There were orignal music books with the songs they sang all in Latin of course. I found these so interesting because you can actually see the notes in primative form but the pages all have borders of handpainted pictures and decorations around the music. The books are about half my height and we surmised what the need for such large music books could be. We decided it was because they had no other means of mass distribution and everyone had to be able to see the music and words somehow. Why they didn't just stick up a screen and flash the words on it is beyond me...:) 
We did make out one word: alleluia. Too bad I never had Latin so I could have read all the words. But they were so interesting. Also, the organ was incredible. I love all the huge organs in all these old cathedrals because they are so beautiful! Every time I see one I wish someone would play it so I could listen but alas, no one ever does. I wonder how they size up to the organ at First Church in Tulsa just to compare. If only I could bring Ron (First Pres organist/music director and kind of the best organist I've ever met) with me all over Europe to all the cathedrals and he could play the beautiful instruments...that would make my life happy! 
The actual cathedral was so expansive with huge columns that it looked as though it went on forever. I thought it was pretty cool. We also went to the Alhambra which was a huge fortress/palace/town of the Moors when they ruled in Spain and then it was taken over by Ferdinand and Isabel the King and Queen of Spain. It's pretty much my favorite place in Spain now! I have watched videos on the Alhambra in Spanish class and to actually see so many of the things I've seen on video was awesome! It is huge and beautiful! In it's time, it was painted tons of bright colors too which would have made it that much more impressive!
We saw the baths which were dark and kind of scary because you just kept walking in the dark hoping you'd end up outside eventually, the Palacio of Carlos V who was a moron because he built his palace in the middle of the Alhambra after Ferdinand and Isabel worked so hard to restore it...moron... and we saw the famous Palacios and they was amazing!! We paid for audio guides and it told us lots of fun facts like this window is of the oratorio or oratory room because in the Islamic faith declaring your faith publicly is a big deal so this room looks out onto the city so you can yell your beliefs at them...or something like that. 
My favorite thing that I saw and have seen in Spain is the Patio de los Leones, which I learned about in Spainish class. There is a huge fountain held up by stone 12 stone lions in the middle of this patio. I think the fountain used to be painted in lots of different colors but since it is so old, they have long since worn off...pity. But, in the middle there are rocks around the fountain and all the way to the walkway all around the edges.
Not one bit of green grass or shrubbery in the whole place and yet it is beautiful with detailed columns and windows looking out over the patio.Four streams of water go out of the fountain because it represents the four parts of heaven and water is very important in the Arabic home. Come to think of it, almost every single room we entered had some sort of water feature in it. Everything functioned around water. 
It also has over 100 columns around the outside of the patio making a walkway all the way around but you can't walk through the middle. I wonder what it would have been like to live there and be able to walk wherever you wanted and to see it in all it's glory...I can only imagine!
It is pretty much amazing!Unfortunately, Lauren and I missed the memo (why do I always miss the memos??) that we could enter the Alhambra at 2pm and our entrance time to the Palacios was 6:30-7:00 pm. We thought our entrance time to the Alhambra was 6:30-7:00 and as the whole thing closes at 8pm, we only had time to see the palacios and look for a second at the Palacio de Carlos V. So that was sad. It means I'm going to have to go back next semester to see the whole of it.
Cordoba was also really neat and quaint on a river but we were only actually there for a total of about 6 hours. We saw La Mesquita, another place I've seen in videos which was a mosque before the Catholics turned it into a cathedral. It has an incredible mix of arabic and cristian decoration and influence and is pretty incredible. You look across this huge room and it is just column after column after column and it kind of looks like a forest of columns...if that makes sense.
So cool. We also saw El Alcazar de los Reyes Cristanos which was a fort of the Christian kings which was neat. The building itself wasn't super interesting but the towers had a great view. You could see the tower of La Mesquita in the distance. The two buildings are only about a 5 minute walk from each other but we it took us a good hour and a half to get from one to the other because we stuck a yummy lunch at a cute cafe in between. 
The gardens were also extremely extensive and beautiful. Lots of flowers and bushes decorated the many paths and made the whole place smell wonderful! The colors were amazing and we enjoyed ambling through the gardens all the way to the end and back. There were wonderful fountains in all the pools that came on while we were there and made soothing sounds. I recorded it on my video camera so I can have the sound...
We thoroughly enjoyed the gardens and spent quite a while debating whether the fruit on the trees were oranges or limes. They were green but too big to be limes...turns out they were oranges that hadn't ripened yet. How did we find out? I picked one and smelled it...it was definitely an orange...oh how fun! I'm not sure if I was allowed to pick the orange but I did and no one escorted me out so that's good. 
This last picture is of the tower of La Mesquite through a random window in a wall...I was trying to be artistic...I'm not sure how well that worked out but do I get credit for trying? I liked how blue the sky is against the stone of the wall and tower. As you can see, the weather in Cordoba was amazing!
Warm, sunny, and just the right amount of breeze to keep me cool in the turtleneck and vest I was wearing b/c that was all I brought...typical... But the sun was a welcome change from the clouds and rain we'd been having in Madrid!So it was a fantastic and successful trip with just the two of us! Good bonding time and so relaxing!
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