Toledo and Madrid

For our last excursion in Spain our class went to Toledo and Madrid. We took a two hour bus ride to get to Toledo. When we arrived, we got to walk around the city, see some beautiful sites, and take some amazing pictures of the town. Toledo was really interesting because the culture was visible just by waking the streets of the town. There were flags on the buildings, dancers in the streets and souvenir stores everywhere. The weather in Toledo was very hot and sunny. The town has sheets tied to the roofs of buildings to give the people walking in the streets some shade! When we were walking through the city we saw a picture of Don Quijote and he looked just like our teacher Luis! Later that night we went out too see culture at its best: Flamingo dancing in the plaza. People gathered to listen to live music and dance. On Saturday we visited the Cathedral in Toledo, which was beautiful! We had a typical Spanish lunch, and then went to Madrid. In Madrid we went to see the Reina Sofia, which had famous paintings, for example, there were many Salvador Dali paintings. The group had lots of fun and it was a great excursion to end with!

Today's bloggers: Maysa and Stephanie

Toledo!

Banners for the Festival of Corpus

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Christi_(feast)

http://tinyurl.com/y9qfdq2

Relics from the region - 11th century

"Toldos" (canopies) are hung to provide shade on the streets.

Inside the cathedral

Contemporary art in the Reina Sofía

Para nuestra última excursión en España fuimos a Toledo y Madrid. Tomamos un paseo de dos horas en autobús para llegar a Toledo. Cuando llegamos, caminamos por la ciudad, miramos paisajes bellos, y tomamos fotos impresionantes de la ciudad. Toledo fue muy interesante porque la cultura es visible cuando caminas por las calles de la ciudad. Había banderas en los edificios, bailarines en las calles y tiendas de recuerdos en todas las calles. El tiempo en Toledo, hacía mucho calor y soleado. Hay toldos atados por los techos de los edificios para crear sombra para las personas que caminan en las calles! Cuando caminábamos por la ciudad vimos una estatua de Don Quijote y parecía a nuestro maestro Luis!  Por la noche, fuimos a las calles y vimos el baile flamenco en la plaza. La gente se reunió para escuchar música y baile. El sábado visitamos la Catedral de Toledo, y era impresionante! Tuvimos una comida típica española, y luego fuimos a Madrid. En Madrid fuimos al Museo Reina Sofía, donde había pinturas famosas, por ejemplo, había muchas obras de Salvador Dalí y Picaso. Nos divertimos mucho, y fue una excursión buena.

Madrid - Round 1

Today we took an excursion to Madrid. For this they didn’t let us take photos anywhere so I think that the Internet will suffice as far as images for you.

We took the bus out of Segovia at 9 this morning and arrived at the Palacio Real at 10:30. The Palace is absolutely huge. King Louis XV (son of Louis XIV who is famous for being one of the most brutal leaders in the history of Europe) built the Palace. Just as a side note: Does anyone else notice how interbred the great monarchies of Europe are? Like the King of Spain is the son of the King of France. There are more connections but those are not important. The palace was gigantic. It consisted of more rooms than we could count. We had a really rude tour guide that we all wanted to strangle, but it gave you the “important location” feel that you get around the world. The coolest room that we saw was one where the wall was decorated with porcelain that could be removed for cleaning. This was another reference to how rich these people were. Here is a link to the website for more information and pictures: http://www.patrimonionacional.es/Home/Palacios-Reales/Palacio-Real-de-Madrid.aspx.

We have a quick cultural lesson for you. Inside the palace are statues of lions always in even numbers, symmetric, and with a ball under one paw. Many people do not realize that this is taken from the Chinese, which had established trade with Europe since the Roman Empire through the Silk Road. The thing that is incorrect about these lions is that the one on the left (facing the entrance) is supposed to have a baby under its paw. The globe represents the world and symbolizes power. The baby signifies importance of protection of the young and the future. We think (and this is just my opinion) that this error is a representation of old Europe’s obsession with power and disregard with balance with the world around them, building palaces and castles and cultures in places that they do not belong and disregarding other cultures underlining their ultimate defeat in colonization. Just a thought.

The next part of the day we saw the Museo del Prado of Madrid. Here is a link to their page: http://www.museodelprado.es/en/. The museum is chucked full of paintings bearing immense value, both cultural and monetary. Included are the works of Goya and other great artists.

For lunch were had a delicious stuffed eggplant and fish with a raspberry and cheesecake dessert. Yummers.

After the museum we went to the streets and took to shopping around the city before returning to Segovia. That is all we have today. Look forward to the future!

Outside of the palace

Beautiful frescoes decorate the ceiling

Rococo style is prevalent

Goya is found in the Prado

The museum houses some art from all over the world

Statues abound outside as well

The fountain of Neptune greets you as you drive to the museum

Hoy nuestra clase fue en una excursión a Madrid.  No pudimos sacar fotos entonces las fotos son del internet.

