Half Day in Madrid and Travel to Barcelona

The post below details events from Sat, Aug 30:

We had about half a day to continue exploring Madrid before boarding a train for Barcelona.

After seeing a broad overview of Madrid on Friday, we decided to spend most of the morning in Parque del Retiro.  The park is very large green space in the city center and only a long five minute walk from our hotel.

The park was much larger than either of us had anticipated and has so many mixed uses.  There are running/walking paths, lovely gardens, statues, fountains, small cafes, a large lake with row boats and sprawling green spaces with many trees.  We mapped out a route through the park to see some of the major sights.

First down one of the major streets which is lined with statues of many Spanish explorers, warriors and rulers.

Then we moved on to the lake to see families in row boats as well as a large memorial in the background.

As we walked from the lake towards a few fountains, we started to notice a few pairs of Mormon missionaries.  Each set a had an unsuspecting person trapped in a conversation.  The further we walked, the more Mormon pairs we saw.  We successfully avoided about 9 pairs, but our luck ran out as two Elders approached us as we walked.  We didn't slow down, but they were persistent.  Bridget talked with them for about 4-5 minutes.  I had finally had enough - very sternly I told them that we were there to enjoy the beauty of the park, not to talk with them...and that we had no interest in continuing the conversation.  A bit surprised by the bluntness, they just stopped and let us go.  Bridget said - "so that's your mean voice?"  Hahaha, nope that was just my direct voice....nowhere near the mean voice that I've only had to use once during the trip...so far.

The Elders hard at work...

Other shots from the park:

Our two hours in the park passed so quickly and we needed to head back towards the hotel and prepare to leave.  On the walk back we stopped to look at works by several local artists.  Bridget bought an incredible original oil on canvas in a wonderful Impressionism style.  Such incredible blues, greens, purples.

Luckily we thought to look at our train tickets before leaving - our train left from a different station than the one we arrived.  And even better - the station was much closer to the hotel - less than a 5 minute cab ride.

The main level of the train station was quite spectacular.  I had seen this same image on several postcards throughout the city, so was a great surprise to find it as we left.

Due to timing, long lines and confusion about where our train was departing, we had to eat fast food again - this time Burger King.  We boarded the train, quickly got seated and started to devour the cheeseburgers.  We both agreed that an American-style cheeseburger, fries (with catsup) and Coca Lite tasted incredible!  

Well feed and relaxed, we settled in for the 3 hour ride to Barcelona.

Seeing the Spanish country-side along the way was quite lovely.  Some areas were very brown and looked like a desert.  Other areas were a lush green.

Sorry for the quality - took these with my iPad, across the aisle, speeding along at 170+ mph:

Starting to see the ocean in the far background:

This was one of the few trains that we're ridden that it continued on beyond our stop.  We had to exit quickly and fight through the crowds waiting to get on.

We quickly grabbed a cab and arrived at the hotel within about 15 minutes.  The parts of the city that we saw on the way to the hotel were not very historic.  On first view, Barcelona seems like a city that has adapted its architecture and style to the needs of a growing city.

At the hotel - Hilton Barcelona - the front desk clerk was extremely helpful and spent at least 20 minutes with us.  Maria Jose covered the full map of Barcelona with us, suggesting restaurants, tours, must see attractions, etc.

The room was spacious, but certainly not the suites that I've been upgraded to with SPG properties.  It is a very modern design and all of the photography in the room is of Gaudi buildings throughout the city.

We both spent time really going through our bags.  I want to send a shipment of things home before leaving Barcelona and I really need to do laundry before leaving for Rome on Wed.  I hated doing laundry in the bathroom sink in Buenos Aires, so am planning to find a laundry mat, perhaps on Tuesday.

The Executive Lounge of the hotel has en evening reception from 6-8 PM.  Not only a wide selection of appetizers, but free wine too.  I was surprised by the number of people in the lounge.  We enjoyed several tapas style treats and a few glasses of wine.

