Since I've been back

My tattoo

Getting the tattoo

What has Ashley been doing since she got? Well besides work and the usual dog-cat-fish-eel-lizard care I got a tattoo! I wanted to get a map of the world on my arm but the tattoo special my mother and I attended only had time to get one of my passport stamps done. I've been wanting to get them done my left calf for a while now and I finally took the leap and did it. For those of that don't know, this my entry stamp in Russia from July, 2, 2015. I think it is so cute and I am totally in love with it, like I love it so much. It's still about a week away from being completely healed but it's getting there. The white thing is the paper that was pressed onto my leg and the black is clearly the tattoo. It's super cute and next one will probably be my South Africa one or my stamp from Qatar. I was originally going to get all my passport stamps but since I want to go to every country, I don't think I have enough room, Also some stamps are boring, like my stamp from London is so soul suckingly dull that I don't want it permanently stamped onto my body, it can stay in my passport. Also for those of you wondering if it hurts, I was pre-warned from my best friend Lizz that it feels like a shard of glass getting dragged down your skin and it really does. It is 1000000% shard of glass cutting feeling. It wasn't too bad but I couldn't imagine getting a 2 hours tattoo, I would go crazy.

My bunch of shot glasses

My post cards with the missing ones not
here yet

While in Europe I shipped back a package through the Italian post full of souvenirs from London, Wales, Ireland, France, Spain and they were all stolen. The only items I received out of about 30 things was my shot glass from each country. Which is the bulk of my collection which you can see. I also collect post cards and since they stole all of my hand-written on post cards, I just ordered some new ones from online that I custom designed so I can fill that top empty space that you can see as well. I was REALLY upset at first but I quickly realized that I have never prided myself on needing material possessions to be happy, I'm always happy and I don't need items to make me happy. So I accepted that they were stolen and I had a great trip and made so many great friends and memories that can't be take away from me and I will always treasure that. Of course in the future I will ship UPS and I will continue to buy souvenirs and a lot of them. I plan on making photo albums of each of my trips. I still need to make my one of Russia and my one of South Africa and Europe. I just haven't bought the albums, or printed the photos but I will. That will definitely be on my Christmas list. I have been slowly compiling my list and so far I need a shot glass case (I already have about 20 shot glasses), and I suppose some nice photo albums that will last for eternity will be nice as well. My father is going to be buying me a go-pro which is for my upcoming trips so you guys can experience them with me, which I am so excited for and I am more excited to do some zip-lining, sky-diving, swimming-with-sharks expeditions that my grandmother can watch because that will be quite the riot. Anyway keep checking in every so often to see what I'm up to even though right now my life is as boring as it can get (which isn't very). I'm planning another trip to do by the end of this year but I'm not going to tell you what it is just yet because that wouldn't be fun! I already have the places I want to go next year picked out too! So excited but for now I will be feeding my reptilian creatures and living life to the fullest.

Also I'm going to start posting cute holiday ideas because you guessed it HALLOWEEN IS ALMOST HERE AND I CAN'T CONTAIN MY EXCITMENT!

THEN IT'S MY BIRTHDAY

THEN IT'S THANKSGIVING

THEN ITS CHRISTMAS

 

