Mom, This one's for you!

What a beautiful view in San Sebastian

This post is a long overdue shout-out to the biggest reason that I am here.  The reason that I am able to go out on my own, have confidence in my decisions, be brave, have enthusiasm for life, and live life adventurously, are all thanks to my mom.  She is always supporting me, loving me, and reassuring me that things will turn out alright.  I literally have the strongest and best mom anyone could ever ask for! So I am even more blessed that she was able to come visit me here!! For two weeks in the end of October, I got to spend the most amazing time with my favorite person in the whole world! How lucky am I?! I must say, sometimes it's easy to go through life unaware of how vulnerable you are, but then a hug from your mom makes you realize, you'll always be a vulnerable little kid who could always use a big hug from no one else but your mom!!

In front of the Guggenheim.

She arrived on a Thursday after two flight delays and changes, bless her heart! Traveling can be not so enjoyable, but I have learned it's mostly unreliable! Also unreliable can be the Bilbao weather. It rained, like pouring rain almost the whole time we had free. Good thing we had our umbrellas!  Our original plan to rent a car and tour the eastern Spanish countryside was quickly changed due to the weather & flight delays. Oh well, we weren't going to let it bring us down! Off to San Sebastian we went.

Waiting for the bus!

Jellyfish! I shall call you squishy!

It was also raining in San Sebastian, but that's just a good reason to snuggle under an umbrella, as we walked through the streets of the Parte Vieja (Old part of San Sebastian).  We had crepes (YUM) and dabbled in some shopping.  The rain finally let up at night so we had a beautiful walk back to the hotel along the beach. San Sebastian is just as beautiful at night! The next morning, still raining, pretty heavy, so we decided the Aquarium was our best option.  They have a fantastic aquarium with tons of cool fish and exhibits. The star fish were fantastic, the seahorses were silly, and the sharks looked hungry! It was a great way to spend the time.  Then we returned to Bilbao, still raining, but I had class on Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday.  

 

The next Wednesday, we departed for an amazing weekend in Frankfurt, Germany & Paris, France. Talk about exciting!

I love Germany! It was one of my favorite places I have been so far.  The food is delicious, the landscape is gorgeous, and the people are so nice! Well, except for the taxi driver we met when we arrived at the airport.  Haha Mom had just finished telling me how people were much nicer in Germany than in Spain, and the cab we get into the driver starts cursing & hitting his steering wheel, because our hotel wasn't very far away.  Haha The next morning we weren't sure what to do, I was feeling a little sick and Mom too, but luckily we talked with the front desk and signed up for a fun filled day of the Rhine River Tour. 

The tour was so much fun! It was about an hour bus ride to get to this beautiful town where we rode a "ski lift" type thing down the side of the mountain into the town.  Our bus driver was hilarious and his constant jokes were very entertaining.  We came at the perfect time, it was cold but not too cold, and peaceful, because all of the other tourists were gone for the season.  The leaves were changing colors and it was so quiet you could hear them hit the ground as they fell.  

                                      

When we reached the bottom we had lunch, amazing roast chicken & potatoes with hot tea, and apple strudel for dessert of course.  We met two very fun couples, one from Australia and another from South Africa but are living in Australia.  It was so much fun to get to exchange stories and learn about their lives!

After lunch we boarded a large boat and began our cruise on the Rhine River. The castles were beautiful! We saw about 10 different ones I think, and some of them are hotels! I know where I'm staying next time ;) lol They were surrounded by the beautiful colors of fall.  It was a little chilly, but a bit of sun came out and it was a beautiful day.

