Back in Barcelona once more! This time after 2 weekends in a row visiting Spanish cities. I'll try to start again where I left off...

I can't remember doing much on Wed and Thur of the week before I went to Madrid. Friday morning we took the Ave, an extremely fast train, to Madrid from Barcelona. I fell asleep for most of it. I'm learning that the ability to completely pass out asleep on moving vehicles is a good thing to have. When we got to Madrid, we checked into a pretty crappy hotel and went to have some lunch. My host mom had packed me a bocadillo lunch and so I didn't eat anything, but the lunch we picked didn't seem too appetizing anyway.

After lunch we had a short walking tour of some of the oldest parts of Madrid, including walking past the Palace, seeing the oldest restaurant in the world (where Hemingway wrote parts of "The Sun Also Rises"), visiting the remains of the oldest church in the world, among other things that don't stand out largely in my mind. We caught a tiny bit of snow, which was basically like slush, not too much. Like I said before, there has been way more snow this year in Spain than ever before. Anyway, our tour guide's name was Gerry, and he was really great. He probably was the best tour guide I've ever had, or one of them, because he was so knowledgable about everything and seemed passionate/enthusiastic about telling us what he knew.

After the tour, I asked Gerry where a good restaurant for dinner would be. He recommended a cafe that had chocolate con churros, which is basically a cup of melted chocolate and churros (deep fried pastry bread). The cafe was set right off of the Plaza del Sol, which is Madrid's main square. I love chocolate as you all know, but this spanish tradition is a little too much for me (surprising I know). The chocolate is just so rich, it's almost sickening. But, it was something that I had to try, so I'm glad I did it.

After that, we walked around the Plaza del Sol for a little bit before heading over to the restaurant. The restaurant was called "Prada Atopa." Atopa is a spanish word for meaning "on top of the world." Gerry explained it to me as someone who feels great, but can easily be brought back to reality. I thought it was kind of cool to learn such an interesting word...anyway, the restaurant was ok, but in true Spanish fashion, had almost everything containing pig. Madrid is also famous for their chain-type restaurant called the "Museo del Jamon" which is a restaurant that has legs upon legs of ham hanging from the ceiling...

After dinner we went back to the hotel to freshen up. I was feeling quite ill from a combination of 4 ice cream bars, the chocolate and churros, the cabbage soup at dinner all bathing in the red wine I had consumed. Also in Madrid, my sinus infection that I caught from France got even worse in the cold Madrid air. I was actually quite miserable and decided to stay at the hotel for the rest of the night.

The next morning, I was better rested and we had a long day ahead. We ate breakfast at the hotel and then went to the Palace. The Palace in Madrid is actually really magnificant, and I rememebered a lot of it from the last time I had visited Spain. Visiting the Palace in Madrid made me a little regretful that I did not get a chance to visit Versailles in Paris, but I can't do much about that now! Anyway, one of the most interesting parts about this Palace is that it's actually still in use today. The Royal family does not live there, but whenever there is something extremely important happeneing or royalty from another country, they have banquets and conferences in the Palace. Most Palaces now are simply museums, but it is cool that they still use this one.

After the Palace, we went to the Plaza Mayor, which is a huge square in Madrid. The square was once a place where outdoor theaters were performed. There are apartments all along the square above the shops and people would watch from there. This was our meeting point for after lunch.

For lunch me and some friends went to a Thai restaurant which was soooo good. I miss spicy food in my life and I had pad thai. We were a little scared to try ethnic food, but I'm really glad we found a great Thai restuarant!

After meeting back at the Plaza, we headed to the Prado. I have to say that this time around at the Prado was much better than the first time that I went. Not only do I think Gerry is great, he knows so much about every painting. He also was able to explain some of the styles that were used in the paintings which I was very interested in. We saw all of the famous paintings by Goya, Velazquez and El Greco. I also was able to look at the pictures better this time around at the Prado. For example, one of the most interesting paintings I thought was by Goya of Charles IV's family. Charles IV is arguably considered the worst king of Spain, mostly in part because this is the when Napolean invaded Spain. In this painting, Goya tried to reflect how the people of Spain felt about Charles IV. If you look at the painting you can notice that the Queen is actually in the center of the painting. The way that Goya pulled this off was by having the King's foot placed in front, making it seems as though he is in the forefront of the picture. Also, of course, Las Meninas was here which is also considered one of the greatest paintings in the world.

After the Prado, we all went back to the hotel again. This time we decided to go to an Italian restaurant and then go to a discotec. The discotec we went to was called "Kapital," a 7 floor club. I had a pretty fun time there, but was still feeling kind of sick.

The next day, we checked out of our hotel and a couple of us decided to go to the flea market in Madrid which is one of the world's biggest. It was a really beautiful day and I got a couple of cool scarves. Most of the stuff at the flea market was junk, so I didn't buy much. We were kind of rushed for time and we wanted to go to the Reina Sophia modern art museum, so we hopped on the metro and grabbed a quick calamari bocadillo. We only had about 45 min in the Reina Sofia which was quite frustrating because from what I saw, I really enjoyed the museum. I saw Picasso's "Guernica" which was really cool (this painting is Picasso's interpretation of the bombing of Guernica, Spain during the Spanish Civil War). It is a much larger painting than I expected, and of course, very intersting to see the mind of Picasso in the paintings.

After Reina Sophia, we quick went back to the metro and then to the Ave back to Barcelona. When we got back, I felt so ill from my sinus infection and decided to take the antibiotics I had brought with me. It was a good choice as I am feeling so much better...

