Segovia is a very pretty city a few hours north of Madrid. Like most of our destinations, we saw another nice cathedral. And like most cathedrals, it was old and beautiful. The highlight of Segovia's cathedral is a carved Jesus from wood. The detail on the carving is amazing; down to the clothing and sheet that wraps Jesus. (See picture below)

After the cathedral, we went to the Alcazar of Segovia. The Alcazar is a gorgeous castle on the outskirts of the city. It looks almost like Cinderella's castle, without the gift shops and famous mice, and it is surrounded by a moat and cliffs behind it. The roof was my favorite part of the Alcazar. We hiked up to the roof and had a spectacular view of the city and the tops of the towers. Getting to this roof was tricky, though, as we had to climb a very narrow and very long staircase. I think our tour guide was a smoker, as she was last to make it to the top and was wheezing the whole way up.

We finished off the night with a look at the 2,000-year-old Roman Aqueduct. I found this really cool to see after learning about Roman aqueducts on the History Channel. Basically, it's a long, raised platform that brings water from the mountains from 15km away. Due to its Roman design, it is still standing perfectly after 2,000 years. Its archways use one of the strongest and oldest architecture techniques and use no mortar. We hoped to find nightlife in Segovia, but we never really found a crowd and so we left the next morning after a good night's sleep to Salamanca.

Salamanca is still north of Madrid but more west. It is a fun college town like Granada but larger. It is home to a great looking Plaza, another cathedral (surprised?) and the University of Salamanca. The University of Salamanca was founded in the mid-1200's, beating Bucknell by over 600 years, and looks like an exciting place study, minus the drafty walls.

After our tour, Danny and I purchased some jamon (ham) from Salamanca because apparently Salamanca has the best jamon in Spain. The pigs are fed acorns and this, for some reason, makes the meat taste sweet and dissolve in the mouth. We paid about 12E or $18 for less than half a pound of jamon, but it was the best jamon we have had in Spain and Danny has eaten jamon everywhere.

My friend studied in Salamanca last semester and gave us some local nightlife recommendations. We spent the night in a Michael Jackson-decorated bar, named Jacko's. Below are my pictures of Salamanca, I think they speak for themselves. We then hopped on the bus for about three hours to Madrid, the capital of Spain.

Madrid is a very large city, comparable to New York and London. I was thrilled to see Starbucks, McDonalds, and even a TGIF Friday's as we drove through the city. My initial reaction was that buildings resembled those in New York. A friend of mine scoffed at the idea. Turns out, Madrid modeled some of its new buildings on those of Chicago and New York. Touche!

Our first stop, after settling into our very nice hotel, was the famous Prado Museum. The Prado houses many famous works of Spanish art, including Goya, Velazquez, and El Greco. Since I have not taken any art history classes, most of my art knowledge is from Spanish classes. It was really amazing to see the paintings of these artists that we have studied for years in person. Pictures of paintings do not do the real work justice. My favorite would have to be Las Meninas by Velazquez.

We followed our trip to the Prado by visiting Madrid's modern art museum, La Regina Sofia. Here we saw the works of Salvador Dali and one or two of Picasso's. One of my favorite paintings, Guernica by Picasso, is housed here. Of course, the Picasso exhibit was closed for five days and we were there for the middle two days. That night, some of us visited Kapital, a large club with seven dance floors, each with its own type of music. It was cool to see a club outside of Granada but I prefer Granada's 10E ($15) entrance fees and 7E ($12.50) drinks to Kapital's 20E entrance fee ($30) and 15E ($25) drinks

We awoke shortly after going to bed and boarded a bus for a bus tour of Madrid. Many were dismayed to find out that we were to get off the bus minutes after boarding and would have to walk around the city on foot. Even though it was raining, it was a blessing in disguise. If we had stayed in the bus, we would have missed some great sites.

My favorite was Palacio Real de Madrid, or the Royal Palace of Madrid. It was very well decorated with Baroque and Neo-Classic art. Our guide was a bit crazy, but his craziness kept everyone paying attention. Afterwards, we ate at a place called the Museo de Jamon (Ham Museum). Needless to say, we ate a lot of jamon and other Spanish dishes.

For dinner on the second night, I had McDonald's. There is little beef in Spain and I am starting to miss it more than some of my friends back home. I could not let an opportunity to taste a little bit of America. It was the best McDonald's in my life. I also had Starbucks on the trip but mine was not as good as the McDonald's I had.

The second night also happened to be the Super Bowl. It was very difficult to find a bar playing the U.S.'s biggest game but we found an Irish pub with a large screen. It was really cool to hear Joe Buck's poor commentary on the game from 3,800 miles away. The bar was filled with both Americans and random Spaniards who had some knowledge of the game. The Giants won at about 4:30 a.m. and I was ecstatic. Ecstatic enough to call my dad at $2 a minute. Oops.

After two days in Madrid, we boarded a bus to Toledo, where we spent the day. I was quite tired from the night before but the city of Toledo woke me up fast. I was very surprised to see how beautiful this city actually is. El Greco has a famous painting, "The View from Toledo," and I can easily see his inspiration. The city is filled with Moorish architecture, as it was once the Moor's capital. We visited another cathedral, which was the most beautiful that I have seen so far in Spain (and I know my cathedrals). I was not allowed to again take photos, but I do get almost excited when I see signs telling me not to take pictures, as it usually means I am about to see good stuff. I wish I could describe the detail of this place; it has so much detail that it took the builders 300 years to complete. We also got to see a very old Jewish temple as well as a mosque. After five days, we returned home.

I apologize that this entry is so long and I have already cut it down considerably. My next entry will be about Cadiz and its Carnival celebration.