Saturday, June 13, 2009

Toledo: if you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it.

Viernes por la noche salí con unas compañeras a comer paella. It was quite delicious, and also quite caro. For dessert, we had some churros con chocolate. ¡Delicioso! Since we had to get up really early the next day, there was no wild outings (sad, no? considering it was a Fridya night in Madrid). But no worries, it was all worth it since we had an excurision to Toledo.

El sabado visitamos Toledo. Hacía tanto calor!!!! 40 grados el día entero. Pero es una lugar precioso. The place is like from the middle ages. Really old buildings with so much history. Cobble stone roads up hills and down hills. The town is literally surounded by a moat and on this hill surrounded by a river, llamado el Tajo. Its about a 1.5 hour bus ride from Madrid. We arrive and immediately start taking pictures. I took a lot of pictures this time folks, I just have to put them up. Though there isn`t much landscape scenery, the buildings take care of the astetics. They were in the middle of celebrating Corpus Cristi in Toledo, which is apparently a big deal there. They had flags and banners and flowers decorating the buildings and streets. They had street performers doing acrobatics and skits (one of the skits involved chicken feet. Yes. Actual chicken feet.). The Cathedral in the center of old town is huuuuuuuuuuuge and very ornate. My favorite thing in the churh was this thing called "La Gloria" which looks like this: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkHZoAbCVpjoPtA-Mtz-8SR_ii6LuY2Gl39_KblvoLvMrN3ASsFNi3RaqUdN8K3W5EIbTjWQwax-6QEp4pxj2db5Q7Er0a5kjEUfC6_pvCwt6ULYRr5-PbIM4FpPIv9tJgF5Fe75AoHSM/s400/Transparente_de_la_Catedral_de_Toledo-01.jpg

We weren´t allowed to take pictures inside so I had to find a google image of it. Anyway, the church used to be a mesquita but when the Reconquista happened, it was turned into a Catholic Church, so it still has some Islamic parts in the arquitectura. There were also some paintings by el Greco in the church. Which was pretty awesome I'm not going to lie.

Afterwards we went to see the famous "Enterio del Conde Orgaz" (look it up, you'll know what I'm talking about). It's actually a fresco on one of the entrance walls of this church llamada Iglesia de San Tome. It's actually quite big, and way more awesome in person than in a picture. Sadly, I was not allowed to take pictures, AGAIN.

After we visited one of the sinagoga, one of the few left in the town. Its called the Sinagoga del Transito . There wasn´t much in the inside, but the walls and ceilings were intact so it was pretty sweet to see it. There used to be a large Jewish community in old Toledo, but when the Reyes Catolicos came into power, they expelled all of them. And before they were expelled, there was much hate for them, so out of the 8 sinagogas ahora quedan dos.

We then had about 1.5 hours of free time. A group of us wanted to go shopping, but instead got lost in the maze of streets that is old Toledo, so we never made it to the awesome artisan shops that had swords, inlaid gold plates and jewelry. However, getting lost in Toledo was fun and exciting. The buildings and roads make you feel like you´re in a different time and place, as if you are in an fairy tale outside of this world. I loved it :)

Then we traveled to an old monastary near by. It was pretty niffty, but not as impressive as all the other things we saw. We did learn that it was built under the request of the Reyes Catolicos, Isabella y Fernando. On the second planta of the monastary the ceilings was decorated in the mudejar style (mix of Christian and Islamic art forms). Inscribed through the ceiling was "tanto manta". We learned that this stood for the saying "tanto manta, manta tanto Isabella como Fernando" which means that the king and queen had the same power, they were equal in stature. Interesting no? Oh and also, in the courtyard there was a net above to keep birds out. Well one bird tried to get out, and it got stuck. And its been stuck for at least a month. Intesting, no?

After that we walked down to our bus and headed back to Madrid. It was a wonderful 45 minute nap. Once back in the city, Tema and I headed home for a wondeful two hour nap. We had dinner and watched this game show here in Spain called "Pasabalabra". It is the greatest gameshow EVER. PERIOD. I'm addicted (like I hope we'll be home in time to watch it...). We then had some hours to bum around since we decided to go to one of the most popular night clubs in Madrd: Kapital. However, since nothings happens before 1:30 or 2 in the morning, we decided to meet up with some friends around 1 am at the metro stop closest to the club. So, we got all pretty and got on the last metro out. That's right, the last metro of the night. If we wanted to get back home we'd have to wait until 6 am when the metro starts up again. And that's what we did.

