MADRID!

well, i have officially checked-off another fun and fabulous weekend of traveling. this time, my destination was much closer to home: madrid, spain's wonderful capital city, filled with art and architecture and history. it was a really great trip! here's a breakdown in my usual style, complete with photos and captions (as always)...

thursday:

just two days after returning from italy, i headed out for barcelona with my friend liza. we had train tickets leaving from sevilla at 11:45 am, so we made plans to meet at a bus stop near my house and then walk the rest of the way to the train station (about a 10 minute walk, which is very convenient for me). everything went as planned, and we hopped on the train after grabbing a couple of snacks for the road. the train we rode, called the AVE, is spain's high-speed railway system. the whole system is fairly new (i believe that they are still adding on new destinations, but that it has been running between sevilla and madrid for less than 10 years) and the train cars are very nice. they always play a movie on the train, and they give passengers free headphones (the airline industry should take note!). on our train, they played the american movie "definitely, maybe," but liza and i were too busy mapping out the next two days in madrid to watch the movie. her roommate, who had already traveled to the city, gave us a map and some ideas about good places to go, so we spent the bulk of our 2.5 hour ride planning things out and determining the easiest routes between the train station, our hotel, and the places we wanted to visit.

we arrived in madrid exactly on time (if the AVE arrives more than 2 minutes late to your destination, they complete refund your ticket... another thing that airlines should think about...). the atocha train station in madrid is BIG, like union station in washington d.c., it has shops and restaurants and even a big indoor garden! it was so beautiful and bustling. i really enjoy riding trains--they are such a great way to see the countryside! anyways, after disembarking, we walked to our hotel without getting lost at all (quite an accomplishment for me)! the walk was a good 30 minute walk, but it took us through the heart of the city, and we got to pass through some pretty cool areas, like puerta de toledo (what looks like france's arc d'triomphe). it was beautiful. the weather in madrid was wonderful, too. nice and crisp like a true fall day. i loved breathing the cool air and wearing my warm pea coat. it was so nice!

after we settled into our hotel (which was surprisingly nice and in a fabulous location!), we decided to walk around. we mapped out a route that would take us near the royal palace (only a 5 minute walk), then down calle mayor and past plaza mayor (the most important public square in madrid), through puerta del sol (madrid's version of times square), and over to the parque de buen retiro. the walk was really pleasant, and i loved having the chance to rediscover madrid at a leisurely pace. the streets were filled with people and lots of cool buildings. we passed through the plaza de cibeles, which has a famous fountain that was so beautiful! the park was wonderful as well. the flowers will still in bloom and the trees were changing colors. i hadn't visited the park for a long time, but it surprised me how well i remembered it! it was absolutely beautiful, and we had a great time exploring. we even ended up behind the prado museum, hanging out in the prado's gardens! it was pretty wonderful. of course, i took a million pictures and i'll make sure that the best ones make it on here.

as the sun began to set, liza and i decided to make our way back to the hotel. we didn't really care to wander around madrid's streets with just the two of us too much after dark, so we had an early evening. on our way home, however, we caught the sunset right as it went over the hills, illuminating the city with indescribable shades of fluffy pink, electric orange, and lavender. it was unbelievable. we watched it set over the royal palace and across an entire side of the city. wow. definitely picked the right time to head home! back at the hotel, we both took turns taking a hot bath (yes, that's right! our hotel had a BATHTUB that was the length of a normal person! it also had a pretty good hot water system... i was in heaven!). it was nice to spend the evening lazing around and relaxing. i think that liza and i were both pretty tired. she had gone on the italy adventure with me, and we really didn't have time to fully recuperate before heading to madrid, so it was nice to relax and sleep and just take it easy for a little while.

welcome to madrid! the one city in spain that actually has directional signage--how convenient!


very cool church located just down the street from our first hotel.


me and said cool church!


another cool building on our walk around the city!


me in a plaza (how terrible is it that i can´t actually remember the name?). madrid´s historice ayuntamiento (town hall) is on the right.


hanging out in plaza mayor! check out this building´s really cool painted facade!


ham museum anyone? the spainards sure do love their ham!


