O the gardens!

In addition to the beautiful rooms at the http://runawaycubicle.blogspot.com.es/2012/09/gardens-and-architecture.html Alcazar there are these gorgeous gardens and fountains. Bridget said it felt like a labyrinth because they just kept going and going and we couldn't find our way out but they were gorgeous so it was well worth it (until the skies got super dark and the threat of rain was near and then we were done).  

This action shot is of me playing tennis on the first tennis court in Spain! 

                  Look now you can tell that we were actually on a trip together!!

Um 9 Please

Bridget and I tried to go to our hotel rooftop bar; not knowing what floor it was on we decided just to go with what the elevator told us........as you can see from the pic we were wrong. There are only 4 floors in our building.......Why are there all those extra buttons!!!!

Gardens and Architecture

So on our first full day in Sevilla we were off to a fantastic start and slept 12 hours so by the time we got out of the room it was around 11:30. Last week every morning I would look on my iPhone weather app at the weather for DC and then the weather for Sevilla and Madrid, it always said that the weather in Sevilla was going to be 90's this week; with that mind I ut on some longer shorts and a short sleeve cardigan and headed out. Um yeah it was cold so after we grabbed some delicious crossiant and a roll that was the size of my head, that was described as toast, a quick sweater change was in order. One of the nice things in Sevilla is that there are a lot of outdoor eating places and thankfully one was next to our hotel.

We headed thru the little alleys to the Alzcazar; however, we couldn't find the entrance and ended uo just wandering around one of the court yards for a little bit - that is what happens when you follow tourists from the Czech.  The Alcazar used to be home to many of Spain's kings; it was originally built as a fort in 913 and since then has been expanded and rebuilt many times.  There were many tour groups there but unfortunately just don't have those German language skills!

 

Entrance to Alcazar

We got headseats so we could listen and learn all about the history

(Mom aren't you proud???)

Look at this amazing ceiling 

Another amazing ceiling ........they call this the half orange room. 

3 strikes and you are out!

That's what happened with this restaurant. First strike worst Sangria so far! Second strike not having the one vegetarian entree on your menu available. Third strike not being able to get chicken paella for one person..... um bill ( I mean la cuenta) please!!!

Of course......

We found a Starbucks. Would you expect anything else from me???

Motto time

The beginnings of Sevilla

When we got to Seville we hopped into a cab and rushed thru the streets of Seville.........thank god we did not rent a car because these streets are tiny, curvy, and barely fit a car. After our cab driver gave us the scenic tour of Sevilla and acted like we were in the Indy 500 he dropped us off atthis random spot and told us that our hotel was up this alley to the right. After wanderng and not finding I stood there for a decade while Bridget wandered around looking for our hotel.  Honestly, I tthought she as making a run for it.  After she came back and no hotel still in sight a cute little old man in a light gray shirt came up to us and looked like he was trying to help us so I showed him the address and he told us to go straight ahead and to the right, it was literally maybe  100 feet away around a bend! After he walked away I said he looked like a priest well later on we saw him and he had his collar.....so really thank god for him because we might still be on that street corner.  Also you can tak the girl out of japan but you cant take Japan out of the girl because when we said thank you I bowed.

When we got to our hotel we noticed there were steps.....o so funy.  After fitting ourselves somehow into the smallest elevator in the world we wound ourselves around to our room and up some more steps.  The floor has lights in it......like the halogen kitchen lights - it is pretty cool.  After a refreshing shower we were ready to hit the streets of Sevilla. After wandering around a little bit and finding some of the major sights we decided it was time to start this trip off right with some sangria and queso..........best decision thus far.  We then just kept wandering the streets and ended up off the tourist path and getting lost. I honestly think we might have walked 8 miles - I was so tired I said it took all the energy I had to pick up my legs for each step.  We got back to the hotel around 8 and as Bridget planned our trip I was out like a light for a nice 45 min siesta.  Getting up around 9 aka too early for dinner in Spain we decided to wander around again and get some delicioso mintice cream for dinner - seriously the biggest 2 scoops ever. At this point I am feeling pretty confident with my basic spanish (even though everyone speaks english) because after Japan I feel invincible :) When we decided to hit the hay at 1045 I asked if we needed to set an alarm and Bridget said that there was no way we would sleep too late............yupp12 hours later we finally woke up!! The best part was I looked at my phone and saw it was 4:45 am I convinced myself that1  my phone must have switched over because there was no way we slept so late. I was also wondering why they were hammering in the middle of the nite. O well we needed it! I quickly got yelled at as I yawned as we were getting ready for our 2nd day in Seville!!!

