Hotel Nh Abashiri Valencia

... through the town. It's really interesting. But it's outside. And like 3 whole blocks away. That's asking a bit too much of me. Ha. Which reminds me. A guy asked me today what my plans were and I said I was considering being a lazy tourist and taking the red tour bus around. He just shook his head and said, "Why waste your money? You should just walk. Those buses are for old people." While I don't disagree, I'm happy to be called old if it saves me from walking.

OMG ...

... Even the train station was decorative in this way. I constantly stopped to snap pictures of random buildings.
The only thing not so appealing is that only the center of the city is beautiful the outside looks like a rundown modern area. In the center you have all the old cathedrals, a marvelous common marketplace open every day selling fresh fruits and vegetables and on sunday outside there are many tables selling cheap clothes and other random ...

In 6 days we cycled from Barcelona to Valencia. We followed the coastline, sometimes via a busy national road with lot's of trucks and sometimes we escaped this by taking other (almost deserted streets), posh promenades or small walking paths next to the sea. We passed many deserted cities, which will probably be a consumers paradise in summer. (everywhere they are still building more apartment flats, in spite of the "economical ...

... viena - salzburg
22sept: salzburg - hallstat - salzburg
23sept: salzburg - zurich tren nocturno
24sept: zürich - winterthur - schaffhaussen - rheinfall (cataratas rhin) - stein am rhein - zürich
25sept: zürich - lucerna - interlaken
26sept: interlaken - grindelwald
27sept: Grindelwald - interlaken - berna
28sept: berna - laussane - montreaux - fribourg
29sept: fribourg - basel - vuelo a alicante

... could see, with mountains all around in the distance. It was reminiscent of the Saskatchewan/Alberta border. We came into an area of badlands where the road dipped into shallow canyons and became very twisty for over 30km, then back up to flat land. Again the roadway quality was perfect, which allowed for some good speed and low cornering. After a while, we came up to a few curves and were surprised to come up over a low rise with a ...

... place... fallowing the sunshine...even if it was on the other side of the mountain...though it seemed that the sunshine was escaping from us...instead nice and sunny days we got unstoppable rain. And we never got our clothes dry... From the amazing palmtree valley we headed towards Alicante...conquered a 300 meters high hill...doesnt sound high I know but the climbing conditions made it at least 1000 meters high. Me and my flip-floppers on slippery rocks...maybe not the wisest idea but ...

... Spanish with each other, so I can try and decipher that. Plus, on Tuesday, I visited the center of Valencia with a group of students and they talked to me in Spanish, so it was good practice. During the tour, we visited similar areas to what we visited on my tour with ISA. But, I feel like I got a little more out of it. La plaza de la Virgin seemed prettier in the evening light. Also, we entered La Catedral this time. Like the other ...

... A-Okay. Naples... I dont't know how many of you have heard about the trash crisis in Naples. It's pretty bad. I thougth that was a problem of the past because I read about it at least a year and half ago but I'm here to tell you that the trash problem is still going strong in Napoli. Basically there's no where to put the trash and the gov hasn't come up with a solution or they don't want to pay for it, can't remember what the reason is or maybe it's a mixture of both or none ...

... giving her problems. After a lengthy battle in the bathroom she emerged victorious, but worse for wear. Exhausted, she was only able to utter "I advise you NOT to go in there!" as she pointed back to the bathroom with a trembling hand, just moments before collapsing on the bed in a heap of fatigued human flesh. It was like something out of "Gladiator", almost like when Maximus collapsed after defeating Commodus in Rome's Coliseum. I shed a tear ...

... home with them, listening to the three heroes repeat it over and over, garnishing it a little bit more with each retelling. After the testosterone of the capea this was almost too much for me. I was glad to finally get to bed, although to his credit Sam did thank Vincent and me with a hug before bed. I don't think I'll ever understand how something like that could have happened between two groups that didn't even understand each other. But I suppose perhaps that was exactly the issue.