Malaga

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Hey everyone,

Well these last few days has been a vacation from our vacation. Sunny weather, laying out on the beach, watching some movies and relaxing has been Margie and I´s last few days and its been WONDERFUL! My aunt Carmel´s sister, Kate, lives in Malaga with her husband and three children so she was kind enough to let us stay with her for a few days. She lives about 15 minutes outside of Malaga in a town called Benalmadena Costa. It´s really nice staying here because she is only a 10 minute walk from the sea which makes it great.

Since being here we have gone to the beach a couple times to lay out and get some sun (I only got a little but little is better than none), went into downtown Malaga and hung out, played with the kids who are adorable (Olivia is 10, Gaby and Tommy are twins who are 5), walked around and explored some and visited the kids at school. We went with Kate to pick up the kids from school for their two hour lunch break and while we were waiting we went to the school bar and sat down for a beer, haha. I wish I had my camera with me at that moment to take a picture of drinking in a bar at a school, definitely unique. .

Our last night we took the metro into downtown Malaga and went to the Picasso Museum. The building that the art was housed in was beautiful! Unfortunately cameras were not allowed so I don't have any pictures. The next morning we caught an early bus to Madrid to start our trek back to Paris to fly home. In Madrid we headed to the Reina Sofia museum to see yet again, more art. It ended up being free though (we're not sure why) and housed some really interesting art. That night and the next morning was spent shopping 😊 There was a small market outside the museum that we went shopping in that night and a HUGE flea market that we spent hours in the next morning. We were planning to go to another art museum but we decided that we needed more souvineers before we headed home.

From Madrid we took a 7 hour train ride to the border of Spain and France, had a layover for an hour then took an overnight 7 hour train into Paris (we didn't get a bed so had to "sleep" in a seat), then had 7 hour gap where we got to wait at Charles de Gaulle airport only to take a 8 hour flight home. By the time I arrived home I was really jet-lagged from not sleeping the night before.

So I've been home for three weeks now and it was definitely weird coming back. Especially not being Margie all the time. It was really sad to say goodbye since we probably won't see each other till Mullett Lake next summer but we talk on the phone a lot which makes it easier (miss you Margie!!). Overall the trip was amazing. When people ask me about it I'm not sure what to say because it was undescribable. I loved going through all the photos once I got home and remebering everything. Highlights of the trip I hadn't mentioned before: Seeing P-Diddy at Dulles Airport when I left the US (Nate saw him in the airport and pointed him out to me, amazing! Oh that's Puff Daddy to you people reading this of an older generation), getting my battle wound in Oktoberfest. I now have a cool scar on my air from a broken glass cutting my arm (hasn't gone away yet Margie) and countless other small things that makes Europe so different from the US. I hope everyone can have a chance to go to Europe at some point to see what it has to offer. My favorite city was Rome followed by Amsterdam. Margie and I made a list of The Best which includes things like best chocolate croissant (Paris), best cheese (manchego and malaga), best pear juice (Amsterdam), best public transportation (Madrid then Paris) and many more things. I hope you all have had fun reading my blogs and I apologize for the three week delay in this one. Better late then never!

Happy travels!

Lisa

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Photos

4th bus of the day
We flew from Rome to Spain and it was an extremely long day of plains, trains and buses.

Margie at a flea market trying on prospective purchases
She ended up buying it :)

Comments

[Margie]

ooo I had major cravings for Europe reading this entry!! How about a reunion in Madrid in April?? Haha just kidding... well not completely... I miss you too Lisa!! (but why did you post the photo where my face looks like I just got my wisdom teeth out? LOL)