Back in Madrid

So my meeting is over and I took the train back to Madrid this morning, and I've finally settle into a hotel. I've got about 24 hrs to check out the city. I'm planning on walking only, but there are supposed to be some museums nearby. I think I'll check those out and just walk around... soak up the city a little. I should be trying to sleep a little, but I don't want to waste a minute!

Yesterday my talk went pretty well and seemed to be well received. I made a lot of contacts, and it was nice to finally meet some of the people that I've been reading about their work. It's refreshing when someone has been in the field for 20-30 years with hundreds of publications, and when you meet them you find out that they're just human like everyone else. I think (hope) I made a good impression... these will be the people that review my grant applications and decide if my papers get published.

The talks ended at 9pm last night, then they took us to a really nice restaurant where dinner lasted well past midnight. The food was amazing, but it has been the whole time I've been here. After dinner they opened up a dance room in the basement with an open bar, and I stayed out way too late. It was cool that everyone from senior lab directors to grad students were having a good time. It felt a little like the dancing after my wedding because very few people were good dancers but everyone wanted to enjoy themselves.

I'm flying home tomorrow. This has been fun, but I'm really not interested in staying longer. I'm ready to see Christy and Jamie. I keep looking forward to coming home to Aubrey, but then I remember she's not there. Gonna miss that girl.

Here's a few more pictures:

Our hotel (El Triunfo). On the other side of the street to the left is the outside wall of the Mezquita Cathedral.











This is the outside wall (East) of the Mezquita Cathedral. This is the way a lot of the city is. Modern buildings right next to ancient ones, with narrow and winding cobblestone streets. At the end of the wall on the right is my hotel.














A statue of the patron Saint of Cordoba, San Raphael. This looking out from the corner of the Mezquita Cathedral. Behind it is a river and a bridge that the Romans built.

















This is a picture from inside the cathedral. This is the architecture throughout the entire building, started by the muslims originally built it. When the muslims and later christians expanded it, they mostly kept things consistent. Except the christians put in a large cathedral and lots of sanctuaries that are definitely Catholic in style. I wish I could show how big this structure actually is... if it gives any indication, I think they said there are over 800 columns total. This is just one section.










This is part of the cathedral. If you look on the lower right or left you can see normal-sized doors for scale.











Same room, but looking up. That chandelier is made of silver, weighs about 450 pounds, and is 8 feet tall. They said it only fell once :)











This is a tower on the other side of the courtyard from the cathedral/mosque. It was originally a smaller muslim prayer tower. After a few centuries is started to become unstable, so the Christians (who then controlled Cordoba) solved the problem by building a bigger tower around it. The courtyard is filled with orange trees and palms.