Madrid and Toledo

I apologize for the lack of recent posting, last week not quite worthy enough to relive for you. However, this past weekend I had a splendid time down in Madrid and Toledo. The American class that I have, takes trips. They brought us to Madrid for the weekend. All expenses included. Sweet deal.

We took a bus to Madrid early Friday morning, it took just over 5 hours. We had a 3 course lunch consisting of an spinach tortilla, smoked salmon, and flan. It was enjoyed be nearly everyone. Our first cultural visit was to the Palacio Real, where the Kings of Spain used to live. It was both extravagant, yet incredibly well done. The rooms themselves were very thematic, including rooms representations of countries into which some of the Kings had travelled to, such as India, or China. I am continually impressed with the ceilings, whether they be sculptured or painted, I am still a bit baffled by how they are created. I was a bit surprised half way through the tour when I realized that our tour guide did not have a microphone, yet she was speaking to a group of 60 studenst who all could hear her perfectly. Whomever built this palace was indeed a marvelous architect.

Our tour guide then brought us to the Plaza Mayor, which is the old town square. There was a wedding going on, open air markets, outdoor cafes, quite peaceful. The square itself is entirely apartment buildings now, which remained to be quite comical viewing spots for the events that took place Saturday night.

The rest of the afternoon was both sunny and entertaining, but we desperately needed out rest for the following day. The group headed off to Toledo, which used to the be the Capital of Spain before it was moved to Madrid. The cities walls were pretty and practical--like nearly all of the city was as well. We proceeded to go to "the cathedral" in Toledo, which is one of the most unique examples of Gothic architecture in Spain. The building itself was a bit overwhelming, something to look at on every wall, column, ceiling, and seat. We did however have perhaps the most energetic and entertaining tour guide I have ever had--his attempts at using English phases to get us to listen tied in quite nicely with his presentation. One of the rooms was perhaps 30 yards, quite a long room. It was the changing room for the Priest. The most impressive feature however, yet again, was the ceiling. An Italian painter, whose name I have forgotten, painted the ceiling, which both hands simultaneously, in less than 70 days. I am unsure of whether or not he slept.

Speaking of sleeping, Saturday night was not a night of rest. It was the Noche Blanco in the city, which literally means white night. It was when all of the museums, monuments, and performances do not close until 7am and generally do not charge admission either. This is the perfect opportunity to really experience both the museums and the culture of the people. A small group of 5 of us headed off to the Reina Sofia, perhaps the best art museum I have ever been to. It was mainly 19th century art ranging for Picasso to very young artists in my generation. I am still attempting to find a working definition for what art exactly is, so if anyone has any ideas, please share.

After the Reina Sofia, our 4th museum in 24 hours, we decided simply to people watch, and try and catch a performance. We walked quite a few miles that night, as after policemen had to monitor the metros because the doors literally could not shut, we all decided we were too claustrophobic and paranoid to repeat that experience. Along our walk we noticed something quite impressive--though everyone in the streets were drinking, no one was too intoxicated to enjoy the opportunities at hand. I am quite impressed which how well the Spainards seem to acknowledge their alcohol limit.

After taking a nap we woke up this morning to tour the Prado, another incredibly impressive art museum. This included artists from Goya to el Greco and quite an extensive exhibit on Joachim Patinir as well. It is free on Sundays, which meant that it was rather full. I believe that the best part of the museum was the Patinir exhibit, it included paintings in window frames that I greatly enjoyed.

Overall, the weekend trip to Madrid was, though a bit exhausting, an incredible time. A place I am certainly glad to have visited, and am excited to see more of it during my stay here. This week I am actually off to Rome for a few days before classes begin, so do not expect posts during the week, but rather lengthy ones at the beginning of October. Hope all is well.