I was skyping my family on Sunday and my dad was a little anxious for me to blog again because he "doesn't do facebook" and that's where all my pictures are. So, dad, this is especially for you and your anti-facebook ways.
SEGOVIA. APRIL 27.
Saw the ancient acueducto built by the Romans. The amazing thing is that there is not anything between the bricks holding them together.
We took a little walking tour of Segovia and it was a really lovely town. There is a lot of religious history in the town concerning Jews and Muslims and their interactions with the Catholics. (Sorry this is so vague but it was almost a month ago and I have been on 100 trips since then.)
We visitied Alcazar which is a beeeaaaaauuuuuuuuttiful castle and I learned yesterday in the Prado that Las Meninas was painted there. The ceilings in here were some of the most beautiful I have seen. I much prefer the Musulmana ceilings to the overindulgent Rococo which is in a lot of palaces.
SEGOVIA. APRIL 27.
Saw the ancient acueducto built by the Romans. The amazing thing is that there is not anything between the bricks holding them together.
We took a little walking tour of Segovia and it was a really lovely town. There is a lot of religious history in the town concerning Jews and Muslims and their interactions with the Catholics. (Sorry this is so vague but it was almost a month ago and I have been on 100 trips since then.)
We visitied Alcazar which is a beeeaaaaauuuuuuuuttiful castle and I learned yesterday in the Prado that Las Meninas was painted there. The ceilings in here were some of the most beautiful I have seen. I much prefer the Musulmana ceilings to the overindulgent Rococo which is in a lot of palaces.
We also visited La Granja which is a pretty palace not far from Segovia. My favorite part of this palace was seeing a bunch of classy little Spanish schoolgirls on a field trip there. They were so adorable and fancy! The gardens at La Granja were super eerie and cool because of the weather but they looked super unkempt which put me off a little bit. We went in this hedge maze which had a sign that said "PLEASE SHUT THE GATE SO WE DON'T HAVE PROBLEMS WITH THE *word none of us knew*" So we were trying to figure out what creepy animal we should be on the look out for and making up all these really dramatic possibilities and it just turned out to be deer. Then it poured rain and we all got soaked to the bones and went home.
BURGOS y LEON. APRIL 30-MAY 2.
On our way to Burgos we went to a really cool castle.
Then we went to like a teeny tiny town and went and walked through a church. We were in a bar and we heard Jueves and I think CJ might have cried.
Then we went to another teeny town which was maybe one of my favorite destinations on this trip and we heard singing monks. It was really pretty and we hiked up this hill and looked over the city. The monks really stressed me out because I feel like they live sad unfulfilling lives and I still have so many questions about their lifestyle.
Then we went to Burgos to our hotel and me and my friends headed to the nearest McDonald's and Carrefour while everyone else went to find tapas. We all know who had a better time.
We went back to the hotel and watched Jersey Shore but only for five minutes because it's not as funny in Spanish. Apparently they way they talk is the funniest part and the voice-overs kill it.
The next day we took a walking tour of Burgos and saw the cathedral which was beautiful. I really am hoping that I don't become completely disenchanted with castles/palaces/cathedrals because I am so lucky to see them all the time! One of my favorite parts about the cathedral in Burgos was an art exhibit inside.
The quote from the author basically says that she asked, "Lord, put your hands in mine so that my work can bring men closer to you." I love loved loved these paintings and it was so nice to see something different than the same depictions of Christ over and over in the cathedrals. Which are often graphic and over-the-top.
Then we headed to Leon.
We may not look like much, but I love my group! Honestly, some of my favorite people I have ever met in my life. I can't even look at this picture without getting super emotional but I guess that's just me!
Then we went to the cathedral which has the second-highest stained glass to wall ratio of any cathedral in the world (I went to the first-highest in Paris. Both gorgeous.) This was one of the funniest nights of my life. We had free time beginning at like 7PM and we had heard that at midnight the cathedral would turn on the lights inside so that the stained glass windows would like gleam and glow and look super magical.
Me, CJ, and Kjersten went to a bar to try and get some food but apparently it was just a bar. So we sat outside and people watched and paid way too much for Coke Light, but it was a lot of fun.
Then we went to dinner and spent like 2 hours sitting in the restaurant because it was raining and we didn't really know what else to do when left to our own devices. We left the restaurant at like 9:30 and we still had a while before the "big show" at the cathedral so we just walked around...Some people went back to the hotel beforehand but by the time we got dinner and everything Kjersten and CJ and me were like let's just walk around until midnight, no big deal. That way we can explore the city and it's probably not worth it to walk back to the hotel anyway. Basically it was freezing and we had nothing to do so I now know Leon like the back of my hand just from walking ALL OVER and laughing like loons in the middle of like five different plazas...we wanted to make sure that the lights were actually going to happen and we asked like a billion locals and they all said that it would not happen. So we were pretty discouraged but we thought we might as well just stay because we knew people from our group would be coming and we were still hoping it would happen. We played Screw Marry Kill for like an hour and then made up another game called Who Would You Be? and we also made up scenarios about being homeless. I have maybe never laughed harder than I did that night! The lights did come on at midnight, though, and it was beautiful.
The next morning we woke up, walked around in the cathedral and saw all the beautiful stained glass, then headed home. But we stopped at a castle called Coca. I kinda jumped the gun on going to the top and me and my friends were up there for like 15 minutes and then we were like, where is everyone else? And they were all downstairs having a tour. Awkward. Also, our tour guide was extremely drunk so that was hilarious.
Well...I am glad I am forcing myself to blog about this stuff. This trip is going by so fast and I have been so busy that I need to take more time to write down my memories! I am having the time of my life...I love beautiful Spain so much. I can't believe I only have one more month. I can't think about leaving or I will start to cry!!!!
Love and miss all of you very much. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world!
BESO BESO BESO
No comments:
Post a Comment