royal palace & prado museum

oh mann, am i glad to be back in the hotel lying down again for a second. feels soo goodd. haha.

today was pretty cool, and its only the beginning! who knows the obscenities that will occur tonight..

we visited two things today- the royal palace and the prado museum. it was actually perfect we were doing inside museum activities cuz it was rainy and kinda gross outside.
so at 10 am, we left and walked to the royal palace. its huge and looks pretty from the outside but it doesnt compare at all to the inside. there are 2800 rooms in that palace. what could you possibly use all those rooms for?? it took 26 years to build. the king and queen dont live there anymore but they do still use the palace for special ceremonies. the royal palace is considered one of the top three best decorated palaces in the country... or world? i forget...
anyways we walk in through the first big door and you get into a courtyard- just a huge open place surrounded with all parts of the building. pretty, and there was a good view of the city from one of the borders but it was real foggy for us, unfortunately. then we walk into the palace. we got a guided tour with a lady. the entire palace was absolutely gorgeous! pretty stairs, sweet rooms, sculptures, paintings, frescoes, decorations, furniture, curtains, chairs, everything was great. i dont even know where to begin! it was all so ornate and there were so many different rooms and materials- marble, ceramic, porcelain, gold, bronze, silver, silk.
out of the 2800 rooms, there are only 20 open to the public. some of the rooms are still what they originally were and others have been changed because of restoration or desire for a new look. the dining room has a huuuugeee table that can seat 145 people! it stretches across the entire room. we saw the queens bedroom, the kinds bedroom, special ceremonies rooms.
and the ceilings are so high so it makes it that much more glamorous and many were painted with frescoes- i forget the artist that painted it but he has his masterpiece on one of the ceilings- its enormous and so detailed and pretty and it only took 11 months. most walls were covered in silk tapestries. the chandeliers were gorgeous too! so many different designs and they were all so big and fancy, really cool.
afterwards, we went into a separate part that was showcasing more statues and sculptures and drawings. that was pretty cool too.
i wanted to visit the plaza de espana that is right next to the royal palace but it was still rainy and my shoes were soaked through (did not bring rainboots, oops) so we came back to the hotel. i will visit it another day.

later at 4, we went to the prado museum. we walked down gran via- the biggest boulevard in madrid. lots of gorgeous architecture in the buildings- some that are just offices and apartments too but there is always so much detail. the prado museum is enormous! we saw a lot of velasquez and goya. my favorite by velasquez is 'las meninas'- his masterpiece where he paints the royal family and he is a big part of the portrait too. i never knew it was soo big! the original is enormous.
goya also did paintings of the royal family. it was really interesting to hear about the different styles and how they (along with the other painters we saw) painted a story and told a lot more than just drawing a picture. for example, for one by goya where he painted the royal family, the queen was the one governing the country at that time so she was the brightest and right in the middle. the king who was no good was more on the side hunched over, not looking so proud. and the king and queen werent painted right next to each other. they had one of their little sons in between them, meaning there was something between them, which was actually all of the queens lovers. goya also painted himself in that family portrait but because he wasnt on good terms with the royal family, he had to be in the dark background, which is interesting. nothing was left to chance- it was all planned out.
it was cool learning about different artistic styles and compare paintings of when people didnt know how to draw in perspective and then could. and how some details were so discreet you cant even notice them until you are a foot away from the painting- like the tears in one painting.

AND! the coolest was that one of the paintings we saw is AT UMASS! well not the original, but a copy. you know that huge ass trippy painting with all the naked people and crazy shit going on when you walk into the building to go to that little store in southwest? i cant remeber what its called! but you can sit inside on a bench and its crazy. welll, its called 'the garden of earthly delights' by heironymus bosch. thats some crazy shit right there. check that out.

after prado, i walked around with allyson (my roommate at the hotel and for my house) and elaina- cool chicks. we were starvingggg and were searching everywhere for a burrito- we were craving mexican. took forever and we finally settled on a diner that had fajitas. yum!

everybody here is so nice! ive met awesome people from the program and its been fabulousss.

alright well i might nap before going out tonightt

hasta
sophie