So Saturday night/ Sunday morning we met up with a group of girls (me, Tema, Michelle, Stephanie, Beth, Ashley, and Lauren) and our token man (Nick). We headed to the happening place called Kapital. Its extremely popular with the young Madrid crowd as well as the internationals. By 2 am, the line to get in was loooooooooong. But the wait was worth it. We paid to get in (whopping 20 € includes entrance and a drink) and decided what to do. This club has 7 floors. Top floor, 7th, being the terrance/theater (aka the hook up floor), 6th planta the "latin groove" with salsa, merengue, reggaeton, and some hip hop. Next floor, 5th is the lounge and main bars, 4th floor is the hip hop floor, 3rd the funk and R&B floor as well as karaoke, and the first 2 floors the techno/house floors. The techno floor has a stage where half naked people dance, and every 20ish minutes they have a downpour of smoke. Its really loud and really scary the first time you winess it. I mainly stayed on the 6th floor as most of us did. From that floor there was glass and you could see all the other floors. It was siiiiiiiiiiick. The music was pretty good, even though they played these three songs at least 4 times in the 4 hours I was there: Just Dance, Single Ladies, and Suavemente.

Anyway, once deciding what floor to go to, we decide on a "check point" time and place. We had a no person left behind rule. Awesome rule, especially in a club with 7 floors. We head up to the 7th floor, all get our free drink and hit up the dance floor. It was pretty awesome, until guys come up to you. Here´s what Í´ve learned about Madrileño men: They are all well dressed, extremely cute, dance well, and creepers. Or rather, extremely foward and don´t take no for an answer. Its always the same. They will grab you, dance with you, then ask "De donde eres? Como te llamas? Eres muy guapa..." And then they try to kiss you. I'm pretty sure they all attened 'como seducir estranjeras'at school or something. Its seriously a battle. What happened to all the nice guys who don't want in your pants [or at least won't tell you to your face right away]? Frustrating and annoying as it was,it was fun in a very strange way. I think getting the battle plan of how to avoid them/ get away from them was the fun part. Anyway,that's how my night turned out.

The floor we were on closed around 6, and since we didn't want to hit up the techno floor we decided to get some food. Cafes are open early in the morning to serve all the party people. We found a cafe across the street and ordered some tortillas espanolas. Afterwards, we got on the metro and headed home. Tema and I got home just as our host mom was done preparing our breakfast. We decided to take a nap then have breakfast and head out again. So after about 3 hours, we got up ate food and headed off to El Rastro.

El Rastro is a flea market that takes up about 5 streets every Sunday from 10-3 pm. They have an endless amount of clothing, knick-knacks and other fun stuff. Its always packed.We met up with one of our friends, Michelle [she seems to join us a lot on our adventures], and meandered through the crowds. There were some pretty awesome stuff. The most popular thing on sale were these pants called "pantalones de pirata". They look more like genie pants, or maybe MC hammer pants. They are actually kind of hideous but very popular here. We've decided that they aren't very flattering to the female body, unless you are fat. It looks like you took a poop in your pants and you're carrying it around with you. Yup, looks EXACTLY like that.

After El Rastro we walked around some more and adventured into Gran Via, the shopping district. We were crashing pretty bad considering we had about a total of 5 hours of sleep in the past 2 days and had walked all day Saturday, danced all night, and walked all morning and afternoon. So we went our separate ways.

Monday was a new weeks, with new professors and new class schedule. This week our classe are in the morning from 9-1230. Now we can't got out as late anymore, but we have the afternoon free to do whatever. So, Monday afternoon Tema and I decided to visit el Templo de Debod. But like everything else here, it was closed for the lunch/sieta [from 2-6] so we instead chilled in the park. Tema took a lot of pictures. Like alot. We also checked out the mall attached to the Principe Pio metro station. It was pretty sweet.

Every Monday our school has la copa de bienvenido where you meet everyone and get a free drink. So after dinner we headed off and got our free glass of sangria. Later we ventured to El Tigre, the place we tried the week before but it was closed. This time we went earlier and it was PACKED. Cheap drinks and free tapas with every drink. It was great. The atmosphere was awesome. Its my new favorite place [especially when you can get a GIANT mojito for 6 euors and a plate of tapas]. After El Tigre we met up with the girls again and looked for something to do. Michelle, being the every so friendly girl she is, started talking to the spaniards who were standing near us. Their names are Ruben and Antonio, both spanish professors working on their english thesis. Though in their 30s they were pretty cool. We talked for a while and then headed off to see Antonio's 'moto'. Michelle wanted to ride one, so we all went, took pictures on the 'moto' and then Antonio and Michelle took off for a vuelta a la manzana. It was pretty sweet. Since we have morning classes we had to go home,do our hw, and go to sleep so our night ended with the moto. But it was some damn fun.

Everytime I go out I meet all these interesting people. Its amazing. I wish things like this would happen back at home.

4 comments:

  1. Sounds like your having fun, by the sound of these Spanish guys you might have to make Adam a body builder by the time you leave...

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  2. ay caramba , way too much fun
    pobrecito Adam....

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  3. Jaja pobrecito nada! Necesita visitarme y protegerme de estos madrileños!

    Si Laura, me estoy divertiendo muchisimo.
    And I like your idea about Adam becoming a body builder, because then if I tell them I have a big strong boyfriend I won´t be lying ;)
    BUT I STILL LOVE YOU ADAM!

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  4. Thin and scrawny is the new big and strong.

    (I hear it's all the rage in Europe!)

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