Madrid!

Hola a todos!
This weekend our group had the opportunity to explore Madrid! On Saturday morning we met up at the Aqueduct and walked on over to the train station. It was quite a hike! A 35 minute walk with our backpacks. It was interesting though to see the parts of the city we hadn't seen before. We hopped on the train and went to Madrid. The train is always fun! I love just sitting there and looking at the country side. We also attempted to play phase 10 but it was a little tricky with all the moving and lack of tables :). We arrived at the train station called Atocha in Madrid! It is one of the most famous stations in Europe. It is huge! It even had a botanical gardens inside, and on the outside it was stunningly lovely. It looked like part of some doll house or christmas village. Then we checked into our hotel called "Mediodia" Where I stayed with 3 of my lady friends! We had a balcony in our room and we went outside. It was really sunny and nice. The weather was like in the upper fourties (My apolgies to the winter enduring Minnesotans!). Next up was the museum of Reina Sofia which was right beside our hotel. It was amazing! The building was beautiful and the artwork was amazing. They had so many famous artwork. The most famous was the Spanish civil war painting, Guenaca, by Picasso. I have learned about this a bit in previous classes, so it was so cool to see the painting in person. There were also paintings by Dali and Miro. There was also a photography exhibit that was really interesting too. I love photography! I think it is my favorite type of art to look at!

Then we took a short break afterwards, where we took a Starbucks break (oh it smelled so much like home) :) and then we played bananagrams in a girls room! It is my favorite- except for I have to play by myself and am no longer allowed to be on teams, cause my brain is geared for this kind of game thanks to all the years of Scrabble at the Webers :)

Then we went to the Prado!! This Was absolutely AMAZING! There were so many famous works of art there by Valazquez, El Greco, Goya, and Rembrandt. The most famous painting there was "Las Meneninas" Julie and Jason... you should know this from AP Euro!

OK and this I cannot believe! Maia bought me a wine opener for Spain and I brought it to Madrid cause I knew my friends were going to use it and I had it in my purse. I passed through security at both museums even though it had that little screw part and a tiny pop out knife!!! What kind of security allows that kind of stuff in a museum. I felt like such a bad tourist for having it. Like I broke some kind of rule! oh well :)

Afterwards we had free time and we walked around the city, did some shopping, went out for tapas then headed back to get ready to go out again. When we were getting all dressed up, some of the people on our trip were being rather noisy and the hotel management got a little annoyed! Yikes! Although everyone settled down and all was well and good again in life. I didn't end up staying out to late though. I was feeling a bit under the weather with my cold and a bit of a tummy ache so Katie and I walked around and went back to the hotel. We did however princess wave to 7 lanes of traffic that were waiting for us to cross the crosswalk :)

The next morning we got up and had a little bit of breakfast at the hotel! Then we walked to the Plaza Mayor, which is so old! During midevil times they used to have jousting competitions there and other exciting events! Then a couple friends and I headed to a church service at one of the cathedrals. This priest was a little more clear in his speaking so we were able to understand more of this mass. There was the cutest little old guy in front of us that was singing SO loud and slightly behind everyone else. It was my favorite!

After that we experienced the Rastro, which is like a Spanish flee Market where we held onto our purses for dear life. (apparently this is a good place to steal things) yikes! There were so many people there so it wasn't the most enjoyable experience, though it reminded me a lot of being in Mexico. Afterwards Katie and I split from the group so we could see everything we wanted to. We checked out the Palacio, the Cathedral, and a park called "parque de retiro" that reminded me a lot of central park. It was a huge! It had paths, and trees, playgrounds, and waterfalls. It was lovely. There were so many cute kids there dressed up all cute and fancy! (thats kind of the thing in europe). In one of the monuments by the lake there was a drum circle and all I could think about was this African movie that I watched with Laura for Music class...(he says you're welcome) Oh and while I'm on the topic of music...the streets of Madrid had AMAZING music, like not just one person playing by themselves but small groups. There was jazz, classical, and even a mariachi band! It truly added to the beauty of the city.

Then we met up to catch the train, though apparently we were running late so our advisor books it and we had to chase after her! It must have been a sight....20 American running through a train station with suitcases and backpacks!

All in all, I enjoyed Madrid a lot. All of the buildings were so beautiful and the history so rich. I was excited to head back to Segovia in the end though because I like it better (It is more quaint and lovelier I believe).

Thats all for now friends and family! Hope all is going well for you!