De Nada, si o no

Today was a day of Travel, or at least the first three hours were. We left Madrid (Mathrid-Erin in green) at 11:20 this morning, and headed to Valencia (Balenthia), a three hour train ride (train station above). I, myself, slept for more than half the trip, but Erin says that it was pretty. The part of Valencia, although not terribly close to the beach, does still feel breezy and a little cooler than Madrid (also smaller and more quaint than Madrid).

After deciphering the directions to the Hostel, we arrived, checked in, and then IMMEDIATELY ate lunch due to the fact that since we have been here, Erin has decided that we should share every meal, leaving me starving for the last like 5 days. We managed to find somewhere to eat, at the suggestion of our overly excited check-in guy (I'm almost positive his name is Alejandro and he jams out to everything, including System of a Down with Stephen). BTW, we're staying at the Home Backpackers Hostel (less of a party crowd perhaps, but we'll find out tonight I guess-oh, and "Pub Crawls" are apparently at every hostel), http://www.likeathome.net/.

The restaurant was called the Boatella, and we ordered the fried fish, fried prawns plates and olives, and un montadito (picture) which was a delicioso small open faced sandwich con jamon y fresh tomates (proscuitto and tomatoes.) Before everyone laughs that we couldn't get something other than fried foods because we're from SC, let me tell you that it was terribly far from that. First, the fried foods are in very little batter, if any at all, and the fish was just basically mini fish fried. Like literally half the plate consisted of minnows (literally looked, and smelled/tasted like minnows from a lake. Ohh, and from what we gathered there is a very large homosexual population here, from our waiter to teh passersby, I think we're accurate.), and then like 6 bigger fish, but not by much. Although it looked strange at first, it was delicious.

Following the meal, we ventured for postcards, back towards the train station. The sidewalks in that part of the town are like marble which is pretty cool, and the plaza with the fountain (which was previously our marker to find the hostel, picture at left) is really awesome. We walked along this area and found a few postcards, and then of course sat in a sidewalk cafe to fill them out. **Also (and I cannot believe Steve left this out because we had a lengthy convo about it) the "rules" are different when at a restaurant in Spain. From what we gathered (after speaking to a few natives and learning how to say "Check please" or "la cuenta, por favor," it is custom to greet and serve the costumers as usual and then leave them until then request the check. There is no asking how the meal is, if they need anything, more water, blah blah...you must actively request the check...and also, it is not rude to flag the waiter. Very interesting. Thank goodness we figured out how to say that instead of walking inside over and over. The post office itself was in the same plaza just mentioned, and was really huge, which by the way I can't figure out why their post offices are so big, but yet we use like 1/16 of them for actual postal serivces, whatev. We had a time looking lost and wandering in circles once in the place, looking for stamps and the drop box, but Erin's new found courage and communicaciones en espanola has guided us in several right direcciones (um, all I had to say was "a Estados Unidos" meaning to The United States...and btw, they have about 8 drop boxes, and although they each say different things, none of them mean anything...at least that's what I could gather from the securidad officer today...she keep saying (Todos-meaning all and Quieres-meaning whichever you want) (the girl sitting across from us can't close her legs, wow) (but she was nice enough to speak to us and tell us where a wine opener was in the hostel).

Finally, after what seemed like chores, we got to go see some sites, aka the cathedral of santa maria (right), which dates back to 1300's I think, but I could be lying. This church was fantastico, and was huge on the inside. AND there was some woman taking wedding pics, and for Buster, she rolled up in a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow, deal! The church held for us some intersting views and failed self-timer attempts, but pictures will come when we get the camera cord.

Following this, we ate again, which shocked me because I got my own meal (in my defense, it's easier to order AND cheaper. We also hit a run-down grocery store where we purchased a bottle of wine for about $4.00, two baguettes for about $1.00 and some cheese and salami for very little, que bueno!), AND we ate so close back to back, which is really shocking thus far, and continued back to the Hostel; meandering all the way. Thus here we are, writing the blog, checking emails, drinking some wine, and planning our trip to the beach tomorrow, va (Vaminos, heard as Baminos meaning Let's go)!

Oh, and the title is because Stephen randomly says, "de nada, si o no" meaning your welcome or it is nothing (you say it in response to thank you) and, yes or no) ALL DAY LONG (todo el dia, DEVON), it is hysterical.

Pictures may come sooner or later. Adios traduccion manana (goodbye until tomorrow)!