I think I need to pay better attention to blogging about my weeks because all of the normal things I do in Barcelona I forget so easily. I know that during the week, I booked my flight to Greece and Istanbul for Spring Break which I am so excited for. We are planning on going to Athens, the Greek Islands and Istanbul, Turkey. So wonderful!! Also I did a class at the gym called "Made in Brasil" which is a butt class. Haha, it was actually extremely hard to do so I'm going to try and do that once a week :)

On Thursday afternoon, I only had one class and so I decided that after I would pack, I would go for a run near Montjuic. Montjuic is the mountain that I live maybe 3 blocks away from but have never explored. I feel really stupid that I haven't explroed many of the sights in Barcelona, yet have been traveling, but I think I am going to make it a goal of mine to see something from Barcelona at least once a week. Anyway, I had gotten the package from Grandma and Grandpa (thank you again! expecially for the Valentine's present!) and my running armband came in there. I went for a run then to Montjuic and got to explore some of the park. It was a really nice day in Barcelona, probably low 50's and sunny. I finally saw the Palace that sits at the base of the mountain and also the view. I think one of the greatest things about Barcelona is the fact that we have mountains that we can sit and see the beautiful view of the sea and mountains. It really is beautiful and I enjoyed running and walking around the park.

After my run, I went back and got ready for the concert I was going to that night! I have made a really good friend from Finland named Katariina and her and I bought tickets to a band called Travis. Travis is a band from the UK. The concert was really great, I'm so glad I got to go to a concert in another country. I know this might sound stupid of me to say, but I was so surprised at the fact that every Spanish perosn in the venue was singing the English words, even though some of them may not even speak English. I was sitting off of the balcony on the top part of the venue looking down at the crowd and could see them all singing. It just seems so cool to me because in the states, foreign music is not very popular. I dont know many Spanish songs at all! Anyhow, it was a really cool experience. The Killers are playing here next weekend, but unfortunatley tickets sold out in a couple of hours. That would have been cool to see in Barcelona...

The day after the concert, I got up really early for my flight to Sevilla!! When we arrived around noon, it was sunny and beautiful. There was not a cloud in the sky and it was over 70 degrees. Sevilla is so beautiful, I am so glad that I went. It is very small, the same population as Milwaukee. The first place we went to was the Plaza Espana. After that we decided to go to the Alcazar, an amazingly beautiful Musliim masque. Walking around inside of the palace was gorgeous because they have so many gardens and beautiful architecture. I couldn't help but be so incredibly happy, a hot day and amazing gardens.

After the Alcazar, we stopped at a bar near the Cathedral in Sevilla to sit outside and drink tinto de verano, red wine with lemon spritzer soda (so good!). I think the small streets and the orange trees that line the street are part of what make Sevilla so beautiful. It is much less chaotic and more quaint than Barcelona! At this bar, a woman and 2 men played flamenco music. I am glad we stayed for this because the woman had such a unique, raspy voice. I enjoy listening to flamenco music sometimes, especialy with a good singer like her. Flamenco music sounds so strong and passionate, I don't know much of the history of it, but it sounds to me like despair. So much effort goes into singing it, and the people who sing is fluctuate their voices and have pained faces. It's intense to say the least.

After watching that for awhile, we decided to go to a tapas place that my friend Becky who lives in Sevilla (also my roommate for next year) recommended we go. We had some pretty delicious tapas, including galician style octopus (a little different than the last time I had it) and tortilla with shrimp, but this time it was like crunchy tortilla (never had it before). 3 bottles of wine later and I was ready to go to sleep. We stayed at the nicest hostel I've been to so far called "Oasis," and we sat in the bar there for a drink while they made a huge pan of paella for the guests in the hostel. This hostel was definitely a good find!

The next day we got up and went to eat at a kebab place. After that, we went to the Catedral. The Catedral was cool, but I had been there already and I didn't think that the view it offered at the top was really too great (there are bars covering all of the openings). After that, we decided to go walk around the park there is nearby. We saw some people riding these 4 person bikes and decided we had to do this. So we rented a 4 person bike for half an hour and 5 of us rode around the park. Again, the day was sunny, hot and gorgeous...a perfect day for a bike ride!

When our time with the bike was up, we went and sat at an ourdoor bar and had some more tinto de verano. After this, we went and grabbed some bocadillos and went back to the hostel...that night we first went to the "Carbonera," a bar that is pretty famous in Sevilla. Although Becky told us that it was kind of a touristy place, a lot of Spanairds go too. We went mostly because Becky told us that they have amateur flamenco shows here. So we went to watch the show and it was really cool, a lot cooler actually than the show I saw in Barcelona. Flamenco started in Sevilla, so of course it would be better there! The woman was great, I can't really describe flamenco dances in words, you can wikipedia it or hopefully see a show for yourself some day!

Then we went to a bar/club called "Catedral" (like the actually Catedral I guess) and danced. It was a fun night, but a long day, so I was happy to sleep again :)

In the morning, my friends from Barcelona had an earlier flight than I did, so they left. I went to lunch with the rest of the group and then after the rest of them also had trips back, Becky and I sat at a cafe for a couple of hours and chatted. It was so great to see her and also get to have some time for us to be able to hang out for a bit! I then got on the bus and back on the airport to Barcelona. It feels good to be back here again :)

My host mom is currently in Guatamala visiting her son, and so her other son and his wife are taking care of me. It's kind of cool to have this because there is a couple taking care of me now and also Carol is a lot younger than Pilar. I love them both, but it's nice to talk to more people, of course. I really wish my Spanish was getting better, but I think I need to try harder

Anyway, I am pretty tired and have a long day tomorrow...hoep you all had a goodValentine's day. Love you, goodnight!

Besos, love,

Amyx, Amanda, Mandy