Valencia

Oh Valencia. This city had the potential to be kind of boring. It's best know for it's delicious oranges, but I had no idea what else was there. I certainly wasn't as excited about it like I was for Barcelona. That is, until we got to Madrid. On day one at the welcome briefing, our tour director Andreas told us that we were very lucky, because for the four days that we would be in Valencia, there was a crazy fire festival going on. It was called Las Fallas Festival, (pronounced fye-yas) and it happens every year for four days in March. We had perfect timing! When Andreas explained the festival to us, I don't think that it prepared us at all
for the days that were to come. Las Fallas is proclaimed by Valencians to be "the biggest party in the world"...and they are not kidding around. This thing is HUGE>

I don't know that my ranting and raving, or even my pics will do it justice so here is a link to check it out as well:

http://www.lasfallas.net/

From the minute we approached the edge of the city, we heard the popping noises of fire crackers and fireworks. This did not stop for one minute of the four days we were there. Constant noise. The loudest being a sonic boom that shook the whole city every day at 2pm. They actually warned pregnant women to stay away from the city center at this time of day. That is how loud it was.

On each corner of every block, there was a giant colorful paper-machet sculpture. Each one took a year to create; only to be admired for a few days, and then burned down on the last day of the festival. Some were as big as houses.

So... of course it was here, in the craziest place I've ever been to in my life, that I had an emergency situation which would land me in the hospital. The "rash" that had been appearing on and off for a few weeks prior, was not just any rash. It turns out that it was hives. Hives that became so bad that when we got to Valencia I was afraid my throat would close up and cause me to suffocate. When I finally decided to go to the hospital, my little crew, all three of them did not let me down. They were all there for every excruciating minute. Finding the hospital, making me laugh, bringing me food, helping to translate what the Dr's were saying, holding my hand. It was an intense EIGHT hour ordeal. After a shot of prednisone, and a script for the pill form, I was sent off  to "relax" in my hotel room, which sounded like it was smack dab in the middle of a war-zone.

The day after the prednisone shot the hives cleared significantly, and I was ready to get out and join the party. Katrina and I rode a huge ferris wheel that gave us a great view of the city for miles. The next day was the day that the statues were lit up; the grand finale. Before each one was lit, they would set off fire works as a signal that it was about to be lit. Here is a huge Indiana Jones masterpiece in progress:

There was also this huge lite brite like set up, called The Illumination. It went was about 5 blocks long from beginning to end. Inside, it was like a market place with lots of, vendors selling various things like food, booze, candy, jewelry, home goods and of course, fire crackers.

The next day, we said good bye to the craziness of Valencia, and headed to Barcelona. The city of my dreams,