Espana: Parte Uno

This was my second trip to Spain. I had gone once in high school on school trip, and it was actually one of the best trips I'd ever taken. I had fallen in love with Seville, Spain, and couldn't wait to return.

Day 1:

We took the 7 hour flight to Madrid, and the took a connecting flight to Seville. 

We missed our first connecting flight, but after a 12 hour travel day we finally made it.

We met Hannah in the lobby at our first hotel, and it was a joyous reunion.

We didn't stay seated long. We freshened up and headed right out into the city. 

The weather was perfect and Hannah took us on a leisurely walk to her neighborhood right outside of Seville called Trianna.

We made a pit stop here at the Plaza de Espana

Our first stop was along the river where we stopped for "Tinto De Verano" (which is sparkling, refreshing red wine) and tapas.

Hannah's neighborhood, Trianna

Dad was happy as a clam

and my mom was so happy to have Hannah back

At dinner we did a lot of drinking and went to bed early.

 

Day 2:

The day's in Spain are set up very differently than here in the state's. The people in Spain sleep in late, have a big lunch at 2, a siesta from 4-6, and dinner around 10. It took a lot of getting used to, and I'm not sure I've ever really did.

We headed out for some sighting seeing on our second day but had lunch first in Seville.

I'm not a big fan of Spainsh food and was beyond happy to be able to order pizza

 

The stop of the day was the Cathedral. It is the 3rd biggest in the world and has a 30 floor clock tower you can climb up for sweeping views of the city.

It's also the Cathedral that claims like 3 other's in Europe that Christopher Columbus is buried within.

my very fashionable little hippie

the view from 30 stories up

After some sight seeing, we did some shopping and had a dinner planned with Hannah's host mom Carmen.

We all were so excited to meet her and it couldn't have gone better, even though Hannah had to translate every conversation.

After our lovely dinner with Carmen, Hannah and her friend Holly took us to a local club for some authentic Flamenco dancing.

  

I wish I had more pictures of this night, but I was over-served from the "Auga de Seville" and had to be glamorously escorted home.

Let's just say I didn't get out of bed the next day until 4pm, and also found a McDonalds in Spain.

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Day 3:

That night, I managed to pull myself together for some family photos, even though my new scarf disagreed.

This is the typical chaos that is my family

That night we had our dear family friends, the O'Brien's  meet us in Seville.

They happened to be traveling in Spain during the same week, so we were able to coordinate both itineraries and spend 5 days together.

Our first 3 days in Spain minus my killer hangover  were perfect. Aren't the first 3 days of everything always perfect? Everyone is still being nice to each other!

Stay tuned for Parte Dos.