Las Fallas - After a long week since the family left, Sean and I left Thursday afternoon for Valencia, the location of the Spanish festival las fallas. Las Fallas is celebrated for a week every year in Valencia to bring in the spring. To personify the coming of spring, the valencians traditionally brought all of the junk out of their attics and burnt it on the street. In more modern times however, each "falla" or neighborhood creates their own float of highly combustible material, and each one is later set on fire as a celebration of the spring. Sean and I decided to take the train, which took about 6 hours - which we were fortunately able to bring some drinks along, and arrived in Valencia at around 11:30 ready to experience the festivities.

We were able to meet up with John-Watson, Justin, and Sully after the most amazing fireworks spectacular I have ever seen, and shortly thereafter we made our way to an outdoor nightclub filled with about 5,000 in a park with a dj. We finished the night in a bar near the beach after some kebaps, and shortly afterwards caught the morning train back home to Madrid.

When we got home, we were fortunate enough to have Hansen invite us over for a huge Tex-Mex feast, where we stuffed ourselves with burritos, and went to bed shotly thereafter in great expectations of our huge week to come.

Rome - I woke up at 5:30 the next morning to prepare for our epic journey to Rome with Sean. Ben had departed for France to visit his family the previous afternoon, so Sean and I headed to Barajas to catch our 8:30 flight to Rome. We flew beside a Spanish bishop who was headed to the Vatican for a meeting, which was pretty awesome. When we landed, Taryn was waiting for us at the gate, and we grabbed some lunch and checked into our hostel. Shortly afterwards, we took the Roman metro (really s***ty) to Vatican City where we toured the Saint Peter's Vasilicus Chapel and the Vatican Museum (including the Sistene Chapel). While leaving the Vatican we took the coolest elevator ride ever with a guy who cracked jokes on his elevator operating job and escorted us in a wood paneled, seated elevator to the exit. We then took a break to get ready for dinner and went to an amazing Italian restaurant somewhat off the beaten path, and to a hookah bar and to sleep. However, we did manage to take the night bus home, when in Rome, which no one pays for and is simply a party bus throughout town. There is simply something at every turn here in Rome.

The following day (Sunday), we went and visited the Colleseum, Palletine Hill, and the Roman Forum, while enjoying Pizza the entire day. After meeting a guy from Atlanta, we went out for a bit and then called it a night. The following day we visited an amazing park called…. And then Taryn got sick which was no fun, a precursor to myself. At 6, Taryn hopped on her bus to the airport, and at 6:45, I caught the high speed rail to Venice, where Sean met me at the station.

After my superquick train ride Sean and I wondered the streets of Venice for about 3 hours. We then settled in for the night, knowing a big day would be ahead of us. We got a great hostel for only 12€ a night right in the heart of Venice. We had a huge day, and after fooling around for a bit we jumped on the water taxi and were taken not to another Venician site, but another part of Italy all together.