Ok so this morning is a bit of a mad rush as we have to be up and going, have breakfast, shower, get our gear organised (while others in the room sleep off hangovers) and be out ready for the buses before 8am. Today is even more chaotic than normal because there are extra buses to get the swarms of people down south in time for a little festival thing that we'll tell you about tomorrow. Turns out that we don't get rolling till almost 9am which is ok because it gives Shona a chance to zip off and get some water and some more euros. The drive down to Valencia is kinda boring, but gets us into town in plenty of time to taxi to our hotel, register for the tour and then explore a bit of the city. The hotel is really nice and a welcome change from the hostels, plus it's located very close to a load of funky new buildings (
and a shopping centre). The river used to run through the city, then during the 50s it flooded, killing some thousand people. They then diverted the river to the outskirts and held a local competition to see what they should do with the prime land in the river bed. It isn't all completed, but the science museum, the opera house, the aquarium and the observatory are all pretty spectacular works of architecture/art. As you can tell from the photos, it's a slightly different style than that which Gaudi used, but is impressive none the less! It's a nice little walk and we find a pretty cool sandwich place that rivals Pret in England. A lot of 
the 360 people on our tour then met at the three various hotels and combine at a club for a 'disco night' that has been put on for us. It never quite gets going as a disco because people are more interested in meeting people and not having too big a night... but it's great fun nevertheless and even our 2 complimentary drinks are very generously free poured! Highlight of the night was getting the holographic photo taken with our crazy hair and new friends Vaughn and Shannon, sadly you'll have to see that in person when we get back to get 
the full effect. The McDonalds rule was broken on Vaughn's request, but at this point we just wanted to finish the night and get home for some needed sleep before the big day tomorrow. Travel hint; a New Zealand drivers license (or any card that shape) works just as well as a hotel room key in the switch that would normally turn off the air conditioning and lights when you leave the room! p.s. there's a chance that the NZ news on the 27th will show some of tomorrow's activities...
and a shopping centre). The river used to run through the city, then during the 50s it flooded, killing some thousand people. They then diverted the river to the outskirts and held a local competition to see what they should do with the prime land in the river bed. It isn't all completed, but the science museum, the opera house, the aquarium and the observatory are all pretty spectacular works of architecture/art. As you can tell from the photos, it's a slightly different style than that which Gaudi used, but is impressive none the less! It's a nice little walk and we find a pretty cool sandwich place that rivals Pret in England. A lot of 
the 360 people on our tour then met at the three various hotels and combine at a club for a 'disco night' that has been put on for us. It never quite gets going as a disco because people are more interested in meeting people and not having too big a night... but it's great fun nevertheless and even our 2 complimentary drinks are very generously free poured! Highlight of the night was getting the holographic photo taken with our crazy hair and new friends Vaughn and Shannon, sadly you'll have to see that in person when we get back to get 
the full effect. The McDonalds rule was broken on Vaughn's request, but at this point we just wanted to finish the night and get home for some needed sleep before the big day tomorrow. Travel hint; a New Zealand drivers license (or any card that shape) works just as well as a hotel room key in the switch that would normally turn off the air conditioning and lights when you leave the room! p.s. there's a chance that the NZ news on the 27th will show some of tomorrow's activities...
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Throw a tomato at Alinghi for me!
ReplyDeleteP.S. Speaking of tomatoes, keep it real tomorrow Mike! Save the unripe ones for the Man U supporters.
I AM a Man U fan Jeremy!
ReplyDeleteCool t-shirt M!
ReplyDelete