2: Spain

2: Spain

Photos: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/5r4x8sdv096m8v9/AADMj0fUw3awakC8evkfr1rUa?dl=0

So here we are in front of Dile. There's a Sunday market setting up in the square. I have a map, I have keys, I have knowledge of how to get back to my home stay. It's 1 degree Celsius. I'm ready! Salamanca here we come!

Wow. Plaza Meyor is great: this is probably where we will be meeting in the future. I know how to get from my house to Dile, and from the round church to the plaza, so now I just have to learn how to get from Dile to the round church. Everything here is all about walking, all the roads surrounding the plaza are walking only. There are occasional cars and vans bringing bread to the small street stores and people everywhere doing various things, walking, selling, etc.

Everywhere I look is another thousand year old fancy stone building.

We are taking a break now at a small tapas or "pinchas" bar near the plaza. Everything is so good! There's this kind of tuna casserole thing with peas and carrots and potatoes which I ordered. So far everyone is very nice. By the end of today I think my Spanish will have improved so much. And I can't imagine by the end of the week…

There's a Spanish television program playing in the café, it looks like a Monty Python holy grail type thing, medieval show, it's full of slapstick. And a painting on the wall of the last supper with pop culture figures, Marilyn Monroe is in the middle, there's James Bond, Frankenstein's monster, some cowboys etc.

In front of the original building of the University of Salamanca (opened in 1220), there is a huge ornate carved façade which apparently hides a toad. It is tiny and sits on top of a skull, I found it eventually. It represents the prostitutes that lived across the river from the university. When it first opened, it was all male monks attending the university, so the toad on the skull was saying not to give into your carnal desires (the toad) or bad things would happen (the skull). I'm amazed that this façade is so famous just for this one little toad, there are so many more symbolic carvings on it, all so incredible and intricate.

Now just laying down for siesta, a nap in the middle of the day. We came back home to have the midday meal: we had chicken, fries, fruit, and "Russian salad" same thing that I had for lunch (tuna, egg, potato, olives, etc). Really good. Listened to Maribel talk for a bit, got most of it I think. Talking about past students she's hosted from all over the world (South Africa, India, Europe, USA, and more) and she said there would be more students coming tomorrow (or possibly tonight?) from England. So that's cool. Also taking about her kids.

We're meeting our group again at 4pm at the round church (we'll be out till 9pm), so I've got about 45 min to nap.

Now we're out again, in a different plaza. We had to wait about 45 min for Lianne (teacher chaperone) to arrive. She got lost somewhere, I don't know… We played some ultimate frisbee in an open square while we waited. There was a marching band gathering there as well, people our age. They're ok.

St Stephen's chapel dates from 1610. It was built by the Dominicans. Again, another amazing façade, and we get to go inside this time too…

There's an open courtyard, with giant stocks nesting on the top of every tower.

I'm sitting here in this 500 year old church and I don't know how I should appreciate it properly, it's so incredible. It's a giant stone room made in the times when most people lived on farms drinking ale and eating pottage and bread and rarely meat and here is this solid stone vaulted place of gathering that has stood for 500 years…

The inside of the hall is amazingly ornate. The entire background of the altar is all ornate gold plate, made with gold brought back from the Americas (there's a whole upper floor devoted to documentation of their "freeing" the peoples of America…). Everything carved in here is gold plated. There's a painting off to one side of heaven, with lots of angels flying around and Mary being crowned queen.

There's a giant illuminated manuscript on display- about 3' by 5'. The detail is impeccable- I wonder if the pages are made of animal skin or cotton. I think cotton pages were later on, also this looks like leather-type texture. The cover is thick and edged with medal. I'm just in awe of the penmanship. I can do patterns, but nothing close to this level of intricacy and preciseness. Every pattern is fully fleshed, and dragons and birds are woven seamlessly into the vines (dragon's tail becomes vines, breathing fire-vines). Wow. This makes me want to try to copy it in my sketchbook when I get home. Which I might do.

There's another painting on the wall of the balcony of the chapel. It features a chariot with a person and an open book: epiphany. Above are angels and people following the word of God. Below the chariot are seven animals representing the seven deadly sins: a bear, a goose, a turkey, a sheep, a dog, a wolf, and a turtle. Turtle is sloth, bear is anger, dog is envy, wolf is lust. Not sure about the rest.

There is another giant book in the balcony, next to a book holder that props up four giant books at once. They are for the choir to see and read, and the book in there had an early version of the five line staff system, three sharps (they were black diamonds, but I think they were meant to be sharps). No clef, and the notes were just black diamonds, some of them stretching longer (possibly to indicate longer notes?). I guess everyone in the choir would be able to see the music since it's so big.

We went to the plaza Meyor for some tapas, and now we're at a 2000 year old roman bridge. That's still in use.

Back at homestay. My feet hurt. But I feel great, so many new experiences in the last 24 hours. Tomorrow at 9am are our first Spanish classes at Dile. Salad and sausages for dinner.

Two girls from Denmark are here: Ida (Eeda?) and Hanna(h) (no idea about spelling). They seem nice. They're fluent in English. They're here for a week, like us.

Welp, time to sleep. I'm tired.