Feb 12th - Oceanogràfic

So I spent the day at Oceanogràfic the Valencia Aquarium. They tell me that it’s been rated one of the best in the world.

How would you like this guys job? Pretty cool 😎 I think!

Feeding the fishes and the Manta Rays!

This tunnel was pretty amazing with all kinds of sea creatures all around you and even above you!

I had a pretty good day wandering from one exhibit to another, they also have an area for birds that you can go right inside and get up close and personal with them but watch out for pooping birds flying overhead! They never got me! There are also exhibits of crocodiles, tortoises, penguins and seals and more!

I’m sending more pictures right after this cause it’s so hard to just pick out a favoured few

I lost my BnB buddy Melo (found out how to spell her name right though) and have a new one today, Patricia, from Germany.

Quiet weekend

Anybody want a flower pot? No! It won’t fit in my backpack

They play beach volleyball and a little badminton all up and down the beach. They have poles for the nets so that nearly a hundred games could be played at the same time

There were quite a few of these little electric trikes and lots of electric scooters 🛴 out enjoying the weekend

As you can probably guess I spent a fairly quiet weekend walking on the beach and enjoying all the activity all around me and playing Pokémon too of course! I’ve caught four “Mr. Mimes” a character not seen in North America!

I’ve also met my new neighbour, (there are two rooms rented out in this air BnB)
Her name is Ameilla (sp?) and she is from Vienna, Austria, she is tall and skinny and has dyed her eyebrows red and her short curly hair orange (neither shade found anywhere in nature) she friendly and funny and I really like her. She had made up a couple of martinis and we stood leaning on the counter in the kitchen talking and drinking for about an hour the other night.

No your wrong! I liked her before she gave me a martini 🍸!

Talk again soon

February 7 - Valencia Centro

So today I headed into the town centre on the bus and the metro ( it takes about 45 minutes or so)

Then I just spent a few hours wandering through the narrow streets and once more amazed at some of the intricate sculptured buildings and of course its Valencia so more orange trees everywhere!
Not sure what the costumed lady was celebrating but he tourists loved her and I just had to get her picture!

More from the bus tour

One of the Sports fields built in the riverbed

Shopping anyone?

These electric scooters are everywhere and seem to move pretty quickly

The “new” sports arena built in 2006, has a capacity for 75000 fans!

2nd Day of Hop on Hop off tour

Well I made good use of my 2nd day of the bus tour going on both routes twice! There is just so much to see and so information to take in.On one of the tours I sat across from two American guys from Fort Lauderdale. They sold their house in Florida and are looking to move to Spain. When I asked why the answer was to escape Trump.
We passed an old building that was described as being originally built a few hundred years ago as a women’s prison but had been closed and empty for years until recent renovations allowed it to be reopened as a primary school.
One of the Americans muttered “so, still a prison then”

Part of the medieval city wall that still remains. These towers were the North entrance to the city

Over the centuries Valencia suffered many devastating floods, the last was in 1957. So in the 1970’s they diverted the river to the south of the city and then turned the empty riverbed, that runs right through the city, into parkland with walking and cycling trails, gardens and even huge sports fields

Part of the riverbed

And still more of the riverbed

Just one of the narrow streets of the city

More pictures as threatened!

That’s my double decker tour bus behind me waiting patiently for me to board!

The Bull Ring in early evening!

February 5th

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day and I decided to try out “The hop on Hop off” bus tour.

It was amazing! The one day cost was €17.00 euro and the two days was €19.00 so I bought a two day ticket of course! The city is incredibly beautiful, they are two routes, historic and Marine and you can switch back and forth between them.
I took a lot of pictures and it’s hard to pick only a few to send. I may send another 5 after this email. 😄

The city is over two thousand years old and has gone through many changes not the least of which was 500 years of Muslim rule which definitely left its mark on the buildings and landmarks as did a strong French influence in the 17th and 18th centuries

The pictures enclosed are of a much more modern part of the city. The 20th and 21st centuries.

This complex is called the City of Arts and Sciences and was breathtaking!

The last photo at the entrance to this place is a sculpture called “Points of View” it definitely entertained me!

February 3rd & 4th

The nearby hospital, beautiful building not sure when it was built but not this century!

The Marina

The Malecon ( don’t know if that’s what they call it here but that’s what it would be called in Mexico) it goes for miles along the beach

Loved the mosaics on this wall, intricate work!

And just loved this building!

