Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Europe Biz Trip (London, Barcelona, Milan, Paris & London)

11/9/11
Depart at 5:50 pm for London on UA arriving next day.

11/10/11 
Arrive at 8:55 am. Check into Hilton hotel Heathrow attached to terminal 4.

View from 5th floor looking down to the Cafe, Bar and Restaurant.







View from the 5th floor looking at the lobby.
 View on the 5th floor to my room.
 Executive Club Lounge (pays to open 2 Hilton Honors AMEX cards to get gold level...;))
 Well stocked beverage coolers...
 We gather at the Hilton lobby then move to Kew Grill Restaurant (10B Kew Green TW9 3Bh) for some great food and wine. We meet our Host Ian Stazicker (2nd right) Senior EU Tourism Manager and Thibault Ruffat (3rd on left).
Fried Squid starter-Yum!
 Group photo-(from left) Johanna Schick, Ian, Altug Bekdemir, Luis Dos Santos, Me, Hector Fluentes, Gill Fairclough, Ians GF, & Thibault (sounds like Tebow).

11/11/11
OK, this time with the flash...
 11/11/11-Start the day with a Good ole English breakfast with OJ, Tomato juice and coffee
 Can you smell the grease...yeah!
 11/11/11 Our presentation day to learn about our colleagues markets and strategy
 We finish around 3:00 pm and transfer to Heathrow for a flight on BA to BCN and check into the Barcelona Hotel-very nice...

There are two buildings, but same hotel...
 This is the panoramic view standing in front of one of the hotels looking into the street with the 2nd hotel where we are staying on the right. It was around 70 degrees and wonderful outside.
 This is a view looking up in the hotel
 Checking into the hotel. Jinha Joh missed our dinner the night before (her flight came in late) and she is in the center of the photo (Johanna behind her) with Hector on the left and Luis on the right and Ian checking in.
 Our rooms were nice and I had a balcony looking into the courtyard.
 Bathroom was large, very modern and clean.
 Had a separate shower and toilet.
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How nice, eh? Freash local fruit and gift snack with a letter from the Value Retail/COS (Chic Outlet Shopping) Director from La Roca Village welcoming us to Spain.
Lovely seasonal fruit to tide us over until dinner, which was next door (Lodi Restaurant), which was part of the hotel.
My Comfy bed at Condes Barcelona Hotel
 View outside of the hotel while we wait for the others before proceeding to dinner.

 Brad standing in front of the hotel...

Dinner at the Loidi Restaurant and we drank nice Spanish red wine called Vina Escarlata 2007 (Peñín Guide 2011 rating - Tasting notes: Color: dark-red cherry, orangey edge. Nose: earthy notes, candied fruit, spicy, creamy oak. Palate: powerful, flavorful, spicy, round tannin's - Score: 89-Catalonia, Spain 100% Merlot grapes)


Jinha is on the left, Luis center and Altug right.
 We had a lovely set meal starting off with an appetizer (Mushrooms tartlet with fresh blades, Idiazábal cheese slices and juice reduction)-Lovely taste!
 Our Main course was fish (Baked gilt-head with beans trinchat, vegetables purée and citrus vinaigrette) and it was cooked perfectly!
 Our Main course was fish
 The 2nd main course was (Iberian cheek veal with parmentier and fine slice of minced cured meat) The veal cheek meat was super soft with the fatty tissue melting in your mouth...:)
 Group photo with our host Laura Chavarria at center. We were also joined by Elena Bralkovskaya from AVIAREPS Moscow. Elena joined us in Spain since she had visa issues getting into the UK.
 The dessert was decadent (Brownie with citrus jam, yogurt cream and lemon peel ice-cream) with just the right amount of sweet.

Restaurant Loidi GASTRO BISTRO

Signature cuisine at affordable prices is Martín Berasategui’s vision for the Restaurante Loidi at the Hotel Condes de Barcelona. Loidi is a highly contemporary and affordable bistro in which Martín Berasategui offers his traditional cuisine to everybody, prepared with the best seasonal produce and presented with imagination.
As a tribute to the cuisine of his origins, Martín Berasategui offers a set menu that changes weekly consisting of four courses (starter, fish, meat and dessert) at a very attractive price.
The restaurant has an informal, contemporary and warm atmosphere. The space is separated into various areas with highly original partitions that depict some of the culinary elements used by Berasategui.
Head chef: Tomás Closa
Maître d': Óscar Fernández

.................
Mallorca, 248-250. 08008 Barcelona
Tel.: (+34) 93 492 92 92
www.loidi.com

.................
OPENING HOURS
1.00 pm to 3.30 pm and 8.00 pm to 11.00 pm
Here is the website for Loidi Restaurant: http://www.condesdebarcelona.com/en/loidi/restaurant-loidi-48/
 View down the sidewalk in front of our hotel.
View down the sidewalk in front of our hotel.
View down the sidewalk in front of our hotel.
We walked from our hotel a few blocks to the COS Shopping Express  Coach stop.