For dinner, we decided on someplace very near the hotel.  We were both a little tired and didn't feel like adventuring out too far.  We found a wonderful tapas restaurant within the same block of the hotel.  We were able to get an outside table facing the very wide sidewalk.  Service is still a little slow to begin, but once we ordered, the food started arriving very quickly.  We ordered:

- Gorgonzola and walnut croquettes

- Octopus

- Burrata cheese on a baguette

- Three-cheese risotto

- Calamari

- Tuna Tartar

Everything was very good, but we really loved the croquettes and tuna tartar.

The restaurant manager had talked with us numerous times and as we left he offered other restaurant suggestions for the rest of our stay.

As we made the short walk back to the hotel, we enjoyed the cooler, nighttime weather.  

Although it is a Saturday night in Barcelona, the idea of a good night's rest sounded incredible...so bed won out!

Whirlwind Visit to Madrid

The post below details Fri, Aug 29: 

Today is our only full day in Madrid.  We decided on a hop-on/hop-off bus tour to get a good, quick overview of the city.  The concierge was very helpful, pointing out many great lunch options, key attractions and even sold the bus tour tickets. 

The start of both routes was directly across a round-about from our hotel, so we made a quick stop at Starbucks so I could get a muffin, then on to the bus.

A bus was leaving almost immediately and we got the front seats on the upper level of the bus.  Route 1 that we took had about 20 stops and lasted about 1.5 hours.  This tour thoroughly covered the key attractions and historic areas of the city.  Included along the way:

- Puerta del Sol

- Plaza Mayor

- Iglesia de San Genis

- Teatro Real

- Museo del Prado

- Royal Palace

- Catedral Nuestra Senora la Almudena

- Parque del Retiro

- Gran Via

Puerto del Sol:

Plaza Mayor:

Museo del Prado:

Several other cool buildings along the route:

Our hotel - Westin Palace:

Still on my lamp-post theme:

Overall a great tour of the city and interesting historical facts.  During our entire time in France, whenever we mentioned that we were going to Madrid it was met with indifference at best but usually with a sour-face reaction.  With the feedback we had received we had discussed even changing the trip to extend our time in France and eliminate Madrid.  However, we found the city to be beautiful!  The people of Madrid were extremely friendly, we didn't have to deal with the crowds that were in Paris, it was extremely clean and so welcoming.  Unfortunately it was also very hot...I can't image how hot it would be in the middle of July.

After the first tour ended, we agreed to take the second route - and it was included in our ticket.  The second route was not as enjoyable as the first.  It traveled north in the city and was not as scenic or historic.  The few buildings of note were mostly hidden by large trees.  The best sight along the second route was probably the soccer stadium for Real Madrid.  It was surprising that the stadium was in the middle of the city center, completely land locked.  We didn't even notice any parking at the stadium.  A German family of 5 in front of us provided great entainment - the mother took pictures non-stop, talked non-stop, making sure the kids and her husband noticed everything.  The husband was reading a guide book almost the entire time.  The two teen-age sisters took about 50 selfies, with me in the background of each of them - I tried to smile for most of them.  Perhaps Facebook will have facial recognition of me and I'll be tagged in their selfies!  The younger brother changed seats every other block.

Real Madrid Soccer Stadium:

We exited the second tour a few stops early when it traveled near Plaza Mayor.  This is the largest square in Madrid and has many small cafes, shops, etc.  We decided to have an outdoor lunch on the Plaza.

Service at the café was very slow.  We had to wave down the server, ask different servers and remind our server many times.

The a la cart menu prices were quite high, so we both decided on the multi-course plate of the day which had multiple choices.  I started with mushrooms with ham for my starter - and it was just that - lots of mushrooms cut into smaller pieces and less than 5 VERY small pieces of ham.  For the main entree I had a veal ragout that came with a side of fries - a rather odd combination.  Finally I had carmel flan. All this for 11 euros and included a glass of wine too.

The restful time at the cafe, in the shade was quite nice...and even better that the umbrellas had misters - I felt like I was back in Scottsdale.

After lunch we explored more of the Plaza Mayor, even taking my picture behind a Matador costume.  It was after taking the photo that we learned that there was a charge - luckily just 1 euro.

From the Plaza, we headed to Mercado de San Miguel.  This market reminded me of Pike's Peak in Seattle or South Street Market in Philadelphia.  This would have been a great lunch option if we had only found it earlier.  It was fun to walk the entire market, seeing tons of interesting food and taking pictures.

