Day 10

Yesterday, we rose later than usual for a relaxing breakfast. When everyone had arrived, we once again walked for ever until we reached a small building, where we would take cooking class. The room had already been set up for us, with cutting boards at each table and a mirror above the teacher. Keeping in mind the teacher's close instruction, we made the following dishes : paella, tomato bread, gazpacho, and some sort of many eclair dish that I don't know the name of. It was awesome.

 Afterwards, we explored the city, looking at various cathedrals and historical sites. I took even more photos. We returned to the hotel, with an hour and a half to make  ourselves ready for the flamenco show.

  Much later, we arrived at the show , and lead to a small room for a buffet dinner. The whole thing was very extravagant and delicious, because the ceilings were fancy and the food was great. We transitioned to a private room with a small stage in the center, and we silenced our phones to watch the flamenco show. The show amazed me because it involved exotic dancing, wonderful costumes, skillful guitar playing, and some singing.

 At the end of the last day in spain, I considered everything I'd done, and I knew I'd never forget my time in Spain .

Morgan Nelson

Gourmet cooking, Parque de la Ciudadela y Flamenco!

Day 9 6/15/15

Day-9 6/15/15

Yesterday we started the day with a visit to Camp Nou, the soccer stadium for FC Barcelona. With our tickets we were able to tour part of the stadium and learn about the history of the club (founded in 1899) in the museum.

After the stadium we went to plaza Catalunya for an open lunch. After lunch (and ice cream for some of us :) ) we took a tour of the major Gaudi buildings/sights in Barcelona. We stopped and toured the church of the Sagrada familia and the park Güell.

 Once we returned to the plaza we had an hour of shopping, walked around town, and went to a tapas dinner. The day was long but fun and interesting. -Gen Nickerson

#AmoBarcelona #AmoGaudí

Day 8

Today we woke up at 4:30 am and left Bilbao and our beloved guide Abel who had been with us since Madrid and took a 6 hour train ride to the wonderful city of Barcelona. We met our new guide Eleonora at the airport and then drove to our hotel ibis. After dropping off our stuff at the hotel, we proceeded to the beach! We experienced a little bit of the Catalunyan pride in the subway but moved on and continued to enjoy some ice cream in the crowded Olympic Village. Then we visited the famous Batló House, designed by Gaudí, where we were able to go on the roof and see a bit of the city. We then walked to a second house designed by Gaudí called La Pedrera (or the quarry) and admired it from the outside. After a fun, but long day, we headed off to dinner where we ate a large tapas dinner of 10 different dishes! A favorite seemed to be the mussels, where the senior boys ate 4 plates of them! At about 11 pm we headed back to the hotel and fell asleep almost immediately. What a fun first day in Barcelona!
By Emily and Mad

Casa Batló, Barcelona

Day 7

In the morning, we ate breakfast at the hotel, then checked out and boarded our bus at 8:30. After driving for two and a half hours, we first arrived at the sea-side town of Camillas. There, we visited a house built by the famous architect, Antoni Gaudi, for an old, wealthy man who died only seven days after moving into his new house. For this reason, this house was called: Gaudi's Folly. Right next to this house was El Palacio de Sobrelleno, the palace built in the same era for el Marques de Comillas. Next, we walked to the University of Comillas, which was situated on a tall hill, overlooking the town. There we enjoyed a scenic view of the beach and the sea. After taking more photos of the town from atop the hill, we hiked down through the town to the beach, where we had lunch. After lunch, we drove for a few more hours to El Museo de Altamira, where we visited a full-scale replica of the cave where the first paintings by Homo sapiens ever recorded were found. These were crude paintings of bulls, deer, and horses, painted throughout several different periods. We then learned about the ancestors and development of modern-day humans. Bones, ancient tools, and other artifacts from the prehistoric period were on display in the exhibit. Finally, we drove to the beautiful, industrial city of Bilbao. With a metropolitan population of two million, Bilbao seemed much bigger than the city of Oviedo (~250,000), where we had stayed the previous two nights. In Bilbao, we checked in to our hotel, the Ibis, struggled with logging into the wifi network, then embarked on a short tour of the city despite light rain. On our walk, we were able to view the modern exterior of the Guggenheim museum of Bilbao, which was designed by Frank Gehry, the architect for the famous Walt Disney Concert hall in Los Angeles. On our walk, we also walked past the Campo Volatín footbridge, a modern, beautiful, arcing, white bridge designed by the renowned Spanish architect, Santiago Calatrava, who also designed the Milwaukee art museum and the subway station at the World Trade Center in New York City. When the rain grew harder, we sprinted to a nearby supermarket, soaked, to buy food for our breakfast and lunch the next day. Then we ate dinner at a restaurant named La Kazeta. After having cheesecake and flan for dessert, we returned to our hotel to rest for the train the next day.

Por Jason y Michael.

Asturias, Cantabria, País Vasco

 

Camino de Santiago

Today we took a long bus ride to Besullo where we had the amazing oppurtunity to meet the nephew of Alejandro Casona. We learned all about Casona, but also the small town of Besullo. We walked around the entire town and got to see the blacksmith at work. The blacksmith had harnessed the power of water to pump oxygen into his fire and to power a hammer to pound metal. Then, we climbed the mountain behind his shop and saw lots of cows. Finally, we were able to enter Casona's home. In the house we saw the kitchen, the room where Casona was born, and even got to listen to one of his records. We left the house through the basement, and saw an army jeep. After our tour through the house, we sat down at a restaurant where we had vegetable soup, meat, bread, fish, and a delicious chocolate cake. Having eaten tons of food, we got back onto the bus to go to part of the Camino de Santiago. While on the bus, we listened to lots of music and played a lot of games. When we arrived, we walked down the trail, and sang God Bless America for some of the people who were completing the walk. Then we got back onto the bus to return to Oviedo.

