Mindy and Craig take Spain!

Last week was Semana Santa (holy week), so I had the first of my two spring breaks (I know, rough life, who knew I would get two breaks from my semester long break?). My lovely parents decided they missed their daughter oh so much, and hopped the pond to visit. Despite a few minor setbacks (they missed their connecting flight to Seville, the weather was horrible until the end of the week, and we learned that 8 full days of family bonding is a bit much), we had an excellent week. I was going to wait until my mother posted her pictures to write this, but who knows when that will be. I decided I'll write now and add pictures when she finally posts them. Unfortunately, you will not see any pictures from us in Seville. Mindy didn't realize that pressing the "Delete all pictures" button would delete all her pictures...I know, you're wondering where I get my intelligence from (just kidding, Mom).

After quickly dropping their stuff off at the hotel in Seville, my parents got to come to my host family's apartment and meet them. My señora made an EXCELLENT lunch (well, it was supposed to be lunch, but due to the delay, became an awkward meal in between lunch and dinner). At least, I think she did. I hardly got to eat due to the fact I had to translate the entire meal but hey, I think I did okay! After lunch I took my parents around Seville to show them my 'hood. We then went to my favorite restaurant for dinner. The next day, we did a bus tour which was nice because I saw parts of Seville I hadn't seen before. We saw Plaza de España and the Alcazar, places I wrote about in my first post, and some of my favorites. There were a million people here for Holy Week, as there are giant processions all over the city. It took us an hour and a half to walk from the restaurant we ate dinner to our hotel, a walk that should normally take 20 minutes. The processions were cool though, a bit too much Catholocism, but cool to see. The people in them wear outfits that look exactly like the KKK, good thing I was warned about this or I would have been pretty freaked out. On Monday, we got on the train to Madrid.



This was my first time in Madrid. It was pretty cool, kind of a European New York. We found 24 hour pizza, something I wish we had in Seville. We saw a Flamenco show, which was better than the first one I saw, however, confirmed the fact that Flamenco is not exactly my favorite thing to watch. We did a bus tour in Madrid as well. Madrid has some gorgeous parks, too bad the weather was too rainy to sit and enjoy. We did get to enjoy a few meals outside, which was nice. We also took a tour of the royal palace. this was really interesting, however, it literally never ended. This palace was huge! After this, we enjoyed a delicious lunch at TGI Fridays, I really had to satisfy my craving for American food. The next day we took a tour of Toledo, another really cool city. Old Toledo is up on a mountain and there's a gorgeous view. The city has a Jewish quarter, Catholic quarter, and Muslim quarter. Later, we visited the Reina Sofia museum; and well art is not my thing, it was very cool to see works of Picasso, Dali, and Miró, artists I actually know of. One of the highlights of Madrid was stumbling across a Llao Llao, my favorite frozen yogurt place in Seville! The best part was they were giving out free samples! I took two and proceeded to purchase my own yogurt later...I got my mother as obsessed with it as I am. After seeing everything we wanted to see in Madrid and Toledo, we got on train #2 to Barcelona.

view from Toledo... cute Toledo streets

Madrid's cathedral and Royal Palace

Time for the last leg of the vacation - Barcelona (round 2 for me). Let's just say, I got a lot more sleep this time. Don't worry, I offered Mom and Dad the opportunity to come clubbing with me, but they politely declined. We started off with a tapas and wine tour, which ended up being a great walking tour around Las Ramblas and the Gothic Quarter, a place I hadn't seen much of before (las Ramblas is the main touristy shopping strip, our hotel was right on it, it was great). Our tour guide showed us the place that would be the most important for our visit - the chocolate area. The chocolate was delicious. So were the tapas we ate at multiple restaurants. And so was the wine. Needless to say, the tour left me quite satisfied.
The next day we explored Barcelona on our own. The weather was bizarre. It would be sunny and beautiful one second, and downpour the next. We went to Park Guell, and I walked more of it than last time and got to see more of it's beauty, Sagrada Familia, where we went inside and were AMAZED at the intricacy and creativity of the decor inside, and walked down Gracia, which I refer to as the Newbury Street of Barcelona.
The last day, we took a half day tour to Montserrat. FINALLY the weather was beautiful. Montserrat is a mountain about an hour outside of Barcelona. The views from the top were unbelievable. The city wasn't much, but we got to hike a bit and enjoy a nice coffee overlooking the valley. When we returned to Barcelona, we went to the market (which I mentioned in my last Barcelona post), and enjoyed some delicious fruit, smoothies, and gelato. We then were fortunate enough to sit on the beach, which was beautiful. We concluded the vacation with a seafood dinner, per my father's request. He didn't expect the food to be staring at him when the waiter put his dish in front of him, but if you've ever met my father, you know he still ate every last bit (once he figured out how), and enjoyed it.

inside the Sagrada Familia

Park Guell...don't the clouds look nice?

Anyway, that about sums up the week. Check back soon for pictures that actually show our beautiful faces (If my mother learns how to put them online...she just got a facebook, lets see how that goes). I was really glad I got to share my experience with my parents, it was a great week.