Los padres en España

In Toledo with Mama and Pappa


Dinner with Al and Amy


Best Cathedral ever.


Pappa with his favorite Ninot


At a full size Falla in China Town

Last friday I took a train to Madrid to meet up with my parents and Al and Amy. Pappa did not come in with the others because he had a conference in Switzerland. So I took the train and then the metro to their hotel. It was really nice to see some people from home. That night we just had tapas and bummed around downtown. Pappa came in a little later and we all called it a night.

The next day we went to the Prado. It is amazing how many pieces of art they have in that museum! You could easily spend a week in that museum alone. We also went to the Royal Palace. This was really cool as well. I enjoyed this more than the museum. Right next to the palace was an AMAZING cathedral. It is probably my most favorite to date on this trip. Look at the pictures. The colors are so vibrant, a little different to have such a modern touch on a cathedral. A nice change of pace. We had a great dinner that night at the "older restaurant in the world" according to the Guinness Book of world records. The food was wonderful. I had some real meat for the first time in a long time. haha

Sunday we took the rented car and drove to Toledo. I showed them the cathedral that I had been to with my group. It was a nice day and we just bummed around town. Then we drove in to Valencia...Valencia by car is much trickery than Valencia by foot. haha

The week was filled with classes for me and adventuring for them.

On Thursday I went to the craziest disco tec ever! We took a bus there and i didnt get to bed until 7:30 am. I woke up at 8:30 to go to the aquarium with the folks. It didnt go as horribly as I thought with the lack of sleep. I wouldnt have gone, but i felt it was a necessary adventure for cultural immersion. haha.

The aquarium was awesome! Much better than the one in Atlanta in my opinion. The weather was wonderful yet again. We also saw an Imax film about the Alps. It was really good.

It was nice that they were all able to see some of the beginnings of FALLAS. Elsewise no one would believe me as to how crazy this festival is! There are soooo many people, awesome "floats", great fallera costumes, and sooo much more. THe city is packed and the night life is ridiculous. There fireworks everyday at 2pm and 1am. The party goes alll night. Sleep is for the weak... haha actually Stephanie had a bunch of extra ear plugs that have come in handy.

more to come on fallas.

Granada...amazing

markets in Granada


Relaxed after the Arabian bath house


At the Flamenco show


Great view from plaza de san nicolas


train on the way to granada...1 am



The fortress at Alhambra


Alhambra


Palace at Alhambra


Walls at Palace at Alhambra

This past weekend i went to Granada with 4 other girls from my program. We took the midnight train and arrived in Granada at 8 am...my first over night experience on a train...much like a plane, kinda impossible to get good sleep.

Anyways once we arrived in Granada we went to find our hostel. The neighborhood looked a little sketchy, but as we continued to climb the hill to our destination we saw that the view was amazing. So after about an hour of hassle we managed to get in touch with the manager of our hostel. We shared a room with a queen size bunch bed, so two on top and two on bottom, then a futon for the fifth. We had our own bathroom and they hostel had a living room, a computer with free internet and a nice sized kitchen. There was an awesome terrace that looked down on to the city. So we dropped off our stuff and began to adventure.

Stephanie and I went to the main cathedral of Granada and went into various markets and side street shops. The city had a very "arabian" feel to it, with the Moroccan influences. Hookahs, robes, pastries, and tapestries littered the side street with multiple vendors. We then wandered to the main square called plaza nueva. there we saw belly dancers and street performers. We had a great lunch of wine and tapas. Afterwards we went to an Arabian bath house...it was amazing, probably one of the coolest things I have ever done... there were 6 different pools of varies temperatures and different depths, so you would move around from pool to pool either lying or sitting in them. There was also an icy cold one to cool off in and i guess it is the equivalent of cleansing your pallet in between courses...weird analogy. So there was soft middle eastern music playing in the background, everything was dimly lit, and silence was enforced. there was a den with tea and little candies to have when you wanted to get out of the water for a little minute. We were in there for an hour and a half...it was nice to have some quiet alone'ish time.

Later that night we went to a flamenco show. It was great to hear live music. We were in like a little catacomb and the performers were great. the dancing was amazing! It was a fun filled day and i felt i really experienced the culture of the city.

Sunday we got up and had breakfast on the terrace and went to the Alhambra. The views were AMAZING. On one side there were lush green valleys and the opposite boasted the the snow covered Sierra Nevada. It was breathtaking. We spent about 5 hours on the ground on the Alhambra and saw the room where Christoper Colombus was commissioned to find the new world by queen isabella...crazy. The architecture was unlike any other I have seen in my travels. This was the first arabian influenced city i have been to. The work was all so incredibly intricate.

we took the 10 pm train back and arrived in valencia at 6 am...just in time to nap and head to our 9 am classes! haha. totally worth it. another amazing weekend. i am so blessed.