 THE HOLIDAYS ARE UPON US

My Travel Ticker

The Cities, Countries, Continents, and miles I have traveled color coded by year

Arizona to Moscow, Russia - 6,043
Arizona to Doha, Qatar - 8,293

Doha, Qatar to Johannesburg, South Africa - 3,887

Johannesburg, South Africa to London, United Kingdom - 5,634

London, United Kingdom to Dublin, Ireland - 349

Dublin, Ireland to Paris, France - 639

Paris, France to Madrid, Spain - 793

Madrid, Spain to Barcelona, Spain - 382

Barcelona, Spain to Florence, Italy - 672

Florence, Italy to Rome, Italy - 170

Rome, Italy to Venice, Italy - 330

Venice, Italy to Vienna, Austria - 389

Vienna, Austria to Munich, Germany - 252

Munich, Germany to Cologne, Germany - 350

Cologne, Germany to Berlin, Germany - 356

Berlin, Germany to Prague, Czech Republic - 216

Prague, Czech Republic to Budapest, Hungary - 328

Budapest, Hungary to Krakow, Poland - 245

Krakow, Poland to Madrid, Spain - 1,321

Madrid, Spain to Arizona - 5,602
Arizona to New York to Tokyo, Japan - 5,798
Tokyo, Japan to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam - 2,687
Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam to Phnom Penh, Cambodia - 150
Phnom Penh, Cambodia to Phuket, Thailand - 430
Phuket, Thailand to Bangkok, Thailand - 429
Bangkok, Thailand to New York to Arizona - 8,530

Grand total of 48,232 miles
2 hemispheres, 3 continents, 19 countries, 22 cities, 64 days



Here are all the countries I've been to so far (March 2018)

AND MORE
TO BE ANNOUNCED

 2015
2016
2017

Create your own visited countries map or check out the JavaScript Charts.

Spread my wings and fly home

Me boarding my plane

Very tiny plane

After Krakow I called the wonderful man that I know who booked me a cheap flight home because I never bought a return ticket so I could do my trip on my terms with nothing holding me to a schedule. While in Krakow he told me I needed to fly back to Madrid in order to get my flight to come home. I flew Ryanair which is decent and okay for a 4 hour flight even though it is VERY tiny and VERY cramped however I got some good photos of me in front of the plane which was cool. I asked him to keep this a secret from my family and he did, so no one in my family knew I was coming home. I wanted it to be a surprise and it sure was. I arrived at the Madrid airport at about midnight and my flight didn't leave the next day until about 11am so I slept, very uncomfortably but I slept on a bench in the airport on my backpack. I am the Queen of sleeping anywhere at anytime now. I woke up at about 5am and to my surprise Burger King was finally open, I chatted up some fellow travelers, got an oreo milkshake (oh yes) and went to the booths in the back and slept more while charging my phone. I slept 5 more hours which was amazing and then I went to catch my flight which was delayed about 4 times and then it didn't leave until about 2pm. I chatted up a family who was from LA and they told me they brought their son to Madrid to see the Running of the Bulls and his commentary on it was that everyone was VERY drunk and use squirt guns to shoot liquor at each other. The mother inquired about my trip and his whole family was rather nice, they boarded a different plane before me and I wish them well on their way. I finally got to board my plane and I was very happy to see that I had three seats all to myself, which is just wonderful. I slept basically the whole time.



I love window seats

Instructions I was given to get to my terminal

     I had to fly into Dallas to make my flight home and it was literally one disaster after the next. I was literally running from one thing to the next. I arrived about two hours before my flight which meant I had to go through customs, and get searched and then find my terminal. I was able to cheat the VERY LONG line in customs by telling a nice man of my predicament and he let me in front. After trying to find the Skyrail to get to my terminal I was told to exit through certain doors which out me back out, in the end of customs. It was about 25 minutes to my flight and I shower another man my stamped ticket that I had already gone through customs and he put me in front after explaining my terrible situation. 10 minutes before my flight I boarded the Skyrail and I arrived at my terminal 5 minutes after it closed.  I was running to it, running for my life and I still missed it, but apparently so did another guy and he started knocking loudly on the door until an attendant came up and we explained our situation and I guess they were already delayed because of a food cart delivery being late and they let us board. Miracles happen people! So then we flew home and I was picked up at the airport and went to go get my truck from where I parked it at work. Then I drove home, anxiously may I add. I walked up that flight of stairs and just opened the front the door and the looks on my moms face was priceless. Her mouth basically fell the ground and I could swore I may have saw a tear or two. The next day I drove to my grandparents and I walked up to their front door saying 'anybody home' and they just about jumped up and ran to hug me. I gotta say, this has to be one of my favorite ways to be welcomed home. I'm back home now, about a month now and all I dream of is when I leave again and where. I'm happy to be home though.




Look at these faces, How could I not be happy to be home?

