spring break - phase I - SALAMANCA
ok, its thursday, my day off, and I'm going to post up pictures and stories from spring break, in 3 phases- salamnca, rome, and florence/pisa. starting right now with salamanca. let me just say that today is the most beautiful day since we've been in london. sun is shining and its 50 degrees. also, part of what makes it better is that we just got a brand new clothes washer installed! excitement at 32 brendon street! sweet, so i'm going to tell the story with pictures. ready? ok.
so saturday morning the 11th of march, we got up at the crack of dawn and took the tube to heathrow appt for our 1015 flight. everything went great, and it was a beautiful day to fly. not in london, but once you got over the clud cover of london it was gorgoeous, and then when we got to madrid there were no clouds whatsoever, and you could check out the city from above. one of the most interesting things was the landscapes of the area.. from above it looked like a dot-grid thing, because there were just hills and hills of trees planted in rows. it was very cool to see. i had the window seat for the flight which means there's lots of pictures. ok let me just say, i may have gone a little bit overboard with the pictures. i took over 1100. its going to be hard to choose which ones to post on the blog. here's us boarding the plane from the tarmac.. kind of exciting, and a picture from the window above the clouds, and one of the grid type stuff going on in madrid:
we landed in madrid and it was immediately hotter than we had been dealing with in london. probably about 65. gorgeous. sunny, palm trees, blue sky, it was a great change from the grey that had been taking over london. we landed and took the madrid metro, which was completed in this millenium, so it was really new looking, and very smooth. it was a fun experience because they had a window in the car that looked into the driver's compartment so you could see where we were going. it was crazy with all the spanish people, however i like to think that i could pass as a spanish boy, so as long as i didn't talk, i think people thought i was a spanish guy showing his friends the country. we took the subway to the bus station and hopped a bus to salamanca, so we didn't really spend that much time in madrid at all. it was me and courtney meeting up with other people and her friends in salamanca, so i was lucky to have her with me because she knows alot of spanish.
the bus ride was very enjoyable. dont go thinking that it was some centro crap, or even greyhound rubbish. no, these were leather chairs, lots of space, assigned seats, and during the trip they played a movie (an american move staring frank senatra called 'the something express' i cant remember). but the most enjoyable part of the trip was to check out the countryside. near madrid there is a mountain range which was beautiful, and then once the mountains are gone there are huge plains. the plains reminded me so much of that stadard windows desktop of the green hill withe blue sky, because that's what we saw. but its crazy, there's just rocks coming out of the ground all over in some spots, and cows just ranging around, and little cities that look 1000 years old and stuff. it was very cool to see the whole country. here's me and court on the bus, and some pics from the window as we drove along:
when we go to salmanca we were supposed to meet up with courtney's friend but she was mia. we found out later that she was having problems with the airport and her luggage. so we had to find our hotel, which ended up being tough with all the luggage we had to carry from the bus station. but we got in the city and it was amazing, and we eventually found the plaza major (which every spanish city has, where they celebrate and hang out at night and stuff). our hotel was right on the plaza, and it was pretty sweet. and we met up with everyone else who was in salamanca from our flat and found our room, and it didn't overlook the plaza, but it had a great view, and a balcony. here it is:
the first night in salamanca we split up to find food, and me and courtney went to a place on the plaza. we jsut wanted something cheap and filling, but most of all we wanted something normal. lots of weird foods going on in spain. weird parts of animals, and you don't know what they are because you don't speak the language. anyways, we found a nice place, and an english speaking waitor who got us some sandwhiches, i had breaded chicken lettuce and mayo on toasted and buttered bread. don't know if its a traditional spanish meal, but it tasted delish. here's the place:
we all walked around at night and saw more of the city. it was just gorgeous. the funny thing is, we were dressed in polos and no jackets and jeans etc. but the natives who live there all year long were wearing coats and scarves and hats because they thought it was cold, since its their winter time. we looked funny, like tourists, but its ok. the warm weather felt great. here's my pose by the man hole cover that says 'salamanca'
