Come With Me...: March 2010

The Zoo!!!!

Our second to last day we finally made it out to the zoo!

Now, I like zoos. Adam and I are avid zoo go-ers. But this? This was special.

And not just because non-american zoos let you get REALLY close to the animals. Because they do. There are signs everywhere telling you not to feed the animals they're so close you actually COULD! I, who has a weak arm and has never played any athletic sport, could EASILY throw a rock at something as dangerous as a bear!!!! That fact alone is pretty awesome. But it gets better.

and it doesn't get better JUST because it's a zoo AND huge aquarium AND has dolphin shows AND has over 20 bears.

This zoo, the madrid zoo..... are you ready?

Are you really ready?

because, get this, the madrid zoo has PANDAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

panda, panda, PANDAS.

Yeah, you better freaking believe it. I could barely breathe with excitement.

I've SEEN the pandas once before at the sane deigo zoo. but this was NOTHING like that.

That was like seeing a celebrity at a concert in a pack of photographers.

This? This was an intimate night out with just the pandas, adam, and I eating dinner, sipping wine, and discussing life. This was the pandas and I hanging out on our own terms having a great time just getting to know each other.

Call me a crazy stalker that creates an imaginary love affair between myself and the victim, I don't care. We love each other and there's nothing anyone can say to convince me otherwise.

Oh, and I saw some other animals. whatever.

If I had a dollar for every picture I took of those pandas I'd probably be a millionaire.

Segovia

On Wednesday we took the Renfe train out to Segovia. We debated between segovia and Toledo for a little while. While I really liked that Segovia is apparently a perfect example of Castillan Spain, I was a little more drawn into the fact that Toledo was famous for it's historical peaceful existance between Castillan (and catholic), Jewish, and Muslim people. I learned a lot about the three communities interactions in more ancient days. But, we finally made our deciscion when reading that the castle was possibly inspiration for Walt Disney's castle in Disneyland. I know, an educated and diplomatic choice.

Here we are in the train on our way.

We also chose Segovia because it listed a more things to be seen. Here is the Roman Aquaduct. It was resurrected in the first centruy AD and still stands strong and tall. It was beyond impressive. Epic, to say the least. Awe-inspiring.

The town was small and picturesque. It reminded me of the Beauty and the Beast where everyone opens their windows to sing together the same song every day. While walking through we would see old people greeting each other in front of bakeries and cafes as if everyone knew everyone. It was cute.

Here I am walking up to the Alcazar (Castle).

This is a picture of the cathedral.

We toured inside the Alcazar (even taking the audio tour with these funny phone looking things) and clumbed up it's tower. I didn't take any pictures of the outside of the Alcazar (that was Adam's job) but here we are after climbing the 156 steep ass stairs to the top of the tower. Segovia is in the background.

Here's Adam inside the castle listening to his audio tour guide.

While in Spain we saw a lot of medieval armor and weapons. Of course my favorites were the filigree-ed swords.

Segovia is famous for it's roast suckling pig. So after the cathedral and alcazar we found a restaurant open to give it a try.

It was melt in your mouth delicious. Adam looked like he was going to cry eating it. Call us cruel for rejoicing in eating child-animals but it was pretty good.

Segovia was very beautiful. A perfect european town.

Our last picture in Segovia before catching the bus to the train station and then taking the train back into Madrid.

Madrid Tuesday Tuesday

On Tuesday we took the guided tour of the Palacio Real. It was incredibly beautiful inside. Oh, Royalty.

A panoramic I took from the outside.

Afterwards we went to the Museo Del Prado, a classic art museum. It was EXPANSIVE. I mean, I know that almost all classic art museums are part maze and part endurance excercise but this was immense. The time we were there and I don't think we saw even half of it.

But we did see a lot. A lot of Goya, Sorolla, Velasquez, Rubens, Carvaggio, and more than I can even remember. This museum was a lot more breathtaking and familiar.

I didn't take any pictures of the paintings half because I was afraid I wasn't allowed to and half out of exhaustion. Here's the hallway as we were leaving.

Here are pictures of a walkway near the park and the museum. There are stalls all along it that sell used books manned by old men in hats.

Then we got all gussied up to go to a jazz nightclub where the Bob Sands Big Band was playing.

Not a Blue kind of Monday. Gold. Just Gold.

Monday Morning from our hostal window.

On Monday we headed to the Reina Sofia, a modern art museum.

We saw a lot of famous peices by famous artists like Picasso (Guernica, to name one) and Dali as well as a lot of lesser famous stuff that we liked even more.

Afterwards we took the Teleferico on the other side of town!

It took us over the outskirts of Madrid into a big open expanse of... nature. It wasn't REALLY a park, it was just a bunch of trees and some paths.

A view of the palacio and cathedral from the teleferico.

Cherry blossoms are quite common in Spain.

Sunday in Spain

Day 2:

I liked the color coding and bright colors of the Metro.

Here's my dwarfing and totally FOBy outfit.

In Madrid the flea market is popular with locals and tourists alike. It was epic. I mean that in the literal sense, not the more trendy and internetsy use of the word. It was quite easily the biggest market I've ever encountered. It covered a decent amount of the city.

We wandered and wandered and it seemingly had no end. It had everything from an alley filled with pet supplies and birds (more birds than i've ever seen in my life) that was populated by old men, areas full of really pushy and very loud clothes vendors, tourist type places with souveniers, pocket knives, luggages, and even kitchen supplies! My favorite part of all were the antique stands (of course). Some were just piles of relics looking things while others seemed like haphazard collections.

It was a certain sort of magical.

After spending all morning and noon at the flea market we tried to go to a museum to find it closed.

We tried to go to another, got slightly lost, and ended up hitting another attraction we wanted to visit: El parque del Buen Retiro (the park of good rest).

Like San Francisco, Madrid has flocks of wild parrots! I assume they were escaped pets, but who knows, maybe they were migrating. And just like the one time I've seen them in San Francisco, the flock was feeding on cherry blossoms in the park!!!

Through pictures one of the things I was looking foward to most was El Palacio Cristal (The crystal palace).

We watched sunset over the huge man-made lake that you could rent a boat and row in. There was a protest in the little pavilion where that statue was. It was just a couple handfuls of people sitting down playing instruments and chanting something.