Fotos!

Finally, I'm getting some pictures up. These are, of course, from my excursions thus far, but I still have plenty more to add. The past few days have been full of more picture taking. Yesterday I went with my friend Miguel (who I know from Salida) to a town called Zamora, one hour north of Salamanca by bus. It's very similar to Salamanca in terms of having a modern quarter and then the historic district of the city as well. It's smaller than Salamanca, though, and has a more small-town lazy feel to it. We walked around all afternoon, checking out a bunch of old churches and even playing in a castle! That was really cool, since I'd never seen anything like it before. The castle itself wasn't huge or super impressive, but the idea of running around a real actual castle was just too cool.

Tomorrow I'm catching an early train to Barcelona, where I'll stay for four days and try to see what I can of the area. I know that in such a short amount of time I will barely scratch the surface of all the stuff that Barce has to offer, but I will at least get a taste for what everyone always raves about. Then, on Friday, I will fly from Barce to Oviedo, in the northern Asturias province of Spain, and check that city out until I can take a bus to Gijón, where I'll be visiting my friend Andrew (I graduated from high school with him and he's been in Gijón all year studying). He tells me he has his own beach front apartment and lots of cool things to show me, so I don't think it will be too horrible of a trip for me. After Gijón, I'll head to Santiago de Compostela for a day or two before returning to Salamanca. Santiago is the final destination of the Way of St. James (Camino de Santiago), a very famous pilgrimage that brings people from all over the world. The city is supposed to be very cool, so it's been high on my list for quite a while.

Gotta run for now, but enjoy these photos. I'll get more up this coming week. Much love!

The Fundación Tormes. We stayed and ate in this building.



Some of the grounds of the Fundación, surrounding a small lake.



Poppies and fields are beautiful together. Now you know why I loved the Fundación.



Wildflowers, anyone?



Typical street with apartment buildings. Looks like an ad for a new housing development somewhere.



La Plaza de Toros. Out front is a statue of one of Salamanca's most famous toreros. Also, notice the graffiti. Apparently, even in a place where bull fights are tradition, they can still be looked down upon.



Typical apartment buildings and a pretty fountain. This counts as a plaza, even though it's small and really only consists of the traffic rotary.



On Calle Toro, walking to la Plaza Mayor. This is a pedestrian only street that has just about everything you could ever need...supermarkets, banks, shopping, pharmacies, bookstores, etc.



More of Calle Toro. Also, the shortest person I've ever seen.



La Plaza Mayor.



Typical street scene. You can also see the bell tower of the catedral.



The outside of the catedral. This is the newer part of the structure. The old original part is on the opposite side from where I took this shot.



You can get an idea of how enormous the space is inside the catedral.



Inside the catedral. The cupola and space above the main altar.



La catedral, from across the Río Tormes.