Spagna 3

WOW that was still only 3 days' worth of description. So much for being SUCCINCT.

Day 7, April 6, 2010. We had to check out so we could move to a different room. This is because when we were booking online it told us the room we wanted wasn't available for both of us for all the nights we needed, so we stealthily booked twice...once for the room until it was no longer available, then again for a second room for the remaining nights. This is all RIVETING I know. Anyways we packed up our stuff (I defied many laws of physics when I managed to zip up my suitcase), stripped our sheets, and "checked out." Our new room wasn't ready yet so we left our things and headed out to do stuff. First we went to the indoor market that was about 20 seconds away from the hostel. It was like a food toy store or mall or something...never has food shopping been so FUN AND EXCITING! The building itself was pretty sweet, all glass and sunny and spacious, it probably used to be a train station. And then there were infinite stands of food...fruit, veggies, chocolate, cheese, skinless bloody goat heads. Ok so some things weren't as enticing. We bought sandwich supplies, made sandwiches back at the hostel, then headed out again to do stuff. We stopped in some lovely churches, got money from an ATM (don't even get me started on how much we spent that trip...), and made our way to El Museu de Bellas Artes. Well first we ate our sandwiches in an industrial parking lot. Naww, it was a park. Just wanted to mix things up. Turned out, the museum was FREE! aww yee. The paintings were nice. So were the couches. The main features were Velazquez' self-portrait and an El Greco. I didn't want to walk to death again so after that we headed back in the direction of the hostel. We saw LOS TORRES SERRANOS and it seemed that one could go up. But it wouldn't open for another hour so, to pass the time, we ate some cake. We found this little outdoor cafe and I got dulce de leche cake and Camilla got coffee. Most satisfying. But the towers were still closed...lame. So we decided, instead, to see a little trinket you may have heard of called THE HOLY GRAIL. Yes, Valencia is where the holy grail is kept. But first, TO THE TOWER! It only cost 2 euros to climb the Cathedral's tower. Absolutely worth it...the views were stunning and it was a beautiful sunny day. Climbing and descending 200 some-odd stairs was made easier by the fact that the walking we had done thus far was limited. Indeed. We timed it perfectly! (and unknowingly) because when we were done with that it was just after 5:30, which is apparently when the church becomes free. Alas you must pay to see the grail. But the interior of the Cathedral is incredible. There are two huge GOYA paintings! Back at the hostel we met our new roommate, who was unimaginably nice, and made dinner (pasta with "sauteed" aka pulverized cherry tomatoes and arugula). Then we were craving somefin SWEET (when am I not) and so we went to this nice place that the girl at the desk had recommended, for amazing dessert. I got a MOLTEN BROWNIE AND MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP ICE CREAM. Extremely appetizing. Then we wanted to find a bar or SOMETHING but we were rather discouraged to find that nothing was open/alive/appealing, so it turned into a stroll that brought us to 1 AM.

