Motoring Across America

With James "Alex" Alexander

with James "Alex" Alexander



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Blog 167: Quick Trips to Madrid and London

Sunday: Day One of the European Tour
Sunday morning I arrived in Madrid after a mechanical problem and a little re-routing early in the journey. All in all, things ended up fine, just a few hours later than planned. I took a nap, enjoyed a tub, then went to an outdoor plaza to walk around and have a light evening meal. As continued the entire time in Madrid, the weather was awesome, the people were friendly. When I stopped for dinner, I had the best tuna I had ever tasted--seared, marinated in a special sauce, and the fried egg on the top added color and variety to the presentation.

Tuna in Madrid

Monday-Tuesday
I facilitated (in English) an intensive two-day session for my client’s Spanish and French teams. All smart, interested, and interesting people, all wanting to learn. Since the groups were split 50-50, everyone had a chance to better understand their colleagues from another country. Monday night we all went to Old Town for a traditional meal built upon tapas, and then I stayed out late (for me) with the crazy Frenchmen.

Upper Right

Plaza View

Plaza Ladies Table

Madrid at Night

Wednesday
Wednesday was a travel day, as I moved on to the town of Reading, 30 minutes west of central London. Once again, I was fortunate to have a deep soaking tub in my room that I took advantage of every one of the four days I stayed there. Since we don’t have a tub (at least not yet) in our motor coach, I appreciate having one all the more while traveling.

Thursday-Friday
On these days I facilitated the same type of session as I did while in Madrid for my client’s UK office. Another great group.

Saturday
After contemplating several options, I decided to take the train to Portsmouth to see the old British war ships. Here are a couple of photos taken from the train.

Train View #1

Train View #2

They had repaired/refurbished/rebuilt Admiral Nelson’s old flagship, “Victory,” to its original specifications. This is the ship he died on--they show you the spot on the deck where a French sharpshooter fatally wounded him in his victory at Trafalgar. It was just awesome! Also, I toured the first iron-hulled warship, “Warrior,” and saw it as it exactly was, as this ship never saw battle.

Warrior Gun Deck

Warrior View from Deck

Warrior Visitors

Warrior

Victory Admiral's Table

Victory Deck

Victory Guns

Victory Stern View

Later I walked to the town center and stopped by this park.

Portsmouth Park

Old Signs
Here are a couple old signs from our Old Sign Reserve.

Old Sign #1

Old Sign #2

Old Trucks
Try as I could, I saw no old trucks in Madrid or London this week. Here are three from my Old Truck Reserve.

Old Truck #1

Old Truck #2

Old Truck #3

See you next week from Germany and Sweden.