As you can probably see from the photos I’ve spent the last two days just wandering.The first day was shorter as it was really windy and therefore cold so I was only out for a few hours but yesterday there was no wind it was a wonderful sunny day and I wandered for hours. I went north on what I call the Malecon all the way to the end of it.

I took off my shoes and walked across the incredibly soft sand of the beach and watched a half dozen brave boys and girls surfing, I put my toes in the water but that was enough!

I then cut in a few blocks and meandered back to my neighbourhood admiring more of the architecture.

Today I plan to check out the city on the Hop on Hop Off bus tours. I’ll let you know how that goes!

February 2nd

Went for a longer walk today further south along the beach and in from the beach a few blocks, I walked for about 5 hours .The architecture is amazing and there’s a lot to explore in this neighbourhood!

It was another windy day as you can tell in a couple of these pictures. 

I stopped at an ice cream shop (bad, bad Joan) and met Juliana,  the girl working there. When I complimented her on her English she told me she had spent several years in Miami! 
She let me taste a couple of the flavours and when I asked her if they had a peanut butter/ chocolate she said no, peanut butter was very hard to find in Spain and now she couldn’t get peanut butter out of her head! I told her I seemed to have the same problem and settled for (Surprise) chocolate!

February 1st

This climbing tower is a little bit bigger than the ones I’m used to seeing at home!

A quiet day at the beach, yes?

Check out the mini storm out over the ocean!

Lots of sand, only a few people

I had a nice lunch here of grilled chicken and fries!

It was a very blustery day today and I spent it wandering throughout the neighbourhood. When you were out of the wind and in the sunshine it felt very warm . . . until you stepped out of the shelter!
As you can see I did finally find the beach!
It is as advertised “5 blocks from the air BnB” it’s just that this whole area is apartment blocks, all about 5 to 6 stories high, so you are almost on the beach before you see it!

I know where it is now though and look forward to a windless day!
There are also a lot of small parks and gardens softening up the neighbourhood and more directions to explore!

Bye for now
Joan

Happy me!

My coat and I are together again!

Jan 31st “Train Day”

Train station in Valencia

One of the Station stops along the way

Just a colourful little town along the way

Another neat scene outside the train window

As Kathy so aptly named today, it was my Train day!

I left home this morning at a little before 9:00 a.m. and caught a bus and then the Metro to the Renfe Train Station (that took about 40 minutes.)

The train from Valencia to Barcelona takes 3 1/2 hours then you get another train from central Barcelona to the airport (30 minutes) then you walk 10 minutes to get to terminal 2 but you need to be at terminal 1 so you catch a free shuttle bus between the terminals (20 minutes) and then you you make your way through the terminal to the arrivals area and the “lost and found station “ and you collect your beautiful lost coat 🧥!!!! Yeah!

And then you reverse the whole process and get back to Valencia and grab a bite to eat and get home and now it’s 10:00 o’clock in the evening and it’s been a long day but and very successful one! 

I know I’m in Valencia! There are orange 🍊 trees everywhere! I couldn’t sneak an orange either! All the low hanging fruit has been picked!

I walked down this street today looking for a place to buy a SIM card for my phone and a currency exchange and found both!

My lunch today was a delicious Paella and wonderful fresh bread 🥖

While I was shopping for groceries today I saw this in the store, you can actually buy both white and brown breads with ALL the crusts cut off!  Crazy 😜

It was a beautiful sunny day in Valencia and I just enjoyed walking around. I also arranged my trip back to Barcelona for tomorrow.

When I got back home Philippe said he was sorry that the weather was so cold and that it had been much nicer last week!
I thought today was gorgeous! I can’t wait to see the days they consider nice.

Bye for now

My Spanish Home

My comfy bed, I had a really good sleep last night (I suppose part of that may have been that I was really tired) I woke up at 8:30 this morning after falling asleep around 11:00 p.m. (that’s a long sleep 😴 for me)

A small closet but it holds all my stuff so that’s all that matters, right? And a little heater that I haven’t had to try yet so that good too!

A table and chairs covered with my stuff right now but perfect for my meals and writing emails and things 😁

The kitchen comes fully stocked with dishes, cutlery, pots and pans etc and the guys cleared two shelves in the fridge and one in a cupboard for my grocery shopping. I think the little washing machine is also a dryer but I haven’t had to use it as I arrived with all clean clothes thanks to Ester and Johan’s great BnB ☺️

No tub but lots of hot water for showers
All in all probably more information than you needed, Eh?

