My Travels

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Location: Granada, Andulacia, Spain

Monday, February 13, 2006

Madrid Part 2

That afternoon after the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia we went on a walking tour of old Madrid.

Shannon and I in Plaza España in front of the Don Quixote statue.
Iri, Elise, Aimee, and I with a view of the city in the background.
A view of the Cathedral and Palacio Real.
Palacio Real.
Palacio Real again.

La Catedral

Palza Maor.The bear in the middle of Madrid.

On the second night we all consulted our guide books and found a flamenco bar/presentation really close to our hotel. The show was absolutely marvelous. It was really simple but totally authentic. There were two guitar players, two singers, and three dancers. They went on for two hours. They all must have amazing endurance to be able to dance and sing for that long. It would be awesome to be able to dance with that much strength and force. Maybe I’ll work on that…but I think I’m going to start with salsa first!
Flash was not allowed so it was hard to get a good picture!
These are the 7 girls that went. Ashley, Lisa, Lisa, Anne, Kate, Shannon, and I

On the third day we went to a town just outside of Madrid where there is an old palace called El Escorial which is also used as a monastery and a school. The last third of it is used as basically the royal cemetery and all of the coffins are above ground. You have the oddest feeling when walking through there. The one room that is reserved for the actual king and queen is down in a small room below the castle. There are three empty coffins, one for the grandmother of the present day king, and two for his parents, who by the way all died at least 13 years ago. You may ask why they aren’t in the coffins then. Oh well that is because the coffins are too small so they have to wait for their bodies to rot so they can fit them in. So then they showed us the door to the room where the bodies are rotting for the next 40 years. Slightly morbid if you ask me.
Just a slight part of El Escorial.
The view from inside the castle.

But just you wait; the morbid stuff for the day is not over yet. On the way back to Madrid we went to El Valle de los Caídos. There is a huge cross there that was built as a memorial to those who died in the Spanish Civil War. Guess who had it built…oh yeah Franco. Underneath the cross, built into the hill, is a huge church. The church is so huge and full of very eerie looking statues. It was not a very fun place to be in, especially when we were shown the grave of Franco. Then in the next room is their equivalent of the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Another 40,000 coffins of soldiers from both sides in the Civil War also lie here out of sight in the hill. The basilica was built by Republican prisoners of war and it took 16 years to finish, during which several died. It was so disturbing and I couldn’t wait to get out of it. Yet at the same time the cross on the outside is so magnificent.

This is the cross.
And this is Franco´s grave.

That afternoon we had some free time so Shannon, Iri, and I went to the Parque de Retiro which is the largest park in Madrid. It was a nice walk with lots of views. The fun part of that day though was the 7 floor discotheque that we went to that night. It was called Kapital and I don’t think I have ever had that much fun dancing. We stayed out until 5:30 in the am!!! I didn’t take my camera with my but Nik did so I have to get his pictures.

Shannon and I with a cool path in the background.
Amanda, Garette, and Arte started the tradition in Austria so I thought I must continue it. This is for the SHIP!!!
A cool statue that over looks a boat pond.
Doorway in the middle of Madrid.

The next day we went to Toledo. That is an amazing city from the outside. Once you get in it’s not that cool but there are lots of things to see. I think it was just that our tour guide was really boring and wasn’t telling us anything of interest, plus she spoke really softly and in a group of 40 it’s really hard to hear. So needless to say there is not much to tell about Toledo, only great pictures.

Looking at Toledo from the outside.
Five of us who were out late the night before. Shannon, Elise, me, Iri, and Aimee
We found a park in the afternoon and I layed down to rest. We were just looking at the view and singing a little James Blunt.

Day five was Segovia. It was yet another very beautiful, old town in Spain. The aqueducts were breathtaking, as well as the Gothic Cathedral and the Alcázar. However inside the Cathedral seemed a lot smaller then the outside looked. None the less it was incredible.
A group of girls outside of the Alcazar. Erin, Shannon, Emily, Crystal, Ashley, Elise, and myself
Ashley, Shannon , and I on the tower of Alcazar over looking the city of Segovia and the Cathedral.
Margo, Shannon and I outside of the Cathedral.a
Plaza Mayor of Segovia.

The aqueducts.
me in front of the aqueducts.
Goodbye segovia.
That was our last night in Madrid and we went to a jazz bar that was super crowded with young and old alike. All of you who like to go to bed around 10pm or earlier should consider yourselves lucky that you live in the United States, because like I have said numerous times people here don’t go to bed until at least 1am. My mom laughed at us the other night when we said we were going out at 11pm. She said that was way too early and nobody would be out.
So that was Madrid and the surrounding cities. Classes started right when we got back. I’m enjoying them so far. My econ professor is really boring but then again it’s hard to make economics enjoyable. My lit professor on the other hand is awesome. It’s so amazing to be learning about the culture while I am living in it. I definitely consider myself very lucky!

Friday, February 10, 2006

Part 1 of Madrid

So wow…I am really behind on keeping this thing updated. And now there is so much to tell. It’s too bad that I didn’t add a little bit everyday because then I would be golden right now. The main high light of the past couple of weeks was going to Madrid. We had a week off from classes and so our program scheduled a trip for us. I think that it was the best way to experience Madrid because everything was planned out for the most part with a ton of free time as well. And all meals were paid for by the program (which of course just came out of what I already paid)!


-Madrid by night

We went to both the Prado and El Centro de Arte Reina Sofia. I’m not much a museum person but it was really fascinating because before we left for Madrid we had a presentation on all of the different art pieces that we would see in the museums. I must admit that I like the Reina Sofia more than the Prado. It had more modern art and focused on Picasso, Dali, and Miro. I was taken aback by Guernica. Let me just tell you…you can study that painting until you are blue in the face but it will never hit you until you turn the corner and are standing right in front of it. I just stood there for 10 minutes staring at it. Then this cute little group of 4 year olds walked in all holding hands and sat down in front of it. So I decided to check out the rest of the museum, but I definitely went back before I left and studied it for at least another 10 minutes. There are just so many details that one cannot see in the copies. But the rest of the museum was just as enchanting. Dali is such a curious artist. It was fun to find all of the little details throughout his paintings.

This is our rendition of the famous painting behind us!


Me in front of the Prado

This is Goya´s interpretation of the shootings of May 3rd in the Prado.

We couldn´t take pictures inside of the Centro de Reina Sofia so no Picasso or Dali! Sorry.