Madrid and...Holy Toledo!

This past weekend, AIFS took us on an overnight excursion to Toledo and Madrid in central Spain.  We left Saturday morning for Toledo, a city famous for El Greco, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, and its three cultures:  Christian, Islamic, and Hebrew.  Toledo is home to eighty churches.  Yes, that is where the expression "Holy Toledo!" comes from.  We took a walking tour of this lovely city with a professional guide who lives in Toledo.  We visited La Iglesia de Santo Tomé, which houses the most well-known of El Greco's paintings, El Entierro del Conde de Orgaz.  It's one thing to study a painting in an art history class.  It is completely different to witness the unadulterated, pristine composition with your own eyes.  It was incredible. 

I wish we could have had more time in Toledo, but after a few short hours we hopped back on the bus.  We arrived in Madrid that afternoon and a few friends and I took the metro directly to the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia to see one of Picasso's most celebrated paintings, Guernica.  We spent a few hours wandering through the museum and then took the metro back to the hotel.  While walking from the station to our hotel, we decided to stop for a quick bite and ended up running into a group of friends.  We stayed at a sidewalk bar for a couple of hours, eating pizza and watching the FC Barcelona soccer game.  It was such a fun night; joking, laughing, and realizing that we are already half-way through the Fall semester.  On Sunday morning, bright and early, we checked out of our hotel and left for a tour of Madrid.  This city reminded me a lot of Chicago.  It is incredibly big, yet so beautiful.  We ended our tour at the Museo del Prado.  The Prado is one of the most visited museums in the world and houses such paintings as Las Meninas, La Maja Desnuda, and El Caballero de la Mano en el Pecho.  I cannot believe how lucky I have been to see all of the things I've seen since arriving in Spain.  Some people dream of seeing these paintings but never have the opportunity to examine them in person.  As enjoyable as the weekend was, I felt so relieved when I saw the beautifully illuminated Salamanca skyline last night...as always.  I can't imagine how I will feel when I land in Chicago in December.  Returning home always feels right, whether home is DeKalb, Illinois, Ventura, Iowa, or Salamanca, Castilla y León.