Maaaadddrrriiiddd!

So I just got back from my spring break trip to Germany and the Czech Republic...but I had already started this blog about my time in Madrid before I left, so that blog will have to wait ;)

Madrid Day 1: 

I took the high speed train to Madrid with two of my friends, Beth and Nick. In bus it takes 6 hours to get to Madrid, in high speed train it only takes 2 ½! I was at first not terribly excited to visit Madrid, because I had heard from many Spaniards that it was nothing special; just a more modern, larger city. Upon arriving I was immediately shown otherwise. Yes, it was a large city, but it had a unique atmosphere of the old mixed with the new. There were tall (for Spain), modern buildings with flashy advertisements for a large variety of musicals and theater shows, but there were also old churches, beautiful architecture, and a huge, beautiful palace.

 We started off walking to two of the most popular plazas in Madrid, Plaza del Sol and Plaza Mayor. There we found a bunch of random characters walking around for a picture….que interesante…

At least this guy was more cute than creepy!

The symbol of Madrid 

Oh and for those who have seen “The Hole” advertisements in Spain…here it is!

After saying, “Adios” to the creepy characters we headed off to the cathedral. The cathedral was HUGE! And a totally different style than the one in Sevilla. It was more modern looking (and in my opinion not as cool as the one in Sevilla!)

Those are some pretty big doors!

The ceilings were neat with all of the bright colors!

After visiting the Cathedral and its crypts underneath, we went to the Palacio Real, the official residence of the royal family of Spain. These days they live in another palace outside of Madrid and only use this palace for ceremonies. 

It was absolutely beautiful! Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take photos inside. Each room was decorated in such detail, with fabrics of different colors and patterns covering the ceilings and walls. My one friend and I enjoyed stopping and analyzing every little stitch on the wall or treasure on the table, so we spent a good amount of time there!

Because we just can’t get enough of churches in Spain, we decided to visit the basilica of Madrid. We arrived just in time for a free tour…que suerte! The tour guide was amazingly easy to understand, because of his lack of Andalusian accent. Whenever I hear a Spanish speaker from another part in the world I realize how hard the Andalusian accent is to understand! At least this means if I can understand the accent in Sevilla I can understand anything!

The basilica looked very plain and boring on the outside, but on the inside it was bellísima! 

One interesting fact I learned was that the seats in the choir could fold down as chairs, but then fold up as be small little seats so the clergy or choir could sit down while appearing like they are standing. Because no one could ever see the small seat, because they would be blocking it with their body, crude or weird images were carved on them…weird hunh? Now I always look at the choir seats when I visit a church in Europe!

The next part of our adventure was probably my favorite part…an actual Egyptian Temple! You are probably wondering how this can be possible…an Egyptian temple in Spain?? Well, apparently one day Egypt was just like, “Hey Spain do you want a temple? You are pretty cool and we can’t take care of it very easily.” So there it now stands!

I thought it was the coolest thing ever, because when will I ever get a chance to actually visit Egypt? Probably never, so this was my one chance to see some actual Egyptian work!

Hieroglyphics! 

A belly crawl tunnel for Link! (Sorry, Zelda reference)

We then walked to Plaza de España to view this famous statue of Don Quijote and Sancho Panza! I am taking a class about the novel, so I just had to get a pic!

Now we decided to see the more modern-looking street of Madrid, Gran Via. There were so many theaters and shows, it was so exciting! I wanted to see Lion King, but no one else wanted to join me :/

Toledo

The next day we took a train with two of our other friends, Evan and Grace, to Toledo, a city outside of Madrid. Toledo was incredible....pretty much a huge renascence fair!

Toledo is in the area of Spain where the famous novel, Don Quijote, took place. There were so many statues of him around and I tried to get pics with as many as I could!

This is the only pic with my big ole hat...don't laugh!

One of the biggest attractions there was its huge Cathedral, this is Spain…of course it is! It was again huge and took us awhile to conquer!

Next we expanded our horizons and visited two different synagogues. In one of these synagogues there was a small museum and I learned that there are only three synagogues in Spain…two in Toledo and one in Cordoba. I had visited them all! The style of the synagogues were definitely different than the churches. They were much more plain and small. The lack of a ton of large, fancy synagogues was mainly due to the prosecution they received throughout history in Spain. 

We then visited the house of El Greco, a very famous Spanish artist who lived in the 1600's. His house had a display of some of his famous works. I knew nothing about him before, so it was very interesting to learn about his life and inspirations!

We then ended the day walking around the medieval streets, shopping around, and eating Marzapan! (A dessert in Toledo that tasted like cookie dough!)

Madrid Day 2:

The next day in Madrid we started the day visiting the famous national art museum, El Prado. It was HUGE! It had art from the 12th through the 19th century, but unfortunately the majority of paintings we saw were religious...which were full of dark colors and repeated images.. There are only so many things you can paint to represent Jesus and Virgin Mary, so after the tenth room it got a little old..

We then decided to finish the day in the large central park of Madrid, El Retiro. This was a hoot! There was a pond with a huge monument, a bunch of street performers, nature paths, and a building made entirely of glass with an art exhibit inside! What a good end to the weekend :)

The Royal Triumphal Arch by the park

The pond and monument in the park!

House of glass!

The End is Near!

I am dreading the end of the program, but sadly I only have one and a half weeks left and then I am done :( Sevilla has been so good to me I don’t want to llleeeaaavvveee! To try to make myself feel better I have thought about the things I am looking forward to experiencing once I am back in the good ole US of A.

1.     My boyfriend

2.     My family and friends

3.     NATURE! I am not meant for city life.

4.      Certain foods like peanut butter, fruit parfaits, chocolate milk, and a delicious American cook-out

5.     Internet access….I hate to sound high maintenance, but trying to do homework or traveling in an unfamiliar city without the guaranteed access of internet has made my life more difficult than it should  

6.     Clean bathrooms in public places

7.     Being able to wear shorts or a sun hat without having everyone stare at me like I am crazy

8.     Being able to choose how much I eat and when I eat. I absolutely love getting meals made for me all of the time, but I am ready to be an adult again and be able to choose what goes into my body and when!

But then I start thinking about everything I am going to miss about Sevilla...

1.     My awesome new friends I have made

2.     The love and care of my goofy host family

3.     Speaking and hearing Spanish every day….it is such a beautiful language!

4.     The awesome food here like queso manchego, espinachas con garbanzos, croquetas, churros, pisto, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, fresh bread, fresh everything!!

5.     Not having each day consist of studying, eating, sleeping, studying, eating, sleeping, studying, eating, sleeping like at Madison

6.     The slowness of time here and the importance of relaxation and enjoying the small things in life

7.     Being two seconds away from the super market or the pharmacy….upside of living in a city!

8.     Traveling and exploring the world almost every weekend :)

9.     Meeting people from all over the world and learning about a wide range of cultures and opinions

10. Los niños graciosos at the school that I volunteer at

11. Being in a city with hundreds of years of history and culture which makes me and los Sevillanos proud to call it home. I never run out of things to do here!

Dang I am going to miss Spain! It went by too fast. I guess I will have to find little ways to bring Spain home with me :)