And We Are Off!!!

If you know me you know that I am a last minute person and usually take too much on.  So the plan was for Bridget and I to leave on Sunday the 23rd of September after I taught CCD, went to Church, helped throw a coed baby shower, went shopping for the baby shwer, and made all of the desserts! In my old age I am trying to get better about planning so was semi on top of printing out the necessary papers for our trip and  buying stuff for the shower; the week started off with making cookie dough on Tuesday, making the cookies on Wednesday, decorating them on Thursday, and cupcakes and pretzels on Friday....... o yeah n top of the job paying the bills  Hence, packing for the trip didn not start until noon on Sunday with a 3pm pick up time from my friend. Basically, this is warnig that you might see some interesting outfits because I don't know what I have actually packed.

My friend was nice enough to drop me off at Dulles.......seriously, that airprt is a mad house. While I was waiting for my flight I started laughing to myself because though I bought my ticket thru United theflight was operated by Aer Lingus and one of my Spanish teachers at SHA used to be a flight attendant for them.  As we got onto the plane I realized that somehow I was basically the width and length of the seat.  Thanks to my trusty but dorky eye mask I was able to sleep for a little bit and I ate some sort of vegetarian food (really it was like veggies in a brown gravy.......interesting).  My seat mate's light was not working and he calledover the flight attendant, who in a straight face asked to see his ticket to see if it came with a igh. Well my seat mate was like um what and I bust out laughing, he then goes o wait is he kidding I was like yup........sad that in this day and age of flying that paying for an overhead light is probably not that far off.  Luckily Bridget and I both landed early, which is great since the taxiing in probably too at least 20 mins and then you have to walk the length of the entire airport.  After wemet up we jumped in a taxi, our driver's exwife was fromthe Bronx, and headed to the train station. 

I bought our tickets back in the states and gave us time in case our fights were  late.........of course they were early so we had a few hours to klll  and decided to hit the little restaurant.  We were already feeling more confident from Tokyo vecause we could actually order food........After we ate we realized only 20 mins passed - only 2 1/2 more hours to go! The train station has a rainforest in the middle of with cute little turtles and some benches.......thank god. When we got to the area wwhere the trains leave from we had to go thru security; however, the weird part was that only our bags got scanned and not us.   The best thing abut the train station were these esclators that were more like ramps........amazing.  After we boarded the train Bridget and I settled in for a nice 2 1/2 hou high speed train nap! Ah now we are finaly on our way to our destination after 17 hours of traveling!

Viva Espana!!!!!

Here we go again!!! Back at the end of April/ beginning of May Bridget sent me a text saying she really wanted to go to Europe so I said okay where are we going and se replied that she wasn't kiddig and I wrote back that neither was I so tide for Spain was born.  I then ran out and bought a guide book, which Bridget then mocked when she came down for Cinco de Mayo.  We started thinking about going at the end of September but then life got in the way and we never planned it. :( Near the end of August we decided it was not going to happen and we started looking for new trips. The  Sunday before Labor Day weekend I was being a good daughter and helping my mom at an Antiques Show when Bridget texted me and said do you think we could stillpul Spain off. I said yeas besides the fact that it was not a financialy smart decision.   A wise person taught me that there are needs and wants and I decided that this was definitely a need otherwise I might lose it at y desk and be cmmitted  So with less then 3 weeks from our depature date we  booked our tickets and planned our trip.  So ared with my 5 words od Spanish after 10 years of lessons (Thank you Senora Jennings and Senor Solomon) we are off on a new adventure! Viva Espana!

