Carnivales- Southern Spain

*For some reason this post went psycho when I posted it.  When I try to edit it, it looks fine in my window so I don't know how to fix it. I hope it's not too confusing! 

This is a picture of the street in Sevilla.  I took this in order to compare the differences between Northern Spain and Southern Spain, or at least to compare to Segovia.  Southern Spain was a lot different than life in Segovia.  The first noticeable thing is obviously the palm trees. It is MUCH warmer there and I loved that! Also, from what I saw, it seems that Southern Spain is more modern for lack of a better word.  For example, I saw lots of huge roads like the one pictured and there seemed to be less 'historical' buildings that are centuries old, Segovia is full of these.  Also, the construction going on up north is almost entirely renovation of older buildings, whereas in Sevilla we passed a few construction sites for new buildings/ plazas.  There really isn't any new construction going on here, which is somewhat understandable with the world economic situation.  Also, I liked this picture because it looks to me like a Southern California city, like LA.    

This is taken from the side of a bus stop advertising a local newspaper called "El Correo".  I chose this picture though because of what is on the advertisement, President Obama's inauguration.  I never truly realized the impact the United States has in the world until coming here.  I see Obama on the news here almost as often as I see Spain's president Zapatero on the news.  A clear example of the US's global impact was seen last month when I watched a question/answer session with President Zapatero on TV with my senora.  During this session, ordinary citizens were given the opportunity to ask the President questions regarding just about anything.  Naturally many of their questions were about the declining economy. I quickly learned that Spain was facing economic hard times, much like America.  Nearly all of his responses about the economy included the United States and even Wall Street.  I had no idea that our economy has such an impact on the world until that night.  Another quick example of our influence on the world was made evident to me last week when watching a series of documentaries with my senora. (I seem to watch a lot of TV with her huh? I see watching TV here as educational haha.) One of the short documentaries we watched was about the war on Iraq and the US's presence there.  In the documentary they interviewed some college students in Iraq and these college students knew more about US politics than American college students! It was an eye-opening documentary.    

This is a picture of the cathedral in Sevilla.  This cathedral is the largest cathedral in Spain and the third largest cathedral in the entire world.It was literally impossible to fit the entire thing in one picture, so this is the best I could do.  Inside there were a few past popes' tombs, including one from the 13th century!  You know your holy when your body ends up in the largest cathedral in Spain eight centuries after your death!  My favorite part about this cathedral though was the bell tower.  You could climb it (there were 34 ramps to get to the top!) and see the entire city.  It was awesome, Sevilla is beautiful.  When we were in the bell tower, it ended up being 2:15, and for those of you that don't know, that means it's time for the bell to sound.  It only rang once (since it was :15) but it scared the begeebers out of us!  It scared us at the time, but we all got a good laugh out of it afterwards.  It was really cool to be up there.

This is taken from La Alhambra in Granada.  La Alhambra was the last Spanish stronghold before the Muslums took over in the 8th century.  This place was RIDICULOUSLY beautiful! It easily ranks in the top three most beautiful places I've ever been in my life.  This view is from the top of the palace and it was SO pretty. I want to go back there ASAP!        

RealMadrid/ Castle

This is the outside of RealMadrid’s soccer stadium.  A group of us were able to go to a game last weekend.  It was one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had.  The stadium is called Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.  It was definitely the largest sports stadium I’ve been to in my life.  The game was RealMadrid vs. Racing Santander.  The stadium holds over 80,000 people and seemed to be completely full!  I was surprised to see how many people were there, and also their ages.  There were some spectators there that had to be in their 60’s or above.  The entire stadium cheered and booed at every play.  It was especially cool because ReadMadrid won 1-0! Spaniards sure love their fútbol!

This is a picture from the first castle we saw last weekend. This castillo de Coca is from the 15 century, as our tour guide informed us.  It has had some extensive renovation since then, but has maintained it's same overall appearance.  It's age shows in some rooms inside the castle. Our tour guide shared with us that Napoleon was here at one point in his conquests! If that's not history I don't know what is! One interesting thing from inside the castle was the prison. About two stories above the prison room is a hole large enough for a person to 'fall' through. Come to find out, that is exactly what it was used for. Our tour guide told us that prisoners would be dropped from this hole into the prison room so that upon impact their legs would be broken and they'd be left 'to rot' as he told us.  I don't know about you but that sounds like no fun Freddie!! 

This picture is taken from the train station of Madrid’s downtown buildings.  I chose this one because for a major world city, you might be surprised why there are so few tall buildings.  I think it shows how old Spain really is.  These are the only buildings that really seem to be ‘modern’ to me.  All of the city’s other buildings are from centuries ago, just like their post office that can be seen in my last post.  I didn't realize until coming here the rich history this country really has. It makes me realize how young America really is. 

Madrid/ Segovia

I chose this as one of my pictures because I believe it shows how American 'culture', at least American corporations are big in other countries.  This is in Madrid, we passed this McDonald's, which was next to a KFC and then we saw a Burger King.  I thought the prices were higher but the food was much of the same.

This picture is from Madrid.  This is the old palace of a previous royal family.  The Spanish oscars called 'Goya's were hosted here last night.  It was really different to see an award show from a different country because, not only were they in another language, I didn't recognize any of the actors or movies.

This is a picture of a beautiful cathedral right beside our classroom building.  It was probably the biggest I have seen before (hence it doesn't all fit in one picture). I chose this picture because this cathedral is evidence of the strong Catholic influence in the country.

This is a picture from the street marketplace that happens in La Plaza Mayor every Thursday.  The street was filled with vendors and people bartering over goods.  They sold mainly food items, but there was also clothes and other items.

This is a good picture of the Aqueduct that goes through the city of Segovia.  It was built when the city was under Roman rule between the first and fifth centuries.  It is really cool to walk past something that old everyday!