By this time, we had been wandering for a good long while, and by a good long while I mean ever since we had gotten off the bus that morning, so me and Cassi and Missy and Paige decided that we were tired and needed desperately to find a park to siesta, so telling Shumway that we were breaking off from the parade, we went our own way, first to find ice cream for Missy, and next to find the park. After even more walking we found a little store that had some ice cream to satisfy Missy’s sweet tooth, and we sat outside at the tables with our map spread over the top, trying to decide where the park was. Now, Spanish maps are a little bit different than the ones that you normally find in the US, there is nothing telling you which way is North, South, East and West, and the markings on the map, like where the churches are and such vary from map to map, and some maps are distorted to accentuate the better parts of the city, or things that people normally go to see so that they will be easier to find or something, which just makes everything confusing. So there we were, 4 directionally and apparently map challenged girls, trying to figure out where the park is in relation to where we were, and all we wanted to know what how to get us to the big green area on the map that said Parque. It took us a while to find the street that we were on, on the map, and once we did, it took us even longer to figure out which way we would have to walk to go in the right direction of the park, but after much discussion and debate about where we were gonna go, we set out in what we decided was the right direction. We walked in the right way, and after just crossing the street and coming to where the park was supposed to be, and really what the map had shown as a vast green area was in fact a vast brown, dirt area that were soccer fields. We were a little disappointed that we couldn’t go chill there and take a nap, but while we were walking across the bridge that looked down on the park we noticed a little ways farther there were trees and grass and other greenery that looked quite inviting. So we crossed the bridge and headed to the other side of the street to then walk and go to the nice part of the park. Now let me tell you about this park. It’s kinda weird, but because the park is below the rest of the city, kinda like a canal, except for it’s a park. So while we were along the road, trying to find a way into this park, but I think this is one of the LEAST accessible parks that I have ever seen! We walked along the road for a good 20
minutes without even seeing the slightest inkling as to where the entrance is. We passed other parks while trying to get into this one, just because all of a sudden entering this park became some sort of challenge or something that we just had to do! We even stopped and asked a guy that was already in the park, how in the world we were supposed to get in there! He laughed at us and told us that there were stairs a little ways farther. So we walked for a while longer until we finally found the ramp entrance to the park, located right in the middle of the park and nowhere else. How convenient! When we finally got in, made it past the small children throwing fire crackers and underneath another bridge we found a place to sit down and eat the sandwiches that we had made the night before.All of our efforts of getting into the park were kinda lame, because after we were done eating, we sat there for a bit and decided that it was too cold to really lay down and take a nap or something, so we got up and walked back out of the oh so enchanted park and back into the streets of Valencia. We just wandered some more for a while after that, and after finally finding some bathrooms (the porta-potties on the side of the road, these ones are high tech! they had a place for you to wash your hands! Sweet, I know!) we found a place where crowds were gathering so we thought that we would stop and see whats going on. Where there’s a crowd, there has to be something exciting going on, right? Upon further investigation we found that they were going to do a fireworks show in a little bit, so we made camp right next to the seating that was reserved. We figured if it was reserved it would be a good place to see things! This is where we stayed for the next hour or so until it was dark enough for things to happen. But before the fireworks started going off, there was a parade that came through on the street with dancing girls and dragons spitting fireworks, the works! It was pretty intense! So intense, as a matter of fact, that one of the dragon costumes got hit by some of the sparks of the fireworks that it was spitting and started on fire! It was just on the tail, but the parade had to momentarily stall so that the person who was walking behind could stomp on the fire and put it out! But once that was taken care of, things went smoothly! By this time the crowd had collapsed pa
ssed the previous barriers and we were now standing right by the street in great anticipation of the fireworks. When the parade ended, we all just stood there for a second, wondering what was going to happen, but once the fireworks started shooting out of the ground around the little building in the center of the plaza area, we knew the show had started!!! It only lasted about 10 minutes or so, but let me tell you what, the Spaniards know how to do fireworks! It was so loud and the sky was lit up for the whole time! One of the funniest things were the German guys that were standing behind us. They were laughing so hard at just about everything that you couldn’t help but laugh too!