A guest sees more in an hour than the host in a year

One of the streets of Krakow

The title above has got to be one of my favorite sayings ever. I feel as though it's incredibly accurate. I valued my time in every city and every moment I was abroad. I took the time to look at everything, try everything and love every moment while doing it. I am home now and yet all I do is still see myself back in Europe. I remember every detail, every person, everything and I miss it more than ever now. I also keep swearing I'm going to runaway back to Europe whenever it's too hot here, which it always is. I'm sure you're wondering where my trip ended and my trip came to a halt when I got to Krakow, Poland.

I love these carriages

     My whole trip I met tons of people around my age, whether a ta younger or older and all of us had the same thing in common which was to go to Poland and see Auschwitz. A dark past that is still so present. I had to meet at least 40 other people who were all going here. It was meaningful to see so many other people, especially young people who wanted to never forgot, who wanted to revisit the past to learn from it and to pay their respects. I spent two days in Krakow, one seeing the city and one in Auschwitz. I'll start off with the city part first. The city of Krakow is a boring city, the people there realize it, so there isn't much there besides a really cool market and square. I did a walking tour and then some shopping of course. I found a Mexican restaurant that was just about as far from a Mexican restaurant as it was in Dublin. The guy just kept repeating that the Jalapenos they had were imported from Mexico. So I guess that is now what makes a Mexican restaurant. Main market square was pretty and I really enjoyed shopping around especially because my hostel was about a 20 minute walk to it, it was a nice walk. When I left Krakow, I took a taxi to the airport and I met such a lovely man. He was learning English so he could move to Australia and he was happy to have me help him with it. He was saying how he was struggling and how he couldn't imagine that I was able to do my trip all by myself for so long. I told him one of my favorite sayings which is 'Where there is a will, there is a way'. He had my write it down for him and he was truly obsessed with the quote after I told him it. If you want to do something bad enough you will find a way. There is always a way no matter how hard the path may be.


     Now onto the more difficult part of my trip which was Auschwitz. I caught a bus here at about 6 in the morning with a tour group. We split into 5 people groups and had headphones on while our tour guide whispered into a microphone on her shirt. The whole experience is surreal and very quiet. No one is talking much and everyone is just silently shuffling around following their tour guides. Auschwitz has now been turned into a variety of museums to commemorate the former concentration camp. They have rooms dedicated to the belongings of those left there, such as a room of shoes, prosthetics, luggage and even a room of hair. There was one exhibit in particular that sticks out in my mind. This exhibit had videos playing from videos of families at the park and river, doing fun family things and then slowly the exhibit turned to Nazi rallies and camps. It was, well honestly I don't have any words to describe any of this, I don't know how I felt, I don't know how to describe it. We soon went onto Birkenau which was where the majority of crematoriums were held. We saw where certain ones had been blown up and the tracks that many came in on. The whole thing was surreal but I find it crazy that NO grass grows around where the crematoriums were. It is a solid 3 feet of dirty with not one blade of grass. The rest of the site is covered in weeds, flowers and grass except certain areas. I feel like I do not need to add captions to these photos.

You might wonder why end my trip on this, well it worked out for the way I was moving across Europe first and I didn't think of it as me ending on a bad note, it was more, me ending on a solemn note to think about the past, present and future. I won't forget the past, I will honor it in the present and it has shaped my future, which is ever so bright.



I think it's a sign for me

Is it Budapest or Budapest

Weird title right? Well let me explain, the name of Budapest is commonly mispronounced which no one really notices but after you travel around Europe and go there, you get corrected often. Bu-da-pest is actually pronounced bu-da-pesht. using the word 'pest' is actually a term for the black plague so it is pronounced 'pesht'. Now on to my time in Hungary!

