Our Morning Song...the last time :(

July 8th...good-byes and welcome homes

 Nick was ready...as we all were...at least, physically.  It was time to board the coach for the last time and head to the Madrid airport...

 We went through the toll booth one more time....

 It was time for some last minute photos...of Marzio and Amir...

 What a duo! 

 This is the team that guided the delegates and the adventure from last September till July 8th! 

 Lynne and I have talked at length at how much we adore Amir and Marzio...how much we will miss them...

 One of the delegates said, "Group Hug!"  and Amir was crushed.  You can barely see his head.  Find Nick with his hats...Riley in the blue hat is in front of Nick...and below Riley is the back of Amir's head...

 The delegation adored him...with good reason.  He was an incredible delegation manager...one of the very best I've had in all my years with People to People...

So long Amir...so long, Marzio! ... and off we went into the Madrid airport.  The officials there wanted us to do the self check in...which didn't work...so we ended up at the ticket counter (thank goodness!).  As we weighed our bags (Ciara was .6 lbs over...but they didn't make her pay!), we congregated over to the side until everyone was checked in....then off we went to go through security.  

 We had to take a tram to get to our area...and we ended up...well, not where we were suppose to be.  Then it was a race to find the right area..to get back on the tram..to get to our spot.  Pratik was a little lot nervous...knowing his visa expired that day...This photo is on the tram...we're all in one car and Lynne and Steve were in another.  (Why???)

 

This is the plane that carried us from Madrid to DFW

 

Telling Abby good-bye at terminal C at DFW.  Abby joined our group from Washington...so she had a different flight from DFW.  

We obviously made it...made it to DFW safe and sound after a 10 hour flight.  We were suppose to have a 4 hour layover...which turned into 5 hours...but at 11:30 p.m., we touched the ground at SFO.

 I wish I had a photo of the paparazzi that met us...cheers and tears...it was so sweet!

So here we are, safely back at home...after a grand adventure in Europe..for 19 days...with 39 incredible delegates!  Wow!

July 7th - Our last full day in Europe...Madrid!

After a boxed breakfast...it was boxed because we were leaving too early for the hotel's breakfast...we took off on probably our longest coach ride - about 4 hours - to Madrid! 

We stopped at the Cortijo Castanar, a typical spanish farmhouse located close to Toledo.  Oh my!  El Castanar is massive...600,000 acres of land! What is there?

The house of "Las Casas Rojas" was the original main house of the property.  It is from the 19th century.  Now it is a hunting lodge because the family now lives in the palace.  This is also where we ate our lunch!

 The Chapel of El Castanar which was built in the 17th century!  This is a Catholic Church that still has mass offered every week. 

 

 We were loaded into two cattle trailers and taken on a tour of the farm.  We saw the rings where they ....I don't know if they are trained...or tested... to see if they will be bulls for the bullfighting.  It was pretty amazing! 

 The big bulls of "La Ganaderia" or the herd of "El conde de Mayaloe" which was created in the early 19th century.

 Vineyards - They have about 40 acres of red wine vineyards which they use to make a wine they call "El Castanar".  To get the best quality, they irrigate them with pure water from the mountains.

 

 

Olive trees - that are about 200 years old!  From these, they make olive oil, cornicabra variety.  The south of Spain produces MORE olive oil, but the best oil in the world is from here, in the center of Spain. 

Oak trees - at least 300 year old trees!  The oaks used to be cut because the wood was expensive, but the owners of this property didn't...now it's one of the most incredible oak forests of the region. 

The mountains of El Castanar are beautiful.  They are full of big and small game.  There is deer, wild boar, muflon, sheep, fallow deer, roe deer, rabbit, pidgeons....

 The rings where they train or test the bulls for bullfighting....

 The Palace of El Castanar was built in 1905. 

They have different styles of horses - arabic and spanish.  They are mainly used to move the cows and bulls from place to another...and to ride where cars cannot go...

Iberic Pigs - or 'cerdos ibericos', which is a special brand of pigs.  El Castanar produces the famous 'Jamon Iberico".  The fruit of the oak, which they eat, gives them a special flavor when the 'jamon' is tasted.  They have about 2000 pigs.

After our tour, a delicious lunch was served in the hunting lodge...

From El Castanar, we continued on into Madrid and the Prado Museum!  There, we were divided into 3 groups...with 2 spanish students leading each group through the Prado to see a few of the highlights.  We weren't there long at all...and then we were off, still with the spanish students, on a walk around Madrid.  It was hot...very hot...and with the heat radiating off the stone walkways...and the stone buildings...it was HOT!  We ended at Plaza Mayor where we took a group photo...and then were turned loose for about an hour and a half for some free time. 

 Waiting for our spanish students to join us...

 Our 3 groups!

 

Off on our city walk...

 This was an area called the 'writer's quarters' or something like that.  There are quotes in the walkway through this part of the city.

 This is the exact center of the city of Madrid!

 Plaza de Espana

 It had been a red shirt day!  That made it so much easier to keep up in the museum...and during the city walk.  As you can see, the red shirts stand out!

Next stop: Hard Rock Cafe, Madrid!  The Hard Rock Cafes are always a popular stop.  Hamburgers and french fries...a little reminder of American food...it's always a favorite.  This was also our last dinner together...so it was a bit bittersweet. 

Heading back to the coach, we stopped and saw the palace where the president lives...and then headed to our last hotel.  After getting settled in our rooms, we assembled outside by the pool (this was 10:15 pm.) and had our last meeting together...talking about what tomorrow would look like...talking about what an incredible adventure we had all been on together... and already starting the hugs and goodbyes.  Matt was staying behind...staying for a few extra days in Madrid with a family friend who was picking him up early tomorrow morning. Email addresses and phone numbers were exchanged... and then it was time for our last bed checks!

Wow!  What an incredible journey this has been!