AMSTERDAM or Almost home

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TOUR DE FRANCE

What a pleasant surprise to find that the last stage of the Tour was on Sunday whilst I was in Paris. The Tour de France is a century old cycle race held in 21 separate stages in 21 separate area. The last stage starts in a Chateau Chantilly S of Paris, enters Paris and makes several loops down the Champs Elysee to,the Louvre and eventually finishes along the Champs. John and I checked the route a few days in advance and reckoned the areas to watch the last couple of laps. We found a good description of watching from precious years, but due to security, many of the plans we made were changed as we made our way to the course. We made a lucky find and had 2 different viewing angles. It was quite exciting for a MS 150 veteran to be there. Chris Froome a Brit from Kenya won for the 3rd time on Team Sky.

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NORMANDY

I couldn't come all the way to France and not make a trip to the battleground of Normandy. There are 5 different beaches of landing along a 40 mile stretch of the northwestern coast of France. The area is about 150 miles NW of Paris. Many people make the visit over a day and night. I chooses a tour that returned the same day. My bus left @ 0700 and return @ 2100. It was a long day but worth it. My favorite stops out of the 5 different places were the Memorial de Caen and the American Cemetery. There are many stories of individual heroism. One was the climbing of the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc by the Army Rangers to take out a German gun bunker. It was led by a Colonel James Rudder who I am told was an Aggie. There is also photographic evidence of the USS Texas bombarding the Germans during the landing.

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VERSAILLES

Versailles is not just a Palace but a magnificent park and palace About 12 miles SW of Paris Center. It consists of 2000 acres( 2.5 X size if Central Park) of a wonderfully landscaped park and grounds on which sits the Palace of Versailles. The palace is > 700,000 ft which was started by one of the King Louis in 1623 as a hunting lodge and was enlarged to became the center of noble life and power by multiple King Louis over the years. It has the most ornate rooms and halls. It was the home pf multiple treaty signing including the Peace of Paris 1783 in which the UK recognized the independence of the United States. The German Empire was founded in 1871 with a proclamation signed at Versailles and of course the ending and terms of the armistice of WWI was the Treaty of Versailles. Without a doubt this was my favorite excursion of the summer.

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ABOUT PARIS

Paris is one of those places that has a million things to do, from wonderful confections ,art collections and outdoor cafes. I did it all in the first 3 days. Montmartre is a area that is the highest point of Paris has a cathedral and an area with lots of cafes , shops and markets. There are plenty of cafes to sit and enjoy a meal or a Campari.

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TRAVEL TO PARIS

Monday morning and its a short 45 min drive to Girona to drop off the car and board the high speed TGV to Paris. At speed of 290 Km/hr I was there in 6 hours. John and Sandra meet me at Gare de Lyon and a quick Uber to their apartment in the Latin Quarter. Now the real exercise started. Their apartment was on the 6th level and there was no lift. It was basically my daily stair master.

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WEEKEND AT PLATJA D'ARO

After my efforts for 3 wks at Spanish School, I rewarded myself(the key to happiness is to reward yourself frequently) with a weekend at a really nice hotel on the beach. The Cosmopolita Hotel Boutique at Platja d'Aro was just what the doctor ordered. Directly on the beach with a nice bar cafe on the boardwalk and a lovely pool deck on the roof. It was perfect and the crisp cold clear water was perfect. I haven't been in the Mediterranean in years and I didn't remember how nice the water is.

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BARCELONA'S LAST DAYS

The last day of class was quite an interesting day. We spent most of that 3rd week on irregular and reflective verbs. Then I remembered why I had such a hard time with language in high school. I assumed that I was the only idiot in the class until the girl from London chewed out the teacher. It was a Kodak moment as they say. Everyone in the class felt loss and the teacher stopped and game us a pep talk and our certificates. I am going to continue my Spanish at home and attempt to get more comfortable so I can travel to South America in the near future. The afternoon was beautiful and I took the bus to the top of MontJuic. This is a beautiful area of Barcelona which is a the tallest point in B. It is the home of the Olympic Stadium as well as an ancient castle built to guard the port below. There is an exciting trail and overlook here.

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A FIELD TRIP TO COSTA BRAVA

After 2 weeks of 4-5 hours a day of classroom work, the school loaded 50 of us on a bus and we went up,the coast for the day to visit one of the famous beach towns. The water was clear and cold. Probably the coldest water I have been in since rafting in Colorado. Unfortunately, one of the memorial moments of the trip was waiting and looking for the lost girl from California who didn't make it back to the bus on time. After a search party failed to locate her and no answer on her cell, the trip leader decided with much trepidation, to leave and return those of us who did follow directions home. We got the report the next day that she was confused on the time to return. Remember when I mentioned that all the trips were spoken in Spanish. No English from any of the staff. I bet that girl remembers her numbers from here on.

