In February, John took a twelve day trip to Europe for work. Though there was a fair amount of actual “work” involved, he did manage to have some fun too.
The first stop was Newcastle on Tyne, England. John stayed in a hotel just across the street from St. James Park, the home of Newcastle United FC.
There was an opportunity on the first day, the “recovery day”, to tour the city a bit and John and his colleagues did just that. Their tour started with a trip down Grey Street – the heart of Grainger Town, once voted by the BBC to be the best street in Britain!
They took off on a search for the Vampire Rabbit and found it near the St. Nicholas Cathedral before strolling to the river past the Castle Keep and the Black Gate and grabbing a bite to eat at the Slug & Lettuce pub – sadly, the slugs were out of season but they did have some lettuce! From the pub, they had beautiful views of the Tyne waterfront and The Sage performance hall.
They strolled a few bridges before returning to their hotel to meet up with additional colleagues for a pint at Rosie’s Bar and a great dinner in the oldest dining room in the U.K. – Blackfriars. The intriguing foods included wood partridge and “Medieval Meats” along with blood pudding and quail eggs.
After meetings at the lovely Vermont Hotel, they took business tours to Darlington and Wooler before moving on to Porto, Portugal.
In Porto, they’d arrive at their very dark hotel, El Teatro. They’d pass through theatrical curtains and motion-activated stage lights to find their similarly dark rooms. The décor took a bit of getting used to, but the hotel proved quite comfortable and accommodating. A Friday of meetings was concluded with an excellent dinner at Restaurante Escondidinho.
Saturday would be a play day. John was up early for a walking tour of the city before being joined by a colleague for a trip to the beachfront village of Matosinhos and a lunch of barbeque fish at O Valentim near the ocean shore. Here John picked the Black Scabbard fish to try and saw it prepared on the front sidewalk grill before being finished in the kitchen. Just great.
From there, they traveled to Vila Nova de Gaia on the south side of the river where they’d ride the gondola down to the river’s shore for some strolling and a stop at the Ferreira Cellars for a tasting of port. Tawny indeed!
Later that evening they had a chance to see up-and-coming violinist Alexandra Soumm together with the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música at the Casa de Música. The modern musical hall was beautiful and, although the performance started with the premier of a modern piece commissioned specifically for it, the dissonant chords soon gave way to enjoyable pieces by Bartók, Paganini, and Blacher.
On Sunday morning, they departed Porto for Madrid, arriving late in the morning for early check-in at their hotel. John headed out immediately for a tour. He began at the Museo Reina Sofía where he enjoyed the abstract pieces by Picasso, Dali, Miró and others.
A walk through the Parque del Retiro was followed by a visit to the Museo del Prado which, although it has a highly respected collection of European masterpieces, John found less enjoyable than the Reina Sofia.
A quick rest and then dinner of cerveza and paella was followed by a visit to Estadio Santiago Bernabéu to see Real Madrid FC take on Levante UD in a La Liga game. Levante scored first followed by three Real Madrid goals from their star player Cristiano Ronaldo. Real would go on to win 4-2 making the crowd of 75,000 quite happy.
After meetings the next day and with the arrival of more colleagues from Rome and Madeira, a nice dinner was had at Restaurante Ferreiro. If there’s any question in your mind, Spain truly is the Land of Ham.
They enjoyed a nice lunch with their customer the following day at Araceli – another classic northern Spanish restaurant with more ham! And some awesome fish too!
The next day would be a trip on the high speed AVE Renfe trains to Sevilla and back. Great views of the Spanish countryside on the glass smooth 2-1/2 hour trip. Not only did we clock the train via GPS at 170+ mph, but we also got to see the aftereffects of when a high speed train meets a low speed bird!
There was a quick tour of Carmona’s back roads and fields before a late return to Madrid and dinner at the Real Café – cool place with views into the stadium at night. Looks like a lot of work to get that grass to grow!
On Friday, John was up early for one last tour of Madrid’s Centro area before heading home. He squeezed in the Puerta del Sol, the Plaza Mayor, the Almudena Cathedral, the Royal Palace, and a few other spots before somewhat reluctantly returning to his hotel to begin the trip home.
Though the return was threatened by a strike by the Iberia Airlines pilots, John got home on time and settled back into the home routine. Back to work! Now, for the strong of heart, many more pictures here!
In the end, Shawn chose to accept a new position with an old employer. When she and John met, they were both working for a company in Burlington, MA named Xenergy. Though still in Burlington, the company has since become part of 
Word came down on October 6 that John’s group within Motorola would be slashed by 50%. Out of the 170 positions in his group, 85 jobs, including John’s, were gone. Like 
Intorcio News 