Palacio Real

EL PALACIO REAL

courtyard view

(frontview) from street

Welcome Back!

I visited the Palacio Real the other day..its the most gorgeous place I've ever seen. With 2800 rooms and 44 staircases, its obviously a PALACE! It is the official residence of the King of Spain. The royal family however choose to not reside there and instead live in a smaller palace right outside of Madrid. When the old royal castle that used to be there burned down in 1734, The King ordered that a new palace be built on the same location...its took 17 years to complete and was finished in 1755. 

I got some video from the outside but very little from inside. Photos and video are NOT allowed once inside the palace which sucks entirely because it the architecture and designs are breath-taking. I snuck in a few seconds of video in the beginning before getting caught by a mean awful security guard lady who pretty much threatened to kick me out. So instead I opt to steal a few photos from the internet of a few rooms that I was able to see. Although there are more than 2800, we only saw about 25 on our tour.

Enjoy the pics and video below :)

The Royal Throne

this room was made of porcelain statues and vines

The Royal Dining Room

Segovia

The City of Segovia

Today I had my first excursion. Every saturday my school has these trips planned where we take a bus and go visit a city outside of Madrid. That city today was the beautiful Segovia which is one of the oldest and most historical places in Spain. At the bottom you will find a video of my trip as well as a few pictures that I took. I will be posting a complete album on facebook...so make sure youu check that out. Here is a description of what you will see in the video and what I saw:

The first thing we saw was the famous "Aqueduct" which Segovia is known for. It was built at the end of 1st to early 2nd century AD by the Romans to bring water from the river and is completely man-made out of granite blocks. (I only took photos).

AQUEDUCT

The Cathedral of Segovia stands in the city's central plaza. Constructed in the late Gothic style between 1522 and 1577, it is widely considered Europe's last great Gothic cathedral. (Unfortunately my battery died so I only got a photo from the outside and a short snippet video from inside). 

Cathedral of Segovia

My favorite visit was the Alcazar Castle. The Alcázar is perched at the tip of the promontory and towers over the countryside below. Like many fortifications in Spain, it started off as an Arab fort. At the end of the 11th century it was conquered by king Alfonso VI. During the Middle Ages, the Alcazar of Segovia was the favourite residence of kings of Castile, and almost each king added new parts to the building, transforming the original fortress into a courtier residence and prolonging the construction of the castle till 16th century, when King Philip II added the conical spires and the slate roofs. A fire in 1862 destroyed part of the roofs, but they were restored in the very same style they were built more than 300 years ago.

ALCAZAR CASTLE

The last visit we made was to the Church of Vera Cruz (and I wasnt able to capture any photos/videos because of my battery). But this church wasn't really a church. It was used as a sanctuary and they would drag the dead bodies of their loved ones and rest them outside. It was like a passing of the dead as they believed they would be "going with christ". The professor said that everytime he has brought students there they find a piece of human bone. I found several!! It was quite interesting. Inside they described how the church was founded by the Knights Templar (think of the Da Vinci Code) and how it was said that here was one of the first stops that the cross of Christ made. This place has been featured many times on several history programs and etc..

Overall the visit was amazing and beautiful. You all know how much I love history lol. Enjoy the pictures and video and I promise to take some photos of Madrid in the next few days...

Barack & Spain.

In the airport in New York, I bought Obama's book "Dreams From My Father" because I needed something to read during the 8 hour plane ride. I am almost finished with it 2 days later and have been deeply touched by his story. It is simply amazing to read something written by him in 1995 when he became the first African-American president of The Harvard Law Review. There is something about the way it is written that you get a renewed sense of the man behind the beautiful speeches. I am sure when he wrote that book he never thought in a million years that he would eventually become President of the United States in the next decade as he hadn't even gotten into politics at that time. 

I say all of this because I wonder what he thinks whenever he goes back and takes a look at his story. It is a memoir about how this man had such an interesting and random life growing up that in some ways I could relate to. As I was reading it outside a cafe yesterday for a few hours, I counted my blessings about who I am and what I have been able to accomplish so far at only 21 years old. I think of all the things that I want to do in my life and call it overboard optimism or what-have-you but something inside my soul tells me I will achieve every one of them. 

