Another European Adventure with the Emlets: 03/09/14

Good morning! It is 3:54 AM your time -9:54 AM our time and I have slept about 15 hours. I must say, I do feel better.

Friday night after I published the blog, Jerry and I went out to find some dinner at Canela, but our darling Juan could not find us a table (at 9:45 PM I might add) so we went to another one down the street. This place had a waitress from Colombia and her English was very good, so it was fun to visit with her. Also, there was a father/son from Virginia at a nearby table. Son doing a semester abroad and playing American football here, and Dad visiting. So we got our English fix. We had garlic shrimp (really a safe bet around here) and grilled vegetables, which were great! and....needless to say, a bottle of wine.

Then we walked around a little bit. With Fallas coming you see all the lights hanging over the streets, and the stands are getting set up. I think some of the stands are always there, but there are a lot more of them now. The bands and crowds are getting more plentiful too.

These Chocolateria have Chocolate and Churros and deep fried Calamari day and night

Came home and called some people and then went to bed. Saturday, we awoke and decided that we should secure our train ticket for Barcelona on Monday, so we found the appropriate bus to the fast train station (there are two generally) and got the ticket. Uneventful. Then we came back and changed and left for the Seaside again. Today was a little cooler than when we had been there before, about 65 so we were glad to have jackets with us. On our way we had to transfer buses and we had seen these interesting trees before. Got a picture of them this time.

Off to the sea side

Cool jungle gym, all ropes

Cool sandcastle!

its 4:00 so we decided to have a snack

We are adventurous eaters and we decided to try a plate of grilled cuttlefish, which I thought sounded "cute" cuddle - cuttle? Anyway, in the picture on the menu it just looked like grilled fish, and my stomach was a little iffy, so we decided that would be great.

This is what a cuttlefish looks like in the sea and on the menu

Does this look like something intelligent people should eat?

Turns out a cuttlefish is a mollusk like an octopus, which we love. It has 8 legs, one big eye, and a really tough body. This had none of the good taste of Octopus. It tasted like pencil erasers that had been boiled in fish guts, and then drowned in olive oil and squid ink. I am sure, that there are cuttlefish affectionidos out there that would disagree with me, but, really?....and then the EYE is just looking at you when you bring it up on a fork. EWWWW. I eat sushi, I eat lots of weird stuff, but this was just plain BAD!

When we didn't eat very much of it (we tried, really) the waiter came and asked if everything was ok. I said with an apologetic shrug, "we didn't like it". He responded with a shrug himself, and said basically, "Tough". Needless to say his tip was small, like 15 cents.

So now, I am already not feeling the greatest, and we take the LONG bus ride home after eating the creature from the sea, we walk about 10 blocks from the bus and I just crashed. But hopefully, today is another day. Need to clean up the apartment, wash clothes (we are moving to a hotel for the next 6 nights), and decide what we want to remember about Valencia.

Sunday, was a hang out and do laundry day, but we managed to get out for a walk, and Jerry had a snack. My stomach said....NO! but I did have a diet coke. It was quite cool on Sunday, and all of Valencia was out with their families.

traveling requires laundry every so often

We have talked about the Fallas celebration coming up and really as far as we can see it has already started. Firecrackers are everywhere, little kids, like 4 years old, are lighting firecrackers and throwing them while their families are walking down the street. It is wild! And the crowds!!! Kind of like being at Kinnick Stadium on a Saturday game day, only you don't speak the language, and don't know anything about what is going on. It was an odd feeling, and not necessarily a good one.