Day 15: Quiet Quad-Cities

I suspect it's been a pretty quiet day for all of the travelers today.  I assume they all slept quite a bit...I know I sure did.  I told the kids the hardest day for me is the day AFTER we get back home. It's always too quiet in my house.  No morning wake-up knocks...I'm sure they didn't miss that too much this morning.  No watered-down orange juice, croissants, meats & cheeses for breakfast. No crazies in the street offering us crap...or drugs. No more Fran-isms.   No bus rides. No lugging luggage up the stairs. The routine we have known for 2 weeks is no more.  It does take some time to adjust as that's all we've known for a while.  The kids will laugh when they hear certain songs/expressions as memories will flood them.  It was such an amazing time.  Parents - you have some great kids (but I'm sure you already knew that)! 

I rarely buy souvenirs from my trips...except for soccer jerseys for my nieces & nephews.  My best souvenir of all is my travel journal.  On the loooooong trip home, I have the kids write in it & tell me their thoughts on the trip, etc...  I always wait to read it until after I'm home. 

Just finished it...my cup runneth over.  Lloro.  Lágrimas.

Best souvenir ever.

Thanks for the fun & the great memories kids!!  You're the bestest!!  I am blessed.

Best. Souvenir. Ever.

Day 14: Roamin' Spartans return

Boy, that 1:30 wake-up call was a bit rough. Got the kids up at 2, and they were all down in the lobby by 2:20am, ready to rumble.  We had a short commute to the airport so we gave Fran his thank-you gifts and made him an honorary red shirt, El Vagabundo. We also shared, and laughed, at the many Fran-isms from the past two weeks.  Too funny!!

Our flights home are a different route, we head north up to Amsterdam, 4 hours there, then 8.5 hours to Detroit, 4 hours there, then our hour plus flight to Moline.  We land roughly around 9 pm, 22 hours of travel.

The kids were pretty elated to set foot on American soil. Land of the free refills, free water, real ketchup,free & functioning Wi-Fi,  and separate checks.  We hit Chili's in the Detroit airport...that seemed to make everyone feel right at home. So, life is good right now.

What a welcome home we received!!!  From flowers to balloons to bacon along with lots of hugs & kisses & tears!  What a perfect ending to an amazing trip! Travel helps you figure out more about the world, appreciate other cultures, and typically makes you grateful for all you have!  You learn more about yourself than you ever thought you would...and it's a good thing!

I hope you all have changed from tourists to travelers, and that there is more travel in your future! Go & See more of the world - there is a lot out there for your to experience.

Thanks to all the kids & parents for making my 18th trip a memorable one!  I had a wonderful time and all of you are a part of that!  Thanks for the memories!!

Con cariño ~ Señorita :)

Sadly saying good-bye to Fran

Amazing TD, Fran!!

Adiós Europa!  It's been real!!  

Day 13: Simple Sintra and Captivating Cascais

Hard to believe it’s our last tour day…where has the time gone?!?  It feels like we just got here…but at other times, it feels like we’ve been gone forever.

Our first stop, nestled in the hills and woods of Portugal, was Sintra, where we toured a lovely Royal Palace.  Unlike all the other palaces we’ve seen prior, this Palace is quite simple. Tile work on the walls, lots of steps up and down in to the different rooms, beautifully decorated ceilings, and a huge kitchen with some great big chimneys.  A little drive through the woods, and we arrived on the Atlantic coastline.  Gorgeous blue waters and sand dunes for miles.  We stop for a photo stop, and then drive a bit farther to stop at Boco da Inferno (Hell’s mouth), a rock formation on the coast that is just lovely.

Our last stop of the day was the beautiful beach town of Cascais.  Originally this was going to be a drive-by, but we got the driver to let us off so we could grab lunch, and hit the beach.  So, that’s what we did…and it was heavenly!  We rented some chairs, piled up all the bags, and off they went.  It was a great way to unwind after a VERY busy 13 days.  They built a sandcastle, played with their soccer ball, ran around, and even went out on the floating jungle gym. All in all, it was a successful day!

