Drumroll............Spain Top Ten!

Hopefully the anticipation has been built just enough where I don't disappoint. Without further ado, here is #1...

1) Dog Pictures. I do believe I've expressed before my strange photo-taking habits. A recap: I like to take pictures of dogs in all the cities we visit. Don't ask me why, there's really no good reason. I used to think it was because I thought they were all cute, and now it's more of a joke that I have to keep taking them. EITHER WAY, let me take you back to the first day in Barcelona. I had VERY little sleep the night before, and we had just finished our fantastic paella. I was in a food coma/sleep deprived state...just as a preface here. So we're walking back to the hostel, and I spot this puppy. One of my friends suggested I do my normal creeper photo. I dug in my pocket for my camera, avoid eye contact with the owner (they always look at me like I'm nuts) and snapped a picture of the pooch. I then catch up to my friends who are all just STARING at me. 'WHAT?!?!' was my defense. Carolyn then asked me if I say how that guy was looking at me. I responded that I'd avoided eye contact, but was assuming he thought I was a bit strange. At this point Ryan asks me, "you did realize the dog was peeing, right?" WHAT?!?! NO I did not! I pull out the camera to look at the picture and sure enough, he was. How completely embarrassing!!! Who takes pictures of peeing dogs?!?! I immediately hung my head in shame as we all laughed REALLY hard...and I also quickly deleted the picture from the camera. Whenever I'd laugh at someone else's blunder on the trip, they would just point out that I took a picture of a peeing dog. Yup, pretty bad. I'm sharing my shame and embarrassment with you all in the hopes that at least you get a good chuckle from my idiocy. My friends sure did! :)

2) Bikes. We had a GREAT time biking around in Valencia. We eventually got down our 'order', of which I was biker #3 in the lineup. We all had little bells on our bikes (which are supposed to be to alert people to move out of your way) and we felt they were better used as music. When anyone of our bikes would 'ding' you could bet within two seconds the other three would 'ding' back at you. Hilarious to us, not so hilarious to the people who assumed they were about to be crushed by bikes. Ha! Also, at one point, we attempted to do a little 'off-roading.' We were on the way to the beach and the map led us to believe that a certain road existed that unfortunately did not. We thought we could just bike over this grassy/rocky area to get to the next road over. During this off-roading blip, I was silently praying to not completely eat it. There were some large rocks, and having already had a broken arm due to a bike fall in my past, did NOT want that to happen again. We successfully made it the next road (or so we thought), to see that there was no way to get from our 'path' to the road. So, we had to bike BACK. I thought for SURE we wouldn't be so lucky the second time. I was praying at a more rapid rate this time, and somehow, we made it back to the SMOOTH, actual road. We had to backtrack a bit, but EVENTUALLY made it to the beach. (Picture is of the realization we have to retrace the 'path' we made and possibly die in the process. Carolyn found it an 'adventure'. I thought we were going to die. You can also note that where we are currently biking was NOT supposed to be biked on. Rebels.)

3) Presidents. Presidents is a card game, of which the rules right now aren't of the utmost importance. The basic idea is whomever gets rid of their cards firsts, wins. There is also the person on the other end, whom is the "loser" we shall say. There are many lovely names for that loser, but we will keep this classy. SO, there are many different variations of the rules, and sometimes it's hard to adapt to these. At least, for me. So, we're on the patio in Malaga, enjoying our sangria and dinner, and playing Presidents. It was decided that the game would be more fun if the winner got to wear something 'cool' and the loser something 'uncool.'. It was then decided, due to lack of options of 'cool' accessories, that my green headband, worn in a specific manner, meant that YOU were the President. The loser had to wear clothespins (which we borrowed from the hostel's clothesline) somewhere on your head. Ryan wore them fashioned on his glasses, Carolyn and Theresia wore them like barrettes, and I wore them proudly as a mohawk. WHY NOT? The funniest part was, due to the 'new' rules we were using, I would constantly screw myself over from the way I played my cards. In 'my' rules I'd be fine, but with the rules we were using, I would be the automatic 'loser'. When my head would slam on the table and I'd start muttering, my friends would all laugh as they knew Betsy would be wearing the clothespins. It was an amusing night. The highlight though - I had just been loudly yelling about something, was currently sporting the clothespin mohawk, when a guy that works at the hostel comes over to our table. He asks which one of us is "Elizabeth Vose". I look at him, saying it's me, and he then tells me I had left my wallet in the kitchen. My wallet basically had all of the important things, and I looked like a total idiot for leaving it. Thank goodness these people staying at the hostel were good people. BUT - here I am, hearing this news of my stupidity while wearing clothespins. WOW. I'm not someone who usually blushes, but at that point in time, I think I was beet red. The table was laughing at quite the high pitch at this point, and I had to join them. Stupid, embarrassing, but quite funny. :) (Pictures above left, self-explanatory.)

