I've died and gone to Toledo...

I honestly had no idea what I was getting into when we left for Toledo. Through the hour and a half bus ride, we played MAChaCa, our own Spanish version of MASH. Anyone that has been on a public school filed trip should know what I mean;) MASH is Mansion, Apartment, Shack, and House. MAChaCa is mansión, apartamento, chabola, and casa. That was definitely entertaining:) We only played with group members...and once included the bus driver, but there are 22 girls and 7 boys so...it gets interesting:)

Finally we got to Toledo!!! We were honestly all in shock when we saw it; cameras everywhere, exclamations. It is BEAUTIFUL. Beautiful! Super narrow, windy, cobblestone streets with the buildings of stone and the balconies workin that whole wrought-iron thing...literally breathtaking.

When we got to Toledo, we picked up our tour guide literally on some random street corner, then went to a scenic overlook to take pictures of the city. My camera batteries died that very first stop! Man. It wasn't so bad bumming photos of of the group, but I didn't want to be annoying, ya know? It worked out pretty well tho:) What a view! It is suuuuper hilly and the cathedral!!! Oh man, that cathedral es fenomenal. There were paintings from El Greco, Titian, Rubens, Velazquez...names I've known and come to love but only from the classroom. My heart rate literally increased a little seeing them in real life. But I think I'm getting ahead of myself. We toured the city with the guide for a couple of hours, so I don't remember the order in which all of this took place. Also, without pictures of my own, I'm sure I'll leave some things out. As far as the cathedral goes, it is so hard to put into words how incredible it was to be there. The artwork, whether I knew the artist or not, all of it was just gorgeous. I could go on and on, but I won't ;) It was just fenomenal. Pictures will help when I steal those from the others.

After the cathedral and probably some other stuff, we went to see the Burial of Count Orgaz, which is only THE coolest El Greco painting. Jacob, weep with jealousy. It was AMAZING. There is so much art here. So much! There's this little enclosed garden area we peeked into just before we all had to meet up to drive home and shoved away in the corner was this tiny, free "museum", like a little gallery and there were El Greco works just chillin there. One lady sitting there for protection. Free entry. I love Spain!

When we had free time after the tour, a group of us went to see this bridge we drove past. It was so fun navigating our way through the city!! But those hills...my calves are gonna look goooo-ood. It was kinda tricky getting to the bridge and then figuring out how to cross it, but once we did it was so worth it! It's from the fourteenth century. Yeah. Everything is sooo dang old here! After we crossed it, some of us went down to the water and took more more more pictures.

Por fin, we returned to the meeting spot and got some more GELLLLLLato while we waited. Caramelo. The strawberry cheesecake was really good too. The bus ride home was pretty sad...it was such a quick day! Luckily, some of us only have class twice a week, so on one of our off days we're going to go back:) Cannot wait!

Tomorrow...El Museo del Prado!!!! Olé!