We took the tram back into Lisbon, then the Metro to get to our hotel.  Had our last supper with the other groups, and the night would not have been complete without a last ‘digestive walk’ for ice cream!

We sadly said good-bye to the other 3 groups as we have a 5 am flight, with a 2:30 shuttle.  Quite a few of the kids pulled an all-nighter, so we’ll see how that goes tomorrow.

~steph :)

Strike a pose...

Pensive Emily...

We love Portugal!

Do you want to build a sandcastle!?!?

Ready to head out to the jungle gym!

Missed a few spots...

No ice cream for these ladies - Yogurt & peaches it is!

Our last Magnum bar in Europe!!!!

Day 12: Lovely Lisbon

Good Morning Portugal!  Kids slept okay…some more than others.  We got breakfast on the train, and started to get our stuff together so we could hop off on the last stop, Lisbon!  The kids were troopers. What a great experience for those planning to study abroad in Europe in the future (yes, parents, your kids have been bitten by the travel bug…you’ve been warned.)

Our local guide met us at the train station and off we went for a tour of Lisbon.  Our first stop was the Alfama district, a quite poor area, with many rundown buildings & tight quarters. A quick tour of down town, and then up to the park overlooking the city.  Lisbon is built on many, many hills, so up & down we went.  Next stop was St. Jeronimo’s Monastery, which is where Vasco de Gama is buried.  Down to the waterfront we went to see the Tower of Belem and then the Statue of the Discoverers.  The waterfront reminded us of San Francisco with its similar bridge. The weather in Lisbon is heavenly.  After sweating to death in Sevilla at 110+ temps, the 70s of Lisbon are delightful.

We headed to our hotel, checked in, and headed down town for some free time.  First stop:  Hard Rock for lunch.  Can’t go wrong with free Wi-Fi, free refills, clean bathrooms, and yummy, overly priced food.  Gave the kids a few hours of free time to shop & wander.  The boys soon learned the dudes on the street selling sunglasses weren’t just selling sunglasses.  Hashtag sketchy waterfront.

After dinner, a few came out for our typical ‘digestive’ walk…which found us a supermarket and BOXES of Magnum bars.  Hashtag heaven.

We’re all a bit tired from the lack of sleep on the night train and all the walking.  Hard to believe tomorrow is our last tour day. :(  We’re heading to the Riviera of Portugal to see the towns of Cascais and Sintra.  Our afternoon is free and we plan to spend it on the beaches of Portugal, chillaxin.

Until tomorrow…

~steph :)

Lisbon

Tower of Belem

My monkeys in the tree

My own discoverers!!!

Pilgrimage to the Magnum bar

Sooooo happy we found some to eat!!!

Day 11: Terrific Toledo...and Tiny, Tight Train

What a wonderful Wednesday it was!  We had a free morning, so we slept in a touch, checked out, stored our luggage, and headed to the Reina Sofia to see some masterpieces.  While the Prado has the classics, the Reina Sofia has more modern art, all produced after Picasso was born.  The big piece to see was the Guernica, by Picasso.  This he painted after the bombing of the town Guernica, up in the north of Spain.  As the kids have seen art throughout their Spanish classes, the Spanish 3 kids all do a huge art project and many of them had light bulb recognition moments…good stuff!

We made our way back up to Sol for some last minute shopping & lunch.  I took a group to 100 Montaditos…yep, we found one in Madrid…and as it was Wednesday, everything was a Euro!!!!  Yay!!!

