Chipper-Who?
I know I’m behind on posting. We turned in a project on Monday and have since started a new one. Wednesday we traveled to Orvieto and there shall be a post on that trip soon, as I am tired of being behind on the posts. So, here is the rest of Spring Break.
Part 3- Madrid and Valencia
This is where my trip started to get interesting. Somehow I got an infection in my eye, which made it really difficult to do anything. And when I mean anything, I mean everything. So more than a few of the pictures are from Josh or Tim.
We rode a “night” train to Madrid. The train was actually a normal train but was really 9 hours long. So we booked the preferete class. We rode in style, like Harry Potter. We had our own cabin and it was great.
Madrid was pretty cool. Never in my life did I ever think that I would go to Madrid. Or even really have the desire to go there. But it turned out to be pretty neat. The architecture was pretty random, in that it was spread out all over the city. So our trip ended up being kind of random in that way.
And now for Valencia. Valencia was a good wrap up for the trip. Unfortunately, My eye had gotten worse enough that there was no point in me taking photographs of our stay in Valencia. All of these photos are from Tim or Josh.We stayed in an awesome house in Bunol. Bunol is the city where they have the Tomato Festival. But the real reason we wanted to go to Valencia was because of Santiago Calatrava and Las Fallas.
Here is a photo of the living room. The house had 4 rooms, all with full baths, a kitchen, and a decent size yard. I felt as if I was staying in a mansion compared to the previous living conditions of the trip.
Valencia is home to Calatrava’s Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències. It is a huge complex, with mind blowing architecture. The buildings are just gorgeous, which really fits in with an arts and science complex.
Notice the very large “leaf” cantilever over the building.
A view of a third of the complex.
We also made it to the Grandstand for the America’s Cup. This building was designed by David Chipperfield. This is one of the nicest, most clean building that I have ever visited.
And now to Las Fallas. Las Fallas, is a huge celebration of St. Joseph. The whole country of Spain participates, but the center of the party is in Valencia.
Here is a photo of a Fallas prior to being lit. It really surprised me how much detail they put into these things, only to light them on fire later. But, I suppose they have nothing else to do with them after the celebration.It is easier to clean up the ashes than to completely disassemble and move these massive structures.
A small Fallas on fire.
A view of a large fallas, with fireworks. The amount of people present was ridiculous.
Remains.
Valencia offered a once in a lifetime type of event. Probably never again will I experience Las Fallas, so I was fortunate to see it then. But after a long two weeks of being away from Castiglion, broken down, beaten, and exhausted, I was ready to get back. To my hard bed. To my 30″x30″ shower. To the view of the valley. And most of all, back to the Italian food.
