Madrid is so amazing. Eugene our Professor left in the morning because he wanted to get back to London early, so that gave Aubrey, Scott and I a full day to travel around Madrid. We decided to spend most of our day in museums, which is extremelyy exhausting. We started in the Sophia contemporary art museum, which had Picasso's Guernica piece, and many other contemporary artists that I learned about in my class last semester like Frank Stella, Rauschenberg, Calder, Flavin, Klien, etc. The Guernica is so huge, it took up an entire wall, and it was cool because the museum also had Picasso's studies of the guernica, like sketches and mini paintins, so you could see he put a ton of time in to it.
We then went over to the Prado, which had tons of old renaissance art, with artists like El Greco, Rubens, Rapheal, Durer, etc. Our last night in Madrid was pretty wild, we went all over town and did a lot of really fun things. We woke up pretty early in the morning, got our breakfast of a crossiant and orange juice, and headed to the airport. Everything went pretty smooth, and I got my guitar!!!!!!! on the flight too :) The guitar is great, I got it on our last full day in Madrid, and it was not tooo expensive, so I am really glad I got it.
I realized I am not very good with money, so I am going to try and hold back and save up from now on :)
I have been gone for a pretty good amount of time now, and it is so insane what I have done already. My Euroterm trip officially starts tomorrow... so weird.
I miss everyone from home, but at the same time still, this is so worth it.
:)
Song of the Day
I've Got a Feeling- Black Eyed Peas (we heard this many times in the clubs around Madrid, it is definitely a theme song for our pre-trip)
We didn't see a Flamenco dance, but we did have tons of fun. Last night I skyped with my mom which was really cool because I wasn't sure if it would work or not, and it was basically perfect! We went to dinner at a little cafe and had the traditional Paella meal, which is rice and seafood and other stuff together, it was great. I also had that for lunch today!
This morning we woke up, had breakfast in our four star hotel in central Madrid, and walked over to Museo Soralla. Soralla is an extremely important impressionist painter who is equal to or better than Monet. His work was really amazing, and the museum was his old house, so we got to see where he painted and where his inspirations came from.
Then we went over and walked around Plaza Mayor, the main, historic plaza in Madrid. It was beautiful, and we got to have Paella there :)
Now I am going to take a siesta, which is actually a really big deal out in spain, like most of the shops close down between 1-4 p.m. It is really hot, and after we are going to go see the Prado, a hugeee musuem that is similar to the Louvre, so that is pretty exciting.
Also last night, Scott, Aubrey and I went out on the town to a couple of discos! We met some really great Parisians and Spaniards.
The past couple of days have been so amazing. I have been to Lisbon, Sintra, Madrid, and Segovia. In Lisbon, we had a hotel in Russio Square (the main central downtown Lisbon)
The day we had in Lisbon we went to a private collection huge museum called Calouste Gulbenkian Museum. It was a collection if a extremely wealthy businessman who had a thing for art. There were more famous pieces in this museum then the San Diego Museum of Art. There was a special exhibit of work of Henri Fantin-Latour, who is known for his portraiture, and it was really great. The rest of the museum was full of work from all different time periods, with some Manet, Mary Cassat, Renoir, Rodin, etc. After the museum we took a taxi to the top of a big hill to the Castle of Lisbon. It was high up and there was a beautiful view of all of Lisbon from the top. We ate at a cafe on the hillside and then walked back down to our hotel. Then we took a train to Sintra.
Our hotel in Sintra was probably one of the best ones in the whole town. We had two rooms with a view looking over the Sintra hillside. It was a little hotel so it had a lot of personality. We all walked around the main square in Sintra then went to a tiny little restaurant that all of the locals seemed to go to called the Regional Resteraunt of Sintra. I got a steak and shrimp plate and for a desert, a huge, fresh, amazing fruit bowl. It really had some of the most fresh fruit on it, and there was vanilla scoop of ice cream in the middle, and the whole thing was soaked in rum, it was wonderful. We ate their for dinner the next night too! I got a banana split that just as good!
Our second day in Sintra, we got out of bed, and walked through the main square, and sat on a bench... for about 2 hours. We just sat and relaxed and talked. We talked about all sorts of things and were just in awe that we were sitting on a bench in Sintra, Portugal, just relaxing. The rest of the day was busy walking around the town to the four different castles we visited. All of the castles were put together from all different time periods, and they all seemed like they belonged in disneyland.
Then we took a taxi back to the Lisbon Airport, and I realized that since I had missed my flight in London, they figured I wasn't going to be on this flight, sooo, yeah, that was a big bummer, but I didn't let it get me down. I left the airport, walked to the amazing Train station, and got a ticket for a night train to Madrid. So that gave me about another full day in Lisbon. I sat around on the river, looked at art pieces and fountains and went through one of the biggest malls in Lisbon. It was really fun. I also met two Portuguese girls and had fun trying to understand what they were saying the whole time.
This is the train station in Lisbon. I met a nice couple from Rome who let me know that they don't like French people, and also a couple from Germany who gave me advice on where to go :)
The night train was really nice because I got the last ticket possible for that night, and it was of course a bed ticket. I actually was able to sleep for awhile and didn't have to worry about my luggage because I used most of it as a pillow! I arrived in Madrid at 9:30 a.m. this morning, and took a train to Segovia, Spain. I met Eugene, Scott and Aubrey in the hotel. I took an extremely quick shower and we went strait to the Segovia Aqueduct, which was extremely big and pretty. The city was basically surrounded around this aqueduct. I took tons of pictures and then we headed down to another castle, which was pretty cool because you could tell that there used to be a mote surrounding it.
We are now in the Segovia airport and are on our way back to Madrid. We are hoping to see a Flamenco Dance show tonight. We also have planned for a day trip to Avila tomorrow, then hopefully more time in Madrid.
I really miss everyone from back home, but I think coming out and doing all of this has already been worth while. I have been to Reykjavik, London, Lisbon, Sintra, Madrid and Segovia already, and I could probably go home now feeling happy that I went. Any one of those places I would of been happy with. This trip is really making me realize how lucky I am.
Song of the Past Couple of Days
Miles Davis- Concierto De Arjanues (Part Two) off of his Sketches of Spain album. I like Part One a lot too.
Madrid is so amazing. Eugene our Professor left in the morning because he wanted to get back to London early, so that gave Aubrey, Scott and I a full day to travel around Madrid. We decided to spend most of our day in museums, which is extremelyy exhausting. We started in the Sophia contemporary art museum, which had Picasso's Guernica piece, and many other contemporary artists that I learned about in my class last semester like Frank Stella, Rauschenberg, Calder, Flavin, Klien, etc. The Guernica is so huge, it took up an entire wall, and it was cool because the museum also had Picasso's studies of the guernica, like sketches and mini paintins, so you could see he put a ton of time in to it.