The few of Buda, walking over the bridge

The view of Pest from the top of the palace

     Budapest was a blast and my whole time throughout Europe I heard great things about it from it being cheap to it being beautiful, my two favorite things. After arriving in Budapest from Prague one of the first things I saw was a Hooters, which was hilarious and then I saw the ever so prevalent TGI-Fridays which is literally all over Europe. I arrived later on in the day so I chose to grab some dinner and head to bed. In my hostel I met a guy whose card had been deactivated by his bank because when you travel internationally you need to provide your bank with an itinerary or they might shut off your card because why would there randomly be charges from all of the Europe when supposedly you're in the US. I let him use my cell phone which mind you doesn't work without Wi-Fi. I have a great app when travelling call Viber. The great thing about Viber is you can call landline phones with the app and buy an hours worth of minutes for only 1USD which my family loves because not everyone has a smartphone and with most other apps you can only call people who have the same app you do. I let him use my phone to call his bank which was a balancing act for keeping good bars for the reception. After that we went to the grocery store and talked about where we are from. He was from Oregon. He partied that night where as I laid in bed and read a book. Even when travelling I need to relax.

I couldn't resist a bird on my head

I miss my lizards

     The next day I offered for him to come on a walking tour with me and he took me up on it. We walked around all of Budapest which is two sides, there is Buda and then there is Pest. We were staying on the Pest side so we had to cross the chain bridge and made some other friends while we were walking. We saw the vacation palace which is just a bunch of museums now and got some great photos and afterwards we went to a Zoo Café which was great. I love animals so of course it was  great. The food was super sub-par but the animals were wonderful. After telling the waiter of my experience with all the species of animals they had, he soon just let me open the enclosures and take the animals out which I went crazy with. I annoyed everyone at the table with my knowledge and I'm sure I made one or two of them dislike me, but after missing my animals for over a month at this time I needed some good lizard time.

The next country I'm heading too is my last for this trip

No need to Czech my bag

One of my favorite photos

The country that split into two was Czechoslovakia and those two countries were the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and if you can't tell by the title I went to the Czech Republic! There was no need to check my bag because I went by train, but still I couldn't resist the title name. After leaving Berlin I travelled to Prague aka Praha! The train ride was terrible because they ran out of seats after about one stop and considering I had a 5-8 hour train ride I was not looking forward to it, I got kicked out of first class because I'm rebellious and chose to sit there when my Eurail pass didn't qualify for first class. After being told to move I relocated to a train car until the people who sat there actually showed up and told me to move. The aisles were full of people and their luggage sitting on the floor and so I resigned to the dining car to get some lunch and charge my phone for this long trip. After two hours I opted to move thinking the aisles would be more clear and alas they were not, about 90% of the bathrooms on this train were closed down so I chose to sit in front of one in the area of the train car where the doors open to get on and off the train which was where no one else was sitting. It was very peaceful and I just read some books on my phone for the duration of the trip. I had plenty of time on my hands.



I forgot how great this photo is!

The Astronomical
Clock

  After arriving in Prague I had to deicide whether to do a walking tour the day I came in or to finally have a rest day, I chose to have a nice rest day and I leisurely walked around Prague and found out where some local markets are and I decided to find out where my walking tour started the next day. The next day I did my walking tour and saw the most overrated attraction, The Astronomical Clock. It was truly overrated and I was very unimpressed. We walked around and then it poured down rain for a bit and then let up, we walked around the city and eventually to the old town where I took some pretty decent photos. We stopped off in a restaurant for 30 minutes and I chose to hit up the local market instead, which I always do anyway. My day in Prague was pretty uneventful however I made a great friend by the name of Danielle and she was awesome. I would travel back to Prague just to experience some more of what I didn't!


