February 7 again

2-7 again
Katie and I just got back from the Royal Palace a little while ago. It was beautiful! There were three sections open to the public: the pharmacy, the armory, and the official rooms. We went to the pharmacy first. It was a huge collection of ceramic and glass jars that held all manner of herbs and liquids and remedies and spices and stuff like that that were used by kings in the past. I think most of them were from the 17- or 1800s. Most of them were labeled in Spanish, but a good few were in Latin. There was also a reproduction of a distillery, where there was a juice press thingy and lots of flasks and stuff like that. It was interesting, but one room was much like the next so there wasn’t a whole lot to see.
Next we went to the armory, which was awesome! The first room was dedicated almost exclusively to the armor of King Carlos V and his son King Felipe II. In case you don’t know, Carlos was king in the mid 1500s, and then obviously Felipe was right after him. It was weird to see things that belonged to people from history that we studied in school. There were swords and shields and helmets and gauntlets, as well as tons of plate armor for the people and their horses. I don’t know how many sets of armor each king had, but there was an entire wall dedicated to each. I would guess there were probably 10-15 sets for each wall. Not all of them were complete, but most of them were. There were also about 8 life-sized horse-and-rider models showing how the horse armor was worn over the cloth thingy whose name I can’t remember embroidered with the lord’s pattern, and the human dummies wearing full armor carrying lances. It was really cool to see. I was surprised at how ornate the armor was. There was some that was inlaid with gold, some with patterns etched into it, some with little scenes etched or painted on. It seemed a lot of work for something that’s going to be destroyed in battle. But they were beautiful. In that room were also a bunch of huge tapestries that were made for the kings. The room wasn’t well lit, and they were so big that you had to stand far away, so it was difficult to see them clearly, but they were amazing. I can’t imagine the work it would take to make something that huge! The biggest was probably 30x50 feet. It was hard to judge, though, because they were high up on the wall. There was another huge room with a bunch of smaller displays of armor and weapons that belonged to other nobility from the 1400s to the 16-or 1700s. There were even sets of armor for the princes; they were so small that they couldn’t have been more than 7 or 8 years old! No child that young should have need of armor! But there were more horse and rider displays of stunning armor, and tons of swords and shields and guns. (The following description is for Dad J) There were some really cool ancient guns, inlaid with gold and ivory. Some of them were small enough to be held in one hand, but there were some that must have been 10-15 feet long! But they didn’t look like canons; they looked like rifles with really, really long barrels. Even I was fascinated by them. I wish they would have allowed pictures so I could show dad, but of course, like every other cool place, pictures aren’t allowed. They also had an extensive display of really ornate saddles, with paintings or etchings of mythological scenes and courtly stuff on them, and lined with brocade or velvet. They were beautiful, and in amazingly good shape for being so old. I think the armory was my favorite part of the royal palace.
Last were the official rooms, which were breathtaking. I can’t imagine actually living in these places! Although, I should mention that the current king and queen don’t live there; they live in a more modest palace somewhere else in Madrid. Modest palace, ha! Anyway, this building is just used for state functions. It’s mostly set up in the way that Kings Carlos III and IV had it back in the late 1700s and early 1800s, although the building was used by kings up until 1931. Anyway, enough history lessons. The point is, that it was extravagant and beautiful, but hardly a place where anyone should feel comfortable living. There was a fresco on every ceiling, glass and crystal chandeliers, huge mirrors, damask and velvet wall coverings, tapestries, paintings, brocade curtains, marble floors, statues, you name it. We saw the drawing room, the throne room, what used to be the king’s bedroom and the room where he ate lunch (which looked nothing like a dining room and had a huge circular bench in the middle of the room with a giant golden statue on the pedestal in the middle), the dining hall, which used to be three rooms of the queen’s chambers but was converted at some point, and several other rooms. There was also a room displaying their silver collection, including dishes and silverware, but also decorative stuff. It was really funny, because there were a couple little silver cups with barcodes on the bottom! I don’t know if they were bought more recently, or if they were reproductions, or what, but it was strange. In one room was a model about a foot and a half high of Cellini’s Perseus, which is the statue Tiffany and I presented in our Renaissance class last semester. It made me miss Tiff! It was cool to see, even though it was so small, because it’s hard to get an idea of a statue from flat pictures. It really is a gruesome statue! There were lots of Romanesque statues too. There was a tour in front of us so we heard some of that as we were walking through. An English woman behind me said: ‘these people have all this bloody money and meanwhile the people outside are starving . . . it’s sick.’ Which is totally true; I can’t imagine how much money it must have taken to build the palace. Way more than I’ll ever see in a lifetime, that’s for sure! But it was amazingly cool to see.
After the palace Katie and I went to El Corte Ingles so I could buy some school supplies. Holy cow: their notebooks are expensive! The cheapest I found for a one subject was 1.80 euro. And they all have grids instead of lines, which I don’t understand. I ended up getting just one 6 subject notebook for now. And I couldn’t find any folders, so I got a little portfolio thing with dividers. But I think that’s going to bother me because the papers are just stuck in loose only being held in by the elastic that holds the binder closed! Grr! Had I known school supplies would suck so much here I would have brought my own from home!
Anyway, that was my day. I came home and tried to take a nap, but never actually fell asleep. Now I’m waiting for mom and dad to call. I’ve got to go to this club tonight, which I’m kind of dreading, but I don’t want to not go since it’s for a friend’s birthday. Maybe I’ll just duck out early. I don’t know how late she wants to stay, but I heard something about taking a taxi home, which means it would be after 1:30 when the metros close. Then she was talking about sharing a taxi home and splitting the cost, but I’m on entirely the opposite side of the city from everyone else. And I’m not willing to stay out that late two nights in a row. I had a bad enough experience last night to keep me away from late night excursions for a while.
Well, there’s nothing more really to say. I’ll write again soon.
Bethany