Thursday, March 24, 2011

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

The Rain in Spain...

Ah...Valencia...warmth,sunshine..hmm...not so much.

So our warm weather vacation wasn't quite as warm as we might have planned but it was still absolutely delightful! We had the opportunity to stay with a couple of Ian's friends from college at their second home in Spain and it was really a wonderful visit! Poor Suzanne and Paul were stuck with us non-stop for almost a week but they were very gracious about it.

Xabia (I think!)
Suzanne and Paul have a lovely home just outside of Denia and we spent the week visiting local markets, walking the hillside, reading, watching football (soccer) and cricket, but mostly eating and visiting and eating some more. The food was fantastic! We ate like kings! Suzanne (and Paul) created such delicious meals for us that Ian and I are now committed to cooking more and better at home.

Ian, Tess, Suzanne, and Paul in Denia.
We quickly slipped into a relaxed routine of sleeping in, having a little breakfast on the patio, wandering or reading, eating a late lunch, wandering or reading, and having dinner at about 9pm and then watching cricket or soccer and THEN sitting around drinking wine and visiting until WAY past my bedtime.

Now that we are back home we are back to our usual, up at 6am, at work by 8:30-ish, and asleep by 10-ish. Oh well...

Ian in front of the very futurist IMAX theatre and Art Museum in Valencia--The whole complex is amazing (there are more photos in the slideshow to the right).
It actually feels like we'd been gone longer than a week because the weather here in Minnesota had changed so much in our absence. When we left there was still a covering of about 2 feet of snow everywhere with snowbanks along the streets between 4 and 6 feet and when we got back there was a lot of soggy bare ground and the dirty, salty, sandy remains of snowbanks. Yesterday morning they were talking on the radio about how the temperatures were REALLY going to drop and be prepared for frigid weather for the rest of the week. I was sure they were going to say the temps were in the single digits but then they announced low-30s! Two weeks ago, low-30s would have been deemed "balmy".

Oh the difference 13 days makes!

Fallas Festival in Valencia. The dresses are amazing--beautiful fabric and ornate designs--there was a parade led by the youngest girls, and in the plazas they created huge amazing papier mache floats which were to be burned on the last day of the festival.