Spain 2010: July 2010

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Saturday 5/15/2010 Madrid

Welcome to Spain

The bear statue, a symbol of Madrid, in Puerta del Sol

Lots of cafes

Libby's bedroom in Madrid

Typical close parking job, even with tiny smart cars

We arrived finally around 11:00am on Saturday, having left our house in Phoenix at 4:30am the day before, and nine time zones ago. Besides a three-hour delay on the runway in Philadelphia in the plane due to a thunderstorm, the rest of the trip was uneventful. We met our ride and went to our house. Our family is a single woman who is a middle school teacher. She lives on the fourth floor of a 9-story apartment complex on a tree-lined street close to the school. She gave us a few minutes to put our stuff away and then took us on a short walk to show us where the school is and then pointed us toward the center of town. Despite our exhaustion we decided it would be better to get out and wait to sleep until night to help us get on Madrid time faster. We walked to the city center, the Puerta del Sol, the Paseo del Prada, and just got the lay of the land. Our first impression was how amazingly relaxed everything is for such a big city. No one was in a rush; everyone strolls, talks, window-shops, or sits outdoors at a café and watches the world go by. The city is also very clean, orderly, and safe. They were having a huge street party for 100 years of the Gran Via (a main thoroughfare) so there were many interesting things to see along the way. When we arrived back home we were so tired we could barely stay awake. We had a quick snack, showered, and went to bed at 7pm!

Monday, July 5, 2010

Sunday 5/16/10 Madrid

Plaza de Colón

Puerta de Alcala

Today we went to five museums in Madrid. After breakfast we strolled over to the Plaza de Colón, which contains a monument to Christopher Columbus and a garden to commemorate his discovery. Then we visited the Museo de Arquelógico, which contained relics from the caveman days, ancient Rome and Egypt and Spain. As we were walking by the National Library (Biblioteca Nacional) we noticed they had a special exhibit of old papers. Although small, it was fascinating because they had original manuscripts by Dante, Herodotus, Darwin, Kant, and others, the French Declaration of the Rights of Man, musical scores by Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, and old maps.

Next we visited the Museo Naval de Madrid, which had models of old ships, and many of the original navigational equipment and maps used by the early sailors.

By this time we were starving and found a place to eat where we tried the tasting menu. Our lunch included calamari, prosciutto, olives, potatoes, crab cakes, good bread, and ham. It was seven dishes in all. Then we just had to get some gelato on our way back to the museums.

We sat and people-watched along the Paseo del Prado and then visited the CaixaForum. It was a neat modern museum rebuilt by architects in an old electric power plant that had a cool vertical wall of plants outside containing over 250 varieties of plants. The inside, which was elevated over the walkway, was stainless steel. On the second floor was exhibit of a modern Spanish artist and on the third floor was an exhibit of photography contest winners with various sequences of pictures. The most memorable was a sequence of Pakistani women grossly disfigured by having acid thrown on their faces by men they knew. Others were war in Lebanon and war in Kenya.

Finally, it was time to go to the Prado, one of the most well-know art museums in the world, since it is free after 5pm on Sundays. It was quite crowded as many people took advantage of the free admission. The majority of the art was religious, though some showed rulers or landscapes. We saw the highlights (mentioned in our guide book) and then walked back to the house. On the way we stopped and drank a hot chocolate, we hoped it would be the famous Spanish thick hot chocolate. It wasn’t but it was still good. Once home we had a dinner consisting of soup, a small salad, a piece of bread with sausage and cheese, and an ice cream sandwich.

The best part was that all five of these museums were free (due to Camille’s excellent planning)!

Sunday 5/16/10 Madrid

The vertical wall of plants in front of the Caixa Forum

...complete with cool elephant statue

Sunday 5/16/10 Madrid

Leafy green streets

Model ship from the Museo Naval de Madrid

Part of the Paseo del Prado

Steps to the National Library

Monday 5/17/10 Madrid

Vibrant nightlife

Popular pastime of window shopping

Public art on the streets

View from the Plaza España

The iconic Tio Pepe sign in Puerta del Sol

Today we went to the school and took our placement tests. We were both scheduled for classes in the mornings. Camille’s class was too basic, and Libby’s was with much more advanced speakers, so we asked to switch and the only choice was an afternoon class. So, after grabbing a quick lunch, we went back for afternoon classes, which we both liked better. However, afternoon classes make it much harder to sightsee because we aren’t out of class until 6:30. We have a culture class from 1:30-2:30 and then regular class from 2:30-6:30. The culture class discussed Spanish geography, names, artists, authors, songs, magazines, and other topics of interest.

We did manage to go out after dinner and walk down to the Plaza España just to see the shops and nightlife. The daylight goes until 10pm or so and the number of people out and about late is amazing. Many of the little snack shops stay open until the wee hours of the morning to accommodate the late crowd.

Tuesday 5/18/10 Madrid

Enjoying gelato

McDonald's with leather booths, IKEA decor, and kiosk ordering

The kitchen at our house

The dog park in front of our house

The street in front of our house, with trees and many play areas for kids

This morning the school offered an expedition to the museum housed in the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. There were only four of us with a guide. We took a bus to downtown to the rococo building that houses 1000 paintings and sculptures. The famous painter Goya painted in this building and it is full of his works. He was the court painter for the Spanish royals and for Napoleon. We learned a bit about the history of the royal families as we viewed all the portraits. Goya was known for his lack of diplomacy (i.e. realism) in his paintings of these people. We also got to see a special room with the plates carved by Goya for his “Disasters of War” series of lithographs. Then we were off to class.

