Taken with Toledo

On a whim and a quick google search, Shayla and I decided to take a quick day trip to Toledo on the second day. Boy am I glad we did because it was magical! We had to stall a bit since we were too late for the earlier train by going to the Thyssen museum and seeing the Monet exhibit. That was great though. The weather was perfect and so sunny. We walked around everywhere and sat down at every plaza we saw.
Walking into the city from the bus station--

Top of the hill next to the castle---

Plaza we stayed in while eating chocolate pastries---

Sign I had to take a picture with! YAY home I miss y'all---

Great views at the bridge we stopped at----

That place was my favorite! I loved the view and thought  it looked like a fairytale where I could be the princess living in that castle (haha but really Shayla had to drag me away).

After the trip fortified by pastries and soda, we took the train back to Madrid and walked back to the hostel. We went back out soon after and grabbed some dinner at a bread place, both of us only having a vague idea of what we ate since there were no translations.Then we picked up some chocolate almonds and bottled water to brush our teeth and to distract us from the semi-disastrous dinner and called it a night by going back to the hostel early.

You know you love me. 

XOXO, Gaelic Girl

Mad for Madrid, part 1

Bus to Dublin for the airport for the last time woohoo!! So-so night at the Starbucks terminal again. Arrive to a perfect hostel, little did we know how wonderful it was in comparision to the second one. Highly recommend the WAY hostel even though we had a eight person female dorm. Shayla awkwardly got caught by the maid checking for bed bugs though haha. We were told that our beds wouldn't be ready until 12:30 so we wandered around the market and the plazas surrounding the palace. 

Loved them, they were so great that we ended up hanging around in them a lot basking in the sun.

Once we got settled into the hostel and met some new friends on Spring Break, we walked to the Parque Del Retiro (soon to be one of my favorite places in Madrid). It was so relaxing to walk around and watch the people in their boats on the Estanque.

After walking around most of the city for the day, Shayla and I took a quick nap before we went to the Prado museum during their free hours at 6-8. It was so cool to see all the paintings of Goya and others. Then we had an early night at the hostel in order to get ready for our day trip to Toledo the next day since we were so exhausted with all the walking.

You know you love me.

XOXO, Gaelic Girl

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Stories of Spain and today sure to come soon!! 

 You know you love me. 

XOXO, Gaelic Girl

Inspiration for Wednesday

I leave for Scotland on Wednesday to take the bus to Dublin in preparation for my early flight on Thursday morning. In the meantime, I have just checked out a collection of Robert Burns' poems to get me in the mood.

O my Luve's like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June:
O my Luve's like the melodie
That’s sweetly play'd in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I:
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry:

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,

And the rocks melt wi’ the sun;
I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o’ life shall run.
 

And fare thee weel, my only Luve
And fare thee weel, a while!
And I will come again, my Luve,
Tho’ it were ten thousand mile.

I always loved that poem, even when I had to memorize it for class in seventh grade. Tomorrow I have dinner with Victoria at an undisclosed location. I'll let you know how it goes. 

You know you love me. 
XOXO, Gaelic Girl

Body Circuits and Power Ball

Today, I went to the gym. Yes, the gym. I swear! I have a witness. Shayla and I went to a class at eleven today called Boot Camp Core Ball. Turns out that there used to be a total body circuit training class an hour before ours that was cancelled and they decided to combine the two. Good Lord, I nearly passed out after the warmup. I am still in one piece though and Operation Santorini (look good in a bikini) forges onward. We did two one minute stations of lifting or crunches or lunges (w/ weights) and then switched to a minute of cardio workout with sprints or stepping or jumping jacks. This we cycled through about five or six times. AFTER THAT we had to switch to the stability ball!!! Thank goodness our instructor was wonderful - pushy but not demanding. She encouraged us to push ourselves while not being mean or forceful but rather totally understanding and constructive. It ended up being a really good experience even though I was hating it at the time. So glad I had Shayla with me, otherwise I probably would have freaked out at the circuits and left! We are going to another class tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Motivation--->
 No more of this kind of thing                          Because of this

Haha we'll see how long that last dear readers!

You know you love me. 

XOXO, Gaelic Girl

Big Band: Pearly Whites

Got my paper turned in and I went to dinner with Shayla's parents at Soho. Both the food and the company were quite delightful and I had a fabulous time. They are very funny and nice. Thanks again Guernons!! Tuesday night I found out my exam schedule and tried to figure out when my family could come visit. Hopefully everything works out because I'm looking forward to seeing them very much. Last night, Christina, Emily, Julie and I saw a band called the Pearly Whites which covered big band and swing songs. Clearly right up my alley and why I wanted/asked everyone to go. It ended up being a wonderfully fun and upbeat time, so much so that I took videos to share some of my favorite songs for y'all!

For everyone (but mostly me)


For Shayla


For the Cinco (the worst yet best)

AND AFTER THAT AMAZINGNESS.... Here's a few pics (two! haha) from the night. Don't be too jeal, the (unfortunately not very attractive) singer didn't come find me in the bar and plant one on me PS.I LOVE YOU-style.

 

  

You know you love me.

XOXO, Gaelic Girl

PS. I apologize for the offensive signage in the videos. I was not aware until after.

Pssstt....

This is what I expect to greet me on my balcony in Greece.... 

If only dreams came true. 

You know you love me.

XOXO, Gaelic Girl

*I saw this before Perez put it up. I swear.