I have been in the city for a few days and a few things are top of mind:

• It amazes me how the city does not start until 8PM. We were at a restaurant last night, arrived at 8:00PM and it was empty. We were asked to wait until 8:30 (when they opened) and it did not get busy until 10PM.
• Lots of people speak English except the cab drivers. I have yet to meet one who speaks English. BUT they all listen to English music, often bad 90s English music.
• I can’t believe that they still allow smoking in restaurants. But there must be something going on, because in some places I see people standing outside, but in others .. they are smoking inside. Maybe it is a timing thing (i.e. After 9PM … you know, dinner time).
• Scooter drivers are almost as crazy as British scooter drivers (but not quite). They love to pop down the middle of the stopped cars at a light, jumping the queue. And scooters are everywhere.

• I am with a few colleagues and I was laughing as they went through the ‘no iron shock’. What do you mean I cannot have an iron and I have to pay housekeeping to iron a shirt? Welcome to Europe.
• I was shocked when I read the local news and the current state of the Spanish economy. The collapse of the real estate market (and the foreign investment) has been a major contributor to the current unemployment rate of 19% with 40% of young people out of work. Terrible.

Even though it has rained every day (being inside, not like it makes a difference), I remain in awe of European beauty. The architecture, even if run down, is beautiful. And from some reason, a cappuccino in Barcelona just tastes better? Excuse the photos, my camera died and I lost the USB .. so camera on BB.

There is a huge Green theme at World Mobile Congress this year. Although not relevant to Canada, it was very interesting to see the radio systems that could be put up in remove areas, powered by the sun or wind. They were everywhere.