DAY 8: TOLEDO

Panoramic view of Toledo...

Picturesquely sited on a hill above the river "Tajo" is the historic city of Toledo. Behind the old walls lies much evidence of the city's rich history. The Romans built a fortress on the site of the present-day Alcázar. The Visigoths made Toledo their capital in the 6th century AD, and left behind several churches. In the Middle Ages, Toledo was a melting pot of Christian, Muslim and Jewish cultures, and it was during this period that the city's most outstanding monument -its cathedral- was built. In the 16th century the painter El Greco came to live in Toledo and today the city is home to many of his works (Greco's masterpiece "The Burial of the Count of Orgaz" is housed by the Iglesia Santo Tomé... where, for obvious reasons, pictures weren't allowed).

Toledo is about an hour away from Madrid. We first drove around the city to have a panoramic view of this magnificent place. Our companions were Mario (the driver), who is a "gato" (popular name for people from Madrid)... and Nick, an English teacher at Gonzaga (from Indiana, US!!!). Although you can drive inside of the walled city (well... for those who dare to manage the narrow streets, full of tourists, behind the wheel) it is best explored by foot. So... we walked... WE REALLY WALKED!

It was 11:30 when we arrived so we decided to have lunch before starting to walk. We stopped at "Cafe Toledo," where Carlos (the happy waiter) made our lunch delightful. We had pizzas and paella... and we also tried a delicious MORCILLA.

After "filling our tanks," we "embarked" on a Toledan travesy! A quaint city, full of little stores, history and different cultures. It is, perhaps, the only place in the world where a Synagogue gets the very Catholic name of "Santa María la Blanca" or the only place where you find a Mosque that celebrates Christ with its name. We also had the luck to enjoy some of the decorations left from Corpus Christi, the biggest feast in town. Fantastic!

Please check some of the pictures of our experience in this outstanding museum city... a magical place with a rich architectural and artistic heritage, derived from an unbelievable coalescence of Muslim, Christian and Jewish cultures (and medieval and Reinassance ideas and influences).

FYI: For future reference... if you plan to visit Toledo, wear reaaaaaaaaaaallllly comfortable shoes. The kids did; the chaperone did not (keds aren't made for walking).

TOMORROW: DAY 2 AT GONZAGA


A whole bus for us! On the road, going to TOLEDO!


Mario, who drove us to Toledo


Having lunch at "Cafe Toledo"


Street in... (guess where).... Toledo!!!!!


Famous "Toledan ceramics"



Domenikos Theotocopoulos a.k.a. "El Greco"



"Santa María La Blanca"- The oldest and largest of the city's original Synagogues, this monument dates back to the 12th century. In 1405 it was taken over as a church by San Vincente Ferrer after expulsion of Jews. Restoration has returned it to its original beauty- carved stone capitals and wall panels stand out against white horseshoe arches and plastework.





Different scenes... travelling to the past and back to the future!!


Nick, our guide from Gonzaga



"Mezquita Cristo de la Luz" (Christ of the Light Mosque)- This Mosque, one of the city's two remaining Muslim buildings, dates from around AD 1000. Unfortunately it was closed for archeological research.

DAY 5: A DAY AT GONZAGA

Today the kids' brains were overstimulated by 8 continuous hours of Spanish at school (well... except for the couple of English classes where they collaborated with the English activities). It was a fun day and kids were in heaven: they were the center of attention of the whole school.

We started with a tour around Gonzaga with Sonia, who coordinates the exchange program here. She also prepared a game for Spanish fluency called TABU... and the kids rocked! Later, we attended a Spanish Language class, where they participated in a group activity (students needed to write an opinion article about particular news - they were comparing the subjective tone from the objective one in news writing). Then, we played "Police and Robbers" in the English class. We were the "criminals" creating the perfect alibi to not get caught... but we didn't succeed. Apparently, we will not make good criminals... thank God!

Then we had a delicious lunch in a marvelous "hour and a half" lunch break. Physical Education came next and a Religion class was the most challenging of all. Felix, the Philosophy and Religion teacher, gave a lecture where he compared Judaism and Islam... in Spanish! At the end, we attended another English class where each of our Trinity students were interviewed by different groups. Ayyyyyyyy! Long, interesting and stimulating day! Desireé even commented that it was getting easier and easier to understand everything.

