From little things...

imagine the results from THIS little baby! (its an Acorn and yes it's a "representation" and GM free) (clay)

...jolly big things can grow...or so someone recently told me (and NO it wasn't Paul Kelly) gosh I hope I haven't breached any copy write stuff....

As is so often the way, the most beautiful things come to you when least expected, I was wandering (as is my want) and I stumbled upon an absolute oasis in the middle of this beautiful city...

The Medicinal Plant Botanical Gardens (am sure it's not technically called that BUT that is what it is) and it was appropriately enough in a pretty "seedy" part of town :0)

simply being beautiful and not playing cards

having fun whilst not quite as beautiful as trees

It was tranquil delicious and filled with really really big trees and useful "planty" stuff! Just sitting amongst them makes you reflect on what is it that we're all doing, like crazy people, when all these big guys have been doing is putting all their energy into well, I guess growing big,tall,and strong, having said that I think we have more fun!

People reading, painting, canoodling and best of all the lovely table of "senior" Señores and Señoras who whipped out their Canasta cards and got down to it, I think they have decided that they have made as much effort as those beautiful tree's and they're getting their Euro's worth Free entry for Pensioners... 

That should be it for me as it's late, but who could resist a segue such as the above into the "older set of Spain"

The Spanish Señora's are a sight to behold (I promise to bring you a photo before I leave)  they lunch and "afternoon" catch up like demons. Beautifully turned out  with their lips and eyebrows firmly enhanced and in "place" they are a sight to behold out and about town. Do not be surprised though if one casually shakes her glass at you from the next table and anticipates a refill from your bottle, because they're just about done and a "splash" more is all she needs! Yes this happened and I gladly shared, what a privilege!

Now the Señores, goodness gracious, with their penchant for pistachio cashmere sweaters over the shoulder or their finely tailored suites, cuff links and cigars what can I say, they are incorrigible, (oh and unfortunately they are not Antonio or Javier) but good grief they could teach the young (and not so) at home about "closing the deal" behaviour, I have never seen anything like it! If they weren't so neatly ironed they would be called something completely different!

Maybe they should get together with those Señoras. oh actually they probably are!

paint, draw, canoodle, play cards or just be its a playground!

PS: Today I shared my toasted cheese sandwich (I KNOW!!! but a girl cant live on Paella alone) with a homeless person, I hope it doesn't make me sound naff, but it was actually another lovely experience! (and no, I'm not turning into a bleeding heart sucker. I only really needed a snack) However,anyone who is reading this is one of my friends, I'm sure you would have to agree we are such a lucky people, it's kind of cool to share...OH yuppity yup yup yup I DO love a segue!!!!

Thank you for SHARING  xxx

The end of the yellow line....

Possible ruins

So, Sunday...I thought a little adventure was in order, after much deliberation I decided that I would visit somewhere completely random, I got out the trusty Metro Map and had a think...It was Sunday and sunny I had a bonus 13 minutes up my sleeve as I didn't have the Sunday Times to read...so I thought I would catch the train to the end of the hmmmm let's see... yellow line... Llira!

Llira allegedly has some Roman ruins, these images may or may not be them, I saw a site that looked "ruinish" but it did have a couple of cement mixers on it so I thought it may not quite as authentic as I first thought...

more possible ruins...

It has the requisite beautiful Cathedral, but being a Sunday it felt kind of wrong to gatecrash a Christening for the sake of a photo, if only I had worn a frock! so take my word for it was lovely... 

The Llira equivalent of a bollard

Llira, is actually not very lovely (but I did have a great coffee there), it is a town filled with peeps who either don't like shirts or if they do they are in very bad taste....however the train trip there and back was wonderful.

It was great to get into the countryside with all the orchards and farming land, and those typically European scrubby vegetation covered hills, the lovely little old ladies on the train comparing their mobile phones, and the little fourish year old kid who sang a song about parts of the body while he pointed to them all, I actually learnt stacks!

again randomly scattered, this time GIANT cannon balls

In Llira, I also saw my very first Spanish fly, interestingly, I thought it would be different...

The Grand Prix is here in Valencia this weekend, the city is awash with people in bright red Porche polo shirts and caps, I can hear the cars on the track from my apartment, shades of Melbourne loud loud loud! and it seems also that the fans are quite similar, I remember the man that I sat next to there had the biggest fattest bottom that almost pushed me off my seat, am thinking this could explain the Jim Belushi look alike from the apartment across the road the other night who thankfully went inside and did up his trousers and put on a shirt when my eyeballs probably almost knocked him off his balcony in horror! I moved to the other side of my terrace before I could see if he opened a bottle of Sparkling Spanish Cava and poured it over his head!

