Toledo, and the final night!

Our final day in Spain (not counting the VERY exciting process of returning to the US wth the help of an...ahem..."interesting" check-in procedure in the Madrid airport) saw us travel to the medieval museum-city of Toledo, about 45 minutes from Madrid by train.

The day began with breakfast in one of my favorite little spots near the Puerta del Sol, where many of the students thought they were ordering toast with ham and cheese, and would up with a plateful of food so big, they packed half of breakfast away for a snack.

So...much...jamón.

Then off to the Atocha train station and off to Toledo! Toledo, known as Toletum back in the day (and by "back in the day, I mean around the year ONE) is a fortified city, built on a high hill, surrounded by walls, and wrapped by a river running through a deep ravine. One only needs to stand on the medieval bridge to see why someone thought "hey, this might be a good place to stop and build a city".

https://www.touristtube.com/u201247/The-St-Martin-Bridge-in-Toledo-Spain-with-its-Beautiful-Tajo-River-Flowing-Directly-Below-1418053812919.JPG

Toledo houses, in addition to medieval-looking. winding streets, the second largest cathedral in Spain (toledo is the headquarters of the Catholic church in Spain) and lots and lots and lots of work by the Greek-Spanish painter "El Greco" (so-called because "Domenikos Teotopopuli" is a mouthful in Spanish). We visited the cathedral, the church of Santo Tomé (to see El Greco's masterpiece El Entierro del Conde de Orgaz), and wandered the streets of Toledo. There were many swords. And gelato.

Then back to Madrid for our final dinner. In typical Spanish style, dinner began at 9:45 and lasted almost two hours!

Dear parents and other visitors to this site: It has been a terrific pleasure to travel with your kids. This group moved well together, played together, learned together, and made this Gould Academy teacher very proud. Please ask for the stories, as there are many. Thank you for participating in this exchange trip, and we now look forward to the upcoming visit from the students from Juan de Lanuza in October!!

Hasta luego,

-Doug

MadriZZZ!!!

Blogger's note: the letter Z in Spain is pronounced like the "th" in the word "that".

OVERHEARD IN ZARAGOZA: "Mr Alford, I actually believed you when you told us that the catapult was invented to expel cats from the Roman Theater in Zaragoza!"

Beautiful goodbyes were said by all, and some tears were shed as we departed Zaragoza on Saturday morning and headed via high speed train to Madrid.  Some students (and teachers) napped on the train in preparation for two very busy days in Spain's capital. First we checked into our hotel, a traditional hostal with nice rooms, a VERY small elevator, and no amenities to speak of. On the other hand, it was located 30 yards from the Puerta del Sol, Madrid's Times Square and the site of the center of the nation.

http://puertadelsol.net/wp-content/gallery/2013-azotea-puerta-del-sol-madrid/2013-april-17-puerta-del-sol-madrid-2128.jpg

On day one in Madrid we visited the Prado Art Museum, Spain's national gallery. The Prado is truly one of the great art museums in the world, housing over 20,000 works of art including masterpieces by Velázquez, Goya, El Greco, Bosch, Titian, Tintoretto, and other masters of the European tradition.  Some of the students joined us in viewing Goya's Black Paintings, Velázquez's Las Meninas, and Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights.  Feel free to Google any of these works, and to ask your kids which works were their favorites.

After a rest, we took a walk through the Plaza Mayor just in time to see a terrific street performance, then through the San Felipe market and back to the hotel. Students tried out some independence and went out to dinner without their chaperones, finding both tapas and paella for dinner!

Where's William? Across from Parliament in Madrid!

Street performance, Plaza Mayor.

Ana having a great time!

Appreciative audience.

A common theme this week...

Jaca!

Greetings all!

I realize that you probably know that we're already home, but I thought I should finish off this blog, if for nothing else, my students will be able to look at this later (and I can show it to others-and so can you).

So on Friday we traveled with our hosts by bus to the medieval capital city of Jaca, located about 15 minutes from the French border in the Pyrenees. The bus ride is beautiful, if you like curvy bus rides through the mountains!  Here's a little map showing where we went:

Jaca was the capital of the kingdom of Aragón (think Fernando and Isabel), dating back to the 11th century, and from the mountain passes of the Pyrenees the Christians mounted the eastern Reconquest of the Iberian peninsula that culminated in Fernando and Isabel's victory in 1492. Today Jaca is a springboard into the Pyrenees for hikers, bikers, and skiers, and sits at the southern end of the Somport Pass that leads into France.

We visited the cathedral and medieval streets, had lunch, visited the outside of the massive Ciudadela fortress, and headed back to Zaragoza for our final evening in the city. Tomorrow: Madrid!

Wed-Thursday two-fer post

Greetings, all!

I'm combining two days into one, as we spent both Wednesday and Thursday in the city of Zaragoza. Here's how it went down:

Wednesday we all met at the Juan de Lanuza school to start our day, and quickly headed off to see a theatrical adaptation of the 1499 tragicomedy "La Celestina". This is one of the great works of Spanish literature, and marked Spain's entrance into the Renaissance when it was published. The actors were terrific and the production very professional. I asked the students what they got out of it, and Ellie Bailey pretty much gave me a perfect summary of the story! Kind-of-like a Romeo & Juliet meets the wicked witch, where everyone dies in the end (sorry, I should have said "SPOILER ALERT").

Then back to school, and home with hosts for the night.

Thursday was one of my favorite days of the trip- a full-day walk around in Zaragoza. I call it my "walk down memory lane", as I took the students to all of my favorite places in the city (including the very best ice cream in the world- just ask the students when they get home!). We visited churches, shopping areas, roman ruins, chocolate stores, parks, plazas, and a nice restaurant for a big group meal. I don't think I've said it yet, but this is a wonderful group of kids. They are interested, interesting, open, friendly, they want to see and do everything...I would travel with them anytime!

Here's what today looked like from my camera lens:

Barcelona!!!!!

Hola amigos,

Tuesday was Barcelona day! We hopped on board the AVE (Alta Velocidad España, or high speed Spanish), the 200-mph train in the morning. The train cuts the 3 1/2 hour drive to Barcelona down to 85 minutes.

Then it was off to the Sagrada Familia church, one of the wonders of the world and probably my favorite building anywhere. Antoni Gaudi, the famous Spanish architect and figurehead of the Modernist architeture movement, designed the church in the 1880s and began construction on this tribute to the holy family knowing full well that he would not see it completed. I promise you, the photos do not do it justice. The expected date of completion is in 2020 or 2021. Make sure to ask these exchange students for their impressions of the church. This is a highlight of the entire trip.

The rest of the day was spent in the old part of the city, eating lunch, walking around, shopping, and visiting the 13th century cathedral.  Back to Zaragoza at 8:30 pm.

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words (whoever "they" are). I leave you with a few thousand words from our Barcelona day.

Sagrada Familia, Nativity Façade.

Ana avoiding paparazzi. Niles in a nice hat.

Ellie and Ana at the entrance to the Sagrada Familia

Cole and Jill meet the Gothic Quarter

Ahh yes. The coffee stop.

Gould Goes Mediterranean

One of the few quiet moments of the day.

What's wrong Sam?

Alec, showing his dance moves off.

Gould. And Lion.

Teddy meets security.

Sam, inside.

There are no words. Beautiful.

That's it for Barcelona!  Tomorrow we go to a play in Zaragoza, back to classes, and more time with our wonderful hosts!

Hasta luego!