Mercado:

Lots of ham:

Some being sliced directly from the pig's leg:

And olives:

After leaving the market, we hopped on the bus to go to the Centro Arte Reina Sofia.  This is the modern art museum in Madrid and Bridget had read that the museum had several pieces of one of her favorite artists.  The museum was a little difficult to find and we had to ask several locals on the sidewalks how to get there.  We got our tickets and immediately found a guide to ask the location of the Arranz-Bravo pieces.  The guide got a very confused look, so that wasn't a good sign.  Bridget worked the guide for about 15 minutes - searching Google to show multiple sources indicating his work was displayed at this museum, but then searching their entire collection and his name didn't even appear.  Ultimately the museum employees were very gracious and even gave us a refund.

From the museum, we headed back towards the hotel.  We had noticed several interesting shops and street vendors near that hotel that we wanted to explore for souvenirs.  I got multiple post cards, a few key chains to make Christmas ornaments (in over three weeks of travel, only Paris has had even one true Christmas ornament) and a great Spanish tile for my desk at home.

We returned to the hotel around 6:30 and were both exhausted.  The heat of the day was so draining!  We both collapsed in the living room (not sure if I mentioned yesterday that we were upgraded to a fantastic suite, but doesn't have a view at all - looks to an inner courtyard of the hotel).  

We decided we would go out together for dinner and then would split up for the rest of the evening.  We both showered, dressed up a bit (the first time we have dressed up for dinner!) and headed out for Cava Baja - a street near Plaza Mayor that is lined with tapas restaurants.  

From the taxi, we walked up and down Cava Baja once to look at the menus for each of the tapas restaurants.  Some were very traditional looking, some were more modern, some were very crowded and loud, some were standing only - quite a bit of variation.  We had agreed on 3 or 4 key tapas that we wanted, so our final selection had to have all of them, plus have chairs!

We were pleased with our selection - was much more traditional than some of the other options.  We had shrimp with garlic, ham croquettes, calamari and meatballs.  The portions were much larger than we were expecting...especially considering they were tapas!  Bridget had sangria and I had  Tempranillo.  

After dinner, I walked Bridget part of the way to Plaza Mayor for the concert she wanted to attend; however, many folks were walking the opposite direction and it was about 11:15, so very likely that the concert had ended (I later learned that it had ended).

I headed for the subway - and it was a little longer than I expected based on the map.  I figured out my route and the ticket price, but encountered a little problem when trying to buy the ticket.  It wasn't clear where you inserted your credit card for payment and I almost lost my credit card to some mysterious slot.  Luckily I was able to push away enough of the rubber surrounding the slot to get a small hold on my card...after a few minutes, I worked it all the way out.  I then went immediately to the cash only machine!

The trains in Madrid are not as frequent as Paris and I had to wait over 10 minutes for the train.  Clean train, everyone behaving appropriately, but no entertainers.

I arrived at my stop in about 12 minutes.  The exit lead directly on to a big square with lots of small cafes.  At 11:45 PM, the square was packed.  I explored a little.  I never found the places that I had marked on the map, but I'm not sure if I ever figured out exactly where I was on the map.  I finally found the main street of the area and stayed with that.

I walked past several bars and clubs that were not even open yet.  Several more were open, but didn't look busy.  I ended up at a small local bar.  I ordered a Vino Tinto - nope, no wine.  How about a vodka tonic - nope, no vodka.  It was a very limited selection!

After checking out a few places, I headed back towards the subway around 1:30 AM.  I wasn't sure if it would be open, but decided to give it a try.  It was still open, but I would have to transfer trains to get near the hotel.  I had to wait about 5 minutes at each station.  I was surprised by the number of people out and about at this time of night/morning.  It was still about a 10 minute walk to the hotel from the train station.  

Another short night of sleep ahead!

Travel Day to Madrid

The posting below details Thurs, Aug 28 which was mostly a travel day between Bordeaux and Madrid:

Today is a very long travel day to Madrid.  We left the hotel around 10 AM for our train at 10:51.  

