Euritos

We've been enjoying the intercambios de idiomas, and talking with la gente here in Valencia.  I practice and appreciate the Spanish language a little more each day.  Today I heard a word that made me laugh.

What's the difference between this

and this?

St. Ursula and St. Vincent

We like to visit the smaller churches as well as the cathedrals.  We've walked by St. Ursula lots of times, but yesterday was the first we've found it open.

Valenbisi

Valenbisi is the city's program to promote bike transportation.   Today we signed up, and went for our first ride.

Valencia Beach Bus

We set a simple goal today:  buy bus passes and take a bus to the beach.  Here's Mary on the #2 bus, now and forever the Valencia Beach Bus.

Sunny Odds and Ends

Yay!  Sunny again today, and a little warmer.  Our language exchange was fun again, though last night's crowd was much older than Sunday's.  It's possible to attend one of these exchanges every night, if you want.  Today, after two nights out in a row, we didn't do much else but a sunny walk.

Our day usually starts with a trip to Mayan Coffees.

Intercambios de Idiomas

We stumbled into a language interchange last night.  We were in search of a good craft brewery and a quick dinner, and navigated to, Tyris on Tap.  Turns out the bar was hosting a group of gregarious language learners who welcomed us into their intercambio de idiomas.

St. Nicholas Church

Mary attended mass at St. Nicholas Church, which has been recently renovated and restored.  

A rainy day---in Valencia?

According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Valencia, we're having 1 of only 44 rainy days of the year.  Of course, we had another just a couple of days ago, and another is supposed to be on the way.

Rosa, my Spanish tutor, says, "Esto es historico aqui!!!"  (This is historical here!)  Those selling paraguas (umbrellas) are very happy, the rest of us, not so much.

In this next picture you can see that it's not all been rain.  That is hail.

Nevertheless, we're toughing it out.  This is not the weather we hoped for, but we're a lot more accustomed to it than the locals.

North Train Station Revisited

We often navigate by wandering, and discover, rathen than plan.  We stumbled onto the North Train Station during our short visit to Valencia last winter, and did the same again this year.  I'm happy to say it's still here and beautiful as ever.

The Silk Market

About the time Columbus discovered America, Valencia was a very rich city specializing in the trading of silk.  The silk market reflected the prestige and wealth of the city.

An Abundance of Angels

I'm so fortunate to be here, and though I don't really believe in angels, just in case I have a guardian, I want to say thank-you.  I am always on the lookout for angels either way, and so far in Valencia, I've seen an abundance.

Seems everyone has a different vision of angels. This one seems almost satirical.

Our Apartment

Our apartment is exactly as described in the airbnb listing, but of course, many of the details are not apparent until you arrive.  Here is a haunting portrait:

More about that later...

We're here!

We left the snow in Endicott around mid-day. Mary's brother, Michael, generously volunteered to drive us to the Philadelphia airport. When we arrived, as soon as we had put our luggage on the curb outside the airport, a gentleman in American Airlines uniform arrived with a cart, loaded our bags onto a cart, and accompanied us inside. He asked where we were going, collected our passports, and proceeded to check us in and route our bags, then returned with our boarding passes and directions to our gate. Ok, credit where credit is due. I've done my share of complaining about airports and airlines, but this was the easiest, smoothest check-in ever. I hope it was not just a reflection of how old I look these days.

We paid a bit extra for better seats this time, since a trip this long is always an ordeal. Here's how things looked to my right.

And even better, to my left.

We arrived ok, just absolutely exhausted, in zombie-mode. But, we're here!