Rain, Rain, Go Away.....Numero Dos

My Senora checking the prices of MORE Oranges

Flora and Julia bargaining



The candy stall



The next day,Saturday, was a bit sunnier and that was when my Senora took her best friend Flora, and my roommates and me, to a market outside the city. It was there that I finally understood the origins of EL Rastro in Madrid. Large open booths filled with fruit and vegetables and many with clothing and even jewelry and scarfs. The following day, Sunday, I spent the morning working on homework but then decided to visit the Thyssen to see the newest exhibition "Jardines Impresionistas", Gardens of the Impressionists. The combined ticket for a little over 7 euros allowed me to see my favorite paintings of the museum and then to see the temporary exhibition, and with a bit of spare change, I had the pleasure of an audio-guide. The exhibit was brilliant, though packed with people escaping the rain. The exhibition continued at the Caja Madrid Fundacion, off of Calle de Arenal, where impressionism gave birth to Cubism and modernism. The entire exhibition was so memorable that I splurged on a hardcover catalog, citing my thrifty saved change as an excuse.  One more week has passed and the professors are already talking about Midterms, I wonder how quick this semester is going to go….

Rain, Rain, Go Away...Numero Uno

Some of the 5 Kilograms of Oranges we bought

Danielle eating an Orange

Market Stall

Though I suppose I should be grateful for the rain, I can’t help but dislike its adverse effects on Madrid. The Metro begins to overflow with people, walking anywhere comes with a free shower, and every museum in the city is crowded with tourists, unsure of what to do without the sunshine. But, in some ways, Madrid is even more beautiful when it rains. All of the stone and marble buildings glisten, the fountains gush forth water in savage jets, and the atmosphere of the small cafes becomes even more charming. This weekend, with the rain coming as expected, my plans to go to Segovia with friends were canceled. Instead, I visited two museums, El Museo Lazaro Galdiano and the Thyssen-Bornemisza, which I have written about many times before. El Museo Lazaro Galdiano is an enormous city mansion near metro Gregorio Maranon, which once belonged to the Museum’s namesake, a profitable entrepreneur. His mansion is filled with breathtaking works of art that he collected over his lifetime, many of which are in their original places. The main formal reception floor is stunning, with painted ceilings, heavy moldings, and hundreds of paintings and pieces of furniture. The first room off of the covered entrance, sports a ceiling devoted to Goya, containing many figures from the painter’s most famous works, including La Maja Vestida. The top floor is currently a temporary exhibition of the family’s smaller collected pieces ranging from ivory statues, ancient textiles, jeweled rosary beads, and even a selection of their dishware and flatware. Highlights In the collection are the numerous Goyas, extensive collection of religious works, some by El Greco, and even a Velasquez. The museum is stuffed to overflowing with the owner´s personal collection, well worth successive trips. The rest of the afternoon was spent showing my friend Leah around the Salamanca shopping district....

The Light of Toledo

Old City Gate

Santa Maria la Blanco Synagogue

View From Museum of Santa Cruz

Last Saturday was part of the first official weekend of the academic year, and so, a day trip was in order. I have always wanted to see Toledo so off I went with two friends to see what beauty the city could hold. We took a bus direct from Plaza Eliptica to the Toledo bus station, the trip costing fewer than 10 euros and we arrived in about 45 minutes. The city was stunning, its golden colored houses shining with warmth under the winter sun. We first saw the Toledo Alcazar, which now houses the military museum that spans every military escapade in the peninsula since it was first inhabited by humans. Accordingly, the museum was enormous and took hours to get through but was equally as fascinating and informative as it was large. After parting with my friends, I saw the Cathedral, which houses some of El Greco's best known works, and is best seen with an audio guide. I stopped for a brief snack in a park behind the church and headed off for El Greco's house (closed for renovations), Santo Tome, where El Greco's masterpiece The Burial of the Count of Orgaz can be found, the synagogues of Santa Maria la Blanca with its maze of pillars, and Sinagoga del Transito, which is also connected to a museum about Judaism in Spain. As the day began to end, i finished my lunch at a small park overlooking the river and then walked back through the city before entering the Museum of Santa Cruz, a former Renaissance hospital which now contains both an art as well as an archaeological museum both on an intimate scale. Here is El Greco's last painting as well as many other paintings, sculptures, and tapestries. The day was magnificent and proves that, even in the midst of winter, Toledo is a brilliant city.

The Perfume of Oranges that is the Smell of Sevilla

Casa de Pilatos

La Catedral Muslim Tower

Murillo Park 300+ Year Old Tree

I can hardly believe that the next semester is already starting. My Christmas break went by so quickly, and gave me a good dose of all that is good about the holiday season, before returning to Madrid to continue my adventures. After many complications with rescheduled planes, delays, a snow storm, and airport steps that didn't work, i arrived in Madrid one day and 4 hours late. I took a taxi from the airport, met my new host mom at the school and was soon napping in my room overlooking the Casa de Campo and other neighborhoods. That evening, i met my housemates, who had arrived the previous day, and I laughed till i cried while having dinner with my host mom and my housemates. I was not given much time to completely settle-in as this past weekend, Suffolk University took the entire school on a weekend orientation trip to Sevilla. There, we saw the Cathedral, part Gothic church, part Mosque, the Royal Palace, part Renaissance, Gothic, Moorish, and part Asian, and even saw the Virgin of the Macarena. We saw a working ranch, a horse show, flamenco show, Roman Ruins in Italica, and even learned to dance Flamenco. Even with all of these activities I still had time for my wandering. While in Sevilla, I stumbled upon a short reference in a guidebook mentioning a house called La Casa De Pilatos, a replica of the House of Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem, built by an eccentric nobleman several hundred years ago. I couldn't possibly miss such an intriguing museum, so i found my way across the city to see for myself. The house is enormous with a grand facade which is a mix of Roman, Greek, Muslim, and Renaissance influences. The interior is predominately Moorish, imitating the Royal Palace with its tile work and grand dome, but on a much more approachable scale. The secondary courtyard is much more Renaissance, as its owner tried to house his ever-increasing collection of Renaissance and ancient Roman statuary. The winter palace, on the second floor, is not to be missed, though requires an additional small fee, which is well worth it. The evenings in Sevilla were filled with delicious food and intriguing night-life. The trip was over much too quick and I am anticipating my next trip to see the city. Sevilla is a charming city with winding cobblestone streets, the air crowded with the clove-like smell of its famous Holy Week incense and the perfect vision of its colorful orange trees ready to be harvested. Its people are friendly and each turn in the road opens onto previously unexplored plazas with fountains and orange trees, each view gently tugging at the wanderer to sit and rest, if only for a while.