la vita è bella: Hala Madrid

**Quick sidebar/rabbit trail before I begin this post...although I'm not sure that you can have a sidebar or rabbit trail before having an actual "bar" or "trail." I realize that I am still over five months behind on our travel blog! Sheesh! But as soon as I am caught up, I am going to give this little page a make-over. While we have used this blogspot to update our travels, I have had requests for more posts pertaining to everyday life. I'm still not convinced that our day-to-day schedules are all too exciting, but there is SO much more (insert hearty laugh because that is still an understatement) to living overseas outside the great travels. For now, I will use my summer break from classes to advance past fall of 2011 and then learn some techy-cool ways to improve our online journal. Bear with me friends! Now the important stuff...

We kicked of December of 2011 with a quick trip to Madrid, Spain. This was my first official meeting with Spain, and it was love at first sight. The people, the tapas, the sangria (!!!!), the culture, the architecture, the sangria...I love it all. And the icing on the cake? We were able to spend quality time with four incredible people. We traveled to Madrid with our close friends Lynn and Dave Gertiser. We were also blessed to spend time with Caleb's Aunt Beth and Uncle David. We packed a lot of sites into a quick three days, but, of course, my camera battery died within hours of setting foot in the city. Below are the pictures we snapped with Dave and Lynn's camera and descriptions of a few places we visited. This may have been my first visit to Madrid, but I am certain it will not be my last.