Holy Toledo

Toledo is a small city we stopped by on our way back to Granada. After an uncomfortable nap on the bus*, I got to wake up to this view... not bad if you ask me

There was not a great deal in Toledo, hence why we were only there for half a day. One of its major sites is the El Greco painting, "The Burial of Count Orgaz" which is currently in a small church/museum close to El Greco's home (he obviously doesn't live there now, since he died in 1614)

Toledo is also known for their famous marzapan, which here, was used to replicate part of the Catedral de Toledo (¡Guay!). I had never tried it before, but needless to say, this is by far the best marzapan I'm sure I will ever have; and no I did not eat that church (although I wouldn't put it past me)

We stopped by the Catedral de Toledo and as usual, no photos allowed. This time I wasn't even yelled at by the security, but rather, my tour guide. Puta...

The church actually had some really cool architecture, unfortunately, you will have to Google Image it to see it. Sorry!**

But fun fact, this is actually the city where Holy Toledo was created. Sorry Ohio, no luck on this one; but they did give Ohio a small shout out and named a street, Calle Toledo Ohio

After wandering through the windy narrow alleys and finding the best places for marzapan, we headed back on to the bus. Of course, I fell asleep in the back seat. When I woke up, the bus had stopped and I looked out the back window to see where we were. I couldn't see a road because the back of the bus was on the edge of a cliff (without this fence) and this is all I saw...

Where in God's name are we?? I thought we had landed on another planet... Small panic attack since normally I can tell the difference between my dreams and reality.

Turns out, we were at the site of one of the scenes in the famous novel of Don Quixote

A little creepy, but actually quite cool. There was about 10 windmills surrounded only by arid land. If there was ever a definition of the middle of nowhere, this was it. Bucknell just got one-upped...

That city is about 10 miles away...give or take. Regardless, still smaller than Lewisburg

After a weeks worth of traveling and having possibly one of the worst bus drivers ever (I thought people knew how to drive manual cars here?), there was a small relief in heading back to Granada. Granted it was back to my bed that's made of mush, its what home is for this semester. And nothing beats being home...

Of course, I found another definition of home the following weekend when I headed to Florence to see a few*** loves of my life...get excited!!!

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* MY GOD, this man's job is to drive buses. You would think after driving a manual bus for a living, he would be pretty good right? WRONG. I could have driven the bus better than him, without arms. He managed to shift like a bucking bronco while maxing out at 40 miles an hour; Vespas passed us... Talk about nausea to the 10th degree...

** I know what am I good for if I cannot provide you with a description or pictures of the places I saw? I don't even know how to respond to that answer...

***few meaning - unfortunately - not all the loves of my life. There's a few of them stateside who I cannot wait to reunite with!

Madrid Day 2 / International Bike Day!

Day 2: I woke up to find out it was international bike day! Where's my bike?

I could have definitely used one today though; walking at the end of this trip became quite the task. I wouldn't have even minded embarrassing myself and riding one of those segway things...I can't believe I just stooped to that level.

After breakfast we headed out to Palacio Real, the official home to Spanish Royalty, despite the fact that no one lives there. I wouldn't mind crashing there every now and then. We weren't allowed to take pictures (as usual) but I took one for the team and snagged two while no one was looking...

(Well this one I got caught taking, so naturally, it was my last picture)

This is the cathedral across from the Palacio Real. We never went in

(shocker, seeing as we have visited almost every cathedral in Spain at this point), but it looks pretty right?

Next we headed to Plaza Mayor - Every city has tons of Plazas, some bigger than others; but this one is by far the most popular. We hung out here for a bit, watched the performers and then walked around a bit more. I have to say the people pretending to be statues in Madrid were FAR superior to those in Granada. The one's in Granada speak, wave and do everything they are NOT supposed to do. I'm very tempted to give them a piece of my mind, since they are asking for my money...

In one of the Plaza's you can find the center of Spain. Literally. This plaque is the actual center of the country. ¡Que Guay!

(Left to Right: Meghan, Andrea, Tyler and Me*)

Before heading to the Prado (art museum) we hung out in the Madrid version of Central Park. Upon arrival, I managed to step in dog poop...twice. Curbing dogs is obviously not something that is often practiced in Spain... And whoever said stepping in poop was good luck, was the same person who stepped in it

A major pet peeve of mine is how I cannot take pictures ANYWHERE for all of you (all three of you <3)>

Prado is home to Las Meninas, The Garden of Earthly Delight, La Mujer Desnuda, and many famous paintings by Greco, Goya, Bosch, Velazquez and even some Rembrant. I had to choose my favorite painting to write about, and I found that "Haywain" by Bosch was one of the most interesting and also pretty easy to write about in Spanish. Here are a few paintings you may recognize:

After the Prado, we got to wander as usual; I'm pretty sure there is a mutual understanding between our group and our professor that there is only so many museums and sites we can take each day, and we can manage to learn a thing or two without a tour guide. I have to say I'm quite thankful for Professor McKinney, he has been really laid back on this trip and lets us do a lot on our own.

I have to say, of all the places I have been in Spain, Madrid had some of the best sites, and I hope to return to see more. However, I could not imagine studying here; it is absolutely enormous and it would be too easy to speak English. And I would go broke.

On that note...I FOUND TOPSHOP IN MADRID! With Starbucks and Topshop, I nearly passed out I was so happy. I wanted to buy clothes so badly, but restrained myself (go me!) and kept telling myself I could get all of these clothes back in the states, and at a much cheaper price. I then rewarded my will power to not buy clothes, with chocolate. Now there is an area where I could really use some will power...

The sunset on our last night was amazing; I got a little photo crazy with it...

The next morning we packed up our things and headed off to Toledo for the day, and then home sweet home.

More blogs to come! I can't wait until I catch up to present day!