My Spanish is coming along in leaps and bounds, although I believe I MAY have ordered a "car" of (instead of a glass of) vino blanco on Friday, but perhaps that was just wishful thinking, it was a big week....

Thanks for sharing xxxx

NOW online for comments.....

My camera offered me (well actually it gave me no choice) Andy Warhole effect, what is with that?! I didn't know how to say No, just a duck or two will be fine, just normal garden variety ducks are what I seek....they're lovely... stable happy and a little bit cute around the edges, and they know how to have fun....

"AHHHHHHH! Thank you Paul J for drawing my attention to the fact that your comments were impossible to post here (and it's only been three weeks since I started lessons so I did have to "google translate" a couple of words from your email Espanole..:0) and thank you especially to my beautiful little sister (she of the one eyebrow raised at will) that has just spent 63 minutes of her life that she (nor I) will never get back sorting out this issssssue!

So, at the risk of sounding needy, (having been away nearly a month) comment away, share your thoughts, your impressions and your other "stuff".... and please feel free to do it all at once, it will be great!

PS: I wagged school yesterday, went back today and met some fabulous new peeps...all is well, private classes for the last week only 

Thanks (no, really, really thanks) for sharing  xxx

The Big Guy of Valencia...

Today I had a gorgeous wander through the Jardienes de Turia, this is 9kms of beauitful parkland that as always in this beautiful City, was full of surprises....

There he was... Gulliver himself no less lounging about in the middle of the park (well perhaps not lounging per se it did look as though he was hogtied and pinioned to the ground with big brass stakes) but he looked relativly relaxed for some one (who had possibly had a dose of temazapam....)

Slightly alarming are the "little people" entering Gullivers cod piece....

This beautiful park was once a River that ran through the City (something happened to it, I'm not sure what but there was some consideration given to turning the space into a freeway...I am very pleased to say they didn’t)

It’s a hot bed of activity on a Sunday, peeps running, walking, roller blading, kicking soccer balls, riding bikes, snogging (what is all that called Oh that’s it! Exercise) and even a guy on a unicycle!

There are a series of bridges that you meander under on the way, the gardens are filled with an incredible variety of plants including groves of mandarin trees, also, The Institute of Music (once again smack dab in the middle of somewhere unusual and unexpected) I was fortunate to hear a rendition of Beethoven’s Fifth (thank goodness it was that otherwise I doubt I would have recognised anything else) But what a Sunday morning treat!

thank you for not playing his 16.75.....(or even more 94.5!)

   

It’s also pretty clear that they like dogs here (they even have a big fat pond for them to swim in)....

 

On to the City of Arts and Sciences (have just realised I walked a VERY long way)

This building is absolutely incredible, second only in Global building scale to our very own Opera house I didn’t go in will save it for when the Lovely Trish joins me (apparently though it has an Imax that you can see movies about astronaughts ! Pretty cool!

I'll bet Oprah hasn't been here!

                                                                                       

I then wandered all the way back and found this exquisite little vista, the Valencia Eye!

Another fabulous day !                                                 

Thanks for sharing xxx

The Halcyon days Last supper...

No real relevance just a scrumptious plant at Albufera

Like Americas Next Top Model the A team of GYT's have been disappearing over the last week...

Last night was pretty much it! 

Remaining A teams last supper...

Those still standing (for this week at least) are Christoph, the lovely Bea (although technically the fact that she is Spanish precludes her from needing to come to class, actually Bea doesn't come to class at all she's the bonita darling with Christoph....) and moi...

What a superb group of beautiful people that was afforded to me right off the bat at the beginning of my Adventure, smart, interesting and engaging people who will make a difference to all our futures, clever, gracious and generous of spirit in the extreme... am feeling pretty spoilt...

Wednesday we went to the beach and I had my first dip for a very long time in the awesome Sea that is Mediterranean! Waves not TOO big, water not TOO deep and temperature JUST right, it was beautiful. 

Yay! for engines

We then went to Albufera a beautiful nature reserve just out of Valencia, with rice fields (of course, Spain, home of the Paella) and a wonderful lake which we explored on a very old style wooden boat (I admit I was so pleased to find it had an engine) initially I had thought the man was going to push us around Gondola style which would have taken at least 43 hours...

