FUN-travel: Sevilla, Spain – 2 Days
August 22, 2012 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Sevilla, Spain – 2 Days
Trip Day 39 – Saturday, August 18 – Sevilla, Spain
Cathedral Plaza
What I LIKE
- 8:00 am – really good strong coffee @ hotel out of a machine – a 1st for us!
- 9:00 am – nice walk through town to ECI – El Corte Ingles (our favorite store)
- get breakfast – bowl of fresh fruit & nuts
- get a manicure & pedicure (ECI in Madrid was booked)
- don’t need hop on, hop off bus
- save more money!
- 12:00 – lunch – La Terraza – spinach, walnuts, goat cheese salad & mussels in spicy sauce – just so so
- misters in umbrellas to cool you down
- 7:00 pm – Flamenco Show @ Flamenco Museum
- only $20 Euro for 1 hr show
- man on bike who helped us drive in yesterday runs the museum – (What R the Chances!)
- tell him he is “my angel” & give him big kisses
- 8:45 – dinner @ Maccheroni & Co – really fresh arugula salad with tomato, onion, & tender thin veal slices (thought I ordered cheese) good quality olive oil & balsamic vinegar – VG (very good) – pizza with spicy salami – YUM! – nice Italian wine recommendation – good service
- Casa 1800 has really cute roof top deck
- only 1 flight above our room
Alcazar Facade
What I DIDN”T LIKE
- breakfast not included in room rate
- want $9.50 PP
- not enough fruit for me so opt out
- over 100+
- feels like a sauna
- 6:40 – arrive Flamenco Museum & all good seats are all taken
FF (FUN-fact) – Flamenco is a music-and-dance art form with its roots in the Roma (gypsy) and Moorish cultures.
WOW Word-Of-the-Week #420: Treasure
August 22, 2012 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on WOW Word-Of-the-Week #420: Treasure
Last week a long time subscriber asked me to resend WOW #418 as she could not find it. And then she wrote, “When I searched my email in-box looking for the previous email, I noticed an email I received from my brother in 2007. He had sent me your Wow – Word of the Week #56.”
“My brother let me know he treasured me. I can’t erase the email because it means so much. Thank you for your WOW messages! You touch many lives! Bless you.”
I was so touched by what she wrote that I felt it was a good time to revisit this WOW from six years ago.
Treasure — something of great worth or value.
“Terrible Ted From Tucson”
What is the first thought that came to your mind when you read this word? Did your mind immediately go to a big wooden box spilling over with gold coins, sitting on the bottom of the ocean floor, next to a sunken pirate ship?
My good friend and sailing buddy Ted, said, “Treasure is a good word for one of your WOW’s…. as it doesn’t have to be gold, good friendship fills the bill.”
How many genuine good friends do you have? Do you treasure your friendship and relationship with them? Have you ever told them that you treasure them? If you want to put a big smile on someone’s face, just tell them how much you appreciate them and that you are glad they are in your life.
Friends come and go for a variety of reasons. I have a friend from second grade that I stay in contact with. I have friends from opening restaurants in the ’70’s that I go on vacation with every year. We share lots of old memories and stories.
I have found that when I am open to experiencing new things I meet new people. Had I not taken sailing lessons I would have never met Ted! We now have a core group of sailing buddies, half of which I didn’t know more than two years ago! And my new friends are treasures too! How willing are you to accept new friends into your life? How willing are you to tell the special people in your life that you treasure their friendship?
This week’s focus is on the treasures in your life. Who needs to hear that you treasure them? How would it feel if you told them?
Reader Responses
“Treasure can be something so simple as a smile. That puts the smile on my face for that day and helps me get through to the next day. I treasure the moments with my wife and daughters. When my four-year-old and I walk to the park, I can be present with just her for whatever time we are together. Just pushing her on the swing AS LONG AS SHE WANTS ME TO is special. Emma Phoebe will let me know when she wants to go the monkey bars or another park. And I say, “Sure, let’s go.” When Emma and I go to the park, I intentionally don’t bring my cellphone with me. One day I was pushing Emma on the swing when I noticed a young mother near us, who was texting while she pushed her daughter on the swing. I just had to laugh to myself. We can’t put our gadgets down long enough simply to spend time with our kids. That is the shame. It is the moments and time we have – that are so short – that are treasured by me. I watched an interview of Barbara Walters a couple of years ago. She was asked if there was anything that she wanted out of life now that she had turned 80. Her response: “More time.” I treasure living in the moment and congratulating the temporary, because it goes too fast. Great word, Susan. Take care.” – “Warrior” Joe
FUN-travel: Toledo to Cordoba to Sevilla, Spain
August 21, 2012 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Toledo to Cordoba to Sevilla, Spain
Trip Day 38 – Friday, August 17 – Toledo to Cordoba to Sevilla, Spain
What I LIKE
Inside La Mezquita
- Paradores in Spain have been very consistent – all 4 or 5 ****
- staff in Toledo is the most personable & helpful
- our Mercedes has 2, 12 volt plugs so we can use the Garmin & play the IPod!
