Mike's Grand Tour of Europe 2022

11th August Having left Madrid I am now in Valencia. Why Valencia? well lets blame it on the 1961 Hollywood epic "El Cid" with actors Charlton Heston & Sophia Loren. At the end of the film this timeless Spanish folk hero, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (c. 1043 – 10 July 1099), named 'El Cid" (The Lord) by the Moors, rode dying, out of the gates of Valencia, and into legend.  Given that film was made possibly in Tunisia or Morrocco , I doubt very much if it will align with my memories from the film. However by 3pm local time I will know for sure. I am now on the train to Valencia with 7 minutes to spare.  Just over two hours later arrived in Valencia. Trip went by fast as I was on high speed train. Chatted the whole way with young Spanish teacher. Chatted about what they earned. Apparently $2000 a month if they pass a special exam or €800 per month for the average teacher with at least a master's degree. All very interesting. First impression of Valencia is the humidi...

The capital of Modern Spain  6th August To start off with I would like to say welcome to the world, Emmett Jules Luong Simon . Muzal Tov / congratulations to your parents, Matthew & Marie. You might not know it yet but you share your birthday with the WWW (World Wide Web) that is turning 31 today. Leaving for Madrid this morning. Should arrive about 12:30ish. And to answer the  most important question in the universe - yes, there is a toilet on the bus. (See picture of evidence)  The bus ride is taking us from the mountainous region in the north-west down to and though the meandering farming lands where the wheat fields seem to go on forever, and the olives trees by the thousands are making my saliva glands shift into high gear.  For the first 40 or so minutes the mountains shared the memories of the eons that they have seen pass by, evidenced by their revealing geology in the form of fault lines and stratigraphic beauty. I am so happy that I changed this tr...