Journal Entry
May 21st, 2010
We have arrived
Our first day got off to a rather inauspicious start when we showed up at our hotel only to find that they had lost our reservation. Even after I pulled up the confirmation email on my phone they were still insistant that there was no reservation. They claimed that the hotel had switched ownership since I had made the original reservation and it must not have gotten written down.
At which point we asked that even though they didn’t have our reservation, did they possibly have a room for us anyway?
This caused a great kerfuffle while they spent the next 30 minutes calling god knows who on the phone still trying to track down the original reservation only to declare at the end that they did in fact have a room but we could only have it for one night. They were very insistant and apologetic about this point but as our original reservation had only been for one night we were happy.
My parents had been standing by while all this was going on because they got into our hotel before we did and they aren’t even staying there.
It’s really very warm here. Very warm. I’m glad we didn’t come in the heat of summer. And we’ve all ready walked a lot. From our hotel down to Plaza Mayor where we strolled through the fabulous Mercado de San Miguel. Then on to the Palacio Real ( Royal Palace).
Honestly, I think that’s about the last royal palace I need to see in this life time. We’ve seen palaces in Paris, Vienna, Munich, Prague and probably a few more that I’m leaving out and at this point they all start to blend together. Not that it wasn’t nice. It was. But it was another nice palace. Meh.
Now we are back at our hotel were Irene has insisted we have a short siesta before meeting my parents for dinner later.
Tomorrow morning we pick up our rental car and drive to Toledo. Irene and I will be back in Madrid at the end of our trip to spend a few more days.
Posted in Journal Entry, Spain | 1 Comment
May 13th, 2010
The Final Countdown
Hard to believe that a week from now we’ll be leaving for Madrid. After many, many months of planning I’m very excited for our trip to begin. All of our hotels and transportation have been booked. Books have been read, web sites have been pored over, and travel shows have been watched.
I’m hoping to post frequently during our trip as just about all of our hotels boast of “free WiFi”. I know I say this every time but I really will make an effort to keep this blog up-to-date. So check back often, or, better yet, subscribe to the rss feed.
Posted in Journal Entry, Spain | No Comments
Sep 4th, 2009
New York
We’re heading out on a red-eye flight tonight for our trip to New York. I plan to update my twitter account from the road and possibly a photo or two as well. If I get ambitious, I might even do a blog post or two.
Posted in Journal Entry | No Comments
Jun 22nd, 2009
Wine-soaked Weekend
We are freshly back from our wonderful weekend in the Yakima Valley. We spent three days there and went to 13 different wineries and that was but scratching the surface. We will definitely be returning before too much time has passed.
And when we do we might just stay again at the Birchfield Manor. It was a little pricier than the places we normally stay, but we had a large jacuzzi tube in our room and the outstanding breakfast was included.
We also ate dinner there on Saturday night, and if you are in the area, I highly recommend the experience. The food was outstanding.
We took a short ride on the Yakima Valley Trolley as well, which was a lot of fun.
Our favorites of the wineries we visited were: Sagelands, Gilbert Cellars, and Windy Point. Although we bought some good wine at a few others as well (particularly the Grenache at the Alexandria Nicole Cellars.
I’ll be posting pictures from our trip soon, so check back often.
Posted in Journal Entry | No Comments
Oct 7th, 2008
We have returned
We got back last night around 7:30. We are back a work and a bit tired. I’ll start sorting through my pictures this weekend and begin posting them to Flickr before too long. So stay tuned for those.
Also, here is a link to Grom’s website. Truly the best gelato ever.
Posted in Italy, Journal Entry | No Comments
