FAVORITES from Brussels

Below are some of my favorite photos taken while I was in Brussels, Belgium.

A covered alleyway just off the main street...

within the Grand Plaza...

Er, cake please...

Me, Mom, Dad...

Belgium -- churches

The church/buildings shown in the photo above were really interesting to walk by. Mom and Dad read about it in their book earlier in the day and told me the story behind these storefronts built against the entire side of the church. -- Apparently, the people that gave money to help build the church were then able to have a shop here... and they still exist today. (I think that's pretty much how it goes...) I've never seen a church like this before - and almost missed it walking right by! Very cool.

Our last morning in Brussels, I took a walk with Mom and Dad through a different part of the city. I enjoyed it. We went by this great church... I really like the reading statue shown two photos below... :P

Beautiful stained glass inside the church!

Then a nice guy took some photos of the three of us  : )

arriving in MADRID, SPAIN

After the MAIS Conference in Seville, I took the lovely Ave train to Madrid. (Seriously, the train was beautiful and I wish there could be that much room and cleanliness on planes!)

The trip to Madrid was actually the main reason I even went to the conference in Seville. I was going to meet with the Librarian at the American School of Madrid and spend a day with her at school, learning about a new (well, for me - new) resource: LibGuides.

I arrived to the hostel early afternoon and was happy to find that, like the website said, it was right on the main street of the city - Gran Via. After dropping my things in the room, I went for a walk... my goal was to find the palace and the cathedral - thankfully, the walk was successful!

The Plaza de Espana was the first major 'site' I saw beyond Gran Via's shops and restaurants.

The main monument within the plaza is of Miguel de Cervantes - a novelist, poet, and playwright, alive during the mid-1500's to early 1600's. 

I walked through the Sabotini Gardens on my way to the palace and cathedral.

Below is the view of the palace from these gardens (...probably considered the 'back' of the palace):

Sunday Palace Posing:

The front of the Royal Palace / Il Palacio Real de Madrid

The cathedral is just to the left when looking at the photo below. I was there on a Sunday and it was a city holiday... something big was going on with the flower donations ahead...

The top of the Almudena Cathedral (which sits facing the royal palace):

Seville, Spain - day 1

About a week ago I went to Seville, Spain for a conference. The Mediterranean Association of International Schools (MAIS) held its annual conference in lovely Seville and it was a pleasure attending the conference and mixing in time to explore the city.

Below are some photos from a walking tour that was offered after the day's workshop sessions... and then my own walking adventures a bit later on:

I really love the colors and tiling throughout the city!

The Seville Cathedral was absolutely stunning. Wow. It is gothic and has so many pieces and details to the building... I stood staring for quite some time.

Standing to take this next photo, I was just in front of the Royal Alcazar... a royal palace.

A really pretty roundabout at the perfect time of night...

I walked back to the hotel through a park, which was currently having an international festival... goods and foods from around the world lined a number of aisles of tents and tables. I had a deeeelicious gyro for dinner from here! The special entrance for the festival is shown below:

Amalfi, Italy!

From Positano, we hopped back on the public bus and continued the coastal ride to the town of Amalfi. If we had planned to stay a night or two along the Amalfi Coast, I would definitely choose to stay in Positano over Amalfi - but it was a cute town to walk around.

The Amalfi Cathedral is really cool. The cathedral kind of pops out from around a corner once you walk into the central square... and then you walk a bit more until you see the entire front and the details. I loved the dramatic effect and unveiling from the direction that we happened to walk in from.

The buildings around the square where we ate lunch:

Amalfi's Cathedral:

Fish market:

We stopped in a cute bakery/cafe for cappuccinos... 

Which, come to find out when we paid, were triple the cost of anywhere else we've seen in Italy!

Positano's church

The church in Positano really stands out among the landscape... set among the many colorful buildings of the main part of town... the church has a gorgeous (and colorfully patterned!) dome top and the building itself is yellow. I really love it!

Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta

Sorrento's churches

Walking through Sorrento, small churches seemed to pop up randomly, set between stores and on small alleys. Walking inside the doorways, the churches held such beauty and history:

on the floor:

The plastic chairs just don't seem to fit in this space but I love it:

Boards throughout Sorrento can be found outside churches, 

advertising those that have recently passed on:

One of the bigger churches:

Down by the coast...

(I love the bright blue circular window!)

those circular church windows, Barcelona

Oh... just another church with another gorgeously huge circular window on the front:

The other one seen the same day, within walking distance in the amazing city of Barcelona -->

more from the tour... Barcelona

Another piece of the tour... the circular windows were gorgeous on the churches throughout the city.

And across the way...

(Barcelona's flag was prevalent throughout the city.)