Moving In and the Old Town

I moved in to the new apartment yesterday and am getting everything adjusted. As I said in the last post, it's in a nice location and I've been able to take my lunches of ham sandwiches out on the balcony where I can watch the people, walking in and out of shops on the street, or doing their laundry and watering plants on the balconies of the building across the street. The weather has been warm and dry during the day and cool at night. Here are some pictures of the new place:

Today I got up early and went to the historic district of Alcalá de Henares which is about a five minute walk from my apartment. The area was crowded with people on their way to church. Many vendors set up stalls along the narrow streets to hawk cheap touristy items (buttons, patches, flags, ceramics, etc.) at higher prices than the stores found elsewhere. There were many street performers as well. This was my favorite street performer I have seen yet (possibly my favorite ever):

She had a recording of Camille Saint-Saëns' "La Danse Macabre" and other songs playing as she controlled the skeleton's playing of the violin. She made it sit on the little stool during the breaks between songs. Here's the street the performer was on:

Down this street I came upon the Plaza de Cervantes, named in honor of the famous local writer whose statue stands in the center of the square. Not much further was an old church, the name of which I do not yet know. There are many more places downtown which I have yet to visit extensively, such as the old university. Here are some scenes from the plaza and churches:

I also went to Madrid today to time the trip I will make to the meeting tomorrow morning. I will visit it more extensively soon and post some pictures.