Hey everyone! sorry this is so overdue. I got back from Ireland and as soon as I got back was writing papers and doing homework. Then it was Thanksgiving and my roomate from Temple was visiting, so I havent had time to update this. I appologize! Anyways.... Here is the accounts of my Spain trip with my mom taken from my journal...enjoy!

Taken from Journal: Nov 9th (friday)

So, I am sitting in a very comfy bed in my extremely nice hotel room. Mom's getting ready in the bathroom. We've had an easy last two days, but its been really enjoyable. I got into Espana around 11am yesterday about an hour after she did and was sooo excited to see her. As she would later tell my dad "I think that was the biggest hug ever." I felt like a part of me had returned. Not that I felt like a part of me was missing, but I just felt more complete having my mom there with me. We took a taxi to the hotel, dropped off our stuff and went walking all the way to the Palacio Real (the Royal Palace). It had a gorgeous view of the city which we took advantage of, and then walked around inside the various rooms marveling at all the jewels and expensive things I cannot afford. I had to walk through the last part of the palace quickly because I had a phone interview with Comcast Spectacor that day, and had to make sure I called ontime. It was worth it though since I got the internship! (yah me!)lol. After walking around the palace and the Plaza Oriente (the palaza that is right before the Palace). We were both tired, so we went back to the hotel for a little rest and to get changed. We headed out again and ended up in Plaza Mayor where we had not the greatest food and wine in the world. Oh well. I was in Madrid with my mom on a gorgeous night, I wasn't complaining.

Today was a lot of fun, even though we got off to a late start. Mom and I didn't wake up until after 9am (very unlike both of us). We took showers, had breakfast in the hotel and then set out for the day. We had originally planned to go to Toledo, but by the time we got to the train station and stood in line for over 30 min it was getting too late. We ended up getting tickets for the next day and then set out to explore. We went to the Prado musem which was cool, but didn't hold a lot of interest for me. I wasn't familiar with a lot of spanish artists like Greco or Goya, so I wasn't as excited as I had been for other art museums. Once we got out of the Museum we stubbled across a wedding that was being held in the Santo Jerominos (St. Jerome) church right across the street. It was cool seeing everyone dressed up and walking up to the church. I later found out that this church was once the place of all the princes concecrations and all monarch marriges. All mom kept saying was "I can't believe the men are all wearing different colors!" lol. After the wedding procession was over we walked through the Botanical Gardens in the Parque de Reitro which were gorgeous. I have been in a large park in every city I have been in so far, I really wish Philly had one.

When we got back to our hotel there were camera crews waiting outside. We asked the lady at the front desk what was going on and she explained that the Barcelona futbol team was staying in our hotel. Pretty cool. lol. For dinner mom and I went to an authentic tapas resturant which was sooooo excellent! From the vegtables to the meats to the wine everything was great. It was a tiny place so the atmosphere was very unique too. It was nice to just have dinner with my mom and talk. I feel like I can have more intellectual conversations now and it not always be about some boy drama or what classes I am taking in school. It was really nice and I really hope we can go out more when I get home.

Tomorrow we are going to Toledo which I am really excited for. Not that I havent liked Madrid, but it has a New York city feel to it which I am no a fan of. I have heard that Toledo is really cool, so I am looking forward to it. Till tomorrow...good night!