Salamanca- Scaling a Cathedral and 2000 year old Roman bridges

So we finally made it to Salamanca. We walked from our train stop all the way to the Plaza Mayor of Salamanca which looked very close to the one in Madrid and there were pink dummies in the plaza around balconies which I think had to do with the International festival, which was the last day. On our way to the University of Salamanca we passed as always tourist shops and we made it to the University of Salamanca and we took the Spanish tour I understood what I could hear over an annoying little kid-brat who was old enough to shut up. Maybe that is one of the reasons why I dislike little children so much. Grayson being not so bad because he´s my brother. About the university: if one did not get accepted into Salamanca or started off on a bad foot, they went to the University of Alcalá which is where I go to school. Also, those who got their doctorate from the university wrote their name in bull´s blood on the walls of the university but only those of important stature like religous leaders or other important people were alloted their space. After we left the university we went to the ¨new¨cathedral which was built in 1513-1733, it was beautiful but I believe that the one in Segovia is much more impressive, I was able to take pictures without a flash. WOOT! There was a hand or relic of a saint, the date on the box was 2007 and that seems kinda fresh right? Anna told us that to be considered a cathedral, the building had to have a relic from a saint whether it was hair or some bodyparts. We observed a bride on her wedding day taking pictures outside the new cathedral, that wasn´t the only bride we were to encounter that day. After we exited the new cathedral we walked outside and the next thing we know we passed another wedding party, there were gypies dressed and they did some little maypole dance underneathe the arch and all the girls in or group were like¨we want to get married in a cathedral in Spain.¨ It was pretty after that we got to go inside some old passageways of the Old Cathedral built in about the 1200s. It was pretty sweet because we got to scale the thing! there were many winding staircases and balconies as well as religious texts dating to the 1300s and 1400s. So after looking at a few of these things we went out onto the roof of the cathedral ner the clock and belltower. I hope to got some good pictures because my battery in my camera died on me as I was ontop of the cathedral :(. But it was amazing to see the whole city from the top of the Cathedral roofs. After taking some photos and staring long at the edifices and other intricate designs on the cathedral we descended down the stairs. I am proud to say that I didn´t spend alot of money on this trip about 25€ on food, water, postcards and a fridge magnet for my collection. We went to the bridge after we left the cathedral it was a roman bridge across a tiny tiny river, not deep at all a foot at the most. The roman bridge has 26 arches and it was built by emperor Hadrian ( same guy as Hadrian´s wall in England). We thought it would be a good idea to go get in the river so all 12 of us decided to wade near a 2000 year old roman bridge. ALL of the boys made it far enough to sit on a tree trunk that crossed the river water felt so good, no one fell but I did get some pictures, look on a facebook near you. The mountains are really beautiful on the train ride. After the river we went back to the Plaza, had a drink, and booked it to the train station. I need to decide what to get my family at home, I bought Grayson some nice children books that we will grow into that mom and dad SHOULD be able to read. I also need to figure out what to bring back Jameson. This about sums up my trip!

Courtney
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