- 9:45 depart for Cordoba
- countryside is rolling hills with olive orchards in every direction as far as the eye can see
- 1:30 arrive Cordoba
- made good time
- find free parking
- La Mezquita – named as a Wonder of the World but didn’t make the top 21 – massive remarkably well-preserved 10th-century mosque – now with a 16th-century church rising form the middle – once the center of Western Islam & heart of a cultural capital that rivaled Bagdad & Istanbul – a definite wonder of the medieval world !
- 2:30 – depart for Sevilla
- 4:00 – arrive
- made good time
- no tolls at all today
- wonderful man @ bar on teeny, tiny, road asks us where we are going – jumps on his bike and directs us to our hotel
- Casa 1800 is in the heart of the Old Town
- able to drive & find parking garage
La Mezquita
- 5:00 Beer stop
- 8:30 dinner @ La Burra – locals favorite – order hamburger, seared ahi, chicken – nice red wine only $18 Euro
- cafe patrons spilling into the streets
- Casa 1800 is in the heart of everything!
What I DIDN”T LIKE
- drive to Cordoba takes 4 hrs
- then Sevilla is another 2 hrs
- teeny, tiny, twisty, narrow, cobblestone streets on the Old Town
- parking costs $20 Euro a day in Sevilla
- La Burra food just so-so
- 5:00 Beer stop has no free tapas
FF (FUN-fact) – There are an abundance of service areas on Spain’s major roads that have gas and food.
FUN-travel: Madrid to Toledo, Spain
August 20, 2012 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Madrid to Toledo, Spain
Trip Day 37 – Thursday, August 16 – Madrid to Toledo, Spain
What I LIKE
- 7:30 Starbuck’s for wake up
- nice cool morning
- ready for next adventure
- 9:30 taxi to Hertz downtown location instead of airport
- save time & money
- $10 vs $30 Euros
- 9:45 arrive
- get Mercedes instead of Ford (last car was uncomfortable for long rides)
- should have better seats
- Garmin is working
- very easy to get out of Madrid
- two turns & into underground tunnel 3 lane road
- 11:30 arrive Toledo
- Parador is 40 yrs old & very charming
- fabulous views of town from veranda
- quick lunch of club sandwich on veranda
- take taxi $7 Euro to old town
- explore Toledo – more narrow cobblestone streets that wind up and down the hill
- go into Santo Tomé – simple chapel has El Greco’s famous painting “The Burial of the count of Orgaz” – incredible as it looks 3D
- 3:00 beer break – free tapas is tasty – hot mushrooms stuffed with ham
- 5:00 taxi back to Parador
- siesta
- 8:45 dinner on veranda – order “typical” menu items from region – white beans & clams – sautéed bass with vegetables – dessert of sorbet trio – apple, mango, watermelon – only $32 Euro – wine from Antonio Banderas Winery (so we’re told)
Toledo From The Parador
What I DIDN”T LIKE
- have to schlep bags across and down the street to parking garage 3rd level
- no elevator on top floor
- have to carry bags down steps
- no one in garage to help
- really dark & hard to see
- Mercedes control panel & controls are confusing & don’t make sense
- it’s much hotter in Toledo
FF (FUN-fact) – Renting cars at the airport is much easier. No garages, luggage carts are there and you have access to all major freeways. In hindsight, it’s worth it to us to spend more on a cab for less hassle and stress.
FUN-travel: Madrid, Spain – Day 3
August 20, 2012 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Madrid, Spain – Day 3
Trip Day 36 – Wednesday, August 15 – Madrid, Spain
The Prado
What I LIKE
- big puffy white clouds bring cool breeze in the 70’s
- not as hot as last week – over 100 + then
- 10:15 – Prado Museum – the greatest painting museum in the world – features more than just Spanish artists
- 12:30 lunch @ Mexican restaurant on Calle Ventura de la Vega
- chips with 3 kinds of sauces, pico de gallo, nachos with real guacamole & Plato Pastor – pork dish roasted with spices – YUMMY!
- 5:15 – massage @ Fusiom – 3 blocks from hotel – Thai & Indonesian
- so cool out I have to put on long pants & a jacket
- 8 pm head out for dinner on Plaza Mayor @ Los Gallos
Plaza Mayor Entertainers
- brimming with tons of people, mimes & entertainers
- order spinach salad with pine nuts, tomato, & prosciutto – asparagus with aioli (still full from big lunch) – nice red wine
Plaza Mayor
- one of the best waiters we’ve had do far!
What I DIDN”T LIKE
- it’s a holiday so Starbuck’s doesn’t open until 8 am
FF (FUN-fact) – Bread at Spain eateries is like baggage at the airport. It will cost you!