Madrid!

Querida mis amigas y mi familia,

Lo siento que no hube escrito muy reciente. (I’m sorry that I have not written very recently) (I think). So on the weekend of February 26-28, I went to Madrid. Madrid was a pretty cool city, it reminded me a lot of Nuevo York. It was also a lot more expensive than Granada.

I got to walk around on some grass and I saw some fairly awesome parks (and la significa de parque es un lugar con estatos y Fuentes – the meaning of park is a place with statues and fountains. That may not be what I wrote in Spanish, I’m have problems with my spelling (ortagraphia?) On Saturday when we had free time I went walking with my friend Katy and we walked through this place that had a bunch of fountains and some maze like bushes (that reminded of a labyrinth actually) and then we went up some other steps and got to another plaza. In this one we were able to look out and get see a really good view of the cityscape of Madrid and there were all these statues of famous people in history. Then we saw the Palacio Real, which was cool, but we didn’t go in because we knew would go on Sunday with our group.

So when if you ever in Spain, the thing to do for lunch is to get the Menu del Dia. (menu of the day), and it for ever how much it costs, you get 3 courses. You’ll get a salad or soup, then the main course (we got steak and French fry like potatoes) and then a desert (we got ice cream). It also comes with a drink and bread (but bread is like the staple food here, you eat it with everything and at every meal- seriously EVERY meal. I get bread for breakfast, at lunch, at dinner, for snacks….) But the Menu del Dia is awesome.

So after my minature rant on food- which I mean, its important to me. I’m also hungry right now, so I might be more focused on it than normal.

ART MUSEUMS!

We went to the Prado and the Reino de Sofia. Both were amazing. We did one right after the other and they were still amazing. Though I liked the Prado more, and I wish I could have spent more time there. I may go back someday and spend like a day or two there. It was that amazing. We had a guide in both the Prado and Reino Sofia, but she spoke in a mixture of Spanish and English. I took some notes, but mostly I wrote down the paintings and artists that I really liked. In the Prado we focused mostly on Spanish artists and the work of Bosch, Goya, Greco, and Velazques. I’m going to write down the notes I took while at the museum, so please if not interesting feel free to skip down the later parts where I have information on the monostary, Palacio Real, and the huge park I went to that had GRASS in it!

On second thought, I decided to make that separate post.

We went to the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial. It was really cool, it was founded by Phillip II and has some really cool looking grounds that we weren´t allowed to walk out on, or maybe didn´t walk out on because it was raining. We had a really nice guide whose Spanish I was able to understand for the most part. We went and saw the different rooms, we were not allowed to take pictures (of course we weren´t. Everywhere I went in Madrid, I wasn´t allowed to take pictures.) And then we went into the mausoleum part that I think had the ashes of the dead kings and queens. It creeped out some people on the trip but I thought it was really cool.

On Sunday we went to the Palacio Real, which was amazing. It was really pretty. No pictures and we didn´t have a guide because they didn´t have any available. We got to see 55 of the 200+ rooms and they were all done out and everything with these huge carpets and tapestries on every wall and gold and silver everywhere. But then again, they were kings and queens and even if they weren´t rich they needed to look rich. My favorite rooms were these 4 that belonged to the princess. One was a billards room and another had all these really cool tiles of animals on the walls.

Also on Sunday, I woke up earlier than most of the other people on the trip. I did indeed set an alarm for like 730. Enjoyed a beautiful shower with lots of hot water, where I didn´t have to turn off the water intermittently throughout the shower. Then I went exploring on my own. I had seen a postcard of the Palacio de Cristo, and knew it was in this giant park called Parque de Bueno Retiro. So I got my map and I set out. It was a gorgeous morning to walk about- it was sunny for the first time that weekend, and I didn´t too lost- the park was just a bit past the Prado museum which I had walked home from the day before. I got the park and I just breathed a sigh of relief. There was grass and I could walk on it. And there was this cool bird that I kept seeing everywhere that was white and black with this long tail. I got some picture of it (I swear I will upload pictures soon). Then I walked around, its a huge park, and I couldn´t find any maps so I just set off in a general direction in the hope of seeing the glass palace thing. I found one pond area that was fairly big, and had people rowing in it. There was also a monument behind it with some interesting statues (i´m trying to not overuse the word cool). Eventually I found the Palacio de Cristo, and it was really pretty. And to be honest, i´m not entirely sure that that is the correct name. It was a glass building I think that was size of a large house and had a dome roof. I was able to go in because it wasn´t open, but I think I got some interesting photos with the sun rising in the sky. The sun wasn´t literally rising, but it was getting higher, it made taking photos bit difficult at times. There was also a bird pond that was smaller, but still pretty. I got more bird pictures. All in all, I loved this park, I still do love this park. It was awesome and some of the first green grass I had seen in a while.

And then we got on a bus and drove back to Granada. So that was Madrid. It was two weeks ago, but I´m slowly catching back up. And will promptly fall behind again when I go on spring break. Sorry that this was so long. If you want to see more information on the Prado and Reino Sofia, that will be posted soon.

Love you all, Liz

photos de Parque de Bien Retiro: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=170193&id=536555856&l=c56766ea2f

photos de Madrid: