I can tell the jetlag has hit me – I woke up at noon to the hustle and bustle of the city around me. I decided to make a plan to go explore the city. I would download a map and then follow it to the hospital that I would be shadowing at, paying attention to street signs and other parts of the city along the way.
The first thing I noticed when I left the hotel was a little church in front of me. It looked pretty old and worn, and it wasn’t glamorous by any means. Compared to the pictures Steve had shown me of the cathedrals in Italy, it seemed like it was built more for utility than splendor. There was one grand watchtower and the windows were tiny slits. The front of the cathedral had a statue of a cross out front, with a plaque that had the name of the building on it: La Iglesia de Santa María de la Antigua. The church was thought to be founded during the middle ages in 1095, 200-300 years before any of the famous cathedrals in Italy were built.
I noticed that across the street there was another cathedral, so I wandered over to check it out. This was a true cathedral: large stone walls and an inner courtyard, with one large tower in one corner. It was called La Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, and it was built in 1668, much later than the first building. Apparently the cathedral was meant to be the largest cathedral in all of Europe when Valladolid was the capital of Spain, but when they moved the capital to Madrid the funds got cut and only 45% of the original design was constructed.
This is when I found ANOTHER cathedral across the street so I wandered over, and this ended up being a university building that was constructed in 1716. It was like I was walking through history just by walking down the street.
I then remembered that my original plan was to find the hospital that I would be shadowing at, and at this point I had no idea where I was or what street I was on. After wandering around for another 10 minutes I realized that there were no street signs, instead all the names of the streets were on the sides of the buildings.
By the time I started heading back to my hotel, it was 2:00pm. In Spain, people take a 3 hour break at this time to eat and take a nap (siesta). There were tons of little kids running around in school uniforms, and as I passed by the school I noticed an interesting mural of birds with a long description that I have translated below.
I got back to the hotel and ordered a salad and a glass of wine, which I am eating now as I write this. Maybe I’ll take a siesta like a real Spaniard! Adios!
Anna-phylactic Shock 