La Granja! 16/03

Today we had an excursion to La Granja which is just a short bus ride away. It is a cute little town with a nice feel.  The only problem was that it was cold and raining all day.  La Granja is colder than Segovia because it is higher up in the Mountains so it was really cold! You could see your breath! We started our day off with going to the Museum of glass and stained glass. It was just as cold inside the museum as outside! That is the thing with the crisis here, they don't heat anything and it is always cold. But the museum was cool, we got to see them blow glass and make all different kinds of things.  We then learned how to make stained glass which is a process I never really understood before so I found it very interesting. They start out with an excellent drawing and then divide the drawing up based upon colors that are going to go on it. A piece of glass is then cut into the shape of each piece of the drawing.  The glass is then stained and then it is put back together, like a puzzle.  Some layers of glass are thicker than others (need two stained pieces of glass to achieve a color) and there are multiple layers of stain as well. It was cool! Then we got to see a lot of magnificent glass work which I really enjoyed.  After the museum we went to a store where a few people bought pretty works of glass.  We then ate our picnics outside (wet and cold, not the best but it happens) and then went to the gardens of a big palace (like a mini versailles).  The gardens were cool but not as pretty as they could be because everything was dead and wet.  Luckily we had the option of taking an earlier bus home rather than spending another hour in the gardens so most of us did that.  I then came home and took a nap because I was feeling really tired! I woke up and did some homework before meeting up with Tara and Katelin to get some more churros and then go for a nice evening walk.  I came home to eat dinner with Puri and then I found out that Virginia was coming over.  The three of us ate (churros and strawberries- YUM) and chatted until 1am! I was very tired by the end and had to excuse myself to go to bed. It is fun chatting with those two ladies!