We met back up with the entire group & hopped a bus to Toledo. Toledo is a medieval town south of Madrid.  It was actually Spain’s capital at one time. As we had a free afternoon before our night train, we made arrangements with our frantastic Tour Director to set up this excursion…and it was worth every centavo. The hour bus ride took us to this amazing town, surrounded by walls & the Tajo river on 3 sides, which was accurately portrayed in El Greco’s ‘Vista de Toledo’ painting…which is where we went for our panoramic “Roamin’ Spartans” photo.  The kids were pretty excited as they remembered the painting…and then got to see it come to life. Hashtag proud teacher moment.  Our incredible local guide, Carlos, took us through the narrow, winding streets of this town, which was all decorated for the Corpus Christi celebration.  We toured through the 3^rd largest cathedral in the world, and learned of the 72 churches in this pueblo…Holy Toledo!  Keeping with the El Greco theme, we got to see El Greco’s “Burial of Count Orgaz”…and take illegal selfies…cough cough boys…  Our last stop in this maze of a town was the Jewish synagogue.  Down the hill and across the San Martin bridge, and our tour of Toledo sadly came to an end.  Two thumbs up…or actually 32 thumbs up!  But, one cannot visit Toledo without a stop at the sword/jewelry factory. 

Back to Madrid we went for dinner, a bit of shopping, and off to our night train we went.  The kids were assigned cabins in 2’s, 3’s and 4’s. After a bit of confusion, we found all our cabins and got our luggage stowed.  Trains are a new thing for most of our kids, let alone an overnight train.  Trains are quite the common way to travel, so it was a great experience for the kids. Got them all settled, some with some Dramamine, and off we went.

Good  Night Spain…Good Morning Portugal!

PVHS Roamin' Spartans 2014

Our bodyguards...don't you just feel safe with these 4!?!?

Night train fun!

Cramped quarters

Boys on a train

Lounging in their cabin

Enjoying the train

Day 10: Marvelous Madrid

Sorry for the delayed blog…the Wi-Fi in our last hotel was ridiculously slooooowww….and that’s putting it mildly.  It was frustratingly slow, so let’s catch up on what we’ve been up to!

Tuesday we did a city tour of Madrid. With our hotel up in the north, we were able to see the business district of Madrid, and head down the Castellana towards center city. First stop was Estadio Santiago Bernabeu (aka Real Madrid stadium) were we popped off for pics.  Needless to say, the boys were in heaven.  Down to the Alcala gate, and over to see the bullring.  Originally we were going to pop off there too for pics, but it was full of thousands of kids on a field trip. Next we stopped at the Atocha train station to (a) see the greenhouse on the inside, but also to show were the Madrid bombings that killed 200 and injured 2000. A bus tour around the Cibeles fountain (which is where the Real Madrid fans celebrate their victories), up Gran Vía shopping street, towards our next stop:  Temple of Debod.  From there we were able to get a great panoramic view of the Casa del Campo park as well as the Royal Palace.  As the Palace is closed due to the coronation, we were not able to enter, but were able to take pics as well as go into the cathedral next door.  We continued meandering towards Plaza Mayor so we could do a Tapas lunch down in the cellar of this awesome cave.  We had about 6 rounds of tapas:  jamón serrano & manchego cheese, chorizo, calamari, tortilla española, and patatas bravas.  Then the Tuna band showed up, a group of university musicians, to entertain the kids with some minstrel-type music.  A good time was had by all!!

After all that, we had some free time…so off the kids went to shop.  We met back up a few hours later and headed to the beautiful Prado museum to see some great classic masterpieces…and take illegal selfies. (cough..cough..Hunter…)

Needless to say, it was a BUSY day (like always) so crashed after dinner…and with spotty Wi-Fi, no blogging.

Another great day Wednesday, so keep reading!
~steph :)

p.s. sorry, no pics - not enough memory allowed at this hotel.

Temple de Debod

Girls just wanna have fun!

Royal Palace - this is as close as we could get.

Zero KM in Madrid

Day 9: Calm Cordoba...and Majestic Madrid

On the road again…just can’t wait to get on the road again…

Today was our last big bus day…and we’re happy to be off the bus.  Today was a 2 hr drive up to Córdoba, a beautiful city along the river with a Mezquita to visit.  A Mezquita is a mosque, but what makes this one unique is its design. It has a courtyard full of orange trees and a beautiful minaret tower in the corner. But it’s what’s on the inside that distinguishes it…the red and white striped arches of the barefloored mosque.  The most intriguing feature is the church in the middle of the mosque.  Yep, in the middle of the mosque is a huge altar and choir.  Really don’t ever see the mixing of two religions in one building.  Afterwards, we got to take a tour of the quaint town of Córdoba, see the Street of Flowers, wander through the narrow alley ways, and get some lunch.