By this time, we had been wandering for a good long while, and by a good long while I mean ever since we had gotten off the bus that morning, so me and Cassi and Missy and Paige decided that we were tired and needed desperately to find a park to siesta, so telling Shumway that we were breaking off from the parade, we went our own way, first to find ice cream for Missy, and next to find the park. After even more walking we found a little store that had some ice cream to satisfy Missy’s sweet tooth, and we sat outside at the tables with our map spread over the top, trying to decide where the park was. Now, Spanish maps are a little bit different than the ones that you normally find in the US, there is nothing telling you which way is North, South, East and West, and the markings on the map, like where the churches are and such vary from map to map, and some maps are distorted to accentuate the better parts of the city, or things that people normally go to see so that they will be easier to find or something, which just makes everything confusing. So there we were, 4 directionally and apparently map challenged girls, trying to figure out where the park is in relation to where we were, and all we wanted to know what how to get us to the big green area on the map that said Parque. It took us a while to find the street that we were on, on the map, and once we did, it took us even longer to figure out which way we would have to walk to go in the right direction of the park, but after much discussion and debate about where we were gonna go, we set out in what we decided was the right direction. We walked in the right way, and after just crossing the street and coming to where the park was supposed to be, and really what the map had shown as a vast green area was in fact a vast brown, dirt area that were soccer fields. We were a little disappointed that we couldn’t go chill there and take a nap, but while we were walking across the bridge that looked down on the park we noticed a little ways farther there were trees and grass and other greenery that looked quite inviting. So we crossed the bridge and headed to the other side of the street to then walk and go to the nice part of the park. Now let me tell you about this park. It’s kinda weird, but because the park is below the rest of the city, kinda like a canal, except for it’s a park. So while we were along the road, trying to find a way into this park, but I think this is one of the LEAST accessible parks that I have ever seen! We walked along the road for a good 20 
minutes without even seeing the slightest inkling as to where the entrance is. We passed other parks while trying to get into this one, just because all of a sudden entering this park became some sort of challenge or something that we just had to do! We even stopped and asked a guy that was already in the park, how in the world we were supposed to get in there! He laughed at us and told us that there were stairs a little ways farther. So we walked for a while longer until we finally found the ramp entrance to the park, located right in the middle of the park and nowhere else. How convenient! When we finally got in, made it past the small children throwing fire crackers and underneath another bridge we found a place to sit down and eat the sandwiches that we had made the night before.All of our efforts of getting into the park were kinda lame, because after we were done eating, we sat there for a bit and decided that it was too cold to really lay down and take a nap or something, so we got up and walked back out of the oh so enchanted park and back into the streets of Valencia. We just wandered some more for a while after that, and after finally finding some bathrooms (the porta-potties on the side of the road, these ones are high tech! they had a place for you to wash your hands! Sweet, I know!) we found a place where crowds were gathering so we thought that we would stop and see whats going on. Where there’s a crowd, there has to be something exciting going on, right? Upon further investigation we found that they were going to do a fireworks show in a little bit, so we made camp right next to the seating that was reserved. We figured if it was reserved it would be a good place to see things! This is where we stayed for the next hour or so until it was dark enough for things to happen. But before the fireworks started going off, there was a parade that came through on the street with dancing girls and dragons spitting fireworks, the works! It was pretty intense! So intense, as a matter of fact, that one of the dragon costumes got hit by some of the sparks of the fireworks that it was spitting and started on fire! It was just on the tail, but the parade had to momentarily stall so that the person who was walking behind could stomp on the fire and put it out! But once that was taken care of, things went smoothly! By this time the crowd had collapsed pa
ssed the previous barriers and we were now standing right by the street in great anticipation of the fireworks. When the parade ended, we all just stood there for a second, wondering what was going to happen, but once the fireworks started shooting out of the ground around the little building in the center of the plaza area, we knew the show had started!!! It only lasted about 10 minutes or so, but let me tell you what, the Spaniards know how to do fireworks! It was so loud and the sky was lit up for the whole time! One of the funniest things were the German guys that were standing behind us. They were laughing so hard at just about everything that you couldn’t help but laugh too!
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