Madrid (sorry it´s been so long)

I haven’t written in so long (I am very sorry!), so what I think I’ll do is just catch up on my trip to Madrid this weekend first, and then work my way backwards to write about my fall break with Drue and my trip to Barcelona (both of which were awesome). I also have pictures, so I might post a few here and there during the process of catching everyone up with events here. It’s definitely been a crazy few weeks (and I caught a lovely cold right in the middle of everything), but I’ve been having a really good time. I hope everything is great in the States, it’s been wonderful to hear from everyone, especially about the results of the election!

We left for Madrid a day earlier than the school with the intention of going to Toledo for the day, but since the train was full when we got to the station, Saxon, Rachel, and I just hung around Madrid for the day. We went to a huge park and ate our sandwiches, which was really nice and probably my favorite part of the day. The rest of the time we just wandered around and stopped in some stores so Rachel and I could look for some coats. (It’s not really that cold yet, but since our house and the school are still open all of the time, and we’re walking outside a lot of the time, I never really seem to get warm, especially since I haven’t been feeling well.)

We stopped in the Corte Ingles’ cafeteria for ice cream (for Rachel and Saxon) and orange juice and tea (for me). I was too cheap to pay for both, so I just asked for some hot water and then used a tea bag that I had in my purse. I am trying to conserve money where I can, though it sometimes earns me some odd looks.

After we got back to our hostel, I decided to eat my dinner early (another sandwich, like I said, I am cheap) and then I went to bed early. I think I got around 12 hours of sleep, which I definitely needed. Then, after dropping our bags off at our new hotel and meeting up with the school group, we headed to the Prado. It was really neat to be able to see all of the works that I have studied in art class in person. My art teacher, Conso, was the guide for this trip, and she talked briefly about El Greco, Velazquez, and Goya (while we looked at their works, of course) and then we wandered around the rest of the museum. I especially enjoyed seeing the Garden of Earthly Delights by Bosch. Seeing it up close was super cool because you can really see all of the crazy details and imaginary creatures and whatnot. That was probably my favorite piece there.
After a lunch break we headed to the Reina Sofia, which houses a lot more modern art, which is definitely more my style. We again had brief descriptions of some of the works with Conso, then wandered around to see more of what each of us wanted. It was amazing to see Guernica, which can’t really be experienced the same way if you only see it in a book. The size and expressiveness of the painting are simply incredible; it’s really neat how much emotion you can see through basically simple materials like paint and a canvas.

The next day, after a yummy breakfast of toast, bacon, and scrambled eggs (and juice, and espresso, and cereal...) we headed to the Palacio Real. It is truly enormous, with something like three thousand rooms. The royal family doesn’t live there anymore, but it is still used for state functions and galas and the like. We took a brief tour (obviously not the whole palace) with Conso whispering brief explanations (we weren’t really supposed to have a guide speak the whole time). It was way too fancy for my taste; everything seemed a bit extravagant and over the top. On the whole, I am not a big fan of crystal chandeliers, gold upon gold, and velvet wallpaper. Yikes. However, it was pretty neat to see some real Stradavarius stringed instruments. I guess there are only seven that still exist today, and five of them (that we got to see) are in Spain. As you could imagine, you can’t even put a price on them, they are that valuable.

After another sack lunch, we went to the Thyssen Museum. The artworks there previously made up a private collection. It was unbelievable to think that all of these famous works belonged to a single person. Though it was really neat to see all of the pieces, I got pretty tired while I was there. I think the weekend was just a bit overwhelming, what with being sick and not really having a chance to catch up on sleep before I left. After we left, we headed back to the train station and caught the AVE to Sevilla. I finished up my homework and went to bed as early as I could, though it didn’t make getting up at 6:30 the next morning much easier. I still wasn’t feeling great, but the trip was definitely worth it and I am very happy that I got to go.

I will keep writing to try and catch up all of the way, so be on the lookout for more posts soon!