The Tasker's come to stay!

This week we had Brittany's lovely parents Brian and Meredith stay with us. They came over to spend time with Britt and to travel through Italy, Spain and France and we were lucky enough to have them for a few days.

It was so nice to meet such lovely people, to hear Australian accents and to have a parental influence in our house! We were very excited to meet them and, just like Brittany, they were extremely friendly, funny and easy to get along with.

They left us this morning, which happens to mark only ONE MORE MONTH of classes in Leon. How crazy!!

xoxo

Picos de Leon

This weekend we went on a field trip to the Picos de Leon (the Peaks of Leon) with our school group.

Our first stop was at a beautiful little town called Riaña, which for me couldn’t have come early enough as I wasn’t feeling tip top after the windy roads. Our next stop was to see a beautiful look out point where we could see the mountains and the cloud cover laying in the middle. The peaks were so high that they went straight through the clouds and just kept on going.

Riaña

The weather was glorious and we set off on a 10km hike through some of the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen. There were streams and waterfalls, beautiful lush greenery and gardens and lots of very cute animals, little calves and foals all along the way.

Kristin, Kayleigh and I

 We stopped for lunch part way along and patted some very confident horses that came to say hello. In the afternoon we walked to a beautiful part of the river where the walkway is carved into the side of the cliff and extends for 10km to Asturias. Unfortunately only a month ago it caved in 6km along and has not yet been cleared. After being told that we walked a lot quicker on the way out than the way in!

beautiful walk

Just a slight trickle..

It was a fantastic day and the last day in Spain for my friend Kristin. At the end of the bus ride we presented Kristin with a little card and all got a bit teary but she has had a great time in Spain so it was happy as well as sad.

It got me thinking about when it is my time to say goodbye. I only have 5 weeks left of school, 6 weeks till I see my lovely Mat and 10 weeks until I am back home in Australia. The time has just gone so FAST!

Segovia

On the weekend we took a trip to Segovia, a beautiful town about 3-4 hours from Leon.

Our first stop was the great aqueduct, which was built by the Romans thousands of years ago and still exists just as sturdy as ever today. The aqueduct was built with huge stones and a fair amount of genius - no cement or adhesive was used to keep it all together. 



We then ventured to the Alcazar, a beautiful palace fortress which was one of the buildings that Walt Disney based the Disney castle on. It was the home of the Catholic Monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand in the 15^th century for some time and, of course, was very beautiful.

Alcazar (Disney Castle)

Thrones of Isabella and Ferdinand

 In the afternoon we visited the Palace and Royal Gardens and arrived in time for a fountain show. There are several fountains in the gardens and we moved from one to the next to watch the displays, which only occur every few months. The gardens were extremely beautiful and we got a little wet by one of the fountains that shot a ridiculous amount of water metres and metres up into the air.

Overall it was a lovely day!

Staircase fountain