10-28 The Girls are Heading Home.

 This morning the four of us got up at the ungodly hour of 4AM to get Lia and Natasha to Alicante for their 7am flight.  Norwegian airlines requires that unaccompanied minors be there two hours before their flight leaves.  It actually was very fortunate that we got there early because of all the problems we had.  

When Alexis took the girls to the Copenhagen airport to send them to us, she was not allowed to go through security to see them off.  They had to wait by the check-in desk until someone came to collect the girls, take them through security and get them to their gate and into the plane.  So we expected the same.  I brought my reader and a full bottle of soda to entertainment myself  and quench my thrust while we waited.

The  airport was extremely crowded - all the discount airlines leave at the most inconvenient hours.  So it took quite some time to get checked in.  Especially, since they decided they needed to see the girls proof of residency for Sweden, which we of-course did not have.  The explanation was that they had British passports - so why were we sending them to Sweden?  We had to go off to the side to resolve the issue.  So at 5am we had to call the parents to ask for the information.  After we got it we had to wait again - but only for the person who was being helped at the same desk.  And then the women announced that we would have to take the girls through security and take them to the gate.  She gave us passes she said would get us through security.  

Darn, am i going to have to throw away an entire unopened bottle of soda?  We all had water - so we headed for the bathroom to pour that out.  Then Michael offered to take my soda back to the car.  So the three of us waited by security for him to get back.  To get into security you had to scan your plane ticket.  The girls went first - no problem.  I scanned my pass - BEEEP BEEEP.  Michael tried his - same thing.  There is no one by the scanners to help.  So I headed all the way back to the beginning of security to get the person who was standing there.  She was not happy to leave her station - but I insisted - unaccompanied  minors through the security - responsible adults denied access!  She finally found someone to help us.  This person took her time, stopping to do various other things before she finally meandered over.  And we were allowed through.

You know those awful people who seem so confused and take forever to get their stuff into the bins and go through security - well , that was us.  I had not thought to prepare the girls for security as I did not expect to have to go.  Lia's purse and backpack were both unzipped with things falling out.  Natasha needed more bins and could not decide what to put in what bin.  She had her sweater around her waist as she headed to be screened.  I grabbed it and threw it over the glass into the bin with Lia's backpack.  At least I think it was hers.  The people behind us were glaring at us.  I apologized to one man - he tried to be nice about it, but he was not happy.  We made it through and then took our stuff off to the side to reorganize out of everyone's way.  We can calm down and take out time.

After we made it through the maze that is the duty free store we finally found out our gate and headed that way.  It was very close by.  We checked the girls in at the gate.  They looked through all the information in the girls lanyards - and thankfully did no demand more information.  They told us to go sit nearby so they could see us.  They would come and get the girls after everyone else got on board.

We had promised the girls we would look for pastries at the airport - they were successfully found and consumed along with a bottle of Fanta each.  Then it was just waiting - as it seemed to take forever to get everyone on board.  At long last the girls were boarded.  We walked to where we could see the plane at gate 47 and waited until it pushed off - texting with Alexis (their mother) as things happened.  We waited another 15 minutes or so, to be sure no problems developed on the plane that would require a return to the gate.  Michael is very tired - he went to get a coffee while we waited.  Finally we can leave.  I am so happy to have my bottle of caffeinated soda in the car to keep me awake for the drive home.

Goodbye Granddaughters!

10-26 Valencia and the Aquarium at the City of Arts and Science

 Once again we made the 2 hour trek to Valencia.  Jojo had alluded to the fact that she had yet to visit the aquarium as it was too expensive.  Once Lia and Natasha heard that the trip would not only include the aquarium, but their cousin Jojo, they were all in.  

All worked as planned, we picked up Jojo close to her apartment and drove the few more minutes to the City of Arts and Sciences.  We let the girls pick the exhibits to see and ended up doing a lot of walking!

Walking from the underground parking to the aquarium.

Inside - I think this was a Amphibian exhibit.

Grandpa showing he can be as dexterous as a ten year old!

Pelicans

This looks like sharks - but I lost track of all the areas we saw.

The penguins are always favorites.

Not sure what they were looking at - but Grandpa and I needed a rest - so we all sat there for a while.

We had not planned on it - but we timed our visit to the dolphins perfectly to watch the show.

the guy in the middle was riding two dolphins.

The show was all in Spanish of-course.  I know the speaker was telling people where to look.  Not understanding the language, I was lucky to catch as many dolphins in action as I did.

They were a long ways away - so these are heavily cropped.

Next - tortoises.

Jojo and Natasha are in the middle of the crowd.  If you look in the upper right you can see an arm and orange shirt - took me a while - but that is a reflection of Natasha!

Jellyfish exhibit - also shown all over the crowd of people.

Walking back to the main building and the exit.  Love the reflections on the building's windows.

I had brought snacks - but not enough - everyone except Jojo is hungry.  All the cafe's in the complex are full and expensive.  We opted to walk a little ways out of the complex to a mall that had mostly eateries.  Only to find that they too were crowded and had long lines.

We finally found something called Frutolandia that had ice cream.  Lia and Natasha were happy with their ice cream.  They had a lot of fruit smoothies and other fruit kind of things.  But as we sat there, Michael looked at the menu and found some real food.  So he and I ordered pitas with meat and vegetables.  We didn't have enough time to do anything else and all wanted to spend more time together instead of taking Jojo home and the rest of us heading home.  So it all worked out.  Here the girls are playing a game on someone's phone.  Lia also had a really small deck of cards in her purse - which occupied them while we ate our sandwiches.  I hope the day will be a happy memory for the cousins.

10-25 Alicante w Granddaughters

 What do you do when grandchildren visit you in Europe - take them to see a castle of-course!  And sense Lia and Natasha are here with us for only a few days we took them to the closest one - Alicante Castle.  We parked by the Alicante port as there is usually parking there and planned to take the elevator up to the castle.

This photo looks like there was no one there but us!  So misleading!  We waited almost an forty minutes outside.  Once inside you have to buy your tickets using a machine.  Luckily there was someone there to facilitate the process as most tourists could not figure out how to get the right tickets.  With tickets in hand, you can walk down the long tunnel until you reach the other end where you wait again in line for your turn.  Only 12 at a time can ride the elevator up.  

Once up at the castle - our explorers took off.

Natasha got into her role as a commander of soldiers.  

The port below.

Natasha the warrior - Lia says not me!

But hey - shooting a cannon would be great fun!

The distant hills and mountains.

Alicante bullring.

Natasha showing what a well-rounded soldier she is.

Culminating in "the fight"!

We're hungry and there is a cafe at the bottom of these gazillion steps.  What are you waiting for?  The two elders in the group protested - if we climb down all those steps, we have to climb up all those steps - the elevator down is on this level!  No I will not go.

Instead, we went down the elevator and found a tapas cafe where we all got something or maybe a lot more that we liked.  Natasha and I loved the tempera shrimp.  Michael had his Insalata Russa.  Lia loved the breaded, fried Brei.  The fries and meatballs and croquettes were very good as well.

The meal was followed with Helado.

We made them walk to mushroom street, passing this plaza with its beautiful tree.

And then headed for the seaside so they could experience Alicante's famous promenade.  Then we called it a day and headed home.