The next day the whole group went to El Museo del Prado, one of the most renowned fine art museums in Europe. It was awesome seeing many of the paintings that I saw in books from Western Civ and Spanish class. We weren't allowed to take pictures, otherwise I would share, but it was awesome nonetheless.After that we had a little bit of a break before we went on a tour of El Palacio Real, the traditional royal palace of the Spanish Monarchs. This was one of our first opportunities to see the city of
Madrid and what it had to offer. As we were walking through the city we came upon a gypsy dressed as Mickey who we asked to take a picture with us. I gave him a euro for the trouble but he didn't seem to be too happy about the experience haha.El Palacio Real was amazing. We also weren't allowed to take pictures of the inside there because of how old everything is, but it was beautiful. We had the same tour guide for both the museum and the palace and she was great. We learned a lot about the history
of the building and the significance of each room. The royal family no longer lives in the palace because it costs so much to keep it in living condition, but it's kept up well nonetheless. The rest of the day we had free time, so I went and took another siesta before we went out to the drag show that night.The next day we left early in the morning for the small city of Toledo. Toledo, which us
ed to be the capital of Spain turned out to be one of the most beautiful places I had ever been. The city is built on a tiny mountain embraced by a river on all but one side. On the river bordered sides you must cross a bridge to get into the city, but on the dry side there is a wall that you must go through to enter. Crossing into the city is literally like stepping back in time. The entire city is still built the way it would have been hundreds of years ago, with very narrow streets and incredibly old buildings. It's definitely my favorite place that I've been so far. The coolest part of Toledo has to be the church built to be the tomb of Isabel and Ferdinand, Los Reyes Católicos. 
Isabel was the monarch that supported Columbus' journey to the new world, and as such remains in the minds of the people of Spain one of the most important people in the history of the Western World. If it wasn't for their marriage, Spain in fact would not exist. The marriage of Isabel, the princess of Castille, to Ferdinand, the King of Aragon created the kingdom of Spain. To promote their importance, the monarchs had the church built to be their resting place, however, shortly before their deaths the last remaining Muslim stronghold in the western world was conquered by the Spanish Kingdom: Granada. The monarchs commissioned a humongous cathedral to be built and to this day their bodies still rest there. I haven't had an opportunity to take any pictures of that cathedral here in Granada or to go inside of it, but as soon as I do I'll post some photos.
The rest of the stay in Toledo was fairly uneventful, but we were able to go out on the town and get some drinks with dinner. The next day we left for the 4 hour drive to Granada and the beginning of FINALLY settling down for the rest of the semester. That's all for now, but the next opportunity I'll have I'll catch everyone up on what's happened since I've been here! Miss you all!
