Madrid Days 1 and 2

Yesterday we went to the Royal Palace of the Bourbon Kings (dynasty began in eary 1700's and continues today) and it was pretty cool. The palace was very big but not overwhelming. They had a huge square in front of it that was probably for military parades or festivals or something. They had a a huge church across the square from the palace too which was cool. We were split into tour groups because our program has english speaking guides to show us all the places were visting which is really nice. We walked through the palace but we couldnt take pictures inside which kinda sucked.
We saw the huge coat of arms of the current king which was pretty big. Although in every room the ceilings are decorated with frescos and then the walls around them have figurines and designs and sculptures and its all just really opulent. What surprised me about the frescos is that most of the themes were Greek/Roman mythology and I was expecting it to be all Jesused out because Spain is so Catholic. We saw the throne room of the king which is still used for official functions but interesting the king does not sit in the throne as his authority is not absolute but constituionally limited. The old kings living aparments were color themed from red velvet to blue to yellow and then interesting there was an Asian themed room with asian people painted into the walls and stuff. That was interesting to me because I dont associated Spain with interests in East Asia. There was also a room that was decorated with only porcelain. the King had established a porcelain factory in Spain and totally decked out the room with its stuff. Every room had fancy chandeliers that were all different designs by room. My favorite was one that looked like a crown. Then we saw the official banquet room which is stull used by the king for official dinners. That was also pretty cool. The Palace was really cool jst really elaborate but we didnt see a lot of it. Then we saw the Plaza Mayor which is just a huge swquare plaza that was the heart of Madrid for a long long time and was where executions and all that jazz took place. the buidling that was the King's apartments though was really interesting in that there were naked people painted on it a la Greek/Roman mythology. I wondered how much of an outcry there would be in america if someone tried to do the same thing. Probably huge
Then we went to the Prado museum and had a whirlwind tour of the famous works. There was a lot of Goya and Velasquez which seemed to run together but also it was more royalty than Jesus which also kinda surprised me. My favorite painting was probably a very elegant picture of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V which was extremely detailed. You could see the texture of the velvet and the reflectiveness of the metal armor. We also the famous velasquez painting of the innocents being shot by the French troops during the Napoleanic wars. It was cool to see that picture because Ive seen it before in books and stuff as its the ubiquitos (sp) representation of that conflict. The oddest picture was one of what appears to be a man breastfeeding a baby. Apparently it was a woman who had a baby at 50 which is rare even today so then it was odd. But then due to what was probably a hormonal imbalance she began to develop masculine features. apparently she was kind of like an attraction for people to come see it to believe it and this picture was painted so the King of Spain could see her. Nice museum kind of a whirlwind tour so I want to go back in my free time. Itll be different without the guides. Then a group of us went to have lunch and tested out our spanish ordering skills which wasnt to bad. The have an awesome lunch deal called menu del dia you get an appatizer usually a salad and a maincourse in this case a pizza which was big and a cup of wine, beer, soda, or water. You also get bread at the start of your meal. All of this for 12 euros. One girl with us just had a pizza and a soda and ended up paying more than the menu del dia for way less stuff. They have these deals at all restaurants for like 9-15 Euros.
Then we went to a big plaza called the puerta del sol and went into a MASSIVE like 7 story department store/ Walmart/ Supermarket. Seriously everything you need in clothes and what not. some people needed various things so we shopped around and hung out basically. We went back to the hotel and then we had meetings with our Resident directors to get housing info. After that we chilled and napped for a bit then a group of us all went out together. We hit a place called tapasbar expecting tapas but it wasnt really tapas casue i didnt get anything with my drink. Other people ate dinner though. Then we went out and found a bar with latin music and basically just bar hopped checking things out. Since we were a big group people wanted us to come into there bars by offering us a free first drink. As poor college students anything that inolves the word free was just awesome. We stayed out hella late but its true that the bars dont get going til rediculously late. then we came back the hotel and crashed it was a good day.

Day 2

We woke up and got ready to go. San Sebastian and Bilbao groups went to Toledo and Alicante went to Segovia. Everyone met and ate breakfast and traded stories about last night it seems like everyone had fun but not too much fun. The breakfast at the hotel is pretty good. The coffee and orange juice are good and we get good pastries and meats and cheeses. Its good for a day of touring. Then we met downstairs and realized it was snowing hardcore in Madrid which is cool just like home lol. We boarded the bus for the hour drive out to Toledo. I slept most of the way.
When we got close to the city we could see it was up on a hill and definitely old. We stopped for pictures real quick. Then we got there and walked to the Cathedral. we got in and for the next hour and half my mind was blown. The vaulted cielings o the gothic architecture were amazing! Then we went into a room where there this massive solid gold tower thing that was like 6 feet tall, and next to it was the crown of Isabella of Castille. That was beautiful full of jewels and pearls and gold i couldnt believe that people could concetrate that many precious metals and stones in one place. Then we saw the alter and the choirs settings. It was a mixture of Baroque and renaissance sculpture and I could see the difference. There were two organs that were HUGE and they could be played at the same time, I would love to hear that one day. The altar itself was also massive and decorated with scenes of Jesus life. Very elaborate fancy artwork. Then we saw the place where the priest stays and there was a lot of important artwork in there including portraits of all the cardinals of the church's history. Then we saw a dome they made way u in the roof to make a window that was painted elaborately. The back side of the altar was also splendid in that it was all well sculpted and the facades were splendid. The whole church was just so elaborate and fancy and all those words. I cant believe how powerful and rich the church was to afford all that. I was humled by the sheer majesty of the place and how fancy it was. It was simply amazing!
Then We went to a building and saw a masterpiece by Goya that was an old count being taken to heaven during his death. Very fancy just amazing. Aparently it is the number 2 painting in spain! Then we saw an old sinogauge that was built by Arab laborers so it looked like a mosque. Then we had free time walk around and eat. The city is quite easy to get lost in as the streets are tiny and shoot off in all directions. There ist a clear plan for the development of the city and it shows. It was totally medieval and really interesting. It felt like a stereotypical ancient european city. We had lunch menu del dia again awesome! Then just walked around looking in shops. There was a lot of really cool souvenier stuff like daggers and swords and suits of armor. Anything under the sun you could want. then we left and came back to the hotel where I've just been chilling waiting to go out later. Its still snowing so its going to be really really cold tonight. Oh well. As I type this my friend Josh and I are watching Password in Spanish trying to improve our vocabulary. Tomorrow is El Escorial and I CANT WAIT TO SEE IT!