Royal Palace

On arriving in Madrid on Friday, my family and I just wanted to take it easy and relax. And we did. We found a restaurant, had a nice meal and then it was lights out. We then slept in the next day, till about 9:30 or so and After eating breakfast, we decided to visit the Royal Palace of Madrid. This Palace was massive. Our audio guides took us into around thirty out of over 2800 rooms! Some of the rooms we were able to see were the Throne room, the dining room, the Royal bedroom, and others. All of these rooms were adorned with luxurious tapestries, paintings and lots of gold. The lucky Kings and their wives who were fortunate enough to inhabit his massive place were King Phillips V and his wife Queen Maria Luisa, and King Carlos III (Phillips' son) and his wife, Queen Maria Amalia. Out of all of these rooms and halls, my favorite was definitely the Armory. In this fantastic two-floor exhibit, we were able to see all of the different types of Armor that the Kings and Princes wore, which types were for battle and which for show. We also saw a lot of armor for horses as well as all of the different types of weapons that were used in Medieval times. My family and I had a great time at the Royal Palace exploring its rooms and discovering its secrets and I am sure none of us would have missed this adventure.

Granada and Alhombra

After residing in Marbella for three days, my family and I drove another two hours to Granada which is famous for its enormous castle, Alhombra. Once we arrived in this new city. we caught a cab to our hotel, located down some of the winding back streets that make up the Old part of Granada. After settling in, we headed out for the Alhombra which sat on the highest point in the city. It was a very long trek up the side of a mountain and soon, my siblings and I began to complain about our feet. But, after an arduous "journey", we reached the top and entered the mighty castle. The Alhombra, as I mentioned before, is humongous. On our visit, we experienced three main parts of the castle. The first was the main palace, constructed by the moors. This palace was filled with astonishing fresco and geometrical patterns along the walls. The second sight was the giant coliseum in the middle of the castle. It was used for all sorts of things from bull fights to concerts. An interesting thing about it is that when you stand right in the center of the arena, the acoustics are incredible! Your voice is magnified and echoes around the entire stadium. The final thing we saw were the battlements and defenses. This was my favorite part of our visit to the Alhombra. We could see how people in medieval times would defend their homes and we received an awesome view from the lookout tower. We gazed upon the entire city of Granada on the top of that mountain and it was a great experience. I am really glad that we were able to visit Granada and the Alhombra, even if we were there for only two days and I am sure that it is an experience my family and I will never forget.

Despues de viviendo en Marbella por tres dias, mi familia y yo conducimos por dos horas a Granada. Cuando llegamos, cogemos un taxi a nuestro hotel que fue en la parte vieja de Granada.Despues, fuimos a la Alhombra que fue el punto mas alto de la ciudad. Fue una caminata muy dificil y pronto, todos teniamos dolor de los pies. Pero, despues, hemos llegado a la cima. La Alhombra es muy muy grande. En nuestra visita, hemos experimentado tres partes principales. El primero parte fue el palacio, y he construido de los moros. Este palacio fue lleno con impresionante freco y figuras geometricas a lo largo de las paredes. El segundo visito fue un coliseo enorme. Fue usar para todos tipos de cosas de corridas de torros a consiertos. Una cosa interesante de este coliseo es cuando al ponerse de pie en el centro de el estadio, la acustica es increible! Tu voz es se magnifica y se hace eco en todo el estadio. El ultima cosa que vemos fue las almenas. Este fue mi parte favorito de la Alhombra porque pudemos ver como la gente en la epoca medieval se defendio sus casas y familias. Tambien, recibimos una vista increible desde la parte superior de la torre de vigilancia. Pudemos ver toda la ciudad de Granada y fue una expeiensa muy guay. Estoy muy contento que nosotros pudemos ir a la Alhombra porque fue un buen experiencia que nunca voy a olvidar.

On Saturday afternoon, my mom and I met the rest of our family in the wonderful city of Sevilla. On their arrival, we meandered around the Trianna region of Sevilla and had a nice lunch consisting of various sea foods. Then we went shopping and took a tour in a horse-drawn-carriage to witness the entire city. For dinner, we elected an excellent restaurant called Flores which supplied us with some great tapas on bread. The next morning we visited the Alcazar and the Plaza de Toros and did some more souvenir shopping. After a fun day, we rented a car and drove two and a half hours to Marbella where we are currently lodging. Marbella is a much different city than Sevilla. It is full to the brim with tourists and hotels, however, this doesn't bother me all that much, although I did prefer Sevilla much more. During our first day in marbella, we ventured to a beach and spent most of our day there. Then we went into the city itself and strolled around, looking in shops and had a nice dinner. Today we went to the beuatiful town of Ronda which is located way up up up in the mountains. A unique thing about this town is that it straddles an enormous chasm or gorge that separates it into the old and new parts of the city. So far so good here in Marbella and I can't wait to explore some more.

