Being a Tourist

Being a tourist is great. You get the fun of experiencing a new place without the commitment of packing up your belongings, moving there, and adjusting to culture shock. :) But even when you do pack up your belongings (or watch someone else do it) and move to a foreign country, you do - on occasion - get to be a tourist there as well.

Such has been our life for the past couple of weeks. Not that Brendan's taken a vacation from work...that's coming later this year...but we have still had our share of touring around Hong Kong and Madrid.

Here's what we've been up to...

{Visiting (but not worshipping :)) the Giant Buddha on Lantau Island in Hong Kong.}

{Brendan's sister, Erin, visited us in Hong Kong. Here they are with Mini Kinne riding the cable car up to see the Giant Buddha.}

{The cable cars disappearing into the fog.}

{Erin, Charlotte, and I went up to the Peak for some spectacular views of Hong Kong!}

{Back in Madrid...This past Saturday, Madrid was celebrating the re-opening of Calle Serrano, a main street & central area in the city. We had a great time enjoying all the festivities!}

{Pictures chronicling the history of Calle Serrano}

 {After walking down Serrano and visiting Parque Retiro, we hopped on a Metro over to the Palace to play in the playground nearby.}

{Ahhh, see the Palace in the background...isn't that great?!}

I had a couple other favorite photos lined up, but Blogger's photo downloading feature has changed and finds it necessary to turn my vertically-oriented photos horizontal. Ugh! :) Check out our Flickr photos for more pictures of our recent wanderings.

You might also be able to tell by our clothing, but the weather has been BEAUTIFUL here in Madrid! I've always wanted to experience fall in September and am finally getting to do so. It's my favorite time of year and while we're not seeing any fall foliage or spending Saturdays watching college football, the weather is making for a great Fall!

We also had the chance to meet up with some fellow tourists...these were REAL tourists though :)...who were traveling around Europe via Ryan Air's cheap-cheap tickets. My cousin, Ronnie, ran into my grandmother at a family function back in Texas and found out that I'm living here in Madrid. So, while he and his friend, Al, were here in the city, we met up with them for a little touring. It sure was great to meet/re-connect with distant family and chat with people from our "neck of the woods"!

This weekend should be another beautiful one, so we're planning to load up Charlotte's diaper bag with plenty of snacks and diapers (duh!) and explore more of Madrid. I'll report back next week with our adventures!