madrid y barcelona.

Hey hey hey. Its been awhile, but rest assured, im still alive and well.
I have been pretty busy of late since I just started my main chunk of classes... so before it gets hazy, let me tell you about my recent trips to Madrid and Barcelona…

The whole AIFS crew met bright and early at 10am (yes, bright and early) on Jan 30th to take off for Madrid. The five hour bus ride went surprisingly quick, as we whisped through the sur of espana on upward. We would be staying in the same hotel that we did on our initial arrival to spain; a modest but classy joint in primarily the heart of Madrid.

the roomies: jon and grant; compliments of the self timer

We had the whole afternoon and evening free on Tuesday and some of us went on a walking tour of downtown Madrid, checking out the Plaza Mayor, Puerta del Sol, and up the Paseo de la Castellana…Madrid is a huge city, and it’s downtown district almost has a New York city ish feel too it. Not that I’d know, since ive never been to NY, but still…

The next morning, we all went to check out the Royal Palace, belonging to the Borbon royal family of Spain back in the mid 1700’s. Today the palace is used by the royal couple for only very special occasions. The inside is packed with over 2000 rooms; chock full of tapestries, art, porcelain, and just about anything else imaginable you would out in 2000 rooms.

no pictures from the inside, just a closeup of me in the courtyard outside

After that, we all headed east to take on two of Madrid’s most famous museums: The Museu Del Prado (Valazquez, Goya, Murillo, and El Greco) and the Reina Sofia (home to much of Picasso’s collection, including his masterpiece: Guernica). Once again, no pictures, but I’m sure you can close your eyes and imagine cool art, or google image one of the said painters. Word. Moving on…

The next day, the lovely AIFS coordinators had planned a day excursion to two nearby sites: El escorial and Segovia. The former used to be the palace of Felipe II as well as the burial place of all the Spanish monarchs since Carlos V. We took a full tour of the sprawling piece of architecture, which also is scenically placed near the foothills. Here’s some pics…

looking out the windo of the escorial

in the burial chamber, can you tell i worked at a cemetary this summer

out in the courtyard, pretty view

From Escorial we hopped on our bus and darted on over to the small city of Segovia: home to the 2003 year old Roman acqueduct and the castle where Isabel de Castilla grew up (and the castle which would later inspire Sleeping Beauty’s castle, sweet huh? or are you all lion king fans? whatever. appreciate it.)…

I jump for joy when I see good architecture. Don’t you? (the roman acqueduct)

grant and I at the base of the castle

a cool view of Segovia from the castle heights; grant, me, and drew

From there, we took the bus back to Madrid, to rest up and eat because our flight to Madrid was at 6 am the next morning. Instead of paying for a taxi to the airport at like 3am, we just took the metro at 12 (because it closes at 1) and proceeded to camp out in the terminal until our flight. We ended up arriving in Barcelona at a little after 7, and Ryan met me at the Plaza to head back to his place. (For those outside the know, Ryan and Peter, my two friends from school, are studying abroad in Barcelona and they have an apartment with some other fellow loma-ers who were hospitable enough to let me crash for free). Ryan and I decided not to waste any time and decided to walk over to Camp Nou, the legendary stadium and home to one of the best futbol clubs in the world. We paid 10euros, but got to walk all through the stadium and in the huge museum the chronicled the club since its beginning. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of batteries, and I only got one pic:

camp nou y ryan

After checkin camp nou, we did a little grocery shopping (which proved to be a cheap, and tasty alternative to overpriced restaurants), and laid around the apartment, although I didn’t fall asleep (I would later find myself up for a straight 48 hours due to our traveling night). Ryan and I went out and explored some of the city late at night:

no, im not in france

a sweet fountain, nicely illuminated, me in the bottom right foreground. Hehe

After some exploring, ryan and I, met up with some other kids from my program who were in barca as well, and went and checked out this sweet indie-rock club, which was pumpin out all our (well my) favorite jams. By the time we crashed, I had been up for 48 hours straight, and we obviously decided to spend a good chunk of the day sleeping. The next day, we cruised down les ramblas, the happening city center which is home to all kinds of stores and the most bizarre street performers you’ll ever see. At night, the whole gang and I walked to the beach…

pete, ryan, kelsie, and brett

pete and repete, one fell off, who was left

The next day peter, ryan, and I decided to venture over to plaza espana, another main center to Barcelona, and explore from there. What we soon discovered was park montjuic, which rests atop a hill on the southwest end of the city. Montjuic is home to art museum, the Olympic stadium (circa 1992), an amazing park, and a castle that rests atop at all. The castle has been the desired location for all rulers in Barcelona, throughout history, as whoever controlled the hill, controlled the city. Even Franco, the oppressive dictator, made the castle one of his interrogation centers during his reign. Anyways, here our some pics from said stuff…

outside the art museum

around the world, around the world…

monkeys on the ropes course we found

zip line action shoooot

Venturing to the complete opposite side of Barcelona, peter and I spent my last full day in Barca checking out the famed attractions of the legendary architect Gaudi: La sagrada familia and parc guell. Park quell rivals montjuic for best view of the city and contains the worlds largest bench, as well as other designs. La sagrada familia, is Gaudis unfinished work, which now is under construction to be finished. The juxtaposition of the old side done by Gaudi, and the new architecture on the back side is an incredible contrast, both in themes and style. Here’s some pics…

pete and I atop park guell

gaudi’s long long bench

la sagrada familia

Well, that about raps up my trip to barca and Madrid; I hope you enjoyed the pics n such. As always, leave comments if ud like, id love to hear from you.

I am probably going to be out of blogging commission for quite sometime after this however as I have a crazy schedule coming up:

Feb 17th – We are going to nearby city of Ronda for the day with my program.
February 22nd – 26th – I am going to Ireland with some peeps.
February 28th – March 5th – I am going to England with peeps.

I will plan to update you on these travels when I return.
Welp, byeeeee.
And oh, happy valentines day!
Love you mom!