My Last Day in Spain

Well gang it's my last day in Spain. Today is a free day...well all but our final group dinner/flamenco show tonight at 7PM. I spent most of the day today walking the city and getting the last few set of gifts for family and friends. I started the started the day at the Prado Musueum...very cool place. Filled with mostly Spanish artists from the 14th century to the present. The Museum also had a visiting exhibit by Pablo Picasso which was definitely high on my list to see!! From there I went to the Parque Del Buen Retiro...this is basically a Spanish version of Central Park. I rented a small row boat in the Estanque, a small man made lake in the center of the park. For 5 Euro and 45 minutes I tooled around the lake as if I were an olympic skuller. This was a sight to see...haha...a bald american rowing a heavy white and blue boat across a lake...I only ran in to three other boats...rowing backwards is harder than it looks...they should have mounted some side view mirrors!! :0. It was more something I had to do to say I did it!! From there I headed to Puerta De Sol, a main line shopping district, filled with bars, cervecerias, and shopping...major pick pocket area too.

That was most of my day today...I am now back at the hotel trying to fit all my stuff into my luggage for the long journey home tomorrow!! I look forward to seeing/talking to all my family, friends, and followers!!

Thank you for following along over the last ten days! It has been a once in a lifetime experience and hopefully you got a little taste of Spain for yourselves!!

BYE BYE!!

I MADE IT TO MADRID

I have arrived in Madrid as of about 3 o'clock yesterday. I will say I prefer Madrid over Barcelona by far. This is SPAIN. Being the capital there is much more Spanish presence and less tourism. Of course this is a highly touristic part of Spain there is far more Spanish culutre than Barcelona, which was more of a European melting pot.

We visited the Palace yesterday which was very cool. It was built in the late 19th century when Spain was still a monarchy. Very beautiful! I got a pictured of me jumping off some stairs outside of palace....I was excited to finally be in Madrid and get to experience the "real" Spain.

We attended two presentations today, the first in a meeting room here at the hotel, was held by the President of Cushman & Wakefield, Spain. Roger Cooke. Mr. Cooke was British but has been heading up the Spanish operations for 15 years. C&W is the largets privately held real estate firm in the world. The figures presented to us were almost unbelievable...i.e. 230 offices, 58 countries, and over 15,000 employees. Although down quite substantially over the last three years, by 2012 C&W is projecting almost triple the revenue they see today. This organization truly has a global approach to business and it was finally good to have the practices we have been learning about in school be real and tangible. The second visit was to the Madrid International Airport. This was the coolest presentation we have been to, in my openion. We started with a short history of the airport and then we got a full access tour, complete with official aiport visitors badges. Madrid's airport is the of its kind in the world. The infrastructure and technology is unrivaled, 60% if the airports function is automated. The baggage system in the newly devloped T4 and T4s is fully automated, the system devolped by siemens, runs on a conveor systema nd has over 180 kilometers of tracks on 5 levels. The hub of the airport where all systems come together is straight out of the NASA control room. It is also the first time all goverment police and security agencies have worked together side by side. Unfortunetately we couldtn't take pictures inside this room....:(.

Madrid is definitely a place to visit. The thing I find the most interesting is Madrid uses many local architects when building new buildings...it really shows of the talent the city and country produces in this sector. What a place.

Stay tuned for more action from Madrid!!

I do like it here....but I will say that I am ready to get home!! I miss you all!

Barcelona is Hoppin

Today is Saturday...what a day to be in this city. Everyone is out, walking around and shopping. The city is more crowded than I have seen it yet. I have one word..SCOOTER...they're everywhere and they drive crazy...weaving in and out of traffic at around 50mph. Some of us guys talked about renting them before we even stepped foot in this country however I am sticking to my legs and mass public transit to get me where I want to go....LOL. Yesterday I went to the beach and when they say clothing optional...they really mean it. This was a culture shock...you always hear about it but don't expect to see it...then it's right infront of you....I just looked down at the sand and kept walking...I didn't even feel comfortable knowing there was that much exposure around me. The beach however was awesome...the water was freezing and sun was out but it wasn't hot out...I would guess around 80 degrees. It was quite nice. There are a group of Spaniards that sell beer on the beach so I bought two and sat right there in the sand and listened to a couple of guys playing guitar and singing. One of the guys was from New Zealand the other from London. I talked life in Europe with them for a bit and the conversation was eye opening. They were both students and they were explaining to me that they had just came from a 4 day cruise through paris and were staying in Spain for 4 days as well. They went on to tell me that they were going to visit about 6-10 more countries during their break from school. I was very envious of them. I wish I had an opportunity to travle through different countries with such ease. A weekend on holiday for a European is traveling to a different country...very cool!

Most of the morning today I traveled by foot through the city and took lots of pictures and did some shopping. Of course I got the foolish touristy shirts for family members and friends. i.e....for my sister "my brother went all the way to spain and all he brought me was this lousy shirt"...it's more of a joke than anything but I think it's hilarious.

