Weekend In Valencia

So we thought it would be a good idea to go out on Thursday night and just save sleep for the train ride to Valencia (it wasn't). The cheap train took 7 hours, stopped a lot, and was very rickety. My friend Mel had forgotten to print off her tickets for the train though, so she ended up having to find her own way to Valencia by herself! She's fluent in Spanish though and actually arrived in Valencia at the same time we did because she took the faster train. We walked around until nighttime and decided we were too tired to go out. The next day, we went to La Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias which is a huge museum with a lot of different exhibits...we chose the Oceanographic museum which is the largest aquarium in Europe. We spent a couple hours there looking around and watched the dolphin show. Most of it was outside which was great since it was about 60 degrees and sunny! After the museum we went to the beach...which was what I was waiting for the whole weekend. It was beautiful...and my first sight of the Mediterranean Sea! It wasn't crowded at all (because 60 degrees is cold for Spaniards) so we just sat around, had lunch, and enjoyed it. I'll be posting pictures soon...I liked Valencia a lot but it was a lot like Madrid (besides the beach). I still think Madrid is my favorite city thus far. This weekend is Carnaval which is a Mardi Gras-esque holiday here. People dress up and party the whole weekend. So we're staying in Toledo this weekend but next weekend is Lisbon! I'll be updating more later.

Quick Update...

Hey everyone, sorry about the blog slacking on my end recently. I have spent the last two weekends in Toledo...the last one was unintentional. Last Thursday two of my friends and I had planned to spend the weekend in Dublin. We got to the Madrid airport to find out that our flight was cancelled because of bad weather in Dublin (a few inches of snow apparently...). So we went back to Toledo for a lowkey weekend without all our other friends (who had flights Friday morning which weren't cancelled). Jusy my luck of course. But Mel and I have already booked our flight and hostel in Dublin for the last weekend in March...so I WILL get to see the country I've been waiting my whole life to see...just a little later than I had planned. Saturday turned out to be fun, since we were in Toledo we were able to go to Radical with a couple of our friends that live in homestays. Radical is a club that's only open every other Saturday...basically its a huge warehouse FILLED with lights and people. It was a typical Spanish club, with lots of smoking and drinking until daylight. Rachel, Mel, and I only stayed until about 4:30 though. The next morning we got to hear all about the Ireland trip...bittersweet.

This weekend my friends and I decided to go to Valencia on a whim...which is okay because its cheap to buy bus/train tickets if you're going anywhere within Spain. We're really excited about the trip after reading about all there is to do there...including some amazing museums, the beach, and (Mom, you'll like this) the Holy Grail. The Cathedral of Valencia claims to house the actual chalice used by Jesus at the last supper. I'll try to get a picture.

So when I get back I'll be sure to tell you all about it and post pictures (an area I've also been slacking). One more thing...please feel free to comment on the posts. Right now it feels like I'm talking to myself...and I'm not one for diaries...