MADRID - A Bitter Sweet Reunion
Madrid was an emotional experience for the IDC. Much of the trip had been planned by Alberto Francioni before his untimely demise in June. We found ourselves reminiscing of trips of the past with Alberto while at the same time enjoying the experiences he had created for us.
Madrid is a beautiful city. While it is the third largest city in Europe, it is very clean with wide avenue-filled streets, surrounded by parks, lakes and green spaces so that it appears to be a much smaller town. Madrid was a welcome surprise!
Madrid is a beautiful city. While it is the third largest city in Europe, it is very clean with wide avenue-filled streets, surrounded by parks, lakes and green spaces so that it appears to be a much smaller town. Madrid was a welcome surprise!
We made the Westin Palace Hotel our home while in Madrid. Commissioned by King Alfonso XIII in 1912, the Palace Madrid is set near the Prado, near historic monuments and some of the
best tapas restaurants in town and ranked as one of the world's
best hotels by Condé Nast Traveler’s 2010 . The regal building has been the center of Spanish society for almost 100 years. (http://westinpalacehotel.eurobookings.com)
We took full advantage of our location, finding that we could easily walk to shopping, restaurants, parks and museums. We reveled in every Madrid moment; from the fun Hop-on Hope-off Tour of the city, the Edward Hopper Exhibit at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, to our private tour of the Prado Museum.
(http://www.museothyssen.org)
We took full advantage of our location, finding that we could easily walk to shopping, restaurants, parks and museums. We reveled in every Madrid moment; from the fun Hop-on Hope-off Tour of the city, the Edward Hopper Exhibit at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, to our private tour of the Prado Museum.
(http://www.museothyssen.org)
Traveling to Barcelona
One of the great traveling experiences of Europe is their wonderful rail system. The AVE between Madrid and Barcelona was they way to travel, a luxurious three hour trip . The train station was just a few blocks away from the hotel, an easy walk. Buying our tickets a couple of months in advance saved us up to 70% off a first-class ticket price.
Barcelona - Happy Birthday Renate
The IDC scheduled our trip to Barcelona to celebrate Renate Francoini's birthday! And what a wonderful city to celebrate! We were among the one million visitors that come to Barcelona each week. Enriched with two-thousand years of varied heritages, the city is bi-lingual, but prefers their native Catalan language over Spanish. However, we were able to converse easily using Kaye's fluent Spanish and the very friendly people of the city .
We tried different hotel experiences
Renate, Judy and Paul went for a modern experience with the W Hotel in Barcelona, located on the Mediterranean Sea. Ronnie and Doug went online to airb&b.com and rented a local apartment. Kaye and Bob went for sheer elegance by staying at the Palace Hotel. What fun! Each of us had a different slice of Barcelona to share over dinner each evening. (http://hotelpalacebarcelona.com, http://www.starwoodhotels.com/whotels/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=3183)
We did our usual hop-on hop-off open-air city tour and then went on to enjoy the Gaudi architectural experiences found in abundance in Barcelona. One can not visit Barcelona without experiencing the incredible works of Antonio Gaudi. Whether enjoying the unfinished masterpiece La Sagrada Familia, the incredible Casa Mila, or the Park Guell, the uniqueness of his work is stunning.
Girona
Doug scored big for the IDC! Based on recommendations from several , he called a week before our trip and made reservations for the seven of us to enjoy a tasting lunch at Celler de Can Roco, listed as the second best restaurant in the world. To get there we once again boarded the wonderful Spanish train system and found ourselves transported from Barcelona to the town of Girona in a little over an hour. Girona is s a city in the northeast of Cataloni, Spain. Although, we primarily came to the city to eat, there was time for us to do a brief walk through of the historical city.
IDC experiences Catalonia's
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Although over a million people were scheduled to demonstrate in Barcelona, we witnessed the smaller demonstration held in Girona. National dances, freedom songs and speeches marked the day.
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Celler de Can Roco
Never in the existence of the IDC have we have had a culinary experience like the one that occurred at the tasting lunch at Celler de Can Roco. The food incredible, the presentation off the charts. But as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words!
(Since our visit, Celler de Can Roco has been named the top restaurant in the world!)
(Since our visit, Celler de Can Roco has been named the top restaurant in the world!)