31 Hours in Valencia

A How-To Guide

Step One: Make sure you are listening to O Valencia! by the Decemberists as your flight lands in Valencia. Have your husband waiting for you at the airport.

Step Two: Have a great lunch on the patio at Cuvee Restaurancion. We highly recommend the tempura vegetables and calamari. Try out your Spanish by ordering "dos cervecas, por favor"

Step Three: Take a walk down to see the magnificent buildings designed by Calatrava.


Step Four: bus back to the old centre of the city, and buy sunglasses.


Step Five: wander through the many plazas admiring the old buildings. And the oranges.


Step Six: stop for a drink and marvel at how cheap the drinks are. Our record this weekend was 3euros for a glass of wine and a coffee.

Step Seven: wander through a church that we had visited previously with Karina. Marvel at the painted panels and ceilings that we under restoration when we had been before.


Step Eight: stop for tapas on the Plaza de la Reina and admire the views of the old church.


Step Nine: Have an aperitif at Tula, a cute cafe near the hotel

Step Ten: Eat an amazing tapas dinner at Tapas Gastronomik. All the food was fantastic, and the service couldn't have been better.

Step Eleven: Go for drinks at Marasquino, just around the corner from the restaurant. Again, be amazed at how little they cost.


Step Twelve: The next day take advantage of the extensive hotel breakfast.

Step Thirteen: walk up to the Modern Art Museum, and visit for free because it's Sunday.

Step Fourteen: Eat Paella for lunch at a restaurant in the Plaza de la Reina, and decide to walk back to the hotel.

Step Fifteen: stumble upon a covered marketplace that is filled with little cafes. Stop for one last glass of wine.


Step Sixteen: Pick up your bags at the hotel, and cab to the airport. Wish you could stay longer.

PS. Erik got new glasses. What do you think?

Progress

I know, I know, it's been awhile, and I'm sure that you're all dying to know what we've been up to here at our humble abode. Aside from a nasty case of assumed food poisoning (my stomach of steel apparently wasn't up for steak tartare) we spent this weekend buying, painting and installing the baseboards in our main room. In case you were wondering, yes, two metre pieces of baseboard do fit on the metro, but not easily.

So, here's your tour:

Lighting fixtures on one wall. I don't know if Erik is more proud of the installation or the fact that he's wearing a suit.

I'm still not 100% crazy about these sconces, but they are certainly an improvement on the bare bulb look we had going on before. There will be different sconces on the other wall, but their bases are smaller than the boxes in the walls that the cords come out of, so, there will unfortunately be more plastering and dust in our future.


Last weekend I finished painting the toilet. I love it! The bottom colour is the colour that we had originally chosen for the main room. I think it looks much better in here.


And now that the baseboards are installed, we can finally start putting things against walls. We saw the floor in the centre of the room for the first time in almost a month tonight! It was dusty.


And don't worry Howard, your atelier is still alive and well. But getting smaller....

The Top

So it's not all wall paper removal and wall building fun around here! Today after mom and I finished painting the bedroom, and after Rob joined us for a great couscous lunch, we paid a visit to this guy:


Surprisingly there wasn't any line (we figured it was because of the lousy weather and the big screen above the ticket window that was advertising limited visibility from the top), so we bought three tickets and took the express train (or elevator) straight to the top. We didn't find the visibility limited at all, and spotted all the important landmarks. The view from the top (first time for all of us!!) was spectacular, and I can't believe it's taken me so long to get up there.


The Champ de Mars (with the Tour Montparnasse in the background)


Can you spot Invalides?




Trocadero with La Defense in the background


I love this city!


A long way from home...


My mom and I have the same smile!

The Chinese, The Germans and Erik.....

.....what do they all have in common?

This weekend we said aurevoir to the pipe, and bonjour to a new wall (there's your hint!)!


Now you see it....







...now you don't!

Observant readers may have noticed that a) the wallpaper is gone, and there is a new colour on the wall, and b) that the studs supporting our wall are metal. Apparently this is the French way, and according to Erik we will never do it this way again. So there is your tip for the day: wood studs are infinitely easier to work with. Just another thing that the French have complicated for us!