Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Return to Madrid and Lunch with a Thacher Toad Coach/Zaragoza Hurricanes TE


Monday, 7 November, 2016:

The first news of the day from Los Angeles was not good.


Panthers 13 - Rams 10

Both juggernaut clubs are now 3-5 on the year.

Meanwhile, back in Salamanca . . .

Laurie woke up hungry in
a cold, cold ciudad

This restaurant was still
closed but she liked the toro

Our morning walk gave us a chance to see lots of examples of Salamanca's ancient walls.

Nice Window

Use any and all building materials

Colorful boulders are . . . 
. . . always a . . .

. . . good choice

Land Shark Sighting!

Salamanca's old Roman Bridge
spanning the Río Tormes

 The Camino de Santiago's
Via de la Plata route
runs through Salamanca

Why yes, YES I DO!

At the end of our morning constitutional, we stumbled upon this place that was not listed in any of our guide books . . .

The General Archives of the
Spanish Civil War

Awesome! I am ever so interested in this difficult time in Spanish history that occurred between 1936 and 1939 as a precursor of World War II.

The Archive is open Tuesdays through Sundays.

Today was a Monday.

Damn!

The Archive building
looked inviting too

Double Damn!

Laurie just kept on walking in
my moment of historical despair

Before eating, we popped into Salamanca's Closed Market for a peek.

 The mandatory butcher shop

Dried meats are a MUST!

Cheeses too

We headed back to Plaza Mayor's Café Novelty for our morning repast.

Laurie at her coquettish best
with famed Salamanca writer
Torrente Baluster

After yet another round of cafe con leches, churros and chocolate, we took one more walk through the Closed Market to our hotel.

Wine is always a good choice

So are piglets

Our Hotel was only a minute
walk from the Plaza Mayor

We got a large room with all of the amenities for a great price, we both highly recommend it!

 We can always use a strand
of garlic at La Casa Grande

Laurie was stunned at
the temperature on our walk
back to the train station

A reading of 2° Centigrade, made it 35° Fahrenheit.

Brrrrrrrrrrrr.

The train ride home was efficient, warm and happily uneventful.

We were excited to get back to Madrid as we had a lunch date with the Snyder family.

Aaron and his wife Theana are both teachers at the Thacher School in Ojai, California. Aaron is also a coach  who works with the Toads' football teams.

Last Spring, Laurie and I met with Aaron to talk about the possibility of his joining the wonderful fraternity of EuroBall coaches.

The Snyders are spending a sabbatical year abroad in Zaragoza, Spain as Theana is teaching mathematics at a high school while Aaron planned with to work with one of the two American football Serie C teams in Zaragoza, the Hurricanes.

The other Zaragoza American football team is known as the Hornets.

At first, Aaron planned on helping the Hurricanes as an assistant coach. Now he is their starting Tight End.

Such is life in EuroBall.

The Snyders after our lunch
at El Museo del Jamon

From left to right, the Snyder kids are Zoey, her twin brother Luke and then six year old brother Gavin.

It was fun hearing their stories about family life in Zaragoza. Some things were quirky, predictably, but for the vast majority they are all enjoying the Spanish lifestyle.

In the evening, our Osos Juniors had a solid practice and I was excited when the Osos were blessed to have six actual Offensive Linemen at our workout.

With the exception of one play which I screwed up, not the players, it was a really good practice!

On Tuesday I will be involved in an all-day Guadalajara Stings American football marathon.

We will be introducing/teaching American flag football for the first time to five classes of 13-16 year olds in an attempt to recruit players to our new Stings flag football program for kids.

It should be interesting as always.

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