After a Week

Okay, so I've been here for a little over a week and I assure you I'm having a good time. I may be a little frustrated at times but in the end everything comes out just fine. Last week we went on a cultural tour of our home town to get to know the history  I took a ton of pictures...
this is a view from the Plaza de Cervantes of a monastery and part of the tower that's there. Cervantes was a great writer, know as the author of the world's first novel Don Quijote de La Mancha.

Here's another view from the plaza. Behind the gazebo you can kind of see the tower.

there are these trees that line the center part of the plaza. I think they're sycamore but I don't know my trees very well. I'm told that in the summer their leaves act like a roof of shade.

More trees and you can see some of the archictecure of the buildings here.

 This is the oldest university in the city. Inside it anyway, It was founded by a Bishop named Cisneros. They still had the decorations up from Christmas. Here is also where they will give the Cervantes Prize which is like a Pulitzer Prize for Spanish literature.

This is outside of the university. The chains are remnants of how the city was historically.Our guide said that there were two sets of laws in Alcala. One was of the universities and another for the rest of the town. Once you crossed this chained "fence" you were on university property and under university law.

This is where Cervantes is said to have been born. Now, its a museum in which you aren't allowed to take pictures. Basically, it showed how the house might have been when it was inhabited by Cervantes and his family.

Outside the birth home of Cervantes is this statue of Don Quijote. To his right (our left in this view) is a digruntled looking Sancho Panza but that picture didn't turn out very well.

I thought this was cool. It's a view down Calle Mayor where all the shops are and its a pretty historical neighborhood.

This picture won't rotate....sorry...anyway, this is what the street looks like when you walk down Calle Mayor. This street was originally constructed by the Romans as a trade route and this is what it looks like today.

And finally, one of the big cathedrals here in Alcala. Inside is beautiful. The ceilings are curving and the walls are adorned with pictures of the saints and things people have asked for from the saints.I loved being in there in the silence and the shear religious power that it holds is daunting. I wish I could have taken pictures inside to show you what I mean.

This is pretty much my Friday. Its kinda chilly here but the sun shines and it gets warm. No snow is the best part and everyone seems really great.

I hope you all are having fun in your white swirling abyss.

I'll write again soon. I'm planning lots of trips so lots of pictures will follow.

Besos!