Hundred Days of Happiness - Week Eight
Starting 2025 off with family and sunlight
Happy 2025!! We made it into the New Year celebrating with family and sunlight in Valencia before coming back to the Netherlands just in time for a snow day! A bit of weather whiplash to keep us always on our toes.
#december #day51 #afternoondate #oldtown #oldEurope #Valencia #100happydays
DH and I got to spend an afternoon wandering around old-town Valencia together as our son spent the day with his aunt. So much easier without kids - we just had to negotiate and communicate with each other and not a tired, or hungry or grumpy nine-year old. We climbed the Torre del Serrano which was the old city gate to take in the view of the city. When I think of Europe, I think of old churches and thick city walls and old thick stone walls and we were not disappointed. There was even a small concert put on by recorders and drums in front of the city gate.
The sky was a beautiful deep blue and we walked around the city exploring the city center to the Plaza del Torro and back to the Torre del Serrano eventually having lunch near a plaza. The sun had already disappeared from the plaza by the time we settled on a place to eat at the late hour of 2 pm - a typical Spanish lunch hour. We ordered an Agua de Valencia which is definitely not water and drinking it on an empty stomach made me happily tipsy. We shared croquets and a Paella Valenciana which has chicken and rabbit instead of seafood. Overall a lovely time together which makes me eager to eventually have our "honeymoon" - maybe we can do it in 2026 - just after being married for 10-11 years.
#newyearseve #valencia #december #day52 #100happydays
Trying to entertain a child without screens can be somewhat difficult, but I found a live action exhibit of the "Reyes Magos" in a park on the other side of Valencia. Luckily the performance was under a tent, because it appears we brought the rain with us from the Netherlands for a couple of days. But it was pretty light. The exhibit wasn't quite open when we arrived, so we walked around the "Parc Central" which looked pretty newly made - the vines seemed to be maybe five years old. Even in the wet, everything was still quite pretty.
The explanation of the "Reyes Magos" (the three Wise Men) who give gifts to children on January 6 was interesting. Seems like every culture we are part of has a different celebration for giving children gifts around the holidays. The Spanish have the three wise men and there is a parade on January 6th and large floats are made throughout the year, children line the streets in hopes of catching hard sugar candies that are tossed out to the crowds and if you misbehave, you get a bag of coal instead of a present. Spain is much closer physically to North Africa and thus the Middle East and it's interesting to get a glimpse of the Arabian influence throughout the culture. There is no Santa Claus, nor Sinterklaas who the Dutch say comes from Spain, but the Spanish people know nothing about him. ;)
We spent the evening with Tia Mecha celebrating the arrival of 2025, eating and drinking typical Spanish delicacies of jamon, queso, olives, a lovely roast chicken for dinner, Spanish sweets and Argentine ice cream. Our son stayed up waaaaay past his bed time. The consequences of which were felt on January 1st - but that's another entry. The rain continued into the night so the fireworks were somewhat dampened at midnight. We didn't get home until around 2:15 but eventually we made it. We were very glad to celebrate and enter 2025 together as a family.
#circus #grancircuswow #newyearsday #january #day53 #100happydays
Considering that almost everything is closed on New Year's Day we found something to entertain the young sir. We went to the circus in the Valencia Bullring. The company erected a circus tent in the middle of the ring and we all filed in to enjoy the Gran Circus WOW Aqualia event. The performers put on a great show, the only downside is that they make it look so easy, I wonder if the children understand just how difficult what they do is. It was beautiful, exhilarating and fun to watch. We were lucky enough to find a restaurant afterwards that was open so we could have a late lunch and then took a bus home because the young sir was beyond tired. Getting six and a half hours of sleep just wasn't enough - he's used to at least ten if not eleven. I was surprised to learn that Bull Fighting still goes on in Valencia. It’s “only” two or three times a year, but still. I thought it was only in the history books, but the tradition continues.
#january #day54 #100happydays #oceanografic #acquarium #oceanlife
The Oceanogràfic de València is a huge aquarium in downtown Valencia. We thought we would only be there a couple of hours. Readers, we were wrong and vastly underestimated the day. There was so much to see and interact with: fish, jellyfish, sharks, rays, dolphins, beluga whales, seals, flamingoes, penguins and more fish. It was overwhelming in size, but really well done, we were very impressed. We have visited several aquariums throughout the world, Monterey Bay, London, Bristol, San Francisco and now Valencia and honestly we thought this was really surprisingly good. We saw the dolphin show which part of me felt bad about watching as I worried about them not being in the wild, but they really did seem to have good relationships with their carers and they are doing research to help us humans understand the natural world better. We were very impressed with their training.
In the evening we met up with friends from Buenos Aires in Valencia and I love both these shots - click to see the second uncropped - our son took these and I am surprised how much he knows his way around the camera on my phone! So great to catch up and grateful our friends made the time. 😍😍😍
#january #day55 #100happydays #cats #graffiti #oldtown #valencia
Our last day in Valencia and we had a slow morning, which was nice. In the evening we went back into Old Town and did an Escape Room which some of us (myself included) had never done before. The theme was Gulliver’s Travels and we were tiny people in a room full of huge objects! It was fun even if frustrating. After eventually solving the puzzle with some hints from the organizers and getting out, we wandered the streets looking for a yummy restaurant and eventually we found one. Along the way we saw some awesome street art with a lot of cat graffiti.
#backhome #internetarchive #library #homework #routine #newyear #january #day56 #100happydays
Back Home in the Netherlands and got a book in the mail from work. This is “required reading” and will take a while to delve into and get through. Libraries in all shapes and forms are bulwarks of Democracy. Keepers of knowledge and cultural history are often attacked as Empires crumble. It feels good to be on the right side of this fight against authoritarianism working once again with the Internet Archive.
#reyesmagos #snowday #january #day57 #100happydays
Woke up to snow covering the ground here in the Netherlands. It wasn't a heck of a lot, but it was enough to build a snowman and enjoy the winter morning. We then came back inside and celebrated "Día de los Reyes" a little bit early as Monday would be a full day getting back into the routine of work and school. DH had worked hard and with much care to bring back a "Torta de los Reyes" and while I wasn't that enthusiastic, it turned out to be a wonderful family tradition. Very grateful he made the effort. We now have two little king figurines on our shelves and since DH got the piece with the fava bean, he needs to buy the next one as tradition dictates.
I have finally made the decision to stop posting on Meta as it’s just too awful. I have been thinking about this for months/weeks and the last straw has broken me. I will not be deleting my account as I don’t want someone to impersonate me and I am an admin for a group there, but I just cannot support it anymore. As I was scrolling through my feed, an overwhelming amount of people seemed to be reacting to the news that FB will stop fact checking and are also thinking of getting off the site. The switching costs are going to be painful, but definitely a tipping point has been reached in the collective zeitgeist.
Thank you for subscribing to this newsletter to stay in touch. I hope to keep this weekly blast up as long as I can - definitely going for the #100happydays and hope to do longer. I’m also on BlueSky @murchstudio , on Mastodon @blmurch and also on Signal. Please do reach out.
I don't go on Meta as well. I left FB after Trump was elected the first time and FB posted the lies he espoused relentlessly.
Enjoyed seeing you had a good trip to Valencia. Happy New Year!