hanging out in puerta del sol! i remember this place being a lot prettier, but it also wasn´t all torn up with construction projects...


just a regular old building on calle mayor!


cool puerta in the middle of a madrid round-about.


the gorgeous flowers in parque de buen retiro! it´s hard to believe that it is november and the flowers are still in bloom!


sidewalk in parque de buen retiro... perfect for wandering and getting slightly lost.


another look at the blossoms...


the lake inside the park... i already warned kevin that i´m going to make him row me around the lake in one of the rentable row boats!


i do love parks!


this empty statue pedestal was just BEGGING for me to use it!


a look at the back of the museo del prado... it connects with the park.


evening sunset on the royal palace chapel...


another cool picture... look at the colors in the sky!


one last sunset picture... in this one, you can see the western end of madrid...

friday:

friday morning, we woke up in time to get ready and prepare ourselves to travel to toledo, a nearby town with an amazing history and cathedral. we had made plans to meet up with a few more girls from the center, and we spent a good part of the morning waiting on their call. we finally made contact and outlined a plan for meeting up in the train station around 11:15 am. liza and i decided to head over to the station, as we still needed to buy our tickets and didn't want to miss the 12:20 train. we got there around 11:45, and, after standing in line for several minutes, bought our train tickets to toledo. unfortunately, the other girls didn't make it early enough, and the tickets were sold out by the time they reached atocha. it was a bummer that we all didn't get to go exploring together, but i think they were happy to have the extra day in madrid, and liza and i were happy to have the opportunity to go to toledo. the AVE train to toledo only takes about 30 minutes--pretty fast compared to the 2 hour bus ride! we arrived around 1:00 pm and spent a couple of minutes trying to get oriented. we didn't have a map, and i was too stubborn to buy a map from the train gift shop--i had other plans for my money! fortunately, toledo isn't very big, and it's most important buildings are located on top of the hill, making it pretty easy to find your way around.

we hiked up the hill (and yes, it was hike!) and wandered over to the alcazar, a palace overlooking the entire valley. after wandering around the alcazar, we realized that it was closed for renovations! we were bummed that we couldn't go in. instead, we headed towards the center of the town. plaza zocodovar (i think that's what it is called) is a big plaza in the middle of the town and it's filled with shops and street performers. toledo has some beautiful artisan crafts, including some sort of craft where they use gold and silver threads to create designs on a black background, making jewelry, decorative plates, fancy scissors (i know, seriously? who needs gold filigree scissors?), and just about everything imaginable. toledo also has a famous sword making industry, and i definitely saw some pretty impressive swords! some were taller than i am--which is pretty huge! i couldn't believe all of the details and different types of swords they had in stock. it was pretty mind-blowing. needless to say, liza and i spent some time shopping and taking everything in. i was pretty happy, because i found a beautiful majorca pearl necklace for a really good price, and i've been looking for those in sevilla too!

after grabbing a quick bite to eat, we headed over to toledo's legendary cathedral. all i can say is: wow. they didn't allow any pictures to be taken inside the cathedral, so i'm going to do a google search and see if i can find some good pictures because the cathedral is just so impressive. it has a huge organ and a gorgeous main chapel with a giant facade covered in gold. it has several side chapels with incredibly paintings on the ceilings, honoring saints or biblical figures. the back end of the cathedral has the most incredible plaster facade climbing the entire length of the building. it reaches the very top and includes a giant skylight, letting in natural sunlight from heaven, which somehow makes it look even more magical and holy. in one of the side rooms, an entire collection of treasure--including massive altar decorations, crowns, everything--made out of pure gold and inlaid with beautiful precious stones. another room has a huge collection of ancient priestly garments, including the hats and capes worn by important religious figures from the 15th century! it was amazing to see the hand-embroidered work complete with gold and silver thread. wow. everything about the cathedral was immensely impressive, and every time i turned a corner, i found something more wonderful and beautiful than the corner before. it was impressive.

the rest of our time in toledo was very relaxed. liza and i wandered the tight medieval streets, stopping in local shops and basically taking in the sights and getting lost. it was such a lovely and relaxing afternoon. finally, we headed back down to the train station to catch our 7:30 train. the train ride was nice and short, and we made our way back to our hotel for another relaxing night in. it was pretty fun, because we found some american t.v. shows and i ended up watching an episode of ''gilmore girls.'' i can definitely say that the show is much funnier (and easier to follow) in english!

