I'm Here!!

Hey guys,

In Europe and settled in, finally. First off, I have arrived in Valencia, and our Hostel is great. Seeing as this is an internet café and not my own computer, I cannot get my pictures up on the blog yet. But I will tell you about everything.

The flight on Swiss Air was great, we got dinner and breakfast and a personal tv screen on the seatback with a wide selection of movies and other programs. I got a little sleep, but not much. The drinks were complementary just like the meals! I had a couple glasses of red wine; how could I pass up free wine?













The swiss airport was very cool, with a lot of leather and wood, and some top of the line shopping. I greeted the security women in French and had a few words with them, and then said something in english to their surprise. They said, "il est bilangue!" (he's bilingual!).

The flight from Zurich to Barcelona was simply amazing. First there were great views of the Alps and quaint Swiss valley villages, and then we passed by Marseille.




















We landed in Barcelona and took a nice metro thing to Barcelona-Sants train station, where we waited for 2.5 hours to board the big train for Valencia. Amy already got us tickets on that one through STA travel in Madison.

The ride to Valencia was fantastic. We sat at a table with a lamp, and were next to 3 law students who had just graduated and taken the Bar. We convinced them to come the La Tomatina with us! The ride from Barcelona to Valencia was 3 hours down the Spanish coast and through some mountains. Beautiful scenery. There was a food car too, and I got a beer and a bocadillo de tortilla (a baguette with a spanish style omelette on it, very good actually).

It was nighttime when we arrived, and Valencia was very alive. We checked into our Hostel which, to our surprise, is much more like a hotel than a hostel. It's really nice. The best news is that our room is a private double (two beds and our own bathroom) just like a hotel room! This means we can just leave our bags and everything important in there when we go to Buñol. My passport will be safe locked in my bag, locked to the desk, locked in my room. Sound good?

This morning we got up and had breakfast at the hotel-hostel. There was some ham and salami, cheeses, pastries, coffee, and bread. I ate my fill considering it was 18€ for the two of us. Not that outrageous I guess, but I'll have to get used to the price of things over here.





















We walked around Valencia today, and so far we've been in a Cathedral, a church, and some shops. The cathedral had the holy grail in it. I'm not even joking, it's the cup recognized by the Vatican as being the one Christ drank from at the Last Supper. Pretty cool, right?

We also climbed the 8 million steps to the top of the bell tower where there were sweeiping views of Valencia and the mountains that surround it. Some spanish lady almost passed out when she got to the top, she was laying on the ground and her friends were helping her. Yikes! I'll be getting pictures up when I get a chance. All in all, the cathedral was very impressive, and definitely worth the visit.





That's been it so far, and I'll give you guys another update when I can. Hope all is well.

Michael