The whole ride was gorgeous and the towns we saw were fantastic. There were a lot of grapes growing in lines which made for some beautiful sights as well. There is a certain grape that is picked right after the first freeze of the season, which makes Ischwein(spelling?, sounds like Ice Wine, when you say it).  It is considered a very high quality and expensive wine. And it's pretty yummy! We were able to have a wine tasting in the restaurant where we had lunch after the boat tour.  Our last stop on the boat tour though was past the Loreley rock, which is the deepest part of the river, where many boats have been lost and sailors lost their lives.  The legend says that beautiful Loreley sits upon the rock and combs her golden hair, and her golden hair distracts the sailors & leads to their death.  However, our tour guide claimed that it's not her hair that distracts them, but the fact that she's not wearing anything. I suspected the same. ;)

Loreley Rock

We ended the day with wine tasting and had dinner in Sachenhausen (Sorry German spelling isn't my thing) a part of Frankfurt our tour guide had recommended.  I had some amazing Schnitzel in green sauce with potatoes, and Mom had the classic Frankfurter sausage.  Of course, we ended with more apple strudel!

Our last day in Germany we went to see Wiesbaden, where Mom used to live! It was so cool to see the area where she used to live, I'm sure she had many memories come back to her. I'm glad we were able to make it happen, despite the rain and cold weather.  After some souvenir shopping, we had to catch the train to Paris, which had been changed & complicated! Good news is we figured it out, despite our lack of German language, and made it safely to a very different, very hectic, Paris, France!

Paris is a great city, but didn't compare much to peaceful Germany.  Paris was colder, louder, busier, noisier, chaotic, and dirty. Haha, but that doesn't mean that we didn't have a fantastic time together.  I managed to navigate the metro system (BOOM!). We first visited number one on my list, the Paris Opera Garnier.  You may recognize it from the best movie ever, Phantom of the Opera.  I love this building, it is gorgeous inside & out! I felt like the phantom was gonna creep out from a dark shadow, if it was Gerard Butler, I wouldn't have minded! ;)

Every which way you look there is ornate gorgeous molding and detail.  The tour guide was quite hilarious too so it was a fun tour.  Luckily we got to see the gorgeous auditorium, my favorite part, in addition to the grand staircase, and well everything else.  It was such a dream to go!

 

 

After lunch, it was time to head to the 3rd happiest place on earth, Disneyland Paris!! I have officially been to every Disney in the world, which is pretty cool! Disneyland Paris is celebrating their 20th anniversary this year, and hey I'm 20 too! What a great year, 1992 was ;) Disney here is much smaller than in the United States so it was easy to get around.  It was very busy though, and still cold! We didn't ride too many of the rides, just Space Mountain, which is a lot more intense here, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Wars, and a few others.  We almost missed one of our fast pass times because we got stuck in a parade! It was crazy. haha It was so fun to see Disney decorated up for Halloween, with pumpkins & decorations everywhere. 

It was a dream come true, being in Disneyland Paris with my mom!

It was a long day and our feet were so tired!! We wanted to see the Eiffel Tour at night, but didn't walk all the way in front of it.  Just made it as far as we could from our metro stop and decided that it was good enough.  It was too cold to go too far! It is really pretty when it is lit up at night!

The next day we spent the morning around Notre Dame Cathedral.  I waited several freezing hours in line to climb to the top of the bell tower.  It was a beautiful view of Paris and I loved the gargoyles.  I was disappointed that there was only one large bell we could see in the top.  That's not how it was in the Hunchback? lol But Notre Dame is gorgeous! So glad we were able to see it.  Mom was able to go inside and attend church and said it was beautiful inside as well. 

        Gorgeous!! 









After our flight back to Bilbao, I had midterms to do the next day! Busy school days ended in quality time spent with my mom enjoying the last few nights in Bilbao.  I am so glad that she was able to visit me and I was able to share my experience with her.  Her visit came at just the right time and it gave me the strength to continue on in this crazy adventure here.  I took her to the airport and said see ya later.  I'm very excited for Christmas when I get to see her again!

Mom & I on a mountain overlooking Bilbao.

And I'm sure you're reading this Mom, or I hope you are. So thank you for everything you do for me every day.  You know I couldn't do it without you! You're the best mom and friend I could ever have, and I don't know what I would do without a light like you in my life!! I am thankful and reminded every day of how wonderful you are to me. When I count my blessings, I am especially thankful that you have a wish for me to get the best out of life, and help me do whatever possible to make it happen.  Thank you always, I LOVE YOU!! <3