Monday, May 26, 2008

After the usual 7 am breakfast (from which me and Amanda put some great muffins in our book bags for later) we were off on our first day trip! We headed to Toledo, Spain, about an hour outside of Madrid. This city has been by far the best part of the trip so far! We got to see what a really old city looks like! After getting off the bus, we had a walking tour around the city. It was amazing and unlike anything else that I have ever seen! The city was full of very steep hills and little cobblestone streets. The pictures of the city are the most gorgeous that I have ever seen in my life! The view from the city was just spectacular! I really cannot describe how breathtaking it was (so I guess you will just have to wait and see all of my pictures)!
At the end of our walking tour, we stopped by a building where the tomb of Count Orgaz is held. This small chapel has a fresco about the tomb which we studied in our Art history class. It was painted by El Greco several hundred years ago. After we saw the tomb, we had a couple of hours to walk around the city. 12 of us stopped in a small pub to grab some lunch. I think that this was by far the best meal that I have had the whole trip! I had a toasted ham and cheese sandwich and I don’t know why, but it was so good!
Also, I was able to get my souvenir for the country of Spain! I am on a missing to get one piece of jewelry in each country I visit! I found some pretty cheap earrings that I love! We got to walk around for a very short while after that before heading back to Madrid. Once we arrived back in Madrid, we headed to an internet café to try to work on our concert report and check email. I didn’t get that much done, but I loved loved loved having internet! I had felt so useless until that point without it. It is kind of a strange feeling not using cell phones or the internet. I quickly ran back to the hotel to shower before our night began!
That night, we met in the lobby to go to a Flamico concert. After the long walk there, we had about 20 minutes to grab dinner before the concert. We opted to go to a McDonalds since it was close and we thought it would be fast. After many meals, we have discovered that everywhere in Spain has very slow service. We hurriedly got happy meals which I stuffed in my purse. We got to the concert where I ate my cheeseburger, French fries, and apple. It was so delicious! I never thought I would think McDonalds was so good. But it was! It was really good.
The Flaminco concert was a very different experience. It was neat seeing all the very technical performers. The guitarists and all the singers were very good. There was also so very interesting new instruments. I was a little disappointed though because I was expecting some really cool dancers. After intermission, we took our seats again. This time, some dancers came out! We ended up seeing three different dancers. The first was a woman who was by far the best! I don’t think that I have ever seen someone move their feet so quickly! The next was a man, who I am still not that sure about. He was obviously a very technical dancer, but it was very strange to watch him for some reason. The last was a woman who, while not as good as the first, had a pretty cool dress. However, at this piont I think I, as well as the rest of the group, was so over the flamico concert. It was approaching 3 hours, and at 11, most had still not eaten any dinner! When it was finally over, I was so thankful for that McDonalds! J
After the concert, we stopped by a local supermarket and bought some very cheap wine. We went up to the solarium on the 8th floor of our hotel and there a large group had some wine while taking in some Spanish air! We decided to head out downtown again for our last night. On the first night we had spotted a Laser Karaoke bar where we decided to head back to. I opted not to get anything to drink (in order to save some money) but I still had a great time! They had most all the songs in English so our group had a very wide variety of things to chose from. I got up on stage just once, but I had so much fun watching all the other people cut up. We also met some locals who were very eager to show off their English! Our newest friend was Jesus, whose favorite thing to say in the whole wide world was “hello, my name is Jesus. I am from America!” I don’t think that he has even ever visited America, but it was very enjoyable listening to all the English phrases he knew!
We called it a night and headed back to the hotel. Luckily we had already packed, but we decided to go ahead and shower. Our group has made up rules for the bus since we are going to be on it for so long! One of them was that everyone needs to shower before boarding the bus (to avoid people staying out all night and then reeking of alcohol the next day). Me and Amanda’s clothes had the stench of smoke so we did the best with that before heading off to bed for a couple hours of sleep. Tomorrow will be a long day with the bus ride to Barcelona!