Leah and Meredith

We spent two days with Andres from Porcelanosa (an international tile company here in Spain). We were given a first class tour of their 8 factories north of Valencia and Meredith learned more than she wanted to know about tile, plumbing fixtures, shower pans, hotel fixtures and how tile is made. The tours were very informative and Andres was a wonderful host. The factories were very modern and automated - I was expecting dusty and laborers toiling away which could not have been further from the truth. The warehouse and factility is so large that it is required that employees ride company provided bicycles to get around the property. The one down side - the HEAT. Apparently, we are experiencing African winds and heat this week. It has been 39-40 degrees celcius which is over 100 ... read more

So the journey yesterday proved to be our most challenging, yet rewarding yet on this trip across Southern Spain. We left Granada after touring the Alhambra - a beautiful immense Moorish compound on the highest hill in Granada. We toured the lush gardens and palace in the 100 degree heat, but that only made the vast gardens make more sense with the high hedges blocking the sun and creating pathways of shade. Remarkably designed by a Sultan - it still held an appeal - several hundred years later. What a treat and worth the extra stay in Granada. We found our car in tact in the sketchy parking garage - with one exception. When I was parking the Ferrrari, I somehow scraped the side up in the miniscule parking spot. The car isn't that large on ... read more

Well - the day dawned beautiful and clear. Meredith and I jumped in our rental Ferrari (really, a compact Peugeot) and headed out to the country. This is after our evening 15 minute drive from the airport turned into 1-1/2 hours of non-intentional site seeing around Seville (Sevilla). It turns out that you don't want to try and follow the map they give you at the rental counter - we had better luck guessing what direction to go. It was, then, with some trepedation that we hit the open road to drive from Seville to Gibraltar (a mere 180km away). Meredith did a fantastic job of navigation - again, guess work seemed to be in our favor, and two hours later, we found ourselves in, officially, the United Kingdom. Wait, weren't we doing a tour of ... read more

Day One and I am grateful for my translator, Senorita Meredith! Arrived a bit later than expected but all is well. Met up with Meredith at our very British hotel, The Wellington, and went walking up to Plaza Mayor with a quick stop at the apartment she lived in for a month. Weather is warm and sunny, but not humid! (Thank goodness!) Jet lag didn't kick in until around 10:00 last night, but I felt great by this morning. We had a proper English breakfast in the hotel with one of Meredith's friends from USF, Robin, who is traveling all over Europe this summer. Rode the Metro (subway) to a fabulous crowded outdoor (alfresco) market with tons of people and booths selling everything from underwear to weapons (no, Trevor, I didn't get any weapons for you ... read more