Toledo

Last weekend our group took a trip to Toledo, which is about an hour from Alcala de Henares. It was such a beautiful little town! It was first ruled by the Moors, and then sometime in the 13th century the Christians took over. It took quite awhile for the Christians to take over, because the center of Toledo is at the top of this huge hill, and the hill is surrounded by a river on 3 sides. The streets are all really windy and narrow, and it's really easy to get lost because it's like a maze...so attacking the city wasn't easy for the Christians. Anyway...I'm sure you all wanted to know the history behind Toledo...



We first visited the Cathedral there, and it was so beautiful! It was huge, and there was a ton of tiny intricate designs everywhere you looked. They have the red cardinal's hats hanging from the ceiling above the spot where the cardinal was buried, and the hat stays there until it rots away...that was pretty interesting to see. It was also fun to see this huge collection of robes from former arch bishops. They were really pretty and it's amazing to think that they were hand made... it's so detailed and fancy. I wish I could have taken pictures, but that wasn't allowed.

We also visited a Jewish synogogue which is now a museum, and that was pretty interesting, but I definitely liked the Cathedral better. We would have gone to visit the Alcazar too, but it was under construction or refurbishing of some kind.



We all had a lot of fun just wandering around and trying to find our way through the maze of streets. Sometimes it felt like we went back in time because you would turn down a street, and there would be nobody around, no cars...nothing, and the streets were all cobblestone, and all the buildings look older. It was a lot of fun. We found this place where Nuns sell Mazapan, so we all tried some. At first I thought it was pretty weird. It was like sugar cookie dough with almond flavoring and lots of sugar...but with a really weird texture. I ended up liking it a lot though. While Natausha and I were just wandering around, I noticed a statue of the Christus, and then a figurine of some elder missionaries. We stopped to check it out, and it was just this random store that has a bunch of stuff like that. The guy working there told us he was a member, and then he took us to a "special room" that was full of swords and armor and shields. He showed us that they had that sword of Captain Moroni, haha I thought that was pretty funny. We got to take a lot of fun pictures with the swords and the armor...it was great.



The second day we took a really long walk around the outside of the city, and that was great for picture taking. It was nice to get out and walk around in fresh air too; we get so sick of walking in the smoke filled air in Madrid. We stopped at a little shop where this guy was making plates and bowls and painting them. These plates were all over Toledo, but it was fun to see someone actually making them.



This last week Natausha and I have had a lot of fun. We live right by this park that looks like a playground, but it's just a bunch of machines for people to work out on. We thought we'd go try it out, haha, it was awesome. They're meant for old people b/c it's really low resistant, but it was still fun to play around on them. We're going to make a workout video using all the machines, so hopefully I'll find a way to post it on here so you can all see how cool it is!

We went to Madrid last night, and found an ice cream shop for some gelado. It was so delicious...I'm not sure if it was really good because I haven't had ice cream for a long time, or if it's just really good gelado, but it was good. Don't worry...I play soccer a lot here, and we've made a workout program we're gonna stick with, so I'm not gonna come back fat, haha...at least we hope so. But they have a lot of great stuff here...pastries, gelado, mazapan, chocolate con churros.



This next week we're going to Andalucia and stopping in Merida, Seville, Cordoba, and then Granada. I'm excited to spend almost a whole week out traveling! I'll try to keep this updated with posts and pictures. Thanks for all your comments, I hope you all don't get bored reading about all this stuff. :)



p.s The night before we went to Toledo, I dyed my hair brown! It's a fun change, and my Mom didn't get too upset when she found out, so everything is good, haha. And by the way Katie, Mom didn't cry when she found out, so you owe me ten bucks.

p.p.s I accidentally only saved this as a draft, and I've been gone all week w/o internet, so this is from over a week old.