At 4:30 the kids departed with their respective hosts. Apparently 20 students at Gonzaga are going with them to the "mercadillo" tomorrow, an open market in Majadahonda. They were also talking about going to the pool and watching a soccer game.

Let's see... You'll need to check OLÉ next week to get information about their weekend!
MONDAY: TOLEDO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS: If I haven't mentioned it, you can get to see the pictures on this site with more detail, by clicking on them...
¡Feliz fin de semana! (Happy weekend)

DAY 4: REINA SOFIA

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía

We met at school at 9:00 a.m. for a day at MUSEO NACIONAL CENTRO DE ARTE REINA SOFÍA. Desireé was back with us! We all talked about how enriching is to experience being sick and away from home… away from mom (especially now, when college time seems so close). Anyhow, her Spanish mom took great care of her and she was fine now… (but I made sure that she had plenty of water during the day ☺.)

Our guide for the day was another English teacher at Gonzaga (there are MANY!). Her name is Sofía, just like the queen's name. She teaches kids from 6th and 7th grade. We all took the train to Atocha and walked three blocks to the museum. Emily didn’t like looking down through the glass while going up in the elevator but we saw many of the cafés from there.

The highlight of this museum of 20th century art is Picasso’s “Guernica.” There are, however, other major works by influential artists, including Miró. The collection is housed in Madrid’s former General Hospital, built in the late 18th century. That’s why “some of the rooms look like a bathroom,” as Will mentioned.

The permanent collection traces art chronologically, starting on the second floor. The third floor displays works from mid-1930s to 1960s and the fourth floor continues through to present day works. Individual rooms are allocated to significant artist such as Dalí, Miró and Picasso.

Emily had a lot of fun writing down the names of the artists that moved her. She was very impressed with Miró’s and Juan Gris’ work; not too much with Picasso. Kathleen searched for Rothko (her favorite artist) for a long time, but we never found him. In any case, she literally "lost herself" in admiring the art. Desireé and Will enjoyed everything, except the lack of "enough" benches. After a while, we decided to take it easy (for Des and the whole group’s legs). We went to the gift shop and then grabbed a table at one of the closest cafes for lunch.

Some of us had a delicious “vegetable paella.” Others had burgers that weren’t too good (that's God's way of suggesting to order a typical plate). Later, we went back to Atocha but now through a different gate: we went through the older part of the station, built of glass and wrought iron, which now houses an indoor palm garden. It was interesting to see a tropical ambience in the midst of an urban temperature and setting.

And that was it! We were at Gonzaga at 4:00 p.m.
Few pictures but here they are... !
TOMORROW: A DAY AT SLG (San Luis Gonzaga) SCHOOL


In the elevator with Sofía our guide.


View from the elevator


Menu at the "Terraza" where we had lunch... Many options for paella...


LUNCH!!!


In the train, going back "home".... Graffittis in the background...

DAY 3: PALACIO REAL/TEATRO REAL

The Royal Palace and Trinity's "A-Team"

Today was a "Royal" day, except for Desiree's absence. She was sick and stayed at home to get better. We missed her the entire day and wished she would have enjoyed the tour.

Our Gonzaga's companion for today was Seamus, an irish English teacher at the school, who has lived in Spain for 9 years. His wife is from Toledo- the reason why people often call him BOLO (nickname given to people from Toledo).

Well... we took the bus to Madrid with Seamus, instead of the train. Then, in Atocha Station, we took the metro to downtown Madrid. We walked for 10-15 minutes and the palace appeared in front of our eyes, with its majestic gardens and facade. On the opposite side of the street, the theater... a building that looked more modern (it was actually built in 1850), but equally gorgeous.

The palace wasn't going to open until 1:00 (it was about 10:10 am) because there were doing some changes inside. We decided, then, to start with the theater. While we waited for the next guided tour (at 11:00), we visited the gift store (which had an impressive collection of operas in cds, dvds and solfeo). Afterwards, we started the tour with a very charismatic guide: a madrileña who happened to live in Colombia (my country) and in the USA. Uh???????

Isn't life wonderful? Everything seems to connect as if the world was a puzzle.

