Epic Spain Trip, part tres!

So yeah, I suck. Whatever. I know I waited from um, July till October (31st) to follow up. So I'll catch up, yeah.

Where was I? Oh yeah, the Epic Spain Trip! So on day two, we woke up and got all ready and found a bakery and ate bad stuff. I have to say, though the diet there seems 'bad', rolls and the like for breakfast, there's a lot of walking around and I didn't gain anything on the trip. Which is amazing because I ate a lot of good food. Plus, let's say you have a croissant with chocolate on top? The chocolate won't be over the top sweet like it is here, just good.

Delicious muffin things and Aquarius orange drink-it's like a fruit drink. It was yummy!

We headed to the train station and it has this beautiful indoor garden area.  We got our tickets to Toledo and people watched for a while. The station we went to was the Atocha station in Madrid. It was the site of a bombing back in 2004 that killed 191 people and injured 1800. They've made it a beautiful place.

Brynna and Curtis looking at the turtles in the atrium at Atocha station.

While we were there, the interior was lined with various vendors selling everything from scarves, purses, vacation trips and candy. We found a vendor who had all this exotic candy-and recognized Turkish Delight! So, Brynna got to use her Spanish to get us some for the train ride to Toledo.

Turkish Delight! YUM! They had Rose and Lemon and a couple other flavors.

The ride to Toledo was on a medium speed train but it had no stops between Madrid and Toledo. It was pretty fast. I think (if I recall) it's about 45-50 miles and it took about a half hour. Nice train, quiet and swift ride.

Brynna riding the train to Toledo.

Once in Toledo, you arrive just outside the old city walls. There's buses that take you into the city and you mostly wander around. We found an ATM because buying touristy stuff was essential. Thankfully my cards were working. Yay!

Just outside the city walls. There's a huge amount of Toledo that is outside the old city but it's cool to see where the old part begins.

We wandered around the city and headed to the huge Toledo Cathedral that dominates it. This is me standing in front of it. Too big to get it all in!

While in Toledo we found a Lladro shop and I spent a pretty chunk of change on some gorgeous pieces.  We had to have them shipped to the states so I had to be patient and once they arrived I was so excited.

This is the Christus that the LDS church commissioned from Lladro when the Madrid temple was dedicated in 1999. It is simply beautiful.

These are LDS missionaries that the church in Toledo commissioned from Lladro because so many parents would visit Toledo and were looking for something to remind them of Spain and missionary work. I LOVED this and HAD to have it.

Brynna and Curtis walking up the narrow, cobblestone streets of Toledo. Cars could barely fit and we had to hide in doorways sometimes to let them pass.

As we wandered around looking in shops we found a little place that served churros and chocolate!! OMGOSH yum! It's like hot chocolate but thicker and you dip the churros in...mmm. Delightful, sinful and awesome all over the place.

Churros and Chocolate

Churros IN Chocolate!

Part of the Cathedral. Such a beautiful old building.

We got to go inside the Cathedral and it is beautiful and has an old, reverent feel. I took hundreds of pictures but I am just going to post a couple.

Stained glass window in the Cathedral.

Ornate carvings inside the Cathedral. Incredible and difficult to capture.

Huge pillars, marble floors, ornate everything, gold everywhere.

El Greco museum, an old "Spanish Style" home that is a museum for El Greco's works. Very cool and apparently when it was built the 'style' was copied and was very common in California.

We went to the El Greco museum in Toledo, which is pretty amazing. It is very near a high part of the town that overlooks the river. It's a natural barrier in addition to the walls and it is almost a sheer drop from this point to the river.

Curtis and me overlooking the river.

Brynna and I overlooking the river. It was drizzly and cool.

By this point we were pretty hungry having only had rolls and snacks so we had Tapas! These are quick little meals on the go. Usually involving meat they slice off of a hunk of stuff hanging from the wall.

Brynna enjoying Bocadillos de Jamon (Ham Sandwich)! Yes, it's just meat and bread. No condiments or lettuce or anything. Just yummy bread and yummy ham.

We had our little meal and then got back on the train to Madrid. We had thought about staying for the big Easter parades/processions (Procesions de la Semana Santa) but they didn't even start until 10 pm and the last train back was at 8 or something and we were exhausted! (And the next day we had to catch a train to Barcelona) So we skipped that, but had a wonderful day!