The Pastle

Once upon a time, there was a young maiden that was having way too much fun in a foreign land. Alright today was another great day (I never know how to begin). In culture we talked about literature. However, we all taught the class different highlights and I'm not going to lie, my group did not spend a lot of time on ours so I did not understand a whole lot (as always it is all in Spanish). Therefore, I do not have a lot to share other than that many authors were exiled during the reign of Franco because of their ideas. Thankfully I have time to study! After class today we went to the Palacio Real! (I accidently said pastle one time= palace + castle). Anyways it was absolutely GORGEOUS! Unfortunately, as always we could not take pictures. Still we were able to tour one of the seven floors of the palace.

Normally, the royal family does not actually live there, though they do use it for special ceremonies and events. There are special rooms for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as a room where the walls are completely decorated with porcelain! Everything is so detailed and ornate. One of the rooms blew me away. It looked like paintings of vines and flowers all over the rooms, spreading to the ceilings. however, on the walls it was not paint. It was almost fabric. It was 3-dimensional and you could definitely touch it, but all over the walls! Increíble. I asked the guide if they had documents of about how much it cost for the whole palace but he could not even fathom. They also have two violins, one viola, and one cello de Stradivarius! Stradivarius! For those of you that do not know, Stradivarius was a famous maker of string instruments. They are hand made and there are not many in the world and their sound is supposedly unexplainably beautiful and better than any others. They say he took his secret to his grave. One of the instruments is apparently worth more than everything we saw in the one floor of the palace. I cannot even imagine. I asked how often they were played, thinking very little, though about twice a month someone is allowed to come and play the instruments. As long as they continue to produce the same high quality of sound, they will be played. After we toured the palace we went to the "Armory." We saw more armor for knights, as well as weapons. The decorative nature on some of this weapons were incredible, which of course made no sense to me. I also saw a huge sniper that was probably 8 feet long! Something curious, however, was the armor for children. I tried to understand the sign explaining but I did not, other than that it's preparation for future kings. The palace was absolutely gorgeous and I definitely appreciate it fo that. Still, with places like that I cannot help but wonder if that money could've been used for something more important for the people...the king and queen are rarely there anyways? Anyways, that's me. Afterwards, we went in search of a treat that one of our professors had told us about at a restaurant called El Espejo (The mirror, where I went my first week in Madrid as well). All we knew was something about milk and cinnamon. It turns out, however, that it was ice cream with cinnamon. OH MY GOODNESS! It was incredible!
I'm not a huge fan of ice cream without chocolate in it but I even finished off my friends' that did not want anymore (and these were not small to begin with).
I might have to go back every day... haha. Unfortunately today it was very chilly outside and actually rained on us right after, so not the best day for ice cream. Needless to say, after getting wet, I was ready to curl up in my bed. I came home for a great nap. Afterwards I enjoyed a nice cup of tea, followed by some homework. Then we had some tortilla for dinner and went out with our new European friends (and an Australian!). James, from Australia, knew of a nice place with a rooftop (on top of a hotel). It was so nice but not too expensive! It was very cold tonight but it was beautiful to see the city at night. I did not stay long as I have a big day tomorrow but again, I loved hanging out with people from different countries and cultures than mine. The only hard thing is that smoking is totally normal and frequent for them. Which is fine, but for those of you that know my allergies it can create a bit of a problem. I kind of causally said something to Maria and of course she felt awful and was like "Why didn't you tell me!" Still, it really has not been bad. No pasa nada. Still, she is 17! That's a lot of years of lung damage to go. Anyways, life is good. Viva España. Tomorrow I'm going to see Carmen (the opera!). I have been looking forward to this all trip! I cannot wait!

Encouragement:)- "From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another."- John 1: 16. I am so thankful for the opportunity to have gone on this trip. I know several people reading made this possible and I cannot thank you enough. Praise God from whom all blessing flow!