4) Sangria. As you have gathered at this point, sangria was a large part of our trip. It made it's daily appearance, with different accessories. Sometimes there was LOTS of fruit, sometimes the pitcher was very wide, or very tall, or sometimes even very small. (Boo!) But we discovered we all got about 2.5 cups per pitcher, which was the perfect amount. I had had sangria on only a few occasions before Spain, and now, will seek out more sangria opportunities. Also - before we started in on our pitcher, there was always a "cheers" involved. Carolyn had been instructed by friends she met in Madrid, that the proper way to "cheers" was by making eye contact with all involved. This became a very serious 'rule' and when broken, you were reprimanded. Try it next time - apparently it's the proper thing to do! Cheers!!! (Picture on the right is from Barcelona.)

5) Epic Falls. So, as I've already embarrassed myself enough with this blog post, I'll share one moment of another person's moment of failure. This was the first day in Barcelona, and we were all doing the 'normal' walking that our group does. This could be hops here, or jumps there, or even tripping. We try to keep things entertaining. At this moment, Theresia was trying to explain the proper tripping method to Carolyn. The point wasn't getting across so they stopped so that Theresia could SHOW Carolyn without them actually moving - so that no one would actually trip. Well, as Ryan and I watched, Theresia, while EXPLAINING to not move forward, Carolyn does exactly that. She literally tripped herself on Theresia's foot and face planted. And I mean complete horizontal fall into the dirt. She wasn't badly hurt, but it provided so much entertainment. I was laughing so hard I had tears coming out of my eyes. Even Carolyn had NO idea how she had suddenly ate the dirt. The best was the instant thud when she hit the ground - hysterical. Carolyn is the group klutz, (I'm the verbal klutz, so we're even) and this wasn't the first time her fall had entertained the group. We would replay this moment aloud whenever there was a dull moment, or, I'd just look at Carolyn and burst out laughing. Good times. :)

6) Stairs. Now, we have climbed a lot of towers at this point, and they're all reached by stairs or ramps. No elevators except for those who need them. AND, most days I was in flip flops. This proved to be an exceptional challenge. As we walked up, the stairs are VERY narrow on the inside so when you have to pass someone going up or down, you literally fear for your life. One false step and you'd slide a good way down the stairs, possibly taking out people on your way. I'm glad to report we had no epic falls on staircases, but we did have complaining. And yes, for those that know me, it was me who would verbalize the pain of the stairs. I was always holding up the rear as we climbed up, making remarks and sassy comments until we got to the top. But - whenever you got to the top, you forgot how much the stairs hurt as you took in the view. My favorite 'view from the top' so far was in Valencia. The sun was just setting, and everything had a gold glow. It was simply breathtaking. This was also the most frightening staircase we had climbed, so the view was even more wonderful to behold. (Both pictures are from the top of the Migulete bell tower in Valencia.)

7) Fountains, Gardens and Oranges - OH MY! Yes, all three of these were everywhere we went in Spain, and I LOVED it! I already know my future garden will have at least one fountain in it. And sadly, I know the Minnesota climate won't allow the orange tree. I can dream though. Whenever I think of Spain, I'll think of sitting under orange trees (which smell like heaven, literally) with the sound of a fountain in the background, and taking in the beautiful view of the garden. Breathtaking, truly. If you could bottle the smell of that place, you'd make millions. (Picture at left is from the Palace Gardens in Sevilla.)