 We walked past Casa Batlló; a building restored by Antoni Gaudí and Josep Maria Jujol, built in the year 1877 and remodeled in the years 1904–1906; located at 43, Passeig de Gràcia The local name for the building is Casa dels ossos (House of Bones), as it has a visceral, skeletal organic quality. It was originally designed for a middle-class family and situated in a prosperous district of Barcelona.

Our group is walking in front of Casa Batlló with Yanina Tiano leading us to the Chic Shopping Express stop.













The building looks very remarkable (night view here) — like everything Gaudí designed, only identifiable as Modernisme or Art Nouveau in the broadest sense. The ground floor, in particular, is rather astonishing with tracery, irregular oval windows and flowing sculpted stone work.
It seems that the goal of the designer was to avoid straight lines completely. Much of the façade is decorated with a mosaic made of broken ceramic tiles (trencadís) that starts in shades of golden orange moving into greenish blues.
The roof is arched and was likened to the back of a dragon or dinosaur. A common theory about the building is that the rounded feature to the left of centre, terminating at the top in a turret and cross, represents the lance of Saint George (patron saint of Catalonia, Gaudi's home), which has been plunged into the back of the dragon.


 This is the Shopping Express that takes you to La Roca Village.
 We were amazed that the guide spoke Spanish, English and Russian.
 We arrive at La Roca Village and wait in front of the Welcome Center to meet LauraChavarria, Elena Foguet (Business Director Spain) and Yanina Tiano (Tourism Coordinator).
 The facade of many of the buildings have a Spanish accent to it...






The people who visit the village look well dressed and are sporting name brand bags, accessories and of course clothes...

The villages are very children friendly with play areas and wide streets for many shoppers to walk through.
At La Roca Village they gave us 20% VIP tickets so I bought Yumi a  2010/2011 Versace handbag. It was already 60% off retail price for the normal COS and they took off an additional 20%, so it was a good deal. It was even better because I have never seen a discount Versace boutique in the USA. It is shiny black on the outside and bright green on the inside. Oh course, Yumi loved it...;)


For myself I got Prada Sunglasses and like the Versace handbag, they were about 55% off retail price and I got another 20% off by using the special 20% off voucher. Yumi loves these too since they also look good on her...:)



Of course you can see that all of the villages have a Starbucks...:)

I was amazed at how good the restaurant was at the La Roca Village Barcelona and I quickly realized how different the COS Villages are compared to the American version. At COS (9 villages in Europe) it is a high-end shopping experience complete with great restaurants and around 100-150 boutiques at each village.

We started with seafood linguine appetizer (huge-big enough for a whole meal) and then had a main dish and a dessert...Did not take photos of those. We also tried a local Spanish beer and had a glass of white wine with lunch.



After lunch we transferred from LRV to Barcelona Airport and took an easyjet flight to Milan arriving around 7:30 pm and it was probably 25 degrees colder.
We transfered from the Milan Airport to our hotel (Hotel de la Ville Milan), which was in the very center of Milan.

After checking into our rooms we took a shuttle to the restaurant for dinner arriving around 9:30 PM.

The rooms had very high ceilings and had cloth wall paper.
The rooms were very spacious.

The bathrooms looked very new and were very nice floor to ceiling marble.

The lobby area was very cozy with a lot of dark wood and tall ceilings.
This is the street in front of the hotel.
In front of the hotel.
A buger joint near the hotel...Mama Burger...:)
A plaza near the hotel...
We arrive at Ristorante i Bolognese, Milan...WOW! What a lovely restaurant!!! You can see Michelle Stephens from Value Retail (COS) on the left. Michelle joined us at the hotel and was a co-host with Ian.
We order appetizers (assorted meats and mozzarella cheese), pasta (Bolognese-their signature dish), main course (I asked the waiter to choose mine).

 Luis, Elena and I.
Group photo.

Altug checks out the wine with Michelle on his left and Jinha on Michelle's left.
Group photo. The other patrons were unbelievably dressed so well and there seemed to be no short supply on very fashionably dressed patrons.
OMG! The Mozzarella was unbelievably good and super fresh...:)
Michelle and Jinha
Michelle and Jinha
We had a sampling of three different cured meats (beef & pork)..this one was beef (name?)
This one was pork (name?)
Michelle, Jinha and Hector.
The ham to the left was Parma ham and we also had a fried pastry with the meats and cheese...What a wonderful start to a great meal.
The best Bolognese I had ever tried, hands down.
The waiter choose beef cheek with mashed potates for me (I had veal cheek the night before in Barcelona) and this was even better...super soft and a great taste.
This was the pork cutlet with mashed potatoes.
Michelle had the lamb chunks with peas (must be a better explanation than that...)
Outside of the Ristorante i Bolognese
Outside of the Ristorante i Bolognese