La clase fue en el autobús de Segovia sobre las nueve en la mañana y nosotros llegamos al Palacio Real. El Palacio es muy grande y El Rey Louis XV construyó El Palacio. Una nota: Sabes que la familia real cruza con su propio familia.  Por ejemplo El Rey de España es el hijo del Rey de Francia. Hay más conexiones  pero no es importante.  El Palacio es enorme. Hay más de 2300 salas entonces no visitamos todas las salas. Tuvimos una guía turística grosera que la clase quería estrangular.  La mejor sala en El Palacio es la sala porcelana y la murallas son desmontables entonces las personas pueden limpiar las murallas. La familia podía tener murallas desmontables porque la familia tenía mucho dinero.  Este es un enlace para más información y fotos:  http://www.patrimonionacional.es/Home/Palacios-Reales/Palacio-Real-de-Madrid.aspx.

Una cosa interesante sobre El Palacio es que hay estatuas de leones y todos son simétricos y tienen un balón debajo de una zarpa. Hay un número par de  leones en El Palacio y la idea es de los chinos. Este llevó a fundación de comercio exterior con Europa y China. El balón debajo de la zarpa es un símbolo del mundo y poder. Una cosa incorrecta es el león en la izquierda debe tener un cachorro y el cachorro es un símbolo de protección de el joven y el futuro.  Pensamos que  este error es porque Europa estaba obsesionado con poder y no importaba sobre con la balanza del mundo. España construía palacios, castillos, y culturas en lugares y no tenia cuidado sobre otras personas ni otras culturas en España.
En la tarde la clase fue Museo del Prado de Madrid. El museo tiene muchas pinturas con valores de cultura y monetario. Pinturas son obras de Goya y otras artistas granes.
Para almuerzo comimos berenjena o  salchichas o mariscos con tarta de queso con frambuesas.
Después del almuerzo la clase podía caminar las calles y comprar con otros estudiantes.

KAYAKING!

A day we have all been waiting for finally came: we went kayaking!  After about an hour drive we arrived at the spot and the weather was AMAZING!  If you are from Seattle.  It was windy and drizzling but people did well and there was very little complaining.  I could give you a bunch of history about the Egyptian vultures, the history of the monastery, blah, blah blah.  Look at some cool photos of the group and just enjoy!

Bocadillo.... CHECK!

"I am Spanish.  I don't need to smile."

We also drove to this town for lunch.  

Sepulveda

¡Hasta luego!

Museo Provincial de Segovia

Last Thursday we visited the Segovian museum that shows the history of Segovia, including the construction of the aqueduct, the process of making money, cutting and selling wool, and the lifestyles of the Segovians, for example, their clothes and jewelry. We watched a video about the benefits of building the aqueduct in Segovia because the Romans were looking for some land that had animals, workers, clean water, and was located in the center of the country. The video gave us an example of the instruments used by the Romans to construct the aqueduct, like pincers to raise the stones. The aqueduct was very important because it brought the water and the water provided life. Today, Segovia doesn’t use the aqueduct to provide their water. We also saw instruments that the Segovians used to survive like triangular knives, chisels, and bells for the cows. Then, we learned the importance of producing wool. An interesting fact is that people that worked with the wool did not have to serve in the military. Overall, we learned a lot of information about the history and the current lifestyle of Segovia and we had a lot of fun on our visit to the museum!

Today's bloggers Cara and Juliet

A picture about the construction of the aqueduct

Tools used by the Segovians.

An example of the jewelry.

Our Crazy Professor

Where they made the wool.

Relics found in the province

View of the Alcazar from the museum

 

Replica of language from the region from 1518

Used for spinning wool

Copper bowl with design made from a water mill

Hoy visitamos El Museo de Segovia que muestra la historia de Segovia incluyendo la construcción del acueducto, el proceso de fabricando moneda, cortando y vendiendo lana, y también los estilos de las vidas de los segovianos, por ejemplo, la ropa y la joyería. Vimos un video sobre los beneficios de edificando el acueducto en Segovia porque los Romanos estaban buscando alguna tierra que tuvo animales, trabajadores, agua pura, y estaba en el centro del país. El video nos dijo un ejemplo de los instrumentos ellos usaban a construir el acueducto como las tenazas para elevar las piedras. El acueducto fue muy importante porque trajo el agua y el agua trajo la vida. Hoy en día, Segovia no usa el acueducto para traer el agua. También, vimos instrumentos que los segovianos usaban para sobrevivir, por ejemplo, cuchillos de hoja triangular, alcotanas, podones, y campanas para las vacas. Luego, aprendimos de la importancia de producir lana. Un dato interesante es que la gente que trabajó con la lana no tenía que servir en las fuerzas armadas. Aprendimos mucha información sobre la historia y el presente de Segovia y disfrutamos mucho nuestra visita al museo.