Back on the bus we went for about a 5 hr drive up to Madrid, our final Spanish destination.  :(    We did make a pit stop along the way in Puerto Lapice, aka Don Quixote land.  We stopped at a Venta that is actually mentioned in the book and were able to explore the little village as well as the museum.  Driving up through La Mancha gave us an idea of what Cervantes trekked through on his way up to Madrid, which is reflected in his book.  New fact for me: Don Quixote is now the 3^rd most translated book in the world…used to be 2^nd behind the Bible.  The new #2….Harry Potter.  :)

Our hotel in Madrid is up in the north, and actually attached to the train station we’ll be using Wednesday when we take our night train to Lisbon.  After check in, we grabbed the metro and off we went for dinner on Gran Vía, a major artery and shopping street. Our after dinner walk took us to Plaza de España where there is a monument dedicated to Cervantes along with statues of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.

Tomorrow we’re doing a city tour of Madrid, sans Royal Palace as the coronation of the new King, Felipe, is taking place sometime soon, so they have closed down the Palace.  Travel teaches flexibility, and how cool to be here with all that going on.  I say that now as who knows what the streets will be like, but I imagine busy.  I’ll report back tomorrow (hopefully as this internet is slooooooowwww… no pics...loading will take forever...lo siento)

~steph :)

Inside the Mezquita

Rubbing some feet for good luck!

Praying before dinner

Plaza de España, Madrid

Claire & Liza with Don Quixote & Sancho Panza

Greg going for a ride

Day 8: Spectacular...and Scorching...Sevilla

Wow...it's hot...and that's putting it mildly.

Hot would probably be the word I’d use to describe our day.  It started with Mallorie & I getting up to watch sunrise. Then a 2 hr bus ride to Sevilla.  Upon arrival, the temperature gage said 38, but later on in the day we saw 43.  FYI – that’s Celsius…FYI – 40 celsius is 104 Fahrenheit.  So, needless to say it’s warm here.

We had some free time before our guided visit for lunch. So off we wandered thru the narrow, winding streets for some lunch. Then met up with our local guide to take a tour of the Alcazar, the Royal fortress. A beautiful Moorish palace & gardens that are just spectacular.

We then headed across the street to the Santa Maria Cathedral…3^rd largest in the World..and home to Christopher Columbus’ tomb.  We also got to climb La Girlada tower via 34 ramps as they used to ride their horses up to ring the bells.

After a short tour through the white washed buildings of the Jewish quarter, we hopped our warm bus (ugh!) and headed to the Plaza de Espana.  This was where the 1929 World Fair was held – such a spectacular monument with its twin towers, painted tiles, impressive fountains, and just overall awesomeness!

After we checked into our hotel, me, Mallorie & 8 students decided to take in a bullfight.  Seat prices are based on where you sit, with Shade being more expensive.  We opted for Sol (sun) and paid 15 Euros for 2^nd row seats.  We got to see two matadors kill their bulls before dinner. While it’s not an event anyone ‘looooves’ to see multiple times, it was interesting to hear the kids’ opinions afterwards.

Our evening digestive walk took us down to the river where we strolled, checked out the monuments all lit up at night, grabbed some ice cream, and headed home.

Tomorrow we make our way to Madrid via Cordoba & Don Quixote land.

BIG SHOUT OUTS to all the Dads out there!!!  Happy Father’s Day!
~steph :)

Good Morning Spain!!

Yep, we just climbed that big tower!

Plaza de Espana

My bullfight crew

Evening stroll with our driver, Paolo

Rob & Jack showing off their moves with the street performer