Curtis and Laureen Euro 2016: Madrid

“Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and enjoy the journey.” ~ Babs Hoffman

All of us on the trip were saddened to hear about what happened in Nice, France yesterday. We were in Madrid, Spain when the incident occurred - so nowhere near the heinous acts. Our tour guide noted it in the morning and expressed a similar sentiment to what I've felt regarding acts like this. One cannot let those who perform acts of this nature, taking innocent human lives all in the name of their cause, stand in the way of everyday life. This would be allowing them to win. Life must go on; and we must not live in fear. Prayers to those in France who were affected. I believe that we will be traveling through Nice in a few days, and our route has us going down the Promenade where the incident took place.

Today was a longer travel day. I think we only have one more long travel day and that will be when we leave Spain and head back to France. We seem to travel in 2.5 hour chunks, partly to accommodate the rules for the driver and partly to accommodate the passengers.

A View Down The Aisle

On The Way To Barcelona (Marie & Paul Just Behind Us)

The landscape is beautiful. For a while the scene out the window looked a lot like the badlands in Alberta. Then we progressed to a more agricultural stretch with grains, corn, olives, grapes and various other tree born fruits. Some places it is dry and more barren, others lush and green.

The Spanish Landscape

Our first stop was to grab a snack and head to the washrooms. It was a short stop, enough to grab something to munch on and go stand outside to enjoy the sun all while attempting to finish your grub before getting onto the bus. The weather has been beautiful the past two days with sunny clear blue skies stretching in all directions. Our second stop was for lunch and we were given 45 minutes. What was interesting about this particular stop was that it was built like a pedestrian walkway over the highway. The best way I can describe it is to think of it like that very large Pedway in the City Center Mall in Edmonton (the one with the Tim Hortons), except, it’s about 3 times as long as that, stretching over both directions of traffic over the highway. Grabbed a salad and an OJ and ate that standing up as well.

Back on the bus for the rest of the trip to Barcelona. As we got closer it was interesting to see all of the big named companies with their names plastered on the side of the buildings lining the way into Barcelona. Names like Bosch, Nestle and (one other which we can't recall right now).

We arrived at the hotel at about 4:30 PM and were instructed to be back down in the lobby for the optional dinner tonight for 6:00 PM. Those wishing to have laundry done could bring a bag that Kassie would have picked up and sent out to be done for $20 Euro per bag. Well worth it given the cost to have it done by the hotel (and easier than trying to do it yourself in the hotel room).

We were going to see a few sights of the town before heading down to the beach area where Kassie had made a reservation. We saw a few of the landmarks through the window of the bus (wish I could have got out a few times to take a photo – cause taking them through the window just isn’t the same). We did make a stop at a point high above the city and were allowed out to take a couple of pictures. Barcelona is a stunningly beautiful place.

Barcelona From Above

Out The Window (Fountain we Will Return To Tonight)

Our Group Looking To Take A Photo

Enjoying Barcelona

Area Near The Beach

Back in the bus and down to the beach for dinner. We had a fun table with: Steve & Margaret, Alf and Diane, Mark and Kat, plus Laureen and me. There was a gent playing the Accordion who kept coming over and attempted to get us to get up and dance. Mark actually did a couple of times and then I decided to get up and do the Chicken Dance, when he started playing that. Dinner was VERY good with plenty of appetizers (calamari, croquets, Iberian ham, salad and garlic shrimp), a nice fish, steak or seafood paella and a dessert (crème Brule or a Lemon sorbet). Of course, there is always wine of both red and white varieties on the table – but we also had champagne and beer. Learned a little about wines from Mark who is a real wine aficionado.

We ended the night with a trip up to a special fountain that is similar to the one at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. It’s a little smaller but you can get closer to it so it seems a little more intimate. There had to be 75,000 people there to watch the spectacle. It was pretty cool.