Salamanca

On Friday, Izzy and I decided to visit Salamanca. We got to Madrid's bus station around 7.45am and bought tickets for the 8am bus. Almost three hours and some napping later, we had arrived.

After walking to Plaza Mayor, we found a little cafe where Izzy could get some coffee, and I a breakfast pastry. We then saw Catedral Nuevo (New Cathedral) and Catedral Viejo (Old Cathedral), which sit right next to each other. Construction for the New Cathedral actually began in 1513, and finished in 1733... not so new after all. During restoration work in 1992, an artist made a controversial addition near one of the entrances:

Since we had learned a lot of architectural terms in our art class during September's "Curso Intensivo", we were able to point out lots of gothic structures, which made the cathedral visits more engaging.

Around the corner from the cathedrals was the "museo art nouveau y art deco". I believe it was a 2 euro fee that got us inside, although we were not allowed to take pictures. There were about three rooms of dolls, from both France and Germany. Some were the creepy babies, others the haunting little girls with white faces. There was a joyas exhibit (jewelry), abanicos (fans), little scupltures (bronces y porcelanas), y caracteres (caricatures)... and probably a bunch of other exhibits I'm not remembering.

Around 2.30 we got lunch. Izzy got a meal with tortilla española, gazpacho, and a salad, while I somehow restrained myself from the tortilla (something I've consumed a lot of in the past month) - and tried something different, their ravioli.

Tortilla española is made with potatoes, onions, and eggs. It's kind of like a really thick omelette - with potatoes. And it's delicious. I've had it in our school cafeteria a couple of times, made it with Izzy once, and yesterday made it myself:

After lunch we wandered to the other end of town, and laid in the grass at a park for a while. It was perfect weather - as a majority of the days have been. At some point, we managed to pick ourselves up and leave the relaxing, treasured grass, and headed back towards the center of the town.

On our way back to the bus stop, we saw Colegio Arzobispo Fonseca. This chapel and dorm were built between 1529-1534. With images of Madison's Witte or Selery in the back of our minds, it was hard to imagine being able to live in a dorm this historic and gorgeous, as current students at the University of Salamanca do. [Pictures are all up @ http://madridnt.shutterfly.com]

And then getting home... quite a story.

We got to the bus station a few minutes before 5.30, but it was too late to catch that bus. So Iz bought a ticket for 6 o'clock. I follow, order the same.... but turns out there had only been one seat left on that bus, which Izzy had just bought. Sooo she exchanges hers and we both get a ticket for the 7pm bus. After blowing an hour and a half sitting on a bench, munching on chocolate napolitanas, we were back at the bus station.

Long story short, we missed the 7.00 bus. Our tickets were labeled "coche 1", so we waited by bus #1. Wrong move, apparently. While getting tickets for the 8:00 bus, (tickets which now said "coche 2") the man behind the window told us this bus would either be #8, 9, or 10. The labeling made no sense. So we went out to #8, 9, and 10. After reading signs from the bus windows and talking to a few drivers, we found out our bus was #6. Yeeah. So we got home. Eventually.

So that was Friday. Again, pictures are up at http://madridnt.shutterfly.com/, as well as two movie clips: one from Catedral Viejo in Salamanca, and the other at Retiro Park in Madrid. Just scroll down past the other albums and you'll see 'em.