8) Heed Warnings. So as we get to the beach in Malaga, Carolyn starts explaining how she had gotten sand in the lens of her camera before at the beach, and so didn't want to take many pictures. I only took a few myself, but as I lack an actual case for the camera, had to keep it tucked under a corner on my towel, in my purse. Somehow, one way or another, guess what happened. Yes - sand got in my camera lens. And not just on top, where it messes with the lens' ability to open and close, it got underneath the lens! WHAT?!?! How does that happen??? I was lucky that it was the last day of the trip, but I was very sad as I tried to pry out the sand and realized it was all hopeless. The silver lining was that I did need an updated camera, as the old one ran on AA batteries and was quite bulky. But we had a lot of great memories, that camera and I, that went all the way back to high school. RIP Camera - you had a great life!!

9) Spanish. Well, although I took four years of this wonderful language in high school, I'm far from being proficient. Carolyn was in the same boat. But, we both were so excited to be in a country who's language we could somewhat understand! We would always order in Spanish, or at least were able to decipher the menu (which was something new and different). We also would attempt to purchase train tickets in Spanish. But, we did learn, once you responded to a question in Spanish, their speech would speed up and we'd be left staring dumbfounded at them while trying to process what the heck they just said. We would usually at that point repeat the question in English. We had a great time trying to use our language skills though, and it was fun when we'd pick up on something or remember certain words. Theresia was usually the language master on trips, but she didn't know Spanish, so for once, Carolyn and I (kind of) knew what was going on. Ryan also only knew French, so he was reliant on what we knew. We did buy a little translation book, just to jog our memories a bit and remind ourselves of certain key words and phrases. All in all though, I realized, my Spanish was mediocre at best, but it was a ton of fun trying to use it, and was very rewarding when it actually was successful. Plus, people really do appreciate it when you try and communicate in the native tongue - something we've noticed in our travels. If you can at least master 'please', 'thank you', 'yes' and 'no' - you can get pretty far.

10) Relax. Spain was very much a place where everyone was laid back and there was no rush to go anywhere. We learned to appreciate this, and even as we'd try to hit all of the 'spots' each day, we'd do so in a leisurely manner. A trip is more fun when you do, literally, stop to smell the roses. We would take our time during meals, during sangria, to really appreciate what a great environment we were in as well as each others company. It was wonderful 'de-stressing' right after going through exam week, and it really helped to put things into perspective. Life is short, truly, so taking advantage of each and every opportunity (even if you have to climb 200 stairs) is very much worth it in the end. What a wonderful trip we had, full of delicious food, hysterical moments, and lovely sights to see. (Picture is of the Mediterranean Sea in Valencia.)

Málaga

The final destination of adventure: Spain! Our morning started off QUITE stressful...due to our late night the day before, and also moving up the time of our depart time led to a interesting morning. Carolyn and Theresia left to secure our tickets at the station, while Ryan and I had the task of grabbing breakfast for everyone and meeting them at the train station. I always laughed at people out power-walking, but man, I now understand what a workout it is! Ryan and I were walking faster than I've EVER walked before...almost running, with all our crap. AND, when we finally found a place to dash in and grab breakfast, the girl helping us took FOREVER. If anyone has ever seen Love Actually - the scene at the jewelry counter - well, that was our experience. Each croissant was separately wrapped and man, I was sweating just looking at my watch! We made it to the train station with about 2 minutes to spare, and all four of us RAN to our train. It was a ridiculous adrenaline rush and we all needed to cool down once we found our seats on the train, haha.

Our train ride was fairly short, and before we knew it, we were in Malaga! We had to take two different buses to get to our hostel from the train station, but had no trouble finding them. We walked into our hostel and could see through the glass doors - a PATIO! As it turned out...85% of our time (awake) while in Malaga was spent on that patio (see above left). That first day we just laid outside and soaked in the sun. We had our daily sangria and a DELICIOUS home cooked dinner by the owner of our hostel, "Papi". This little old man didn't speak any English, but was very animated and cooked a MEAN dinner (see left)! We each had an overflowing plate of cous-cous, kabobs, veggies, and different kinds of cooked meats. Our evening was filled with more sangria (with "extra fun" added according to the bartender) and LOTS of games of the card game Presidents. (More on that in the Top Ten). We ended the evening with a lively edition of musical chairs - one of the many games on our list for the 8-hour train ride that never got completed. The rest of the hostel guests were quite amused as we dashed around our circle of chairs. Theresia won and I lost (a theme on this trip). Then, we took a little walk down the beach, which was RIGHT next to our hostel. We couldn't get onto the sand, but could walk the boardwalk (see below right). It was very peaceful and serene to hear the waves crashing...I could fall asleep to that! Then - off to bed!

