Just Madrid

First off, I fixed the problem with the comments. Now everyone can leave a little something for me to read. Sorry about that everybody.
Now down to the post. This might be the longest post yet and I know what you are all thinking, thats not possible. Well, just wait. I went to the two biggest cities in Spain, Madrid and Barcelona, and I have a lot of stuff to talk about.
My entire program went to Madrid, all eighty of us, and we went nuts once we got there. After finishing our intensive language course, we were ready for some fun. We got there and did some serious sight seeing. Our first stop was the Royal Palace or the Palacio Real and it amazing. Whats crazy is that they still use a lot of the rooms that we saw whenever the King meets with important people. Did anyone else know that Spain still had a King and Queen? It was definitely a surprise for me to hear that.


After the palace, we went to the Prado Museum which is the best classical art museum in Spain, and it might be second only to the Louvre in Paris. I saw Goya, El Greco, Velasquez, and tons of other artists. There were so many that I forgot who was who. I really loved Goya and Velasquez. Goya's later works were really dark and twisted and Velasquez' most famous painting "Las Meninas" or the Maids of Honor was awe inspiring from up close. I think that my favorite paintings from this museum were Velasquez' "Las Meninas" and Goya's "The Dog".


After the Prado we went to Hard Rock Cafe for a long awaited burger. It was delicious. I don't think I have ever had such a good american burger. Satisfied with our huge meal, we walked to another museum, the Reina Sofia. This was a more modern museum with tons of work from Dali, Picasso, Miro, and tons of other modern artists. Looking at all these paintings was exhausting, especially when you are looking at surreal painting that don't make any sense. I think my brain was fried by the end of the day. Seeing Picasso's "Guernica" from less than five feet away was awesome, even though it was a insanely confusing painting. Dali's stuff was even weirder but really fun to look at at the same time. They had all kinds of other artists there and so many cool things to look at.


The next day we took a bus to two towns outside of Madrid. I don't remember the first town's name but it had an enormous monastary. There were dozens of chapels inside of this building with hundreds of rooms. The building was shaped like a grill because the patron saint was martyred by being cooked alive on a grill. Pretty intense. It was strange seeing grills all over the building. Anyway, our tour was just of one side of the giant square and it lasted for a few hours. At this monastary, they royal family is buried in tombs deep beneath the main chapel. It was a little creepy walking down there. Besides the kings and queens, there were places for the rest of the royal family in different parts of the building. Don Juan, the ladies' man, was buried here as well. You can see him below.



After the monastary, we drove to Segovia. It was a beautiful, picturesque european city. There were two huge sites to see. The first was an enormous aqueduct that ran right through the city. The other was a castle that Walt Disney claimed to have inspired Sleeping beauty. Both of these were so incredible to see but by this time I think I was a little toured out. I have some amazing picture though.
Well, I was going to try and put both Madrid and Barcelona on this post but I cannot write anymore. I will try and get my barcelona post up soon. Hope you enjoyed this one. Leave a comment!