Our trip to Espana!
On May 2nd, we finished our last days of work and went straight home to finish packing our belongings for the big move and also to get ready for our trip to Spain. JT's dad, Jack, wanted to take us on a trip before we moved to Dallas and the plan was to meet up with him halfway through our trip.
On May 7th, we woke up at the crack of dawn and headed to our 7am flight for Chicago and then on to Madrid, Spain! Some friends of ours gave us a book by Rick Steves on his "off the beaten path" guidebook to Spain. Little did we know how much this book would save our lives and money the whole time we were there. For those of you who aren't aware, the only thing we had planned before we went to Spain was our flight... no hotels, no transportation, etc. was set up, so this was really an adventurous, fly-by-the-seat-of-your pants vacation for us! Here are some pictures to depict just a few stops of our vacation. All stops included: Toledo, Malaga, Gibraltar, Tarifa, Morocco, Sevilla, & Madrid... all within a matter of a 10 day trip!
Day 1: Here we are with our most trusted guide source: Rick Steves 
Day 2: Toledo, the old capital of Spain & the capital for sword making. Here is JT watching a 4th generation swordmaker. This is the man that made JT's dagger souvenir.
Day 3: Malaga, a southern city on the coast of Spain. This is JT at an old 11th centery fort, Alcazaba. Next to it are Roman Ruins where they are currently excavating a Roman theatre (below).
Day 4: We met up with Jack for the rest of our trip & headed to Gibraltar.
Day 5: Gibraltar, UK. Here we are on our way up to the top of The Rock of Gibraltar.
For those of you who aren't aware, wild monkeys roam the entire rock & constantly look for humans to bring them food... which is strongly not suggested. They're a little less friendly than the movies make them out to be and if you're not holding onto your stuff tight enough, they just might steal your purse and go through the whole thing looking for food. Yes, this actually happened to some tourists while we were there!
Day 6: Tarifa, the southern most city in Europe. One side of the beach is the Atlantic Ocean and the other is the Mediterranean Sea.
Day 7: Tangier, Morocco. Here Macy is with our tour guide, Ben. 
Who thought we would ride camels in Morocco!
Day 8: Italica, a small city outside Sevilla with Roman ruins. This is a picture of a Roman Coliseum that once held about 30,000 people during main events. 
Here's JT pretending to be the next Gladiator.
Day 9: Sevilla, the city of Ambiance. We really enjoyed the beautiful parks & sites while we were there!
Day 10: Madrid, the New York of Spain. What would a trip in Europe be without Starbucks? This was definitely Macy's best morning "pick-me-up".
Here we are outside the Prado, one of the most famous art museums in the world.
Here we all are enjoying our evening meal at Museo de Jamon (The Ham Museum). Spaniards love their ham!
This is the most famous plaza in Madrid, Puerta de Sol. Many famous events have happened here, and famous paintings have been created to remember the lives lost on this ground. This is the last stop on our trip! Adios Spain and we'll hope to see you again soon!
