Toledo and Shabbat

bridge entering Toledo

Me and Clare

On Friday the 16th IES took us to Toledo. It is only about a 45 minute drive from Madrid! It was a beautiful pueblo with great historic buildings and a big bridge separating the pueblo from the outside world. We saw the famous El Greco painting: El Entierro del Conde de Orgaz. Papa Bill actually told me to be on the lookout for it. When we went into a few other churches, there were even more Greco and Carvaggio paintings. (El Greco lived in Toledo for a significant part of his life.) Our tour guide took us to three main sites: at the first two, which were both churches, she talk and talked about the buildings and the history of the catholics and the Muslim influences. They were beautiful buildings--very intricate architecture. We then walked through tiny cobblestone streets to the famous synagogue of Toledo. She pointed out that when the Jews were explused they changed the synagogue into a church, and the steeple is actually still on top of the building. When we got inside the building she asked if anyone in our group is Jewish. I raised my hand, and she said maybe I can explain some of the Jewish history to the group because she didn't know much. It was cool to walk around inside the synagogue, but I hope to return back someday with family or with friends when I have more time to read about the Jewish influence on the town at the time.



Sinagoga El Transito

The Ark in the Synagogue

Calle Shmuel Levi

After the tours, I went to an Italian restaurant with Taylor, Clare, Lauren, Megan, and Ceci. The food was delicious and we had a really interesting conversation. Afterwards, we made an essential pitstop at a chocolatería where I bought chocolate covered almonds and Ceci bought what looked like dog biscuits. It was a beautiful town and a very cool place to visit.


Me and Deidre

Group of IES kids



We returned to Madrid just in time for me and Deena to make it to La Comunidad Judía Madrid (CJM) for shabbat dinner. We later found out that it was the first of the year, and they offer it every shabbat! In the basement of the shul, Deena and I sat near Rob, from London, and Sophie, from Scotland. I don't remember the girl's name who sat on my other side, but she was from Perú. Farther down the table there were Israelis. The food wasn't so good--all we were served were cucumbers and small pieces of a steak-like substance with olives. (Rob and I discussed how all Spaniards think we are so weird because neither of us like olives.) It didn't matter really that the food wasn't so good, because I met so many awesome people. After dinner and birkat hamazon, the rabbi whipped out bottles of tequila, rum, and various drinks to mix with! While I had a drink, I met Brianna from California, Jean-David from Paris, May from Israel, and Ilay and Bahar from Turkey. After a few drinks, we all went out to a live music bar called Honkey Tonk! On Sunday, I had a picnic at Retiro park with all of these new friends. The Turks cooked amaaazing Turkish food, and we also had cheese and crackers and wine and chocolate. Yum!

Grand Time With Papa Bill!

Guess who came to visit me last week? None other than Papa, Papa, Papa, Papa...(reference to Paul Sherman's rap about Papa Bill.) I met him at the airport on Saturday afternoon with a sign that said GUILLERMO SHONFELD. Obviously, Papa Bill goes by his Spanish name Guillermo when in a Spanish-speaking country. He was a bit tired when he arrived, as he came straight from a 10 day trip in Morocco with his friends. What a traveler.

OK, so these pictures aren't from Madrid, but you can see Pops and I love to travel together!

We did so many things in a few days. Prado museum, walked in Retiro Park and had a nice sit in the rose garden, shopped (more than once), went to El Rastro (flea market), ate tapas afterwards in La Latina with what felt like all of Spain, and had delicious fancy meals every night. Also, he let me sleep in his extra bed in the Intercontinental Hotel Madrid! The bed and the pillow were so nice and squishy compared to Rosario's. Papa and I made excellent use of the perfect weather by walking almost everywhere and reading on the terrace of his hotel room. He is so eager to learn and to experience anything set before him--one of the most important qualities of a true traveler. Besides for being a bit drowsy when he got off the plane, he was never tired throughout the entire trip, nor did he complain about walking miles and miles every day. Not until he left did I realize this was my 78 year old grandpa that I did so many activities with five days in a row! He really tired me out. I am so proud and lucky to have such an energetic, generous, and intelligent grandfather. I hope one day I can learn to be a traveler like him! (Lesson one: steal as many shampoos, toothbrushes, and pens from the hotel room as possible.)

Lesson two: Keep going when signs or people tell you to stop, i.e., Papa Bill walking calmly past this sign in Aspen...

Alcalá de Henares

Oh no, I have gotten behind on blogging. I will try to remember all the great details from the past few weeks and to be more prompt with my next few posts!

