Madrid!

Hey everyone!

I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long--it's been a hectic couple of weeks! I went to Madrid last weekend with Margaux and stayed with some relatives of hers there and we had an amazing time, although our trip had a bumpy start with us almost missing our plane and Sarah, our other roommate who was supposed to come with us, missing her plane completely because she accidentally booked her tickets for 9 AM instead of 9 PM (or 21:00 as it is here in Spain).
So, needless to say, we were excited when Margaux's relative, Diana, picked us up at the airport in Madrid after an evening at the airport that was comparable to a finale episode of The Amazing Race. Diana and her husband live about half an hour outside of Madrid in a suburb that kind of reminded me of a Spanish version of the Palisades. They have six kids--six!--two of whom live at home. One of their children, Madalena, is close to Margaux's and I's age so she told us she would take us out that weekend.
The following day, we explored the city a bit, getting completely lost trying to make our way to the Atocha, which is Madrid's railway station. Why were we so eager to get to a train station after our hectic day of travel? you might ask. The reason is this:
Those crazy Spaniards have put an entire tropical garden inside the train station! We weren't able to walk through it when we were there, but it was still really cool to look at.
After the Atocha, we made our way to the infamous Prado Museum to get our fill of the classics for our trip. For those of you who don't know, the Prado is pretty much like the Louvre or the Met of Spain. It contains thousands of artworks, such as Hieronymous Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights, Diego Velázquez's Las Meninas, and tons of Goya, including The Third of May, 1808, his famous anti-war painting. I took a class about Spanish and Portuguese art at GW two semesters ago, and it was amazing to get to see all the works I studied up close and personal!
That night, Madalena and her friends took us to a Mexican restaurant, a bar, and an underground club...needless to say, after a night out "Madrid style," it was difficult for us to get up in the morning!
However, we managed to drag ourselves to the Reina Sofía, the modern art equivalent of the Prado, and the museum that houses Picasso's Guernica. We had a great time just meandering around the exhibits and taking everything in. We weren't allowed to photograph Guernica, but I managed to get a shot of one of the paintings he did in preparation, which was my favorite:
After the museum, we gave Madrid nightlife round two a shot, but it was tragically cut short when we were in line at a club, only to be informed that the entry fee was 20 euros! I'm sorry, but no club, no matter how amazing it might be, is worth almost 40 dollars--just to get in the door!
The next day was our last day, so we packed it full of activities. We started out at the Thyssen-Bornemisza art museum, which is the private collection of a wealthy elevator magnate who is married to a Spanish ex-beauty queen. I highly recommend this museum for anyone who goes to Madrid. It is not as overwhelming as the Prado and the Reina Sofía, and it has a wonderful mix of all kinds of art, from Renaissance to Impressionist to contemporary. We both loved it, and it was conveniently raining during the time we were in the museum, and then stopped as soon as we came out.We then made our way to the Palacio Real, or the Royal Palace of Spain (see above). It was absolutely beautiful. We were going to take a tour of it, but it was not open :( We walked up a ways to the Templo de Debod, which is an Egyptian temple, discovered in the Valley of the Kings, that the Egyptian government had moved to Madrid, brick by brick, as a gift of appreciation to the Spanish government. Pretty cool! The Communications Palace along Paseo de Castellana
Our next stop was the Basilica de San Francisco El Grande. Although we couldn't go inside, we stood on the steps and marveled at the huge dome of the church, which is bigger than St. Paul's in London! After that, we wandered around the medieval part of Madrid for a while, stopping in a little plaza called Plaza de la Paja for a quick cup of tea.
Due to our 7:30 AM flight, we didn't get the chance to go out again that night, but instead stayed in and talked with the family we were staying with. They were so sweet to us and a kind of reminder of home since we were able to speak English with them all weekend.



I'm off to film class right now, and I am leaving for the Basque Country (San Sebastián and Bilbao) tomorrow morning for a weekend trip! I promise a quicker blog post next week.

Lots of love,
Kelsey

Montserrat & Montjuïc

Hey everyone!

Another busy week in Barcelona has gone by! It is finally starting to get nice here--today I wore a dress! The city is absolutely beautiful and full of life when it is sunny outside...something about that breeze blowing in off the Mediterranean, I guess! Yesterday, I went to Montserrat with some kids from my program and my Spanish class. It was free for my class because we won a scavenger hunt around Barcelona during the first week of school, so that was awesome.
Montserrat ("Serrated Mountain" in Catalán) is a mountain range about an hour outside of Barcelona that is home to a Benedictine monastery that houses the world-famous sculpture of La Moreneta ("Black Madonna"), the patron saint of Catalonia since the 1800s. When we arrived at the mountain, we embarked on a MASSIVE hike that was almost all uphill. Of course, you all know that I'm used to hiking in Yosemite, but Yosemite had nothing on this hike. We basically scaled a mountain in a little under 2 hours. Despite the difficulty of the hike, the scenery around us was beautiful, and it was such a perfectly clear day that we had a great view of the Pyrenees Mountains in the distance, as well as Barcelona and the Mediterranean Sea.
When we finally reached the top of the summit we were climbing, we were greeted with views of some of the shrines the monks of Montserrat had created in the side of the mountains, as well as the hermitage of Sant Joan where monks would live alone for years at a time. The hike was amazing, despite the physical toll it took on me, and needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the plate of pasta I had when we descended!
After lunch, we went to the Museum of Montserrat which, for being located on the side of a mountain, actually had quite the collection. In addition to having an Egyptian mummy, the museum also has beautiful paintings by Caravaggio, Monet, Degas, Picasso, and Dalí, who were just some of the artists inspired by the natural beauty of Montserrat. One of Picasso's paintings of an old sailor that he painted when he was fourteen was absolutely incredible. I fully support Spain's obsession with Picasso as he is possibly one of the most talented artists in the world.
Just before we left, we had the opportunity to go to the 16th century basilica of Montserrat which is located next to the museum. After standing in line for some time, I was able to see La Moreneta, and touch the globe that she holds in her hand. The sculpture of La Moreneta dates to the 12th century, and was created to commemorate a vision of the Virgin at Montserrat. It is considered a very important statue because it is the world's first "black" Madonna. However, in 2002, it was discovered that the statue isn't really black, but got its dark color from centuries of candle smoke slowly "tanning" it.The visit to Montserrat was a great experience--despite my sore muscles today, I had a wonderful time exploring the mountain, and it was really nice to be out in nature for once, and not in the crowded city.
Expounding on those feelings, my roommates and I decided to go to Montjuïc today because the weather was so nice. Montjuïc is a hill overlooking Barcelona that is filled with art museums and parks, and is a beautiful place to escape the busy city for a few hours. We started out by going to the Botanical Gardens, which were small but still very nice to just sit in and soak up the sun. Afterwords, we walked around and looked at the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, which houses mainly Catalan art from the 12th century up until the early 20th century. We didn't go inside, because the museum is free, and we decided to enjoy the day rather than being inside.
All in all, I had a wonderful, nature-filled, and peaceful weekend. I am off to an Irish pub to watch the Super Bowl tonight (on at midnight my time and ending somewhere around 6 AM), and next weekend, I will be heading down to the beach town of Sitges for Carnivale, which is spearheaded by the gay and lesbian community there and should be a blast!

Lots of love,
Kelsey