Madame Kellermeier

Apparently, due to a 2 hour mechanical delay in Madrid, our Cudas missed their scheduled connection. AA anticipated this and scheduled all 28 passengers, including 26 students and 2 teachers, to return to Orlando tomorrow morning. Since it is American Airlines' fault, they will be paying for the group to stay in a hotel next to the airport in Miami. The flight information is as follows: AA#1860 Departing Miami 9:45am Friday June 26th Arriving Orlando 10:45am Friday June 26th I called EF Tours in Boston and got this information from them. They have not confirmed the information they received from American Airlines with the actual group. Would someone please call one of the members of the group to confirm this? (I'm in London, trying to resolve this communication.) Please respond with a message and I'll post ... read more

We enjoyed our last day in Madrid. We started with a coach tour around the city. We stopped at the Plaza de Espana, which boasts el Monumento de Cervantes. Cervantes wrote Don Quixote, which is the second most important book to the Spanish, after the bible. From there, we went to the Royal Palace for a tour. Wow. We saw palatial rooms, staircases, silver, dishes, paintings, statues, a fine collection of Stratavarius stringed instruments and an armory that was impressive. There was a pharmacy and kitchen that was set up to emulate earlier times in the palace. The King and Queen Sofia only live in this palace when there is an event of the state. The last was a visit from France's President Sarkozy and his wife. We had lunch as the big group, today. After ... read more

Today was a nice day. We left the hotel at 10am. Alejandra led us into downtown Barcelona, showed us our meeting place for dinner, and left us near the Gothic Cathedral. We travelled in smaller groups today. We saw the Spanish architect, Gaudi's, impressive downtown buildings, and went inside one of them, Battlo. We went to the Dali museum. We went to La Sagrada Familia, for a closer look. Amazing. We went to the beach. We saw Roman walls next to the gothic cathedral. We saw La Rambla and La Boqueria. Most of us did some shopping for souvenirs, and dinner was fantastic. We sat at another buffet-type restaurant that offered salads, lasagne, salmon, paella and dessert. This one was in the Olympic area, directly on the Mediterranean Sea. It was a beautiful location, sunny and ... read more

So, Saturday, we went to the Louvre museum. It is almost overwhelming to see how many pieces of art are displayed. The museum itself is a work of art, a former palace which has been excavated and expanded over about 850 years. We then went to the Latin Quarter for lunch and went into Notre Dame. Another structure that was started around the same time as the Palais du Louvre. We're now safely in Barcelona, after an interesting overnight train ride. We slept 4 to a compartment. It was 2 sets of bunk beds. There was not much extra room, so quite challenging to get organised in the morning. They served us breakfast in our compartments and then we went on an exceptional coach tour of Barcelona. Our guide, Aida, was energetic and proud of her ... read more

We woke up this morning at 7, had breakfast at 8 and got on the coach at 9. Our city tour guide was called Pasqual. As Ali drove us around Paris, Pasqual told us all about it. We saw some familiar places from yesterday's walking tour, and are starting to learn our way around town. We got a great photo at the Eiffel Tower. The bus dropped us off at the Arc de Triomphe and we had an afternoon to ourselves, as a Cuda group. Some went to examine the tomb of the unknown soldier underneath the Arc de Triomphe. It sits on a VERY busy traffic circle, fed by 12 avenues, so we use an underground pedestrian walkway. Some spent some extra time on the Champs Elysees, the widest street in Paris. We all met ... read more