The flight from DC to LA was rather uneventful – the excitement was when I arrived in LA, and had a slew of messages wondering if I was on a flight that had been diverted to Denver. Turns out that the 5pm flight from Dulles to LAX encountered severe turbulence, people were injured, and the flight was diverted to Denver. Wow. The original flight I was supposed to take was the one before the diverted flight, and so I never had an …
Madrid to DC
The delayed flight finally boarded and took off after 1pm – more than two hours later than scheduled. I fell asleep relatively quickly, but woke up for some lunch. Of course, since I was sitting in seat 21D, the two carts starting at the front and rear of the aircraft would meet right by my seat – which means both of them would run out of food just before servicing my row. Urgh. Luckily the other aisle had some extra …
Delays, Delays
So about 10 minutes before boarding was supposed to start, there was suddenly notification that the flight to Washington was delayed – by two hours. Well, so much for my connection to LAX. There’s obviously nothing I can do about this, but it’s still a pain the butt, since I now have to deal with getting onto a new flight to LA when I arrive in Washington, and who knows what is going to happen with my luggage.
Heading to the Airport
I got up at 6:30am, cleaned up, packed, and headed down to breakfast at 7am. It was pretty quiet in the hotel, but Randy Edelman showed up (apparently he had a flight near the time I did as well) so we chatted a bit over coffee before I headed to my taxi to the airport. It was an uneventful ride; I checked in with Aer Lingus around 8:15am, and then was at my gate by 8:50am, with just under two …
Last Night in Madrid, and the Best Italian Food!
I got about two hours of naptime before waking up to meet up with everyone in the lobby downstairs. We headed over to an Italian restaurant where a bunch of the guests were going to eat, but Giacchino and his group (as well as myself) were only going to get drinks, and then get dinner elsewhere with Maria’s friends. This restaurant was in a bit of a tight space, and with eight of us standing by the bar for drinks, …
Wandering Around Madrid
After settling in the hotel, I met up with Giacchino, his sister Maria, his assistant Andrea, her sister Iris and her mom Rohnda, and the six of us headed out to go wander a bit around Madrid. We walked by the palace, but it was so hot that we decided we needed to get some kind of ice cream. A gentleman at a restaurant pointed us towards Palazzo, which was supposed to have some of the best gelato in the …
Back to Madrid
After waking up around 7:30am, I finished packing and grabbed a little breakfast before a bunch of us were taken from our hotel to Las Casas del Consul, where a bus would be taking all of us (who were left) to the train station. A van was driving our luggage to Madrid separately, and after a 20-30 minute bus ride, we were at the station. Some more farewells were made, and then 22 of us boarded the train for Madrid. …
La Sinagoga del Agua / Final Reception
It turns out that the “secret event” was cooler than I had expected. We walked through the winding streets of Ubeda until we came to an old building with apartments – but there was a sign on one of the corner entrances: “La Sinagoga del Agua” (The Water Synagogue). It seems that when a developer bought the building, with the intent of converting it into apartment and storefronts. However, during the renovations, they discovered that behind the walls (which had …
CD Signing / Gala Luncheon
The CD signing was held in Ubeda’s City Hall, a beautiful old building that is situated in the older section of the town. It lasted for about four hours, and I managed to get everyone to sign my festival poster, and a lot of us exchanged contact information as well. This was followed by the luncheon gala, which started around 4:15pm. This was an opportunity for the fans to mingle with the composers, get their photos taken, and everyone seemed …
Spanish Sloppy Joes
The party post-concert was held at Las Casas del Consul, and featured a wide array of tapas, wine and beer. It was a lot of fun, although I was wondering when the morcilla would make an appearance! At 2am, it arrived, and I told myself it was just a “Spanish Sloppy Joe” – and it was quite tasty! Again, my motto for food while traveling is: “If it tastes good, enjoy it; if it tastes bad, don’t eat it. But …
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