Friday:
5 am came much quicker than I expected this morning so I was extremely tired when I awoke. I was not alone however; pretty much the entire class was behaving like zombies as we “dragged” to the METRO stop. We all made it to the train station, barely awake but successfully, and our train left right on time.
The train ride was even more captivating than the ride to Valencia; for starters the AVE train we rode on today was the “higher class” version than the one from Valencia. It soon became apparent that the terrain between Barcelona and Madrid is very mountainous and full of fields. It was amazing to sit in the train and watch the large expanse of countryside breeze by; the fastest time I saw the train get to was 306 km/h (190 mph!!!!) Looking out of the train window made me realize yet again how huge and different this world is, and how small my “world” of Charleston and Clemson is. Along the way we passed by wind mill fields and traveled through many tunnels that were cutting through the mountains.
Once we arrived here in Madrid we visited the Atocha Station Memorial located in the train station. It was erected to honor and remember the fatalities of the 2004 train bombings that occurred in Madrid. It was a very well designed memorial in my opinion; the design invoked the proper emotions and reactions. Afterwards we walked all over Madrid to various public spaces…I am not sure how many miles it was but we walked all day from about 10am to 9pm! Madrid is very different from Barcelona, for starters there are vastly more people here in Madrid than Barcelona; Madrid is actually the third largest city in Europe (after London and Berlin). The metro system here is also very different than Barcelona’s, it is surprisingly not as organized and “streamlined” and it’s also much larger. There are some parts of the city that have “westernized”, there were a few times when I almost felt like I was back home…then I was quickly reminded that I was still in Spain by the Spanish. We visited an architecture exhibition that displayed Spanish architecture and architects from the past 200 years; the “great hall of architecture”, as I called it, was full of many interesting designs. Later on that night a small group of us searched around for some dinner and we happened upon a Thai restaurant. Inside smelled delicious and one of the waiters helped us through the menu; I had chicken Pad Thai (noodles, egg, chicken, carrots, “some type of vegetable haha, and PEANUTS!!!)
It was a long day 5am to 12am, and it was all off of 5 hours of sleep…needless to say I hit many brick walls throughout the day and I was relieved to lay my head down for the night.
Saturday:
I did not have to wake up as early, but everyone had breakfast together at a very popular café here in Madrid called “La Mallorqua” (it was paid for). I had a French omelet (just the egg) with some variation of a roll, and a croissant; this was by far the freshest, flakiest, softest, and most delicious croissant I have EVER had. It was just a simple croissant with a buttery glaze, nothing spectacular looking but its taste was mouthwatering.
Our train for Toledo left at 10:50am; it was not an AVE train just the regular medium distance trains here in Spain. The trip only took about 30 minutes and we arrived in Toledo safely. Toledo was much more fascinating than I thought it would be, it definitely exceeded my expectations. Here are just a few reasons why:
· It was extremely medieval; the original wall that surrounded the city back during Roman colonization still existed in almost its full entirety.
· The city was very picturesque, the medieval architecture along with Moorish influence made for very interesting views.
· Everything has been preserved so it was very easy to get a real sense of how life was during medieval times.
· Swords, Knight Armor, and gold decorated the sun kissed streets and every building was beautifully preserved. Toledo is famous for its sword and steel crafting along with its gold work.
After we spent the majority of the day in Toledo we ventured back to Madrid and went to a museum which featured “media art”…the media art was not my forte. However everything was worth it when I came to the Pablo Picaso exhibition…the real original paintings! I got to see so many famous works of his up close and personal. Unfortunately they did not allow guests to take pictures of his work…I am starting to realize a trend with a lot of the famous artwork, they rarely allow video recording or pictures to be taken.
Sunday:
Today started off almost identical to yesterday, we were provided breakfast at the same famous café here in Madrid and I had the same meal as yesterday (with the phenomenal croissant). After breakfast we walked around another part of the city and visited another unique museum which featured a “live” or “green” wall. The museum, La Caxia Forum, boasted a very interesting design because it integrated an old building with modern facades. After we left the museum we encountered a mass protest happening in the street…apparently the Spanish government had just announced a huge amount of money was being cut in order to save money.
For lunch we went to another very famous restaurant here in Madrid…Casa Mingo; their “specialty” was chicken and cider. So that is what Kathrin ordered for everyone, a half chicken and apple cider (alcoholic type). The meal came with bread, salad, and chips…it was also very delicious! After we stuffed ourselves full of chicken and cider we went to the Prado Museum. The Prado Museum is one of the most prominent museums not only in Europe but in the world. It contains a vast amount of artwork, most notably Fransico de Goya whose work accounts for about 10% of the total collection. Once again it was surreal to see the paintings and famous artworks that I have studied in school, and once again PICTURES WERE NOT ALLOWED!!!!!
Monday:
Instead of a plain croissant for breakfast I tried the “fried” version in which they cut the croissant into two halves and quickly brown it with honey and butter…it was also very good, they served it with peach jam.
After breakfast we visited a very strange yet amazing building…Torres Blancos. This structure was built in the 60’s and its purpose was to “test” new architectural ideas…I will let the pictures do the talking for me on this one. Afterwards we visited another photography gallery then we had the rest of the afternoon “free”. A small group of us went to the park and rented row boats to go out into the large man made pond; it was nice just to relax in a row boat and just let the beautiful weather encompass us. Other than that today was pretty laid back, the train ride back to Barcelona was not as exciting since everything was dark outside…but it was still fast!
Hey bro...i have my laptop now...i can Skype you, but what was the old password i need to change the account information...email me the password if you don't remember then say so. I will delete the account & start over
ReplyDeletejust start over, I don't remember the password.
DeleteBeautiful pictures...you have an eye for photograpy!
ReplyDeleteAunt Sherri
thank you!
ReplyDeleteLove the Crystal Palace. The Toledo pic taken from whatever angle you are is great too. I see we'll have to go photo shooting when you get back. I found someone that shares an interest and is also quite good at it.
ReplyDelete