Barcelona!!

 

We're almost 2 days into our stay in Barcelona and will be getting on the ship tomorrow. Yesterday we had a well deserved sleep in after the 24 hour travel day, so we didn't do much in the morning. Our schedule for the day centred around Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell. Being both brave and stupid, we thought we would walk to both places. The front desk guy thought that we might be better off taking a cab from Sagrada to the Parc as it was quite a bit uphill, but we decided he didn't know what he was talking about.

The walk to Sagrada wasn't too bad and we were there in time for our scheduled guided tour. We learned quite a bit about it and it was spectacular. I could spend 20 paragraphs describing it and I still couldn't do it justice.

It has been under construction for over 130 years, so we thought it must have been built by civic employees. When we were done at Sagrada, we started the trek up the hill to Parc Guell. The front desk guy apparently knew more than we thought and it was quite an uphill walk. Here is Gord and I having a rest just before we made it to the Parc.

The Parc was beautiful and was full of trails and neat spots to sit and visit as well as great views of the city. Of course, you are bound to get good views when you climb 200 meters. Here is Angie and I with the city below us.

 We wandered around the park for a couple hours with Gord and Cheryl. Here is a picture of me pointing at something with no idea what I was talking about.

We eventually made it to the highest point in the Parc and heard the sweet sounds of someone strumming on a guitar. We couldn't believe our good fortune when we came upon this fellow and a few of his feathered friends. 

After the park, we smartly decided to take a cab back to the hotel. Smart decision! We went to dinner at a nice little spot where we had some traditional Spanish Paella.

This morning we decided to go on the Hop On Hop Off bus tour around town. We got to see a lot of things that we wouldn't have otherwise, with the highlight being the Barcelona Maritime Museum. Barcelona has been a very important port city in the Mediterranean Ocean for hundreds of years. The highlight in the museum was a recreated Gally Boat that was powered by hundreds of slave rowers. It didn't look like the most enjoyable job. Gord and I are hoping we won't have to do any rowing on the cruise ship.

Right outside of the museum was the famous monument to Christopher Columbus.

Just like Mike, he appears to be pointing at something he knows nothing about.

We are now back at our room getting a little rest before supper tonight and getting on the boat tomorrow. Stay tuned for more riveting adventures! 

 

Mike, Angie, Gord and Cheryl made it to Barcelona!

 I'm not going to say it was a long day, but it was a long day!!!

After getting very little sleep Tuesday night, both Angie and I embarked on our trip Wednesday afternoon. We were both concerned that the flights wouldn't be on time, but that turned out to be a false narrative. All our flights were more or less on time and we managed to make it to Barcelona on schedule. 

We endend up spending about 11 1/2 hours flying and almost 20 hours travelling to get here. We both found it hard to sleep on the 8 hour overnight flight from Calgary to Paris. Thankfully all the connections went well and our luggage managed to make it as well.    

Charles De Gaulle airport was very beautiful and we managed to take full advantage of it for the 2 hours we were there.

There was no shortage of opportunities to have a snack there.

 After a 2 hour layover in Paris, we were on our way to Barcelona. A 90 minute flight was a wonderful reprieve after the previous leg of the journey.

After thinking that a bus might be the best way to get to the hotel, we came to our senses and ordered an Uber. It was tricky as the Uber driver was actually a taxi and couldn't meet us in the Uber area. Even better was he dropped us off a 1/4 mile from our hotel and tried to help us find the best way to walk there. 

He wasn't much help, but we did finally find our way. Our hotel is very close to the Barcelona Cathedral which we got to see on the way.

We checked into our hotel, which Cheryl recommended and it is beautiful. Service was wonderful and the location is perfect.

We went for a nice dinner and a nightcap at a lovely bar on the Ramblas. I believe that Gord may have been overserved and it was only by the luckiest stroke that he had us around to guide him home.

We have a big day planned for tomorrow as we are taking a tour of the Sagrada Familia. Hopefully we can avoid any international incidents and keep the good Canadian name untarnished.

Hopefully in the next few days we are able to do something remarkably stupid and be able to chronicle it here.

New Trip for Mike and Angie

On Wednesday Angie and I will be embarking on our latest adventure. What makes it extra exciting is that our old neighbors from Carman, Gord and Cheryl Hamilton will be joining us. I suspect there may be a few shenanagins along the way. A brief outline of the trip is as follows: We will be flying from Winnipeg to Calgary on Wednesday afternoon to catch an overnight flight to Paris. Gord and Cheryl will be flying from Regina to Calgary to join us on the flight. I was very surprised to hear that Regina actually had an airport and you could catch a real airplane. Who knew? After a short layover in Paris, we will all be jumping on a plane for a flight to Barcelona where we will spend 3 days before hopping on the Sapphire Princess for a 7 night cruise around the Mediterranean.

We will have stops at Gibraltar, Marseille, Genoa and Livorno before finishing up in Rome. I hope to regale some of our adventures in this blog as the trip unfolds and hopefully a few people will enjoy or at least tolerate it. Stay tuned!!