Spain trip and good byes

OK, now that I'm back in the US, I'll finish up my Spain adventures with Steph....

Valencia, was absolutely beautiful. It's a small-ish city, not too touristy, very Spanish, and very, well, Valencian.We stayed at Pension Levante, which used to be a 'house of appointments' (brothel), so it had lots of character and many, many mirrors. I feel like we were really adventurous in the city, just wandering around, eating at little cafes, walking into churches (finding the Holy Grail), and otherwise enjoying the sun.

Our first major stop (after lunch) was the Cathedral, off Plaza de las Reinas, where we found the Holy Grail. Our guided audio tour also revealed the St. Thomas of Villanova Chapel inside the cathedral. And Steph, my roommate from Villanova, and I thought, oh cool, let's go see a statue of STV. Only there wasn't really a statue, there was a sarcophogus lid and the relics of STV!! We were way more excited about this than about the Holy Grail (chalice, dating from 150BC, transported to Spain by an apostle, etc, etc).

Other highlights in Valencia include: being adventurous with dinner locations, mini-trip to El Saler beach, Sangria, reading in the plazas, wandering around the city not worrying about where we were or how to get back, and, of course, the Holy Grail.

Then, after a few minor mishaps, we took the train from Valencia to Barcelona. The trip itself, up the coast, was beautiful and relaxing, and getting ourselves situated in Barcelona wasn't as difficult as I thought. Barcelona highlights included:

• Wandering down Las Ramblas (following the Rick Steve's guide, we knew just where to buy flowers and birds, though he seemed to have forgotten about the painters who are past the bird section.
• The mall...ok, ok, sounds stupid, but we were on a hunt for flipflops. Plus, the mall is out across this very cool bridge and right on the water, so it was beautiful
• Sangria, as always
• Shopping
• Cold coffee drinks
• wandering around the city
• And the absolute best highlight - Dinner at the Olympic Village!!!

We were obviously mistaken for rock stars (or there were no other twenty-something women eating at the restaurant that night). We got a pitcher of free sangria, some lovely little tapas (i love croquets), and ordered paella. Our waiter even bought us each a red rose. (I know I tell this story much better out loud, but I'm tired and can't summon up all the details at the moment....the red rose and free sangria are the most important). I like to pretend that was the very end of the trip and ignore the delayed flight back to England, the lack of buses to take Steph to Heathrow, and her hurrying onto a train to navigate London with her suitcase (never fear, she did make her flight home)....

So that's just about the end. I went back to Cambridge, had a quiet week of packing, sipping wine and eating cheese with James and Elly, the last few Lost episodes with Megan and Leo, tea and scones, and a last night BBQ at 17 Bateman (where Christine presented me with a magazine that came with a bikini....Awesome!!).

Then it was home. Here things have been quiet, relaxing, and well family-fun like. And now, as promised, it's back to Costa Rica (I have a job!). I haven't decided yet if I'll be starting another blog, but look out in case I do.