of being a tourist

Salsa dancing was a success!!! After walking around aimlessly, drinking a tinto de verano on a side street cafe, we arrived at Mamajuana - a salsa club in the center of salamanca. We arrived at around 1230, and there was nobody there. I asked the bartender girl, and she said after 1230, people would start trickling in. They did. X, L, V, S, Y, Br and I had been previously ditched by the other half of the group, but we did not let that bring us down. Once music started playing, the night had started for us. We danced, we danced and we danced some more. Next thing we knew, it was 330 am and we were heading out. It was a great time, and we can't wait to do it again. 

Yesterday was tourist day. V, Y, Br, L and X met me at the front of the new cathedral. Our goal was to see more salamanca before our trips start in the next few days. We paid 3 euros to go to the IERONIMUS tour. It is the tour that takes your into the towers of the old cathedral, then up the stairs all the way to the top. You walk above the cathedral, the rooftop, and you get the greatest view of salamanca. It took us two hours to finish the tour. Too many pictures to take, too much fun!!

After the tour, we were a little hungry, so we walked to the Rua Mayor and sat down for some bocadillos (bread/meat sandwiches). I had a cold coke zero, and a bocadillo de lomo. It was delightful. 

Once we had paid, we walked over to the orchard of calisto and melibea, the orchard in which Fernando de Rojas got his inspiration to write La Celestina - a classic of the Spanish Literature. It is at this place that lovers go, and place their love locks on a well that is placed right in the center - very similar to the love locks I saw on the Brooklyn bridge back in March. The garden is beautiful, a little unkempt in areas, but there are roses, in every shade of pink, and the view from that point is also wonderful. 

The museo Casa Lis is just a few steps away. It is an Art Deco museum that boasts beautiful stained-glass windows, ceiling and doorways, as well as faberge eggs, Lalique work, a Picasso painting, etc. we walked around the museum, and I mostly gasped every time I saw a stained glass window. They are beautiful, bright colored, and simply fantastic. We were at the museum for another good two hours and afterward we walked up the Rua Mayor to enjoy some ice cream from La Valenciana. I had crema Catalana, and I believe I will continue to have crema Catalana until we leave Spain because it is so damn good. 

I arrived at my apartment at around 915pm. I was pretty exhausted. I hung around, cleaned my room, painted my nails and took a break from two nights of coming home after midnight. 

Today I woke up and my roommates/landlords were gone. They packed and returned to Madrid. I now have the house all to myself, so I brought upstairs a few things, cleaned the kitchen, rearranged the bathroom, and then had breakfast. At noon, I was so sleepy! I took a siesta til 2 pm. It is Sunday, so I went to the only open supermarket near me, bought a few provisions for the week, and am now sitting in the living room with Y. It is her son's birthday and she asked to come over to face time with him. 

Cheers!!!

Bee