The 2nd weekend in March, our school program took a trip to Madrid! Now while I've been to the Madrid airport countless of times, this was the first time I was actually going to be able to spend actual time in Madrid.
First stop-Toledo.
Toledo is another one of Spain's cities that holds a lot of history from the Fenician time to the Muslim reign to the Catholic return, and to today. It has a lot of cool history to look out and is located within the valleys right outside of Madrid. We visited the Medina or the older part of town which was so high up on a hill that we had to take 7 flights of giant escalators. It was insane! But I must say it was worth it. One interesting thing about Toledo is they have these fake paintings drawn on the walls of windows, people, molding, doors, etc. Our tour guide was just fascinated with showing them to us.
In Madrid we stayed right on the Puerta del Sol. This Plaza is crazy! There were so many people because there are shopping stores and places to eat in every direction. I must admit it was quite intimidating at first for this Iowa girl. But soon I learned to figure out and enjoy the hustle and bustle of the square. There was always something going on in the square whether people selling balloons, walking around in spongebob and patrick costumes, or my favorites, mariachi bands!
The first night we were there, some of my friends and I got onto this famous American craving of--buffalo wings. We had heard of this place that was just a metro ride away...What we didn't know was that it was a 30 min metro stop away plus a 30 min walk in the RAIN away. But no worries we had so much fun laughing about it all and we did finally make it there and have some wings. They were no buffalo wild wings but, they were wings nonetheless. We even got creative with our wings and did a CUI in hopes that we'll win the photo competition next year!
My favorite part of Madrid was visiting the Palacio Real (Royal Palace). This place is the most elegant place I have ever seen. I wish we could have taken picture of the inside, but because of history and preservation, I was unable to. Each room had a different purpose whether it was a maid's quarter, woman's powdering room, business room, dining room, etc. Each had its own theme throughout the room too--certain colors, fabrics, and moldings. Almost every room had an incredibly detailed ceiling too! We were on a guided tour so I wasn't able to fully stay in each room as long as I wanted (or pass through the less detailed ones), but I wish I could have stayed much longer in one room particular--the throne room. It was so...majestic. Royalty emitted from the walls and carpet. I couldn't do anything but stand in awe and try to take it all in. The biggest thing I realized was that I was standing in a throne room--a real one. The whole scenery reminded me of God's throne room in Heaven. If this one one earth was able to have such a strong feeling of royalty and elegance, how much more will His emit and of glory and power. It is definitely a more humbling experience to realize, this is only a small glimpse of what I really will bow down to. Fascinating. I've added a picture online I found but it doesn't give it much justice.
After our tour, we had free time to roam around Madrid. One of the places suggested was the Plaza Major. So we walked towards there and what did we find? Lots of people of course, and lots of street 'performers.' They ranged from a creepy Asian man mermaid to Mickey Mouse, to headless people, and to my favorite, Spiderman. Now this was not your typical Spiderman, but Spiderman after years and years of saving people and getting fed of it. This Spiderman was chubby, smoked a cigarette, and had a lovely hole in his crotch that you saw when he posed for pictures. I think he was such an unrealistic Spiderman that it worked for him. We all stood in shock of such a man.
Last but not least. During one of our free times, a couple friends and I went to a contemporary art museum. It was definitely strange and pointless at times, but my heart was filled when I saw a piece of art with the Fibonacci's sequence (1,1,2,3,5,8,13,...) in it. Now there's true beauty.
The second day we rode the double decker red buses in order to see all of the city and decide where to hop off to get a closer look. London is such a fascinating city! Without knowing their history, its hard to pinpoint where they got their influences. At times some of the buildings looked Roman but they definitely had their own flare. It was fun to see all of the random government buildings along with the known ones like Big Ben, Parliament and Westminster Abbey (when I was watching the wedding I kept thinking in my head--hey I've been there!). Big Ben and the Parliament seemed so stoic in their gold colors and intrinsic architecture. The pictures really can't capture their beauty. They both seem to protrude power. From the governing part to Buckingham Palace where the flowers and decorations were already blooming. What a grand place that would be to live in! We also hopped off to actually go inside the London Tower which was where all of England's big torturings and punishments were which was (oddly) really cool to see. We had a tour guide that pretended to be from that time period and gave the area extra life. There were museums inside that had the crowns from all the royalty to the type of armor they wore. My favorite part of the day though was when we took our included river cruise. We got to a point where on one side was the old part of town--the part with all of the history--and the other side had the newer more metropolitan area. It was almost an abrupt change but it still showed the history England has gone through.
Last but not least, being in London it is a must to find some things that relate to Harry Potter. Had we had another day we would have gone on the Harry Potter filming tour, but alas our time did not call for it. We did happen to find Platform 9 3/4 and even got in a red phone booth--to the ministry of magic please!
