Friday night I stayed at the Hotel NH Las Tablas - this was paid for by Grupo Vaughan because I volunteered at Daytown on Saturday. The deal for Anglo volunteers is that they pay for one night in the hotel and breakfast, lunch and dinner for one day if you promise to talk English for the day. For Vaughan Town, they try to have roughly equal numbers of Spaniards and Anglos; at Daytown, there are usually more Spaniards than Anglos - in this case,there were about 25 Spaniards and 17 or 18 Anglos. Just as at the intensive week long program, Daytown includes breakfast at 9:00 with Spaniards and Anglos at every table, then a group activity at 10:00,and one-to-ones (and some two-to-ones) at 11:00, 12:00 and 1:00. Lunch is at 2:00, then a group activity at 3:30, more one-to-ones at 4:30 and 5:30, then a closing activity and ceremony at 6:30. Ten hours of speaking in English ended at 7:00. Here are the group photos, one serious, one humorous.
After saying our goodbyes, I went shopping at the large El Cortes Ingles complex on the other side of the highway. On the way back, I took this photo of the BBVA complex lit up at night - while it is quite spectacular in the day time, it is even more so when it is lit up at night - there are four floors that cover several acres (see my photos on the Jan. 26 post - those were taken in daylight). And the complex is topped with a tower in the shape of a sail and that is some 20+ stories tall. That is the large rounded tower lit up in the photo.
After having room service for dinner (paid for by Grupo Vaughan), I spent a quiet night at the hotel. Sunday morning, I had a pleasant and quiet breakfast, then worked online on my classes, before heading out to meet friends for lunch. Las Tablas is a relatively new section of Madrid with wide avenues and many avant garde architectural designs.
As on prior trips, there were many calls for blood donors.
And as before, Sunday afternoon traffic was invited to donate in the portable donor bus in Puerta de Sol.
There have been many changes to Puerta de Sol and the construction continues.
Maria could not make it, as her youngest son was ill. So it ended up being just Carol and me for a light lunch of two shared dishes, a Spanish omelet with bacalao (cod) and a vegetable stew. After lunch, we walked to Temple Debod and on to Plaza de Espana, where we met up with Carlos. We found a pleasant cafe for coffee and dessert and, as always with Spaniards, much discussion about everything from politics to what family members are doing and more.
About 5:30, Carlos and I walked for a while, and then I took the Metro back to Pinar de Charmartin and a 30 minute walk to the hotel from there. Another trip to Spain ends on a positive note. I hope to have many more trips here.
After saying our goodbyes, I went shopping at the large El Cortes Ingles complex on the other side of the highway. On the way back, I took this photo of the BBVA complex lit up at night - while it is quite spectacular in the day time, it is even more so when it is lit up at night - there are four floors that cover several acres (see my photos on the Jan. 26 post - those were taken in daylight). And the complex is topped with a tower in the shape of a sail and that is some 20+ stories tall. That is the large rounded tower lit up in the photo.
After having room service for dinner (paid for by Grupo Vaughan), I spent a quiet night at the hotel. Sunday morning, I had a pleasant and quiet breakfast, then worked online on my classes, before heading out to meet friends for lunch. Las Tablas is a relatively new section of Madrid with wide avenues and many avant garde architectural designs.
As on prior trips, there were many calls for blood donors.
And as before, Sunday afternoon traffic was invited to donate in the portable donor bus in Puerta de Sol.
There have been many changes to Puerta de Sol and the construction continues.
Maria could not make it, as her youngest son was ill. So it ended up being just Carol and me for a light lunch of two shared dishes, a Spanish omelet with bacalao (cod) and a vegetable stew. After lunch, we walked to Temple Debod and on to Plaza de Espana, where we met up with Carlos. We found a pleasant cafe for coffee and dessert and, as always with Spaniards, much discussion about everything from politics to what family members are doing and more.
About 5:30, Carlos and I walked for a while, and then I took the Metro back to Pinar de Charmartin and a 30 minute walk to the hotel from there. Another trip to Spain ends on a positive note. I hope to have many more trips here.
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