En la tarde de Sabado, mi madre y yo conocimos nuestra familia en la ciudad mrvillosa de Sevilla. Cuando llegaron, caminamosalrededor de la region Triana de Sevilla y comimos un almuerzo muy bueno. Entonces, fuimos para comprar cosas y carruaje tirado por caballos para ver la ciudad. Para cena, eligimos una restaurante excelente que se llama Flores y tuvimos unas tapas en pan muy buenas. La proxima manana, viajamos a la Alkazar y la Plaza del Toros y compraron recuerdos. Despues de un dia muy divertido, alquilamos un coche y conducimos a Marbella para dos y media horas. Marbella es muy differente que Sevilla. Esta lleno hasta el tope de turistas, sin embargo, no me importa mucho, pero prefiero Sevilla mas que Marbella. Durante nuestro primer dia,, fuimos a la playa. Entonces, fuimos a la ciudad y caminamos alrededor de la ciudad, miiramos en unas tiendas y comemos una cena muy bueno. Hoy, fuimos a la ciudad de Ronda que es en los montes. Una cosa unico es que la ciudad a caballo un abismo enorme.

Enforex

 

This is a video of two of our teachers dancing Sevillano, a form of Flamenco

Our school in Sevilla is called Enforex and it is awesome. It has cafe machines, vending machines, three floors and a terrace on top of the roof that overlooks the city of Sevilla below. My mom and I both love our classes. My mom is in a class with one other person which is really good for her as she gets a lot more attention. I am in a group class with six other people all representing a different nation. There is a German girl, a Korean guy, a French girl, a Canadian girl, a Brazilian (Portuguese)  girl and me. I find my class very interesting because of all of the diversity. Whenever we are having a discussion and we start talking about something cultural, everyone always has something different to say. All in all, I think it safe to say that we both like our classes here in Sevilla much more than San Sebastian and we are learning a ton.

Nuestra escuela en Sevilla se llama Enforex y es increible. Tiene cafe maquinas, maquinas expendadoras, tres pisos y un teraza areba de la escuela. Mi madre y yo encantan nuestras clases. Mi madre es en una clase con dos personas y este es muy bueno para ella porque recibe mas atencion que normal. Soy en una clase con cinco otras personas. Hay chicas de Alemania, Francia, Canada, y Brazil y un chico de Corea. Pienso que mi clase es muy interesante porque de toda la diversidad. Cuando tenemos una discusion, todas las personas siempre tienen algo para decir. Todo en todos, pienso que nos gustan nuestras clasesaqui en Sevilla mas que en San Sebastian y estan aprediendo mucho.

Cordoba

After we left Burgos, we experienced Cordoba. This city was filled with the smallest, winding streets I have ever seen in my life, So narrow that cars could barely fit through. The main sight of Cordoba was definitely La Mesquita de Cordoba, an old moorish mosque with a giant cathedral plopped in the middle of it (which was added into the mosque years later). It is well known for its beautiful arches of red and tan. Cordoba was also filled with tourists taking pictures everywhere and we gladly joined the crowd. Cordoba was a really interesting city and my mom and I had a great time exploring the unknown wonders of the home of La Mesquita.

Despues de salimos de Burgos, hemos experimentado la ciudad de Cordoba. Esta ciudad fue lleno de las calles mas pequenas que he visto, coches tan estrecho podria pasar a traves. La vista principal es la Mesquita que es un morasco mezquito con un catedral en el centro. Es bien sabido por sus bellos arcos de rojo y bronceado. Cordoba tambien fue lleno de turistas tomando fotografias y con mucho gusto se unieron a la multituda. Cordoba fue una ciudad muy interesante y mi madre y yo tenebamos un tiempo gran explorando la ciudad.

Burgos

After leaving San Sebastian, we headed over to Burgos. There we saw an extraordinary Gothic Cathedral with soaring spires and graceful arches along with beautiful stained glass windows. We explored that architectural wander and then enjoyed eating some great tapas for only one Euro on the tiny winding streets that compose Burgos. As you can see we had a great time in this spectacular city and had fun discovering its secrets.