Ay caramba!!!! What an awful, crazy day! So, until today, only about 60% of the conference attenders have been here, because the actual conference didn't start until today. There were a ton of people and lots of security - the entire building was sealed off except for the auditorium. So it was crazy until the Prince left. Then, the lunch crowd was insane - way too many people for the way the line was arranged. Eventually we figured out how to rearrange the line and it got easier, but it made life very stressful to me. The room I was assigned to turned out to not be very interesting for me, so that was annoying, too.

After the conference ended, there was a "reception". Last time I was at this conference that meant a dinner with good food and music, but this time it meant sitting in the auditorium and watching a hearing imparied flamenco dancer. At first I didn't think limited hearing would make the dancing that difficult, but at one point it took her awhile to find the right rhythm. She did a beautiful job once she got into it.

After the reception, there was an exclusive event hosted by Google at the Prado Museum (because they are partnering together to make the artwork in the Prado accessible on Google Earth at a very high resolution - 14 paintings are currently available). I was invited because I applied for the Google Travel Grant (so they could pay for part of my airplane ticket - although I was declined). They let me bring one guest, so I brought Karen. I'm glad I did because 1) she enjoyed it far more than I did and 2) she was a lot of fun to talk with. I really enjoy looking at statues more than paintings and we only got to tour the 14 paintings featured on Google Earth. However, the room where the reception was held after the tour contained 7 statues (supposed to be daughters of Apollo? or Zeus?) so that was cool. You aren't allowed to take photos in the museum, but we were able to take photos in that room, so I have one with me and the statues :)

We left around 11pm and walked to the metro. I watched a bit of tennis while I was getting ready for bed - I had to eat something because they've only been feeding us fingerfood!!! I'm tired of not having real food and can't wait to get home!


Well, that's it for now.

Labels: Spain, WWW2009