¡Mi Casa!

Alright, here is where I have been living for the past month:
This is my bedroom. Yes, it´s a little cluttered right now but I´ve been too busy to clean. Unfortunetly my window does not give off a very interesting view (only of the apartment next door) so I just keep the shades closed. It´s a little smaller than my room at home but I like it!
This is the bathroom. I was so surprised when I arrived because I was actually given my very own bathroom. Again, a little smaller than I´m accustomed to but it gets the job done. I was a little confused at first because you don´t push the handle to flush on the side of the pot, like you would in most U.S. bathrooms. Instead, you either pull up a lever on the top or you push a button. Don´t worry, I figured it out fairly quickly.
Here´s the kitchen, where we eat every day! It´s also where the clothes washer is too. Kind of multi-purpose.
And finally the living room. This is where we eat on special occasions (the only time I´ve eaten there is Mother´s Day) and where we watch T.V. and movies. I´m so lucky to have been put with a family that appreciates movies like I do (actually my sister´s favorite actress is Audrey Hepburn, same as me! What are the odds?).

Toledo Power!

On Saturday, we went on our last excursion to Toledo. It was so amazing!! The city, as you can see, is beautiful. After a 2 hour bus ride, we met up with Gloria, our tour guide. She took us to the Cathedral, an old synagogue, and to a church that houses a very famous Greco painting.
This is the beautiful Cathedral in Toledo. I probably like this one more than the others, actually. Although they´re all outstanding... how can I choose! This one had a lot more stained-glass windows, which I really like.

This sideways picture is of the synagogue. It has really beautiful carved walls, which you can´t see very well in this photo but you get the idea! Although the Jews were expelled from Toledo hundreds of years ago, this synagogue was not destroyed or converted into a cathedal. It was small but very interesting!

La Granja

We visited La Granja on Friday morning, which is a district or provice of Segovia. While we were there we visited the glass museum, where they made all of the chandeliers of the Summer Palace (what we visited next). It was very interesting to see them actually blow the glass. It´s hard to believe that goo could be turned into glass!

This is a photo of the Summer Palace. It´s very beautiful but we couldn´t take pictures of the inside. This is just one of the 4 palaces of the King and Queen. It´s sort of like their summer cabin!!

Paella!!!

This is paella. I´ve received quite a few e-mails asking about it here and yes, I have had it and yes, it´s amazing! The first paella was made with chicken and the second was made with seafood, which is what is pictured here. This paella has peppers, calimari, shrimp, clams, rice, and various spices. Don´t worry, my mom promised to teach me how to make it. Although I doubt that mine will be as pretty!

Romanesque Segovia

On Monday we walked around Segovia and viewed the Roman architecture. Like the aqueduct (which I just realized I forgot to put pictures up of...), much of the architecture in Segovia is very old and still in good condition. We visited 3 churches, 2 of which I have shown here. The first one was very pretty inside, however the tower had not been cleaned in years. It was full of pigeon droppings and feathers. Since the stairs were skinny, steep, and full of crap (literally) it made for a difficult climb.
This tower is thought to be the most famous and beautiful Roman tower in the world. It´s connected to the Church of San Esteban. It´s very beautiful from the outside but they do not allow visits in the church, so I have to settle with this picture. So crane your neck to the side and enjoy!

The Beauty of the Alhambra

As I stated before, the Alhambra is the ancient Muslim ruins in Granada. We spent 4 hours touring the complex on a sunny (very hot) Saturday afternoon. My favorite part, without doubt, was the gardens. They were especially elaborate because we were told that Muslims consider their afterlife to be similar to an extravagant garden. They specialized in many different types of roses, along with beautiful fountains and hedges. In fact, it is in the running to be placed in the "New 7 Wonders of the World."
We also visited this palace-type building. It is square on the outside but a circle around the inside. The square represents the earthly world while the circle reflects a heavenly sphere. We found it to be a good place to rest on a sunny day.
This is one of the most famous patios in the Alhabra. It is thought to be the most beautiful because of the pillars and the amazing fountain. Unfortunetly the fountain was under renovation and we were not able to see it. Bummer!

Another place we visited was the military complex overlooking the city. It gave us a great view of Granda so we could pick out the places that we had visited previously. The man in the green shirt is Ricardo, our everything guide to Spain. I´m sure that he is passing on some precious information to Jenna in this picture.

Granada

On Friday we hopped back into the bus and took another 3 1/2 hours to get to Granada. A very different city than the others. Unlike most of Spain, Granada is not a Catholic city. Actually, it´s Muslim populated which gives it a very different feel. As we were walking the streets when we arrived, we got to hear the call to prayer given at the main mosque in town. Pretty cool! We also saw many markets (we got to haggle for the price!), gypsies trying to sell us this and that, and lots of outdoor bands in the plazas.

This is a distant picture of the Alhambra, which we went and visited the on Saturday. It´s the ancient Muslim complex with mosques, gardens, harems, etc. I´ll talk more about it when I post the pictures from the Alhambra excursion, but I thought this was an amazing photo the entire thing.