It's a Travel Day for Fellette and me. We are off to the airport this afternoon, scheduled to fly at 6:35 PM via a Lufthansa overnight flight to Munich, Germany and then later to Madrid.
We get there, if things go as scheduled, at 6:05 PM, Friday, June 1, Spanish time. That will be 9:05 AM Vancouver time, June 1. [Tomorrow morning at 9:05]
The explaining of this helps my mind understand it better. It is a long travel time for sure and all sorts of things happen on travel days and sometimes one wonders why we do it. It will take us several days to adjust to the nine hour time difference.
Fellette and I have been to Barcelona a couple of times for a day on cruise ships but never inland. I was there in 1960 when I was travelling around Europe and we were in Madrid for some time. I never liked big cities but I do remember I was impressed with Madrid and it's beautiful wide streets and architecture, even when I was younger, much younger.
Anyhow, our schedule for this trip is quite simple:
- Four days in Madrid, Spain, and the surrounding countryside.
- Seven days on a River Cruiser with 100 other strangers on the River Douro in Portugal, heading west to the Ocean.
- Three days in and around Lisbon, Portugal, before flying home Friday June 15.
I hope that I can make Internet connections along the way, if so, it is my goal to send along some pictures and a bit of text daily.
This was what I looked like 58 years ago. [My passport photo.]
Cool dude on the Eiffel Tower with the sports jacket I bought in Spain.
My Aussie friend Keith. We met on my 1960 trip to Europe and still keep in touch. He is reading this blog as a matter of fact! This was in Italy, under an overpass on a rainy Easter Sunday, 1960, dinner for us.
I cannot easily lay my hands on a Madrid picture.
