Monday, February 23, 2009

Benahavis


















On the way back from Los Angeles to Spain in January, we met Leslie and Burkhardt Weber and their two daughters on the plane. They built and own a boutique hotel and gourmet restaurant called Amanhavis in the gastronomic district of Benahavis here in southern Spain. We decided to drive over for dinner and to stay the night. The hotel is gorgeous, very authentic and rustic with each room designed in an individual way. The village itself consists almost entirely of about 30 restaurants and bars. You can see from the pictures that the courtyard is very pretty and that we had a room with a telescope and a glass domed ceiling to look at the stars. The restaurant was everything it promised to be and dinner was truly an experience with excellent wine from Granada to go with it. It was a magical abundant experience which we intend to repeat very soon.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

We visit Jerez


After all the excitement of the previous weekend, we went to Jerez and toured the famous Gonzales Byass Bodega, most well known throughout the world for its Tio Pepe.

The Party
















Following the event we hosted a party for everyone at our villa. We had a traditional Spanish singer and guitarist, but as you can see from the pictures, it turned into a karaoke session, not surprising considering who was there!!! Now when I look round the villa, I can only see about 100 of our friends and colleagues drinking, eating, dancing and singing. It is such a wonderful memory, a real gift from everyone who was there.

Super Saturday...En Fuego




After the lunch break we had arranged a demonstration of traditional flamenco dancing which went down really well judging by the applause.

Super Saturday...En Fuego
















About 120 people travelled to come to the training day. Most of the speakers involved the audience in their subject, so it was exciting and interesting and the momentum never flagged. There were some fascinating experiments and everyone had a lot of fun.

Super Saturday...En Fuego


Lunch at the beach with our close friends Karla and Don, Suzanne's sister and brother-in-law, Linda and Roy, and a colleague, Joanne.

Team Europe Descends on the Costa Del Sol




We organized and hosted a training day and event for Team Europe called Super Saturday...En Fuego for the last Saturday in January. Everyone started arriving during the week and we filled up at least one local hotel with excited colleagues. The weekend started on Friday evening with a dinner for the twelve presenters and leaders who flew in from Australia, the United States and the UK. We took them to our favorite "hole in the wall" restaurant and we all had an absolute blast.