Holy flea market! (and a trip through time)

In my last post I said that I would be taking a day trip to Segovia. Unfortunately this trip was postponed due to some serious oversleeping (on the part of my roommates and me) and a rainy and cold forecast (on the part of mother nature). So instead we decided to experience Madrid!

Capillo de San Isidro

On Saturday we went to Museo de San Isidro. San Isidro is the patron saint of Madrid and this museum and chapel is devoted to him. The first part of the museum is about San Isidro and his life. You can also enter the Capillo de San Isidro which is breathaking and the ceiling is hard to look away from (although it is recently renovated and you can tell it looks a bit fake). One of the coolest parts was seeing the Miracle Well. At first glance it is a giant well and when you look down you can't see the bottom (thank goodness there is a piece of glass over the top...reminds me of the Ring). Later we found out the story behind the well, Isidro and Maria's son was accidentally dropped into it and when they prayed for his safety the water rose and he was delivered safely to them.

A model of Madrid in the 1600s

The other part of the museum showed the evolution of the city of Madrid from prehistoric times. This part of the museum provided a visual depiction of everything I have been studying in my Spanish Culture and Civilization class. It was nice to see artifacts so I could take my knowledge from class and relate it to tangible objects. The museum had everything from the rocks (puntas de flecha) that the first Madrilenos used to kill animals to artifacts depicting the Roman influence in Spain during la Edad Antigua. One of my favorite things in this exhibit was seeing the Roman architectural influence. But hands down the coolest part was seeing a large map of what Madrid looked like in 1562 and a small model made of blocks representing the 16th century. I could pick out where my apartment would have been located! This made me feel like a true Madrileña!

Sunday we headed to El Rastro, the mother of all flea markets. Every Sunday morning it is set up in La Latina, a barrio close to our apartment. Vendors come to sell literally everything including books, antiques, art, fake fur coats, comics, jewelry, old pieces of metal, boomboxes, and even underwear. I have never seen such a mishmash of items in my life. It makes me wonder who buys this stuff, especially the old pieces of metal and underwear...Anyways, the tables are lined up along winding streets and seem to go on forever. We walked around for close to three hours and I think we only saw about half of the market. I used my bartering skills (honed on the beaches of Mexico) to barter for a scarf.

This week I also met with Antonio, my language exchange partner! He is going to help me with my Spanish and I will help him with his English. He is from Madrid and wants to become a science teacher at an English school in Spain. I am so incredibly excited about this opportunity because I feel like I have not been speaking enough Spanish and this is the perfect way to practice.

This weekend I am off to Zurich and Luzern in Switzerland!
¡Hasta la próxima!