Holy Toledo!

I would like to give my Mom credit for the title of this entry.
It was inspired by her, well...unique, sense of humor.
I love you Momma!

This weekend was another pleasant one. Friday I was super lazy, I've nearly perfected the art of sleeping until noon. How Spanish of me! In the evening, I went to Ethiopian food for the first time. Ethiopian food: another entirely new eating experience. Number of utensils given to our table of three: 1. Ethiopian food is served on a large piece of sourdough flat bread. This flat bread is also your utensil. The meal was pretty good and the spices and vegetables reminded me of Indian food. I was so overwhelmed that I forgot to take a picture before I ate my food! So, please enjoy this picture of Ethiopian cuisine that I have stolen from the internet.

On Saturday I went to Toledo!
Getting there was almost too easy. We took a 45 minute bus ride from Madrid which only cost about 9 Euro round trip. Awesome? Toledo was insanely beautiful. I've never been to such a well preserved historical place. In fact, the entire city of Toledo has been declared a national monument. How about that huh? Every inch of Toledo is picturesque, every corner you turn brings you to another beautiful vista. To get from the bus station to the city center you have to complete a nice 15-minute uphill trek, probably meant to wean out the not-so-dedicated tourists, but worth every step.

My roommate, Katherine, and I  on the bus!

One of the gates into the city.

Walking up the hill...

The Alcazar,  former imperial residence

View of Toledo from the Alcazar

The Cathedral

Marzipan we bought from a nuns at a Monastery 

Still mourning the death of this little guy...but he was delicious.

San Juan de los Reyes Monasterio

 And of course, I forgot to charge my camera before the trip! So, about halfway through the day, I was left camera-less. These last few pictures were taken by my friend Julia. To get this shot we had to take a public bus outside of the city. We, very daringly, took the bus up a mountain road and got off on the side of the highway. Luckily, we made it back to tell the tale and, I'd say, the view was totally worth it!

Katherine, Me, Claire, Alex, Julia

Weird Random Story: When I was in Toledo, sitting in the main square, I saw a family that I had seen 3 days earlier on the train in Madrid on my way home from school. Yeah, so I do a lot of people watching on my 45 minute commute home, that's normal right? I noticed them on the train a few days earlier because they stood out as tourists, and there they were again in Toledo! Small world? No kidding. I really wanted to go tell them that I had seen them in Madrid...but I figured there was too much potential for that conversation to go wrong. Haha.

On Sunday, I went to a park I hadn't been to before with my roommate Etonde. The park rents bikes to visitors for FREE. It was awesome! Even though the weather was a little gloomy and rainy we rode those bikes all over. The park is huge and landscaped with large sculptures and man made water features. It's very unique, unlike any park I have seen before. I can't wait to go back. It was a really nice time taking the bikes for a ride...and I'm only a little, okay maybe a lot, sore. I can't wait to take Donny and Brittney there when they come to visit. Woohoo free bikes! Here is a shot of us by one of the huge sculptures. Cool right?

In my classes today, I gave a presentation about how we do Halloween in the States. It was really fun to show the kids pictures of decorated houses and costumes. After my presentation I had the kids draw themselves in their favorite Halloween costume! In Spain, Halloween isn't too widely celebrated and, if the kids do dress up, it's always as something scary: bat, witch, zombie, ghost, etc. I'll be talking more with the kids about Halloween all week. Woohoo!

Next weekend is going to be a long one as we do not have class on Monday or Tuesday. Can't wait to see where the days take me. Hasta luego!