11/13/11 Milan
 We started the day early and took the shuttle from our hotel to the Chic Shopping Express departure point.
 Near Chic Shopping Express departure point.
 Chic Shopping Express departure point. Panoramic view.
 We transfer to [FV] Fidenza Village
 Outside FV
 We are greeted by Mauro Acquati (Senior Tourism Manager), Roberto Confalonieri (Deputy Marketing Director) and Barbara de Magistris (Retail Director) and then move to the meeting room for a presentation on FV.
 FV
 Missoni
 Inside Restaurant Barlumeria inside FV. The restaurant's owner also owns a local farm and vineyard, so he supplies the restaurant with food from his farm...super fresh!
 Parmigiana cheese rounds
 Parmigiana cheese rounds
  Parmigiana cheese rounds
 Amazing selection of cured meats (Pork and Beef-one of them was Parma Ham from Parma( 30 minutes away... As well as Parmigiana cheese...:)
 They served fresh sparkling Lambrusco wine with lunch. From left, Mauro, Altug,Barbara, Luis and Michelle.
 Sparkling Otello Nerodi Lambrusco wine (Johanna in the background).
 Barbara went into the kitchen and brought out the chef who made all of our pasta.
 Mauro suggested we try the Ravioli with olive oil and parmigiana cheese...simple and wonderful! The fresh bread was went sooooo well with the pasta.
We shared chocolate mousse with vanilla ice cream.
FV
 The restaurant Barlumeria where we ate is below on the left under the green awning.

 Paul Smith...it is also my nephews name, so thought I would send him the photos...kikiki...:)

 Fidenza Village-The local theme is Verdi since he was born close by in Parma.
 Fidenza Village
 Barlumeria Restaurant
 Entrance to Fidenza Village
 At Fidenza Village, all of the people shopping were dressed so well and even the children were wearing designer name brands. About 60% of shoppers at COS Villages are tourists



I had an espresso after shopping at Obika Mozzarella Bar. I used the 10% VIP discount card and bought myself an Armani silk cotton blend scarf (Yep, Yumi likes it too and she plans on borrowing it often)...;)
So this is Christmas and a Happy New year (Christmas song and Christmas cheer at Fidenza Village)
Sitting out front of Fidenza Village sporting my new scarf..

Parked the car out front...;)
Church near our hotel on the way to dinner...

Went to Giannino for dinner...WOW another amazing dinner...Michelle leading us there.
Elena having a ride on the car seat.
Brad taking a ride next.


Hector
Our waiter showing us the white truffle.
Luis showing the mozzarella.
Fresh Mozzarella.
Amazing squid in gelatin with shaved hard cheese and olive oil.
Assortment of cured meats with artichoke hearts ans salami.
A little sampling of it all.
Adding the white truffle to the risotto appetizer.
Pasta appetizer with white truffle. This was my first time trying white truffle and it was so delicious and rich.
I had the Chilean Sea Bass for my main course.
Fruit assortment for dessert.

Chocolate Mousse with pistachio ice cream.
Apple pie a la mode.
Chocolate pie with chocolate ice cream


11/14/11

Early start with a flight from Milan to Paris on Alitalia.

Arrived at Orly Airport.

Arrived just outside of Paris.
La Vallée Village Welcome center.
We arrive in our shuttle.
Welcome center.
Off to shop for 2 hours.
Jimmy Choo boutique
Valentino Boutique.
Valentino Boutique.
La Vallee.
At the end of La Vallee there is a huge shopping mall.
We have a meeting to learn about La Vallee Village.
Nice little hosted lunch.

Desserts
Hellen Hunt tells us about La Vallee.

We meet Cinzia Nespoli.
To Paris to catch the Eurostar train to London.
To Paris to catch the Eurostar train to London.
Lining up to take the Eurostar. The train is super smooth and you never felt like you were under the channel. We only realized that we were underground when we all lost cell phone signals.
Arrival in London.
Dinner at Bumpkin Gastronomy Pub...what a long day...
I had good-ole fish'n'chips.
I think this was a game hen.
Fish'n'chips

















Outside our hotel, The Kensington Hotel.
COS/Value Retail presentation from all of the divisions, plus our recap.
The Kensington Hotel.
Waiting for my hired car to take me to Olly & Sophie's flat.
Sophie in the kitchen.
Olly's living room.

Olly & Brad

Olly & Brad having great chili.
Ian, Sophie and I.
Ian and Sophie.
Watching some football (soccer).
Bradley & Olly
Luke Alva Jackson

Brad & Luke chillin


A pint of London Pride.