El Escorial and some futbol

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Friday January 2

I had a blast this weekend.  It started out early Friday morning, it was a beautiful sunrise and I nabbed some pictures on the way to the bus.  We then proceeded on our 2 hour bus ride to Monasterio del Escorial.  We got close to the mountains and I was so amazed.  I've never really seen mountains up close before.  Up at the top of this mountain was a giant cross literally the size of a building in downtown Minneapolis which I thought was kind of cool.  Little did I know, the cross was a part of the Monastery that we were going to.  When we arrived, I didn't really know what to expect.  It ended up being one of the most amazing buildings I have ever seen.  It was built in the 15th century and is full of art, gold, and other interesting things.  There were gardens outside of the palace that seemed like mazes of bushes.  I wanted to walk outside in the gardens, but we didn't get to.  One of the coolest parts of El Escorial was the tomb where the royal family was buried.  They took us down this really long staircase made of marble and gold and we eventually ended up in a room where every royal family member has been buried for the past 500 years.  I bet the room was worth millions of dollars for the gold alone.  Another highlight was seeing El Greco, which blew my mind.  There are some cool pictures of that.  The stories behind the building were also interesting, but too long to go into on a blog.

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Sunday January 4

We went to a Real Madrid futbol game in Madrid.  It was the craziest thing in the world.  Everyone at the field had a scarf to root for their favorite team.  I had never been to an outdoor stadium before, which I loved.  Watching the sunset through the giant hole above was amazing.  Right away, Levante, the other team, got a penalty kick and scored the first goal.  Sadly, it was also the last.  BUT, the game was still fun and still intense so it was well worth it.  The stadium held 80,300 people and it was packed.  Needless to say, getting home was a trip in itself.  We hadn't planned how to get home and there were probably 75,000 people trying to get home.  Luckily we made it to the bus station after about an hour of talking to random Spaniards.  I also had an experience that I have never had and really don't want to have again.  On the bus, an immigrant must have said something to really piss off a Spaniard in his 20's.  When the immigrant was leaving the bus, the man started yelling horrible things and threatening him.  He then proceeded to give a five minute speech about immigrants and how they take their jobs.  He was ready to fight and the five of us felt incredibly uncomfortable.  I thought he was directing his words towards us, but my friends said no.  Either way, it was quite the experience to be on the other side of prejudice and racism.  On the good side, he got off on the next stop and I am alive.  So..... that was my crazy weekend.  Oh, and I watched the super bowl when I got back.  What a bummer.