Spain, Italy, and The Netherlands

What an adventure I had in April! My mom and I made the journey across the pond and visited Spain! We started off in Malaga staying with my friend Katie from college and her boyfriend. Malaga is a city on the south east Spanish coast with the most amazing sunshine and beaches. Katie and Fredrick live in Torremolinos, a small town in Malaga county, their apartment is 10 minutes from the beach. Heaven.

We spent 4 days in the Malaga area and were able to visit Gibraltar! I could see Africa! The history nerd in me was so happy to be at the 'Straights of Gibraltar' and we had a fantastic time seeing monkey's and exploring. (That's mountains in Africa!)

During our time in the actual city of Malaga we were able to experience a Santa Semana parade, that was a bit shocking, and unusual, and cool. We left Malaga and headed for Madrid where we stayed in a great AirBnb and explored the capital city. I loved Madrid. It was city without being over whelming, but also very comfortable and clean. Mom and I were in Madrid for five days and explored lots of different neighborhoods and parks.

Mom headed back to the states and I headed to my first solo trip ever and it was pretty freakin amazing. I've been to Rome before but it was different this time because everything was on my schedule and exactly what I wanted to do. My mom and I are great traveling together, I love to plan and she just wants to go and explore. But having the confidence to go and take care of myself in a foreign country was invigorating.

I mainly saw the major sites again in Rome: Vatican, Colosseum and Roman Foreign, Trevi. But I also walked along the river and visited the large city park along with visiting a pretty awesome fabric shop.

After my six days in Rome I flew to Amsterdam. I cannot wait to go back, this was such an enchanting city. So unlike anything I had every experienced, it was magical. I wasn't alone in Amsterdam, I stayed with my dads cousin and his partner. I really enjoyed being able to discuss with an American born what it was like living in Europe, the differences and similarities to the US.

In Amsterdam I was unexpectedly there for a holiday, it was King's Day (the Kings birthday) and that was a party like I've never seen. There wasn't anything too extravagant just different than the way we celebrate in the US. Overall, it was an amazing trip (though they usually are) I will definitely be going back to explore more of Spain and the Netherlands.

I'll have my yarn and fabric adventures in another post later this week!