Science Museum
Friday, August 19, 2005
Day 4: We returned to the City of Arts and Sciences today to see the Museu de les Ciencies Príncipe Felipe. This is a huge building with a skeletal framework, which is covered with so much glass the window cleaner has a job for life. The best part of the museum is the interactive experiments on the lower levels, ostensibly for children, which are a lot of fun. As in all museums there are many exhibits not working but there is so much here it does not matter too much. We had fun playing with light and sound.The main exhibition on the top floor was about genetics. A brave attempt to explain a big subject, with more interactive exhibits to engage the casual visitor. There are a couple of cafes inside the museum, the best one having a big hot buffet so get there early to sp. The other cafe has bare concrete walls so it is like being in a toilet.
The film we had booked to see in the Imax dome L'Hemisferic was Grand Canyon which was excellent. Each seat is reclined so you can see the film projected on the ceiling, the inside of the dome. Headphones carry the sound and you can switch them between languages. In the picture you can see me pretending to react to a fifty foot spider walking across the screen which sure enough happened later. It was spectacular. The Imax process gives a good sense of depth and perspective. The best parts were the early Indian settlers walking around their vertiginous paths, and a trip by canoe down the rapids.We gave the Umbracle a miss and did not visit the impressive Palace of Arts (Palau de les Arts) because they are still building it.
Labels: diary
ω 8:13:00 PM.La Cuidad de las Artes y las Ciencias
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Day 3: The honour of our presence today was awarded to the City of Arts and Sciences, a large development near our hotel in the South of the city of Valencia. We walked there. The sky was still overcast as you can see from the photos.In this picture, on the left in the distance is the massive Palace of the Arts, still under construction. On the right is the much smaller L'Hemisferic, a combined planetarium, imax and laserium dome. We will visit this tomorrow, meanwhile we had a glass of horchata (aka orxata), a milk-like drink made from chufas (tiger nuts) which is delicious accompanied by some fartons (steady now) which are straightened doughnuts. Who needs holes in doughnuts. There are Orxata stalls throughout the city. Link: Horchata.
Also in this part of the 'city' are the L'Umbracle, a garden promenade with a car park underneath, and the Prince Philip Science Museum (Museu de les Ciencies), but today, as the sun came out and we started getting roasted, our goal was the Oceanographic (L'Oceanogràfic as I'm sure you have worked out!), the largest marine park in Europe.
Of course this had the largest queue in Europe too, so it was two hours later that we got in. We discovered why the line was slow at the ticket booth where you have to choose there and then which film showing you will see at the Hemispheric. Ay ay ay. If only they had given us leaflets or put up posters two hours back along the queue so people knew which film was which... so I would say: get your tickets in another part of the City.
We settled down in the Delfinario for a spectacular show, with young people in tight latex using fish and whistles to get dolphins to do things they normally wouldn't.Half of the L'Oceanografic is underground where extensive aquaria link weird buildings, including water tunnels where the fish and sharks swim above and around the visitor, or giant glass tanks housing whales(!) and hundreds of tons of water.
My favourite animal was the walrus, whose comical galumphing about, expert lounging around and skilful swimming all made for an enviable lifestyle. Walruses are very big!
The penguins had a very nice enclosure, on a natural looking terrain, but were the least animated creatures I have ever seen, at least while I was there. Some London Zoo penguins could show this lot a thing or two.
The submarine restaurant and most of the other places to eat inside L'Oceanografic were packed, so we got something fast in a corner of the site amongst litter and bad architecture. Wha-hey!
So, L'Oceanografic: get there early.
You find us later in nearby El Saler shopping centre: notable for not including a branch of El Corte Ingles. On maps you see C.C. which is Centro Commercial. This is either a group of different stores in a galleria or a single large El Corte Ingles. Centro Commercial El Saler is a small indoor shopping centre on three levels. The publicity for their rebajas (sale) was "Crisis Existencial?" printed everywhere in large yellow letters which was quite worrying. The shops here include a huge Carrefour hipermercado (supermarket) and to make me feel at home: a branch of C&A and an ABC cinema. Actually C&A have closed all their shops in the UK. There are also two branches of MacDonald's, to end on a downbeat note. ω 6:45:00 PM.
Exploring the City of Valencia
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Day 2: Breakfast in Cerveceria Bocateria, around the corner in Calle Antonio Suarez. This place is recommended: they do a bona apple tart and coffee for brekkers and at lunchtime something more substantial.
The picture is Espe on the Puente Exposition, a bridge that goes over the former course of the river Turia, now the Jardin del Turia because all the space has been converted to parkland. From there we traversed Calle de la Nave, Calle Bonaire and the Calle Comedias on our way to the Calle de la Paz and the Place de la Reina: half a square because the rest of the space is a different square, in front of the Cathedral.
