Madrid, La Granja, Segovia

This past weekend our group went to Madrid, La Granja and Segovia. We left bright and early Saturday morning, stopped for breakfast along the way, and got to El Prado for our tour. We went through El Prado getting to see works from all different artists, the highlights being those from Velazquez and Goya. I bought a book that is a guide and history of the museum so that was pretty neat. We went to lunch (some people from our group got squid that was cooked in their own ink, mmm) and then headed to the Palacio Real. This is the official residence of the king of Spain, but is only used for state ceremonies(political visits etc).  All the rooms are decorated differently, with all types of art from many different artists. This part of the trip was a repeat from the trip with Diebler, but it was still neat to see everything. We then headed to hotel, which was the same hotel from the Diebler trip, Hotel Convención. :) We got back and started getting ready for our special dinner where we got to dress up :) I wore my little black dress I found with Emily and Anita at TJ Maxx :) We ended up eating at this restaurant that was an old house now a restaurant with different rooms. We started outside with appetizers and drinks, then headed inside for dinner. We got a salad to start and then a weird fish purée(kind of looked like cat food) then a yummy pumpkin'ish' dessert. Through out the meal the waiters sang opera while accompanied by the piano. It was really neat, and a very different experience but it lasted over 4 hours!!!!  So by the end (12:30 or so...) I was exhausted.
Sunday we went to La Granja, which is only 20 minutes from Segovia and saw El Palacio de la Granja. It was another palace with tons of art, but it had beautiful gardens. After the tour we walked around the gardens and got to see some leaves that changed colors!!! It was really neat. Miguel (the husband of the Maria Angeles who is in charge of the Salamanca Program for OWU) said that in the summer there are two days when the all the fountains are turned on (they don't run on pumps) and people come and kids wear their bathing suites and play in the fountains!!! We then had lunch, then headed to Segovia. We saw the aqueduct, which is Roman built with out any cement at all. We walked through the city and saw the cathedral and Alcázar, which is a palace in Segovia.
It was a fun trip, I really enjoyed the gardens of La Granja, they were really beautiful :) This weekend Kelley, Mark and I are going to Santiago de Compostela and IM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!
lots of love!