the next day we got up and just walked around. grabbed some breakfast at a little shop - nice cookie type things. very cheap and good to eat. then we kept walking around to see the whole city. the whole feel that city has is awesome. its very very old, and its truly spanish. every building and square looked gorgeous. i wanted to take everything in. we got over to the campus of the university, and from what we saw, it looked like any other college, the buildings looked pretty modern. we got down to the river side, up to the modern city side, we walked to all the parks, and relaxed all day while checking everything out. so gorgeous.. i think it was the prettiest city that we went to. the one thing about spain on a sunday is that EVERYTHING is closed, except for tourist shops! they maintain the rule that sunday is a day of relaxation and you shouldn't work. i like that rule, except sunday was our only full day in spain, so i would have liked to go in some stores, but its ok. it kept me from buying alot of stuff. i did get a salamanca university t shirt tho, very stylish. lots of pictures of the area: the plaza major first, then random streets and buildings in the city:
that night we finally met up with courtney's friend, and she took us around a little bit since she lived there for a year. she took us to a topas bar. thats where you can buy small portions of meals, for cheaper prices, just as a snack. i got some ham and cheese on bread, and it was very tasty. we kept it safe that night with the food. after the topas we walked around until it turned dark. went back and took a nap, then met up with courtney's friend for dinner. did we get spanish food? no. we got chinese. it was pretty funny. the chinese people tried to speak spanish, but they sounded funny doing it. so did i, though, so its ok. but the chinese was so cheap! i got sweet and sour chicken and rice for less than 4 euros! and it was a big plate- very good, and very filling! after dinner we went to the plaza, and took some night pictures and said goodbye, because tomorrow, monday, we were going to ROMA: the night:
monday morning we split up. 2 people had an early flight, and we had a flight at 5 at night. but we had to take the 2 hr bus ride and metro to the airport so we were leaving pretty early in the morning. everything went smoothly getting to the airport.. and we were really early for the flight. here's the sunset from the plane over the mediterranean sea on the way to roma:
but we knew that we were going to have some trouble meeting up with the rest of the people from our flat. we didn't know we were going to have as much trouble as we did tho!... to be continued...
so saturday morning the 11th of march, we got up at the crack of dawn and took the tube to heathrow appt for our 1015 flight. everything went great, and it was a beautiful day to fly. not in london, but once you got over the clud cover of london it was gorgoeous, and then when we got to madrid there were no clouds whatsoever, and you could check out the city from above. one of the most interesting things was the landscapes of the area.. from above it looked like a dot-grid thing, because there were just hills and hills of trees planted in rows. it was very cool to see. i had the window seat for the flight which means there's lots of pictures. ok let me just say, i may have gone a little bit overboard with the pictures. i took over 1100. its going to be hard to choose which ones to post on the blog. here's us boarding the plane from the tarmac.. kind of exciting, and a picture from the window above the clouds, and one of the grid type stuff going on in madrid:
we landed in madrid and it was immediately hotter than we had been dealing with in london. probably about 65. gorgeous. sunny, palm trees, blue sky, it was a great change from the grey that had been taking over london. we landed and took the madrid metro, which was completed in this millenium, so it was really new looking, and very smooth. it was a fun experience because they had a window in the car that looked into the driver's compartment so you could see where we were going. it was crazy with all the spanish people, however i like to think that i could pass as a spanish boy, so as long as i didn't talk, i think people thought i was a spanish guy showing his friends the country. we took the subway to the bus station and hopped a bus to salamanca, so we didn't really spend that much time in madrid at all. it was me and courtney meeting up with other people and her friends in salamanca, so i was lucky to have her with me because she knows alot of spanish.the bus ride was very enjoyable. dont go thinking that it was some centro crap, or even greyhound rubbish. no, these were leather chairs, lots of space, assigned seats, and during the trip they played a movie (an american move staring frank senatra called 'the something express' i cant remember). but the most enjoyable part of the trip was to check out the countryside. near madrid there is a mountain range which was beautiful, and then once the mountains are gone there are huge plains. the plains reminded me so much of that stadard windows desktop of the green hill withe blue sky, because that's what we saw. but its crazy, there's just rocks coming out of the ground all over in some spots, and cows just ranging around, and little cities that look 1000 years old and stuff. it was very cool to see the whole country. here's me and court on the bus, and some pics from the window as we drove along:
