20 Years

As a birthday present to myself, I slept in a little bit. 'Til about 9:30. When I finally got up, I went downstairs and had breakfast with Matilde. Not that we didn't get along before, because we've always loved each other, but recently, I feel like she and I have really started to connect. Anyway, we had coffee and muffins together, and then she helped me figure out the plans for the ferry tonight.

Afterwards, I went upstairs and got ready for the day. The girls headed over to my house around 11:30. They came in and met Matilde and Marta, and then left their suitcases in my room, since they had to be out of their hostel. From there, we went to the Plaza de Toros to shop and get souvenirs. We we also stopped in a candy store - you can never go wrong with that.

Next, we took the metro to the beach. It was a nice day, much better than yesterday with the rain. We found a restaurant to have lunch, and it was AMAZING. Mel and I had seafood paella, and Lana, SK, and Jlee had chicken and rabbit paella. We also shared two salads and three tapas: patatas bravas, calamari, and verduras. For dessert, I had calabaza, and the other girls had ice cream or pastries. Like I said, it was incredible.

When we'd finished eating, around 4:30, we walked around the beach, and took lots of pictures! It was super fun. Can you guess what this spells?

From there, we took the tram to Blasco Ibáñez, and I showed them my school. We also stopped in Cuenca, my favorite pastry shop, and treated ourselves to some dulces.

We headed home around 6:45, walking through the río antiguo (parque) as we went. We also stopped by the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias - the super modern buildings in Valencia. Matilde had invited the girls over for dinner, which was so sweet of her. When we got there, we came up to my room and packed our things for Mallorca (pronounce my-OR-ka). At 8:00, we went downstairs, and she had the whole dining room table set. It was all 5 of us girls plus Matilde and Papá. We had ensalada rusa (corn, crab meat, lettuce, peas, and olive oil - SO GOOD) and tortilla española with alioli sauce and bread. Definitely a favorite meal of mine.

Around 9:00 we headed to the port. We got checked in and then headed to our ferry.....

which turned out to be more of a cruise ship. We had reclining seats to sleep in, but we ended up each having about 4 seats to lay down in and (try to) sleep. Thus, we started our 8 hour overnight journey to Paradise Island :) 

All in all, the day was wonderful. I was very glad to be in Spain with best friends on my birthday.