Valencia

It was another whirlwind weekend trip and this time it was to Valencia. We were greeted by beautiful sunshine which was a very welcome change from the gloomy, grey London skies. Everyone was in such good spirits (despite having woken up at 4am that morning to catch the flight) by mere fact of the warm weather.

We spent our first day exploring the city center, indulging in tapas and relaxing over glasses of sangria. At night, we ventured out to the beach side for dinner. Having grown up in Sydney, the beach didn't really impress but the cheap cocktails at the bars certainly did. Dinner was fabulous at a traditional restaurant whose specialty is lobster paella (to my surprise, Spanish paella is really quite simply rice cooked in broth unlike the ones which I had back at home which threw in an assortment of veggies). However the real adventure was when we realised that we had missed the last metro / bus. After waiting for a very long time for a taxi and in our somewhat delirious / tired state, we accidentally tried to wave down a police car, thinking at the time, why does this cab have two lights instead of the standard one and why are the lights blue instead of green.

Second day was spent at their Science Museum which is massive and quite interesting (reminded me of year 10 science excursions). Spent the rest of our time eating, drinking, did more walking and drank some more.

I really enjoyed Spain - I love the architecture, the leisurely atmosphere of taking things easy (always a bonus when there's uplifting street music playing as well), the sun and the food / wine.

From left to right, top to bottom
Lots of map reading outside LOEWE (which I found out is Spanish) to decide where to go
At the produce markets. Valencia oranges anyone?
Bull ring
Lobster paella
Mary & I
Flee market
The cutest dog with the floppiest ears
City of Arts and Sciences
Street performer giving Karen's hair a restyle

And my favourite photo of all...

Happy New Year

New year, new beginnings. Thanks to the kind encourage from my good friend (see comment to previous post), I am now back to posting my photos. Link to the full album is on the sidebar.

New year celebrations: Predrinks at Gonk & Binh's before heading out to Turnmills. Having bopped to RnB music at friends' Asian dance parties most of my life (shameful I know), I can't say electro / techno is my thing. But it was a good night with good friends and the club was very cool too.

Christmas celebrations: xmas eve at Gonk & Binh's and xmas day spent at Joe & Keith's.


Germany: the xmas markets in Munich and Nurnbery were very festive and delightful.


Budapest has a quiet charm, thoroughly enjoyed the food and relaxing at the Turkish baths.


Paris: it was very much like what everyone says about Paris - beautiful and romantic.