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Published: June 30th 2008
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Castle Coca
The first castle we went to, the castle Coca. This past Friday was our first excursion of the trip. We went to a winery and 2 castles. Lets talk about the winery first. It was the more boring place I´ve been too. First of all, it was 11 in the morning and second of all, she did not have many grape plants. I was expecting Napa Valley or something, but it was a let down. Then after an hour of explaining how to make wine (basically cool it and keep it at the right temperature...who didn´t know that?), we tasted it 3 different types that they made. I guess I´m not a wine person, because I really didn´t like any of it. But a lot of people bought some to take home to their parents, or just drink while they´re here.
After the most boring tour of my life, we went to castle number 1: the castle at Coca. It was beautiful! We went on a lengthy tour of it and took a lot of pictures.
We then took an hour and a half lunch to relax and eat then ended our excursion with the second castle: the castle Cuellar. This one was defiantly not as good as
Sara at the castle
Me at the castle Coca the first one since at this castle, they converted it into a small high school, so it was quite modernized.
All in all, the excursion was a long day but it was nice to do something else for a change.
Saturday, Nicole, Vita, Amy and I went to Madrid for the day! I woke up at 7am, met Vita at 7:40 and we met Amy and Nicole at the bus station at 8. Our round trip ticket to Madrid and back was 11.75€. Not bad! We arrived in Madrid around 10. Nicole´s host mom said there was good shopping at la calle Princesa, and by pure chance, thats where we got off the bus. We walked around and that street was kind of a bust so thanks to the book my mom and dad got me for christmas about Spain (it had a huge section on Madrid, and even a map!), we just decide to walk around Madrid. Amy heard of a mall, so we walked about 30 minutes to the mall. It was nice and air conditioned. We stopped for lunch in the mall at......BURGER KING!!!!! I needed American food so badly. It´s not that I don´t
Bull
The bull fight. like Spain food, but for goodness sakes. I had carrot soup one day for lunch, and pumpkin soup the next. What about a hot dog? Oh here´s something funny for you guys. My mom asked me what I wanted her to pack me for my lunch on the excursion "do you want a peanut butter sandwich?" she said, and I said "...just peanut butter? Can I have jelly too?" And she was blind-sided. She had never heard of peanut butter and jelly before. I know...I know. I told her every kid in the states grew up on it and she was just amazed. Anyway-thats what she made me for my lunch.
After the mall and the best food I think I´ve ever had in my life, we left the mall and headed for the plaza mayor, or so we thought. We headed in one direction that seemed right. We got caught up in a good conversation and 30 minutes later decided to consult the map. Well we couldn´t find where we were on my map from my book because we were so far off of it. It wasn´t that we went so far out of the way, but it
Matador with sword
The picture is kinda blurry, but you can see all the arrows in the bulls back and the blood running down. The matador is just about to stab the bull with the sword in his hand and kill it. was also 95 degrees that day. We were so exhausted. We stopped a spanish couple and asked them which way to the plaza mayor and they took us to the bus stop just across the street and told us exactly what to do to get there. They were very nice. The bus only costs 1€. So about 30 minutes later, we arrived at la plaza mayor. And if you´ve ever seen pictures, it is much more pretty in person. It was beautiful. We asked a family walking past us to take a picture for us, and they ended up being Americans from Wisconsin. We´ve met alot of Americans on this trip, it´s been very refreshing! They were there because their son, who was a senior in high school, had been studying abroad in Madrid for 6 months. 6 months! And only in high school. I don´t know what I´m complaining about!
Our final stop was the Hard Rock Cafe to pick up some gifts for people. It was about another 40 minute walk from la plaza mayor to the Hard Rock, in la plaza Colón. We got smart by that time and followed the map perfectly. It was so
Plaza Mayor
The plaza mayor. It looks much prettier in person that watching it on tv with Samantha Brown! HOT outside I can´t believe none of us melted down from all this walking and getting lost. We asked, I swear, about a third of the population of Madrid where exactly the Hard Rock Cafe was because it was not obvious from view where it was. Of course, they all told us conflicting directions and we went in a circle a few times, but we found it, got our gifts and left. We wanted to get ice cream and sit for hours, but at 9€ for one bowl of ice cream, we decided to find something else.
Luckily Haagen-Dazs was next door and we shared 3 pints of ice cream between the 4 of us. And you´d better believe we finished all 3 pints. I don´t think any of us have ever at ice cream so fast. Amy at so fast, that she made a casual exit to the bathroom for about 20 minutes because she thought she would throw up. She didn´t and we were happy once again after hours and hours of walking around aimlessly. We sat in Haagen-Dazs for a good 2 hours when we decided to go home. Rather than walking, we had learned our lesson and this time took the Metro back to the bus station. Again, only 1€. It was sort of a mess trying to find our bus and get the necessary papers to get on, but after 2 hours of sitting in the bus station, we made it home. Ah. home. I can´t believe we didn´t get stuck in Madrid. It was so hard to navigate!
I had never been so happy to be in Segovia. I have a new found appreciation for this city: it´s small size and easy to navigate streets. Everything. I love Segovia so much more now.
Sunday, Amy, Vita, Nicole and I went to a bull fight right here in Segovia! It was very very interesting. A bull fight is just like a rodeo with the "clowns". There are matador "clowns" that make the bull really mad, then some other matadors come and stab the neck of the bull with swords that stay in the bull. After that, the real matador comes out and makes the bull mad yet again. After a while and hearing many screams of "ole", the matador stabs the bull in the same spot as the other arrows with a big sword. Then the bull falls and dies. Two horses come out and pull the bull away off the arena. I didn't really think they killed the bulls every time there is a fight. We saw 4 fights, so 4 bulls died. Call me naive but I really didn't know the bull died. It was a really neat experience. I'm very happy I went.
After that was the final game of the Eurocup, and Spain won! I thought the first two games went crazy when we won, but people were just nuts after this win. I guess Spain hasn't won for a really long time. It was great to see.
Today, my friends and I are sitting at school booking and planning our trip to Barcelona this weekend. We have the only 3 day weekend of our trip ahead (school Monday-Thursday, and no excursions this weekend). Apparently this is a big travel weekend for the Spanish too and it's hard to book a room, but I'm sure we'll find something.
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