I’m sending another blog update on today’s adventures

Joan

I’m in Spain!

Yup! Long day of traveling but good. No 📸pictures 📷  today, I’ll make up for that soon. 

The Wonderful Ester dropped me off at Heathrow and I had a few hours to kill so I had a good breakfast and got to my gate in plenty of time.
The flight ✈️ was a good one and the train ride just over 3 hours

I’m at Marco’s and met him and Philippe, they both seem really nice.
It’s just past 10:00 o’clock and and I’m tired and I’m heading to bed 🛌

The only hiccup in my day was a big one! I left my beautiful coat on the plane! In the overhead compartment.

I reported it straight away at customer service but I was not allowed to go back to the plane for it. They took all my information and said they would be in touch and I just got a message that they have found it and I can pick it up at lost and found.

They will not forward it to Valencia and my only choices are to pick it up at Barcelona or London, so . . . Barcelona it is!

Probably the day after tomorrow as it’s nearly a four hour trip each way when you add in getting to the train station and tomorrow I want to find a SIM card for my phone

I’ll let you know how my adventures unfold 🤪
Joan

Sunday January 27th

OK  . . . . you’re not gonna believe it but I actually went to church this morning with family and it didn’t kill me 🤪
Actually it wasn’t bad at all I enjoyed it; the service wasn’t long and the few talks were also fairly short and not the one hour boring sermons that I recall from my childhood.

And Then! after church they took me to brunch at Toby’s Carvery! The British name for a place that offers roast beef, roast lamb, roast turkey and Roast ham!

You just ask the chef to carve off whatever meat you want to try or some of all of them (my choice) onto your plate and then you help yourself to their vegetables and potatoes and sauces and gravies (as much as you like) and you also get a bottomless glass of whatever soft drinks you like. It was a great lunch! Oh yeah and Sia discovered Gambling!

The rest of the day was spent in walks to the park and playground and relaxing at home and I am now repaying the favour just a little by preparing a supper of baked chicken and tossed salad.

As Ester said the other day “any meal someone else prepares for you is a great meal” hopefully she’ll still feel that way after dinner. 

Windsor Castle

Well today we went to visit Windsor Castle, the largest castle in the world that still has people living in it!

The parts of the castle that we were allowed to see were amazing. Incredible art,  carved ceilings, displays of historic armour and weapons. My young friend William would enjoy this place.

There were Queen’s guards marching all around the grounds and inside we were treated to the story of the coronation of the young princess Elizabeth and the children in the crowd were dressed up in costumes and asked to play different parts. 

Caden was one of the Queens Guards and Sia was momentarily a flower girl until she tired of the role and tosses her costume off 😁 

Johan and Ester treated me to the tour. They had local resident cards that allowed them free entrance. 

My ticket allows me to go back as often as I like for the next year and as there was so much to see I’m thinking of returning on my own on Monday to explore some more.

It was a wonderful day!

My roommates in London . . .

I’m in London

The 3 1/2 hour flight from Reykjavík Iceland to London England was a snap!

Oh . . . Maybe that’s because I was sound asleep for 3 hours 😴😂😂
Ester picked me up at Heathrow after a 35 minute lineup ( not bad) getting through British customs

I am now spending a few days at their lovely home in Maidenhead and as you can see from the photos Caden and I are practising selfies oh yeah and Sia too and she loves her bear that came all the way from Canada to live with her (I think?)

This weekend we are going to Windsor Castle! There will be pictures!

Vancouver to Reykjavík

Gorgeous scenery as we left Vancouver and headed north to cross Canada and Greenland to Iceland.It was a good flight, quiet so I got a few hours sleep before we landed at 6:30 a.m. local time.

I took a one hour bus ride into Reykjavík (we hit the morning rush hour) and then a taxi to the town centre. I had got what I thought was local currency at an airport ATM only to have the cab driver throw a mini fit when I tried to pay him! “What’s this money???  I don’t know this money! This is not my money!” Thank goodness for plastic!
After closer examination I saw that I had Danish Kronen not Icelandic Kronen. Oops 
After breakfast I went to a local bank and changed it.

I spent some time wandering around the downtown core but it stayed dark until after 10:30 and even then was overcast and -3 and windy

So I made my way back to the airport and am waiting for my London flight now
Hopefully Iceland will be a little brighter and warmer in 6 weeks on my return 😁

Canada Pretty!! 

Canada

Iceland

Iceland