Toledo: The Post of Pictures

Not much happened this week. We've both been busy teaching and such. Fortunately, we're feeling more comfortable with our classes and students!

Last weekend, we were able to venture outside of Madrid and take a day trip to Toledo (no Ohio). We took the glorious Renfe train. It is one of Spain's nice trains that takes you to Toledo in a half an hour. The Renfe also is a commuter train in the city. A and I use this train frequently to commute to our jobs north of town. Here's a picture of the lovely train.



As we departed from Madrid, I took some shots of the scenery. As expected, there were a lot of farms, but very little grass. It surprises me that anything grows out here. If there's one thing I'm missing from the US, it's the trees changing colors and seeing grass!



Toledo is the capital of La Mancha. It's an old city that seems to be built upon a hill. When you're meandering through the downtown streets you can get easily winded from the uphill climb. It is the birthplace of El Greco and Garciliaso de la Vega. The city was prominent during the Spanish Empire and promoted a co-existence of Muslims, Christians and Jews.


Toledo is also famous for their metal work and sword-making. Here's a picture of some armor. The designs on the armor are very intricate.



While we walked through the city, we were able to tour an old synagogue. It was beautiful and it had a lot of Muslim influences in the architecture. The museum had a wealth of information about Judaism as a religion and culture. I would have loved to learn about it, but everything was in Spanish.









One sign that I was able to read was great. Check out this sign at the synagogue. My favorite part is the last thing you are not allowed to do inside.



After the synagogue, we checked out the monastery of San Juan de los Reyes. There was a beautiful courtyard with orange trees and a well. The inside of the church was amazing.









This picture above is from the ceiling. It's pretty neat to see a mixture of symbols and designs that are Jewish and Muslim.



Finally, here's a picture of Puerta del Sol. It looks like a castle doesn't it?



So that is our latest adventure here in Spain. We are now preparing to move into a bigger apartment. After that, we have a weekend trip to Portugal, where I need to take another test and figure out why I can't understand Portuguese.

Mish-mash!

My apologies for the extended delay of my posts. I haven't had much news as of late. A and I mostly plan our lessons and go to work during the week. Our weekends have been filled with drawing, reading and occasional trips to eat kebaps (or kebabs). This last week was a bit frustrating since our electricity kept shorting out. We attempted to explain the situation to our landlady, who believes the problem stems from our stovetop. We came home that evening to find a box on our counter that said we were to use this to cook. It is a portable stove with only one burner.

As my days turn more into camping trips, I try to keep positive and explore different streets in the city. A and I went antique window-shopping last week and came across some beautiful buildings. I wonder what it would be like to live here.













We had an extended weekend because Monday is a puente or holiday. During the weekend, we traveled up to Plaza de Castilla to take some night pictures. There are some great office buildings up here that are constructed at a slant. I will post pictures of those soon. In the meantime, here's a picture of a statue in the area.




And now a short story about tests. This week, I received two new clients for English tutoring. They specifically want to prepare for the TOEFL exam. I hope that I will be able to adequately prepare them because I am a horrible test taker myself. I decided to apply for graduate school for next year, so I will be taking the GRE test here in Madrid. The test will take place at Universidad Europa de Madrid. Even though Madrid is in the name, the silly place is a half hour outside of the city! A and I decided to take the bus and try to find the place before test day. It was really nice to get out of the city and see the landscape. I must note that there was graffiti everywhere we looked. Here's a shot of the mountains outside of Madrid. Absolutely beautiful.



We took the bus to the end of the line and found the university. Our trip was a success, but it was a bit scary out there since it seemed so desolate. I was worried that there wouldn't be another bus to take us home! Fortunately, one showed up a few minutes later. Here is a picture of the university grounds.



Well, I better get back to studying and preparing for class tomorrow! Next week...Toledo!