El Escorial

Well, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Our trip to El Escorial (an old royal castle/palace near Madrid) was a major loss for me.

I'll keep this one short, but after the train ride, things just went downhill for me. Robert, Jay, and Elise decided to proceed from that town to a nearby site...which was absolutely fine with me -- it gave me some alone time and I was really excited about seeing El Escorial and it's grandeur. Right when their bus left, I walked to the palace to find dozens of surprised visitors waiting outside because it was closed because of a local festival. Great.

With no palace to see, I thought that I could at least explore the town...only to learn that on Sundays in Spain, very little is open. I got a snack and shopped for notebooks for school (at the only store that was open) and waited a few hours for my friends to get back.

Took a couple of good pictures, but other than that, I'm now determined to get back to El Escorial and have a good time!