Trip to Toledo (written by Rickey Shumway)

We recently visited the ancient city of Toledo. Toledo is a very interesting city filled with fascinating history including many epic battles.

On the day we left, we had to get up very early to catch the 7:58 am train into Madrid. There we took the bullet train to Toledo. It is called the AVE, which means "bird" in Spanish, but also "alta velocidad Española" (Spanish high speed). The bullet train ride there was pretty awesome. They go fast—120 miles per hour (like the one in the movie Mission Impossible). See attached video of an AVE trip my dad took a couple of summers ago.



When we got to the train station in Toledo, we took the scenic walk up to the city which was difficult with all of our stuff. We crossed bridges over a thousand years old.

After about 20 minutes, we came to the famous Bisagra Gate (pictured). This is the gate the Christians entered when they overtook the city from the Moors in 1085 (more on that later).

One of Toledo’s coolest features is the cathedral. It was the most superlative one I’ve been to yet. It wasn’t the biggest one but size isn’t everything. It was cold in the Cathhedral. People had to be wrapped in blankets that Kathy packed and wear little gloves. It had the coolest stuff in it. There were more decorations than all of the other places. More elaborate designs exist within these walls than the other cathedrals. There were a lot of paintings and statues. El Greco did many of them. The first step you take in is pretty much breath taking because it is so big and the ceiling is designed with beautiful arches.

We climbed up on the walls around the city. We also crossed the river and walked around the city. We could see why the Romans and others used it as a fortress city. It is pretty much surrounded by a river and it is up on a hill. The Romans came about 200 B.C. They built aqueducts and bridges and other magnificent things. The Visigoths (German barbarians) displaced the Romans in the 5th century and Toledo became the Visigoth's capital.

The Moors came and conquered most of Spain in 711 and after. They took Toledo in 712 A.D. The Moors were Muslims and most of them were Berbers from North Africa, but there were Arabs with them as well. When Toledo was conquered, their general sent many Visigoth nobles as captives back to Damascus. In many ways the Moors were more advanced than their Christian enemies. The Moors influnced the way the way the streets are designed. Our hotel was on a very narrow street. The buildings use brick instead of stone another very distinguishing feature that the Moors inserted. One of the main plazas in Toledo is still called Zocodover, after the Arab word for "market." You can still see a lot of Arab influence in Toledo, like the arches on the bridges and on buildings. There is also a little mosque that still remains from the time of the Moors (see picture on right).

There were a lot of Jews living in Toledo as well. We visited a Jewish synagogue. What was in the synagogue? You may ask. There was some stuff written on stone and some cool arches. The only reason I’m writing this is because my dad is making me. It was nothing compared to the cathedral, but you know people try. (Jeff's note: the synagogue Rickey is talking about, pictured on the left, was the personal synagogue of a very wealthy Jewish man who lived in Toledo in the 1300s. Like the mosques in Spain, the surviving synagogues were all used for other functions, and many became Catholic churches. Foturnately, or unfortunately, a few survive with some of their original forms).

The Christians took Toledo back from the Moors in 1085, helped by the famous El Cid. There is a movie about him and we watched it. But it’s animated and it’s not that great.

The streets of the city are filled with shops of the finest blades in the world. (see photo of me with fine blades). There is culture and history overflowing in Toledo.

Adventures in Madrid (Jeff)

We have now been hear three weeks. Time flies in Europe as well. Our family is now complete since Spencer arrived on Friday, January 17th. Rickey and I rode the train and subway to pick him up. Public transportation here is quite good. Our transportation pass, purchased monthly for about 60 Euros, covers busses, trains, and subways throughout Madrid and out to where we live, so we got to the airport and back with no extra cost.

We tried to keep Spencer awake after he arrived, but he had remained awake on all his plane rides and was in no mood to stay up longer. He fell asleep at 1:00 pm and slept till 9:00 pm. Amazingly we were able to get him to go back to sleep at 11:00. He has always been able to sleep like a man. The next night, however, he was up at 2:30 am begging to play a computer game.