*if you know me at all, you HAD to have known my giant feet were the ones on the right

Madrid Day 1 - Acid Trip in Reina Sofia

So while watching a budget version of (500) Days of Summer* on my computer, I have decided to continue to update this fabulous oh-so-popular blog...

Sidenote: I think Carmen (my host mom) thinks I'm a bit weird because 9.99 out of 10 times I can be found in my room, on my computer... I feel like one of the geeks from 16 Candles (although that could be because I am one, minus the whole underwear fascination)

Ok so Madrid. Unlike any of the other places, we stayed 2 days, and rightfully so. Madrid is absolutely enormous and we probably only saw 1/10 of the city, but I felt as though we got a chunk of the sites in. Day one was all about Museo de Reina Sofia.

Normally this museum is overshadowed by the Prado, but it has some pretty amazing stuff. It's most popular piece: Guernica

For those of you who don't know, Guernica is one of Pablo Picasso more famous paintings, and up close (well you can't get all that close, there's a motion detector that keeps all viewers at bay and at least 5 yards away from the painting) it is quite large. So large, I could not get a full picture of it simply by standing in front of it

What's even cooler is the studies of all the characters Pablo put into the final piece. Originally, I thought most painters simply painted on a whim. But not good old Pablo; it took him what looks like forever to decide where to put each character, with whom they would interact, the shading, the colors, etc.
It's comforting to know I'm not the only nor most indecisive person out there.

Then we moved on to Dalí!
Talk about an acid trip....

Dalí paintings are so awesome, but I'm not going to even try and pretend to know what he's trying to say in any of them. My most favorite aspect of his work is that you could look at it for hours and never get bored; there is a million aspects in each painting. Which makes me wonder if those who analyze his work- and thanks to his work- are possibly just as crazy as him

After the museum we got to roam around (my favorite) and we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner and going out. It was one of the girls in our group's birthday, so we let her choose the restaurant- italian. I have to say, I couldn't complain. The last time I had good pasta and pizza was too long ago and it was a nice change of scenery. (I'm going to change my definition of good pasta and pizza when I discuss Florence with you though)

We did however make the mistake of being so hungry that we agreed to sit in the smoking section. Never again will I make that mistake

After we were going to try and go to a few bars and maybe a discoteca, until we learned how much it costs. Keep in mind, in Granada, dinner is free with drinks and entry fees into clubs cost about 8 euro max, with at least one free drink.

In Madrid: nothing is free, and an entry fee is 18 euro with 1 free drink. No thank you.

At least I was able to get a good nights sleep in my bunk bed (yup they put Meghan and I in bunk beds in the hotel) for the next day!

*(500) of Summer is NOT worth watching when it's budget. One MAJOR pet peeve of mine is when the sound and picture don't match up. I can't take it any more.

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Excursion Part 2: Salamanca

Stop 2: Salamanca!!

I woke up yet again to find us in a new city, Salamanca. After throwing our bags into our hotel rooms and putting my face on (my new expression after how horrendous I started to look on this trip- bus trips never made anyone look good) we wandered around the city before meeting up with the group for lunch and a tour.

I have found that I truly enjoy wandering around cities; more so than official tours with guides and what not. Don't get me wrong, I do want to learn about the sites, but I find that wandering will uncover so many hidden gems and you can truly feel what it's like to be a traveler in the city rather than a tourist. Never be a tourist, always be a traveler.

With our tour guide, our first stop was to the Universidad de Salamanca. If only Bucknell had buildings like this...

Granted La Universidad de Salamanca is the third oldest university in Europe, it wouldn't hurt if Bucknell took some notes.

One of the coolest things about this university, besides the buildings, is this tradition of "Victor". Back in the day, when students received their PhD's from the university, they would have this 3 day party where they would all write their name and their own version of the word VICTOR on the university buildings...in bulls blood! So all over the university, the term "victor" is written.

Eventually, more and more students received their PhD so the tradition was changed. Now, whoever contributes something to the city of Salamanca (something big...no I did not get the chance to do my own Victor sign) they put their name, the victor sign and a quote. The best one I saw was this one...

"First the truth, for peace"

I was even able to convince my friend Tyler to get the Victor tattoo when we got back to the states. I suggested waiting until he got his MD (he's the future of medicine) but once the idea was placed, he said he could not wait that long.

Next, as usual, was the Cathedral. La Catedral of Salamanca is very similar to the ones in Sevilla and Segovia, of course I could not understand the exact reason why. I really need to get a move on with this whole concept of learning Spanish....

The front of the church was redone recently and the artists who made the carvings had complete artistic freedom. And of course, one of the artist deemed it necessary to carve an astronaut. I don't know about you but that's the first thing that comes to mind when I visit cathedrals...

"One of these things is not like the other, one of these things is not the same"

- am I the only one who remembers this song from Sesame Street?

Half of the church burned down quite some time ago and the architects decided to build a new one, and fuse the 2 to create one enormous church. The best part? They have weddings!!!

There's one bell on the top of the church, that I believe is the highest point in the city. Here, once a year, a man climbs up to the top of the bell and plays the guitar for everyone hear. What would you sing if you were up there? Personally, I think I would do a rendition of anything by the Supremes, and if there was room to dance? Shewolf or Single Ladies

After our official tour, we got to roam some more and grab our own dinner. We decided to hit up the Plaza and have some sandwiches (I'm bringing Jamón y queso bocadillos back with me to the states). I was exhausted by this point, but my friends hit up the bars where they discovered a Michael Jackson Tribute Bar, "Jacko's" (now I'm pissed I didn't go out) and a chupiteria which served one shot containing Absinthe and Cannabis for one euro... a few of my friends were not feeling so hot the next morning... regardless, ONTO MADRID!!!