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SAGRAD FAMILIA

The most well known project of Antoni Gaudi is the Sagrada Familia. The Sagrada is the large basilica in Barcelona. Started by another architect in 1882, but the project was taken over by Gaudi a year later. Although Gaudi died in 1926, the church is an ongoing project. There are still adding towers to it. I have seen a lot of European and middle eastern houses of worship over the years, and they start to get a little boring if you are not so religious. However this structure is mind blowing considering it was designed in the late 19th century. This is not the main cathedral of Barcelona, but it has been names a Basilica.

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EXPLORING BARCELONA

In addition to having a large passenger port, there is a rather large, well developed beach, boardwalk and associated structures. The water here is nowhere near as nice as the beachfront up the coast at the Costa Brava. Most of my spare time was spent in cafe's and pedestrian street venues. Spain has a reputation in the financial world as being on the verge of financial collapse, but don't tell that to all the young Europeans who live here and are moving here to enjoy the city lifestyle.

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ANTONI GAUDI

I had apartment 2-3 miles from the school. If you are familiar at all with Barcelona, you will no doubt know of the famous architct Gaudi. This 19th century master has created many beautiful sites in town.. One is the Park Gual. This is a large open area in the upper elevations from which one has great views of the city. His style of design is evident throughout. These pictures were taken about 6 PM. These sites are so popular that the only way to visit them is to buy tickets online days on advance.

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ACTIVIITIES

The school makes sure that in addition to hiring excellent teachers, they have a full staff of young energetic "hosts" that create and accompany excursions everyday. The conversation is exclusively in Spanish. You are forced to learn quickly if you don't want to be in the dark. My first trip was a walk through the "Gothic Quarter", one of the oldest areas of B. We visited the Cathedral of B. It so happens that a girls choir from Philadelphia was singing. We finished in a famous Tapas Bar to properly learn the art of selecting, eating and paying for Tapas. A requirement if one is to exist in B. The. Next day was a boat excursion out of the port of B, same place where a year earlier I caught my Mediterranean, Suez Canal, Red Sea cruise on the RCL Quantum of the Sea. Finished the day with a dinner in the open mercado with two of my classmates, one a doctor from Bergen Norway and the other a chef from Oslo Sweden. That evening, we had Sangria and Salsa lessons on the the rooftop patio. As you can tell I didn't have much time to review my class work. This is an immersion program. They teach by throwing you in it. But it is still very difficult for me. I never had much luck with language while in high school and I'm not finding it any easier. However, after living in the Southwest for most of my life, my "diction" is one of the best in the school according to my teachers. I don't know what to say, but whatever I say, sounds very good!

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SPANISH SCHOOL

The purpose of this trip was to visit Barcelona, which I had first seen last summer to board the Quantum of the Sea Mediterranean Cruise. I thought I should have something constructive to do so I enrolled in an Spanish School. There are several good programs in Barcelona to choose from. I made my selection based on the fact that most only start beginners at a certain week of the month and I needed to start that Monday. The school is very well organized on two different buildings a block apart in Downtown B. I had 4 hours of continuous classroom time. Fortunately, I like coffee and there are several shops between the two buildings. My Level A-0 had 10 students from all over the world. All spoke pretty good English and all wanted to learn Spanish.

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TO SPAIN

The Flight from Hell What ever happened to companies that take pride in the product or service they offer? I'm referring to the airline industry. Now running your flights on time and getting the baggage, that we now have to pay for; to the clint on the other end should be pretty basic. Well it wasn't for this passenger. I planned this trip last November when I purchased some miles from American. Why American? For a Houston based traveler, well they had miles on sale and and as a frequent traveler, I couldn't resist. Next year Ill listen to my friend Eddie the travel agent and by pass American. Anyway the short hop from Houston Bush to DFW on the A320 was uneventful. It was only after arriving in Dallas that the texts staring coming thru announcing the delay. I went to the club to attempt a reroute, but was told for security reasons that would not be possible. Anyway we left 4 hours late which caused me to miss a connection in Madrid. Because the flights out of Madrid were full, I nad another 4 hours on Madrid. I Finally arrived at the apartment in Barcelona @ 9PM instead of the original planned 1 P M. Over the last 5 years I have flown overseas without a problem. All have been on foreign based carriers. This was the first time on a American based airline. So much for FF miles.

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