christineblackomalley
-
Funny photos
In addition to seeing the sights and soaking in culture, we have had some funny moments along the way. I want to share some of those moments here.
-
Last two days in Spain — a Royal good time
We arrived home last night, but I do have one more itinerary post to share. Then I may have some follow-up posts to come. On Sunday, Will and I visited Toledo as a day trip. This city used to be the capital of Spain until King Philip II moved it to Madrid in the 1500s.…
-
Beautiful Madrid and Fancy Flamenco Footwork
Our first two days in Madrid have focused on food, walking (almost 18,000 steps today!), and a flamenco show. Oh, and seeing what is possibly the most comprehensive art museum in Europe – the Museo del Prado. The Spanish royal family made a lot of money from the New World gold and silver it plundered.…
-
San Sebastián – a change of pace, not steps
San Sebastián is a lovely little Basque town on the northern coast of Spain. It’s a relatively small town compared to the other places we have visited on this trip. So the pace is a little slower. However, it’s a very walkable town, and we still racked up the Fitbit steps. With a long history…
-
Sagrada Familia and other Barcelona memories
By far, my favorite church we have visited on this trip, and maybe ever, is Gaudi’s La Sagrada Familia (Holy Family). The external facades are magnificent. This is the nativity entrance with scenes leading up to and including Jesus’s birth. I also like the front door covered in sculptures of ivy and bugs. But the…
-
Barcelona – 2,000 years of history and New Year’s Eve
We had a busy, fun day in Barcelona yesterday. The first part of the day was doing two Rick Steves walking tours using my iPhone. According to my Fitbit, we walked 19,000 steps, plus another 1,700 steps after midnight LOL. Our first Rick Steves tour was the gothic quarter with stops that spanned 2,000 years…
-
Buda, Pest, and some familiar faces
We did a lot of sightseeing in Budapest. On one of those days, we did more than 16,000 steps doing two self-guided walks, one in Pest and one in Buda. One thing you quickly realize is that many of Budapest’s most known sights were built in 1896. Why? That was the millennial anniversary of the…
-
Budapest Thermal Baths — Ahhhh
Our overnight train arrived in Budapest at 8:30 a.m., right on time. This was important, because I had scheduled our first Budapest activity at 9:30 a.m. – a four-hour spa session at Szechenyi Thermal Baths, Europe’s largest medicinal baths. I knew we would still have our luggage, since our AirBnB wasn’t available until 2:00. We…
-
Christmas Day, Prague Castle and a super train experience
While Czech people do gift exchanges on Christmas Eve, we three Americans kept up our tradition of exchanging gifts on Christmas Day. We each bought gifts from the Christmas markets for one person in our group. For stockings, we bought ourselves wool socks from the Christmas market. We found a greenery stand that had mini…
-
Prague – Christmas markets with an Eastern Europe flair
The Christmas theme continued in Prague, as we visited three Christmas markets in one day on Christmas Eve. The first one was a small gathering of stalls on a square called Náměstí Miru near our AirBnB. Nezzie’s cold had gotten worse, so she slept in. This was Christmas Eve morning. While many markets in Prague…
Travel Buddies 