Fresco Frescoes
June 25
Molli left in the morning back to Vienna, but don't worry - I'm coming to visit in October. Anna and I spent the afternoon taking the train out to San Lorenzo de El Escorial to check out the royal palace/monastery there and just spend a bit of time out of the city. The fact that I can take the same metros around town, to the suburbs, and more than an hour out of town to neighboring towns is freaking amazing. If I were to choose a city to live in, Madrid would be pretty high on my list. Once we got into El Escorial and walked through the prince's garden/forest to the infornation center, we got our bearings and planned our lazy afternoon of wandering through the park, gardens, palace, and town. There are buildings in the park that were part of the estate, but we got a little turned around and lazy and never actually made it to them. We stopped when we saw the masses of kids playing and their parents having a picnic nearby, and decided to picnic ourselves. Texts from a friend in the States got us onto the topic again of relationships, both shitty and funny, and how to be an adult, the upshot, as always, being that we have no idea what the hell we're doing, but we do it anyway until hopefully something clicks. The gardens surrounding the palace are great, and I image they're even better as the roses are in full bloom.
The heat drove us inside, where we spent a few hours getting turned around wandering through the massive palace/school/monastery complex. My favorite part was probably the globe in the library and the incredible intricate woodcarved doors in the upstairs portion. The Prado right now is doing an exhibit on Bosch, but the palace glad it's own mini exhibit too, and the explanations were very helpful in understanding his commentary and pointing out particular characters of interest in the paintings and tapestries. The tour didn't have the same nice flow as the Palace in Madrid (nor the opulence, since the prince was determined to live a fairly austere life of worship), but it was a good way to spend the afternoon. I would have liked to visit the Valle de los Caídos outside of town to learn more about the civil war and Franco's regime, but it would have required arriving in the morning, as there is only one bus out there and back each day. As the palace closed for the evening, we tasted some not tasty desserts and opted for ice cream instead while we wandered the town. I finally found earrings I loved, and we randomly happened upon a fencing demonstration in the square that we watched until it was time to catch the metro back to Madrid. There's a tasty falafel place near Anna's apartment, which would be so dangerous if I was living there. We got falafel for my final dinner, drank it with crianza wine, and watched How To Be Single which, for a romcom, has a scary amount of accurate advice and pitfalls. It's my last night, and I've had a fantastic trip with just the right mix of culture and chill. My travel buddies are the best I could ask for (sorry for the constant tardiness, Molli). Spain has so much more to explore, so I'll be back come winter, I'm sure.
The heat drove us inside, where we spent a few hours getting turned around wandering through the massive palace/school/monastery complex. My favorite part was probably the globe in the library and the incredible intricate woodcarved doors in the upstairs portion. The Prado right now is doing an exhibit on Bosch, but the palace glad it's own mini exhibit too, and the explanations were very helpful in understanding his commentary and pointing out particular characters of interest in the paintings and tapestries. The tour didn't have the same nice flow as the Palace in Madrid (nor the opulence, since the prince was determined to live a fairly austere life of worship), but it was a good way to spend the afternoon. I would have liked to visit the Valle de los Caídos outside of town to learn more about the civil war and Franco's regime, but it would have required arriving in the morning, as there is only one bus out there and back each day. As the palace closed for the evening, we tasted some not tasty desserts and opted for ice cream instead while we wandered the town. I finally found earrings I loved, and we randomly happened upon a fencing demonstration in the square that we watched until it was time to catch the metro back to Madrid. There's a tasty falafel place near Anna's apartment, which would be so dangerous if I was living there. We got falafel for my final dinner, drank it with crianza wine, and watched How To Be Single which, for a romcom, has a scary amount of accurate advice and pitfalls. It's my last night, and I've had a fantastic trip with just the right mix of culture and chill. My travel buddies are the best I could ask for (sorry for the constant tardiness, Molli). Spain has so much more to explore, so I'll be back come winter, I'm sure.
High: Laying on the stairs staring at the frescoed ceiling in el Palacio de San Lorenzo picking out people from the multitude and thinking how wonderfully cool the stone is on my back and how grateful I am to be wandering around Spain, staring into rooms that could be Hogwarts dormitories, gardens that could hold the goblet of fire in the center, paintings that could be in the Black house, beautiful wooden doors with entire stories inlaid, and pantheons that could be miles under Gringotts, with one of my dearest friends. We all connect to art and history somehow, and I guess I do it through children's literature.
Low: I definitely should have gotten a tourist metro pass what with all the extra ones I keep having to get.
Glitter: Getting cool earrings from a shop we randomly walked into, and stumbling on the fencing demonstration which made me think of Josh and his modern pentathlon-ing.
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| A little bit of street art on the way back to the bus |
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