Valencia

Hello....
Amy and I are in valencia! Took a rapid train to get here from madrid. It was cool. Very smooth, didnt really notice we were moving. They showed bones on tv. In spanish and English. Fascinating. First impression-wise, Madrid is cuter. In madrid it seemed all the buildings were quaint/charming even in less desirable neighborhoods. Valencia is a little more modern so it has newer/ lamer looking buildings. But we haven't walked around enough yet to really figure anything out. There is an older area we are supposed to go check out. We saw a little of it, but not tons yet. also apparently they speak a different language than Spanish here. Sneaky sneaks.

Today we tried to go to the beach, and got lost. We ended up going to a huge park instead. The city drained/diverted the river about fifty years ago and in the last fifteen or tweny years turned the whole thing into a giant park. It was so cool looking. Every 100 yards or so the scenery changed to a different park feature, fountains, trees, benches, pool type things... At the end if the park is the ciudad de las artes y ciencias. Really amazing architecture and cool reflecting pools and plants. They also had... A DINOSAUR exhibit!! But it was five euro to enter so we took some photos from the outside. I got a super weird tan line on my feet today. Crisscross sandals= alien feet.

yesterday Amy and I found a market a couple blocks away, so we picked up some cheap noodles, cheese, bread, sauce, and 1 euro wine. We are going to try to find our way back today and get some more bread and cheese. Cheaper that eating in restaurants.

Forgot to mention, we are staying in a room in an apartment in Valencia. The apartment is in a neighborhood that appears to be valencia's version of china town. Awesome.
So far the apartment has worked out well. I miss meeting people in the hostels, and the fact that they plan activities for you like tours and pub crawls. We are going to try to find a hostel here and crash some of their events. The apartments were just so much cheaper here and in Barcelona and Paris, that it doesn't make sense to do a hostel...

Time to siesta!