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So Tuesday afternoon we arrivedto beautiful weather in Valencia! We checked into our hostel and showered. And guess what? We found ANOTHER starbucks! So we just had to go. Carson had heard about a good palce to eat, but it wasn't open until 9. So after starbucks, we went to tappas (which is like the Italian aperitivo), and had curry meatballs at a little place owned by a British man who served us.We went to La Riva for dinner where the 6 of us split really good paella and arroz negro - squid with rice colored with squid ink (Kelley and I split that one). Then all of us but Kelley, who was feeling ill, went out and had mojitos. We met these Irish boys on the street who were staying in our hostel, they were quite amusing, but we just called it a night.
Wednesday, the 22nd, alex, katy, sara, and I got our starbucks and went on a free tour of Valencia. Tell Monty Python not to worry because… I found the holy grail! It's in Valencia! Who knew? I didn't actually get to see it because mass was going on when I went in the church. But anyway, Johnny, our tourguide from Nonstop tours, took us around and explained how Valencia was like a retirement place for Romans, and then was taken over by spain, where muslims and Christians fought over the area. This explains why some of the buildings have pieces of other buildings. Because they would tare down each others structures and use the same materials to rebuild churches and buildings for themselves. See some of the pictures. We saw the gate of Valencia that used to be a prison for nobles, and a post office that was home of 2 corrupt popes and where some of the mafia started. The Valencia emblem is a bat above a crown, above striped alternating yellow and red, with 2 L's. the bat signifies the bat that woke the prince of Valencia up which allowed him to see there were intruders in the distance. The four red stripes are symbolic of a nobles four bloody fingers running down his shield, and the 2 L's are to show that Valencia is doubly loyal.By the end of the tour it was pouring, and the sidewalks were marble. So I had to literally carry katy back to the hostel, where we all changed our soaking wet clothes.
After our tour, we picked up Kelley who was dying, and carson who was shopping. We went to lunch and got tortillas…which I mistakenly pronounced as it is written…They really are just omletes on baguette. Then carson went to go do more shopping. The now 5 of us went exploring. Kelley this time wore shoes with no grip, and I supported her around Valencia. We stumbled upon a noble's house that had a restored ceiling that Johnny was talking about. Then we found a little shop called cactus, and I bought a going out shirt? It had been pouring all day, so we rewarded ourselves with orxcata, which is tiger nut milk and lots of sugar, hot chocolate, and real churros. Delicious, you dip the churros in cocoa. We again changed at the hostel, and went to the tappas place for dinner. Curry meatballs, salads, and caipirinhas. Caipirinhas are the Brazilian equivalence of mojitos. I got online to read an email from dad that my flight home was cancelled. No joke. So I guess I'm just not coming home guys! No in reality, I contacted swiss air and I will be back on December 17th. We all got ready, and met the irish guys upstairs in the hostel, where we each had a beer. Then we walked outside and stood on the sidewalk for like an hour before the woman for the pub crawl came around. We went to three bars. At Blau, we had aqua de Valencia, which is like a Momosa in a bottle. Then we went to the next bar and had some sangria. And stayed at the third bar until late.
Thursday, we all slept in till 12. The greasy tuna melt I had at foster's American grill made me feel a lot better. We also split nachos and fries. Then carson left to get her hair cut and do some more shopping. The 5 of us went to the museum of arts and sciences. The architecture there is unreal, its unlike anything I have ever seen, very futuristic. We went into the science museum and looked at everything possible. And one of their exhibits was chromosomes! I was very excited. Afterward, we picked Carson back up. We were planning on watching Flamenco dancing, but we found Chinese food instead, and thought that was a great idea. It was actually good. And then we went to starbucks for coffee and to buy breakfast for the next morning because we had to get an early start. Back at the hostel, we packed up and watched Catch Me if You Can with Leonardo Dicaprio.
Friday morning we woke up at 5:30am…remember that. to leave by 6 to catch the train at 6:40. Which we did. But at 7:20 when the train still hadn't moved, we were informed that on the tracks between Valencia and Barcelona, where we were flying out of, there was an accident. So we got our money back for the ticket and took 2 taxis to the bus station. There we realized the bus ride would be 5 hours and we would miss our flight. So we took 2 taxis back to the train station. They informed us that NO trains would be going to Barcelona that day. So we took 2 more taxis back to the bus station and got on a 5 hour bus ride to Barcelona. Once we were there, we took the metro back to mambo tango. Toti and marina let us use their internet to figure out how to get home, and we stored our bags there while we ate chicken curry and couscous. The next flight out that was cheap was at 8:20 Saturday morning. We from mambo tango, we took the metro to the bus station. We bought food and tickets, and got on another bus for an hour and a half to the airport. We ate nachos and fruit and thankfully the bad champagne and sangria we bought put me to sleep on the ever-so-comfortable airport bench. We woke up at 6 and checked in. our flight landed in rome at 10am. From there we had to take a bus to the train station. Then we got on a 3 hour train to Perugia, where we had to take a bus to the center and walk through the chocolate festival, exhausted and gross from the 34 hours we traveled home. We all showered, slept and did laundry . oh spain.
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