finally a slower train still to Barcelona. I arrive in Barcelona about 11:00 that evening. The trip was great. I was able to enjoy the scenery, get a little work done, and relax. I checked into a dorm room on the campus of the University of Barcelona.
On Saturday I met Bob and Mary Annis. We purchased tickets to a tour bus of Barcelona which allowed us to get off and on the bus as often as we wished. We had lunch on the wharf over looking the Mediterranean, stopped to view several Antonio Gaudi buildings including the Sagrada Familia Cathedral that has been under construction for 125 years. That evening I had dinner with a group of students and faculty that had arrived early for the summer institute.
On Sunday Judy Stallmann joined Bob, Mary and I and we toured Barcelona some more. We spend much of the day at
the Park Guell which Gaudi 
originally planned to be a housing development, but which became a public park. We visited the Gaudi museum. That evening we had the opening reception for the summer institute.
On Monday we visited the Canadian Consulate in Barcelona, and local goverment agencies. Then we took a bus up to Solsona, on the southern edge of the Pyrenees Mountains. The students checked into a Seminario on a hill
over looking Solsona while the faculty checked into one of two hotels downtown. Solsona is a historical, walled city with a population of less than 10,000.
For the next two weeks the International Comparative Rural Policy Studies summer institute was held in and around Solsona. Classes were held every morning, ending about 2 or 3, sometimes in the seminario, and other days at a local forestry college. We took several field trips to visit local rural development projects. Most of these were agro-tourism or organic food production. During these field trips we visited Busa Mountain, Cardona Castle, Alinyà Mountain, Natural Park of Sant Llorenç del Munt i l´Obac. On Saturday, July 7 we took our final field trip, ending up in Barcelona, at the University of Barcelona dorms again
.
On July 8 I took an early flight back to Missouri.
On Saturday I met Bob and Mary Annis. We purchased tickets to a tour bus of Barcelona which allowed us to get off and on the bus as often as we wished. We had lunch on the wharf over looking the Mediterranean, stopped to view several Antonio Gaudi buildings including the Sagrada Familia Cathedral that has been under construction for 125 years. That evening I had dinner with a group of students and faculty that had arrived early for the summer institute.On Sunday Judy Stallmann joined Bob, Mary and I and we toured Barcelona some more. We spend much of the day at
the Park Guell which Gaudi 
originally planned to be a housing development, but which became a public park. We visited the Gaudi museum. That evening we had the opening reception for the summer institute.On Monday we visited the Canadian Consulate in Barcelona, and local goverment agencies. Then we took a bus up to Solsona, on the southern edge of the Pyrenees Mountains. The students checked into a Seminario on a hill
over looking Solsona while the faculty checked into one of two hotels downtown. Solsona is a historical, walled city with a population of less than 10,000.For the next two weeks the International Comparative Rural Policy Studies summer institute was held in and around Solsona. Classes were held every morning, ending about 2 or 3, sometimes in the seminario, and other days at a local forestry college. We took several field trips to visit local rural development projects. Most of these were agro-tourism or organic food production. During these field trips we visited Busa Mountain, Cardona Castle, Alinyà Mountain, Natural Park of Sant Llorenç del Munt i l´Obac. On Saturday, July 7 we took our final field trip, ending up in Barcelona, at the University of Barcelona dorms again
.
On July 8 I took an early flight back to Missouri.