The next place I head to is mispronounced often

 

 

Fall Asleep in Austria, Wake up in Germany

One of the Town Halls in Munich, this one has the
Glockenspiel

I think the title says it all for this one, doesn't it? I took a train from Austria to Germany and I think I'm now a professional train rider now, pretty much a pro. I loved Austria but it was my time to move on and continue onwards. I started off in Munich which if any of you have been there previously know that it is very BAVARIAN and basically incredibly patriotic. I couch surfed while in Munich and my host was hosting a few other people there as well. One of them was incredibly nice Korean girl and I wish I would have added her on Facebook, I wish I would have added a lot more people than I did ha-ha. We arrived the same day and my host took me to an Aldi which is literally the greatest store ever and I'm waiting for them to get to Tucson! We did a walking tour that night and then I did another one in the morning. I got to see the Glockenspiel which was pretty cool and numerous other places including the ever popular Hofbrauhaus and bought my grandfather a keychain there because that man loves his beer, but I was rather unimpressed with Munich so I won't be on this topic much longer! They have two lions next to a monument, one with it's mouth open towards the king and another with it's mouth closed towards the church and that speaks for itself. Munich was pretty and the food was okay, in the end they call themselves a million person village and I get that vibe but I am clearly quite the outsider. I did go to the zoo though and I got to see sharks and I got followed by a very nosy goat.



Chocolates from the Chocolate
Factory

The sandstone Cologne Cathedral

After two nights in Munich I headed off to Cologne Germany which was highly recommended by a coworker of mine who lived in Cologne and it was a wonderful recommendation. I arrived and after searching around finally found my hostel. I ate some dinner and went on to do a walking tour early the next day, it's not a big city like Munich and it's definitely not as touristy which I loved. My walking tour consisted of a tour guide and about 5 other people compared to the 15+ in other tours I have been in recently. We walked around the city and were shown a variety of things one of which was an opera house that we were standing on and when they play there they cordon off the roof as to not mess with the acoustics. It looks like a regular road at first though! There was a cathedral that had a face with its tongue sticking out at another cathedral across the way, teasing it in it's own architectural way, which is hilarious. We ended our tour with the famous Cologne Cathedral which is beautiful and I had the hardest time getting a good photo of it! A lot of cathedrals in Europe are made of sandstone which overtime turns black due to pollution. I did the chocolate museum the next day and I know what you're thinking, yes it was great! Also I know what else you're thinking and yes cologne originated in Cologne and they have some perfume fountains. When my time in Cologne was up I headed to Berlin next.



Berlin was pretty wonderful. I am a really big history buff. So seeing how Europe especially Germany deals with the aftermath of WWII was really interesting to me in particular. They have gold plaques on the ground in front of places that were or are houses to people who were taken to concentration camps, which is very touching. They have some monuments here and there but the plaques are in the ground and made of dark brass so the more you step on them the more they shine and all of the plaques are incredibly shiny. On another note I got to see the Brandenburg gate of course and Checkpoint Charlie which I think they over glamourize now. My walking tour took us through a lot of remembrance monuments of WWII. There is a cube one to remember all those killed in the camps and then we walked over Hitlers Bunker which is now a parking lot, rightfully so. Berlin was a beautiful city and I look forward to coming back again sometime in the future to see all that I missed.

My favorite quite from the East Side Gallery, The Berlin Wall.

 In case you can't read what it says above in this photo, this is my favorite quote ever. It from the East Side Gallery of the Berlin Wall and says

 

'Many small people who in many small places do many small things that can alter the face of the world.'

 The thing below is a Maypole! Cities and places in Germany steal them from each other and old them ransom for something in return, usually a party!

The Maypole of a marketplace I was in


Now I am off to a country that split into two recently!

 

Venice or Vienna

I'm obsessed with taking photos of road ways

Horses from a carriage ride

In my previous post I went to Venice and then after Venice I headed off to Vienna, Austria which was amazing and is definitely high up on my favorites list. At this time in my trip everyone I met and the things I did started to meld together. I couldn't remember exactly which city I met who in and while I was in Vienna I kept accidentally calling it Venice, which was pretty funny considering I loved Vienna and not Venice. I really miss food from my city, mainly Mexican food and I just really miss food, someone send me Spanish rice please. All the buildings are very similar and Austria yet so Unique and beautiful which you can see by some of my photos, They were rebuilt after the war perfectly. In almost every country so far there has been carriage rides, I love it!





