Madrid - Royal Palace

4:02pm

Hola!

Yesterday I did not write because I was in bed all afternoon with a 24 hour bug. I believe it was something I ate.

Before I got sick, yesterday morning we went to Madrid. We took a private bus and had a tour of the city. There are only stoplights at small intersections when pedestrians are crossing. Large intersections have roundabouts. They are similar to the one is East Chase in front of La Jolla restaurant, for those familiar with Montgomery. Roundabouts seem to be efficient, except for yesterday someone almost hit our bus because they were impatient.

In the middle of these roundabouts, especially in Madrid, there are beautiful sculptures and fountains. I have a few pictures of these on my Facebook.

The architecture here is absolutely phenomenal and like nothing I have seen before. We went to the Royal Palace in Madrid and took a tour. They did not let us take pictures but I will try to explain how intricate and detailed it was.

The Palace was designed to look very similar to the one in Versailles with every ceiling painted. It reminded me much of the Sistine Chapel. Crown molding was everywhere and most of it gold. The walls are covered in velvet with silk thread detailing during the winter and paintings during the summer.

The royal family does not live at this palace anymore but official visitors are guests here frequently.

After the palace, I did not feel very well at all and my roommate Melanie had been sick earlier that morning. I felt that we had the same thing and our teacher paid for us to have a taxi back to our house (30 minutes away). I got home and our family was concerned. They are always trying to feed us; I guess food fixes everything.

We just wanted to go to bed. The mom made us a drink that had a cough syrup consistency that helped our stomach. I have no idea what I was drinking but it did help my stomach feel better. I began to feel a bit overwhelmed last night and just wanted to talk to someone in English. I ended up calling Granny crying. I don’t know why I was so emotional but I can only think it is normal to feel overwhelmed during the first week in a new continent.

This morning I am much better but I did not go on our group trip to Toledo. I stayed in bed until 2:00pm! I have now showered and feel much better.

Tomorrow I am hoping to visit the Cathedral here.

Adios amigos!