Unas fotos

Here are some pictures from the trip.

I finally got to visit Parc Guell in Barcelona..after 4 visits I finally made it!

See also el ¨puppy¨ at the Guggenheim in Bilbao, quite a sculpture in front of the museum. The locals call it el poopy, and they call the museum it´s cage. I have to go, we´re having a meeting with the students before we send them off to their host families.

El Plan

So, I did send that last preparation email. Ok, it wasn't one email, but 3 I think. It included great little nuggets of knowledge, such as, the sage wisdom of the traveling nerd from Seattle, Rick Steves and telling students to "WEAR THEIR MONEY BELTS, OR ELSE!" I told them to read up on the U.S. State department warnings about all of the things that could go wrong. It also looks like we lucked out because the truck drivers strike is settled and they are now working on refilling all of the stores shelves. They were protesting the rising cost of petrol and wanted the government to take action. Well, they did, so as long as it doesn't cost any more than $140 dollars a barrel for gas, we should be fine. If you want to check on how to be a packing nerd, see this Rick Steve's site below:
Here's a helpful Rick Steves website about packing light:
http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/packlight.htm
Also, read on to get really paranoid about terrorists and pick pockets:

State Department website with travel advisories:
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1024.html

Here are the places we are visiting:
Barcelona

We will first touch down in Barcelona this Friday, exhausted after hopefully only 24 hours of traveling. We have some rest time, a group Welcome dinner planned to celebrate our arrival and THREE Birthdays! Wowee zowee! Also we'll have some tim to wander the city, maybe see the lighted fountains or a trip to the cable car for a view of the city. I've always said if I had a chance to move back to Spain, Barcelona is where I'd move to. I fell in love with the city nearly 10 years ago! (I also said the same thing about New York City when I went there at age 16..I don't think I'll be moving to either place anytime soon. It doesn't fit with the farm and sustainable living idea John and I have. I don't think you can have chickens, goats and a big garden in either one of the cities)


We also plan to venture to La Sagrada Familia the giant cathedral that is a work in progress still and Gaudi's "Manzana de la Discordia" to see some more of the famous architecture of the city
I think that to really see the city and surrounding highlights, you need at least a week. We unfortunately have two measly days.


Bilbao
Here we plan to see the famous Guggenheim museum. This was constructed by Gehry, who also did our EMP in Seattle. Architecture of the future, designed by a computer!

Santander

We hope to spend some time relaxing at the beach in Santander. Also plan to visit the Guernica Museum of Peace and the Caves of Altamira. More info. to come!





Arnedo, Calahorra, Rincon de Soto, Arndedillo
This is where we'll be relaxing for a little while. Maybe take a trip to the Santiago trail, or maybe to a winery? Who knows! We may venture up to Pamplona to see how the preparation for the running of the bulls is going!

Burgos
After relaxing in La Rioja, we hope to head to Burgos to see the cathedral and read up on the history of this famous berg.
Madrid

We will end our trip in Madrid seeing some famous artwork at the Prado and the grand final of seeing Picasso's "Guernica" in the Reina Sofia museum of modern art.

Well, you know the plan, now part of the fun will be to see how our plans really end up. That's when the real adventure begins, right?

Some of my favorite stories from my last trip went something like this...Remember when we went to the Station to catch the train, but we got on the bus going to the WRONG station? :) We barely caught the train to our next destination! We were lucky it was the ONLY late train on the whole trip!

Wish us luck!

Ash

Preparacion: One week and counting

Right now I am eagerly awaiting the end of my amazing day job so I can go wandering for the summer. In one week you can find me on a plane to Spain as a leader of a group that will not be named where we will encounter "aventuras" in the language and culture of Catalunia, El Pais Vasco and La Rioja, not to mention Castilla y Leon and some places in between. Right now I am contemplating the important questions like, "Should I email the group again with last minute gift ideas for their host families, and also let them know my cell phone number in case they have a packing emergency like I know I will have next week, such as which sandals to bring, how many luna bars to pack, and will my host family really like this_____I got them?" Well, I'm sure I have one more preparation email for them, I know they are overwhelmed as we've been prepping for a year for this trip, and I think the 200th email might put them over the edge.
So, I know I will also need to sleep for about 72 hours prior to this trip because the nature of the trip will not really allow me to sleep much, as I will have to have plenty of energy to keep up with the 19 teenagers, and, besides, I'm not that young anymore.
It's interesting for me heading back to Spain ten years after my first 'aventura' that changed the course of my life so. I am looking forward to an amazing time to reflect on where I've been since my first time there and some time to reflect on the next ten years, too. :) Stay tuned for more information in coming weeks...