Okay another thing that I find very, well, I don't know the word but let me explain. All over the city there are groups of men and women that sell replica goods, i.e. fake designer sunglasses, fake designer shoes..etc...small items. They lay these items out on a sheet and attached to each corner is a series of ropes knotted together and tied to the wrist of the seller. At any sign of trouble (the policia) these merchants yank the rope and the sheet closes up at the blink of an eye...the merhant slings the bundle over his shoulder and blends into the crowd before even the observant eye can process what just took place. I also saw a guy on the street playing three card monty...over and over he kept taking people's money and again and again the people kept playing. From what I could tell, mostly addictive gamblers, from the way they kept reaching in their pocket, directly to the cash like it was habbit, a trained response to losing. The monty dealer quickly collapsed his cardboard box table and was off in the crowd as if something spooked him, suddenly out of know where there were the police...again the monty dealer vanished and wasn't to be seen again. Its almost like these locals have a sixth sense of when to move and when they were being watched. It appears these offenses arent taken too seriously by the police and I believe the disappearing act by the merchants and monty dealers is all part of the attraction.

Lastly today I saw a street show of break dancers...this was very cool!!! Especially for me if anyone was present and my recent graduation!! LOL!!

Stay tuned as today is my last day in Barcelona, off to Madrid bright and early tomorrow morning!

Pictures Con't Day 2

More Pics from Day 2

Day Two...What a Day

Ok Thursday was an awesome day...our first stop was to visit an advertising firm here in Barcelona....SCPF, the number one ad/markinting firm/agency in the city and most of Europe!! I will get to more of that in another post. Yesterday was our group lunch and dinner...lunch was served around 1PM and it is customary with almost every meal there is wine. I don't know if my body wasn't used to the "day" consumption of alcohol or what but I broke out in cold sweats and had to leave lunch early and make my way back to the hotel...I was a little unsettled not knowing what brought the sickness feeling on..but after a shower and a rest I started feeling much better! Subsequently I missed the second session of the day but trust me when I say this, it was well worth it.

I made my way to the Parc Goell. This is definitely one of the most beautiful places to see in the city. I took the L3 Green Line from the Passeig de Gracia metro stop (subway line right near our hotel) to the Vallcarca exit (North of the starting point toward the mountains). Once back up on the street I made my way to the Parc. Ok this was a hike. Up three escalators...up two steep, steep hills, then up another 6 escalators to the parc entrance. WOW...I made it!! I started making my way through the trails of the parc and I could see all of Barcelona laid out in front of me!! I looked down and I saw the La Sagrada Familia Cathedral, a old cathedral that has been in Barcelona for hundreds of years. I could see all the way to the port and beyond! I was setting up my camera from afar and setting the timer so I could run around to get in front of the camera with scenery behind me...YES I WAS THE EPITOMY OF A TOURIST..but so what...right? I only got one shot that actually came out decent! Looking down just infront of the park were three buildings that all had beautiful architecture and the roofs were made of moasic tile....the pictures do not do this justice...it was one of the coolest things I have seen...the tile work was intricate and definitely hand crafted.

I also bought a new guitar...I am having it shipped back to the states so I am really excited about that (for those of you that play guitar you know why). Last night was our welcome dinner...we ate at the Poble Espaynol de Barcelona (this was an awesome old castle that had many restaurants, bars, and shopping all in one area. This was set on the Southwestern side of Barcelona also up in the foothills. From there we all walked to Palau D'Alfons XIII which was another castle (and this thing was freaking huge). At 9pm they do a fountain show...again here the pictures don't do justice...it was a little weird hearing American tunes set to a water show in the middle of Spain...i.e. Madonna's "Like a Virgin"...HAHAHA...none-the-less it was cool to see!! Thousands of people gather up and down the steps leading from the street to the castle to watch the show!

From there we got lost again trying to get back to the port for a few drinks...we ended up walking about 7 miles then finally broke down and got a cab. (After we found our way into the La Rambla area, which is not a place for tourists to be...)

My feet are killing me this morning and I think I am going to have to get hip replacement surgery in the next 5 years....HAHA...I am feeling my age.

Stay tuned for more adventures in Barcelona!! PS...I leave for Madrid on Sunday, I was originally scheduled to be in Rome today but due to some unforseen logistical issues, I cancelled my plans for Rome and I am staying in Spain :(. I am a little bummed but I am putting it back on my bucket list!! (This way I have a reason to come back :)).

I Have Arrived

Well I am officially in Spain!! I arrived here around 9:30 this morning and the lack of sleep is quickly catching up to me. Dong (a friend also traveling with the class) and I arrived around the same time so we attempted to navigate the subway to our hotel. That in itself was an adventure...I tried to exit the subway car and got stuck between the doors while Dong was trying to coach me out of the half closed doors with all my luggage...it didn't end up well. Dong and I got separated, me with the map, and him alone near the hotel. I was yelling at him "I will meet you at the hotel" and he was, in turn, yelling at me "I will meet you at the next stop, wait for me"...neither one of us heard eachother but we eventually made our way back to the hotel and got settled in. WOW...welcome to Spain! Once unpacked, Dong and I made our way a few square blocks to get our surroundings...of course we coupled that with a few pictures and some of Barcelona's finest draft beer! People watching on the street is becoming a "to do" when enjoying an ice cold beverage!! We have our first seminar this afternoon...I am yearning for sleep but have to meet in the lobby in just under and hour (in full business casual attire). Stay tuned for more on my adventures of Spain!!