Tuesday, August 24

It was great to be back at the Intercontinental Hotel and their great breakfast. Kathryn was off to work at the Embassy, and I had decided to a day trip to Toledo. When I worked at Roscoe Village, we had hundreds of motorcoaches of senior citizens visit the Village each year. Most people working in the Villages hated dealing with the “seniors” on the buses. I used to kid with my children and tell them “If I ever get old enough that I want to go on one of those motor coaches, shoot me!” haha Well, guess who went on one today? Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!


The tour company office was located near the Royal Palace so it was an easy find for me. I got there in plenty of time for the 9:45 departure. There were about 30 of us on tour. I was one of the older ones so I didn’t feel that bad about taking it. Over half were Spanish speaking, the other English. The guide would speak in one language and then the other. Her interpretation skills were very good and she never referred to a note all day.

We made a bathroom stop at a gift shop right before we got to Toledo. Toledo is about 70 kilometers from Madrid. I am sure the tour company gets a kickback on sales from the gift shop, but the restrooms were very clean.

The old part of Toledo sits up on a hill and is still almost surrounded by a large stone wall. At one time, it was the capital of Spain. At some point, one of the ruling Kings decided that it would be better to have the religious capital and the government capital in two different cities so they moved the government capital to Madrid. It is also 70% surrounded by the Tagus river, which makes for some beautiful vistas.

We toured the Catheral de Toledo (which may be the most beautiful yet!) Sorry no interior photos were allowed and many guests were yelled at for trying to take them. I had learned my lesson. It was interesting though, as we exited the Cathedral, there was a street vendor standing by the door trying to sell pictures of the interior. In the Church Sacistry, there were at least 100 famous paintings hanging, many by Greco.

We also visited St. Thome Church, where Greco’s most famous work “The burial of Lord Orgaz”, the Victorio Macho Museum, The Santa Maria La Blanca Synagogue and San Juan De Los Reyes Church. The streets of Toledo are narrow and very winding. There were all kinds of neat little shops and restaurants, but we didn’t have time to stop.

We ate at a very nice restaurant for lunch as a group. The food was very good and served “French” style. The woman sitting next to me was from New Zealand, so I told her about my upcoming trip there in January 2011. A female student and her mother were also at my table, they were doing some traveling around Spain and France, prior to dropping the girl off for a semester studying in London. She was attending Webster University in St. Louis (that’s where my nephew Kacey Hampton attends). I gave her Kacey’s name and told her to look him up in the winter semester (Kacey, if you are reading this, she was very cute! Haha) The things I do for my nephews!

After lunch, we got back on the motor coach and were taken to a place where we could take some very good vista pictures of Toledo. After an hour trip back to Madrid, they dropped us off in the Gran Via shopping area, which I knew well, so I worked my way to Plaza de Mayor and then back to the subway stop I always use.

Kathryn is back from work and we have decided to eat cheap again tonight!