NOS VAMOS A LA PLAYA

Well, I thought I'd just write a little update. Not much has happened lately, just life as usual. Last weekend, on a kind of last minute decision, we went to El Escorial, which, though I'd never heard of it, is actually quite famous, at least in Europe. It is pretty much THE renaissance work in Spain. Phillip II was a quiet king, devoted to the church, and decided to have this monastery/palace built for him. It was built by Herrera, the nickname of the spanish style of the era is Herriano, and when it was being built, the king sent for artists from around the world to come decorate it for him. I believe most of the frescoes and artwork was realized by Italian artists. When Phillip made the palace, he placed it so that his bedroom opened pretty much right into the cathedral, so that when he got old and couldn't get out of bed, he was able to hear the sermons through his door. Well, I took a few pictures, we were kind of in a hurry because we had some other things to do that day, which is too bad, but I'll get them up when I have time. I'm sure you can check it out online if you're really interested. Other than that school goes on as normal. Today was the last day before semana santa, their equivalent to spring break. Clara is leaving early tomorrow morning to fly with her "scout" group to France and the Alps, and on Saturday the rest of us are going down to Cadiz, which everyone says is beautiful and I'm sure it is. It is pretty much on the southern tip of Spain, near the Strait of Gibralter, I think, so the weather will be nice. I think at least three times a day for the past few Oscar has been saying the title of this entry, nos vamos a la playa, which means we're going to the beach. I don't think he's excited in the least to get away from his work for a while. Pretty much the whole world stops here for semana santa, at least everyone has it off work or school. I hope everything will go well, and if it doesn't, I can always read. I started one of the books mom sent me three days ago, Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead, which is about 800 pages, and I'm about halfway through. I think I might have a serious problem. Just ask Lena. Well, until I get back, I don't know if I'll have time to tell you about my trip, so until then listen to conference this weekend. I'll be trying to get it in Cadiz, who knows what my family will say about it, but I think they'll understand seeing as this is quite a religious time for them as well. I don't know exactly when spring break is back at home, but I hope you all take this weekend to rest and spend some time with family. I love you all!

About two months

Isi and I
(sorry it's now rotated) "The Fallen Angel" aka Satan

One of the mosaics from the roman ruins we went to see.
Other tile patterning, all mosaic.
The one really standing part of the ruins, which was part of a basilica, which was used as a civil building for the romans.
Inside the Palacio Real of Madrid (royal palace).
My favorite fountain here, Neptune.

Well, I can't really say that I did much this weekend except get sick, and then try and get better. Yesterday was Dani's birthday, so we went out to eat for dinner, and I went to the grocery store nearby to buy him just some chocolates because I didn't know what else to get for him. Well, when I tried to pay all 9 dollars of it, in US dollars, my card wouldn't go through, so I asked them where an ATM was, and all they could tell me was go up....VERY helpful. Well I started looking around when dad calls me and tells me that WAMU called him about suspicious transactions on my card, even though I had already told them that I'd be in Spain for the next three months. So dad told them it was ok and I went back to the store to have them run my card again but the shift manager or whoever it was, was very insistent that they couldn't try it again. Well I asked again if they could be more specific as to where I might find an ATM and they were like, ask someone else. So I asked this guy outside the store and it turns out that it wasn't so close. Well it was my first time really out of bed since I was sick, so I was really tired, and hot, and blah, but I ended up getting Dani his chocolate. Thats the only story I have, but dad insists that I put up pictures so here are some. Or rather, they got put at the front when I uploaded them, so there they are!

Time passes...

Ok, so it's been a while since I've written something here. I guess that's just because there's been a lot going on lately. Well, Isabel has come and gone. She got here on Wednesday, the 21 I think, and that day I just kind of showed her how to get around, and took her to her first hostel, which, unfortunately, was on a kind of bad street in Madrid. The place was only ok, and everyone was glad when she went to her other hostel, which was more expensive, but thus much nicer and most importantly in a better neighborhood. So then, on Thursday we went to the Palacio Real, aka Royal Palace, and walked around inside, which was pretty awesome. I do have a lot of pictures, its just that since I'm using another computer that doesn't have a wireless card and only one USB port, it takes a lot more time to transfer and upload and all that. Well, tha palace is huge and we did a lot of walking, so our feet were tired. On friday, we decided to go to Toledo, which is a smaller Romanesque city about an hour outside of Madrid. We met at the bus station, and took a bus there, and then to whole rest of the day was walking. We thought our feet were tired the day before! Well, this city was ridiculously hard to navigate through because the streets had no pattern whatsoever. We got lost a couple of times, but evetually found our way around. Unfortunately, lots of the cities attractions were closed, like the castle and the house of the famous painter El Greco. We did spend about 2 hours or so inside the cathedral there admiring the general splendor. We also went to a monastery there, but we didn't get to see the beautiful façade because they were restoring it. Well, I'll just say that by the time we got back to the bus station to leave we were certainly ready to go and slept most of the way home. On Saturday we went to this old nunnery called Descalzos Reales, which means royal barefoot nuns. Well, we went on a tour of it, it was lovely, but the narration was in Spanish and I asked the guide if he could go and talk a little slower becuase I had to translate and he like went into some tizzy about how we had to go in complete silence and translating is absolutely forbidden. Well, when we were in the monastery everyone was talking anyway and I got to sneak the most important information to Isi. Then we spent the rest of the day at the Prado, which was awesome, but not necessatily the best idea when your feet are about to fall off from the past few days. It was awesome to be able to see in person some of the most famous works of art and things that I have studied here in my Art History class. So then came Sunday and we wne to the famous Rastro market, which is just like an open air flea market kind of a thing. Oscar told us to be careful with our purses so I was, but apparently I didn't keep enough watch over my pockets because my lovely telephone was stolen. That kind of ruined the day, which was sad because Isi had to go later that day. Well, we enjoyed our time together at home because I didn't really feel like walking around anymore. So I had to call vodafone, which is the carrier I have here, and cancel my card, and then go to a store and get a duplicate made. Right now I am using an old phone they had here, and old Nokia, those ones that everyone had a couple years ago. I'm fine with that, it works, and it has snake on it, which is a major plus :) but its definately not as nice as my razr. Well I'll just have to wait until I find a good deal on a phone to get one, seeing as I don't really have money right now.
After Isi left, I've been pretty much doing nothing, relaxing at home. I do get bored, so I decided to check out what classes the cultural center has. They have painting and ballroom dancing which I would like to do, but I just have to figure out if they cost anything and if I need supplies. Well, I don't have school for the next two days (exam time for the real school people) so I'll give them a call. I hope everything with you all in SLC is fine. I hear you've been having snow, which is a pity because the weather here for the past few days has just been gorgeous. Well, enjoy yourselves and life. Much love to everyone.