After class and dinner, we strolled the Calle Fuencarral area. It is full of shops, restaurants with patios, movie theaters, and other people out enjoying themselves. Everyone seems to go out in the evenings to walk, talk, have a snack or a drink, and relax. We finally got to bed at 11:00.

Wednesday 5/19/10 Madrid

The cathedral Nuestra Señora de la Almudena

Palacio Real

Today we went the Palacio Real. It was the official residence of the Spanish royalty until 1931. Now it is used for tours although it is still used for official document signings (and Prince Felipe’s wedding in 2004). On our tour we saw the official dining room, dressing room, smoking room, throne room, billiards room, Chinese-themed room, as well as many other rooms and the collection of “daily” silver and porcelain. The palace is on the site of an old Moorish fort and is placed up on a hill overlooking the river, so we had nice views from the courtyard. Right outside the palace is Nuestra Señora de la Almudena, a large cathedral with a large slate dome. In front of the palace is a large plaza with gardens, statues of Roman emperors, a bronze statue of Felipe IV, with the Opera House nearby. The plaza was filled with people, including an accordion player, a saxophonist, and several people dressed up as statues. One was a copper Indian, one was a mud-man, and one was camouflaged.

Afterwards, we had lunch at the equivalent of a Spanish fast food place. There was a display case with over 15 different kinds of cold sandwiches. They also had hot sandwiches on a menu. Libby had a grilled flatbread type sandwich with goat cheese, turkey, and caramelized onions. I had a half of a turkey and apple sandwich and half of a chocolate sandwich, which was basically chocolate frosting on bread. We both had mango smoothies. Then we returned to the school for our class. After class we came home, did our homework, had dinner, took a walk, and went to bed.

Thursday 5/20/10 Madrid

Calle Segovia bridge featured in Almodóvar films

Camille enjoying churros con chocolate

Plaza Mayor

Narrow streets leading into Plaza Mayor

Changing of the guard at the Palacio Real

Gardens at the Palacio Real

Photo shoot of flamenco dancer

Today we walked through the oldest part of the city, “Hadsburg Madrid”, which has been inhabited since the Moors lived there in the 800s. It centers around the Plaza Mayor, a very large square full of cafes and shops and surround, oddly enough, by stamp and coin collecting shops. We finally got to try chocolate and churros, a tradition here. You dip the churros into the cup of chocolate to eat them. Yum. We did a walking tour of the old churches, and saw some of the old taverns leftover from medieval times. Many of the old buildings are tiled. We walked back to class past the Palacio Real and watched a photo shoot of a flamenco dancer with her six beaus. We also watched the changing of the guard at the palace.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Friday 5/21/10 Madrid

The fountains are all lit up at night

Nightlife in the plaza

Busy nighttime cafes

View from tapas place on sixth floor

Today we went to the Fuencarral Street in Madrid. We looked along the street and ended up looking around Zara as well as two or three other stores. We then had a leisurely lunch outside on a busy corner complete with coffee and headed to class. After class we went on a tapas tour that was organized by the school. Tapas are small dishes of local food that come with each purchase of a drink. With each drink you buy you get one appetizer-sized plate of food, however you don’t know what food you will get. We decided to only go to the first bar as it was late and we didn’t really want to drink (Libby did have one sangria and one tinto verano though). The dish that we got was paella, consisting of rice with seafood (calamari, shrimp, some kind of shellfish) and chicken. The tapas bar was on the sixth floor of a building with good views. We then left the group and went to dinner. We had a pork sausage (recommended by our guide book) and meatballs with fried potatoes (also recommended). We then returned home and went to bed.

Saturday 5/22/10 Madrid/ Segovia

Segovia's Alcázar castle

Sun dial in interior courtyard, with interesting wall design

Suit of armor in castle

More interesting wall designs

View down from old city

Today we took an hour-long bus ride to Segovia. It is a small town and was full of tourists, Spaniards as well as people visiting Spain. When we arrived we sat down in a restaurant in the plaza and had coffee (a normal coffee for Libby and a espresso with ice cream for Camille) while watching the people go by. In the plaza where we where sitting, there was a small carousel, which had interesting, seats. There was an airplane, rocket ship, boat, dinosaur, hot air balloon, grasshopper, and a few others. We then walked to the aqueduct. It was build by the Romans in the first century using granite blocks without any mortar. It is 95 feet high and 2388 feet long. It was used until relatively recently to carry water. It leads to the old city, which is perched up on a hill and was walled. We saw the Cathedral, a large, gothic Catholic church. We then walked to the Alcázar fort. It was used as the town’s fort in medieval times and has a school of war inside (was used to teach practical as well as the math/science behind the artillery). The ceilings of all the rooms were decorated with tessellations and interesting designs. We saw suits of armor and old weapons as well as royal beds and thrones. From the top of the tower we could see all of Segovia as well as two stork nests (we think Maria said they were storks) with babies. After the fort we went and ate lunch. We split a fixed meal, where you pick an appetizer, main meal, dessert from a predesigned menu and get a drink and bread. We had soup, lamb cutlets on fried potatoes, and flan (and Libby had a tinto verano). We then looked around the few stores there and took the bus home.