We arrived at the train station by 10:25.  There was a very long line at the pastry shop, so we both loaded up with vending machine goodies.  When our train line was announced, it was right beside McDonald's so I broke down and got McDonald's for the first time on the trip...three weeks in isn't too bad!  You order by kiosks and then queue up to pick up the food.  Was a very long wait for 2 cheeseburgers and fries.  All the order announcements were in French - I should have at least tried to learn numbers in French.

Our ride to Irun was about 2.5 hours.  When we arrived in Irun, we noticed an earlier train to Madrid - sounded so much better than waiting in the train station for almost 3 hours for our connection.  We tried to talk with the ticket agent - in Spanish since we were now just across the boarder in Spain.  No luck - he kept saying that we were on a fast train (the earlier train arrived in Madrid only about 20 minutes earlier than our scheduled train).  He couldn't understand that we would prefer to be on the train longer rather than sit in a deserted train station for 3 hours, waiting for the faster train.  

Along the ride to Irun, still close to Bordeaux:

There really was nothing at the Irun station - no cafe (the cafe space had been deserted for at least several years), no customer vending machines (Bridget stumbled on some vending machines, but was quickly yelled at that they were only for employees), no Wifi, no gift shop, no convenience store...nothing.  

The benches were visually interesting and a good repurposing of old railroad wood and rails...but comfortable they were not.  Especially not sitting on very hard wood for 3 hours.

A large group for the Barcelona train started gathering, so we had excitement for a while.

Finally, our train arrived and they opened boarding - we had to queue up in line for our tickets to be scanned - no security, no x-ray, no IDs, nothing.  We had crossed into Spain at this point, but no Passport checks.  

Bridget and I gave official welcomes to Spain to each other!

The ride to Madrid was just under 6 hours.  We quickly learned that not all trains and tracks are created equal.  The Spanish have learned nothing from the French - the train was so rough, so much movement, we could barely walk to the bar car.  Luckily it was connected to our car.  With nothing in the Irun station, we had to settle for ham and cheese sandwiches on the train.

One of my few pics from the train ride:

After about 4 hours on the train, we were ready for the trip to end!

Luckily the last bit of the train ride felt quick and we arrived in Madrid.  We quickly got a taxi and the ride was about 20 minutes.  Many bicyclists were protesting by blocking most lanes of traffic and slowing down everything.  They want more bike lanes and/or space on the streets.

The hotel - The Westin Palace - is a very nice, old, historic property with a very opulent lobby.  Our bags were pulled from our hands almost immediately.  I'm pretty insistent on always carrying my own bag, but the bellman was so insistent and aggressive that I just gave up and let him take it.  Check-in was relatively quick - we had been upgraded to a suite with one bed even though I had booked a room with two beds.  The clerk made a quick call and said that the bed would be separated.

We went on to our floor and the room was a VERY long walk from the elevator.  When we arrived a small army of the housekeeping staff was in the room, separating the bed and re-making it.  In the end, we now have two ex-big twin beds that have about 4 inches between them.  Not sure that was worth the effort!

We both fell onto the sofa in the sitting room and waited for the bags.  Started e-mails and enjoying wifi after being without it all day.  We realized that after 45 minutes the bags still had not arrived.  I called down and was concerned when I had to describe them.  They arrived within seconds of hanging up the phone.

By this point I had lost all motivation to go out even though we only have two nights in Madrid.  Off to bed around 1 AM.

Bordeaux - Tasting Day 2

The following post details Wed, Aug 27:

Today we had a private tour scheduled for the entire day.  I had worked with a company for several weeks in July to schedule this day - a dedicated driver and guide for the day, visits to 3 Chateaus that were part of the 1855 Classification, a cheese pairing with one of the Chateau visits and a gourmet lunch in the Left Bank area.  We were scheduled to visit Chateau Gruaud Larose in St. Julien, Chateau Pontet Canet in Pauillac and Chateau Prieure-Lichine in Margaux.

I went down to the lobby a little early to meet our driver/guide - Xavier.  It wasn't clear if he there - there was someone talking to the front desk and a van sitting just outside the front door.  Finally Xavier came over the introduced himself.  Bridget arrived just minutes later.  We headed out and loaded into the van.  He asked about our stay and we mentioned our tours on Tuesday.  Since we mentioned going to two Chateaus in Margaux, he asked if we were interested in trying a different winery for our third stop of the day - since Margaux was not a favorite for either of us, we thought that was a good idea.  Xavier mentioned that since this was a private tour, then we could be flexible, but just needed to keep in mind the timing of some of the appointments.

