We wake up this morning and the first thing I think of is Emily’s ankle. It was definitely swollen! We get dressed and downstairs for breakfast before starting our day and Emily’s ankle was the talk of breakfast. Poor Emily could barely walk on it yet we have a full day ahead of us. After we finished breakfast we headed for the Prado museum. As soon as we arrive Cesar makes sure to check out a wheel chair for Emily to get around.
So finally in one of the world’s top three museums, The Prado, and yet again no pictures. I wanted to take a picture of Emily in her chair but security informed us that we had to put our cameras away. Well I out mine away for a minute but I decided to snap a couple of photos anyway because I just couldn’t help myself. There was a statue in the entrance and as soon as the coast was clear I took a picture of both Emily and the statue. Hahaha I felt so sneaky. We had to walk around the corner to grab headsets because we were getting a private tour by our awesome tour guide that we have had since day one. She is so intelligent and knows the history of Spain like the back of her hand. I was amazed by how much information she knows and is able to share with the rest of us by memory. We had the amazing opportunity to get background information about many of the paintings in the Prado. Considering the Museum is huge we didn’t have time to visit it all but we saw the most popular paintings in there and one in particular was Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez. It is one of the most important paintings in Art History and has been analyzed by many artists about its composition. While in the museum this painting was surrounded by a flood of people so it is indeed important and popular as many are aware of the history of this painting. Soon after we saw Las Meninas we headed towards painting made by Goya before leaving the Prado. For more Prado information or pictures visit www.museodelprado.es.
I could have stayed in the Prado Museum forever but we had to meet with Professor Green before heading to the Parliament. We walked to the Parliament after the museum and passed a group of sidewalk bands which were playing some good music. As we walked some of us danced our way to the parliament too. We arrived at the parliament with the group and were told once again… no pictures. While we passed security and were already inside I felt something in my eye so I took out my phone to use as a mirror and was told by a security man to put away my “camera.” They are definitely strict on the no pictures policy. So I guess once again you have to take my word for it when I say the Parliament was unreal. There was a red carpet entrance when the king visits, a huge clock that tells you time and temperature and I believe other elements as well. One of the great aspects about touring the parliament that I enjoyed was the fact that our tour was bilingual and was both in Spanish and English so we got the opportunity to listen to our parliament tour guide speak to us in both languages. My favorite room as many others would say is the congressional room. Looking at the many seating areas and where the camera men sit as opposed to where the ruler sits and so on was really exciting. We did however finally get a chance to take a picture but it was a photo taken by the people from the Parliament and you have to order it if you would like a copy but none of our personal cameras could be used. After our group shot we ended our tour and had a free afternoon to roam the city as we pleased.
I was getting a little hungry and so were a couple other girls so Jennifer decided to take me, Stephanie, Abby, and Alex to lunch at a cute little restaurant. We had some delicious food and wine after a very busy day. Once we got back to the hotel a few of us decided to go to O’Neils again to watch the USA Slovenia game at the pub. Much to our surprise many other American’s had the same idea as us. The down stairs pub was FULL of what I felt was solely American’s there. Now I understand when people say Americans are loud and obnoxious. The American fans were louder than the locals were when we went to the Spain game. Other than the loud and proud cheering Americans being obnoxious we had a great time at the game. Unfortunately USA did not win but we did tie 2-2. We headed back to the hotel afterwards to catch up with the rest of the group and decided to hit the town as an entire group tonight.
We find the rest of the crew and head the same direction as a few of us did the night before where many of the clubs and bars were at. The atmosphere at night seemed really similar to Vegas night life to me. There are so many club promoters on the street trying to get people to go to their club or bar by offering free entry or even better free drinks. Every place we stopped at we either got a free shot or an entire free drink. I’m not going to lie it felt a little like VIP style. Haha but it was a lot of fun especially because we were all out together. It began to get later and later and we decided to call it a night because we’ve had a long day and another one to come tomorrow. We have to get up earlier than we’ve had to so far to catch a bus to Segovia in the morning so hopefully we don’t sleep in too long. Adios for now. Goodnight!
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