Harmless Monastery or Haunted House?

So, one thing I didn't mention about El Escorial is that this is where the majority of former kings and queens of Spain and their families are entombed. The majority of them are in a downstairs room with no windows. The pictures I posted show the hallway and stairs leading down to it and then the actual room itself. So, we had just gone down there and said hey to Carlos IV and Felipe II and their friends. We are starting to ascend the stairs to leave when...............blackout. Apparently the dead kings and queens weren't amused by all the random people creeping around, so the power completely went out. We hurriedly shuffled up the stairs thinking that we'd be in a far less creepy place for the rest of the power outage. Little did we know that we had just begun to explore the section of the monastery that was completely dedicated to all the deceased. I made a couple blair-witch-project-esque videos on my camera. And the good thing that came from the blackout is that we were then allowed to use the flash on our cameras. To celebrate this I started taking pictures of everything, including postcards in the randomly and haphazardly set-up gift shop in the middle of dead man's row. It was very uplifting?

El Escorial Monastery

Sooooooo, this is El Escorial, an old monastery. I think it has the 2nd largest collection of important writings (2nd only to the Vatican). Or maybe it's just the 2nd largest collection of manuscripts, or some jazz like that. (Yeah, you can tell I did my homework.) We would have gotten a tour-guide so we would have known a little more when we left, but that cost extra. No thanks. Anyway, this place was pretty awesome. I came here in high school, too. As you can see, the weather was a little dreary. Sadly, my 3 euro umbrella from el chino broke (piece of crap), so I'm glad we were indoors most of the time. One of the pictures is of a courtyard in El Escorial, another is of the Leah and Jack walking toward it on the outside, and the other one is the picture of El Escorial from the airplane tour we took. (By airplane tour, I mean that it's a miniature replica.)

TOLEDO: Not to be confused with Toledo, Ohio

We took a bus to Toledo February 2. Toledo is this very old Spanish town that is basically under some law where it's protected by the government and cannot be changed. There will be no "Corte Ingles" here anytime soon. Anyway, it's a beautiful old city with lots of tiny streets that remind me of a classic European town. Oh, and I felt like I should have brought some steel-spiked shoes to climb these hills. The city is pretty much just a series of really steep hills one after the other. So, I wanted to go into the cathedral (there's a pic of the Cathedral from the outside), but Rebecca and Leah didn't want to pay. So we were going to meet up somewhere when I was done. After venturing around in the church for awhile, I decide to meet up with the girls. Well, I start wondering into this non-populated area on the outskirts that was getting a little sketchy. After I was offered to buy drugs from a dealer and then approached my a male prostitute, I decided to turn around and head back into the center of the city. (I made some of that up.) But I eventually became "un-lost" and met up with the girls. We went into another church that had a bell tower you could climb (after you paid, of course) to get a very scenic view of Toledo. The picture of Rebecca and me is from one of the bell towers. Oh, and Leah bought Martzapan (spelling?) from a faceless lady in a monastery. The trip seemed to be going well until we tried to get lunch and discovered everything was closed. The whole "we close from 3-5" thing gets up every time. Jerks. We finally found a place to eat, then we hopped on the bus to drive the hour home. And my ticket had me sitting next to this guy who haD serious body odor issues. Annnnnnnnd, he kept lifting up his arms. Are you serious!? Do you really need to be doing that?! But other than that the trip was a good time. GREAT SUCCESS!!

Mailing Address

So, upon popular demand, I am posting my mailing address in case you want to send me anything. You don't have to, but a little love from home is always welcome! :o) (Oh, and sorry I haven't posted anything in awhile. I have lots of pics that I need to put up, so once I get my mid-terms under control I'll be catching up on my blog.) My mailing address is:

c/o Pilar Sierra Moral
Emily Ruef
C/ Linneo 24, 6ºB
Madrid, Spain 28005

(you have to put my Senora's name first so they know to bring it to her apartment)