My Life Journeys: Spain Journal-Feb 28th- Madrid (My Birthday)

It's My Birthday!

Day 5- Madrid

Birthday Girls!

Claira and I share the same birthday, which is different for me. However it was a nice to have shared my birthday with someone while I was in Spain. We went to El Escorial today. We had to take 3 metros to the bus station then a 45 minutes ride to El Escorial. The group spent a few hours exploring the palace and the grounds.

El Escorial has a large court yard in front of it, which was inspired by Arabic architecture. It was very grand. There was no grass as you walked towards the entry to the main doors. When you looked from the main entry way, there is a wall with a bench on it. I noticed that when we first walked into El Escorial it was very cold and that the guards where wearing there coats. It was cold because the structure was made of all Granite. I can't even image what it was like to live there with no heat and only fireplaces to warm the huge rooms. When we wanted into the church part of the palace, it was breath-taking and moving. I lite a candle for my grandfather. The paintings on the wall were so colorful and had alot of gold on them. On our way out, we saw this group of children playing a game to keep them occupied. It was a good size group but they hardly took up any room in the courtyard. As I was turning the corner, my photographer's eye caught this bridge between two buildings and the beautiful arch it had and how the zig zag lines the stairs between it made.

After we explored El Escorial, we were given an hour to have lunch. Julia and I went to an Italian restaurant. It was wonderful food. The bread was yummy. After we had lunch we took the bus back to Madrid.

El Escorial

Bridge with zigzag staircase

Birthday Lunch!

We got back to the hostel and relaxed til it was time for dinner. We went to the oldest restaurant in the world to celebrate Claira and my birthday. In my opinion the food wasn't that great, however the company and love that I felt from my fellow study abroad classmates was very touching. As my birthday request, I asked to go to the Market so that I could take some pictures. Some of my classmates had drinks while others had treats. The feeling of the market was busy and a very hip place to be, I loved that it was glass walls you could see out and in. After a while we all broke up into our own little groups, where Cooper, Ryan, Anne, Julia and I walked to a bar/restaurant were the "Grown-ups" had some drinks, laughs, and just a plain old good time. I will say that this was one of best birthdays ever.