¡España! Things we learned, Part 1

Things we learned in Spain:

1. The seats in the subway look comfy--but aren't.

2. Apparently the minions take the metro in Spain? I think the not-quite-stick-figures are always interesting. (Here's a link to some from the ferry to Denmark.)

Look at those happy children, 
that jovial green man with a walking stick and..uh oh. 
What sort of emergency is that? I don't think he's feeling too well...

3. In Spain, the red don't-walk-men on the street lights seem more like guidelines/suggestions (vs. in Germany. Here's a link to an Itchy Feet comic* on the topic. And here's how it seems to be in France (i.e. similar to Spain) 

The green man seems to be doing fine, but look at the poor red man! I think he looks kind of like Wreck-It-Ralph, but he's got all sorts of ailments. 

Perhaps that's why he can't make anyone stop..he hasn't the strength (broken leg, shoulder injury) or even the heart (the one on the end seems to behaving a heart attack!) to stop them. 

Or perhaps he's getting so ill, because no one pays attention to him..

4. Clown bikes are harder to ride (especially when they're stuck in higher gear..) AND in order to bike in Spain, you have to be hardcore--or at least look it (How am I doing? ;) ). 

Hardly anyone on a bike was wearing anything other than biking-spandex, helmets, sunglasses, etc. (Ah well..maybe next time)

And now for a few pictures of us around Valencia:

(And if snakes really were deathly afraid of tile (name that movie!), they wouldn't like it in Valencia. Tile is everywhere! They must have made this house for my Dad! And that cat seems perfectly happy to steal blood sausage :) )

*And just for fun, here's another of our favorites from Itchy Feet. 

You've got to make sure you have enough fresh air! (And, unlike in North America, the buildings really don't have constant air flow.) Even I, upon entering a room full of students after an hour of hard thinking--even I have opened the windows, proclaiming that we needed to get some fresh air in there. :)