from the east out to the western shore, where many men and many more will fall...

sorry for the hiatus. after seeing all the ruins on the first day, we hopped a bus tour around most of ireland. one of the days on the bus tour was going to the ring of kerry. ireland is truly one of the most beautiful places i have been.

i'm pointed home, we've still got time. raise your hopeful voice...

sorry for a bit of a hiatus there. so after madrid with the family, we took a look around spain together. we went back to salamanca and i finally explored ávila for a little tiny bit. we had a lot of fun doing that. we ended up in ávila due to a bit of bad directing on my part on the highway, but i did not have a map, so the fact that we got there without major problems is pretty impressive i think.


one of the longer days in my life was spent again in granada. it is a beautiful city that everyone should see, but driving eight hours in a day to see the city and staying until 12a is hard. we went to the alhambra, walked the city a bit, ate kebap and saw some flamenco. so it was good, but we did not get back to madrid until 4am. so that was rough.


but here is a bit of "what went down"

these tree trunks, these stream beds, leave our bellies full, they sing out "i am gonna stand my ground."..

So my family came out for christmas in madrid. and on christmas day we went out to retiro park to see some of the great things in spain. and we saw lots of cool giant balloons and pretty sweet roller skating. i am sad i missed my girlfriends brother chasing after the roller skater on my camera..

when i saw the break of day, i wished that i could fly away...

one of the coolest trips i have taken in spain, in the two times i have been here, is my trip to granada. it was fun each time i was there and beautiful both times. la alhambra is one of the most breathtaking places in spain, with gardens that are incredible and some of the most interesting islamic architecture to be found. we went as a study abroad group to this one, so i spent a lot of time with all the people i have been around in salamanca. the trip ended on a bit of a low note, but i must say it truly was one of my best trips in spain.

it helps that the hotel was fantastic. well, here is a taste of la alhambra, but i think everyone needs to go and see it in person.