Xavier was informative, reinforcing much of what we had learned the previous day...certainly good to hear it multiple times for memory retention.  We did learn that Bordeaux translates to "nearby water" or "near the water" which is very appropriate given the proximity of not only La Garonne River, but also the Atlantic Ocean.  At one point the entire Left Bank was under water - which is one reason that the soil is perfect for growing Cabernet Sauvignon.

We arrived at Chateau Gruaud Larose in St. Juilen - a beautiful property - and was quickly greeted by the wine guide - Beidet - who was from Belgium (and this is a complete guess on the spelling of her name).  We started the tour and quickly agreed that Beidet was the best wine guide we have had to date.  She took us into the tower which was the first structure built on the property.  We climbed three stores to the top which gave a 360 degree view of the area.  

One thing that is visible from the tower is the "weather cannon".  I have never heard of this being used at a winery.  According to Beidet, the location of the vineyards is very susceptable to hail.  They have weather radar on the property and when any potential of hail is detected, then a signal is sent to the weather cannon.  The cannon sends sound waves into the atmosphere to break up the hail clould.  Since being installed in 2005, they have not had any hail damage.  The Mendoza area I visited in Argentina also receives significant hail, but there the winemakers used large nets - such nets are not allowed by the appellation committees in France.

From the tower we went on to the sorting and crushing area which was very high-tech and had a "control center" that I have never seen before in a winery.  Next was on to the tank room, then the barrel room and finally to the tasting area.  The tank room was pretty typical; however, the barrel room was relatively new and had amazing ceilings and lighting.  One of the winery workers was racking the wine (moving the contents of one barrel to another to remove sediments, leaves, etc) and then topping off the barrel (new French Oak barrels can absorb as much as 6 LITERS of wine), so the barrels are topped off every few weeks during the aging process.  We had heard about this process in all the previous wineries, so seeing it was great.  We also saw the process in action of cleaning the barrel, also part of the racking process - multiple rinses with water, steam, cold water, soap, more water and steam, then drying.  The final step is to then burn a sulfide chip in the barrel to kill any remaining bacteria.

Once in the tasting area, we were seated at a small table next to a gorgeous fireplace.  Beidet brought out our cheese pairing, numerous glasses and a few bottles of wine for tasting.  We had the 2007 of their second label, the 2004 of the Grand Cru and then were surprised with a special treat, the 1993 of the Grand Cru (the winemaker had opened it the day before for tasting with many wine journalists from Spain).  Beidet sat down with us and joined in the tasting and cheese nibbling.  For most of the tasting we had the entire space to ourselves.  Bridget ended up buying and shipping 12 bottles - I hope she saves a few to share with me!  I really enjoyed the wines too, but thought the shipping was still too expensive.

The second label at Chateau Gruaud Larose:

From Chateau Gruaud Larose, we headed towards lunch.  I don't remember the name of the restaurant, but our food was very good.  I had Hake with a tomato, eggplant and onion ragout;  Bridget had chicken and Xaiver had a hamburger (was surprised that he ate with us).  However, it was nice with him being at the table - he spoke French to push the server along since we were a little tight on time....and certainly not enough time for the typical French service.  

After lunch we continued on to Chateau Pontet Canet.  Here we joined 6 other folks for a tour.  We started with all getting on a very extended golf cart and driving out into the vineyard.  This Chateau is the only Grand Cru (from the 1855 Classification) that is practicing Bio-organic farming.  They are next door to Chateau Mouton Rothschild - so incredible soil and legacy in the Pauillac appellation.  The bio-organic techniques were quite involved - obviously no pesticides or fertilizers, but they use horses to pull tools/machinery (the engine-driven machines are too heavy, packing the soil and eliminating the small creatures that live in the soil).  In the fermentation process they only use naturally occurring yeasts from the vineyard, so their fermentation process takes about double the time of the other Chateaus.  During the tasting, we tasted only one wine - their 2007 Grand Cru.  Overall, it was good, but quite tannic.  They had the best promotional booklet of any place visited with wonderful, small photographs of the property and Chateau.

