Aranjuez

Today I woke up at 8, again missing Natalia. I got ready to go and Michelle and I headed to the metro to meet Doug and Sian at the train station. We had decided to go out to see a smaller city, Aranjuez, which was about 45 minutes by train south of Madrid. Michelle and I knew nothing about it but Doug said there was a palace and amazing royal gardens so we were hooked. We jumped on the train and headed out to the country side. I had brought along my eReader for the trip but Michelle and I talked the whole time, plus the other train passengers were fascinating. The majority of the train was full of people my age that had been in Madrid partying all night and were just now heading home. We watched one girl pluck her mustache for a while which was very entertaining for us.

When we pulled into the train station I was reminded of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid when their train pulls into a small town in Bolivia and it's just a square with chickens a few pigs. We pulled in and it was a very beautiful building with enough room for a small donut shop. We walked out, looked around and had no idea which way to go. We asked one of the people who were waiting for a bus and they said to go straight and then turn left. So we did. We walked down a road that was extremely straight and it seemed like a large majority of the town had come off the train with us, they kept turning off to walk into the smaller suburbs. We walked down the road which would have been beautiful if all of the trees had been in bloom, until we came upon the palace. It was just like that, one minute we were walking and the next we saw this huge palace. So we walked in and got our tickets and an audio guide and we were golden.

We started out in the courtyard and then followed the tour through the various rooms. I'm beginning to notice that the important parts of a palace are all pretty much the same. They have a large entrance with a stair case, the king's rooms on one side, the queen's rooms on the other and the throne room in the middle. They were lavishly decorated and a large majority had been re-decorated by Isabella II. I am becoming more and more fascinated by her, especially because she is so prominent in Spanish history. Then we walked down stairs and saw some of the personal items of the royal families that had lived here. We saw giant, extravagant baby cribs, toys, clothing, furniture, and a few carriages. We also saw some of the wedding dresses that some of the princesses had worn which was really fun to see.
We left the palace and walked around the garden surrounding it. They're very planned and organized like those at Versailles, with a lot of hedges and fountains. After walking around for a while we thought about what we should eat for lunch. As we came around the front of the palace there were about four or five young boys that ran up to everyone and handed out pamphlets for their restaurants. We looked through these and decided on a menu del dia that sounded great and happened to be right across the square.

A menu del dia is basically a fixed lunch. The meal also includes wine, beer or water; so in true Spanish form I had a glass of vino tinto (red wine) with my lunch. We chose our first course from a short list. I got a soup made in a dark broth with ham, egg and bread. It was a large bowl and very delicious. For the next course I got a pork chop with potatas, which turned out to be French fries, and a spiced mayonnaise sauce. Doug and Sian got salmon and a salad, and Michelle got chicken in a broth with French fries. For desert we had strawberries and cream and chocolate mousse.

Feeling revived, we headed across the town to look at the other gardens. We walked through beautiful walkways and orchards and I took hundreds of photos. We then came up to the royal boat museum and stopped in for a quick look. This turned out to be a small house full of the barges used by the kings and queens to float down rivers to other towns. They were amazingly ornate, and beautiful to look at. That is definitely saying something because I don't care too much for boats…or airplanes for that matter…sorry dad.
We left the museum and walked through the garden some more, I found a small castle they had formed out of hedges. I immediately ran over and went inside, it kinda reminded me of the fort that my cousins and I swore we had in Grandma Alice's backyard but that turned out to just be some grapevines – but it was still awesome. We saw a pond with a sort of Chinese design, or at least they tried to. We saw some peacocks and some beautiful pheasant which I have never seen before, and some geese which was not fun at all for me I ran away. We then walked to the end and found an even smaller palace but this one was closed already.

So we found a small café which consisted of a counter and a sink with tables and chairs out in the grass. We order café con leche and relaxed after such a long day of walking. As we were sitting there some of the spores, which looked like dandelion seeds, started blowing down off the trees. It was so beautiful to sit in the bright green grass covered in small daisies and have the small white seed blowing around like snow.

Finally we got up and walked the few miles to the station. Miles people. I am getting in way better shape than when I left that's for sure. We got to the station and as we walked in the train was getting ready to leave so we were able to sit down and head back to Madrid immediately. On the way home Michelle and I talked about Arizona, she was raised in Bullhead which isn't too far from Kingman. We spent a while trying to explain just how incredibly hot it can get there to Sian and she had never experienced anything like it. Then Sian mentioned how she wanted to see LA now after hearing so much about it and I immediately invited her to stay with me. She's 23 and such a sweet heart it would be perfect. So I'm going to try and convince her to come stay for a while so I can show her the sights, plus then I would have a friend who lives in England which is incredibly appealing to me.

We got home around eight and I was so exhausted I went to bed as soon as I walked in.