Escorial and Toledo

anyway, on friday, we went to see REAL MONASTERIO DE EL ESCORIAL. (wonder why it's not "del"). i totally wasn't ready for the weather and it was suuuuuuuuuuper cold. we were all freezing bc the wind was so persistent. the train stop was by a small town. so small that we walked around in a circle about 3 times deciding what we wanted to eat. we settled on sandwiches at a cafe. apparently it's pretty common for them to put an egg in the middle.. so it gets messy, but still pretty good. tip: if your sandwich comes on a plate, you're probably supposed to eat it with a fork and a knife. also we had this appetizer with mini-pickles and olives. not a big fan of olives, but the combination was really good!

tuna, vegetables, and egg sandwich

pickles and olives

eventually, after grubbing we walked up towards the monastery, which looks like a castle to me.. (when we asked donde esta el castillo, the park ranger was adamant about the fact that that it is NOT a castle..) anyway, the inside was pretty cool (again, not allowed to take pictures) but, they had an awesome library with texts from the 15th-16th centuries, a huge church, Felipe II's old wheelchair-thing, etc. the craziest part was entering the pantheon. anyway, it's where the kings and queens of the Bourbon dynasty are buried.. in these HUGE marble caskets. it was pretty chilling. there were also a bunch of tombs for the royal family, esp. children, that have died. the place was massive, but we couldn't really tell bc we were too close to it and only walked around 1/4 of it. on the way home, this crazy/drunk guy (who also touched my hair. GROSS.) got arrested for running across the train track while the train was coming... interesting way to end the day..

the big dome was where the church was

here's a view from the top that i found on-line

the next day we went to TOLEDO. an amazing city of cobblestone and history. at one point it was the capital of Madrid and probably housed the most diverse group of people (jews, muslims, and christians). we walked around the town and almost got run over a few times. the streets are so narrow, you wouldn't think a car would drive through.. but then you hear an engine and have to either run to an "open" area or flatten yourself along the wall. we took a train around to see the outside of the city and spent the day walking up and down the hills. it was like i was back in berkeley. lol we had a field day taking pictures by the fortress walls, tiny streets, and especially el PUENTE DE SAN MARTIN. another exhausting day, but at least it was finished with a cup of coffee. maybe sangria next time?

i wasn't kidding about cars..

the bridge =)