Seville

Before heading home, we took a day trip to Seville with the hope of picking up some ceramics for souvenirs. Since we were hoofing it around the city, we decided to do our sight seeing before we weighed ourselves down.  

Seville Cathedral

Alcazar

We finished touring the Alcazar around noon and figured it would be a good time to grab lunch and start our shopping. However, our lunch went longer than expected, as all of our meals did while we were in Spain, and when we started our shopping we were disappointed to find that all of the artisanal ceramic shops closed for the day after lunch on Saturdays. So, we continued with our sight seeing.

Plaza de Toros de la Maestranza

Plaza de Espana

By the end of the day, the heat got the best of us and we were completely exhausted. We picked up a few knickknacks for souvenirs and then stopped at a pub to enjoy one last glass of sparking wine before catching our train back to Madrid. 

Barcelona

Over the weekend we visited Barcelona. After hearing all of our friend's rave reviews about the city, I couldn't wait to check it out for myself. Here are a few of my favorite photos.

La Sagrada Familia

Park Guell

Casa Batllo

Casa Mila

The Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria

El Bulli Exhibit @ the Palau Robert Museum

Barceloneta Beach

Palau de la Musica Catalana Stained Glass Ceiling

The architecture in this city is truly one of a kind and the weekend was a blur of fantastic sights. I would gladly go back for a longer visit since I feel like we barely scratched the surface of Barcelona's fantastic sights. 

Toledo

Toledo is a 30 minute train ride from Madrid. Unfortunately, the train that we wanted was full and it was going to be two hours before we could catch the next one, so we decided to rent a car and drive there ourselves. Luckily traffic wasn't too bad and we made it there in a little over a hour.

The city was full of narrow alleys, beautiful buildings, and ancient history. However, we were forced to admire everything from the outside since we arrived after 7 PM and it was all was closed for the day. After a couple of hours of aimless wandering we decided we had our fill and left to grab dinner before we headed back to Madrid.

As we left the city, we snapped this photo of the landscape. This was my favorite photo of the day's adventure.

Madrid

My colleague and I had the pleasure of calling Madrid "home" for two weeks and we both had a blast. I'm not sure if I could ever adjust to eating such heavy lunches and late dinners on a regular basis, but they say "when in Rome, do as the Romans do" so we adjusted our schedules to fit the local norm.

The local markets are a quite the treat. The fruit, vegetable, fish, and meat displays are beautiful and offer a wide variety items. I took the pleasure of indulging in jamon iberico sandwiches every opportunity that I had and boy o boy were the delicious.

Jamon Iberico @ 

Every day after work, we would try to explore some where new. The Metro was very easy to use and there was a stop conveniently located next to our hotel. For 1.50 Euro a trip, you could essentially get to every place worth going to in Madrid via public transportation.

Palace Real

Plaza Mayor

Palacio de Cristal @ Parque Del Buen Retiro

Caixa Forum

There were a surprising number of dachshunds in Madrid and we would see a different one (short hair, long hair, and wire hair) going on a walk on our way to and from the office. While strolling through the Parque Del Buen Retiro I followed a familiar bark and found my way to this little guy! 

Wirehair Dachshund Swimming @ Parque Del Buen Retiro Pond

He was barking at the ducks in the pond and when they didn't come to him, he decided to jump in the pond to get them. His short little legs couldn't get him to the ducks fast enough and when they would swim away he would return to the pond edge to spring at them again. It was too cute to watch.

Penguins Mate For Life

The gentleman that married MH and me got married himself and we had the honor of attending the wedding. It was a beautiful event at the Rosewood San Hill in Menlo Park with an outside ceremony in the garden and one couldn't have asked for more perfect weather. 

Throughout the ceremony we learned more and more about the bride and groom and early in their relationship they learned that penguins mate for life. Inspired by this fact they had the cutest cake topper. Congrats Mr. & Mrs. K!

Wishlist

I recently found The Long and Short of it All: A Dachshund Dog News Magazine  and it brought my attention to this beauty:

I'll definitely be adding this Ted Baker London 'Sassey - Dog Bobble Matinee' wallet to my wishlist!

Memorial Day Weekend in NYC

I had to work in NJ the week before and after Memorial day weekend, so MH flew out over the long holiday so we could celebrate our anniversary in New York. Since we visited most of the larger museums on our last visit, we went to the Whitney and I can honestly say that I don´t think it was one of my favorite museums. For the most part, the exhibits just weren´t my cup of tea.

Whitney Museum

For a total splurge, MH treated me to dinner at Le Bernadin. I had hoped that we might catch a glimpse of Chef Ripert but unfortunately he wasn´t in the restaurant that evening. Our dinner was devine though and I would gladly go back in a heart beat.

Le Bernadin Mixed Seafood Dish

In contrast to our fine dining meal at Le Bernadin, we also went to Momofuku for a fried chicken lunch which was also fun and exciting since we were able to catch up with some friends at the same time.

Momofuku Noodle Bar Fried Chicken Lunch

Last but not least, we visited the World Trade Center Memorial. Unfortunately, the museum isn´t open yet so we were only able to walk around the waterfalls of the two buildings.

World Trade Center Memorial

I can´t believe MH and I have been married for over a year! Where does the time go?

Re-Planting Our Summer Garden

I can't believe that Spring came and went and now Summer is knocking at our door. MH and I re-planted our Summer garden over the weekend and I'm so excited to harvest our crops. 

Strawberry Pot

Lettuce Medley in our Vegetable Box

To the right of the lettuce medley we planted red and yellow bell pepper plants, crooked neck yellow squash, and a variety of pole beans. To the left of the lettuce medley we planted cantaloupe and watermelon. 

Approximately 5 years ago, MH planted a bare root triple variety cherry tree and this is the first year that it has showed promise of bearing fruit. We both can't remember what variety this could be, but are keeping our fingers crossed that we get some cherries!

Making Progress...

MH and I are getting better at making home made pizza. We are far from being pros but can manage to make semi-round pizzas now. Making pizza dough round is much more difficult than we anticipated!

I've been on a margherita pizza kick lately and fresh pizza just out of the oven can't be beat.

Out And About In Switzerland

On our way in to Neuchatel, my colleague and I stopped in Bern for dinner and were able to stroll through the city while there was day light. In the between the rain, the weather was fantastic and we were able to take some photos of the city.

Bern

Over the weekend, we decided to visit the Berner Oberland and found the cutest little hotel in Lauterbrunnen. This was the view from the balcony of my room.

Lauterbrunnen

Further down the road you can find the Trummelbach Waterfalls. For a small fee, you can ride a tunnel lift and visit 10 view points inside the mountain where glacial water from the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau drains.

Trummelbach Waterfalls

All of the Trummelbach Waterfall viewpoints are breath taking. 20,000 litres of water flow through the mountain per second. It is hard to believe that the ground at the bottom of the mountain hasn't completely washed away. 

Castle in Thun

Around the lake of Thun there are a variety of castles. According to my colleague's travel book, it is best to see them while taking a cruise of the lake, but since we didn't have time we drove around the lake on our own and hunted them out ourselves.