Traveling Twins

Wow -- what a weekend. We were lucky enough to have both Mom and Nannie fly to Europe for Mother's Day 2017.  All three generations together makes for a fun few days! Mom and Nannie flew into Madrid, checked into their hotel, and immediately Ubered to our campus.  It was graduation day, so they sat and watched four boring speeches, and saw us walk across the stage to accept our diplomas!  After school, they climbed five flights of stairs all the way up to our apartment! After a lot of laughs and a mini apartment tour, we walked to one of our favorite bars "Lateral" to drink mojitos! Nannie still thinks this was the best mojito she has ever had. After drinks, we stopped in our favorite market, San Miguel to grab a quick olive tapa before dinner! We met Maggie and Sofa for dinner at a typical Spanish restaurant and enjoyed great company.  After an irish coffee for dessert, we decided to go have one more drink in Nannis and Mom's hotel bar. One more drink turned i...

A weekend we will never forget: Florence! My friends and I planned back in January to all meet for Katie’s (Kitty’s) 21 st birthday in Florence! And although at the time we thought May seem liked forever away, it came and went in a blink! This weekend was highly anticipated and it did not disappoint! Emily flew in from Paris, Sammy flew in from USA, and all of the Madrid girls and boys flew in! We had quite the crew. Luckily, Kitty’s apartment is really big, so we all had a place to sleep….even if it was on the floor. We landed in Pisa because it was a cheaper flight, so before we trained into Florence of course we stopped by the leaning tower! It was actually leaning. REALLY leaning. After a few pictures we were off to Florence! Our weekend begins. We arrived just before dinner and all rushed to get ready to grab a quick gelato before we walked it to the top of Plaza Michaelangelo…a famous lookout where you can see a breathtaking view of the entire city of Florence...

We arrived in Amsterdam late, checked into our hotel, and went right to sleep! We woke up early Monday morning for a delicious brunch at Bakers and Roasters, a Brazilian-Kiwi twist restaurant, with DIY Mimosas…. Perfect for our Champagne with a dash of orange juice mimosa specialties. We then walked over to the Heineken Brewery for “The Heineken Experience.” We enjoyed comparing it to our Guinness experience in Dublin, and learning about the making and history of a different beer! We then hopped over to the canal for a boat ride, where we got lots of little facts about Amsterdam… one being that they recently put up railings at the edge of the canal in most places to prevent cars from rolling into the river!!! Next, we headed over to the Iamsterdam sign for some pictures and then we decided to search for a place to grab a bite to eat. We ordered the traditional Amsterdam meat and cheese plate… a little different than our delicious, gourmet meat and cheese plates here in Spain… I...

PROSTTTTTT! PROSTTTTTTT! (Cheers in German) We arrived in Munich at 10am and were ready to hit the ground running! We arrived to our hostel where we met up with Lauren and Kelsey! We hit the cold and rainy city of Munich in search of "Drindle's," the traditional German dress! We hopped in and out of stores searching for the perfect one's. Finally we all said "YES to the Drindle" and we grabbed a quick healthy bite at "BiteDelite" in Munich's old town. We got ready and put our jackets on over our Drindle's to hit the town! We walked 10 minutes to the fair grounds and walked into a giant circus like tent, lined with tables and people dressed up with GIANT BEERS. We received our giant beers and sat down at a table. Shortly after, we locked eyes with JAMES VERCH, Madison's fourth grade boyfriend from Mount Pisgah, who we haven't seen in over 5 years. At 5:30 most of the tables we're reserved so we got kicked to the front of the r...

Crazy...we actually were able to spend time in Madrid! We were home for almost 10 days....a new record!  And a lovely relaxing week and a half. Short Story #1: I RAN A RACE! Rock N' Roll Madrid, was quite the experience. THOUSANDS of people lined the streets to run and watch this famous marathon series.  They shut down the entire center of Madrid to block of the streets and the course. It was really amazing to be a part of! Six miles later....we decided it would be a good idea to continue using our legs and to go on a hike! After an hour bus ride, we walked and walked and climbed and climbed until we reached a beautiful sunny spot by the river.  Tay brought a nice picnic with beer and we all enjoyed the meat and cheese!  Harris, Kenley, Maggie and John joined us too! Short Story #2: I believe I have mentioned this before, but there is a school for mentally challenged adults right across the street from our university.  Whenever our school busses...

Easter Break! --We had a nice morning at the Beach in Nice, before we were off to Rome! ROME We landed in Rome, took the train to the city center, and then walked to our hotel, Boscolo Exedra , to meet mom and dad! They were waiting for us on the beautiful terrace of our hotel that looks out to an incredible view! We rushed to change before dinner, and were off! Mom failed to mention we were eating at La Pergola , a Michelin Three Star very fancy restaurant, with the most amazing view of Rome.  Needless to say, we were very underdressed in our sneakers and jeans..but that did not stop us from having a really great meal! We loved our four course dinner overlooking the city that ended with a flaming Grand Marnier Soufflé! After a perfect first night, we woke up and were ready to see the city! A golf cart picked us up and toured us around all day. We first went through a beautiful park, Villa Borghese , and saw many statues (some without heads) and a nice pond. Then we trekked...

SPRING BREAAAAAKKKKK!!! We woke up early this morning to catch our flight to Nice, France. We checked into our cute, studio apartment airbnb and were off to the train station to go to Antibes to meet our friends Lauren and Anna who are in the French Riviera for the weekend with a program! After a short 4 euro and 20 minute train ride we arrived! We got off the train and walked by the port towards the ocean, admiring the beauty of all the sailboats and yachts. We continued alone the seaside and found a cute restaurant  with delicious crepes and French cider. Anna and Lauren met up with us and after some catching up we went to the market, bought 3 euro bottles of wine, sat on the rocky beach, and enjoyed! We took our train back to Nice and got ready for the night! Anna and Lauren met us at a restaurant near our house for some muscles and fries... the famous food of Nice. After dinner we went back to our airbnb to chill and chat before going out! We headed to old town and partied th...

After a quick week of school we were off again to London! A stressful airport experience, complete with a long security line started our trip off! We arrived at Stansted Airport, and took a 40 minute train ride into the city. Taylor and I met our friends at the AirBnb, and were out the door in 15 minutes.  Wasting no time! We bought Hop on Hop off bus tickets to get us around the city all weekend -- and our first stop was Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately, we did not make it in time to see the "changing of the guards" but still experienced a beautiful walk through the park and the amazing views of the Palace! We all decided to get our barrings, and just ride for the rest of the afternoon. So we did just that! We sat on the roof of the double decker bus and rode around the city for a couple of hours! Just before the sun went down, we hopped off at the most authentic Fish N' Chips spot in London, Golden Hind. It did not disappoint! AMAZING. We ate fast, because we had to...