Thursday day tour of Aranjuez Royal Site

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Thursday was the last of our private tours in and around Madrid. This tour included a a car, a giant black Mercedes 9 passenger van, a driver and a tour guide, They picked us up at our hotel / apt and we drove South and West to the small royal town of Aranjuez. This town is in the Tagas River valley, the river that flows all the way to Lisbon. The town was dominated by the Royal residence that was build in the 18th and 19th centuries and used primarily in the springtime. The Castle was well preserved with period furnishings and artwork. The painting and frescos were quite fantastic. One room was totally covered in porcelain as if it were wallpaper. The grounds were quite beautiful as well. And lunch we had included a private cooking lesson at a Michelin Stared chef's restaurant (we peeled and sautéed white asparagus) and then when up to the the dining room and had a 6 course lunch with 3 kinds of wine and got to feel a bit like Royalty ourselves. We took a 1 hour walk in the royal gardens with our tour guide after lunch.

We have three more days in Madrid and return to the US on Tuesday, flying through Dallas. I told LC "NO APPLES" this time, as once when returning from Venice he got "busted" in Dallas for having an apple with him.

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