Tuesday 20 December 2011
A few observations, as our friend Mary would say, of the minutia only an extended stay in one place can offer:
There are no bugs in Spain. Yes, we did hear ONE FLY a couple days ago but there are no ants, cockroaches, spiders -- the usual insects. Maybe they don't mix with city life but we didn't even see them when we stayed overnight at our friend Ajfan's cabin way out in the country.
The quietest hour in Valencia is from 6 to 7 AM. No kidding. The last of the revelers are walking home (loudly) on the street below around 5:30 and then...silence.
The church bells don't chime through the night, only during waking hours (what are those again?). And speaking of waking and sleeping, we still hadn't gotten the exact hours of siesta. Some shops and restaurants are closed from 1 till 4 PM while others seem to close from 2 till 5 PM. One thing's for sure, on Domingo (Sunday), almost everything is closed. It's a family day which you can tell by all the good smells wafting from the apartments.
They don't sell salad dressings in the variety we're used to, olive oil and vinegar are standard but unless you go to Corte Ingles you won't find Paul Newman brands. Ditto for really hot salsa. We were surprised that the Spanish people as a whole don't like their food really spicy. Thank goodness Don's kitchen was well stocked with cayenne and crushed chili peppers.
After being awakened by either a new dentist in the building or someone using an electric saw, we got up and Charles and Dian did some grocery shopping. Dian wanted to paint in the church courtyard at the end of the street so she took six Christmas cards and her water color set and wrapped in a pancho and scarf, finished them. It was so nice to work with the splashing fountain and thoughts of Dali and other great artists floating in her head -- no, the Christmas cards wouldn't have melting clocks.
Charles went out to buy bus passes and Nicole and Dian walked to the post office to mail some cards. Dian was pleased that the clerk showed her artwork to his co-worker and even found some cool stamps instead of printed labels for them. The duo walked past a modeling casting call at the department store Corte Ingles which extended down the street. We always seem to find cool street art down the tiniest alleys and this day was no exception. In fact, one of the best finds was near an old church (Santa Lucia) where Dian impulsively bought a lottery ticket for five euros. The pot was up to 80 million! We laughed about how we wouldn't tell anyone we won so we could continue our travels albeit with a few more perks. When we arrived back home Charles had a roast pork and potatoes meal with salad and brie cheese waiting. We watched the Coen brothers movie "Blood Simple" then konked out.
A few observations, as our friend Mary would say, of the minutia only an extended stay in one place can offer:
There are no bugs in Spain. Yes, we did hear ONE FLY a couple days ago but there are no ants, cockroaches, spiders -- the usual insects. Maybe they don't mix with city life but we didn't even see them when we stayed overnight at our friend Ajfan's cabin way out in the country.
The quietest hour in Valencia is from 6 to 7 AM. No kidding. The last of the revelers are walking home (loudly) on the street below around 5:30 and then...silence.
They don't sell salad dressings in the variety we're used to, olive oil and vinegar are standard but unless you go to Corte Ingles you won't find Paul Newman brands. Ditto for really hot salsa. We were surprised that the Spanish people as a whole don't like their food really spicy. Thank goodness Don's kitchen was well stocked with cayenne and crushed chili peppers.
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| Praying on behalf of our lottery ticket |
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