Valenciaaaaaa...

This weekend, a group of us girls went to Valencia, a city about 2 hours by train from Alicante.  It is to the north and it is referred to as the "rey" of Valencia, the province (Alicante is part of the province also, Valencian Community, it is called). "Rey" is King.  In Valencia, I found a building with AON written on the windows, same font, same logo as Dad's company!!! I went crazy.  I felt very close to home.  Valencia is fantastic!!  Way prettier than Granada or even Alicante.  All the architecture is authentic and old.  Aurora says that in Alicante in the 60s and 70s they tore down all the old architecture to create high rises for money's sake, because Alicante is a very tourist-y city where the beach is very near the city center.  

When we first got to Valencia, it was night time.  We walked about 20 min to our hostel.  It was soooo neat!  When we got to the hostel, we met Sergio, a guy with a huge beard and really long hair.  He was super nice and helped us with everything.  He gave us our towels and sheets for the beds and luckily all 6 of us got to be in the same room, room 12.  It was so quirky and kitschy at the hostel.  All the room doors were huge photographs of the numbers in some situation.  Room 35 was a SPEED LIMIT 35 sign from the States.  All over was the letter Z.  The letter Z was everywhere!  On the walls, lights, stuff like that...so of course I thought of all the Zeiters and Zoellners and Zonkers I know.  I will post pictures of some of the examples.  That night we went to look for a tapas restaurant but after a long time we couldn't find one and it was already 11 o clock...so we ate kebabs...typical fast food.  Not very authentic or good but cheap.  So thennn, we went out to a few different places.  They were more disco types than there are in Alicante, which i didnt like as much, and things are more expensive there.  i am coming to realize that we have it really good in Alicante as far as prices go.  

Saturday, we woke up at around 10 and we went to eat after getting ready.  We ate in a corner cafe outside.  It was windy but it was sunny, so it was a little cool.  We ate a bocadillo or a sandwich on french bread with tortilla española on it and a café con leche.  It was pretty good but the food got cold really fast because it was so windy!  Afterwards, we walked across the street to the Mercado Central (central market).  It is just like the one in Alicante but prettier and bigger!  We bought a bunch of dried fruit and Valencian oranges to eat for snacks while we were there,  I made it home with 3 oranges left.  Then, at about 2pm, we took the 95 bus to the Ciudad de Arte y Ciencias (City of Arts and Science)  which is just incredible!  Every building is an engineering marvel.  Pictures to follow.  It is hard to describe without pictures.  There we spent all afternoon in the Aquarium called L'Oceanográfic (in Valencian) and we also went to dolphin show!! It was soooo fun.  Afterwards, a little girl came up to my friend Lacey (who is a redhead) and she gave her a big kiss.  It was sooo cute.  Then her sister asked Lacey if she could give her a kiss also.  It was so adorable.  The show was great.  The music that they put on in the background included Rhianna's "Disturbia" and also yankee doodle and Forrest Gump soundtrack.  Also from Star Wars.  Gotta love America's influence.  The aquarium was awesome!  We got back at about 5:30 and we really wanted to try to get tapas again, but it was too early because nothing opened for tapas until 9pm.  So we went to get ready, then went to an Italian restaurant because that was all we could find.  I still have yet to enjoy tapas with my girlfriends!  Afterwards, we went out with a big group from 6 hostels that was arranged through a company.  It was really fun.  We got to try "Agua de Valencia" (Valencian water) which is orange juice, champagne, and vodka mixed together..it was delicious but too sweet!  I didn't drink the whole thing.  But good to try.  

This morning we woke up and went to get some breakfast.  We went to a restaurant near our hostel.  The waitress was rude, but everyone here is, so it was understandable.  Its just a way of life, and we are American, so to us, it is strange.  I miss the friendliness of the US.  Here they say that Americans have a false friendliness, and that when the Spanish want to be friendly, they really are, and its genuine.  Well, all I know is that when I say hi to someone on the street it makes me feel better, and thats all I know. After, we went to a pretty plaza where there are 2 cathedrals, and there was a big dancing exposition going on.  It was beautiful and warm so we stayed there for a little bit.  Then we got ice cream at this great place, then left for our train.

We had a realllly fun girls weekend.  We are hoping the boys realized how important we are, in other words, we hope they had a terrible weekend without us (suffering....)  Valencia is a gorgeous city.  I will post the pics as soon as I can!  I miss you all!!!!