Friday morning we all met up in the Placa Catalunya at 8:45 am. We got on buses and drove about an hour and a half to Tarragona, a beautiful coastal city filled with Roman ruins. We had a guide, and she took us around the old city.
Walking into the Circo Romano.
The tunnels under the Roman Circo. All the doors were really short---I would have been a giant in ancient Tarragona.
Above the door to the Cathedral. The scene depicted is the Last Judgement.
The Cathedral of Tarragona. It isn't quite complete at the top--I believe they ran out of money?
The beautiful view we had during our picnic lunch.
Tina and I in the amphitheatre.
Almost all of the Spanish House. From the left there is Kyle, Christen, Johnny, me, Tina and Aaron.
Tarragona is so pretty. No wonder the Romans decided to build a fortress here.
The beautiful Roman Amphitheater of Tarragona.
After having lunch and seeing all the sights, we hopped back on the buses and continued 3 hours on to Valencia. It was a long trip, but it was kind of relaxing to just sit. A lot of people slept the majority of the way. I tried to stay awake as much as I could. :-)
The view from my hotel in Valencia! The statue in the middle is supposed to be a dragonfly, and I think the building behind it is the Opera House.
The next morning, we got up and had a breakfast at the hotel. They had an amazing buffet with lots of stuff, and it was nice having a good breakfast! Afterwards we got back on our tour buses and drove around Valencia a little. Each bus had a tour guide who spoke to us on the bus, as well as at each stop over the next 2 days. Ours was Pilar. I loved her. She was wonderful, and I felt bad that there were some rude people on my trip. Alas, I paid attention and I thought she was great.
Our first stop was the Commerce Center in Valencia.
The roof of a crazy room inside the Commerce Center.
The floor has been renovated, but they wanted to keep with a similar pattern to the original. It looks so 3-D.
Turn your head to the right. The ceiling is covered completely in gold!
All the towers in the building look like palm trees. The same architect is building a similar building in Chicago.
Tina and I tried the Horchata, a typical Spanish drink made from the brown nut chufa. It was...chalky. I didn't really like it, but at least I can say I tried.
We went to the market of Valencia! It is the largest in Europe. It was bustling with people when we went, and really really big.
This dome is painted with fruits to let you know you are in the fruit and vegetable section. There was another smaller dome painted with fish.
The facade of the market. The double L in the middle there was supposed to signify that Valencianos had double loyalty to the king.
We went down to the harbor to see where the America's Cup happened. This is looking out into the harbor where all the boathouses are for all the different countries who compete. It was a gorgeous day so we were lucky.
Then we ate lunch on the beach!
The view from our lunch spot, Vivir Sin Dormir. Tina and I gave in and had hamburgers. They were tasty. After lunch, we went on a tour of the Cathedral of Valencia.
The statue in the middle of this fountain is supposed to represent one of the 8 channels that contribute to the river Turria in Valencia. City officials decided to change the course of the river, so it no longer flows through the city. Instead, there are parks all over the place.
The intersecting A and M on the facade stand for Ave Maria--this entire Cathedral is dedicated to her.
This altar has an interesting story. She is "La Virgen de la Silla," or the Virgin of the Chair. It is Spanish tradition, that when a woman is 7-8 months pregnant, she is to come to the Cathedral to visit Mary. She is then supposed to walk around the entire church 9 times, to symbolize each of the 9 months of pregnancy. After doing so, she buys a candle and a postcard of the Virgin. When she goes into labor, she lights the candle. It is said that the baby will be born when the candle burns all the way down. It is then typical for the new mothers to bring Mary flowers in thanks for a good childbirth. I guess anything is worth trying once!
The Holy Grail lives in there...
The main altar of the Cathedral.
So that's the Holy Grail? I had no idea--apparently the Holy Grail accepted by the Pope and the Catholic church as "the one" lives in an altar in Valencia. Who would have thought?
This is a close up of the facade of the Cathedral.
The facade of the Cathedral. It is concave due to the fact that the architect didn't have much space, but wanted to make it as spectacular as possible. It was pretty stunning.
SAN VICENTE'S ARM. Wow, I've lived down from this guy's namesake street since I was 4, and now I've seen his arm.
The main altar. It was so beautiful, especially the blue ceiling with all the angels. All of the angels are depicted playing a different musical instrument. When the Pope came to visit Valencia, the church had each of the instruments made, and they played them together during Mass. Pretty sweet.
One of Goya's paintings hanging in the Cathedral in Valencia.After we left the Cathedral, and ate some yummy gelato, we went back to our hotel for naps. After a while we all decided to go get some dinner at Corte Ingles. We had some ham, bread, chips, and we bought some cheese to go with and it actually smelled like poop. Not kidding. We threw it out and 30 minutes later people were coming in and asking why it smelled funny. Gross.