Sums up the tranquillity after a big day in the City

I can hardly believe that my experience Espaonle is almost half way done! 

Once again what a lucky girl I am to have had the company of such gorgeous people, and next week we will see what our new crew bring....

someone didn't get the "look bereft" brief JAN!! :0)

Thanks for sharing beautiful GYT'S  I think we learnt a lot together, Amsterdam in September, otherwise stay wonderful! (and in touch) xxx
 

Travel anywhere can have its elements of danger....

This is a collection of things to be wary of in a big foreign city such as Valencia....

The Spanish equivalent of Max Headroom...

BOLLARDS...be wary of these, they appear innocuous in the extreme, no ears, no eyes they don’t even move they  just squat about in “places”...especially be wary early in the morning, and I don’t mean early in the morning in a healthy, cheery, I'm up early and going for a walk way, I mean quite the contrary, more the early in the morning when you’ve been out and done nothing that is particularly healthy for you (except that the entire evening has been so much fun it’s like food for the soul)

Fat little B**tards

One minute you’re walking along having a great conversation and then well...you’re just not there anymore. Great news is you can actually rescue this with a very graceful recovery and almost no one notices that you where missing for a tick.... Injury sustained Bruised knee

Quiet as a mouse and waiting...

They come in all shapes and sizes

This graceful recovery is a little harder the next day when you’re walking along with the GYT’s talking about it and you walk into another one...thanks to the every lovely Jan and Christoph who then took it upon themselves to walk on either side of me and shepherd me like a sheep.... cheers Guys...Unfortunately they weren’t there yesterday when I did it YET again, outside the Super market...Injuries sustained two bruised thighs

 Plonked about randomly

BREAD STICKS... you will find these in the second most dangerous isle of the SuperMercado (the first being the Running with Sharp things in your Hand aisle which I have thus far avoided)

These little horrors can lead to A: a chipped front tooth and B: a trip to a Spanish Dentist....

What an adventure! Especially (no real surprises here) when the forms to fill in (and the staff) are Spanish... and as much as they were all very jolly, when they said the word “roto” I'm afraid I downed my pen and said Nup, I can’t do this...(I could only imagine my lovely teeth ending up on the Black “white tooth” market), anyhooo, the very kind receptionist came back about 15 minutes later with a down loaded English version of the form Roto actually means chipped....

A delightful Spanish dentist (trained in the US and dying to speak English) sorted it all out in  no time and didn’t even charge me, bless him, I took them back a big fat bag of chocolates (which is possibly a very Non PC gift for a Dentist, but I had verbs waiting for me back at school and had to go)...Injury sustained one chipped tooth.

THE METRO... for those who know me well, you would know that I have no real affinity for public transport, yes its true I have been known to jump in a cab outside the Subiaco Hotel and say “don’t bother with the metre driver it’s a cashie” but in my defence it was raining...I’m sure it was :0)

I gave this a bit of "Film Noire" treatment for mysterious public transport adventures

Ahyhoo under the tutelage of the A team, I caught the Metro! Things I learnt, have your Euros ready because you look a bit silly scrambling for change when the train is coming, thanks to everyone who lent over the top of me and fed the machine with money so I could have a ticket and get on the same train! Check your zones (yes A and B are different) and don’t jauntily swipe your card and then try to go OUT  the IN door, it doesn’t work....Injury sustained NOTHING ! Note to self: Must catch public transport more often :0)

MAPS...Maps can be "broken" they do NOT always take you where you think you're going, it seems I am a broken map magnet, AND frankly Im astonished and amazed that some incredibly talented and gifted "bloke" hasn't designed a map that folds up really beautifully... What is WITH that!

Please note the Pony Skin rug, the very one that Antonio and Javier would be booted off because I have homework!

This is not a danger but a worthy inclusion as a hot Travel Tip all credit to my lovely friend Trish...

When travelling alone, always go to the bathroom before you collect your luggage... Brilliant!

As you can see, it's not all beer and skittles, but it's all happening with a smile on my face and I'm having a ball!

Thanks for sharing xxx

A Ducks in a row kind of day...

It was a kind of “hot and sticky” start to my  Sunday... 

Just as I was about to really get stuck into those pesky verb conjugations, a text from one of my GYT schoolies...lets catch up... ok then YAY!!!(That’s actually Spanish for great!)

