We'rrrrre off to get my parents! To Madrid I go!!!

Well, mission accomplished. The parents are in Spain. Spain has the parents. All is right with the world again.

Again....let me just put it out there...my dad, in Spain, is one funny site to see. Ok, now I can continue...

Well, my parents have finally seen more of Madrid than the airport. On Saturday night we walked all around Madrid. La Puerta del Sol, La Plaza Mayor...the subway system, everything you could imagine. Mom ate a spanish hamburger....dad tried spanish beer. It was definitely a day of firsts. However, it was pretty crowded downtown, do to the fact that it was Halloween. I find it hilarious that the Spanish have no real concept of why we have halloween, but they still partake in the festivities. (I bring this up because the Plaza Mayor was complete with Mickey & Minnie Mouse as well as one of those tables where 3 people poke their head through the tabletop to make it look as if they don't have bodies. Oh, Spain...) Another thing that is pretty funny is that if you DO choose to dress up on Halloween, it is unacceptable to be anything except something scary...while I was in Madrid, my roommates dressed up as Indians, and I guess comments were made!

Even so, Mom and Dad seemed to like Madrid...I mean, dad had to stop in every ham shop on the road...like a kid in a candy store that one. He also wanted to buy enough wine for the whole week in that one trek....tip of the iceberg. It was a gorgeous night in the plazas though. The clouds were out...and it was super warm! Mom couldn't believe that it was almost novemeber.
Me and the ma dukes!

Dad and his ham

I guess I tired them out, eh?

The next day we went on our three hour journey to Valencia. Now, let me tell you. It is very hard to navigate in a car when someone is driving that doesn't understand Spanish. The outcomes are VERY interesting. I'm just starting off with that point....haha. Anyways, Valencia is about 3 hours away from Madrid and Sunday morning we headed in that direction so Dad could see his fish. Oh, the fish. There were many fish. Red ones, blue ones, big ones, and little ones. Sharks and dolphins too! Ohhhhh, my dad couldn't get enough. I have to admit, I did like the penguins though. They are suppppper funny. Ahh, but dad dragged us to the dolphin show, and made us look at every fish in the place....(let me just let you know, that there are over 15,000 kinds of fish at this place....) Over all, the place was pretty cool. But ohhhh....words can't describe...

The park of Arts and Sciences
The Aquarium, el Oceanografico
Some fish.
Some more fish.
Even more fish. Actually, these fish were call "Sweetlips" which is why I took a picture of them....
Hey look, a tunnel of, what are they called again? Oh that's right, fish!
Couldn't go to the aquarium without going to the dolphin show, now could we? It's Sea World memories all over again....

Well, after the aquarium we tried to find out hotel. Good times, especially with no map of the city. Have no fear, we found it. Nice hotel too. It was called Medium Hotels Valencia. Definitely recommendable. (A very 'Yuriy' hotel!) Dark colors, very chic inside, very nice overall. That night me and mom figured that since we were in the place were paella originated from, we had to be sure to try it. Well we found this little outdoor cafe in the middle of some side street in the casco viejor (old part) of Valencia that had AMAZING paella valenciana....the saffron was golden yellow, the meat cooked to perfection, just the right amount of vegetables....geez, this is making my mouth water. Anyways, the setting was great, people walking by on their way to their own dinners, a gorgeous night....all we needed was an accordian player to show up, and voila, you have the perfect setting.

After that, we had a chance to walk around old Valencia, espeacially its gorgeous cathedral, that we actually got locked inside of. (It was like a sign from grandma telling me I should go to church more, I just know it!) When we finally found our way out of the spooky cathedral, we stumbled upon this cute little plaza where we enjoyed a nice cup of tea and the full moon. I love people watching, and for some reason these Spanish plazas are the perfect settings. It was defintely a gorgeous night for it.

The Valencia Cathedral
La plaza de la Virgen. And that's right, the Basilica is right NEXT to the cathedral..

The next day, the three of us ventured over to the port of Valencia. Oh, it was almost 70 degrees outside! Absolutely incredible. I had to practically hold mom back from jumping in the water. The beach really was gorgeous, I couldn't believe that it was actually November. Well after we perused the port for awhile, we decided to get going on our hike to Calatayud.

The Port of Valencia, not too bad for November, eh?

She really didn't want to move....
Look how happy there are to be in Spain!

In our next chapter of 'The parents are in Spain": how the parents climbed the Castle of Calatayud, Dad continues to say thank you instead of gracias, and Karli and Emily learn a new card game.....will they make it?