Pictures from Chateau Pontet Canet:

From Chateau Pontet Canet, Xavier drove us past many of the Premier Crus that were nearby for several pictures - Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, Chateau Latour, Chateau Margaux, Chateau Palmer and Chateau Mouton Rothschild.   

Chateau Lafite-Rothschild:

Chateau Latour - the actual Chateau is not visible from the road:

Our last stop of the day was the wild-card that we changed at the beginning of the day.  Xavier selected Chateau Chasse-Spleen, primarily since they bottle a white wine which is very rare in the Left Bank area (since no appellation allows bottling of white wine with the appellation's name on the bottle, it was just labeled as "Bordeaux").  This winery was also not part of the original 1855 Classification process, so it is not officially considered a Grand Cru Chateau.

A quick note about the 1855 Classification since I've mentioned it several times - again, more information that I learned!  The Classification was requested by Emperor Napoleon III to present the most famous Bordeaux wines at the Paris Universal exhibition.  The follow the Emperor's request, the Bordeaux wine brokers ranked the wines into 5 levels according to the Chateaus' reputation and trading price of the time.  What's interesting is that this Classification has never changed.  Newer Chateaus have not been added; Chateaus are not re-evaluated; no Right Bank Chateaus are included...and even the original classification didn't include all wineries that existed at the time.  Certainly the Premier Crus are all still amazing, command astounding prices per bottle (often 2,000 euros per bottle; approx $2,700 US) and always sell out before the wine is even bottled.  However, Xavier pointed out that many 5th level Crus now command prices near the 2nd level Crus as do wines from Chateaus that are not in the Classification.  The Right Bank has created their own Classification system and re-calibrates the rankings every 10 years.  The Left Bank has seen the angst and debate that happens every 10 years in the Right Bank so have no desire to revisit the Classification.

Back to Chasse-Spleen...we pulled in and were greeted quickly by two guides.  We were so over hearing about the wine making process that luckily the guide skipped much of it.  Plus her English was difficult to understand.  The Chateau had wonderful large pieces of modern art throughout the property as well as beautiful gardens.  After two long days of tours at multiple Chateaus - the modern art was of much more interest!  I'm appreciating the US approach much more of just a tasting room rather than a full tour experience at each winery.

The Chasse-Spleen property used to be one large Chateau, but in the early 1800's, the actual Chateau was literally divided in half between a brother and sister when their father died - sharing a common wall in the Chateau.  The properties remained separate until just a few years ago.  The Chateau has been re-joined, but the wines are still bottled under two separate labels.

The tasting room for Chasse-Spleen is in the barrel room...and again more modern art, this time incorporated as a painting into the ceiling and walls.  There is only vantage point in the entire barrel room where you can "see" the piece.  It is 9 Dancing Flags...it is quite confusing when you first walk in, but once you go to the corner vantage point, the piece jumps off the walls and appear 3-dimensional.

When you walk into the barrel room:

From the key vantage point:

We tasted four wines - their 2005 Grand Cru, the 2008 Second Label, the 2005 Grand Cru of the adjoining Chateau and the white blend.  I liked all of these wines, but Bridget was rather indifferent about them.  I ended up buying a bottle of the 2008 Second Label since it was only 23 euros - figured we could drink it in Madrid or Barcelona.

The drive back to Bordeaux was about 45 minutes and I surprisingly stayed awake the entire time - partly because I started working on my journal.

Back at the hotel, we both looked at e-mails and Facebook and around 6:30 decided to head out to a cafe and ultimately to find dinner.  We weren't very successful in finding just a cafe to journal, but we did enjoy wandering around the main square, snapping a few pictures and found a Bistro just off the town square for dinner.  We shared a Cote de Beef for two with sides of a salad, frites, scalloped potatoes and a bernasie sauce for the steak.  The steak was very fatty and I spent at least half of my meal trimming my pieces.  After dinner, we strolled back to the hotel, saying good night to our last night in France.  

From the square:

I finally got my picture next to huge wine bottles that are located throughout the area: