Today, we decided to get breakfast at a local restaurant/coffee shop. L´Espresso was short on staff so we lucked out and had a wonderful waiter/cook/cashier named Jacquin. He actually lived in South Carolina for a year. He says that he still misses his Tacoma truck.
We headed towards The Cathedral and observed priests scurrying around in the midst of a service. Lynne was having Catholic flashbacks so we had to make a quick escape.
We walked through the Plaza de Virgen which is in the Old Quarter of Valencia and came upon a fountain surrounded by pigeons. The fountain is like a bronze "Falla" that honors the creativity of the Valencian character. It represents the Turia river in human form surrounded by its tributaries. This allegory made into a fountain is a monument to water and has been the subject of thousands of pictures.
I might add in here that Leanne has major issues with pigeons...psychological issues. I heard many cruel statements regarding the ´flying rats´ throughout the day. We did take a picture of a very fat pigeon that could not even be bothered to eat the scraps of food in front of him. His nickname became ´fat fuck.´
¨Just do it! Roll up your pants and go walk on water¨
We walked by an area that is covered in glass and if you look down you can see under the city. It was filled with rumble, but you could see the old structure of the city before they started 20th century modernization. The glass still held the rainfall from the previous day so it gave off a wonderful effect as the wind created ripples. Leanne and I teased Lynne about going out in to the center of the glass and standing in the middle of the water. That is until we found out how deep it actually was. Hence the quote.
Torres De Serranos
We have wonderful pictures of the two towers. They were definitely worth the hike up the stairs that kept taking my breath away. Yes, I know I should lose some weight. Damn skinny bitches! LOL! Please believe, I kept up with them AND there was a flag at the top AND I climbed a ladder to get to it. So there is a picture of me at the top of this tower hugging a flag pole. I rock!!!
Museo De Bellas Artes San Pio V
We all split up in the museum and met in the reception area and discussed our favorite paintings. I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw Jose de Ribera´s painting titled Saint Sebastian Nursed by the Devote Irene and her Maid. If anything the sharp contrast of the body and background immediately caught my attention. Then I had to sit down and truly soak in the way in which the artist was able to depict the human body is such a realistic manner. I literally could feel the pain being suffered by San Sebastian. Whoever he is...got to go look him up.
Lynne´s paintings was a depiction of Mary Magdalene by Jusepe de Ribera (1600´s) in which she is sitting with a skull in her hand. Her face is staring upward and if you look at the painting closely you can see a singular tear near her eye. We managed to sneak off a couple of pictures without getting caught. Leanne´s painting was El Pueblo by Orts-Bosch. I need to get some information about this painting.
Mar Mediterraneo
Lynne, Leanne, Jason and I walked along the beach, took pictures with some boats, picked up some seashells and left quickly because it was cold. We ate at a nearby restaurant and had some authentic Spainish food. I had a wonderful chocolate mousse that was literally hell in a glass. It felt good to be sinful.
We took the metro train back to the hostel, got off, walked some blocks, went grocery shopping, went back to the hostel, had a two hour siesta, woke up and went out in search of food. The grocery trip was necessary because we were informed that it would be next to impossible to find anything open on Christmas Day. So we bought all kinds of vegetarian (Leanne) inspired foods (crackers, cheese, grapes, french bread, vegetables) and wine (no I am not a wine lover) in preparation of a retail blackout. So when we ventured out later thinking that it should not be hard to find food on Christmas Eve. Forgive me, but I am not Catholic, so how was I supposed to know about Midnight Mass? Nothing was open except for a lone pizza shop. We waited two hours outside thinking we were going to be seated...nah the Italian cook did not have a dishwasher and there was only one waitress. However, we hung out with some English, Germans, New Zealanders and two Italian women (Fredrica and Martinawho told us a hard luck story)outside of the pizzeria. The English were on a binge drinking mission, which after living in the country, disturbs me less each day.
We kidnapped Fredrica and Martina back to the hostel, while Jason went off in search of Midnight Mass. We snuck the girls into the hostel and chilled out in the common area. We shared wine and snacks from the vending machine before they were picked up by a friend. Jason decided that the night was still young and that we needed to go up to the nearest bar, La Claca. Mind you it was 2 a.m. I ended up talking to our bartender at the hostel (yes our hostel had a bar) and got a lift with him up to La Claca while they walked. My feet were killing me from earlier.
Upon getting to La Claca I met up with the gang and was introduced to Juan. Juan who is about 6ft 2in, head full of dark hair, 28 yrs old works at as a pruchasing manager for an IT international company and shucks he was kind of cute. Needless to say Juan and I talked for the majority of the time I was there. I got his cellphone, personal phone number and his email address. Let me say that it is unclear if he is attracted to me, because European men are friendly so body language does not always proclaim what the mind is thinking. Damn.
Well, around 3 am the girls and I started getting tired so we headed back to the hostel. Jason and Juan headed out elsewhere to extend the wild night.