The next day the girls went out to do some souvenir shopping while Ryan slept in (see below right). We didn't shop for too long, and did a little walk along the beach. It was a nice temperature, but VERY windy. We went back to pick up Ryan - and then we hit up the beach! Our plan was to go in the water, but the cold wind was going to make that very unpleasant. Don't you fret - we DID go in! The beginning of Carolyn and my sprint is on video in fact, those on Facebook can check it out. Let me just say, I completely submerged myself and it was INSTANT body aches of cold. You can't even imagine how loudly we were yelling as we ran out! Ryan and Theresia found it pretty humorous! Ryan went in later on, so he understood the pain eventually. We didn't stay at the beach long, it was just too cold. We went back to our spot on the patio for the duration of the afternoon! Sadly, my camera got sand in the lens RIGHT as we were leaving the beach, and it stopped functioning. RIP camera! (No worries - I now have a new one, and it's working really well!!) We spent the afternoon eating strawberries, sipping more sangria, getting a FEW more freckles, and enjoying the most delicious frozen pizzas I've ever had! No joke - our hostel would cook them for us in this little wood oven, and they were great flavors to choose from. Mine was a BBQ pizza, complete with BBQ sauce that was squeezed on top. We need frozen pizzas like that!! Before dinner we did a little exploring down the beach and found a fun "muscle beach" area that had work-out equipment. We decided to take advantage and take some fun photos. (Well I didn't, my camera was deceased, so picture at right is donated, as are some others in this blog.) When we got back to the hostel, we had another one of "Papi's" dinners, and entertained ourselves that evening with more card games. We hit the sack, for our last night in Spain, full of food and some epic memories!

Our travel home day (see left) went pretty smoothly...we had a few trains that were a bit late, but other than that, no problems. We were home Sunday night around ten-ish, and I just wanted to collapse into bed! Our new classes for Block 5 started the next day though, so we didn't get much recovery time...but hey, we were in Spain - so I wasn't about to complain! ;) Stay tuned for the Top Ten, which should be entertaining to read, or so I hope!

Sevilla

I'm back! It's been a week filled with kleenex as I caught quite the cold. But, it's on the way out (let's hope) and I'm spending my Friday night catching up on sleep and blogging. Not the most exciting evening ever, but it's the perfect cure. :)

Back to where I left off, in Valencia. Our train took us from Valencia to Sevilla, and would require us to occupy ourselves for 8 hours. We had our list of games handy when we boarded the train, but I proceeded to doze off within the first half hour. My travel cohorts got started without me, and I joined them later post-nap. Mainly, we just talked, but man did we cover some topics! We were able to jump off the train about half-way there, stretch our legs a bit and catch some fresh air. Just when we THOUGHT we'd be rolling into Sevilla though, we realized we weren't all that close after all. Our 8 hour ride turned into 9.5 hours!! You have NO idea how glad we were to get off that train!!

We had a bit of a hike to get to the hostel, but I think we all were just enjoying the fresh air. The fresh, WARM air! It was a lovely temperature, for being after 9:00 PM! We got checked in and then went out in search of some dinner. We were told to hit this spot called Levies, by a guy at the hostel. We heeded his advice, and it turned out to be great that we did! It was a WONDERFUL dinner and we were even able to sneak in our daily sangria, even if it was at the end of the day (see right) We sat on this outdoor patio that had orange trees scattered throughout, and the little orange blossoms would fall on us as we ate. It smelled wonderful, our food was great, and we were all just OVERJOYED to be off the train that it was a great dinner. We went back to rest up for the next day, where we hoped to see as MUCH of beautiful Sevilla as we could! (To clarify, 'Seville' is how we say the city's name in English, and 'Sevilla' is how it's pronounced in Spanish with the double l's sounding like a 'y' sound.)