England 2011 :)

The longest I have ever been away from England is 29 months, when I was little we went every few months and when I was in school every year so I have been there probably close to 50 times. I try to go about every 2 years to visit my family.  One year I was grilled about where my family lived, their citizenship, the county they lived in (ummm it begins with an M), and I was told he never heard of the town; after about 10 minutes he let me go thru customs. I think I wanted to scream something um look at me I have the same coloring as everyone of course I have British family! I also wanted to say you don't know where Formby is, look it up on a map! I am glad I bit my tongue because there is a chance I would have probably been detained.

The past two times I have been to England have been around Memorial Day weekend when my cousins were on school vacation but because the airlines were not cooperating with me I ended up going at the end of August 2011; the week before Labor Day and also the Monday after a DC earthquake and a hurricane! I was lucky to get out okay thru New York but coming back was a different story and my flight from NY to DC was delayed for hours, it was awful!!! It is bad when you go to get your luggage off the conveyor belt and go to hand it to the guys for your next flight and they wont take it. If I remember correctly, and I probably don't because I blocked this out, I sat in JFK for over 9 hours and was beyond lucky to even get out; I also learned that if you ask nicely you will get a food voucher which was needed because honestly the vegetarian food on Delta was AWFUL and I eat anything that is not meat!

I had an amazing trip to England with lots of shoe shopping, a clothes shopping trip in Manchester, and lots and lots of food - woohoo buffet! I also was so lucky to hang out with my cousins and go into Southport and Liverpool and see the movie Inbetweeneers (hysterical but probably not US humor) and nothing like a little mini golf in the rain! I think we all laughed when we went to Starbucks and the barrista was American and could not understand my cousins so I had to step in and do the ordering. Another amazing trip filled with lots of shoes, foods, and laughs!

Time flies........

Wow it has been almost 2 years since I got back from Japan (and wrote a post)!!!! I cannot believe it  has been two years and honestly, I miss Japan so much and I still believe it is one of the best experiences of my life and I would do it again in a heart beat.  I have also been very lucky to have kept in two with my friends from Japan. I have seen my friend Bonnie twice since I got back and was even able to host her and her son when they were in the DC area this summer! I am beyond blessed to have those lasting relationships.

I am updating the blog because I am about to be off on a new adventure and need to update the travels a little bit before then.  Now just because I have not been writing does not mean that I have not traveled in the past two years.  Trust me that is just not possible for me, I would definitely lose my mind if I didn't take vacations.  So since I have been back there have been two cruises, a trip to England to visit the family, and trips to the lake.  So before I am off on my new adventures here is a round up of my past trips. (Keep in mind I am writing these with my memories and not at the moment so they are a little disjointed)

Cruise#1- March 2011- This cruise was planned after a day in January that I cried at my desk (this has become a running theme...............see cuise#2). Bridget, Noel, and I headed to Florida and jumped aboard the Royal Carribean Cruise ship with almost 2000 other people, including 900 spring breakers! Really 900?!?!?! Dear lord, I am getting old! Of course, I got a super bad burn on the first day- when will I learn!! Bridget says my skin is afraid of the sun and honestly she might be right!! I discovered the blisters on my chest when I popped them as I was applying sunscreen, ouch ouch ouch!!!  I also got a super bad burn right on the bikini line (you know where your leg has to fold every time you walk!!), I kept complaining about it and Noel and Bridget kept ignoring me until I got home and sent Bridget a picture and she was shocked to see it.  I had to send it to her because I had to check to see if I had to go to the hospital instead I headed to Target and asked the pharmacists who thought I was nuts.  At Royal Carribean's private island in Haiti Noel and I went zip lining, so scary but amazing.  I was so not happy when they asked me to YELL out my weight infront of a bunch of college students! I told the guy no no and wrote it down for him (I got a chuckle from some of the older people).  We went snorkeling while we were in Jaimaca, the waves were strong I was being thrown about as I was trying to get back on the boat. I had to put on a life jacket, which was just strange since I am a decent swimmer (outside the confines of the lake). We also had this amazing and hysterical family with us too.  I think the highlight of our trip was our dining room table.  When we saw all of those college students on our ship I think we were slightly scared of who we would be sitting with but I have to say we completely lucked out and had these four amazing and funny girls from East Carolina University.  I think I might have needed two plane seats coming home thanks to all of the food!! THis was my first cruise since I was 3 years old and it was amazing!!! Since I can't remember everything here are some pictures: