amorousodious

My favorite part of the day is my 40 minute walk to school. I know that sounds strange, but it really is a refreshing time, and a great way to start my morning. I get to exercise, as well as pass through some beautiful gardens. Since the street that I take is seperated in the middle by the large garden they call the rio, I can take the same path in the same amount of time, but I see something new almost every day. Today for instance, I passed through the Jardín de Turia, which is a part of the rio, right before the futbol (soccer) fields. There's some construction on the bridges above the fields, but in Turia it's pretty peaceful. There are little indents in the walls, which I'm sure at some point were used for torches to help light the way at night, but now they're usually inhabited by cats. There are a TON of cats around that are obviously strays, and there are people that come and feed them and bring them water and such. This morning some of the cats were waiting by the bathroom building in between the futbol fields for this lady to come and feed them as she usually does in the mornings.

The rio is such an interesting place. If you're ever curious, take a look at a map of Valencia, and you'll see the large patch of green space that runs along the north end of the city. There used to be a river that ran through the middle of it, but that was a LONG time ago, which gives you an idea of how old the walls are that run around its perimeter, and the bridges that run over it. There are sports fields in it, a lot of park space, and every now and again you run across playground equipment. It's pretty typical to have playground equipment in the medians between the streets as well, which is something I don't think I've seen in the US.

Anyway, I'm so happy to be able to live here for a little while. There are so many cool things like this, I'll try to think of more and write about them as well as my daily entries.