No Underwear...Oh My!!!

The first day on the ship we had a Day at Sea and believe it or not I had to order a wake up call to make my 8 am spa appointment for a Hot Rock Massage. Silly me..but it was so worth every minute.


After the massage the rest of the day was spent roaming the ship and shops and hitting the cheese buffet. I tried my luck at the casino and played the Village People slot machine..."In the Navy...you can sail the seven seas..." and with my 10 dollars of free slot dollars I won $60! I am sure I drove the rest of the casino nuts since every time I hit the bonus round the machine echoed out the Village people hits through out the casino. But I had now covered the cost of at least 2 bottles of wine for the week so I was a happy girl!

That night we tried the Blue Lagoon restaurant for dinner, it over looked the main atrium of the boat and had a good selection of comfort food on the menu. The fish and chips were awesome and the blueberry cheesecake was to die for! After our bellies were full we headed to the Spinnaker Lounge for a good old fashion version of The Newlywed Game. There were 4 couples chosen, newlyweds, married 5-10 years, married 10-20 years and married over 20 years. In typical Newlywed style the questions were as simple as, what was the husbands favorite meal that his wife made for him.....to where was the strangest place they had made whoopee. But the funniest moment was when the men were asked what style and colour of underwear were their wives wearing that night...Thong, bikini, or granny panties. Well the wife of the couple #2 (married 8 years) took the phrase "freestyle cruising" literately!  No underwear...and the overall winner of the game!

Good Intentions and a Code Alpha

Well I had good intentions to do this blog while I was away...well I failed.  I am now going to play catch up, and post a few comments and pictures of the trip.  Sorry for those who logged on daily to see the updates, I wish I could say it was because I was up every night partying .... but nope..in bed resting for another day of touring a different spot!

Where I left off....Sunday October 11, arrived at the boat at around noon.   The plan was to go back into Barcelona to tour some other parts of the city, but once on the ship there was no going anywhere!
The cruise was NCL and the boat was "the Gem". 

The Pool

The Cabin ..quite roomy and pretty good layout

Spent the day exploring the ship, a tour of the spa and booking my Hot Stone massage for the next morning.  Once again..I'm in love.  A whole section of cheese and fresh bread! 

Things that make you go hmmmmm...about the ship.....

There are 10 resturants, 11 Bars and Lounges, Boutiques, an Art Gallary, Spa and Fitness centre.  2 Swimming Pools, 6 hot tubs, Bowling Alley, Rock Climbing Wall, Internet Cafe.  There are 1154 crew on board, and 2380 guests at full capacity.  The crew is on the ship for 10 month shifts..so lots of emails and phone calls to their homes.

The boat was suppose to leave port at 7 pm from Barcelona, but the clock was ticking away and there was no movement.  The deck was starting to get colder and the whole romatic thought of standing and waving as we sailed off was starting to get lost.  (Apparently I watch way to may episodes of Love Boat as a kid)

The first sign that something was going on was a "Code Alpha" that was announced over the ship.  Hmmm..I wonder what Code Alpha is.  After so many months in the hospital with Dad I was pretty up to date on the hospital codes; blue, red, black and even pink.  It wasn't until around an hour later did we find out....someone had died on the ship.  Very sad.  Since there was a death, the ship was not allowed to leave port until the medical examiner came and declared the death and the port police came and cleared the boat.

We found out later in the week that it was a gentleman of 59 years young from Malta, who had already been on the ship for 5 days and was getting off at the next port of Malta to return home.  He was with his wife and had previous heart congestion issues. 

We did set sail approx. 8:30 pm. 

Cheese Glorious Cheese!

October 10….Day in Barcelona.




Let me first say…I love Europe, for one simple reason…CHEESE! Yes..breakfast at the hotel had fresh Mozzarella, Gouda, Swiss, Blue cheese and more cheese than a cheese fantastic like me could ask for! Anyone that knows me knows what I had for breakfast…cheese, cheese and more cheese. It was heaven. Ok..enough about food..I’m starting to sound like my dad.