a look at the ''new'' city of toledo from the ''old'' city, which sits atop a hill.


another look at the old city...


chillin with a statue of cervantes (spain´s favorite writer) in the plaza de cervantes in toledo.


plaza de zocodovar in the heart of old toledo.


spanish knight in shining armor!


one of the towers of toledo´s magnificent cathedral. wow!


me and the entrance to the cathedral... too bad i couldn´t take pictures of the inside!


another facade of the cathedral...


a look at the real alcázar and the old city from the bottom of the hill...

saturday:

liza and i woke up fairly early saturday morning in order to gather our things and check out of the hotel. we were meeting up with the rest of the students on the art history trip at 10:30 am, and we had to make our way back through puerta del sol to the hotel. it was so funny walking along the streets at 9:30 am. everything was still closed, and there weren´t very many people out. such a difference from the u.s., where the day starts by 9:00 (at least, in most places) and people are out and about on their way to work. we made it to the hotel without a hitch, and we ran next door to grab some breakfast at starbucks (it was too tempting to resist!). the breakfast was good! i had a really wonderful blueberry muffin that was so tasty. they definitely don´t have muffins here in spain, at least, they only have them in touristy destinations, and i´ve missed normal breakfast foods! liza and i sat in the hotel lobby, munching our breakfast and waiting for the others. we finally got all checked-in and, after dropping our stuff off in the rooms, we met up again downstairs to head out to the prado museum! the walk to the prado was beautiful (the exact same walk liza and i took on thursday). the museum is in a beautiful part of town and the streets were lined by tall trees. it was nice.

the museo del prado is arguably spain´s most important art museum. it holds classical art and features a grand collection of spain´s most influential classical artists: velasquez, goya, and el greco. with our art history professor, we made a quick sweep through the museum, learning about the paintings and the artists, their style, inspiration, and symbolism behind the painting. it was pretty fabulous. i loved looking at all of the different art and i especially loved knowing the insider information about the painting. i can´t wait to play tour guide in two weeks (that´s right! only two weeks!) when my parents and kevin come to visit. they are going to learn a LOT about spanish art! after the guided part of our visit ended, i spent about two hours wandering through the rest of the exhibits, taking it all in. finally, i headed out with a group of girls to grab some lunch and relax for a while back at the hotel. we stopped a local sandwich shop, and it was quite tasty. after relaxing for a short while, we met up with the rest of the group and headed over to the reina sofia museum. the reina sofia museum is completely different from el prado. it houses a modern art collection, featuring the works of salvador dalí, joan miró, and pablo picasso. whereas the prado has artwork as most people appreciate it, the reina sofia has some pretty bizarre paintings. it was interesting to compare these two museums and their collections in the same day. the reina sofia houses picasso´s most important and famous work: la guernica. la guernica depicts the bombing of a small city (guernica) in northern spain during the spanish civil war. it´s an incredibly powerful piece, because it was the first time that a bombing of this sort took place in the world. the town and its people (largely civilians) were completely massacred and destroyed. like i said, it´s very powerful to see picasso´s representation of that terrible event.

after the reina sofia, we headed back towards the hotel and then a group of us went out to puerta del sol in order to explore and shop. puerta del sol is madrid´s version (albeit a small, less flashy one) of new york´s time square. it has some pretty good shopping, and lots of interesting things to see. we wandered around for about an hour, listening to street musicians and window shopping. afterwards, we met up with even more people and headed out to a chinese restaurant right around the corner from the hotel. it was so GOOD! i have been missing different food lately. spanish food is all very much the same. it tastes the same, uses the same ingredients and is pretty boring. it was so nice to eat something with some spice (i got a noodle dish smothered in thai chili sauce) and some different ingredients. i enjoyed the meal so much, and it was great to hang out and eat with a good group of friends. after dinner, which didn´t end until 11:30 and was followed by a trip to starbucks for some dessert cheesecake (soooo good!), we headed back to the hotel and turned in for the night. we were all pretty exhausted physically and mentally from our museum visits.