We woke up to sunshine and all decided it was time to break out the shorts! YES! (see top picture) Pasty legs and all, I did NOT care! After grabbing some pastries (ha), we strolled towards the Cathedral of Seville, which is the 3rd largest cathedral in the world! The only ones bigger are St. Peter's Basilica of the Vatican and the Basilica of the National Shrine in Brazil! We were able to go inside, but mass was being held, so the main parts of the Cathedral were closed off. We decided to come back later that day to see the rest of it.

So, if was off to the 'Alcázares Reales de Sevilla' or the royal palace. It's known simple as the Alcázar. The palace evolved with each new monarch that resided within it, and it has BEAUTIFUL architecture (see right and left)! We were able to get in for free, thanks to being students (YAY!) and decided to shell out the SPENDY 3 € for an audio guide. I'm glad we did, because the audio explained what all the rooms were used for and which monarchs created them. As you all know, royalty fascinates me, and it was very interesting to hear about the different kings and queens of Spain. The palace architecture was also just gorgeous! It covered periods from Islamic up to Neoclassical, and used different styles from everything in between as the new royalty would add on as they took their place in the palace. My favorite part though was the gardens (see left and above right)! I'm officially in love with Spain for the wonderful gardens that are in every city we visit! The palace garden was HUGE (which is to be expected) with fountains, pieces of architecture scattered throughout the groves of orange trees that were all blossoming as we walked around. It was like stepping into a little heaven. I LOVED it there. (See right, how can you NOT love that?!?)

After absorbing all the history we could about the palace and soaking in enough sun in its gardens, we headed back to the Cathdral (see left) to see if we could hop in to explore more. We stopped to eat lunch on the way, sitting outside to soak in more of the sun's rays. For the first time in Europe though, I actually got sunburned. And I was okay with that! With a little food in our bellies, we went back into the Cathdral. It truly was magnificent with it's VERY tall vaulted ceilings (see right) and gold encrusted altarpiece (see below right). Christopher Columbus's tomb is also there, something I wanted to see. It's funny, as Americans, we learn about how Columbus discovered us, sort of. But in Spain, he's LEGEND! He really started their conquering of the 'New World' and initiated much of the Spain colonization of the centuries that followed his voyages. His remains were brought back from Cuba and now remain in the cathedral in an elaborate tomb. His casket is held aloft by the kings of the four kingdoms of Aragon, Leion Castile and Navarra (see above left, if you can see it at all). My picture is kind of dark, but if you want to see a better image of it use Google. :) We climbed up the attached bell tower, called the Giralda, which used to be a minaret. (A minaret is an architectural term for tall spires that appear on Islamic mosques, the word itself means 'lighthouse' in Arabic. Fun Fact!) The views were beautiful from the top (see below right), though getting up there was exhausting. Although, you climb ramps to get to the top instead of stairs, which was orignally supposed to be so people could go to the top on horseback. (Another Fun Fact). After pictures were taken on all sides, we journeyed down the ramps, and out of the cathedral.

We walked down to the river to enjoy a little siesta time...and also get some more sun! After enjoying the inside of our eyelids for a bit, we ventured in search of some souvenirs and sangria. We were successful with both! Post-sangria we decided to grab some dinner, and went back to our 'find' of the night before, Levies (see below left). Carolyn and I shared some tapas, including meat in tomato sauce (which was actually really good) and a tuna/bacon combination (which was NOT so good). I also tried some pasta salad, that was the most vibrant orange I've ever seen (all can be seen in picture below left.) It was okay, but nothing fantastic. I should have just ordered LOTS of the 'meat in tomato sauce'! Either way, we all were able to fill up and we went back to the hostel to relax and shower before that night! We had planned on going to see Flamenco that night, and we bought our tickets for it at the hostel. Relaxing ensued until it was time to meet up with the rest of the others staying at our hostel to go to Flamenco. We realized, as we were walking with our large group, that it wasn't the most organized event. The bar we went to, to see the Flamenco, was empty when we arrived, and the girls that performed, although they were good, did very little dancing. They were in normal street clothes, not the traditional dress I had imagined, and actually sang for us while a guy accompanied them on a guitar. It was cool to watch, but not what we had anticipated. We also had paid quite a bit to come see them, and I was a bit annoyed that we didn't get to see REAL Flamenco. Oh well, we had a fun night out at the bar that night before heading home, pretty late, to the hostel.

