Europe Trip...Finally! Madrid & Segovia, Spain

In May I had the opportunity to accompany Brandon on a business trip to Spain, Germany, and France.  It was such an awesome trip!  This spring was kind of a rough one for me, but taking two weeks to just relax, explore, and have some serious ME time (not to mention being able to spend some great time with Brandon) was exactly what I needed!  

The first stop on our trip was Madrid, Spain.  Getting there was an interesting adventure.  I flew from Cincinnati to New York City to London to Geneva to Madrid.  The whole trip to Madrid took roughly 25 hours.  I don't really mind flying, but I do mind heights.  I was generally okay, but on the flight to London (which was an overnight one), there was a medical emergency at about 2 AM, and the lady in a row across and two up from me stood up and said loudly, "I have an emergency!"  NOT something anyone should say on an airplane (anyone ever heard of the attendant call button???)!  The attendants all came rushing, everyone woke up in a panic, and I kept envisioning the plane going down.  Needless to say (even though I'm still saying it), I didn't get much sleep.  And of course I got lost in the London airport (that's how I roll).  They're doing a lot of construction there in preparation for the Olympics, so I got turned around because I had to switch terminals, and the terminal buses were sharing boarding areas.  Then, when I got to Geneva, Switzerland, I didn't understand why there was so little signage directing me to the "in transit" desk.  NONE.  I finally just figured I'd follow everyone through the passport gate and hope that I wasn't being dumped outside somewhere.  Fortunately, that was the right choice!  Unfortunately, my phone's time didn't switch, and I very nearly missed my next flight because I was sitting around waiting to find out my assigned gate.  When I got up to check on it (at the time I was told the gate info would be available), the flight indicated that it was boarding!  I'm amazed I actually made it to Madrid, and it was such a relief to see Brandon waiting for me there!

Ever since I started taking Spanish in the 7th grade from Sra. Mueller, I've wanted to go to Spain.  So, you could say this was a dream come true or a major stop on my bucket list.  I was only in Madrid for a day, but it was easy to love that city!  Everyone was friendly, very affectionate with each other (you kind of want to keep your eyes straight ahead while walking through a park!), the food was good (just don't buy paella from a street vendor...worst food on my trip), and I discovered that learning Mexican-Spanish (which is what I spoke as a landscape intern) is very different from Spain-Spanish (castellano).  No one understood me.  Bummer.  

In Madrid, unbeknownst to me, it was International Museum Day the day that I was there.  So, I was able to get into the Royal Palace and the Prado art museum for free.  I enjoyed the Royal Palace, but it was so crowded, that I didn't really get to spend as much time as I liked there.  It was also the first thing I saw, so I was a little nervous about doing everything the right way, so I might not have let myself enjoy it to the fullest.  I LOVED going to the Prado, though!  I took two art history classes at BYU and surprised myself by liking it.  This was really one of the first times I could just wander around at my leisure.  It is such a large museum that even though it was a free admission day, it really never felt that crowded.  I was especially excited to see Velasquez's Las Meninas, and I also discovered The Adoration of the Magi  and The Adoration of the Shepherds by Juan Bautista.  I would love to get copies of the last two to hang up at Christmas time.  I think I spent three hours in there and still didn't get to see everything.  I also spent an hour or so in Retiro park.  It was just around the corner from our hotel, so I actually went there first thing in the morning, while it was still cool outside.  It is huge!  I was particularly amazed by the number of dogs just running loose (you don't see that around here), but the dogs were all so well behaved and listened to their owners.  I loved seeing the Crystal Palace there, which looks like a large, ornate greenhouse.  A large formal garden was also on the grounds, but my pictures of that didn't really turn out great.

Counter-clockwise from bottom left: The Prado art museum; The Adoration of the Magi by Juan Bautista; Las Meninas by Velasquez; The Royal Palace; and the Crystal Palace in Retiro Park.

 After Brandon got off work in the evening, we took a bus from Madrid to Segovia, which is just about an hour north.  We eagerly anticipating seeing our hotel because it was situated just at the base of the Alcazar (castle) of Segovia.  It didn't disappoint!  We were given the best room in the hotel, which had a balcony opening up to the only unobstructed view of the castle from the guest rooms.  After a good night's sleep, we got up the next morning and hiked up to the castle.  This was the coolest castle on our trip.  It was rich in history, having changed hands from Roman times to Christian rulers in the Middle Ages, with tremendous Arabian influences in the architecture.  My favorite part was definitely going up to the tower and seeing the panoramic views from up there.

The Alcazar of Segovia

While we were inside the castle, it started to rain.  Brandon and I had been excited about our new rain jackets to use on this trip.  However, we didn't have them with us when we left the hotel that morning.  The rain was cold, the temperatures dropped, and we were miserable.  So, we went back to the hotel to   grab my rain jacket and so that Brandon changed into long pants (he'd left his jacket in Madrid at our hotel down there).  It was fun just exploring Segovia.  It is such an old town, with twisting roads and a city wall.  We visited the cathedral there, which was interesting, but my favorite thing was the old Roman aqueduct.  This thing was HUGE.  I just couldn't stop just staring at it.  However, it also started raining again, and Brandon and I were both so cold, so we caught a cab back to our hotel.  We called the kids and took a nap (we were wiped out!).  When we woke up, the rain had mostly stopped, so we once again hiked up to the main part of Segovia for some yummy dinner.  I had a ham and egg sandwich, in case you were wondering.  We also fell in love with the local pastries, especially the poncho segoviano.  Delicious!

The aqueduct, our hotel front, Brandon checking out the view from our room, and the cathedral.

And finally, I gave to give a shout out to the spectacular views in/around Segovia.  Due to the rain, I had the line "the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain," from the My Fair Lady song, "The Rain in Spain" in my head all day.  But when I saw the plains from the top of Segovia, it seemed fitting.

So, if I haven't bored you with all these details yet, just wait...this was just from two days.  I spent a week in Germany and a day and a half in Paris!