Category: Travel

Spain in February

My mom likes to go to Spain in February to escape the Norwegian winter. I was lucky to be able to visit her there and time it perfectly to include a Go tournament in Barcelona. Little did I know that this would be my last trip for a while. And while Europe is now far along the road to recovery, the US has grossly mismanaged the epidemic to the point where we’re now (rightly so) banned from entering Europe.

It may seem frivolous to write about travel in these times, and this blog post was sitting half-finished for months. However, I’m confident that we’ll be traveling again someday; for now, please join me from home. I hope you’re safe and healthy wherever you are, and that looking forward to travel may help you get through this.

I’ll start with the Go tournament; stick with me if you’re interested in some of the architecture Spain has to offer.

Barcelona Go Tournament

It was fun to meet tournament organizer Julio Martinez in person after only knowing him as @liopic on Twitter, and I even got paired against him in the first round. I ended up winning three games and losing two, bringing my European rating back up to 1 dan. The game against the eventual winner of the tournament, Rita Pocsai 4 dan, was a foregone conclusion, but every other game could have ended differently.

In the game against Marco Meyenschein 4 dan, I misplayed the top right corner, but at least got some outside influence while giving him 40 solid points. I was close to resigning; if it had not been the last game, I might have done so and saved my energy for the next game. Playing on, I managed to stake out a moyo large enough that he was forced to invade to reduce it:

As he was running away, I built up territory, but not enough. He just had to connect out, but after misreading a connection, his stones got trapped and eventually died.

Not sure what the lesson is: Don’t give up too soon? Beware an opponent who has nothing to lose? Or resign earlier so you don’t have to win this way?

Alicante

The area around L’Albir is really picturesque, with mountains going all the way down to the sea, and narrow streets in the old town of Altea. And a climate that attracts a lot of Norwegians.

Valencia

As a fan of Calatrava (see my trip to his train station in Liège-Guillemins), I stopped in his home town of Valencia to see the City of Arts and Sciences. What a sight! Season 3 of Westworld features many scenes at these futuristic-looking buildings. I only had a few hours, and couldn’t explore the insides, but what an experience to just walk around and take it all in.

Sagrada Família

Barcelona is home to Gaudi, and especially the Sagrada Família. My last trip to Barcelona was in 1992, playing in the Othello World Championship. Since then, the Sagrada Família has made a lot of progress. The outside is still weird:

But the inside is even more magnificent:

Unfortunately, access to the towers is more restricted than it was in 1992, but still well worth it for the spiral stairs, and views into the church from above.

It’s still a construction zone; I’m looking forward to visiting Barcelona again when it’s completed in 2026 (not software, so maybe they’ll even finish on time).

Casa Milà

Another Gaudi building with a lot of controversy. While it’s been derisively nicknamed La Pedrera (the stone quarry), the construction as well as the inside is amazing: lots of light thanks to the dual courtyards, the first underground car garage in Barcelona, arched attic (used for laundry), rooftop with chimneys and ventilation as sculptures.

As with the Sagrada Família, Gaudi figured out the load-bearing structure using hanging chain models, resulting in optimal arches when turned upside down.

Memories and pictures of my trip help keep my spirits up as I remain at home. I’m looking forward to my next trip to Spain – it may be a while, but I’ll definitely be back. Meanwhile, please stay safe.

Highlights from Scotland and Ireland

This summer, I had to miss the US Go Congress in favor of a family reunion in Ireland, but was able to attend the European Go Congress in Brussels instead. Starting with a week in Scotland and ending with a week in Switzerland, this was my longest vacation in a while.

If you follow @smartgo on Twitter, you’ve already seen some of the highlights. I want to provide more context and better pictures of my favorite spots on this trip, for armchair travelers as well as those who are lucky enough to one day visit these places.

Scotland

Stirling Castle

Did you know the unicorn is the national animal of Scotland? Stirling Castle has all the features you’d expect of a castle, but unicorns on the roof? Unexpected.

The Kelpies

From unicorns to The Kelpies (shape-shifting water spirits): these 30 meter high sculptures celebrate the horse-powered heritage of Scotland.

Falkirk Wheel

To connect two canals at different elevations, you can build a series of locks. Or a rotating lift for boats. The Falkirk Wheel is ingenious, moving boats with very little energy.

Glencoe

The landscape around Glencoe is beautiful, and we’ll certainly come back there for more hiking.

