So, I still believe the only problem with traveling is that once you do it you never want to stop! But, I will just live in optimism that one day I will travel again. I cannot even begin to express how much I have enjoyed my experience, but hope by the time I get home I can express it in some kind of words that do it justice.
My little motivational speech would be to those of you who have always wanted to travel but haven't yet done it:
DO IT. NOW.
It's kind of like kids...if you always wait to have kids you'll never have any. But if you just make some plans and do it, everything seems to work out....maybe not the way you imagined it, but it works out :)
(ok. that may have been a little weird since I have no kids...but it made sense to me when I thought it) let's just move on before this gets weird...er.
So, here's few pics of a FEW things I have been up to over the past weeks:
(a very FEW of the million things I have done...)
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| This is a "tapa." A special thing that they do here in Spain. It's like going to a restaurant for an appetizer, but the appetizer comes with a drink. It's probably close to like 3 or 4 american dollars at most places...but sometimes, if you go to a nice place (like above) it can be 8-10 dollars (american)! My tapa was oysters and shrimp ravioli! WORTH IT |
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This is the beach in Valencia. BE-AU-TI-FUL! We had gone to Toledo on Friday and got back on Friday night. Left the next morning (about 4-5 hour drive) to Valencia, got there and spent the weekend at Valencia. Mostly at the beach..here's the sunset! |
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Valencia at night
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Me and my roomie (Hilary) riding bikes through the beautiful park/path in Valencia
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Toledo! So...this may be the only happy picture I have in Toledo...actually this may be the only picture I have from Toledo. We got to Toledo around 10a.m. and a guia (guide) took us on a walk to tour the city. I wasn't feeling that well, and well by the end I couldn't go in the last church b/c I was so nauseous. And continued to spend the rest of the day sleeping on a bench somwhere and throwing up in the local McDonald's (ya...McD's is everywhere here). So, I THINK Toledo is a beautiful city...but I'm not exactly sure since all I remember is feeling miserable all day. Did I mention we had a 3 hour bus ride back to Alcala (the city where I live) and embarassingly had to ask the bus driver to stop so I could go throw up in a "gas station" bathroom... WORTH IT
We went to the Real Madrid Stadium..this wasn't my favorite visit (shhh!! I could get stoned for saying that)...but we obviously enjoyed ourselves and it was WORTH IT
CORUS CRISTI. This is a famous and largely celebrated holiday for the Catholics (and well pretty much just everyone) ALL throughout Spain. We just stopped at a little town on our way to Andalucia. We were hoping to see the procesion (parade) and had just missed it when we pulled in. But we still saw the dancing and 7 devils/virtues (google Corpus Cristi if you wanna know what I'm talking about). For the small town that it was (REALLY small) there was quite a crowd, and it was hard for me to see, so I got on my friend's shoulder's for a second and half to take a picture and see a second of dancing...WORTH IT!
Ya...what.am.I.doing???? Getting blown away by the windmills of course! These were the famous windmills that inspired the Don Quijote (or Quixote) novel. It is the most famous of Spanish novels and anywhere you go you will see Don Quijote and Sancho Panza in various shapes, forms, and sizes.
I couldn't tell which way the wind wanted me to blow.
Just some old windmills...and so WORTH IT
This is my good old friend Maimonides. Although my hand is covering it, you can still see (a little bit) how his left foot is still a bright gold color...due to the MANY people that rub it (gross?). Because IF you rub it you will receive wisdom (that's the short version of the story)....WORTH IT
(I made sure not to wash my hand after..for like 4 days..extra wisdom for me!!)
So...ya. This was our last day in Andalucia..and I had forgotten my camera charger...so every time I wanted to take a pic I had to just turn my camera on really quick and just shoot! So don't blame me too much for the blurriness. Anyways, moving on! This is the biggest mosque in Spain! So cool..although the picture doesn't do it justice it was WORTH IT!
Honestly, this was up there on my list of my favorite things in Spain. This is La plaza de espana. It is so cool. It's covered in tiles, and around the bottom part has a special "scene" that depicts the different cities/regions in spain! SO COOL! I came here twice. WORTH IT!
Just part of La Alhambra. No big deal.
(So some of you may not know what this is...so I'll briefly tell you: it's a palace, but actually a city palace. Walled off, extensive gardens, and 3 palaces inside...WORTH IT
Palacio Real: Madrid (Royal Palace of Madrid)
This was actually pretty cool; the differences of this palace were that it had an armory and a pharmacy. The armory had little suits for little boys that looked to be more than 8-10 years old. And GUNS! You weren't allowed to take pictures..but there was a gun that was twice as long as me! CRA-ZY! And the pharmacy: sounds kinda dumb, right? NO! So cool. They have these awesome vases filled with things I have never heard of or seen before! It kinda made me feel a little spooked out seeing it and the "kitchen" that was in the pharmacy... but WORTH IT
In Madrid there are these penguins (in different shapes/colors) all over. Not going to lie to you-I have no idea why. But this one's fun, and in front of the famous museo Reina Sofia so needed a picture. Also before a concert (Andrew Bird) that our group went to. We tried to cram in as much as we could that last week...and it was WORTH IT
And now for the final day. I flew out of Spain. Sitting next to a Spainard going to travel the U.S. on holiday. And all I could feel was envy. Envy that this man got to go traveling around and I didn't. And then I realized (yes, I'm a cheesy person. So get over it already) life's journey meant to be traveled, and well ya I'm going to be sad not to be in Spain, but I am ready to have some adventures back in the grand ol' land!