El Besullo

Home of the Spanish dramaturg Alejandro Casona. An enchanted and mythical town where nature will embrace you. 

Pictures of our trip

Having a terrific time and loving being with our amazing students!

Day 4

Day 4:

 After exploring all around Madrid, Day 4 brought a day trip to Segovia. We woke up at 8 once again, ate breakfast in the hotel and were off. A bus picked us up outside the hotel and we began our drive north to Segovia. After a half an hour of driving that was full of Toby's interesting DJ'ing, we stopped at El Escorial de San Lorenzo, a magnificent palace built during the height of the Spanish empire. As we walked through the exhibits we saw architecture museums, the royal monastery,  a massive basilica, and an ancient library. Throughout the castle there were huge courtyards and lots and lots of royal gardens. Set against the landscape and the northern Spanish countryside, Escorial truly was the highlight of the day. We then took a quick walk around the small surrounding town and got lunch at one of the cafés before returning to our bus. After another hour of driving we finally arrived in Segovia. As we pulled up we were greeted by the famous aqueduct that has stood in Segovia since it's construction in 1 A.D. After the aqueduct, we walked up and down the hills of the city of the Segovia; eventually ending up at Alcazar de Segovia. Alcazar was a massive castle looking out over a cliff into the Segovian countryside. The castle was surrounded by a giant, unfilled moat allowing for only one entrance to the ancient structure. Once inside the castle we were excited to get to the top and see all the great views that were awaiting us, however there was one obstacle- an enormous spiral staircase. But after struggling up the many flights of stairs we were greeted with a fantastic photo op. After our visit to Alcazar our group split up. The future juniors went with Señora Cohen to house museum of Antonio Machado and the future seniors headed to Cathedral de Santa Maria de Segovia before switching locations later in the day. The Cathedral was huge. Inside the enormous ceiling was decorated in ancient art and magnificent stained glass. Surrounding the sides of the main hall were smaller chapels and in the back there was a beautiful enclosed garden courtyard. The house museum was not as lavish as the Cathedral, but the history of the life of Antonio Machado was very interesting. Antonio Machado was and is one of the most influential and important writers in the history of Spanish literature. The house that we visited was his primary residence for 13 years of his writing career. Besides the many beautiful poems that Antonio Machado wrote, he also started Universidad Popular. Along with a group of academics, Machado created a unique environment for intellectual thought and learning. Finally after a long day of tours and sight seeing we sat outside a cafe in the main square of Segovia before driving back to Madrid. There we had the pleasure of celebrating Izzy's 16th birthday 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉. We ate an awesome Segovian cake, sat and relaxed as the sun began to set on Segovia and our day. When we returned to Madrid, Aiden's phone got pick-pocketed during our 1 minute walk from the bus to el Museo de Jámon, and he spent the rest of the night racking up a hefty telephone bill on Max's phone as he searched for his own phone. Unfortunately the search was unsuccessful and the first casuality of the trip was recorded. We enjoyed a multi-course meal at our dinner at el Museo de Jámon, after which we returned to the hostal and passed out in anticipation of our travels to Oviedo the following day. For me, our trip to Escorial and all of the attractions in Segovia were the highlight of the trip so far. The incredible structures along with the beautiful Spanish countryside made this day very special. 

- Graham aka Tito y Ari aka Richard

Day 3

We started at a bakery with fresh squeezed orange juice and an exciting breakfast. We traveled the city on foot, visiting various plazas including the Plaza de Espana. We then moved on to the Temple of Debod, an imported egyptian ruin in the middle of the city. Next we went to the Sabatini Gardens near the palace. We then went to the Plaza Mayor where we met the unique Sploderman and Bort Simpson. For lunch, we walked to El Mercado de San Miguel, where we bought food and saw the various stands. Then we shopped in the streets surrounding the Puerta de Sol. We stopped by our hotel briefly to drop off our purchases, then moving on to the Prado Museum. There, we saw various works by famous Spanish artists such as Goya and Velazquez. From there we went to Parque del Retiro where we rested and boated for a while, learning valuable lessons in rowing and a Lille French. For dinner, we went to a Cerveceria and had some great paella.
Created by Aidan, Max, Henry and Michael Z.

Day 1-2

Today we left for Madrid, España! We left St. Louis at 3:30 pm on a flight to Atlanta, Georgia where we were supposed to have a one hour layover. Our flight to Atlanta took off on time and we landed with just enough to time to get to our next plane without any troubles. Here is where the struggle began. Do we all boarded the plane, switched around seats as we could sit next to our friends, then proceeded to sit for the next two hours while the plane had "technical difficulties." In addition to this, there was no AC. It was a long two hours to say the least. After two hours of sitting in the sweltering plans we deplaned and switched gates. We rushed to get some dinner and got on another plane only to wait another hour before we took off because the catering service had to be transferred to the new plane. We ended up taking off around 11 pm. Most people slept and watched movies to pass the time during the 8 hour flight. Once we landed we quickly went through customs, grabbed our bags, and met up with Abel, our tour guide for the trip. After a long day and night of traveling, we began a half day of tours. First, we saw el museo reina sofia . The highlight of which, at least for me, was seeing Guernica in person. At el museo, we had some bocadillos and café con leche before visiting the palace and puerta del  sol. For dinner we had a variety of Hispanic buffet style foods and then had some great churros with chocolate for desert. By the time we got back to the hotel, everyone was exhausted and didn't have much trouble falling asleep even with the time change. We had a rocky start with our plane troubles, but the tours were great and there's a lot more to come! 

Hasta luego,

Drew y Alex

Waiting for our flight...

Listos para el viaje!

Más información sobre el tiempo en Madrid