I love this building so much

Vienna was amazing and it may not have breathtaking but it did leave me speechless a few times whether it was the buildings which I loved or some of the statues of even Mozart's grave. The buildings were very pretty and I loved just sitting and staring at them, even when it was raining. I may not be a pro in the classical music world but I do love classical music and I had the honour of being near Mozart's grave. See when he died he was poor so he was buried randomly which means he was basically buried in a poppers grave and they only know where he is within a 100 meter area so I hope I was near him. They have a beautiful statue dedicated to him and many of his plays and a garden with a treble cleft sign made of flowers in the middle, imagine the upkeep on that?


Hey Mozart!

To see how Europe has coped with the after math of WWII is truly a wonder in itself. I started to see this after I entered Vienna. They had a few statues dedicated to never forgetting the events of WWII and fascism. One of them that truly struck me was a stone sculpture showing the horrors of war from starvation to medical experiments, it was a sobering experience.




Mozart's Treble Cleft

Truly Vienna was an excellent place to visit and I did enjoy it very much and I found the people to be such a delight! I will be back Austria.




 

 

 

 

Now I'm off to a land some call Bavaria




Pasta, Pizza and Gelato



Taken from a fortress in Florence

In case you didn't figure out where I was by this title it was Italy! Of course I have been neglecting my blog lately so I was there like forever ago however it was an unforgettable experience. I traveled from Barcelona to Firenze! Which if you didn't know is Florence which was rather nice. I had my first taste of ah-mazing gelato and one of the girls from my hostel and I went out to dinner and got 100% freshly made and organic pizza which was truly unforgettable, I still dream of it. Florence was super pretty and had this one cathedral, the name escapes me now but it was literally breathtaking. It was so beautiful I could have basked under it for hours, which I did! I walked around and along the river and eventually up a fortress where I got a beautiful overview of the whole city and beyond and it was amazing. I loved Florence even if it was pricey!

 

Fresh, organic Italian pizza



My favorite Chocolate Chip
Gelato!



Here is some of the foods I

  sampled throughout Florence aka my favorites aka everything I did eat

more pizza than I have every before.

 I miss gelato so much now

  

 



 

The Coliseum looks amazing!

After Florence I went onwards to Rome which was an experience in itself. I stayed in a lovely hostel nestled in the forest with tons of bamboo and a very friendly staff. I made two friends and the next day we went off to see Rome. Which is cheaper than Florence BTW! I saw the Colosseum which was amazing and it was a honor to be in the vicinity of a piece of architecture that might as well be as old as time. We walked around for hours and saw the Trivi  fountain (if I get names wrong, which I know I am, I will be correcting them when I have access to a real computer and not just my phone when I'm home and I'll also be adding photos), we say the Pantheon too and a few other things I can't remember at the moment but it was all truly great. I loved it to bits and I will go back one day because I couldn't do Rome in just a day and I'm fast paced so if you go, do two days. Unless you have a jet pack or you can fly, that might help you see more. I did have gelato here as well which was equally amazing! While I was in Rome I headed to Vatican City by walking (I walked everywhere and on this day I walked about 25km). I was with two other people who somehow convinced me to go up to the top of St peters? Basilica. It was 550 stairs, never again. I paid like €6 to walk up stairs, the view was nice (see photo) but it was not worth that many stairs and I swear I better have the most beautiful legs ever. I want an award! I was trying to find a trophy emoji and I couldn't. Then to end the day we watched the sun set over Rome from a beautiful hill.

 

Gondola resting in the water in Venice

On my way to Lido Beach
in Venice

When I said ciao to home I headed to Venice which I don't have a popular opinion on. I decided since I don't get to camp often, why not camp in Venice!? So I did and it was an unforgettable experience. I had to take a bus from my hostel to a form of transportation called the people mover, it is actually called that too, I took a photo of the sign and I'll be posting it. After that I would be pretty close to everything in the city. It is pretty but not life changing. I got some great photos which you'll be seeing and the people were nice but there is really not much to do in the city so I headed off to Lido Beach! The beach was great and the fun part was I got to take a boat from Venice to get there, I love boats and water soooo much. The beach was great and it had to many seashells it was great, I collected a decent amount and I have a plan for them when I get back home for work! I'm sure you're wondering why the word pasta is in the title if I haven't had any, well I couldn't find any that I would particularly enjoy so I had more pizza and gelato ;) I had some mind blowing good vanilla gelato when I left the beach and I swear it was life changing.

