Best Spain Ever

HOLA!! So this morning we met Ramiro and the rest of the group at El Prado, you know the one. It was just a quick intro session to talk about the movement of Spanish art from the Renaissance to the Counter-Reformation (read: Jesus propaganda). But it was pretty cool, checking out the Titians and Velazquez and Goya and El Greco and stuff. And we finally saw Las Meninas in the flesh!

Mingling with the masses at the Prado!

After the Prado, we headed to El Escorial, which was built by the Spanish monarchs around the sixteenth century, again around the time of the Counter-Reformation, which basically means everything was a big show about the Catholic Church being proud of how humble they were. Which means it's all really plain and full of gloomy art and tiny beds.

The palace itself is really small, but the library is bigger and the church is massive, apparently symbolic of the monarchs' priorities. Of course, after that phase passed, the Baroque fans came in and covered everything with gold and cherubs and generally tried to liven the place up, which makes for an interesting mix.

Riva, Alexandra, and Hannah are all out of town for the weekend, as are the Vassar kids, so we're just chillin at home for now having a little Skype date with Rachel and re-watching Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Tomorrow we have GOT to finish Cosmopolis because our essay's due Monday, but maybe we'll go somewhere fun to read.

Ta-ta now, kiddos.