We went out in the older are of Valencia, to a street called Los Caballeros. It was fun, but it seemed like everything closed at around 2 am. That's fine, but not for Spain--at least not like what we are used to in Barcelona! So after a hilarious pizza getting experience, we hopped in cabs and went back to our hotels for some sleep.
The next morning, we woke up, had another buffet breakfast (so good), and traveled to the Aquarium! It was an awesome complex; there were buildings all over that held the species present in the different oceans and seas around the world. I had a blast here.
Look at that fish. The colors that are on these fish are absolutely incredible.
One of the many tunnels of aquarium all over the place. These were really neat, and we saw a bunch of tank cleaners/scuba divers in here along the way.
He came up and followed that guy's finger you see. He was doing spins for us.
Hey seal, I love you.
Sea horses! They are so little and adorable.
This is a sea dragon.
Jellyfish. They were smaller than they look, but still cool.
My most favorite thing about Valencia. I seriously am in love with this seal.
My second most favorite thing: Julka, the eight year old beluga whale. Her partner, Cairo, is a lot older (25 I think). She, on the other hand, is adorable. And waving.
Hello Julka!
The seals were sunning themselves. I was jealous.
This was the dolphin show! They were amazing. I was so happy the entire time. I know it is sad that they live in an aquarium, but they looked like they were having fun when they were dancing. I love dolphins.
Me and one of my apartment mates, Tina, before the dolphin show.
Me with the penguins in the Arctic exhibit.
Penguins! These were Humboldt penguins.
This is the Science Museum of Valencia. It had a lot of hands on stuff, including an exhibit about being a spy, but it was the last stop in a long weekend and a lot of people were really tired.The one thing that disappointed me about this weekend was how much some people complained. It wasn't anyone I'm friends with, but there was a lot of whining going on (I'm tired/hungry/don't want to go/don't want to listen). If walking around a beautiful European city with a knowledgeable guide with friends is the worst thing that's ever happened to them, they are going to have rough lives.
After all the excitement we took a bus home to Barcelona. 4 1/2 hours of bus ride. It was pretty intense, but the highway is more or less along the coast the entire ride, and we all had our iPods. It was kind of nice to just sit and think. We got back around 8:30 pm and took a cab home. We had light dinners and showered, then got ready for bed.
The day that I thought would never come: classes began! I started off the morning at 8:30 with Los Gitanos, or "The Gypsies." John is in the class with me so I have a buddy. I think it's going to be a really interesting class, and definitely a challenge. That is due to the fact that the class is taught in Spanish, and my teacher is from Southern Spain with a thick southern Spain accent. Basically, she doesn't finish the ends of her words, and speaks with a very closed mouth. She acknowledged this, and so we'll work together to understand. I got everything she said, but you just have to pay close attention. That's good--it will keep me awake at 8:30 am! By the way, when I wake up here at 7:30, it's still dark outside. What is up with that?
I had a two hour break and had some coffee and a croissant with Tina, Aaron, and Elan at this little place down the street called Tapas Gaudi. I love the waiter there, he is so funny and nice to us. :-)
I had Spanish at 12, and again I have a buddy, but this time it is Aaron. I really like my teacher, but she is a little serious sometimes. She is from Madrid and for some reason that just seems to make sense to me when I listen to her speak. I think I'm going to learn a lot from her, and be able to fine tune my Spanish that much more. Little corrections here and there will be a big help in the long run.
I had another long break from 1 until 3:45, so Tina, Aaron and I went to go get some lunch. We had some sandwiches and then walked to the copy shop to buy our class readers, or dossiers. For all 5 classes it only ended up being about 77 euro, but then another 30 for 2 books I needed from another place. I still need 2 more books. Eek!
I had my final class of the day at 3:45, which was Catalan. I really enjoyed it! It's definitely going to be hard, but I was doing ok by the end. We're going to cover a lot of ground this semester, so I'll be able to give a 4-minute oral presentation by the end!
Aaron and I took a new way home tonight--the BUS. It was actually a lot faster and more convenient than the metro. I will definitely use the metro to go all over the city, but the bus is perfect for school. The monthly metro pass covers with bus as well, so it works out.
Tonight I made a recipe from my lovely sister Amy. (I'm giving you this shout-out in return for more recipes ;-). I had some lemon chicken with potatoes. It was easy and it actually tasted like something! I also had a little salad. Yum!
Now I've just been hanging out and working on this---the pictures take a really long time to upload! I have class tomorrow at 10:15, so I get to sleep in a little more. Sounds good to me.
Besos
No comments:
Post a Comment