The window of our hostel in Valencia
Bridge crossing the city'spanning park in Valencia
Valencia
Valencia
Los Museos de las Ciencias y Artes, Valencia
In El Retiro park, Madrid
View from the tower of the cathedral in Valencia
The top of the tower of the cathedral in ValenciaSorry its been a while but we have been super busy so I haven´t had much time to write. Yesterday was our last day in Madrid and I think we did the city justice with all the sights we visited. Of course I am going to promise more pictures later like I have been this whole time... We visited the Del Prado museum. http://www.museodelprado.es/ Very impressive, lots of famous art. I am not an art person so we blazed through there pretty quickly but it was cool nonetheless. Afterwards we took a hike to El Retiro, the giant park. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buen_Retiro_Park Beautiful scenery, very large park. There was a lake in the middle with some massive statues and fountains. At this point my feet started to hurt pretty bad from all this walking we have been doing. I know I am not exactly fat but I bet I will be losing some weight on this trip. I am eating about half the amount of food in a day that I would in my daily grind in the US, and I am burning probably twice as many calories. After El Retiro, we walked through the downtown area of Madrid and saw some really cool buildings and streets.
When we mozied back to the hostel we met some American girls from Buffalo, New York who were staying there as well. One just graduated law school and the other did some work with digital media productions, I forgot exactly what (Sorry Asha!). We ended up hanging out with them for our last night. I promised them I would immortalize them in my blog, thus this. We had tapas and drinks for dinner at a nice place in some side street in Madrid, excellent food. One thing to note is that EVERY place I have eaten at has tried to overcharge us by putting something extra on the check or charging for something different. They did it again that night by charging us for 3x of a certain tapa instead of 2. I have had it corrected each time also...I wonder if they always prey on tourists like this... Anyways the food wasn´t nearly as good as the company we ate it with, we had a really great time with Asha and Christina, goofing off and basically doing dumb stuff. We tried to find some ¨cave bar¨on San Miguel street and this made for some interesting questions directed to some locals who never could tell us where it was... We also for some reason ended up walking by a street where prostitutes loiter around. Kind of a sad sight, the girls looked so normal but it was clearly obvious what they were there for.
All in all, I think one of the best things about this trip so far is meeting people like this. It´s easier to meet Americans in Spain than it is in America! Its also sad knowing that it will most likely be a fleeting encounter and you might never see the people again. Social network sites help as I made Facebook contact with Christina and found Asha´s blog already. Maybe when I come up to New York we can hang out!
We turned in pretty early last night and woke up at 5:50am to catch the 7:00am train to Valencia. Its a good thing we got there early because that train station was pretty dang confusing to a foreigner who had about 2 hours of sleep the night before. We finally got to the right place and our train was about 30 minutes late. The ride over to Valencia was pretty scenic, saw a castle and some cool countryside. Everything became alot greener the closer we got to the coast. After Blaze and I argued over the map we finally started walking off in the direction that the map said the hostel was. Turns out the map was entirely wrong, and the hostel was in a completely different area of the city. We found this out when we couldn´t find the street and hopped in a cab. I asked if it was close and he said ¨no, esta en el centro¨ (downtown) and he proceeded to drive us back the way we came and then some. I feel bad for whoever else followed this same map.
The hostel here is so much nicer than the last one. Much more modern, air conditioning, and alot of young people with much cooler common areas and all, plus it is right in the middle of the city. After checking in we started our routine trek around the city. Valencia is totally beautiful, a little bit cleaner and more open than Madrid and full of much more trees and flowers etc. We first went to the cathedral nearby and I was once again speechless when I entered. This one allowed us to climb to the top tower and look out though. The view from the top was breathtaking. I promise for some spectacular pictures to come. This also allowed us to get our bearings. There is a elongated park that wraps around and divides the main center of the city from the outer areas. One end of it is where the Museos de las Ciencias (science museums) are located. These are very modern and very artsy structures that are near the port on the water. We followed the park to them, then took a different route through the city on the way back. Altogether we probably walked about 12-13 miles. From what I have seen so far, Valencia´s population is a bit younger than that of Madrid. Lots of very attractive women in every direction.
