My two host sisters (ages 11 and 15) play golf for what I
think is the Leon youth club/team and periodically have tournaments within a
few hours of Leon. Sunday was a tournament in Salamanca, which is conveniently
a very famous and beautiful city. We had to leave really early to get there in
time, although this ritual felt very familiar because just like in my family,
when you say “We’re going to leave at 7:45am, “ it does not actually mean that
we’re going to leave at 7:45am. Still, I think we left at 8:05 or so, which isn’t
bad at all, although it made Carmen (the 15 year old) nervous because she had
the earlier tee time. I am extremely glad that preparing for a Frisbee tournament
is much less complicated; there are so
many items to remember for a golf tournament, even though bags and clubs were
already in the car. Also, I’m bad enough at packing as it is!
Once Esperanza was on her way, my hparents and I headed into town. We parking a garage (which has a car wash inside!) after searching at length for street parking. At a rather high speed in narrow roads, I might add. I hadn't eaten lunch yet and my stomach wasn't too happy about that! I didn't need to think about that for long, though, because I quickly was distracted by how beautiful the city is. Everything is constructed from the same type of stone, so the whole city is the same color, but in a good way. My hdad was enthusiastic about taking pictures with my camera so I would actually be in them for a change.
My hparents are so knowledgeable about Spanish history, architecture and art, so it was like having two personal tour guides, which was fantastic :) We also had a gigantic lunch which consisted almost entirely of authentic regional meats (don't worry; it had potatoes too!) and in the afternoon we visited probably the only museum in the city that was open (it was a Sunday in Spain, after all), the Casa Lis art museum. It's a very extensive, albeit random, private collection, which was beautiful. I haven't been to an art museum in a while and I enjoyed it a lot. Unfortunately you couldn't take pictures inside, but luckily the internet exists! This is a photo of the main room, with what is now my favorite stained glass window I've seen! I was disappointed in the gift shop collection because they didn't have anything which remotely did the ceiling justice (not that a photo does either, although it's the best one I could find), but that was better for my bank account, at least.
At this point, the girls had finished playing so we went back to the golf course and hung out for a couple hours waiting for everyone else to finish and for the awards ceremony to happen. Everything still seemed rather chaotic, but I was able to get some more homework and while the girls were not pleased with how they played, they did both get trophies. I skipped the ceremony to read Pablo Neruda, but I think one of these may have been for getting 3rd place out of three in the whole category... they can just neglect to mention that detail in the future! I didn't get home until about 11pm, but it was such a worthwhile day... I'm hoping to get to do a little more traveling with my hfamily while I'm here; I have a lot of planned program excursions which take up most of my Saturdays, but there are a couple free weekends, so we'll see.
You may have noticed I've discussed two superlative experiences so far in my blog: the best mango I've ever had, a few weeks ago, and my favorite stained glass window, obviously above. Another to add to the list is the longest run I've done! I was supposed to meet Hailey at 5, but I went to the spot were the run was going to end instead of start, since we like to vary the direction... I figured by the time I made it to where she was (by walking through the city), she would have realized I somehow messed up and would have left, so I started running on the trail, and eventually we met up, so I joined her running back toward my start. It was another phenomenal fall day: not a cloud in the sky, absolutely perfect running temperature, and full of fall colors, so I wasn't ready to stop and go inside. We split off and kept going on a path I've run once before, but this time I went significantly farther, and the only reason I turned around to come back was because I had plans at 7:15 and I needed to shower first! Tomorrow or Thursday I'll go back and keep going. I ran for 75 minutes at somewhere between a 9 and 10 min mile pace so I never felt physically tired, but that's around 7 or 8 miles, so I'm quite satisfied. I didn't have my iPod either, but I really enjoyed listening to everything around me. Feet hurt after though! My shoes are closer to the end of their life than the start, so I'll toss them when I leave here and gain some suitcase space... I'm sure that every little bit counts.
Esperanza at the first hole.
In the Plaza Mayor (Major Plaza)
Again, with my hmom Gema
The Cathedral, as seen from halfway up... We were able to walk around on walkways that have been added to parts of the roof, affording us...
This view!
The facade of one of the University of Salamanca buildings. It's the third oldest university in Europe (founded in 1134!)
At this point, the girls had finished playing so we went back to the golf course and hung out for a couple hours waiting for everyone else to finish and for the awards ceremony to happen. Everything still seemed rather chaotic, but I was able to get some more homework and while the girls were not pleased with how they played, they did both get trophies. I skipped the ceremony to read Pablo Neruda, but I think one of these may have been for getting 3rd place out of three in the whole category... they can just neglect to mention that detail in the future! I didn't get home until about 11pm, but it was such a worthwhile day... I'm hoping to get to do a little more traveling with my hfamily while I'm here; I have a lot of planned program excursions which take up most of my Saturdays, but there are a couple free weekends, so we'll see.
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You may have noticed I've discussed two superlative experiences so far in my blog: the best mango I've ever had, a few weeks ago, and my favorite stained glass window, obviously above. Another to add to the list is the longest run I've done! I was supposed to meet Hailey at 5, but I went to the spot were the run was going to end instead of start, since we like to vary the direction... I figured by the time I made it to where she was (by walking through the city), she would have realized I somehow messed up and would have left, so I started running on the trail, and eventually we met up, so I joined her running back toward my start. It was another phenomenal fall day: not a cloud in the sky, absolutely perfect running temperature, and full of fall colors, so I wasn't ready to stop and go inside. We split off and kept going on a path I've run once before, but this time I went significantly farther, and the only reason I turned around to come back was because I had plans at 7:15 and I needed to shower first! Tomorrow or Thursday I'll go back and keep going. I ran for 75 minutes at somewhere between a 9 and 10 min mile pace so I never felt physically tired, but that's around 7 or 8 miles, so I'm quite satisfied. I didn't have my iPod either, but I really enjoyed listening to everything around me. Feet hurt after though! My shoes are closer to the end of their life than the start, so I'll toss them when I leave here and gain some suitcase space... I'm sure that every little bit counts.
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