Premature Slapation

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Our last night in Valencia was great. We were moved to a different room, on the top floor which opened into the lounge area, and had a giant window facing the terrace. This put us right on the hub of hostel activities, and so that evening we ended up meeting kids from all over. We started a game of egyptian rat screw and you´d think she was either waving money around or handing out free beer the way everyone flocked to the table to play. It was nuts. The game requires lots of swift hand slapping and Molly warned them not to hit the cards too early...dubbing this ´premature slapation´, and pretty soon we had every accent imaginable screaming ´´hey that was premature slapation!´´

Today was our first day in San Sebastian and we are loving it. After a very crazed process in Valencia that involved lots of running with 30pound packs through various train stations, and many muddled questions being asked in broken spanish, we finally found ourselves tucked snugly (and by that I mean six people per eight by ten room, coffin-esque bunk, with a shortage of free oxygen) in a sleeper train headed to San Sebastian.

We came straggling out of the train a little before seven am and it was raining as we trudged towards our hostel. But as usual, within a few hours we had all but forgotten these tiny details. Our room was nice, but the shower was amazing, and the son and mom team in charge of the place were such characters. She had a thousand wrinkles but was always smiling and bringing us a surplus of towels and applauding us for staying here instead of heading off to nearby Pamplona for the running of the bulls, which she said was just plain silly.

Then we went exploring. The city is the perfect size, clean, easy to navigate, and everyone thus far has been really friendly. There are a lot of backpackers and vacationers from other parts of Spain and France, so it´s a nice mix of people. We are staying on the corner of a gorgeous park, complete with a pond, fountain, and swans. The sun came out later on and we walked along the beach. It was too chilly for us to want to do anything more than stick our feet in, but there were braver bikini-clad souls swimming and splashing much further out. Tomorrow we are taking a bus a few miles away to do some hiking at a Nature Reserve that sounds interesting. We´re both ready to do some kind of out-of-city activity!

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Comments

[S Grizzard]

Running of the Bulls
Please do NOT go for the running of the bulls! Molly has never been a fast runner!!!

[mom]

Now I'm Jealous!
Okay - we just returned from antiquing in Alabama and I didn't see anything to compare with "there"! Since you are out of the city and headed to a nature reserve, I'm much more envious of you being there and me not. You should have taken me along just to edit your blogs, although I think sometimes it adds to the "charm" of your writing to try and guess what you mean sometimes (please for place, spun for spoon, etc.) We're all enjoying your adventures by reading along with you, so keep it up (the adventures and the blogs)! Your dogs love me more than you now so don't worry about them. I'm sure they'll like you again one day...Ya'll continue to be safe and smart - Love you! Mom

[jesspeanut]

running...
don´t worry we won´t...I´m not a fast runner either!