Madrileños

We've been in Madrid for the last week and a half now-I think the most consecutive days that we have spent here thus far. We've done a lot of sight-seeing, partying and amazingly, school work!

Last week we had only three days of classes. We explored some local sights and went to the Templo de Debod which supposedly is the only Egyptian temple in Spain and was given by the Egyptians in thanks for Spain's archeological help. There was also a very pretty park surrounding it where we enjoyed lunch and did some homework.

Thursday night the Meggie Beths had a girls night and explored some new night life in Madrid.

And with very little sleep, the next morning headed up to El Escorial and Valle de los Caidos (Franco's tomb and basillica.) We did our sight-seeing in the pouring rain and headed back to Madrid.

matt and i enjoying the rain

gardens at el escorial

valle de los caidos

san mateo

the basillica at valle de los caidos

ceiling in the basillica



light fixtures--i just remember seeing pictures of these in gaugler's class


there are more profane ones that i won't include

the sun finally came out!

not for long though...

After our trip we went for kebaps from a new local and started the festivities for Laura's 21st. We botellóned and then bar hopped for a couple of hours.

The next afternoon we went to Reina Sofia and explored some modern arts exhibits and then to San Isidro, the major cathedral in Spain. We then met Jen and Sara and got some excellent Japanese food and then met up for more birthday festivities with Laura and her mom. We had cake and Tinto de Verano and then headed our to some clubs. There was a great deal of drama because we were traveling in a group of 16. We ended the night early and headed back home.

it was the most bizarre day ever- crazy thunderstorms, the metro and our entire plaza flooded, then later it hailed!!



the birthday girl


the bar had cool art work:
las meninas


audrey

Sunday we slept late, studied a little bit for a test we had on Monday and went to another bullfight with Margaret. This one was a little more violent as it was another novice fight. Highlights: first fight, the matador messes up and the bull starts vomiting huge amounts of blood for about two minutes straight before they finally put it out of its misery (not typical AT ALL). The last fight, the bull was about to give up and was laying down and they were about to knock the bull over the head to kill it and the guy messed up. The bull didn't like this idea and got up and charged. No injuries, fortunately.

Yesterday our late class got cancelled so we had the afternoon off. We walked around the Royal Botanical Gardens and had lunch. After, we went home and relaxed a bit before we met Meghan and José for some drinks at the Hawaiian bar. Another fun night.

meg had a good time

I got to sleep in a little bit today again. Came to school for my one class at 13.00, tutorial at 16.00 and now I'm waiting around until 20.00 for a lecture for my class that was cancelled this morning.

This weekend we have another holiday here in Spain and have off Friday, Monday and Tuesday. We plan to go to Gibraltar Thursday night, sight-see that day, head to Marbella Friday night, beach Saturday and Sunday and then Granada Monday morning. We return to Madrid late Tuesday night. We have class Wednesday, a test on Thursday and then we leave for París on Friday morning.

Torrevieja

We arrived in Torrevieja at a ridiculous hour on some random street in town. We didn't have a map of the city so we wandered around with the map in our heads. After about an hour of lugging around huge backpacks, we finally found a city worker and asked them how to get to our hotel. Then we asked another. and another. and another. Finally, we arrived (at 6.00) and they break the news that we can not check in until 12.00. Soooo, we dropped off our luggage at the hotel and left it with the person behind the desk and we got Sara a cab to the hotel she was staying at. Matt and I walked around town, wasting time. We found the church, the beach, places to eat. We figured out where the religious processions for Good Friday were going to be that night. We went to the food store, relaxed on the beach, had breakfast at our hotel. When we got into the hotel room, we showered and headed right to the beach. The weather wasn't fantastic, but it was nice enough to lay out. I also pushed it to going swimming...just because I would be my first time swimming in the Mediterranean. We hung out at the beach and then went for kebaps.

People were making ornate sandsculptures all along the shore.

We got to watch the sunrise on the beach

Sara tried working on her own sandsculpture: a penguin

We found four-foot garden gnomes!

Matt enjoying his kebap(s)

Maddy- we saw sooo many chow's this weekend!

After lunch/dinner, we headed back to the hotel and got changed, went back to walk along the beach and then found some seats for the processions. It got a lot colder, so we sent Matt back to the hotel for blankets. The processions started at about 21.00, but got to us at about 21.30 and didn't end until well after midnight. We were exhausted and decided to go to bed and sleep in late the next morning. We had all been traveling a lot that week - Sara had gone to Italy, Matt to Sevilla and I to Amsterdam and had been running on very little steam. The processions were absolutely gorgeous though. They were the stations of the cross, but each of the parishes did different processions with different colors. The floats were all decorate in fresh flowers and the entire community was involved. The women had their own float, children were dressed in traditional garb and handed out candy to all the other children watching the procession. The kids left with bags filled with candy. The older men carried floats, as well as the younger. There was so much coordination and preparation that went into it. There were women weeping on the sides. The entire thing was unlike anything I have ever seen. And Matt said it was nothing in comparision to what he had seen in Sevilla.

Sara and I before the procession started

The next day we met up and walked around the beach for awhile...but it was rather rainy and chilly in the morning. We bought Matt a net to investigate the wildlife with and went out for lunch at a kiosk right on the water. After playing on the rocks and in tide pools for awhile, the sun finally came out and we decided to walk to another beach. We enjoyed the sun until it became a little too chilly. Then headed back into town for dinner. We had an awesome 5.60e chinese dinner and then called it a night. We were considering going to another procession, but we were absolutely exhausted and I was officially sick at this point.

Wandering around the port of Torrevieja

Matt exploring the natural elements of the beach

Salt pool!!!!! Yay!!


Matt trying to put on his bathingsuit on the beach

The next morning we woke up, packed all of our stuff up and headed to mass for Easter Sunday. Mass was in a beautiful cathedral in the center of town. It was extremely hot and there were crowds of people.
After mass we met up with Sara on the beach and then picked up our stuff from the hotel and brought it all back down to the beach. I was terribly sick, so I put on my bathingsuit and took a nap on the beach. Sara and Matt went for kebaps again, bought Matt a bathingsuit and his second net. By the time they came back for me, it had begun to rain and we had to hide with our bags under some awnings. We hung around for awhile taking turns watching the bags. Around 20.30 we decided to get our Easter dinner of Paella. It was a little more difficult than we had imagined seeing many of the restraunts closed to Easter.

Me passed out on the beach, compliments of Matt


We forgot to take a picture of us dressed up in our Easter outfits...so we took this one instead


Can't really tell..but there's a rainbow in the background

Coastal shot

"Action shot"- on the phone with Gram

We finished our dinner and headed up to the bus station for our 23.00 departure. The bus arrived surprisingly early this morning, 4.30. We walked home and I hit the bed as soon as I got in. I woke up around 13.30 and forced myself to the reality that my vacation is now over. Back to school tomorrow...fortunately we only have a three day week.