Today was a good day. I liked today. I didn't set an alarm for this morning, since I had nothing I had to do. I still woke up around 7:30, I guess my internal clock is now set. I went back to sleep though, and got out of bed around 9. I then moseyed around, ate my breakfast, got dressed, and looked at a list of recommended sites that the USAC office emailed us. I wore my orange-pink dress today, since it looked like a sunny day and I was in a good mood. Plus I wanted my shoulders to tan evenly haha. This is my metro stop, where I go anytime I want to get to any part of Madrid, except Retiro park. The black banners are the store I was talking about in an earlier blog post; my new favorite store here in Madrid! Haha I still have only spend three euros there though to buy a clock. It's lime green and awesome.
I headed to Plaza de España because I wanted to find Templo de Debod. It's an old Egyptian temple that was rebuilt here in Madrid. It had to be moved from Egypt when a dam was built near the Nile, and it was donated to Spain as a thank you for helping to save earlier temples. It was pretty cool to see. I found it without getting lost, since there were signs from the metro stop. I took a lot of photos when I got there, of course. I managed to get a lot without a lot of people too, a skill I've strengthened here in Spain. The temple is situated inside a shallow pool of water, which looks really cool. You can kind of see it in one of the photos below. The inside is pretty small, but it was so cool! Ever since 5th grade I've had an interest in ancient Egypt, so to be in a real Egyptian temple was really amazing.
There were hieroglyphics in the stone inside, and there were plaques describing what was happening in them. I can't describe how awesome it was to be in the temple, it's like my trip here in Spain just keeps getting more and more amazing. There were three rooms inside the temple that we were allowed to go in. One right off the entrance was playing a movie (probably about the history but I didn't watch it). Then there was a hallway leading to the main altar room, which during it's use in Egypt was so sacred the only people allowed to enter were priests! It was humbling to be able to enter. There were two rooms, one on each side of the temple. Both were dark since there were no windows other than thin slits. The one on the right had projections on the wall, as shown below. It was so cool, they described what the room was used for back in the day, instead of having another plaque. It also had a small entrance to the catacombs of the temple, which had another projection saying what the catacombs were used for. The room on the other side was the same thing, just without the projections. There was a hallway near the entrance with stairs, but sadly they were roped off.
After the Templo de Debod, I headed in search of a museum that was listed in our handout; El Museo Municipal de Arte Contemporeáno (Contemporary Art Museum). I found it just fine on my iPhone map, but I didn't see any signs, only a large building. The gates were open, so I slowly wandered in. I followed a couple in, and the guards told us to go through security, which we did. Then we were in a courtyard. There were no signs anywhere, so I just kinda went right. Then one of the guards told me to go the other way to the "open doors". None of the doors were open, so I followed the couple again. I ended up in a small museum that I think was for women's rights here in Spain. It was pretty interesting. I looked around for a while, then left the building, the same way I came so as to not get yelled at again.
I wandered up and down the street, consulted my iPhone, and then went back. I asked the guard if she knew the Museo de Arte Contemporeáno, and she said yes, it's in the building. She also said it was closed indefinitely. Cool. At least I can say I found it I suppose. On the way back to my metro line, I stopped into Sol. There's supposed to be a zero mile marker here to mark how far other Spanish cities are away from the heart of the capital. I just found out about it when reading the handout we got from the office. I walked around for a bit, but since I didn't know how to say "mile marker" in Spanish, I couldn't ask anyone. So I headed back to the metro station. I'm planning on going into the USAC office on Monday to ask Susan and Gabriela if they know where exactly it is. That would be a cool thing to see, I think.
I headed home after that. It was too early for lunch yet, so I didn't buy anything. When I got back, I allowed myself to take a nap, since all that walking had made me pretty tired. I woke up after two hours, and then forced myself to read the rest of the chapter for my homework for my art class. It wasn't too bad, and I was done before I knew it. I then ate some ham flavored potato chips, some crackers and Nutella, and some peanuts and Nutella. Then I got on Facebook. I uploaded my photos from today and put in captions.
Then I got to Skype Brandon! It was exciting. His family is watching a bearded dragon for a friend, so I got to see him, which was awesome! Then we just chatted for a while, until I got off for dinner. It was kind of disappointing, especially after a day with no real food. It was a ham and cheese sandwich. At least it wasn't served with gazpacho though. I'll count my blessings. I had yogurt for dessert again, and then I came in here to finish up this blog post! Tomorrow my plans are to head to el Museo Sorolla, which is supposed to be a sort of art museum that's free on Sundays. After that, I want to go to see Fuente de Cibeles, a large statue of Neptune. Karina told me I should see if before I leave Madrid, so I'm going to. Then after that, I'm going to stop in to see el Museo Naval (Naval Museum). It's supposed to always be free, so that's good too. Once I get back to the apartment, I should probably read (or skim through) the part of the book I'm supposed to read for my cinema class. It's literally half the book, which is why I don't want to read it in detail. Half the class doesn't even have the book (since it's only available in the US) because they "didn't know about it". Plus I feel like the professor is going to summarize anyway.
But for now, I'm going to wash my face. Today I discovered my nose is starting to peel. Sad day.
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