Au revoir

So I realized that I have been procrastinating on updating my blog hardcore since my last post. So much has happened since my trip to Portugal it will be difficult to cover it all in one post but I will do my best.  The weekend after our amazing trip to Portugal we traveled to southern Spain and visited Cordoba, Sevilla, and Granada. The whole trip was great and the weather was nice and warm so what more do you need? We were able to visit La Alhambra, Christopher Columbus’ tomb, and the largest Gothic Cathedral among other things. Plus my dad was able to stop in Spain for a few days after his business trip so it was fun getting to see him and being able to show him around!

View of Granada from La Alhambra

Windmills from Don Quixote

Pizzeria in Sevilla

Enjoying our free time



Outside the Madrid Temple



The next weekend was spent in Toledo, El Escorial, and Valley of the Fallen. Here are some of the sights we saw there:

Valley of the Fallen

I would like to dedicate the majority of this post to…France! We had a free weekend and decided we would spend it in Paris. I’m not quite sure what to say about Paris because it was an interesting weekend. We thought we would be fine booking 2 rooms in our hotel for the 6 of us but when we arrived they would not let 2 of us go up. Poor Luisa and I had to wander around Paris at night in search of a place to stay. Fortunately for us we found a place nice and close to everyone but it turned out to be a HOSTAL. This was literally my biggest fear. I hate germs, and strangers, and public bathrooms. I had successfully avoided my hostal experience all together and I thought for sure I would not have to experience one at all during my stay in Europe. Of course as luck would have it the only space available was a dormitory room so Luisa and I put on our brave faces and stuck it out for the night. For those of you who don’t know the dormitory room is the worst. You share one shower and a room with 12 other people-complete strangers! I was terrified the whole night and paranoid beyond belief, for all I knew I was sleeping with a bunch of criminals!!

Our stay improved as the days went on and we were able to see some of the major sites in Paris. We visited the Louvre, Versailles Palace, Arc du Triumfe, Musee du Orsay, Eiffel Tower, and Notre Dame. Plus we managed to enjoy some yummy crepes which is practically what we lived off of while there. All in all it was a successful trip and we made it out alive…without getting TAKEN.

Outside the Louvre

Palace of Versailles

Hall of mirrors in Versailles

My future palace

The Gardens

The hunchbacks of Notre Dame

Most recently we traveled up north to Bilbao, San Sebastian, and Biarritz (in France). In Bilbao we got to visit the Guggenheim Museum which is the craziest museum I have been to yet. The building is amazing! They had to create a computer program just to build the museum (plus it required a lot of math which may be why I loved it so much!). San Sebastian and Biarritz are major resort towns in Spain and France so we enjoyed being by the beach the whole weekend.

I HATE spiders

The city of Bilbao

just poopin in front of the Poopy

the beach in San Sebastian

Our family tree minus David!

Eating in Biarritz France

Our Dream Come True

This is just skimming the surface on the things we have seen but I hope the pictures do these places justice. I am so blessed to be out here and I am loving every minute of it. All my life it has been my dream to travel and I realized that I am living it right now. I will never forget the places I’ve seen, or the people I’ve met. I am one lucky girl and so happy!!