Right now we are doing laundry, the place has computers you can use for 1 euro also. A good time to throw up a new blog post! I was totally stupid to not bring more than 4 pairs of socks, or more than 5 pairs of underwear. Everything I own is totally stankafied (new word) and it´s nice to get some clean clothes! More pictures and updates to come later.
Adios!
-Connor
When we mozied back to the hostel we met some American girls from Buffalo, New York who were staying there as well. One just graduated law school and the other did some work with digital media productions, I forgot exactly what (Sorry Asha!). We ended up hanging out with them for our last night. I promised them I would immortalize them in my blog, thus this. We had tapas and drinks for dinner at a nice place in some side street in Madrid, excellent food. One thing to note is that EVERY place I have eaten at has tried to overcharge us by putting something extra on the check or charging for something different. They did it again that night by charging us for 3x of a certain tapa instead of 2. I have had it corrected each time also...I wonder if they always prey on tourists like this... Anyways the food wasn´t nearly as good as the company we ate it with, we had a really great time with Asha and Christina, goofing off and basically doing dumb stuff. We tried to find some ¨cave bar¨on San Miguel street and this made for some interesting questions directed to some locals who never could tell us where it was... We also for some reason ended up walking by a street where prostitutes loiter around. Kind of a sad sight, the girls looked so normal but it was clearly obvious what they were there for.
All in all, I think one of the best things about this trip so far is meeting people like this. It´s easier to meet Americans in Spain than it is in America! Its also sad knowing that it will most likely be a fleeting encounter and you might never see the people again. Social network sites help as I made Facebook contact with Christina and found Asha´s blog already. Maybe when I come up to New York we can hang out!
We turned in pretty early last night and woke up at 5:50am to catch the 7:00am train to Valencia. Its a good thing we got there early because that train station was pretty dang confusing to a foreigner who had about 2 hours of sleep the night before. We finally got to the right place and our train was about 30 minutes late. The ride over to Valencia was pretty scenic, saw a castle and some cool countryside. Everything became alot greener the closer we got to the coast. After Blaze and I argued over the map we finally started walking off in the direction that the map said the hostel was. Turns out the map was entirely wrong, and the hostel was in a completely different area of the city. We found this out when we couldn´t find the street and hopped in a cab. I asked if it was close and he said ¨no, esta en el centro¨ (downtown) and he proceeded to drive us back the way we came and then some. I feel bad for whoever else followed this same map.
The hostel here is so much nicer than the last one. Much more modern, air conditioning, and alot of young people with much cooler common areas and all, plus it is right in the middle of the city. After checking in we started our routine trek around the city. Valencia is totally beautiful, a little bit cleaner and more open than Madrid and full of much more trees and flowers etc. We first went to the cathedral nearby and I was once again speechless when I entered. This one allowed us to climb to the top tower and look out though. The view from the top was breathtaking. I promise for some spectacular pictures to come. This also allowed us to get our bearings. There is a elongated park that wraps around and divides the main center of the city from the outer areas. One end of it is where the Museos de las Ciencias (science museums) are located. These are very modern and very artsy structures that are near the port on the water. We followed the park to them, then took a different route through the city on the way back. Altogether we probably walked about 12-13 miles. From what I have seen so far, Valencia´s population is a bit younger than that of Madrid. Lots of very attractive women in every direction.
Right now we are doing laundry, the place has computers you can use for 1 euro also. A good time to throw up a new blog post! I was totally stupid to not bring more than 4 pairs of socks, or more than 5 pairs of underwear. Everything I own is totally stankafied (new word) and it´s nice to get some clean clothes! More pictures and updates to come later.
Adios!
-Connor
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