HOLY TELEDO!

Madrid keeps on getting better and better! Last night a big group of us all went out to dinnner and then to a few bars, THEN we went to El Kapital - a famous SEVEN STORY dance club downtown. OMG, this place was ridiculously awesome! We all danced it up till 4 am....it was awesome beacuse the club has these huge fans that come on for a few seconds and mist you with like 200 mph winds from the 4th floor, at first we all thought the building was falling down and we were in for a scary situation - but actually it was just a courtesy move to keep you moving ;) Spain does not play around with some late night activities guys....and for those of you that know we at home - I'm normally an early bird lol - so I've been quite pleased with myself and ability to hang till 4 and 6 oclock in the morning. My mom would is probably not as pleased with this lol (DONT worry mom - we've all been extremely safe) Madrid is such a wonderful city to walk around in, I'd say we covered the entire city last night. Which I will admit we're all equally champs at the 7am wake up requirement as well :)

Today bright and early me and the girls got our caffiene kick at Startbucks and we were off to Toledo, which is about an hour from Madrid. Toledo and a beautiful little village ontop a mountain. I was not such a fan of the round and round bus ride up and was ready to ralph all over everyone! Today we had a different tour guide - Rafa - equally as great as Rosa if not better. We spent the main portion of our day at the Toledo Cathedral, the views were breath-taking both in and out. Rafa gave us a lot of information about the creation of the cathedral and I just stood in awe at the timeless work. Some of the artists spent 10 and 15 years on various areas, their dedication to the Lord astounded me. It was so surreal standing there, as Rafa was explaining the different vantange points and how the light was cast across the alter and choir area, he explained that when you entered the doors of the cathedral - the possibility of a God was no question, the answer was clear as the light cast through the stained glass windows and across the pillars and pews - there was no question. Faith in Toledo is not an absent concept. A lot of us were pretty quite as we stood in awe and took the time to reflect and appreciate what was before us. - It was breathtaking. The dedication and perserverance of these phenomenal artists is timeless. I don't even really know what to write here, just because I am so amazed by the beauty of it all. It's almost as though why would anyone go to an art museum when you have this art right before you?

We all had lunch together afterwards and then headed back to Madrid, now we're going to do a bit more exploring as tomorrow is the big move up to Bilbao. It's going to be hard for us to all serparate and go to our separate cities but I am anxious to get to my new home and settle in as a Spaniyard :)

Much Love- Bellarista

P.S Pictures werent allowed inside the cathedral - however here is a website where you can see some of the amazing work. http://www.sacred-destinations.com/spain/toledo-cathedral.htm