 

All in all I did enjoy Italy and I look back on it fondly, however it is not my favorite country so far but it was a good experience even if I had to climb 550 stairs!

 

 

 

Florence Cathedral

 

Photo of Rome from the top of St. Peters Basilica in Vatican City, Italy

 

Now I'm off to another city and the name of that is V-

 

 

Madrid or Barcelona?



Oldest restaurant in the world

A shot of the national berry

The city on water was Madrid, Spain! I was told about this little fact while doing my favorite kind of tour through a city, a  walking tour. The best kind. Madrid is a truly one of a kind of city full of great food, people, buildings, scenery and just everything. I was only in Madrid two days and I treasured every moment. The first day I did a walking tour and met about 10 other great people around my age and afterwards we all went out for tapas and sangria's. During the walking tour we offered a chance to take a shot. The shot see to the left is a type of alcohol made of the national berry and it's poured into a waffle shot glass coated in chocolate (who could say no). It didn't taste too bad and it's supposed to get rid of any demons inside of your body so at least I'm demon free! Spain is pretty superstitious and people have garlic hanging in all of the buildings. After the tour we went out for tapas and sangrias. I did not like the sangria so I happily gave it to someone else and the tapas would have been good had I not been such a picky eater! The tapas consisted of pieces of toasted bread like with brushetta and topped with various types of meats, there were fried dough balls with diced ham in it and then there was some chicken paella I'm sure there was more but every drink got about 1-2  nice sized plates of tapas and since there was 10 of us you can imagine the amount of food we were getting. I did try one of each but I was not a fan. Tapas is a huge thing in Spain so I think everyone should try it and its different everywhere! So many options! We were told to go to this chocolate place to try churros (yum) dipped in chocolate. I was so excited for this all day and I got there only to be sooooo disappointed. Maybe because I like cinnamon sugar on my churros. These were just fried pieces of bread that you dipped in some chocolate solution and it was very sad but the others seemed to enjoy it at least! I blame on me living on the border of mexico, I'm used to those.

The Town Hall in Madrid looks like a painting!

I just like that it's called super mercat

Madrid has some beautiful architecture and it is literally like the epitome of Spain to me. It was so beautiful and old that I couldn't help but fall in complete love with it. There were tons of cute little shops that I loved as well and it was truly wonderful, maybe one day I'll go back. I spent my days walking around and absorbing the Spanish influence and seeing all the sights I possibly could as well as playing on a playground with a few of my friends and it was a weird seesaw type deal that went high in the air and spun around at the same time, it was pretty great.

 

Sagrada Familia

The beach!

After my two days in Madrid I headed to Barcelona! I always hear so many great things about Barcelona and its always raved about. I spent 2 days here and the first day I just walked around a little bit and grabbed some dinner, I didn't arrive until later in the day about 11pm. It was surprisingly really busy on the street and full of people which made me feel a little bit more safe. My first day there I grabbed a map and found my way around the town. My hostel was close to many of Gaudis buildings and they were all really cool in person and I got to see Sagrada Familia and Casa Milo and a few other places, I can't think of their names at moment. I tend to write these posts while I'm travelling from one point to another which I'm doing now and this darn train keeps going through tunnels so I have to pop my ears literally every 30 seconds and I'm slowly going crazy. My second day in Barcelona I aimlessly walked around some more and went to the beach! I haven't been to a beach in 6 years? I was so happy to get there I literally sat about 6 inches from where the waves touched and I buried myself in the sand and it was wonderful, it was even sprinkling at some point and I would not give up. Nothing will ruin my beach time, its mine. I went to great restaurant the night before I left and the next day I was gone. I have to admit this though, I like Madrid so much more than Barcelona.

 

Now I'm on my way to a country that is said to be a pro with dough!