I'm in Spain and we're going to visit 5 cities during this trip (which is about a 10 day trip so not bad) and we have so far been to Madrid, Avila and Zaragoza, but we will also Girona and Barcelona.
Last Thursday we left very early to catch a flight to Madrid. After only getting a few hours of sleep (because the night before it sounded like much more fun to go get ice cream at G&D's at 11 instead of packing. But despite being tired I was so excited to be in Spain that I didn't care. Our hotel was a bit outside of Madrid so we just went and caught the train to Madrid. That day we explored the city a bit, saw the Prado museum, and ate a fairly nice dinner in town. The next day we went out again into Madrid. It was the Spanish National Holiday and there was a military procession so we watched that for a while. The king and queen were watching nearby but I didn't get to see them. I saw where they had been after they left. We kinda got stuck in that area a bit after the parade but whenever we could we headed down to the park. The park was so much fun. There were puppet shows and vendors selling crafts and it was a lot of fun to walk around. In the middle of the park there is a lake and there were people in row boats. We really wanted to do it so after finding out that it was €4.60 per boat/4 to a boat for 45 minutes we had to do it. So that was the best euro I've spent. If i ever go back to Madrid I want to do that again. After it started raining so we tried to find shelter in the park hoping to ride it out. When it became apparent it wasn't going to stop soon we decided to go get some food. We found this place and I got patatas bravas. It was really good! After that we took pictures with a fat and crazy spiderman. I didn't want to but he chased us down. Then we went to a tapas market. After walking around a bit more we went to the Museo de Reina Sofia which is the modern art museum. (the Prado is the classical art). I had been to the Tate Modern in London and there discovered that I'm not a big fan of modern art. But I liked the Reina Sofia. It had a lot of stuff from the 1930s. It also had Picasso so that was really cool. I didn't really know what all he had done so it was cool to see some of his art. It can be quite weird though. But the main Picasso painting at the Reina Sofia is the Guernaca (not sure how it's spelt). But it was a really interesting painting. The next day I could have gone to Madrid in the morning but I felt like I needed to rest for one and I also needed to work on a project. That afternoon we headed to Avila.
I really wasn't quite sure what to think of Avila at first. It wasn't a city I had heard of and I didn't really want to go. But it was great. In the city center there is kinda a separate city and there is a wall around it and I think it's from the 12th century. It's old that's for sure. We stayed in a monastery. We explored a bit that afternoon and night. The good think about staying at the monastery is that all the meals were taken care of. But we had to get use to the Spanish style of eating. Breakfast was at a fairly normal time, lunch was at 2, and dinner at 9. So we would go get tapas sometimes before dinner.
Sunday went to Mass. It was a really neat experience. I don't think I had ever been to a Catholic service before so it was really neat to see. It was in Spanish so I had a bit of trouble keeping up with what was being said but it was still a really neat experience. After the service we went to a milk machine. Some people had found it the day before and it is pretty fantastic. Basically you go up, and buy a bottle if you don't have one and then fill it with milk and then it makes it cold and it's great! That afternoon we went to go see a bit of Spanish culture, specifically went to a bull fight. It was more disturbing than I thought it would be. Mean I knew that they killed the bull but still. They would just stab it over and over again and then put hooks in it and it was just very disturbing. Every time it would get stabbed the audience would cheer. The poor thing was bleeding terribly and finally I just had to leave. A group had just left so I went to go catch up with them. We headed to the city center and saw a procession. They were carrying an effigy of Saint Teresa into the cathedral because the next day would be her feast day. We followed a bit and it was really cool! After it was inside the church we decided to go find a bite to eat and something hot to drink be because it was a bit cold and rainy. I got churros con chocolate! It was good! I'm going to have to get it again before we leave Spain.
The next day was the feast day of Saint Teresa. She was born in Avila in the 1500s and after a bit of a crazy youth, her father sent her to a convent, she became a nun, and lived like a normal nun for a while. Later in her life she started having visions and people were thinking that she was a bit crazy. Someone said that it was crazy that she became a saint because she might have been burnt at the stake for her beliefs. She reformed the way things worked in convents and did a lot for the catholic church. She really is pretty interesting. She is the patron saint of Avila and was made a doctor of the catholic church. For the festivities there was a mass that morning that I went to and there were a lot of people and I think there were probably people from out of town (other than us) because at the beginning when they were welcoming everyone they mentioned a special welcome to those coming from out of town. After the mass there was a procession so people lined the streets and bands marched as they carried the effigy of her to the church dedicated to her, which is built on the sight that she was supposedly born. A bit late we walked around the city again and went to that church and saw some relics of St. Teresa including her finger...which was interesting. That night there was a firework show and it was pretty awesome!
Tuesday we had class in the morning but still went to walk around the city a bit for fun. We went and saw some views and wanted to walk the walls of the city but they were closed. That was sad because it was our last full day in Avila and we were a bit disappointed that we couldn't do that. But we still had fun in the city that day.
We were going to leave too early this morning to go out and do anything but the bus called and said they couldn't come until noon so we were able to go again to the city and walk the walls so I got to do it after all. We went up to the city and went up the walls and walked where we could. It was a really neat view and a lot of fun.
Today we got to Zaragoza a bit late so we just went to dinner and walked around a bit. We are leaving tomorrow morning so it's sad that we don't have a lot of time here. It is a really cool city and super pretty! The buildings are fantastic! I really wish we had at least a full day here. A few hours are not enough. Also the cathedral was closed and I wanted to go see the inside because the outside was just fantastic!!!
I have loved being in Spain so far. I have had a blast being here with this group and it has been nice to get to know people better and to grow as a family. I have also enjoyed the chance to practice my Spanish a bit. It has reminded me how much I need to work at it and that I have a lot to do to achieve my goal of being fluent in Spanish. But at the same time I'm also motivated to do so being here. It has made me excited about going to Uruguay and spending a lot of time in a Spanish speaking country. I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to get around how I wished I were able to while here. Spain Spanish is a bit different but I feel like I've been able to get around surprisingly well and understand more than I expected. I can read most signs I see so I have been fairly confident. I have ordering food at restaurants down pretty well too. I do occasionally get looks like "what did you just say?" But it is good. I'm looking forward to these next few days here. Tomorrow we go to Girona for two nights and then we have the rest of our time in Barcelona. I'll post about that later.
So this as quite the long post but I didn't want to leave anything out! Spain is great and I highly recommend it!
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