Here’s how my Domingo unfolded....

Oh, but first, I have I shown you around my place....it's GOR-geous Darlings!

This is actually the floor of the Museo De Ceramics right next door, I know I'm a bit cheeky for including it my "house photo's... Just the kind of girl I am though!

This where I spend time thinking about verbs.....

This is the casual dining room for when my Schoolie buddys drop by for a quick Cervesa...

This often how I get home at night... (usually there is a horse attached)

So now let the activities begin....

Because of course it would be churlish not to, Jan and I climbed the Migulete Tower for the most expansive view of this delightful City from its highest point. Fifteen steps into it this “not to be missed” experience I was a little bit puffed... Shades of the Sargrada Famile in Barcelona, I should have remembered!!!

On the stairs we met a lovely little old lady who was about 92 years old, so I kind of felt a little sheepish and soldiered on (although she was coming down which was much easier! How did she manage to get the easy gig?:0)

Anyhooo, was it worth it? Of course it was!

The Centre for Arts and Sciences, like a big fat beetle in the distance!

 

 

technically it's just 70 metres...

A little bit more of lovely...

And ditto....

Then (of course) to Lunch....

Yummmmm! (Spanish for very delicious)

Akin to Spanish “sushi” so many processes, so much detail...almost (but not quite) too good to eat...

Home for a quick and culturally correct siesta, and then yes of course there was MORE!

Met the rest of the GYT's down at the port at the equivalent Ku de Ta Valencia and then off on a "sunset sail" on a big fat catamaran (a glass of Kava included!) Valencia hosted the Americas cup in 2007 (google if you would like more information :0)

Lance Romance would have loved this.

Fresh air and fresh Amigo's (T'was a bit chilly)

  

Tres artistic Marine type shot!

We finished off with a trip home on the Metro (that's a whole other story) and some of the (possibly) most pricey Pizza I have ever had...(It was pretty darn good though!)

All in all is was this kind of a day!

Thanks for sharing xxx

New School Shoes.....

Which ones to choose...That is the question....

Crazy nuts and Flamenco"esque"

Or V posh and sparkly?

Almost two weeks done! Yesterday was Happy Mercioles (or Jolly old Wednesday) and yes we did it again....! After a smashing day in the caring (and beautifully explaining ) hands of Ismail, I was feeling pretty darn good, verbo personal/verbo en infinitivo yeah baby your "culo" is mine....

Then we went for dinner.... We headed in to the Barrio El Carmen district and found a super little spot that had guitarist con Flamenco (sounds a LOT flasher than it really was) but the food was delicious and as always the company exceptional!

The GYT's were super kind and met me at my house, to walk from there, because we have all realised that my map is clearly "broken".... you can't be fabulous at everything....:0)

The "A" Team (just missing the Bonita Bea who took the photo) one of them can't quite speak Spanish as well as the others...

But she's having a SUPER TIME!

And here are a couple of our Fans....Boom-Boom (Peeps please really enjoy that) because I actually got into STACKS of trouble for taking Photos in the Cortes Ingleses, good grief it's only Myer Espanole!

So the latter part of my day involved finding an "Institute de Beaut e" (and re finding it I sincerely hope I can find it again on Saturday when I have my appointment) for (I hope) a pedicure and facial...If I come out with an enhanced cleavage and eye-lash extensions, I'll blame it on the fact we haven't done that chapter in our work book yet!

I finished my day with a Vino Blanco con hielo in the square opposite the Institute De Great Party Tricks...

 I might enrol there next!

Thanks for sharing x

Mi amigo el Gato Negro...

 Look what came down in this evenings Raining Gatos and Perros....

I didn't have my camera when this little (big) guy came to visit the other morning... he just kind of "appeared" and nearly made me fall off the terrace (he's V friendly and quite pushy actually extremely pussy I guess would be even more appropriate, he's certainly  a biggun :0)

Anyhooo, it appears he's quite happy to just hang out, and sincerely I have had some of the best "constructed sentences" conversations with this cat, it's awesome practice.... He just kind of lays about in a very superior way and well...he doesn't shoot the breeze, he just listens, its great he doesn't try and speak English back (unlike the peeps in the shops)that would just be weird anyway!

How Fabulous to get a pet with you rental, even if he does (kind of) say Radi! Have you done your homework!? or is that just slack persons personal guilt...?

hmmmmm! Well, have you or not?....I'll be BACK!