when we go to salmanca we were supposed to meet up with courtney's friend but she was mia. we found out later that she was having problems with the airport and her luggage. so we had to find our hotel, which ended up being tough with all the luggage we had to carry from the bus station. but we got in the city and it was amazing, and we eventually found the plaza major (which every spanish city has, where they celebrate and hang out at night and stuff). our hotel was right on the plaza, and it was pretty sweet. and we met up with everyone else who was in salamanca from our flat and found our room, and it didn't overlook the plaza, but it had a great view, and a balcony. here it is:
the first night in salamanca we split up to find food, and me and courtney went to a place on the plaza. we jsut wanted something cheap and filling, but most of all we wanted something normal. lots of weird foods going on in spain. weird parts of animals, and you don't know what they are because you don't speak the language. anyways, we found a nice place, and an english speaking waitor who got us some sandwhiches, i had breaded chicken lettuce and mayo on toasted and buttered bread. don't know if its a traditional spanish meal, but it tasted delish. here's the place:
we all walked around at night and saw more of the city. it was just gorgeous. the funny thing is, we were dressed in polos and no jackets and jeans etc. but the natives who live there all year long were wearing coats and scarves and hats because they thought it was cold, since its their winter time. we looked funny, like tourists, but its ok. the warm weather felt great. here's my pose by the man hole cover that says 'salamanca'
the next day we got up and just walked around. grabbed some breakfast at a little shop - nice cookie type things. very cheap and good to eat. then we kept walking around to see the whole city. the whole feel that city has is awesome. its very very old, and its truly spanish. every building and square looked gorgeous. i wanted to take everything in. we got over to the campus of the university, and from what we saw, it looked like any other college, the buildings looked pretty modern. we got down to the river side, up to the modern city side, we walked to all the parks, and relaxed all day while checking everything out. so gorgeous.. i think it was the prettiest city that we went to. the one thing about spain on a sunday is that EVERYTHING is closed, except for tourist shops! they maintain the rule that sunday is a day of relaxation and you shouldn't work. i like that rule, except sunday was our only full day in spain, so i would have liked to go in some stores, but its ok. it kept me from buying alot of stuff. i did get a salamanca university t shirt tho, very stylish. lots of pictures of the area: the plaza major first, then random streets and buildings in the city:
that night we finally met up with courtney's friend, and she took us around a little bit since she lived there for a year. she took us to a topas bar. thats where you can buy small portions of meals, for cheaper prices, just as a snack. i got some ham and cheese on bread, and it was very tasty. we kept it safe that night with the food. after the topas we walked around until it turned dark. went back and took a nap, then met up with courtney's friend for dinner. did we get spanish food? no. we got chinese. it was pretty funny. the chinese people tried to speak spanish, but they sounded funny doing it. so did i, though, so its ok. but the chinese was so cheap! i got sweet and sour chicken and rice for less than 4 euros! and it was a big plate- very good, and very filling! after dinner we went to the plaza, and took some night pictures and said goodbye, because tomorrow, monday, we were going to ROMA: the night:
monday morning we split up. 2 people had an early flight, and we had a flight at 5 at night. but we had to take the 2 hr bus ride and metro to the airport so we were leaving pretty early in the morning. everything went smoothly getting to the airport.. and we were really early for the flight. here's the sunset from the plane over the mediterranean sea on the way to roma:
but we knew that we were going to have some trouble meeting up with the rest of the people from our flat. we didn't know we were going to have as much trouble as we did tho!... to be continued...
posted by Jamie at 7:27 AM
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