Nov 8 I FOUND THE HOLY GRAIL

Today I went to the cathedral of Valencia, where according to the catholic church, and carbon 14 dating, the holy grail is housed. The Cathedral itself is a brilliant collection of architecture from 200 0 years ago up to now, so you have roman, Gothic, neo-Gothic, renaissance and baroque all in one building. It's also a functional church that holds trials and other government activities. It also served as an armory during Spain's civil war, and a Islamic mosque for a bit. Then I bought a Euro bottle of wine.

November 7, 2006 Rain, Phantom Rivers and Fruit stands

I wanted to walk down an old path that rings the city today, but of course like always, it started to rain! I decided to go anyway hoping that it wouldn’t continue….. it did. This Path at one time was a river bed that bent around the city, but flooded to many times, so at sometime (I’m not sure when, more research required) the Valencians changed the course of the river and set up a fairly wide park in its place. The Park moves under a number of bridges and is ringed by walls, but no remnants of the river other than the city built around it really remains. It was a pretty, but really quite wet walk because the rain was intermittent, and really strong! The reason I wanted to walk down this path is cause on the other end of the city is a large science and art complex. I really didn’t want to go in (remember, cheap mode) but because the place is an amazing architectural complex looking like something that fell out of star trek. 1960’s style jet set buildings at its best! While wandering around these buildings, there was for no apparent reason an orange juice stand set up by the Valencia government. Keep in mind; this is also in the middle of a rain storm. Valencia is known for its oranges, so they usually put a stand wherever they can, and apparently it was free that day. I’m guessing because of the rain. I then went to the bull fighting arena to buy candy. End of day.

Monday November 6 2006

Today I planned a trip with Jen, then disappeared back into Valencia. I then ate and met with my fellow travelers from the hostel I’m in. We got free drinks into a bar, which was good cause lately I’m all about free or better, for costs. Also who knew Aussies could dance (yes I met another one…)

Sidenote: Like power metal in Scandinavian countries for some reason the mullet has survived, or is making a comeback in spain! Men and Women sport the party in the back business in the front hairdo all over the land. In North America the spirit of the mullet was crushed when it was realized it’s a really ugly haircut! But for some reason here the 80’s rock out dew has lived on.