La Ciudad del Saber: The City of Knowledge

Two Fridays ago IES offered a trip to the town Alcalá de Henares. Not many students went, which was nice. They were celebrating La Semana de Cervantes, or the week of Cervantes, which was a huge midieval festival. They are famous for their University, and for being the home of Cervantes! They also have some interesting Jewish history, and I saw the street where most of the Jews used to live. Actually, when we went into Cervantes' house, I realized he lived on the same street as the Jews used to live (Calle Mayor) and remembered one teacher telling our class about the theory that Cervantes was Jewish. I talked to my friend Currie, another student on the trip, about this theory, and he said his Spanish teacher in high school is from Alcalá, and is positive that Cervantes was Jewish. I asked Yolanda, an IES staff member who was with us for the day, if she thinks Cervantes was Jewish. She gasped and said, "Absolutamente no! Él fue un católico perfecto." (Absolutely not! He was a perfect Catholic.) Many people in Spain still have a mentality that any important figure in their history must have been Catholic. Although there are many influential historical figures in Spanish history who were Catholic, this mentality overall is incorrect, as Spain used to be dominated by Muslims and Jews before the explusion in 1492.

Me and Don Quijote chillin outside Cervantes' House

Alcalá was a very cute town. The midieval festival was almost a chochkee overload, though! I bought a very cool bracelet that Papa Bill really liked.

Me and the Cheese Man

No, there can never be too many postres.

Me and Clare in the Bedouin tent drinking tea

Many peppers

Currie, Me, and Dan

El Restaurante Botín

Tonight I ate at the oldest restaurant in the world, founded in 1725.
check it out.

Tomorrow to Alcalá de Henares for the day, and on Saturday comes Papa Bill!

October

Laura, Lauren, Me, Bart, Deidre, Alyssa (in the shades), and Megan

Shalom! Before I write about my great weekend, I want to thank everyone for the bday wishes. I'm finally legal in the states, and it still feels like a big birthday here even though nothing changes when you turn 21! These 21 years have flown by, but I'm very fortunate to have been able to experience so many things and travel to so many places.


On Friday morning (and when I say morning, I really mean morning; we had to be at IES at 7:15, so when I got on the metro when it had just opened at 6:30, there were definitely people heading home from a night out on the town..locos) I headed to Valencia with students from IES. We made a stop in Alarcón, in Castilla la Mancha, for breakfast. Oh boy. Croissants, muffins, tortilla española, etc. The small town was built in a strategic area--close to water, and high up, so they could defend their land. We had to squeeze our stick shift coach bus through four different doors that stood as entryways to the pueblo, which was a little freightening. I slept the next few hours away on the bus until we arrived in Valencia. We had two hours of free time, so I dropped my stuff in my hotel room (they put me in a suite on the corner of the top floor by myself!!) and headed with some friends to the beach. The mediterranean was as beautiful and salty as I remembered, but also cool to see and swim in from the other side. Don't worry Mom, I wore sunblock. The sand felt so soft under my toes compared to Lake Michigan sand. My east coast friends made fun of me for thinking the beach at Lake Michigan counts as a real beach. I collected a few seashells.


Oops, my friends and I barely made it back in time for the walking tour of Valencia. I'm glad we did, because we saw what used to be the most important market on the Mediterranean--Valencianos used to sell silk, and the market is a beautifully constructed building to show off the pueblo's wealth. My favorite part of the tour was when we were served horchata, a drink made out of a form of vanilla-ish cocoa, and tasted sort of like a milkshake. Per usual, we saw many street vendors selling fedora hats and various other chochkees. Last, we climbed up some veryy steep sets of stairs to the top of the famous cathedral in Valencia where we could see the entire city. There was also huge carillon bell at the top of the tower. I'm sorry to say, I did not have enough time to grab my camera between beach time and tour time, so I didn't get any pictures of the tour.


After, we had free time! Woohoo! I took a wonderful shower in my fancy bathroom and met up with some friends. I ended up with some students I didn't know well before the trip, and it was really fun to get to know some new people. We went to dinner at a Moroccan restaurant which didn't look very appetizing (went there because it was cheap) but it ended up being very delicious. Afterwards, we walked around town and had some excellent helado. Later, we went to a cool bar where we had to try the drink our tour guides warned us about: Agua de Valencia. It was delicious: Champagne, Orange Juice, Vodka, and Sugar.


On Saturday morning, we first we went to a 360 degree imax theatre to see a movie about mummies and pyramids in Egypt. I may or may not have had an excellent nap during this time. Then we went to the biggest aquarium in Europe! The jumping picture above is in front of it. We saw baloogas, sharks, penguins, sting rays, dolphins, and nutella crepes. After the cool aquarium, we drove to dinner where we were served paella, a very famous Spanish dish which originated in Valencia! Below is a picture. Excellent viaje overall.



Yesterday morning (Sunday) I went to El Rastro flea market with Alyssa. Made a great purchase of 3 euro earrings, but held off on other temptations because I'll go there with Papa Bill next Sunday! Last night I met up with some IES kids and some friends on another program to go to the last bull fight of the season. Getting tickets was sort of crazy--the ones being sold in the "legit" places were at least 100 euros, way too much for a student abroad for a year to spend. There were many sketchy scalpers coming up to us, but we were in a group of 10ish and each scalper only had 2 or 3. We eventually decided to split up, and me and four friends were approached by a man who said he had cinco billetes in the same place on the second floor. He asked for 15 euros a piece, so we took the deal (the bullfight was starting at that minute). We quickly went inside and asked the nice ticket man which staircase to take to our seats, and he sighed and said he recommended the elevator. A few minutes later, we found ourselves split between two sections on the very top top top of the stadium, aka nose bleed seats. They ended up being better, because the bullfight was bloodier and much more vulgar than I had remembered it from eighth grade when I was here. All in all, I enjoyed being very Spanish for the afternoon and screaming "Olé!" at the cute torredor.

can you find me in this picture?

