Rome and Madrid Sporting Events

Here I go again, procrastinating on updates! But once again, what an amazing few weeks it has been.

The week after Ireland I was so lucky to have Chris come a visit me here in Madrid (my boyfriend, for those of you who haven't met him). He's been working very hard in Charlottesville, so I was extremely excited to be able to get to spend some time with him. During the week in Madrid we spent some time visiting some of the need-to-see Madrid sights such as Plaza del Sol, the Basilica, Royal Palace and Cathedral, rowboats en el parque Retiro and visited some great restaurants where we enjoyed local tapas. We also took a cheesy bus tour called MadridVision, which I needed to take for a class, and ended up being quite fun and informative!

Roma-The weekend Chris was here we traveled to Rome together. What an amazing city.

Friday we spent touring the Vatican including Saint Peter's Cathedral, the Sistine Chapel, and basically the entire small country of the Vatican (yes, it is it's own country, passports and all!). That evening, as with the rest, we spent exploring the beautiful streets of Rome and visiting some of the tourist spots in their full glory at night. I especially enjoyed the Trevi fountain. And not to worry, every meal included either pasta, pizza, or gelato...sometimes all three! God bless Italian food.

Saturday we spent exploring the older sections of Rome including ruins, the Colosseum, and the Pantheon. While wandering, we enjoyed watching three separate wedding couples (complete in tux and dress) compete for the best background for their wedding pictures in front of the Colosseum (which turns out not to be difficult, since it's huge!). While exploring, we came upon a Picasso exhibit in a museum which we decided to check out. I was amazed at the diversity in Picasso's work, having only previously seen some of his staple pieces.

Sunday morning was spent at mass....with the pope! In the plaza along with what had to be over 35,000 people we were fortunate enough to possess free tickets to mass (we got them two days before from the Swiss guards in the funniest outfits I've seen in a long time). We were very lucky that this weekend at mass not only was Pope Benedict saying mass, but was canonizing 4 saints! I'm not sure exactly how often this happens, but apparently it was the only time during 2008. There were pilgrimages from the countries of each new saint, including India whose saint was the first canonized for their country! It was quite a remarkable experience and I was especially impressed and thankful for the diversity of languages during the Sign of Peace and in el Papa's (spanish for pope) homily-we counted that he spoke at least 5 languages throughout the mass.

The last day that Chris was in Madrid flew by, but we did get a chance to go out to eat once again and a cute restaurant in the Chueca neighborhood named Bazaar and to the world-renowned modern art museum-El Museo Reina Sofia.

Since then, life slowed down a bit in terms of trips out of the country, but my Spanish Culture and Civilization class did visit Toledo, the precious first capital of Spain. It's known for it's abundance of christian, arabic, and jewish architecture and culture. All three religions were at one point in power in the city.

Somehow the past two weeks ended up being quite a series of Spanish sporting events, which is great because I have been a bit homesick for BC, UVa and Redskins football this time of year.
On Friday the 17th, Meghan, Andrew, and I went to the Madrid Masters Tennis Tournament. Some of the amazing athletes we saw included Federer, the Bryan brothers (US doubles), and Murray. We just missed Nadal's match, much to the disapointment of his future wife, Meghan Gavin.
That Sunday, anyone from the BC program that was interested in going had tickets to a Madrid Bullfight, considered a huge part of the culture of the city and country. I was glad I went to witness the tradition, but it was definitely more gruesome than for what I was prepared. More details about that can be given outside of cyberspace.
This past weekend Meghan and I joined some of our new friends from a bunch of California universities also here in Madrid at a Real Madrid fútbol game. What an experience! The staduim holds a capacity of 78,000 and as far as I could tell, it was full to the brim. To give a comparison, the Redskins stadium that is the biggest in the NFL holds about 92,000 people. The pictures at the top of this entry are from the game.

Well I miss you all! I counted today and there are only 7 weeks left until I'm back in the US, unbelievable.

Love,
Clare