maravillosa madrid: trip to toledo...and the creepy indian man

The view of Toledo

Hey all! I'm finally going to tell you a bit about my trip to Toledo last weekend - partly because I feel bad I haven't written in a while and partly because I'm procrastinating and don't want to do my homework just yet...

So to continue, last weekend, our little group went to Toledo. So the plan was we were to meet at Sol because it's at the center of everything. We were supposed to meet at 9:15 I think, and being a person who panics if I'm not on time, I got there almost exactly at 9:15. The only problem was no one else was there, and they would be 45 minutes late. Well in between that time I decided to wait by one of the 2 large fountains in the square. I sat down, and I saw this Indian man pacing in front of me and he kept glancing my way. I kept praying that he wouldn't come over, but he did. He asked if I was Indian, and I said no. Of course my accent gave me away, and he could tell I wasn't from there. I told him I was from California, and he was like, "Oh ok, I thought you were Indian." Mhmm. Then he sat down near me, and I wasn't sure what to do. He knew English and was talking to me, and I was waiting for Ariel and Zacile, and I kept glancing around, hoping he would arrive soon. He didn't. The Indian guy (who was like 40-50 years old) told me I had a nice face, and asked if I liked coffee. He asked if I wanted to get some with him, and in my head I was screaming, "NO I DO NOT, YOU'RE CREEPY!!! GO AWAY!" But I just said no thanks, and I told him that I was waiting for my boyfriend who would arrive any second. After he found that out, he left a few minutes later, saying he didn't want my "boyfriend" to see us together. After he left, a random woman came up to me and starting telling me the gospel and that Jesus loved me. I mean, it was a nice change from the creepy Indian man, but apparently I was in the spot where everyone wants to talk to you. So I moved. Finally at 9:45 the other 2 showed up. Well, did I have a story to tell them.

We finally made it to the station and took a train and in half an hour we were there. It's a beautiful, small, and old city. My nerdiness is going to come out here, but the main city part or centro of the city reminded me of Minas Tirith in the Lord of the Rings. The street to the top winds slowly up and back and forth until you reach the main plaza. From there there is a beautiful view of the rest of the city. It was really fun because we took the long way into the city, and it lead you through random small alleyways past beautiful antiquated buildings. It's the perfect postcard setting for Europe.

After that, we went to the church - well the main church. Each city has like 10 churches, kind of like Simi Valley where there's a church literally on every corner. We went to the side that was free, and it was really pretty.We didn't really want to spend a lot of money, and they were about to have mass so we decided to sit on the grass (actually it was turf) outside of the church. It was a chilly day, but the sun was beating down on us, and we lay down and ate our snacks, and it was so relaxing! We saw some other groups from our school who decided to go to Toledo too, and we saw and talked with them as well.

After that we met up with the rest of our group (who we had left behind...oops) and went to grab some lunch. We has seen this place advertised at a bus stop that gave you an appetizer, entree, dessert, water, and bread for 6.50€ which isn't bad! When we went in, it was filled with locals which was a good sign. We got glasses of wine for 1€ each, and we had a very cheap and filling lunch - the best kind!

We had a couple hours to kill before our train departed, so we went to 2 museums where we could get in free with our student ids. First we went to this army museum where they had armor, weaponry, etc. from old wars and everything. It was interesting. They had an exhibit about Filipinos, and they were laughing at me because I got excited and was saying, "It's my people! It's my people!" After we got bored with that museum, we went to another where they had religious paintings and beautiful sculptures, artwork, and decorated tiles. After that it was time to go, so we took the fast way down the stairs on the other side of the city, and it was so beautiful because we got to see the sunset as we walked down. We train was pretty empty so we had a car pretty much to ourselves. A few people took naps, and when we got back, a few of us went to a bar near Ariel's house (which is near Sol and my house also) and we had tapas and tried the Tinto de Verano, which is a Spanish drink that is a mixture of wine and Sprite, or some kind of soda. It was really good. After that, we all headed home before the Metro closed. Overall, the trip was really fun, and it was nice getting to spend another day with my new friends and get to know them better :)

To my parents: If you're worried about the creepy Indian guy, don't worry I was in Sol (Times Square), so there are always policeman around so I won't get kidnapped or something.

To my mom: Don't watch Taken. Ever.

Next time I'll tell you about my trip to beautiful Barcelona!