the final vacation: London and Amsterdam Dec 5-11

In December I took a trip to London, England and Amsterdam, Holland. I was with 5 other friends the whole time, and we were with some other friends on and off. London was a really cool city, we rode the underground to get around and went to the Camden market and Abby Road. London had good food, a surprising amount of curry and it was delicious. 

The taxies were really cool here.

The group I was in London with.

We met a man named Dave he took us all around London just for fun. He showed us all the best pubs and restaurants and even took us to china town.

We saw Big Ben and Parliament 

The London Bridge, it didn’t actually “fall down” 

We saw the eye at night.

We went to the famous Camden market, it was really cool, there was a lot going on there.

And finally we walked accros the real Abby Road.

Amsterdam was a really cool place, it was beautiful and everyone seemed to be enjoying there everyday lives. Everyone rode bikes there as well and one day we rented bikes.

We found a small carnaval. 

There are bikes everywhere tied to all the bridges.

The good food, pancakes.

Greg me and Miguel.

Amsterdam had some really cool architecture.

I felt like a local!

Greg loved the food.

We went to the Heineken museum and factory.

Coffee shop, one of the many things Amsterdam is known for.

sorry its sideways

This was a great trip not only because the places I went to were really fun but the people I went with were also really fun.

Venice with the family November 24-27

We went to Venice Italy for 3 nights. Venice is a beautiful city with streets of canals and buildings so beautiful.

Gondoliers on their break. 

We took the water taxi everywhere. It was cold.

The canals were so beautiful. 

The food was amazing.

One of the many beautiful, old churches. 

My mom and I shopping, its what we do best.

We bought masks in Venice, they were selling them all over.

The made beautiful glass in Morano, Italy a small island off of Venice. Here is a chandler in the hotel we stayed in, all glass.  

There are bridges that connect the buildings over the canal.

We took an elevator to the top of the bell tower of a cathedral across the water. 

Inside the cathedral.

We took a gondola ride at night. The gondolier was a nice man. He practiced his  English with us. He also sang for us like the traditional gondolier.

Mom Dad and Noah in Madrid November 18-27

My parents and little brother noah came to Madrid to visit me for 10 days over thanksgiving. While they were here they visited el Escorial, Segovia, Toledo, and we went to Venice Italy.  While in Madrid they stayed in SOL which is in the center of the city. 

When they first got there we ate at a restaurant in plaza mayor.

Noah and dad loved the café con leche.

We took a train to el Escorial an old monastery north of Madrid.

We also ate at the oldest restaurant in the world, el Botin it opened in the 18 hundreds.

My parents wanted to meet my friends in the program so they took us all out for paella.

Noah and I went to a Real Madrid futbol game. We sat 8^th row  with my host dad.

One night my real family came over to have dinner with my host family, it was really fun and interesting to see how everyone would communicate the dads got along well and spoke English and I had to do a bit of translating for my moms but it worked out well.

They were still in Madrid for thanksgiving so we went on hunt for a thanksgiving dinner and we found one. It was not exactly what we thought it would be but it was alright.