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25

We were finally up, showered, had eaten, and now in one of the oldest castles that had belonged to a Duke who fooled the King .
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'The Lerma Ducal Palace is the palace of the dukes of Lerma in Lerma (Burgos) in Spain, occupying the whole of one side of the city's Plaza. Originally, it had immense gardens below it, on the banks of the river, with fountains, stately homes, and seven chapels, of which one (Cristo) remains. All documents relating to its construction have been conserved. A 17th-century work, building started in 1601 under commission from Francisco Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas, Duke of Lerma. Its architect was Francisco de Mora and is it is considered de Mora's masterwork and one of the finest buildings of that era.

The site was used as a Francoist concentration camp. It is currently used as a parador.' We read the information that was provided to us.  We were shocked at the layout and still in pristine condition.

" Alexa, it's good to finally see the castle that belonged to one of my ancestors. My brother, Robert,  took his entire family here to see this. He gave me a T-shirt that was too small for me to wear, a small cup like a shot glass, a salad plate and a booklet about this castle. He gave me and my siblings this. I am the second sibling to see this. It's beautiful and sad to see that the Duke lied to the king and had two pillars, which in the end his lies got him killed by the kings army. This is the stuff that should be in history books, not all the history anglos teach us.This is my roots."

We took a lot of photos with our cellphones and forwarded them to her families,  Bea and Alice. She texted them, telling them she would be bringing souvenirs for her relatives. Many had never received a souvenis but knew about the castle. She told me when her eldest brother and his immediate family came to see this. It was used for something else than what it is currently used for. We went and bought a lot of various souvenirs.  We finally left to go have lunch. We found a restaurant that was an hour away from the castle. We used the restroom before we found a table for two.

We ordered our food in Spanish.  Julia's Spanish wasn't the best and her pronunciation was horrible.  The waitress said an American. I spoke the language beautifully. The waitress asked me if I was an American. I told her yes but my parents and relatives spoke the native language and taught me.  I told her Julia was from a generation that her parents chose not to speak to them. Her parents were told to only speak in English. She was sadden and apologized to her in English.

"I know I speak badly in Spanish.  You could of told me you spoke English." 
" Mam, we are to allow the customer to speak in whatever language they are comfortable in. We all speak several languages. I will go get your wine on the house."

She left and returned with a rośe and told us we could keep the rest of the bottle. We thanked her, and she left. The wine had a taste we neither of us have ever tasted.  We love it. When she returned with our food, Julia asked her if this winery was nearby. She said yes and wrote the address for us. We thanked her.

" Yes, I know. We will be going there and buying several cases to take back with us for us and others."

Julia smiles at me and we start eating our lunch. She pays for our meal and leaves a nice tip. We get up to use the restroom before we left to go find this winery. Julia put the restaurant address and the winery address. I am driving us. She is telling me more places in other states that her relatives she never met own. We finally arrived. We go inside and the man asks us if we would like a table to taste the wines with cheese. We tell him no thank you. We just came to buy some Rośe cases of a particular year. He states the price like if we would say one case. Julia asks if they are on commission.  He says yes. She says we will go to the counter and place our order in. She states her complete name with perfect Spanish as Dr. Julia Leon. He realized he offended her by assuming she couldn't afford the wine. We walk away. She asked for all the cases and wants them shipped to the legacy hotel.  He says he will have the employees to begin preparing them for shipment. He identifies himself as one of the owners of the winery. He says he will ship any other case of wine she wants. She says what is his favorite.  He says a chardonnay.  She says that will be the case. He rings up the order and gets the address to ship them too. He hands her a zinfandel bottle of wine and cork screw to take with us. She slides her visa card and puts in her code. He bags up the cork screw and wine bottle and places the receipt in the bag. We talk a while before we leave.

" Babe, I guess we will be drinking this for dinner. I say room service so when we are done we can get freaky."

Julia laughs as I am driving us back to the hotel.

"When you say such things as that, I see our age difference. It's not a bad thing. I would of never thought my girlfriend would be my former mentee."

We both laugh. She tells me more about her childhood. I was sad to hear her tell me. All the years,  we knew one another. She  never disclosed such to me.

We are back and I park. We get out. She has the bag and several bags of souvenirs and I get the rest of the bags. I close the truck and hit the fob to lock all locks.

" Babe, we will need to box these up and add our information on them so they can get back to you or you can ship them home."  I will buy two more suitcases.  I need some new suitcases."

We go to our room. We did a lot of walking in the castle and are tired. We place everything on the table except the wine which Julia places in the refrigerator.  She pulls out two bottles of local water. We remove our coats and placed them on the back of the chairs. She hands me one while I am sitting on the couch. We open them and take a few drinks from the bottles. We remove our boots and socks.

" Babe lay down and I will massage your feet than you can do mine. Tomorrow,  we can go buy you some luggage.  Hopefully, not too expensive. "
" Alexa you have seen my luggage.  I buy it from Amazon or Overstock.com.  I  won't be buying expensive ones but quality made.
We can take these on the plane with us. I like to get deals.  I always have if I can get a deal with some exceptions. Thus, the reason I do well in business and my personal funds. Thus feels so good."

I am now sucking on her toes. One of her weaknesses. She knows what I want and chuckles.

" Alexa tonight. Now, I  will massage your feet."

We finished our water and she is so caring when she massages my feet. She massages my calves too.

"We need to take a nap. We still our tired from the time difference.  You were yawning while you drove us here."
I get up and hold my hands to help her up. I pick her up and she wraps her legs around my torso.

" You still are not getting any. "

I am laughing as I carry her to the bedroom. I set her down. We remove all except our underwear on. We go use the restrooms, brush and floss our teeth. We rinse our mouths out and go to the bedroom to sleep. In this country, we cannot have our weapons. We are both have martial art experience.  We will use that if we need to defend ourselves.  I lay my head on Julia's abs. Julia falls asleep before me. Neither of us set any alarms. I fall asleep too.