Glenfinnan Viaduct

During the summer, you can take the Jacobite Steam Train from Fort William to Mallaig and back twice a day – a brilliant scheme for dumping a trainload of tourists in the picturesque port town of Mallaig at lunch and dinner. The viaduct made famous by the Harry Potter movies is now a major tourist attraction, and parking is limited, so get there very early if you want to time it such that you see the steam train pass over the viaduct. (Needless to say, we miscalculated.) Also, if you want to take the steam train, book far in advance. (A few weeks out, they had only a single one-way ticket left: our daughter got to take the train, and we were out of luck.)

Brochs

Brochs are 2000 year old double-walled buildings, found only in Scotland; not much is known about their origins and purpose. We were lucky to see two that are among the best preserved: Dun Telve and Dun Troddan near Glenelg. Really fascinating. The multi-level design with a stair between the inner and outer wall is impressive.

Glenelg-Skye Ferry

The little car ferry between Glenelg and Isle of Skye is quite an experience: it only takes six cars, and the car deck is angled to make it easy to drive on and off. For the crossing, the deck is rotated by hand to align with the boat. I have not seen the movie yet, but apparently, this ferry was featured in Made of Honor.

Edinburgh

We only had a day in Edinburgh, so while we got to explore the castle, see Greyfriars Bobby, and take a tour of the South Bridge Vaults, there’s so much more we have to come back to.

The highlight was a fun dinner with Matt Gemmell, author of the action-thrillers CHANGER and TOLL. (No, he didn’t reveal any secrets about his upcoming third novel.)

Ireland

We stayed in Glengarriff in County Cork, a lovely area.

Skibbereen Heritage Center

Skibbereen was badly affected by the Great Famine; it was sobering to learn more about the devastating potato famine of the 1840s (and the ever-present risk of monoculture), as well as the mismanaged response from England. Hard to believe that Ireland’s population was higher in 1841 than it is today.

Kerry Cliffs

The Kerry Cliffs are less famous than the Cliffs of Moher, but no less impressive. In the distance you can see Skellig Michael, famous for its monastery, birds, and Star Wars. Again, book far far ahead if you’re interested in visiting the island. While you’re there, I’d recommend visiting the nearby Skelligs chocolate factory for free samples. Their Lime & Black Pepper Chocolate Bar is delicious.

Gap of Dunloe

The Gap of Dunloe is stunningly scenic. We drove the narrow road through the pass by car; I’d prefer to hike it next time.

We’ll certainly visit both Scotland and Ireland again – many places I’d love to return to, and so much more to see.

EGC 2019 in Brussels

A family reunion put me in Ireland right during the US Go Congress; luckily, the European Go Congress lined up perfectly. I arrived in Brussels without jet lag, and definitely did better than two years ago in Oberhof.

I entered as 2 dan instead of 3 dan, knowing that European ranks are tougher than US ranks. However, 1 dan might have been the right rank, as that’s where I ended up (see my EGF ranking). I won half my games in the main tournament, but I was 1-4 in the first week and 4-1 in the second week, a clear sign of being overrated.

The weekend tournament didn’t go as well: I lost all five games. Each game was winnable, but somehow I managed to mess up. I regrouped and analyzed the games, and paid more attention to taking care of my weak groups instead of going for big points, and won the next four games.

A few other observations:

I got to practice my Norwegian hanging out with a dozen players from Norway. And it was great to get to know players I’ve long known through Twitter, such as Marcel Gruenauer.
I really enjoyed the longer time limits: with two hours per player, games are often four hours long; definitely valuable to spend that much time thinking intensely about the game.
Many players stayed only for the first week and the weekend tournament, so that’s certainly an option if you can’t stay for two weeks. Looking at the registered participants, there were 571 players for the first week, 702 for the weekend tournament, and 397 for the second week.
Brussels was a great place to have the tournament, with lots of places to eat and explore (more on that below). They had go boards in nearby pubs; maybe playing rengo until 1 am was not conducive to optimal play the next day?
The playing space was okay, except for lack of air conditioning – temperatures in Brussels reached 40° C (100° F) during the first week.

Next year, I plan to be at the US Go Congress in Estes Park, Colorado – hope some of the European players will be able to make it.

Side trips

At the US Go Congress, there’s usually a group of us touring the nearest Frank Lloyd Wright buildings. Brussels has a lot of beautiful old buildings, but I found some nearby places that were more to my liking.

The Atomium

I had seen the Atomium before, so I just went to take pictures of this fun structure this time.

Reading Between the Lines

Reading Between the Lines (Doorkijkkerk) is an artwork out in the green, well worth the train, bus, and hike from Brussels.

Liège-Guillemins

I love the Stadelhofen station in Zürich designed by Santiago Calatrava, so when I found out his train station in Liège is only an hour from Brussels, I knew I had to check it out. I was blown away by the size and openness of that space, and the light coming in.