The carousel in Madrid's Plaza Mayor spins gold under rainbow circle lights for the holidays.
Happy New Year from Madrid, Spain!
What a year it’s been, eh? As December 31, 2011 draws to a close, here are some glittering photos of holiday-decorated Madrid, Spain (as snapped last night), along with a kind of “State of the Union” run-down of statistics from this teaching-traveling website empire for 2011. (As always, click blue-highlighted words for related articles.)
Spain's historic, packed streets are gilded with lights. Walk with me!
2011 IN NUMBERS:
- First-person world travel articles written on AroundTheWorldL.com in 2011: 59
- Global education interviews and opportunities published on TeachingTraveling.com in 2011: 60
Such a passionate, wonderful Flamenco dance show last night!
- 150-person events organized in 2011: 3 (Meet Plan Go Travel Conference 10/2011, Teaching Traveling Night 3/2011, Boston Education Technology Conference 12/2011)
- Students taught in 2011: 300 (150 per school year, not including Study Halls or Homeroom)
- Awards and honors earned: 4 (Teach Plus Education Policy Fellowship, Massachusetts Literacy Champion Award, Boston Teacher Residency Mentor Teacher, Top Travel Blogging Diva of the year)
The lights in the Plaza Mayor look like benevolent UFOs above the gift stalls!
- Free travel tours earned: 4 (Madrid teacher training tour, Boston Movie Sites, Big Dig, Black History)
- Current Twitter Followers for @WorldLillie: 3,005
- Current Facebook Fans for AroundTheWorldL.com: 1,405
- Total pageviews for AroundTheWorldL.com in 2011: 135,204!!!
Glowing balls of light hang through the centuries-old streets of Madrid.
- Turkeys at my Thanksgiving in 2011: 0 (It was a Vegan Thanksgiving!)
- Destinations already planned for 2012: at least 6 (Spain 1/2012, China 2/2012, Greece 4/2012, Arizona 5/2012, Colorado 6/2012, and a mystery Honeymoon destination 7-8/2012!)
- Rating of life satisfaction (10 being the highest), in terms of feeling empowered, fulfilled, contributing, and on a thrilling track: 11!
2012 embraces us with sparkling diamond arms of happiness and anticipation.
So that was 2011. WOWZA. Thanks for being a part of it! I’m so psyched for 2012 and beyond!
Want to see more beautiful European holiday lights? Click here for photos from my New Year’s Eve 2009 in Florence, Italy!
This looks so colorful I feel like I could touch it as if it was near me.
You’ve visited so many places in 2011! Almost everywhere you went was the places I want to go when I get a chance. I really want to go to Spain, since the articles and pictures you posted up was delightful!
If it was all vegetarian, then did you have any stuffing??
Read the article to find out! http://www.aroundtheworldl.com/2011/11/26/my-first-vegan-thanksgiving-was-delicious/
2011 was such a fantastic year for you — congrats on everything you accomplished! I’ll be in China in February, too — how fun.
Thanks so much, and yay! We will be on an ultra-whirlwind 5-day tour around Beijing, but if there’s a chance of us crossing paths, let me know!
Oh, I’m flying in and out of Beijing! I’ll definitely be in the Beijing area on Feb. 3-5 and for parts of the days Feb. 10-11. It would be super cool if our paths crossed, but if not, I hope you have a wonderful time anyway!
We arrive the following week and thus will miss you, but have a wonderful time and be in touch!
I want to go to Bejing!
The lights in Madrid look amazing from the pictures, and I’ve never been on a plane before. 
Oh my. The lights are so bright. They remind me of light pollution in Japan and Taiwan (the two countries with the highest light pollution). The lights look like they are floating, just like UFO’s. There are UFO’s above everyone’s heads then.
I love the light decorations from the pictures. They look so much better than the ones we set up for Christmas.
They’re beautiful, aren’t they??? I think part of what makes them so pretty is that the buildings surrounding them are so historic and graceful!
I saw a lot of great travels planned for 2012. I hope that you travel to all those places.
I will! Stay tuned