Stay tuned for Malaga - the final stop on the Spain adventure!

Valencia

On to Spain city numero dos: Valencia! We left Barcelona early, so we could make use of the day in Valencia. We arrived right around lunch time, and the train we took to get there wasn't too long either. The first we wanted to do, once we had successfully checked into the hostel, was EAT! (Notice a trend here?) Valencia is known for their paella, so we had paella round two while soaking in the sunshine. It was tasty, but no where NEAR the deliciousness of the paella we devoured in Barcelona. It did the job though, and we headed back to the hostel to change into more appropriate clothes (it was warmer than we had anticpated) and also check out our hostel's rooftop terrace! Although very cool, the view was a bit obscured by fence, though the sun shining down on us was wonderful.

We started off the day's adventure by going back to the square/plaza where we had lunch. The plaza is home to the Catedral and Migulete, which is the bell tower attached to the Catedral. We grabbed some ice cream (see above right) while we walked around snapping photos. We then walked over to the Plaze de la Reina, which had some beautiful buildings and a very cool fountain (see left). Off to the side of the Plaza was this little garden, which we were delighted to discover was FULL of orange trees! They were too high to grab (we did try) but their blossoms smelled FANTASTIC! If they made an orange blossom perfume, I would buy it. We sat on benches in this little garden for quite some time, taking in the wonderful aroma, and finishing our ice cream. It was truly heaven (see right)!

With our noses full of the wonders of orange blossoms, we pressed on. We went down to the Mercado Central, or Central Market. Sadly, it wasn't open. This was due to it being Easter! This was about the time we realized that it WAS Easter, and that lots of things may not be open. After a bit of souvenir shopping, we walked further into the city. I was so impressed with the architecture in Valencia, though similar to the other Spanish cities, it just seemed to have it's own flair (see right). All the buildings had the beautiful scalloped edges and were different shades of pastels. I could have walked around for quite some time, just taking in the buildings! But, that did get dull after awhile, so we headed in the direction of the Jardín del Turia, which go along the middle of the city, like a river would (it actually used to be a river, back in the day). We had a few pit-stops (see left) on the way...climbed a few trees...played on some playground equipment, and I took a few dog pictures...as I like to do. We made it eventually...took in the view...found a good spot on the grass...and proceeded to take siestas. What a great tradition that is! I'm FOR it! After our little respite, we wandered through the garden further and happened upon a game of fútbol (soccer to those of us in the US). We watched for a bit before walking to the Jardines del Real (Royal Gardens), which were close by. These were MUCH more pretty than the area we had napped in, and were also FILLED with the wondrous orange trees (see right)! This time, we REALLY wanted to pick one. I being the shortest, was not the optimal choice for orange picker...Carolyn ended up going for one. She was successful! We each tried a slice and found out that we don't like the way oranges from these trees tasted, just how they smelled. We donated the remainder of the orange to the local birds. Speaking of birds, there were cages full of them in the middle of the Jardines del Real, and we took plenty of pictures of them! It was now time for our sangria break, which we enjoyed along with some tapas of fried potatoes. Afterward our liquid consumption came to an end, we wandered more throughout the gardens before heading back towards central Valencia. The Catedral was open now, which it wasn't this morning, so we were able to look around inside and even take in Easter Mass, in Spanish (see right)! Also, REALLY cool side note, this church is the supposed home to the Holy Grail! We weren't able to SEE the 'Holy Chalice' but still, being IN the church that houses it, ON Easter...that was pretty cool. Kind of gave me goosebumps! We even climbed to the top of the Miguelete bell tower (LOTS of stairs...LOTS) to see the sun set and catch the bells tolling. Took some GREAT pictures (see below) before we started the decent down. Dinner time arrived and we found a perfect spot. Carolyn had tried 'bocaditos' while in Madrid, and recommended them to the rest of us. These are little sandwiches (see left), a euro or so each, and you order multiple - each can be different. It was fun to try different sandwich toppings, and we all ooh'd and aah'd over them as we consumed each one. We washed it all down with some lemon beer, or the Spanish version of Summer Shandy! (Thought of Doug - who is INVOLVED with Summer Shandy, he likes it so much.) We hit the sack to prepare for Day #2 in Valencia...

