Salamanca y Segovia

Thursday, I woke up and went on an hour run. When I came back, mi madre was in the middle of making a traditional Dia del Padre (Father's Day) breakfast... Pumpkin, sugar, and flour fried like donuts, dipped in sugar. What a great post workout meal : ) I love all these festivals here!
After the big breakfast, I headed to the train station to meet Kim and head northwest for the long weekend. We had a long day of travelling, but finally made it to Salamanca. The trip really wasn't bad considering we were on a train, riding through mountains and past small villages. The scenery would have been plenty to make the time fly, but I also finished the third book in the twilight series, so the trip seemed like an hour to me. (Sidenote... the Twilight series is such a great story! I never figured I would like them, considering I do not prefer fantasy books, but once I got into the plot, they are impossible to put down!) But anyways, once our train ride was over, Kim and I made our way to where we were staying for the night in Salamanca. We actually stayed in dorm rooms, at the University of Salamanca. It was such a great place to stay; clean, located next to all the sites, etc. After ditching our bags, we headed to get dinner in Plaza Mayor. We ate our dinner and people watched, and I realized that I really liked the environment of Salamanca. Many of the population is made up of University students, and you can feel the energy in the city.
The next day we explored Salamanca. The university itself is one of the oldest in all of Europe... we toured the antique library and stood outside the entrance of the university and searched for the frog on the front of the building. It is a myth that if you find the hidden frog, good luck and marriage follow. After trying to find it for 10 minutes, Kim and I may or may not have just cheated by looking at someone's camera to see where they were looking. At least we found it!
We also climbed to the top of a gorgeous Cathedral, and saw the inside of another. I love climbing old buildings, it always requires a climb up a spiral staircase, and spiral staircases are rather uncommon in more modern buildings these days. The view from the top of the Cathedral was pretty amazing. After a long day of exploring Salamanca, Kim and I headed to Madrid to spend the night.
In Madrid, we stayed at a Hostel where we could make our own food! This happened to work out perfectly because Ben had just sent Velveta Shells and Cheese to me!
Saturday we woke up and headed to Segovia. Segovia was GORGEOUS, like a fairy tale. We even climbed to the tallest tower, and saw all the armor of both the horses and knights. The view from the top was stunning; we could see the cathedral and all the surrounding mountains. Once we were down from the castle, we headed to Segovia's main plaza and had some lunch and wine. I had spinach lasagna and some of Segovia's own wine. We spent the afternoon walking around and taking pictures of the gigantic aqueduct.
Saturday night and Sunday we spent in Madrid, but we were both pretty tired so we just took it easy. Sunday morning we made it back to the Rastro and Dunkin' Donuts, two very important things to do in Madrid!
The trip was a great start my month in a row of travelling, I love experiencing the different cultures of all these places. It's crazy how cities can very so much, depending on the region and the people. Even the actual language sounds different when spoken city to city.