Wow. So going to Las Fallas in Valencia yesterday was totally a once in a lifetime experience. As in I would only ever want to go once in my life. Longest, most tiring day ever. We left Alicante at 8:45 and got into Valencia at 11:30. We had a quick tour of the downtown and then we were left on our own for the rest of the day. We had to be back at the bus by 3:15am. So fifteen hours. Out on the crowded, dirty streets. Fun.
At 1pm we saw a fireworks show. Then we wandered around.
Then we ate lunch. Then we wandered around some more.
Then we met up with people from our group and I got to hang out with other (less annoying) people. We went to La Lonja, the second most important Gothic style building in Europe, after Notre Dame. It was pretty cool. Walking around it took maybe 15 minutes. Then I agreed to help a friend Katie find her friend. So splitting up with the group almost guaranteed that we wouldn't be able to find them again or see them the rest of the day. Whatever.
Around 7pm we saw a parade that was pretty cool. People dancing with fireworks and sparklers.
We walked around town and saw more of the Fallas statues and sat down for a light dinner, a couple plates of tapas and two pitches of sangria to take the edge off the terrible foot and ankle pain from walking around all day. It worked. Temporary relief. After dinner we walked around a little more and finally they started lighting things on fire around 10:00. We stayed on one street and walked back and forth between two different Fallas. We saw the burning of the small one in one plaza then the small one in the other plaza, got some buñuelos (that were better than the ones from last weekend), played cards to pass the time, then saw the burning of one big Falla then the burning of the other plaza's Falla. It was cool.
(yeah, that's me at the beginning that screams, "It's on fire!"
Typically they set off fireworks before they burned the statues so that was awesome! Fireworks right above our heads. I love fireworks. I'd like to be proposed to during fireworks.
After the big Fallas were burned we meandered back to the town square (Plaza de Ayuntamiento) and waited to see the burning of the giant Falla (~1am). It was pretty much too crowded to get close and actually see much of the burning but they had another fireworks show that was crazy!! I loved it. Then they set it on fire and I could see just a little bit of it, over the heads of the people in front of me.
After this, the city became drastically less crowded. Katie and I tried to meet up with two other girls but got confused and ended up walking thirty minutes through insane crowds only to find out they weren't where we thought they were. They were actually right where we had watched the town hall burning. Perfect. But it was my fault so...
We finally found them and sat in a Burger King for an hour before venturing back to the buses to go home. I don't sleep well on buses so basically I was awake from 7am on Saturday to 6am, when I finally laid in bed on Sunday morning.
Overall, once was enough. I wouldn't go back to see it again. Too many people. Filthy streets. Yucky bathrooms. This convinced me that I definitely don't want to go to Sevilla for Semana Santa. And I (as well as many other people I spoke to) would have been much happier if I'd arrived at 4pm instead of noon and left at 2:30am instead of 3:30am. I didn't need that much free time.
I mean, I love fire. It amazes me. So I had a good time. The festival was interesting. But I didn't like the little children constantly throwing fire crackers on the ground, 5 feet from me. And the statues burned so quickly since they were basically just paper mâché. Really, I'm just tired. I'm a little tired of traveling. I mean, I'm physically worn out. I just can't wait for spring break but that doesn't come for more than a month. I can't wait to just relax and sit on a beach somewhere in the Canary Islands. I just need to do nothing.
So don't shake your head at me or scoff at me for saying I'm tired of traveling. I'm sure you would be too. I want to make the most of my time here, but it's not fun being miserable because your feet and ankles and shins and knees hurt so badly. And I'm not the only one. My friends here are in just as much pain. I'm a little afraid that my family's gonna be upset with me this next week because I won't be able to walk around as much as them. They just won't understand. Unless they're already sore too.
Okay I'm starting to ramble. I've probably forgot some of the details of yesterday too. Eh, it happens. I'll edit them in later.
So, Sevilla with the family this week then off to Barcelona with them for the weekend. Then Munich in two weeks. Hopefully we got to see a special fairy tale castle and maybe cross the border to Salzburg, Austria to see places where they filmed Sound of Music. That would be a dream come true.
Alright. Time to pack.
Besos!
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