The first three excursions

Salamanca 1/19:
Very similar to Segovia in appearance and feel, but Salamanca is a bit more touristy.  When we were there it was raining so we only got to see the humongous cathedral.  We ate at McDonalds.  I pickpockeded Gabe because the guys and a few of the girls were playing this game where we tried to see if we could pick pocket each other.  I gave my wallet to Gabe to see if i could get it back.  And i did.  It was awesome.

Madrid 1/26:
Huge.  In fact, only two cities in the United States are larger:  New York, and Los Angeles.  The size is the first thing that hit me, and I loved it.  As I fell asleep on the drive over, I didn't get to see the entrance into the city, but when I opened my eyes for the first time it was evident that Madrid was a pumpin' city that never sleeps.  That phrase actually couldn't be more accurate because literally people party till past six in the morning on weekends.  Anyway, I'll start on my personal trip:

We arrived on Saturday morning, and dropped our luggage off at the hotel.  Upon arrival we were given a few hours of free time to do with what we wanted.  Myself and the three other guys who I was staying with decided to eat the lunch our host mom's packed (life is good :) and chill in the hotel room.  We could have explored, but we knew there was plenty of time for that.. and I think we all enjoyed the man time.

Our hotel - Mediodia

When 2:00 rolled around we gathered in the hotel lobby and were off to visit the Museo Reina Sofia... one Madrid is famous for.

The rules of the museum apparently prohibit groups from entering the front doors, which makes things difficult for a group of 29.  Our plan was to wait in line and pretend like we didn't know each other.  Let me just say that our group makes a lot of noise, and our plan was not a success. 

They let us enter the backdoors, as if we were an some sort of embarrassment, but hey.  We got in.  We were required to spend two hours in the building, exploring what we wanted.  I am a really big appreciator of pencil sketches, so I spent most of my time analyzing any canvass I could find scratched with a regular Number 2.  Sadly, I wasn't able to take any pictures - as was expected.  I wish I could have shared some with you, two hours is a long time, but I enjoyed it.

The backdoor - not too shabby.

After the museum we had the rest of the day to spend as we wished... which was a decent chunk of time considering it was only 4 PM.  I went out with a few others and explored a bit... American style (it involved McDonalds).  

That night we went to a very famous club... El Kapital.  It was pretty nice as far as clubs go, but still incredibly loud, dirty, and not really my cup of tea.  It was pretty sweet though because one of the people in our group had a friend who lives in Madrid, so he was able to get us VIP tickets which included drinks on the house a few tables reserved for us on the second floor overlooking the dance floor below, and probably most importantly we were able to skip ahead of the multi-hundered number of people waiting outside, shivering in the cold.  

The next morning we all woke early, most of us running on two hours of sleep, ate the continental breakfast which included bread, bread, cereal, orange juice, and more bread; and gathered for a very long day of museums, walking around the city, and the King and Queen's official house.  

I gotta say, the Spanish know how to make a mansion.  

The King/Queen's official "palace" was incredible.  We weren't allowed to take pictures in there either, and even though I took a few (my camera hanging from my chest, while coughing to muffle the sound) I wasn't able to get anything worth sharing.  Anyway, it was incredible.  The most luxurious, enormous, impressive, detailed, and expensive building I've ever seen.  Apparently it's only used a few days each year, as the royal family doesn't live there.

Royal house from outside

We also visited the Museo del Prado... which has over four thousand works of art including Botticelli, El Botticelli, El Bosco, Velazquiz and Goya according to this website of interesting facts about Madrid: http://madridinfo.net/madrid_facts.htm

By the time we went to the Prado I was bastante cansado and wanted nothing more than sleep.  Regardless, we had a good time.  

The following day we had entirely free.  To describe a long day in few words: we went to a few places to shop, took the metro which was really cool/useful, saw the bull fighting stadium, and explored some more.  

Metro station

Plaza de Torros

Oh and street performers are awesome.

Toledo 2/2:

One of my favorite places so far.  The city is plump full of swords, daggers, and weapons from Lord of The Rings, as it was literally the place where the weapons for the movie were created.  This is the dagger that I bought for 22 Euros.

I love it!  It's going to sit on my desk here in Spain until I go home where it will sit on my desk there, until I get an apartment where it will sit on my desk there :)

Toledo

The city was build without any mathematical sense in case of an attack on the city.  If there ever was an attack, it would be very difficult for the invaders to navigate the city.  That being said, it was also difficult for us to navigate the city.  

As with all of our excursions, we visited the local cathedral, but besides that we were free to explore the city.  I enjoyed exploring Toledo mucho, because all of the little shops were so interesting.  As a LOTR fan, it was really cool to see so many legitimate swords and LOTR trinkets.  I doubt I'll make it back before the semester is over, but I'm very glad we had the opportunity to explore Toledo.