Life: Idiotropic

Apparently, when the Plaza de Toros isn't full of cape waving and pawing at the ground, it's quite the event center. Last week, the Feria Gastronomica, this week a Medieval Market, and in just a couple weeks, a circus complete with trained seals and dancers. The really cool thing about the first couple is that they've been free - to enter, at least.

Today I took all 4 girls with me. We took the train as usual - much cheaper that trying to park in the city and much less stressful. Stepped out of Valencia Nord, looked to the right at the impressive Plaza de Toros and saw the juggler right away. Street artists never get old when you're 5, 7, and 8. Juggling while riding a unicycle and making strange faces is about the coolest thing ever. Well, almost. This guy got beat out by a really nice collection of hawks and owls at the tent behind him. A nice start to our day. My little girls are amazed and impressed by these birds.

The corridors around in the center of the plaza were filled with vendors as well... a happy cheese lady selling a rich creamy goat cheese not like any French goat cheese I've ever eaten, a dejected elf man not sitting in his booth of elves and fairies, but sitting on the bench big artificial ears and all looking down and adjusting his little green "skirt," and rough looking cotton candy maker who coddled a very "home made" looking cigarette between two fingers while stirring the sugar with the other hand. Oh so much there... lots of leather, wooden toys, jewelry - much big and gaudy, but pretty- herbs, teas, foods. We walked the outer loop, looking at almost every booth - 5 girls in the bunch, go figure.

Tiara and I had to laugh because we'd seen most of the exact same food vendors there last week at the Feria Gastronomica, but with different "decor" and much different attire. Last week they dressed professionally and had "normal" displays - classy even. Today straw covered the floor, lamps hung from many stalls and scarves with bright colors and sequins. And the vendors all dressed in medieval garb - even the fancy award winning cheese guy who posed rather haughtily in front of his own 5' photo the week before. Today, no photo - just a "award winning cheese" sign written in a Cyrillic style font.

Shopping with girls - they want everything. And they all wanted swords or bow and arrows. Tiara and I wanted to buy them jewelry - pretty murano glass heart pendants or these beautifully hand painted copper pendants. We argued... but jewelry lasts forever! You can hang it on the tree, in your window, or wear it on a bracelet or a necklace. Nope. No twisting their arms. Eventually they all left happy. Elise with a wooden hatchet (a toy one, of course), Luci with the polished tip of a bull's horn hanging as a pendant on a leather cord, and Arianna with a fairy sitting on a little ball that glows in different colors when you turn it on. At least only one has a weapon, so there won't be any major battles in the back yard.

Lunch at a Turkish place that Tiara and I love which miraculously has something that each of the girls likes, and back home for a relaxing evening of cuddling on the couch and watching Beverly Hills Chihuahua.

More Photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=165268&id=674507268&l=1894355224