I have began to write my own story in someway. His book inspired me to put my own thoughts down and reflect on my history. I don't know if it will essentially be a memoir just as he wrote it but more almost like a diary of my thoughts, my goals and what life has taught me. If its good enough then hell I'll send it straight to a publisher Lol but if not at least I'll have it to look back on in the next 10 or 20 years and see who I've become like Obama probably did. 

You never know what the future holds...Could I be the next Oprah? Steven Spielberg? Tyler Perry? Barack Obama?

How bout the next Deniese Davis :-)

Spain - Day 2

Well here I am. 

I finally have made it to the beautiful "ciudad de Madrid". Does it feel like I am a thousand miles away from home? Uhmm no - but only because I have adapted so easily to living here even though its only day 2. The city is beautiful, the people are so kind and helpful and it is exactly what I love about traveling...CHANGE. I think that everyone gets so caught up in their normal routines of daily life that they are afraid of change and taking time off to try something different but me? I embrace the hell out of it. It is true that I stay busy day in and day out while hustling my way through college in New York but I have never hesitated on taking chance on something "new" (well unless its a particular food..but im working on that). 

Every experience that I partake is one that teaches me something I didnt know before or strengthens whatever knowledge I have. I am still quite young, so to be able to have all of these different types of experiences under my belt only furthers my wisdom and ability to boldly march forward and meet my challenges head on. Anyway I'll get to the preaching in a bit..lol Let me tell you about my first couple days:

So within an hour of being in Europe, I somehow managed to lose my camera and get ripped off all within the same moment. I caught a taxi from the airport to my homestay house although I was suppose to take a bus into the city and then take a taxi. I waited for the bus but yet became terrified that I had no idea what the hell I was doing or where I was going..safest bet was just to take a car all the way there right? So I already had exchanged $90 in American money which gave me roughly about $60 Euros. So whatever, figured the cab shouldnt be more than about 30? I get in..have a wonderful conversation in spanish with the cab driver who told me all about the places to see and visit (he didnt speak english at all)..meanwhile I was making videos and taking pictures on the way to the house. Halfway there I noticed the meter at around 15 euros..felt relieved because i thought that I wouldnt end up spending more than 25 for the ride so I continued our conversation and when we pulled up he pressed some buttons on the meter and said "85.85 euros". I said "come again?" He pointed to the meter and repeated the price..

Okay so it should have clicked with me then that there was no way in HELL that this was right. I checked my pockets and then told him I had to go to the bank. So i pulled out more cash in the atm, paid him and went on my way. Please bear in mind that this was my very first purchase since I got here so I had no idea what costs to expect so I simply thought that maybe the price was normal. It wasnt until the next hour when I was out buying small things for my room  and noticed how cheap it was to buy certain things that I calculated just how much american money I lost when I paid him 85 euros..that averages to almost $120. WTF? 

I was pissed. And to make matters worse - after i unpacked all of my luggage, I wanted to upload the video and pictures from the cab ride and thats when I realized that I left the damn camera in the back seat. I simply had put it down on the seat after using it and completely forgot to grab it when I left the cab. I never got a receipt nor asked for the drivers name or cab number. Shame on me for being such an easy "American" target within 20 minutes of being here.

Besides all of that nonsense, the rest of my trip has been at ease so far. The homestay lady I stay with is beyond sweet and speaks no english so it has helped advance my conversation skills. She takes care of her cute tiny elderly mother who also stays here but is always knocked out on her rocking chair, couch or on the porch.  There are also two other girls from florida staying in the same apartment with me who are from a different study abroad program with their college. I had orientation today and officially start classes tomorrow. I am all smiles and muy contenta!

Lets see..Ah! And I explored the tapas bars with my roommates and their peers last night and discovered the wine is $1 euro, beer is $2 euros and sangria is $2.20 euros. I only had one glass of the delicious sangria..but the guys from my roommates program thought they were doing big things buying bottles of wine for only 8 euros..or "bottle poppin" as they said. Lol

I plan on buying another camera somewhere out here if I can get one for a reasonable price..that way I can take pictures. But so far I can tell that it's going to be an interesting and helluva month! :)