Medioambiente excursion

Today I had an excursion for my environment and society class. We took a big bus and drove through the mountains to our final destination of Segovia. We stopped three times on the way to see the change in climate and vegetation as the altitude increased. Our first stop was near a reservour at the bottom of the mountain. It was raining and quite windy, so this stop was brief and horible. We all got pretty wet from the water that blew off the reservour. Our teachers wanted to give us an entire lesson outside but we convinced them to do it from on the bus. Since we've been having such rainy weather lately, the bus couldn't go over the mountain so we had to go through a tunnel. We got to the other side, near the top, and got out at a national park. This would have been a lovely field trip had it not been raining. We learned about the different types of trees and why they can grow here but not lower on the mountain. We trudged through the snow to see the river that flows down the mountain. Many of the students in my class are from California and have never seen snow. They were not prepared at all for the cold. My feet were soaked, but I was not too uncomfortable. I had four layers on and two pairs of gloves. Today being from Wisconsin actually came in handy! When we were all too cold to walk anymore we got back on the bus and went to see the Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso. This is one residence of the king of Spain. It is beautiful but he only lives there during the summer months so it was pretty shut down. The gardens are supposed to be pretty amazing, but they looked a lot like snow to me. We walked around there for a while and learned a little about the history of the castle. Then we got back on our bus and headed to Segovia. Segovia is a great little town north of Madrid. It has a really famous aquaduct that I'd seen in many pictures. It was way cooler to see it in real life. It was made by the romans in the first or second century. I am very impressed by their arquitecture. The aquaduct carries water down from the mountains and ends up in a reservour to provide water to the people of Segovia. Although it no longer works, it is still quite a site to see. Then we went and looked at some of the arcitecture around the city and ended with the Alcazar castle. As we arrived at the castle, the sun began to set. It was beautiful! It was originally constructed as an arab fort but later was used as a residence for royalty. Rumer has it that this is the castle Walt Disney based his Cinderella castle off of. I can definitly see the resemblence. It was starting to get dark so we went back to our bus and back to Madrid. I was cold, wet, and tired by the time I got home. I really liked Segovia and wish I could have seen more of the city...I guess a day trip is in order soon!