I went to Seville, Spain for an industrial trade conference on diesel generators I sold and serviced. The factory sponsored the event, paying for all expenses except travel to the venue. At conclusion of the conference, I detoured to Brest France, to their corporate headquarters, for a factory tour.
These are my e-mails home.
3, April
Sevilla, Spain
Just got in my room. It’s 5:50 your time and 2:50pm local here. Thirty four hours since I left the house.
The flight from San Diego to Atlanta was fine, but it went downhill from there.
On the flight from Atlanta to Madrid, They put me in the very last seat against the restroom wall that would not recline, and every time one of the two hundred other passengers flushed, it shook my seat.
Needless to say I got NO sleep. When I wanted to read…the stupid reading light was out on my seat and my flashlight only lasted two hours. The in-flight movie ate its tape three quarters of the way though (why aren’t they using DVD?), now I will never no the ending because I don’t want to have to sit through the beginning of Naranja again.
They lost my luggage in Madrid…, then, they lost my plane!
I got on another flight, and I waited an extra hour in the Sevilla airport for another plane to bring me my bag which was vacationing in Barcelona.
I don’t know if they ever found my plane.
I’m going to take a short nap and then go to the reception at 6:00pm.
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4 April,
Sevilla, Spain
So... it's 7:00Am here. The sun won't rise for another hour and a half.
I'm staying at the Melia Sevilla Hotel, in the down town historic portion of the city. It's in a group of big concrete monoliths surrounded by beautiful Moorish architecture buildings. Of the 364 rooms in the hotel, our conference has 320 reserved. Somehow I ended up in one of the thirty five "executive suites" on the top floor. The room is small by American standards, however, the bathroom is completely lined in stone tile, I have two toilets...oh wait, that's a bidet... and a huge tub/shower that has no curtain or enclosure. It's open to the room and any splash just drains off the marble into a floor drain. The end wall is smoked glass, open to the main room, and lightly mirrored on the shower side???
I need to lose some weight.
The room is modern in style and luxuriously outfitted with rich feeling textiles. I have a large TV with 40 channels (7 of which are in English), a king size bed, and my desk is near the window. I can look out to a view of the North West into the Plaza de Espana. The mini bar fridge is stocked and not too expensive, only EU 1,65 for a bottle of spring water. It has everything connected to the room key card. You can't turn on the lights or AC until you enter your card into a slot just inside the door. When you remove it, they go off. The safe, the mini fridge, and the TV pay channels all require you to insert your card to activate/open. They only gave me one, so it was fun trying to open the safe in the dark.
We met last night in one of the conference lobbies for tapas and cocktails, and then adjourned to the l'Albufera Sabor for dinner. It was a feast of Spanish tastes, including lots of olives and anchovies. I was able to find some sausages and cold cut with cheese, a chilled soup with a sweet almost melon flavor, and roast meat covered in a Salisbury type sauce strong with garlic and onion flavor. I was seated at the "English" table. 
To be continued...
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