Day 8, April 7, 2010. We went to the market once more. And this time, we got a MANGO!!!!!!!!!! Enthusiasm because mangoes are my favorite fruit in the world. I have NEVER had a bad mango. It was a tad pricey but insanely worth it. We chilled at the hostel til about 2:15 when we left for the TAPAS TOUR that the hostel offers every day. It sounded extremely appealing. They take you to 5 or so tapas restaurants and the whole thing is only 10 or so euros. So we came outside to find it was raining. Pouring, more like. Even under our (decrepit) umbrellas we got SOAKED. As we approached the plaza where we were supposed to meet we realized there were very, very few people in the general vicinity. So we hoped to God that the group of people huddled under some trees was the tapas tour. Two of them were. One of them was the guide. We needed at least 4 people to do it or else they would lose money. Of course, nobody else showed up. SIIGH. As we waited we discovered the extent of our guide's personality. He was an exuberant young Scottish rogue. I could NOT understand the words coming out of his mouth. At one point he said "it's getting kind of red," indicating the sightly rust on my umbrella, but I heard "red" as "wet," and so I was just like, yup, that tends to happen in the rain...Anyways all was not lost. After pumping the tire in his bike he brought all 3 of us to the best tapas place he knew of. The other girl was Australian and we had a pleasantly mature and uninspiring conversation while we ate. EVERYTHING ON THE MENU WAS ONE EURO. EVERYTHING ON THE MENU WAS ONE EURO. Had to say it twice in case you missed it the first time. But seriously. Awesome. I probably could have ordered more food than I did...I just got 2 ickle sandwiches (one with tuna...not TUNA, but rather tuna fish. Difference. Me no like. The other had baby shrimp and aioli sauce, SO GOOD), which came with chips, AND FRENCH FRIES. The fries came late (I was extremely proud that I understood the Spanish the woman said to me..."the French fries are missing to you. We'll call you later." This was VITAL information). They were literally the best fries of my life. They came with 4--count 'em, FOUR--dipping sauces: ketchup, aioli, and others that I forget. It had stopped raining, perfect for botanical garden seeing. But before that we stumbled upon something that turned out to be free to enter and so we entered. It was the most bizarre modern "art" "museum" I've ever seen. One piece was just three suits hanging on the wall that, at random intervals, would just randomly start SHAKING, to scare the bejesus out of people. Or at least me. It was just too bizarre to enjoy. How can you not feel like you're on drugs when you see such WEIRD THINGS. After that we went to the Botanical Gardens. Twas nice. There were approximately 400 cats, and that was the best part. Black cats, white cats, calico cats, big cats, small cats, nice cats, scardy cats. It got hilarious. Especially when we were sitting on a bench and one of them literally ran up to us, jumped onto our same bench, and crawled into Camilla's lap. Then mine. And when we had had enough scabies, it made its way to a woman wearing headphones on another bench. The face she made was most amusing. After that we went to a museum we had passed. I liked it a lot--there were Picasso drawings and a painting from the blue period, the painting that's on the cover of my copy of The Awakening (I've never read it, it was a gift I got at the end of my summer job at a writing camp 4 years ago), and William Kentridge films (in the more modern section) that we had watched in my drawing class last year. That's modern art I can appreciate. We stayed until it closed. When we got back we had this whole plan to make authentic Spanish tortilla. It was an ordeal. And it failed. :( Flipping the thing requires EXTREME SKILL that neither of us have. But it still tasted aite. Plus we had the MANGO, which always makes up for any food that is not as tasty as a mango. Then we tried to go to this place called The Music Box--the hostel had free mint mojito coupons that we wanted to take advantage of. We had passed by it the night before and it was heavy-duty-BARRED up. But tonight, the Scottish guy (who is also the pub crawl leader, another activity organized by the hostel) announced that The Music Box was on the list of destinations. A total of 0 people had shown up for the pub crawl. Then he saw us and asked how the tapas were, but because I didn't understand him again I thought he was asking if we wanted to come out just for food and I said "no, I don't think sooo....OH THE TAPAS! YEAH IT WAS GREAT!" Camilla and I still wanted to go out. We passed by The Music Box and it was as vacant and barred up as ever, so we went to this other terrible over-priced place first to wait and see if it was just because we had come to early. Nope, it was barrrrrrrrrred up still at 12:45. Irritation. Oh well, can't say we didn't try.