Day #2 started off with some traditional Catalonia (the region we were in, in Spain) Easter fare for breakfast (a day late, we did realize). They call it 'mona' (see right) and it's cake that can be shaped in festive ways with a hard boiled egg in the middle of it. I enjoyed mine quite a bit, and even ate the entire hard boiled egg (of which I'm not a HUGE fan of usually.) We ate our breakfast in a plaza outside a small hidden church. We HAD to explore the church afterward, and I was surprised by how big it was inside! It also had a beautiful rose window, one of my favorite architecture pieces in churches. After church exploration had ceased, we walked in search of the train station, where were going to secure our tickets for the following day to Seville. We found out our train ride was going to be 8 hours, joy. Oh well, we still our day in Valencia - we could worry about the train the next day, when we were ON it!

Our plan for the day was to rent bikes (see left) and explore the areas of the city that were a bit on the outskirts. We found the bike rental place successfully, grabbed the bikes, and were off! We even had little baskets, which was handy with how heavy our purses were (I can cart an impressive amount of crap in there...ask anyone). We biked along the Jardín del Turia, heading towards the Mediterranean (our end destination). We found a much prettier part of the gardens that we didn't get a chance to see the day before. Beautiful fountains everywhere (see left)...which meant lots of pictures! We eventually made our way into the Ciudad de las Artes y last Ciencias (City of Arts and Sciences) where there are many different museums to tour (see below). We wanted to go into L' Oceanografic one, which was a huge aquarium. We grabbed lunch after we made it inside, mine was a tasty tortilla espanola sandwich (potato omelette on bread basically...TASTY!). We then proceeded to watch lots of fish, penguins, sharks, rays, birds, flamingoes, jelly fish and even dolphins at the park's daily dolpin show (see below left). I really enjoyed the jellyfish tank, as the jellyfish were all lit up against the deep blue water, which made for fun viewing. Also, I have no idea why, but penguins are very entertaining to watch...as the waddle around and flop into the water and swim about. Enjoyed those as well! Full of knowledge about creatures of the sea, we grabbed the bikes and headed off in search of the Mediterranean! We had some difficulty, did a little off-roading, but eventually found the pier! We made a quick pit stop at the musuem dedicated to the American Cup (a BIG sailing race, that Carolyn had to explain to the three non-sailors) before grabbing some daily sangria and snack. We sat right along the beach, and were a bit sad as the sun had disappeared, and the air had gotten quite chilly. We still tested out the water anyway, with only our feet though. Frolicked in the sand for a bit, took LOTS of photos (see below) and hopped about in the waves. Before long, the cold air got the best of us though.

We headed back to return our bikes and find a place to eat some dinner. We decided that the bocaditos were SO good the previous night, that we'd be alright consuming them again - and we did! More lemon beer too!! We started to come up with games to be played during our day-long train trip the next day...coming up with a solid 32 options. (Many of which made the Top Ten!) Ice cream was dessert (and it was SO good, mango and strawberry - see right), and we proceeded to walk around town for the next hour, window shopping, chatting about life, and consuming our ice cream. We had intended to go out that night, but it ended up being only our walk and then bed for us that evening. We stayed up chatting more, about all sorts of random things (by the end of the trip, we knew WAY too much about everyone) before hitting the pillow.

Valencia was wonderful, and we had such a great time on both of our days there. I took WAY too many pictures, ate WAY too much great food and even added to my freckle collection! I would love to go back to Valencia to wander more throughout the city, licking another fantastic ice cream cone and feeling the sun on my face. :)