Hola!!
Where do I start - I had a great time over in England (sorry for those of you I didn't manage to see - it was a brief trip!) thanks to everyone I stayed with during the sunny weather! At that time we were still having rain and more rain here although luckily now we have more seasonal sunshine everyday - with all the rain the land is very green. Our tomato plants and lettuces are growing at an astonishing rate and we should be eating the first lettuce tonight!!!!
We have been quite busy recently - our friend Brian found himself at the centre of a surprise birthday party recently. Everyone attending dressed in military attire as Brian was in the army before he retired. We all hid outside the back of the venue before marching in as Brian arrived - we must have looked quite a spectacle! There are a couple of photo's below to show me and the Birthday boy - plus Nigel in his military dress!!!
After Brian's Barmy Army Birthday Party (as it was known) - we went away to Valencia for a few days to see the America's Cup Sailing. Now this was quite an event - we booked into a nice hotel and were booked onto a sailing catamaran to watch the action on one of the days.
The whole trip was brilliant. As soon as we arrived on Monday we headed straight for America's cup port and wandered around taking in all the sights - and there were so many. The whole of the port area has been created specially for the event. Prior to the America's Cup itself there is the Louis Vuitton cup which is held to decide which team will compete against Alinghi who are the current holders of the cup. We were there for the semi-finals being held between BMW-Oracle Team (american) and Luna Rossa Team (Italian) and secondly between Team New Zealand and Desafio Espanol (hip hip hurray some spanish interest!!!) We went out on the catamaran to the start line and had full commentary - we were able to see the yachts starting and doing key turns during the races - which were won by Luna Rossa and Desafio Espanol (brilliant sailing on their part - though we may be slightly biased). After the races the catamaran put up the sails and we went off sailing for an hour before returning to the port!
Here's the cup itself !! We really did get that close to it!
Here's a photo of the Spanish Team yacht just after they had crossed the finish line - everyone was cheering and all the yachts around were sounding their hooters - it was a great atmosphere. We found ourselves worn out with sunburnt legs that evening - but we would do it all again tomorrow.
As well as time on the yacht and at the port we stayed at a hotel just opposite the Arts and Sciences complex of modern buildings - it was amazing. We even spent a morning in the science museum - most unlike us - but the building was stunning. We learnt how the first experiments were done to prove that the earth is spinning and how a cantabrian curve works amongst other things!!!!
Overall we had a great time and are hoping to go back to Valencia sometime soon....it's only just over an hour on the train from here!
Hope all is well with everyone, keep in touch,
Hugs from Spain!
