Day 13 and 14 Salamanca

Leaving Portugal. We had nice food in Portugal - mussels, shrimp, grilled trout in green sauce, local green soup, and young wine, which is called vinho verde. When we left our hotel we would never have gotten out of the city without the GPS. There are no road signs or indications of where the way out is. The drive to Salamanca Spain was all freeway and easy. When we arrived at Salamanca we parked in an underground parking near where we thought our hotel should be. Bo went into a store to ask. A kindly gentleman in yellow pants walked us down to the corner and pointed the way. We found the hotel and checked in. We then walked back to the car park and got our bags and pondered what was the shortest way back to the hotel. The same man in the yellow pants appeared and asked if we were still lost. He showed us the shortcut back. Hours later, far away we were looking for a grocery store and the man in the yellow pants shows up again. This time, he not only pointed the store out to us, but also read us the poems he wrote. He told Bo that he writes poems every day and then sets them to music and sings. He also confessed that he wants to be a psychologist and get a B.A. degree on line. His name turned out to be Angel, very appropriately because he was our guardian angel.
Salamanca is different than any other city we have been to. It has one of the oldest universities in Europe. Founded in 1218 it is one of the premier schools in Europe. The city is mobbed with young people. The main plaza is immense with hundreds of outdoor tables from cafes and thousands of people. The cathedral and university buildings are spectacular. The whole city is built in sandstone, which gives it a golden glow.
We are staying in an apartment hotel a few steps off Plaza Mayor, the main square. It’s pretty big -- two bedrooms, a kitchen combined with living room + bathroom, enough room to spread out and repack.
We rested a bit and went out again around 9 pm. Plaza Mayor was jammed with people. We had sopa castillana and wine in a restaurant called Meson de Cervantes in the beautifully illuminated plaza, and then walked around until after 11 pm. The place was still hopping when we decided to call it a night.
In the middle of the night we woke up with horrible stomach pain and diarrhea. We are suffering at 2 pm the next day.