Madrid Day 16

We started out at the Museum in Madrid, which is comparable to the louvre in Paris! Since we didn't spend a lot of time in the Louvre I was SUPER excited to spend an hour walking around the Museum.

Right when Mandi took this picture a guard came up behind her and said, "NO PHOTOS!". I think she almost peed her pants... :)

After the Museum we walked over to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch. I haven't had a burger and fries taste this good in forever!! We were all grateful for the American food. :)

This is the bak of the palace we visited yesterday. We walked past it on the way to Flamingo Dancing.

After a short tour of Madrid part of the group went to the Flamingo Dancing... Mandi I weren't going to go, but some spots opened up and we got to go for free!!! :)

After Flamingo Dancing we had some free time and we went to dinner and on our way we saw protesters...OOOHHH AAHHHH!!!
After dinner we all went to this Chocolate Place for Churros dipped in Chocolate. It was delicious.
It got pretty messy.
We got back pretty late. Mandi and I have been packing and packing and now we are finally getting to sleep at 1:00am. Our wake-up call is at 3:45am because our flight departs at 7:15am. Everyone else is waking up at 6:00am and leaving at 7:30 for their flight. See some of you tomorrow at 2:00 in the afternoon. :)

Madrid - Toledo Day 15

Today was full of SPAIN!!! The first thing we did was go on a tour of Madrid. Madrid was full of little Communities or States. Each Community was different, some were really crazy others full of residential houses. There were beautiful buildings and there were HUGE parks.

This is a new garden that is very popular, there are over 220 different plants on this building and the people who live in the building don't use the A/C or the heater because the plants control the temperature. The other building is a cultural center and has a cool design where it isn't touching the ground at first. :)

This cylinder is made out of glass and represents the bombing that happened at Madrid's major train station, just under 200 people died from the bomb and all their names are in the room under the cylinder.

This is one of the 18 gates that opens up to an amazing park located in one of the Communities we explored.

This use to be one of the main gates to get into the city. It has a beautiful flower garden in front of it.

This is a monument for one of the greatest writers in Spain. He wrote Don Quijote de la Mancha and it was the first modern novel written in Spain. It is a novel about the anti-hero instead of the hero. The author's name is Miguel Cervantes.

Our tour group in front of the monument.

This is the Royal Palace of Madrid.

Some Knights outfits.

Relaxing in the shade..it is freaking hot today!

In the garden outside the Palace.

This is my soup of Lentils that I had for lunch, it was delicious!

Mandi had some lentils and then got eggs and this salsa stuff.

This is rice pudding...nasty. Worst dessert ever.

After lunch we went to Toledo!!! This use to be the main gate to get into Toledo.

The oldest bridge in Toledo.

It's GORGEOUS!!!
The river you see surrounds Toledo and was used as a wall in the medieval ages.

This use to be a synagogue, then Spain became completely Catholic and the Muslims and Jews were kicked out. The synagogue became a shelter mostly then a historical site. In 1992 the President of Spain signed a treaty with the Jewish leaders that when ever the Jews decided to live in Toledo again they would have full control of the synagogue. But so far there are ZERO Jews living in Toledo.

The building behind Mandi is the Cathedral of Toledo. We went inside and it was A-FREAKING-MAZING!!! Definitely coming back to Toledo to go inside. The other amazing thing we got to see was a painting by El Greco, he was the fasted painter EVER because he was ambidextrous. He did a painting the is considered to be one of the best paintings in the WORLD! His paintings are all over the robe room in the Cathedral of Toledo.

Mandi is holding the herb thyme. This was thrown all over the streets this morning for the holiday. The holiday was about something religious and back hundreds of years ago when thousands of people gathered on the streets it started to get stinky, since none of them had bathed in years, maybe decades.

The entire "Old" Toledo part of the city was decorated for the occasion.

This is the picture of our group coming down from the "Old" Toledo to the "New" Toledo. Aren't they a handsome group. :)

When we got back Mandi and I went SHOPPING since our hotel is located in the center of Madrid!!! We also found a great dinner place, Pans and Company. This is the best sandwich place I have ever been to. We also went to Starbucks for juice and dessert. I got cheesecake! :)

Curfew was 11:00 tonight because we aren't leaving the hotel until 10:00 tomorrow. I hear we are going to be doing a walking tour tomorrow!!! I can't wait, I hope we get to visit some parks!! :)

Spain - Madrid Day 14

Mandi's breakfast...well she ended up having nine eggs, one of them hard boiled, five over easy, and three scrambled. She had a slight stomach ache.

This was my breakfast...plus hot cocoa and cereal. Yum. :)

Today was the last time to have this amazing breakfast and we could of had it two days in a row. I feel so stupid for sleeping in. :(

We filled our stomachs to the breaking point then ate junk food the rest of the day, who can blame us, we rode on the bus from 8:00am to 7:30pm. The bus stopped three or four times for bathroom breaks and lunch. Lunch sucked but dinner was great: rice, soup, and chocolate cake or an apple for Mandi. :)

We nick-named the bus the '80's Rock Band Bus' it was really ugly, terrible color scheme.

For lunch we stopped in this adorable town, that I don't know the name of, and there was some amazing buildings and modern art.

These pictures above are all of the same church.

We stumbled upon this building while hunting for a place to find sandwiches, which was never found.
This is the main area in front of the church...AMAZING!!! I love it! :)
Together in front of the church. Gorgeous...the church looks good too.
Inside the church.

FRIENDS!!!

Our friends were wondering if we mentioned them on the blog, but I didn't think it would interest everyone at home to know about the people we were hanging with. Hopefully you find them as humorous as I do.

Andrew...he wanted a sexy picture, you can judge for yourself if this is sexy or not. :)

Mandi and Alexis being REALLY bored together.

This is one of our first roommates, Paige.

Our other roommate for most of the hotels, Kelsey.

Alexis on the bus in her new sunglasses.

Alex and Rebecca, his Aunt. They are way fun to hang out with!

This is Kelsey, a different one, we will call her 'Blonde' Kelsey. She is hilarious.

Alexis AGAIN...just can't get enough of her. She isn't a very good influence, she has a POTTY mouth.

So does 'Blonde' Kelsey but hers is a really little potty mouth.

'Blonde' Kelsey doing her "Who" face from "Horton Hers a Who".

And Alexis....ha. Gotta love her.

Well these are our Missouri friends and after dinner we all headed back to the hotel to chill. We aren't leaving until 9:20 for the tour of Madrid! I LOVE SLEEPING! The bus ride today totally messed up mine and Mandi's backs, definitely taking some Excedrin PM before bed.

We will be home in 3 days! Can't wait to see my PADRES and my soft, squishy, soft, fluffy, soft....bed. :}