a statue of goya in the museo del prado garden...


waiting to get in the prado... this is the whole group of travelers minus the one male (taking the picture) and our professor...


museo del prado!!! sorry that there aren´t more pictures, but they don´t allow you to take them inside the museum!

sunday:

sunday morning arrived too early. we woke up, packed our stuff, and left our bags at reception while we ate a hearty breakfast. it was so nice to have cereal and eggs! i haven´t had scramble eggs since i was last in the united states, and i miss breakfast food so much! we enjoyed our free hotel breakfast and then we headed out to visit the royal palace! the royal palace was so incredibly cool! i couldn´t take picture inside the palace (stupid rules), but every room was beautiful and impressive and incredibly ornate. about 5% of the palace is open to visitors because the palace has over 3000 rooms--yikes! it is no longer the royal residence of the king and queen, but they still use it for matters of state. it´s incredibly impressive, with hand-embroidered silks decorating every wall and all of the furniture hand-made from the finest workshops all over the world. wow. pretty cool. i have officially decided that if nothing in my life works out, i am going to become the royal queen of spain, and i will enjoy living in that huge and marvelous palace. that´s good news for everyone else, too, because there is definitely enough room for visitors.

after the palace, we wandered around for while. sunday was the celebration day of madrid´s patron saint, and the streets were filled with women and men in traditional dress, carrying flowers to honor the virgin. we walked over to plaza mayor, and the royal guard was there, riding their horses around and everything! the plaza had been converted into a giant mass service, complete with a choir, priest, and TONS of people! it was so incredibly packed that we decided not to hang out for too long. we walked along some narrow streets, stopping to window shop (and actually shop). it was nice and leisurely. eventually, we made our way back to the hotel for lunch, where they served us HUGE hunks of chicken and some really tasty ice cream (among other things, really...). after lunch, we headed over to the museo de thyseen, which is another important museum in madrid. the museum holds a private art collection from the (now deceased) german baron thyssen and his second wife (a spanish woman named carmen). carmen convinced her husband to move his entire collection to spain and put it on display. it was so popular, that he just decided to leave it there permanently. it is a pretty amazing collection of art, spanning from the gothic period all the way through modern and contemporary paintings. i enjoyed the works of rembrandt, goya, monet, renoir, chagall (my personal favorite), kadinsky, picasso, miro, and even andy warhol. it was such an eye full! i had such a good time looking around! after the museum, we walked back to the hotel, grabbed our bags, and hopped a cab to the train station. the train ride was calm and quiet, and i arrived in sevilla in time for a late dinner (10:30 pm) and bed!

madrid´s famous symbol--el oso y el árbol--in puerta del sol.


hanging out outside the royal palace entrance.


me in the palace courtyard looking over the gardens and the view of the city.


biiig palace!


another look across the courtyard...


the royal chapel, with a huge crowd of people honoring the virgen.


the gate in front of the church...


royal guard!!!


me hanging out with a buddy... i just thought this statue was funny!


women rocking the traditional dress in plaza mayor.


oh my goodness! look at all the people!


the front of the thyssen museum... not very exciting, sorry!

the past few days in sevilla have been pretty boring. i´ve officially realized that i only have five weeks left in spain, and i´ve begun to work towards making plans for my return home (such as applying for jobsand graduate school) as well as working on my big homework projects due at the end of this semester--yikes! i can´t believe how fast time is flying! in 11 days, my parents and kevin will be here, which is incredibly exciting! i can´t wait to see them... tomorrow, i´m headed over to sevilla´s archeological museum and possibly out to sevilla´s european film festival. friday, i´m visiting the casa de pilatos (very similar to the casa de lebrija) with the school, and the rest of the day will be dedicated to shopping! i have a lot of things i need to purchase before i head home, and i´d like to send some stuff with my parents (sorry guys!). saturday is another trip. this time, i´m headed over to granada, home of the alhambra and other architectural wonders. this trip is a short one--saturday through sunday--and it´s been really nice to spend some time at home, catching up on sleep and just relaxing a little bit.

now i´m headed off to study for my midterm that´s tonight at 7:30... wish me luck!