Aranjuez-Chinchón

I am getting more sick by the day, unfortunately. It's more annoying than it is bad. I don't feel 100%, that is true, but it still can't keep me down. Yesterday we went on our last program-sponsored day-trip to two places: Aranjuez and Chinchón. There were a lot fewer of us than normal because this was a trip that they planned only a few weeks ago and not as many people signed up. We still had a really good group though. Our first stop was in Aranjuez, a small little town about half an hour away. The real purpose as to why anybody would go there is the royal palace that is there. We went on a tour throughout the palace which was pretty amazing. There was also a museum after the tour that had a lot of artifacts from the kings and queens of Spain throughout the last couple of years. They had a lot of the clothing of all the royals. There was one whole room dedicated to the wedding dresses of the queens and princesses. (The girls liked that part the most) After we left the palace, we got back on the bus for about another 45 min to a town called Chinchón. Chinchón is a very cool little town famous for a couple of things. The Plaza Mayor in the center of town also acts as a bullfighting ring. The church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción has an early painting of Goya. Next to the church is a theatre house of Lope de Vega. The best part is the restaurant where we ate. It is called Meson Cuevas del Vino. It is a very interesting restaurant where they have these massive casks of wine under the restaurant. It was super cool. Lunch was absolutely amazing. We had maybe 20 different tapas that made up our meal. A couple examples were olives, peppers, cheese, chicken, fish, chorizo, bread with ham and tomato and desserts. Everybody, of course, passed out on the bus on the way home. I decided to stay in last night and watch some tv before getting a nice 11 hour sleep. I am still sick though so let's see where it goes from here. This week=more work, a project, Thanksgiving dinner for our program and then our trip down south. I am excited.

Luke