I guess there were better ways to spend the time waiting... as it was warm... and it was noon!? But there we were, walking in this place, no matter what! 😉
In winter, it wouldn't be a problem, but since we are already in the second half of June, the sun was quite strong this Monday. The morning was full of excitement, my son had an admission exam in the music conservatory in Valencia. We got up at dawn in order to arrive on time here and at nine o'clock, we already played the repertoire in front of the jury.
The admission exam for the conservatory consists of several parts. The playing part was the first one, where I was his piano accompanist. It went quite well! The next exam was already played without me, it was a sight-reading exam. I listened to him behind closed doors and it seemed fine to me, even though he said it was... interesting. We found a place to have breakfast and coffee, to recharge our batteries and then our son decided he didn't want us to be with him there. What would his parents do there, waiting in the hall of the conservatory while he has the theory exams?
That is why we went there, to the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències despite the sun, warmth and tiredness. It is just a few minutes away from the building where he had his exams. Also, I hoped to find shade and fresh air there, being close to the lungs of the city.
The first place we passed through was this covered place, Umbracle. Many people had the same idea to walk there, between all that vegetation. The path in the middle was quite busy...
... so we chose the side road, where there was almost no one.
Here, we heard the parrots on the palm trees. They live in freedom, and because of the proximity of Turia Park, they also found a playground here, in Umbracle. We spotted them because of their loud dialogue - of course in their parrot language. We didn't understand a lot, but there were some pigeons too, that joined the party. I hope you can see them in the branches of this palm tree.
The open area of the Umbracle is many times used for open-air expositions. This time there was no exposition, so we had all this wide pavement to enjoy by ourselves. Not that we needed that much space... 😁
The building seen on the right is Reina Sofía Palace of the Arts, I am sure you already recognize it if you have visited some of my recent posts.
Another already familiar construction in Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències, and in the city of Valencia itself is this one - Hemisfèric!
From another angle, with a blue sculpture thing in the pool. There were several artworks but I forgot to check out the author's name.
As we had time, we went down to Turia Park also. My husband's idea was to find a bench in the shade and work a bit as he took his laptop too. We searched for that perfect bench for some 20 minutes 😂. You can imagine that it became a proper walk and not working time then.
Ok, a good spot was found but I didn't stay there. I went for an additional stroll as I spotted some steel sculptures in the distance.
Despite the strong sun, all in all, it was good to spend that time in the park and Umbracle while waiting for our son to finish his exam. I could go back every day there, although the reason for going doesn't have to be an exam! 😁
P.S. Sorry to publish this post on Thursday, in the Wednesday Walk community. I am late one day... 😬
