Saturday, March 31, 2012

Strike-day adventures (Madrid- día dos)

¡Hola otra vez!

[I have added in the pictures that I promised earlier]

In yesterday's post, I mentioned that a nation-wide strike took place on March 29. [My mom insists that I bring on strikes wherever I go-- in Honduras (summer 2009), I left the day that a military coup occurred; in Thailand (summer 2010), a huge political demonstration by the Red Shirts took place in Bangkok; now, this. Maybe she's right...]

In any case, the strike meant that it would be very difficult to utilize public transit, so a few of my host's friends took me on a little day trip. We first visited a nearby town, called San Lorenzo de El Escorial. It has a large monastery, with lovely gardens that we walked around for a while.








 My tour guides for the day! (and my odd-looking solo boob. No idea what happened there.)

 I love this picture. So many angles.


Haha, we laughed at this house as we walked by. One of my new Spanish friends said, in broken English, "It looks like a man took a big knife and cut it in half." I agree.

[Is it just me, or does the Spanish sky just seem bluer than ours??]

After El Escorial, we went home, packed some sandwiches, and headed a few minutes away to a park with a lake that they visit often. The shore was a ~15min walk from the car.



We sat by the shore, talked, and soaked up the Spanish sun, and headed home. It was a good day. I guess you could say I'm glad there was a strike :)



Adiós.
-M

2 comments:

  1. How magnificent, and what gorgeous views! You and your "single boob" are funny, and the photo you like with all the "angles," I thought said, "angels:" so I strained several minutes to find them! ;-D I love it for you that you are living out your Susan Sontag quote. Thank you SO much for the photographs for those of us that aren't able to "go" right now.
    Love, Aunt Susie

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  2. Wow, Maria, this is so amazing- I can't believe how gorgeous it is! I'm glad you're having fun! I think I'm going to start living vicariously through you and Jennifer S. with your overseas blogs :D lol
    Kathryn W.

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