The next day (Saturday) we and the students all went to the Prado Museum in Madrid, one of the world’s best. We rode the train to Atocha station, then walked to the Prado. For awhile, Kathy fulfilled a dream of having Sarah in a backpack on her back, with Timothy in her front-pack. It didn't last too long and she was surprised she was even able to walk with 60+ extra pounds, but she enjoyed not having to watch the younger two while leaving the train station. With a procession of 46 people (37 students and the nine in our family) we were quite the spectacle. The line to get tickets at the Prado was very long. We should have come on a weekday (we had been in Madrid a few days earlier and there was no line). In line I struck up a conversation with a very nice Spanish man and his wife who, very well dressed, were going to spend a day at the museum. I told him we were from the state of Utah in the United States, then I added that it was part of the old "wild west" (oeste salvaje). Aaron and Trevor entertained people waiting in line by balancing and walking along the small narrow metal fences separating the sidewalks from the grass. Then Sarah walked up some steps that led to another entrance, following Aaron who had posed for a picture overlooking the long line of people. With her white-blonde hair Sarah is quite the sight in Spain where that color of hair is rare. As such, dozens of people in line watched her walk up the stairs over them. Then she lifted one leg over the hand-railing and she appeared to be headed toward the edge of the stairs and the 20 foot drop off to where the crowd was in line. A collective gasp could be heard and everyone’s hands went up as if to catch her if she fell. From her perspective many feet away, Kathy had a better view of this phenomenon since I was in the middle of the crowd and she wasn't too concerned, but she could tell quickly that EVERYONE else in the crowd was more than concerned!! One of our students quickly grabbed Sarah, who never did more than put one of her leg up on the railing. My Spanish friend turned to me saying: "You really are from the ‘wild west,’ aren’t you," with an emphasis on the "wild." It was mostly in jest, I think.

The children did pretty well in the museum, but after waiting an hour just to get in they were a little tired by the end. Kathy and I get into the Prado for free with our International educator cards, so we can go back as many times as we want. Spencer and Rickey swore they saw the whole mesuem, express style, although they missed many floors. Before we left we did see the Velázquez fables exhibit, and I showed Kathy one of my favorite paintings in the Prado: Fra Angelico’s "The Annunciation" from the mid-15th century. He painted various versions of the annunciation, but this one seems to be his best. Adam and Eve are on the left getting expelled from the Garden of Eden, but the angel delivers news of the Savior's birth to Mary.

Welcome to Spain! (by Jeff)

Dear family and friends,

We are now in Alcalá de Henares, Spain, a city just east of Madrid. I (Jeff) am directing BYU’s study abroad program until April 10th. We have 37 students in the program—thirty-three women and four men. They stay with host families here in the city. Students will take history classes from me, an institute course from the CES director in Alcalá, and Spanish classes at Alcalingua, the Spanish-as-a-second-language program at the University of Alcalá.

Alcalá de Henares is an important city in Spanish history. The university was originally established in the 1480s, and many of the great figures of Spanish history went to school here. It is also the birthplace of Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Qiuxote. It was in the news more recently because it was at the Alcalá train station, about a block from our house, where on March 11, 2004, terrorists boarded trains and planted bombs which later exploded in Madrid’s main train station, killing close to 300 people and maiming hundreds more. In general, however, this is a safe city and we are not overly concerned about our safety.

We left Utah the morning of January 7th, had a very short layover in Atlanta, then flew directly to Madrid. The kids were great on the flight. What we did learn is that we had too many carry-ons, which made getting on and off the plane probably the most stressful part of the process. We will go lighter next time. Timothy was well-behaved, but he did not sleep at all on the trans-Atlantic flight, so Kathy and I got into the Barajas airport very tired. We got our bags, then met the two taxis Alcalingua had sent for us. They were woefully inadequate. The drivers saw all our baggage and immediately called for two more taxis. Kathy, Aaron, and Timothy got in one, Rickey and Mikelle in another, and Sarah, Trevor, and I in a third, followed by a fourth taxi full of luggage. We made it to the house just fine, and had a fun time taking everything into the house.

BYU rents a house for Study Abroad directors in Alcalá. It is quite large by Spanish standards. It is a four-level town home in the chalet style. In the basement are two rooms generally used for storage by the owner and the program directors. The entry-level floor has a bathroom, the kitchen, and living/dining room. The first floor up has four bedrooms and two bathrooms, and the small top room has a pool table in it.

We arrived on Tuesday, and the first group of students came in on Friday, one day early because of a good deal on flights. I told the students they could stay at my house that night since they couldn’t go to their host families until Saturday. 15 out of 16 took me up on it, so on Friday night we packed 23 of us into our house. It was quite the experience and it wasn’t necessarily comfortable for all the sleepers unfortunately, but it proves we can host those who want to come visit. As they students all paraded up to the house with all their luggage, two policemen showed up to make sure we weren't sub-letting our home to a bunch of renters.

We’ve struggled quite a bit adjusting to the new time zone. We are constantly falling asleep for too long at the wrong times. Yesterday we discovered all 8 of us had fallen asleep from 4-7pm so of course bedtime wasn’t happening until 1 or 2 am. We slept pretty well that night, however, and woke up in time to catch a ride to our first Sunday in the Alcalá ward. We saw president Brad Farnsworth of the Madrid mission, who is Mom and Dad Shumway’s old neighbor from Hawai’i. We had a nice chat. Just a couple of weeks ago he transferred Kathy’s cousin, Jackson Brown, out of the ward we are now attending. We hope to see him sometime while we are here.

We hope to post some pictures soon.