A few friends are taking me out for my birthday tonight. Can't wait :)

Grapes!

Hello everyone!

Last Thursday morning four friends (Deidre, Schuyler, Bart, and Aaron) and I decided to go to Logroño. Schuyler knew about a wine festival happening there, and showed us a picture online of a man squishing grapes with his feet. We were in. Schuyler told us a few hours later that he had rented a car. Awesome. When the time came to meet him in Plaza de España to retrieve the car, he called me to say we had a problem. He must not have read the reservation correctly; Europcar only has manual cars. I have no idea how to drive stick shift, and apparently Schuyler isn't too confident either. Luckily, Bart came to the rescue and said he would try it. We piled in around 7pm, and headed out of the city.

About 10 minutes into the drive, the GPS broke. I freaked out a little, I must admit, but Sky kept saying it was fine, he knew the direction in which we had to drive. Uhh....direction? But what will we do when we get there? Oy. All we had was the address of the hostel in Logroño 4 hours away and a broken GPS. Rental car, hmm...I thought of a genius idea. Check in the glovebox! Yay, found a map. The drive was beautiful for the hour or so before the sun went down, and we finally arrived in the town of Logroño. I called the number of the hostel, and a very nice lady explained how to get to her house. The directions were as follows: "After you pass a tunnel, you'll see six sticks. Count them, one, two, three, four, five, six. Then, turn into the hidden driveway on the right, and go to a river and turn left." Uhh...sticks?

After a frustrating search for the hostel, we finally arrived around 11:30pm. Apparently, we reserved rooms in a beautiful house with a 7 person family! The young couple, Ana and Steve, have 5 very cute little kids and an amazing huge house. We really lucked out. Check out the pics on my pic website! After setting down our stuff, we got back into the car to go check out the scene in town. After eating some delicious falafel, we heard faint rock music. We headed towards the noise and found hundreds of Logroñians (?) head bobbing to a U2 impersonator. It ended up being a fun concert, and a cute little town to walk around in.

Friday morning, we woke up to a wonderful breakfast made by Ana. She then gave us some suggestions of what to do that day. First, we drove to a winery called El Fabulista. This drive was probably the most beautiful I have ever been on. We were completely in el campo, with vineyards and grape trucks blocking the roads. It was amazing. We learned a lot about wine in the bodega (winery) and even got to taste two different kinds. Later that afternoon, we returned to the house for a siesta and some delicious figs Ana picked from her fig tree that morning. Friday night, we went to a fun tapas restaurant in Logroño and saw another concert of American music! When the boys decided to go find some Spanish chicas, Deidre and I wandered around town and found a fun party with lots of dancing.

When Deidre and I woke up at 8:30am on Saturday, we heard some rustling in the boys room next door. Could it be that they were really waking up at the time we gave them to get a head start on the wineries? We found out later in the day that they had just gotten home from the discotecas in Logroño at 8:30am. Locos. The nice English couple that was also staying at Ana's house offered to drive me and Deidre into Logroño in their backwards car that the brought on the ferry from England. We hopped in. Had a very nice day: saw parades, cooking in the street of jamón and fish with their eyes still there, and had a nice nap in a parque. All of this exceitement, we found, was in celebration of the beginning of the wine season! Side note: Ana told us the night before that she messed up the booking, and had overbooked her house for Saturday night. She asked if we wouldn't mind moving to their cabin down the road. We said we were game for anything. So, after our nap, the boys picked us up and we drove to our new house. See my pictures and look for the little red cabin--it was so cute, but was like a playhouse for five year olds! It was definitely an adventure, and we got to know each other very well.

After dropping our stuff off, we decided to explore around our house. Little pond with goldfish inside, beautiful scenery, and suddenly we found the ruins of a castle. So beautiful, and fun to explore inside. It was Saturday afternoon around four, and we didn't have a plan yet for Saturday night. We looked at the map, and saw that Pamplona (the town famous for the running of the bulls) was so close! A Spaniard in the street told us it was about a 40 minute drive. And off we went.

Beautiful drive once again. After an annoying unsuccessful try at parking in the first structure we saw (famous quote of the trip by Aaron, "If we go any lower into this parking structure we'll hit lava for sure") we found a great spot on the street. We headed towards the area crowded with people that looked very historical. When I say crowded with people, I mean it was very hard to get through the street. We ducked into one of the first tapas places we saw, and proceeded to have an amazing tapas meal. I'll just say that I tried some things that I wouldn't have tried under any other circumstance...

We went back in the street to find fireworks above our heads! Very proud of our navigation skills-we really lucked out with all of our decisions of places to go this weekend. We drove around the historical area and saw the famous plaza de toros (bulls) and other beautiful buildings. All in all, it was an extremely successful weekend.

Tomorrow our group heads to Valencia! Will blog when I'm home.