DAY 141

Tuesday 29 November 2011

Artwork from Valencia

Bang! Bang! Bang! Frantic shouts from where and from whom? It turned out the next door neighbor had been locked in his apartment and couldn't get "trabajar" (to work). Thankfully, after freaking out a groggy Andrews family and handing the key from his balcony to Nicole's (what could he be after?) we figured out the situation and let the wild beast out. He assured Dian this was the first time THAT had ever happened. Uh huh.


Since we were up we decided to stay up (it was already about 9 AM but we were on Valencia time). Dian went for groceries at the market and when the minimum wasn't quite met for her credit card, a kid in line put his pastry on her bill and gave her the 1 euro it cost enabling the transaction to go through. When Dian  thanked him he smiled knowingly and tapped his "cabeza" as if to say, that's using your head.

When we stopped at our Goya Horno bakery to get a breakfast pizza, Elyssa the proprietress informed us that the paella would be ready at doe-say-ee-may-dee-a but Dian heard doce-ee-may-dee-a so when the family arrived for picnic paella at 2:30 PM she was closed. Our friend, Heino had already gone to get his car so in order to save the day, Dian knocked on the window until Elyssa stopped sweeping and let the hungry family in. We were lucky to get three containers of chicken paella and four pizza slices to take in our tupperware containers to the gorgeous wetlands near the Mediterranean that Heino knew about.

The aquarium

On the way out we saw the new architectural structures that line the waterfront, an opera house, aquarium, a huge 3D theatre among other buildings. They were impressive but Heino said the architect got paid about 15 million euros and was living in Switzerland while the project was going way over budget.


When we arrived at the protected waterway area we saw many blue heron, egret and seagulls, even a hawk. Our late afternoon lunch was accompanied by a bottle of wine and guitar music, then we went for a walk. Over the dune were fishermen catching big fish but Heino wasn't so sure how clean the water was.

Paella on the beach with Heino

He returned us to our neighborhood as the sun was setting and as the trio trooped home a store selling ridiculously low-priced canvases and acrylic paints was spotted and a large sackful was bought. Feeling happy and carefree we got in our elevator and when the door shut we pressed our usual fourth floor. Nothing. We didn't panic but Nicole did come up with the word "socorro" -- HELP! We pressed the alarm button and a woman's voice came on asking where we were and other identification questions which we answered as best we could in limited Spanish. The neighbors managed to open the door and we huffed and puffed up the stairs to safety. A while later a repairman knocked to say the lift was fixed.

Sittin' at the dock of the bay

Two herons we saw, including a Blue Heron, for Monica!