April 7

We woke up pretty late in the morning (thanks to the great shades that blacked out our room), packed up and took a taxi over to the train station with forty five minutes to spare before our train left for Valencia. We decided to stop at a café in the train station and have a cup of coffee. We munched on some cheese bocadillos that don’t sound too good but are actually awesome.

I was a little worried the entire train ride, it was raining and overcast and I was worried that the weather wouldn’t be perfect to show my parents my favorite city. As we neared Valencia, I could see a patch of blue skies in the distance and I just hoped that the weather would hold out. By the time we got off the train, the only sign of earlier rain were damp sidewalks; otherwise the weather was beautiful. We took a taxi to my parents’ hotel and we dropped off all of their stuff.

After I gave them a quick tour of my dorm and dropped my bags off, we went over to the Cathedral. With admission, we were given a free audio tour that was actually very cool. It explained what each chapel meant, the significance of different architectural structures, and even gave stories about significant martyrs to the Cathedral. Another interesting fact about the Cathedral that not too many people know about is the only Vatican recognized Holy Grail is kept in the Cathedral in Valencia. I think Indiana Jones made me think that it was lost forever, but actually it was moved to Spain in the 5^th Century when the Roman Emperor started persecuting Christians.

After the informative tour, we climbed the steps of the huge central tour they call the Micalet. The view was absolutely incredible. It was great too because I was able to point out important landmarks all over the city. After we finished a great tour, we went to Montaditos and we had a few drinks and some tapas. It was my second time being there but I feel like I have mastered the menu now and know which sandwiches to get. My favorite was probably the chicken caesar salad montadito.

After we finished our late late lunch, we walked to el Rio to catch the last bit of sunlight. We ended up walking all the way down to the City of Arts and Sciences, which my parents enjoyed. We had been doing a lot of walking so we decided to catch a cab back to my parents’ hotel. We separated ways and agreed on meeting up at 10:00 back at the hotel. I posted my blog, showered and relaxed a little before I went to meet up with Mom and Dad.

I decided to take them to Bar Pilar, after all they were voted the best mussels in the city. We were still stuffed from our late lunch so we just stood at the bar and ordered some grilled vegetables and an order of mussels. It turned out perfect, it is a great atmosphere and we talked for a while and enjoyed each other’s company. We finished at a little past 11:00 and we parted ways.

After I got back to the dorm, I started registering for classes. Deciding whether or not I want to stay for an extra semester and double major (in Spanish) has been a little stressful because it means that I need to take 8 more classes, which greatly ups my workload. I decided I was willing to put in the work; after all, I am good at Spanish right now but close to being great. I stayed up for a few hours making everything fit into my schedule and was relieved when I did. My summer is going to be packed with 12 hours (almost a full semester load) but I think it will be well worth it. It was good to be back in my bed, it didn’t take me long to fall into a deep sleep.

**The picture of the altar has the holy grail in it. If you click on the actual picture, it will enlarge the picture so you can see it a little better.