The theater was spectacularly ornamented with colorfull carpets and original "royal" art. The tour lasted about an hour and then we went to VIPS to have lunch. On the way to the restaurant, the girls stopped to shop for "Real Madrid's" souvenirs (Spain's most important soccer club team) and Will stopped to try some flamenco guitars.

At 1:30 we went to the palace and waited in a long line for about 45 minutes. The kids faught about which of them was the owner of the "palace." Words fall short to describe each of the rooms. Cameras were not allowed. Sorry guys...

The heat is starting to make its entrance in Spain. We were tired but extremely happy. We made our way back to school, feeling like "queens" and "kings." I called to ask for Desiree and I was told that she was in the garden, talking to Kathleen and Emily. She was doing great!

Please, check out the pictures from "Our Royal Majesty"
For more info about the Theater or Palace, visit the links on the right -below the message board- in this site.

TOMORROW: DAY 4 - MUSEO NACIONAL REINA SOFIA



Teatro Real (Royal Theatre)




Inside the Royal Theater


Panoramic view of the palace from the theater



Will, trying his desired flamenco guitars... the NO TOCAR (Do not touch) sign was discovered after 20 minutes. People at the store never said anything... Rules do not always apply in this country... :)


Metro station at "Puerta del Sol"


Looking for a place to have lunch...


Seamus, our Gonzaga's 'guide' for today. He is Irish, but his soul is as spanish as Spain :)



Welcome to our house... the Royal Palace!




On our way back to Majadahonda...


In Majadahonda, one block away from the school

DAY 2: MUSEO DEL PRADO/HUERTAS

At "Estación de Atocha" (Atocha Station)

Today, Salvador Dalí didn't seem as original as we thought. As much as we like him, we couldn't help seeing El Bosco's influence on the surrealist's thought and art. "El Jardín de las Delicias" was painted between 1503-1504 but it could easily pass for an "avant-garde" painting from the 20th century. Ideas are never reinvented: they are re-created.

A realization like this makes life much more interesting... it reminds us that each day brings its lesson with it.

Today, "Trinity's A-team" visited "El Museo del Prado." We rediscovered the paintings that we've seen for years on our Spanish books: "El 3 de Mayo" by Goya, "Las Meninas" by Velázqez, etc. It was both interesting and shocking to see the museum full of kindergarden field-trips and teachers explaining the relevance of each of the paintings to the 5 year old ones (Art isn't something you "visit" once in a while in this country... it is just part of life!).

You guys want to laugh? Well... We had a small but great lunch at the museum. Kathleen and I went to the cafeteria counter to complaint about Kat's bitter yoghurt. It was a natural flavored one that showed a "9/06" (SEPTEMBER/06!!!) as an expiration date. The kitchen women laughed hard... the 9 stands for the day, the 06 for June. The natural yoghurt is bitter here and spaniards add some sugar to it before eating it.... :)

María José was our guide for the day. She is another English teacher at Gonzaga. As many other young "madrileñas," she lives close to the museum (historic madrid) in an area called "Huertas." We had the fortune of having her to show us "her" piece of Madrid, an artsy and literary street filled with cafés, flamenco stores and restaurants. The biggest Spanish literary masters used to live in this area and many are still present with their lines or verses written on the floor.

We stopped at Café ELHECHO (game of words between El Hecho -The Fact- and Helecho -a type of plant) for "un café" and soda. Then we saw the old Hotel Victoria, where many of the great "Matadores" or "Toreros" used to stay when they visited Madrid. Afterwards we made our way back to "Atocha Station," where we took the "Cercanías" train to Majadahonda. Once in Majadahonda, we took the bus to Gonzaga to meet our hosts... I think the Jet-lag is starting to show some effects on our faces.

There are no pictures of El Prado (cameras were not allowed), but here you have some other images of our second day in Spain.
TOMORROW: DAY 3- PALACIO REAL (Royal Palace)/TEATRO REAL (Royal Theater)/MADRID's DOWNTOWN


Outside "El Prado"


Walking at "Huertas"


Café ELHECHO



Quevedo and Cervantes are still alive in "Huertas" through their writing!


Hotel Victoria


Ministerio de Agricultura (Spain's Agriculture Department)


Back to Atocha Station



Waiting for the train... waiting for the bus...