The Beaches of Santander: Viewer discretion advised.

You know what they say about European beaches…

Okay, so this is about as much of a nude beach as I got.  What is it about naked babies and why are they so dang cute???

Our adventures in Santander began with a glorious afternoon at the beach with beyond-salty, rip-curling waves and ended with an hour-long trek from downtown back to our hotel at 1:30am with 2 older couples from Madrid (who taught me dirty words in Spanish) and a few rather gorgeous Santanderian guys as our guides...because don’t you know the buses stop working after 22:00???

…Fill those bookends with a breathtakingly gorgeous hike to the semi-famous lighthouse for sunset, a hilarious bus ride with a group of 13 and 14-year old chicas who agreed to show us our way to the downtown, a mildly intimidating rendevouz with 5 of the most beautiful drunk Germans I have ever seen, tasty tapas at a jam-packed bar, and the best Dulce de Leche ice cream of my life, and you have a shelf full of my epic Santanderian adventures.   With an epilogue of skinny-dipping in the Atlantic later that night and a fabulous ocean sunrise from my hotel window, I literally could not have dreamed it better. 

And luckily for you, it was well-documented:

This awesome wall that, despite being almost completely submerged in water every night with the high tide, somehow manages to exist.  Hence my triumphant, life-embracing pose.  

Beautiful discovery numero dos.  Random, perfectly landscaped  parque. 

Michelle and Jessie walking, unawares of my stalker photography tendencies.

Yup, this was once my reality. I'm jealous of my past self right now.  You should be too.

Just chilling at the top of a mountain with a lighthouse, watching a sunset that we hadn't really planned to see.

In Santander, Spain.

NBD.

Hungry faces awaiting their fantastic tapas. 

Me, after the first bite of the best helado I've ever had in my entire life.  The Flave:  Dulce de Leche.  As you can see, it was entirely unexpected.

Ocean sunrise from my hotel window.  Aka:  God really REALLY loves me, and He knows this is all He's gotta do to remind me. 

You should be sighing right about now. 

And telling yourself you WILL travel to Spain someday, if only to eat an ice cream cone and stare at a perfectly divine sunset.

Go ahead, buy your ticket now:  http://www.expedia.es/?rfrr=Redirect.From.www.expedia.com%2FHome.htm.  

But maybe you should check this one first:  https://www.wellsfargo.com/

Anywho, life here is lovely.  Thanks for checking in, mom. 

Sincerely, 

Abbs

P.S.  I was just kidding about the skinny-dipping thing.  But regardless, Freedom is Nudity.  (Please note the caps.)

Segovia: Aqua, Ducks, and Sleeping Beauty Castles.

I know what you're thinking. But here, I'll save you the trouble:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyhrYis509A&ob=av2e

Please note that, as exhibited in the above picture, I have finally learned how to create both a caption and a link to another internet site.

So, we went on a little day trip to Segovia a few weeks ago and as you can imagine, this beautiful hunk of stones was the star of the show.  Sin cement, it's one of the oldest standing Roman structures in the world and they just stopped using it a few years ago.  Incredible, no?  If you really want to learn more about the Roman Aqueduct, you should click on this fancy link that I just learned how to make.

Yes, we all know Belle is better, but only the blondes get the castles.  

Except me. Ha.

                                             

And this is the Alcázar of Segovia or in other words, Sleeping Beauty's Castle.  Every Spanish tourist and their dog has this exact same picture. I apologize for my unoriginality.

And this is our uber European tour guide in Segovia.  He didn't like us very much.  

This is el Palacio Cristal in El Parque Retiro en Madrid and me with my home girl, Jessie. It's beautiful and it changed my life...both the palace and the home girl.

These are some of my cute SA friends posing by some columns in the park.

And this is the cool protest we saw one day when we were in Madrid.  We couldn't get close enough to tell if they were for or against the recent change in the Spanish Constitution.


Anyway, sorry for the scatter-brained post.  It only took me like a month to write.  But I promise there's more to come soon!  I'm trying to do a quick catch-up so I can get back on track.

Love you all mucho,

Abbs