First stop was Placa Catalunya; This is the nerve centre of the city and it was designed with sculptures, monumental fountains. Both the Aveune Catalunya and the La Rambla run from the Placa. Catalunya is lined with cafes to stop and have tapas and people watch. La Rambla leads to the sea where you can find flower stalls, living statues, the Boqueria market and so much more. (Did I mention there is also a Starbucks here!)

This is where I caught the Hop and Go City tour…



The tour gave a good overview of the city with various stops at:

The Olympic Stadium

MNAC which is one of the biggest museums in the city with the best collection of Romanesque wall paintings

L’llla Diagonal the street that connections residential Barcelona with commercial Barcelona…it has this very cool plant building.



Barcelona has such a diversity in architecture which is one of the reason why I love this city…

La Pedrera; one of Gaudi’s greatest works constructed between 1906 and 1910. This was his last civil work before he devoted himself exclusively to Sagrada Familia (see below).

Torre Abgar; the head quarters to the Barcelona water company and the third largest building of Barcelona.

And the residential flats with great floor to ceiling windows that I LOVE!!!



Time to go to bed…hitting Malta in the Morning…more to come of Barcelona day 1 tomorrow.

Last Night in Barcelona :(

Sorry Kids...no pictures tonight.  Battery on my laptop is almost dead and my electrical converter wont work for my laptop.  Will have to wait until we board the cruiseship tomorrow. 
Great day in Barcelona...can't wait to come back for a holiday just here.  Jet lag is gone and I slept in until 9:30 this morning ...13 1/2 hours sleep.
Busy day tomorrow..but cruising all day Monday so lots of updates and pictures then.
Wish I could say I miss you all...but not so much...LOL.

Frizzy Hair..Oh no!

Well we made it to Barcelona safe and sound.  Flight delay in Detroit and I was starving ... and no Starbucks!  Finally got boarded settled and discovered we were in business class....free wine...bring it on!!!  Some gross chicken stuff for dinner..I ate the cheese and the bun and topped it off with a brownie and another glass of wine!  Ok..who picks the movies to play on airplanes...My Sisters Keeper...not an airplane movie!  I started the big old ugly cry and changed the channel...finally nodded off to The Proposal with Sandra Bullock.
By the way..for those of you who not know.  You can't bring your duty free liquour into Europe.   Here I am thinking I'm smart.  Pick up 3 tetra packs of wine at duty free, well all was fine until we hit Amsterdam.  Go through customs..all was fine until we hit security.  So it was either throw out 25 dollars worth of wine or make the trip up to the KLM check in counter.  Well off we went...through the airport, found checkin ... checked in the backpack with the wine.  I would like to say that I think the gods were with me on this one..because they rewarded me with Starbucks as soon as we walked back into the Schipol terminal. 
Amsterdam to Barcelona was uneventful...grabbed a cab and got to the hotel.  We went for a walk tonight to stay awake and have started on the wine and a pizza from room service for dinner tonight.  Not to exciting but hoping to knock myself out tonight and a fresh start tomorrow. Everyone will be pleased to know I will not be relocating to Barcelona.  To much humidity and my hair frizzed up the minute I got off the plane.  Boooooo for Barcelona!
Getting a hop and go bus pass and touring as much of Barcelona all in one day.  Should have some great pictures to post tomorrow...is it really only 1 pm at home...crazy...good night all!  xo

Leaving On a Jet Plane!

My bags are packed and I'm ready to go......

One more sleep and then I'm off, off and away!  The first stop... the glorious and exotic city of Detroit (I can tell you are all so jealous).  Exciting I know, but I'm thinking this is my last chance for Starbucks ..so I have already mapped out where it is in the terminal! 

The next flight will be 7 hour flight to Amsterdam...nothing that a couple glasses of wine and a sleeping pill can't handle.  A couple hours browsing the shops in Schipol Airport, which has great shopping for an airport and then off to Barcelona!