Day 9, April 8, 2010. We checked out of the hostel of excellence (for those planning on going to Valencia, I HIGHLY recommend it: Home Youth Hostel), but we kept our stuff there (they don't charge you for it unlike the LAST hostel of non-excellence) so we could do stuff. We went once more to the market in search of flowers for Camilla's aunt and uncle, who would be hosting us for our last few days. :) Smiley face to the max. We couldn't find any so she ended up buying them chocolates from a very nice Spanish lady instead. I was broke for the eighteenth time and I guess I anticipated this happening because I had brought the $50 my grandparents gave me for Christmas. It was high time to exchange it for euros. After waiting in a huuge line, I realized I couldn't communicate with the tellers. They got some man standing in line to translate: I needed my passport. Embarrassing. Back to the hostel to fetch the passport. A few more embarrassing miscommunications and I got mah money! Believe me, 35 euros felt like a LOT. After that we started wandering in a new direction, went into a few stores before they all closed up for the 5-hour lunch break, and ended up at the bull fighting stadium. Cool! Well not really, I NEVER want to see a bull fight. So cruel. But it was still cool. Then it was time for almuerzo so we decided on a tapas place that we had passed several times and was always crowded when everything else was dead. It was a restaurant experience unlike any other: dozens upon dozens of plates of little sandwiches (bocadillos? the word just came to mind because it seems like it would translate to "little mouthfulls" which is exactly what they are) topped with brightly colored things. You get a plate and then proceed to fill said plate with as many sandwiches as you want, making more trips as necessary. I ate 7 or 8. They charge you based on how many toothpicks you leave. Something Camilla rightly pointed out: could you not theoretically pocket these toothpicks? I guess Spaniards are honest folk. I have no idea what was in the vast majority of my sandwiches but my favorite had jam and cream cheese. Then there was one with fried mushroom cream that was also yummy. Actually they weren't really sandwiches because there was only one piece of bread involved. Anyways it was good. Then we made our way to the train station. The confusion that ensued was so stressful I do not want to recount it because it will stress me out again, but frantic sprinting and broken Spanish/English questioning and answering were involved. After a half hour of stomach-ulcer-inducing chaos, we found ourselves on the CORRECT TRAIN, BOUND FOR XATIVA (pronounced Jativa, with a soft Spanish J, accent on the first syllable)! WOO! The scenery got progressively prettier along the way. 35 minutes later we were meeting Camilla's Spanish aunt, Pepi, and her two adorable 9-year-old twin cousins, Alex and Richard (I don't know why there are suddenly so many twins in my life, but it rules). It's the coolest thing ever: Camilla's uncle is British, so the boys know both English and Spanish. They're a little more fluent in Spanish, though, so they have the CUTEST accents when they speak in English. After stopping to pick up nuts at a warehouse (yes there are nut warehouses in Spain), we drove to their house. They live in an even smaller town, called Aielo. They mentioned many times about how there's nothing to do there and their life is very boring but the town was so charming I don't think I would mind. Their apartment is very nice, with an amazing view of the green hills in the distance. Right away Pepi made us tea and we had cookies and this yummy honey cereal that the boys were eating. Then it was decided that we would accompany the boys to this park. Which was essentially kiddie paradise: an endless line of MOON BOUNCES. I used to LOVE those things. I probably still would if I wasn't too old/big to go inside. So Camilla and I watched and waited like the rest of the Spanish parents (weeird) while they bounced away. It was a feeling that I will never have again, being directly in the middle of the most community of community activities in the most provincial of provincial places. After we finally were able to drag them away (not literally but we did have to tell them it was time to go...it was getting cold and impatient), we went back home, where we watched cartoons together! :D :D :D Can I say how much I miss watching TV? Italian "game shows" that are on every night do NOT count. And guess what we watched. SPONGEBOB. Because the twins LOVE Spongebob. As do I, not gonna lie. And they were GOOD episodes that I hadn't seen before. I severely enjoyed myself. Then Pepi came in and said we could read with the boys. Camilla and I sat on Alex's bed (Richard was too busy spazzing around in his room, I don't know what he was doing but it was pretty bizarre) and we all read until dinner was ready. Dinner for the grown-ups, that is. Camilla's uncle, Henry, teaches English during the day so we didn't really get to see him until then. He is the most hilariously bitter and pessimistic man I have ever met. My favorite was how he calls Pepi, who is as skinny as I am, "Chunky." When discussing really any item of food in the kitchen, he'd have some comment like "Oh that's nasty isn't it." Hahaha. We ended up talking til about 11:15. The only only only unideal thing about our stay there was the cold in the house. I've never been as cold in my life in a bedroom, and that's saying something given the subzero temperatures I've experienced in my room in Florence. However, my concluding line in my journal for this day is "It's FREEZING in here but I don't mind as much in these circumstances."