Three weeks in Europe, part two: Seville to Prague

By Sunday, September 27th, I had been in Seville for a few days and people were arriving for the annual Discourse meetup. I honestly cannot remember doing much that day besides chilling and waiting for everyone to show up. We hung out in the common room for happy hour, then had a buffet dinner at the hotel.

After a week of mostly figuring out my own days, it was time for a schedule.

A cathedral and a questionable ceiling

Monday was officially day one of the meetup. My first group activity was a walking tour of the cathedral, followed by a tapas lunch. There were about fifteen of us.

Water was dripping from the ceiling during lunch, and we joked that it was coming from the WC. I do not know where it was actually coming from, which is probably fine.

Then it was back for happy hour and our team intro dinner. I still cannot remember the name of the restaurant.

Workshops and bowling

Tuesday was the first conference day. I went to the Future of the Internet and AI Roundtable workshops, then went bowling with my immediate infra teammates before dinner at Casa Cuna.

Somewhere in there I also bought a Pokémon manga in Spanish. My souvenirs were now ceramic tiles and Pokémon.

273 seconds

Wednesday started with lightning talks. I went first with a presentation on NixOS, then returned for "273," my take on John Cage's 4'33".

I made a slide deck with three movements that advanced automatically. Then I did not say a word for 273 seconds.

Afterward, I went to a session about term-llm. By then I needed a break, so I missed the final round of sessions. There had been a lot of people and a lot going on, and I needed some time to myself.

Another meetup tattoo

Wednesday night I continued a tradition I started at last year's meetup: getting a tattoo.

I went to Lucero Tattoo and got a birdman from Javi Juelle. He had just drawn the flash, so it is a 1/1. A little more permanent than the tiles, and much easier to get home without breaking.

Three people at the Alcázar

Thursday was the second activity day, and this time I went to the Alcázar. Our group was only three people, which was nice. It was much less hectic than trying to keep up with a group of fifteen.

We spent about three hours walking around, learning about the architecture and who ruled it when. Tickets were sold out for the two weeks after our tour, so we got very lucky.

There was also a robot lawn mower working away in the gardens. All that architecture and history, and of course I stopped to photograph the little robot doing the groundskeeping.

Our little group walked back to the hotel afterward. I mostly chilled until happy hour and the final team dinner.

Apparently I ride in carriages now

We took carriages all the way to Ozama restaurant. It is probably the most touristy thing I have ever done.

I had spent part of the previous week complaining about the carriages making Plaza de España smell like horse shit. Now I was in one.

Dinner was pretty good. There was a flamenco performance, so it was loud at first, but we were right on the Guadalquivir. The thing I remember best from the meal is the chocolate molten lava cake. That was very good.

Laundry and more cake

Friday was the final official day, but nothing was planned. After a busy couple of weeks, I needed some chill time.

I also finally needed to do laundry. I went to a laundromat near the hotel that morning, then spent most of the day taking it easy and strolling around the hotel.

Before dinner, I went back to Cafetería Tartería Chanticream for a slice of lotus cheesecake and another espresso. I had dinner at the hotel again, this time a steak. It was very good.

The little things

Not all of my photos were of landmarks. Somewhere along the way, I found a utility cover with a Supercable gecko that looked suspiciously like the SUSE mascot. Apparently even on vacation I am looking at infrastructure and thinking about Linux.

There were more tiles, too. That part of the trip clearly was not over.

And a couple of bits of graffiti worth keeping: a duck, obviously, and an apple offering juice. A fairly good summary of what catches my attention when I am walking around.

One more breakfast

Saturday was my last day in Seville. I had packed most of my things the night before, so getting ready that morning was quick. I went for one final breakfast buffet, then hung out in the common room until my 1:15 train back to Madrid.

I stayed at Only YOU Atocha, near the train station. After the Seville hotel, it was definitely a step down. The room did not feel as spacious, and it was much louder.

I did not go out that evening. I did not even eat dinner because I was planning on another Only YOU breakfast buffet the next morning.

Unfortunately, that was not as good as the Seville one either.

Back to Prague

On Sunday morning, I took the airport express bus to the airport. I had bought Fast Track security access, and getting through security was a breeze.

My flight was at 1:15 and took just under three hours. When I arrived in Prague, I took the airport Uber straight to Mama Shelter.

It felt great. Honestly, it felt like home.

After two weeks of new places, I liked knowing what I was getting into. I was comfortable there. I did not need to figure out another hotel or make a plan for the evening.

I had a burger in the hotel restaurant and chilled for the rest of the night. That was exactly what I wanted.