Things in the Sky

Parts:

1. Introduction/BOS-CDG
2. CDG-BCN and First Day in Barcelona
3. Figueres and Girona (and Some Barcelona)
4. Barcelona
5. Montserrat and Valencia
6. Valencia and Madrid
7. Madrid
8. Segovia, El Escorial, and Madrid
9. MAD-CDG and CDG-BOS

The day began, unfortunately, with packing up. We were only staying in Valencia for one night, and then its was off for Madrid. I was a bit disappointed because I hoped to see a bit more of the city, and also because this was the best hotel on the trip. But, with a week-long itinerary one is limited.

The complimentary breakfast was just fantastic. I did like what the hotel in Barcelona had, but it was nice to see a spread with scrambled eggs, and the hotel had a fancy coffee machine as well. There were a couple of free computers, so I caught up on some e-mail and such. (The hotel had free Wi-Fi too.)

The big issue was figuirng out what to do for the day. A walking tour was definitely going to happen, but the group was hopelessly deadlocked on whether to then go shopping or the beach. The beach sounded exciting, but the forecast was for cloudy weather, and it wasn’t going to be too warm. Eventually, we ended up splitting the difference and did both.

The walking tour was great and I enjoyed the sights, and we visited yet another cathedral. We also stopped by a couple of shops and I found a nice gift for my parents to give them when I returend. I also tried horchata, which is apparently very popular in Valencia, but I wasn’t a fan. Then, it was time to go shopping and have lunch, and I did so with my friends Ryan and Lauren.

Then, it was time for a short visit to the beach, but it was incredible. It was nice and warm and it was just great to relax. I had happened to bring a frisbee with me, and one of my friends bought a soccer ball, so we did that for awhile. My friend Alex and I also decided that we had no idea when we would be near the Mediterranean again, so we decided to run into the ocean, despite the cold water and the fact that we didn’t have bathing suits. Yeah, my pants were wet for the entire bus ride to Madrid, but it was worth it. (There is a video of this event on Facebook, if any of my friends there want a couple minutes of cheap entertainment. )

After that it was time for the bus ride to Madrid, which wasn’t too bad since I slept part of the way. We stopped at a rest stop, and a few of my friends threw aforementioned superballs accross the parking lot for a solid half hour. Good times.

I was pleasantly surprised to see how this one came out.

Then, it was time to arrive at our fantastic hotel, Hotel San Antonio de la Florida, or as we affectionally called it, the “Oats-a-no-no” as the only letters illuminated at night were Ote Sn No No (thanks to my friend Matt for remembering the exact sequence). The room was…um…not great. The sheets had little tears in them, and the walls were paper thin. I could hold a conversation with my friends Dan and Alex in the next room fairly easily. Whie this didn’t happen to me, for some of my friends some of the planks supporting the bed broke.

Bad.

Also, bad.

From the outside.

The one redeeming quality of the hotel was that it was located right across from the Principe Pio metro station, which made getting around quite easy, but that was about it.

We had a nice dinner, and then it was back to the hotel to get some sleep for our first (and only) full day in Madrid.