On Monday I departed for my first business trip in the new position. I am spending the week in Spain. We have more than 2000 employees in Spain with most of the population in Barcelona and Madrid. Purpose of the trip is to review the business and meet people.
I arrived in Barcelona via airplane on Monday morning. If you've never flown into Barcelona I highly recommend it, but be sure to have a window seat on the right side of the plane. It is so pretty coming in for the landing. On the left side is the Medteranian Sea and the right is the port and city of Barcelona. The city is surrounded by mountains that provides a magnificent backdrop leading to the sea. I only spent the day there but learned a lot about the special part of Spain called Catalonia.
After 8 hours of meetings we got on a high speed train and traveled to Madrid. Now I agree, I'm biased for public transportation, but riding on a train at 300 km/hr is pretty impressive. You have such freedom and comfort. Because we were traveling late, we traveled in Premium Class. Not sure if that is the same as First Class, but they treated us well. We were able to have a Spanish wine (Rioja) with dinner and nice single malt scotch afterwards. As you can tell, the meal was nothing to write about.
On Wednesday night I had the chance to do a little sight seeing. I had never been to Madrid so it was my first time to experience the old city. It was fantastic. The temperature is ~65F this time of year and sunny/clear. I went with Jose-Antonio, he works for me and lives here in Madrid. We went to the old town via taxi and walked around for three hours or so. We saw the king's palace, the center of Spain, we went to a market where you chose your food and drink and consume it on the spot and many, many little restaurants that are in little caves. We stopped every now and again for a beer or glass of wine to ensure we stayed hydrated. In Spain they serve the beer ice cold in 5 or 6 ounce glasses. Because the summer's are so hot the beer gets warm very quickly. Thats the theory, but mine never got warm.
We ended the night with a dinner outside in a large courtyard. In Spain the restaurants don't open until 8:30 PM. It was dark, yet still warm. We had the famous Spanish ham that comes from southern Spain, were the pigs are black and eat acorns, very lean (for the most part). The food was good, environment was pleasant and company was enjoyable.
If you ever get a chance to visit Spain I highly recommend a stop in Madrid. The Spanish people are great host!
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