Valencia is similar to London in that half the shops -- especially the shoe shops -- have a sale on. Sales are called rebajas (Spanish) or raixas (Valenciana). Also many houses and flats have balconies, but even though it is much hotter than London, people do not sit on them, just like in London.
In the Cathedral which was built between 1262 and 1702 we did the audiotour: one English, one Spanish, three euros and leave a credit card or something of value as deposit for the magic speaking boxes and headphones.
After refreshments in the Plaza de la Virgen we also visited the Basilica.
Espe is Catholic and she was hoping to find a cathedral that is up and running, to buy prayer books and so on. Although this is supposed to be a strongly Christian country, most of the churches are locked shut and do not publicize the times of services. The shops that we have in London around our cathedrals that sell plaster saints and souvenirs are not present here. In the UK churches are open and well attended: I often wander into strange churches to see the architecture, artwork and local history or just to look for the green man. We did find a church service in Valencia later in our holiday which held a very swift mass; the congregation was small, female and elderly.
In Valencia, pipework and garage doors are also often covered with stickers advertising the services of cerrajeros who are plumbers and electricians.
We wandered around before arriving at the Plaza del Ayuntamiento where we checked out the impressive main post office or Correos.
At 20:30 you find us at table 21 in the cafe on the top floor of El Corte Ingles in Calle Sorolla Colon. Espe was amused by the powerplays of the waiters and I watched a group of women assemble one-by-one for a meeting, sitting in different places before recognizing each other and commandeering a table by a window.
El Corte Ingles is like a cross between WH Smith and Debenhams that sells almost everything. Valencia has several branches and the two in the centre of town have different departments to each other, ie electrical goods in one but not the other. The largest branch has eight floors. They are pretty good for books and DVDs. I got a box set of Kojak in Spanish for Espe. I didn't get The Godfather because that was an outrageous €78. I also lingered over the Mont Blanc counter. Mont Blanc make expensive pens and gizmos in shiny black.
Supper was at Joe's, 18 Avenida Aragon, Valencia. I don't know why we went in here, perhaps reassured by the solidity of the coloured glass frontage which obscured the comedy within. The joke at Joe's is that they have only a €15 set menu but they won't tell you what is on it. A group near us left before eating when the waiter refused to produce a menu. We had a go, seeing there was plenty of food on people's tables. New courses keep appearing, about fifteen altogether. I was full halfway through. The waiters have fun. A lot of food goes in the bin. I don't get it. Taberna Joe: For stout trenchermen only. ω 10:18:00 PM.
Off to Valencia!
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Day 1: Espe and I are off on our hols. We're staying in Valencia, Spain, for a fortnight.Valencia is the capital of the district of Valencia in Eastern Spain. Like Catalonia, it has its own language similar to Spanish. Valenciana is no easier than Catalan, and street signs could be in either language, so Avenida del Puerto could be something like Via de Porto on a map.
We set off early, intending to relax for an hour or two at Heathrow before the flight was called. Our journey was uneventful, via WAGN into London, tube to Paddington and Heathrow Express to the airport. All the time the weird intelligences on the seventh moon of Neptune were making their final plans, but we were unaware of this.
The Heathrow Express train is quite fast, quiet, but has "entertainment" in all the carriages. The BBC supply a news service to the train, and also on-screen is a long list of things you are not allowed to do read in an almost patronizing manner. After twenty minutes of this, the train is about to arrive and we then discover there are carriages that are "entertainment-free" Aaargh!
I enjoyed looking at all the shops in the airport, not buying anything except a small food dictionary and then we had coffee and croissants.
Iberia flight 4151 was shared with BA, but was OK. One man was quite faint, and the stewards had to lay him down on the seats next to us. Alcohol was rubbed on and he survived the flight.
The heat hits you when coming out of the air-conditioned airport. We grabbed a taxi and arrived at the Hotel Puerta Valencia in half-an-hour. Taxis are cheap here. The first thing we did was upgrade our room to one of the 7th floor balcony apartments. Cost us an extra £13.21 a day.
We ate at La Sídreria (cider apple) around the corner. Espe asked for a simple salad and we got enough food to last me for two days: it contained fish, meat, eggs and cheese as well as vegetables. This restaurant is a bit pricy: for entertaining only.
Try out balcony. Seems to work. The Goons could have filmed their The Running, Jumping and Standing Still Film here. As there is a mezzanine level here, we look down from nine storeys high at the Avenida Cardenal Benlloch below. This is a busy thoroughfare and even has traffic late at night, which you can hear as all the buildings along the avenue are several storeys high. Luckily our glass partition to the balcony has double glazing, a rubber blackout sheet, nets and heavy curtains.
Sleep. Good hard beds here. Good sleep. ω 10:57:00 PM.
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