Barcelona, Voyager of the Seas

We took the bus from the airport to downtown Barcelona and walked the couple of blocks to our hotel, the Hotel Continental Palacete, just off Plaza Catalunya, which was actually once a Palace. We were going to take a taxi, but the taxi warden at the airport wanted to cram all four of us and our luggage into a Toyota Corolla and we wanted a mini-van. She refused to let the guy with the mini-van jump to the front of the lengthy queue, so we took the bus. As we drove off she was having to contend with about six angry drivers who thought she was as ridiculous as we did. Our motto—always have a Plan B.

First stop in Barcelona—a Tapas bar, where we loaded up on little sandwiches and nibblies and some liquid refreshments—oh, and Fritz had the requisite chunk of chocolate cake! Once restored we walked the length of the Ramblas to the port. With one hand on our wallets (the Ramblas is notorious for pickpockets) we strolled through the market and marveled at the varieties of fish, vegetables, cheeses,hams, eggs (including Ostrich) and other delights. The temperature at 6:00pm was a delightful 60+ degrees—quite the change from Paris.

Sunday we boarded the Voyager of the Seas and were pleasantly surprised to have been upgraded to a “Junior Suite”. It’s certainly the fanciest cabin we’ve ever had—coffee maker, couch and chairs in a little sitting area, nice big bathtub, but the envy of all—a walk-in closet (really). We are enjoying it as we have it for just this week, and next week we go back to our original balcony cabin amongst the peasants.

This ship is really cool. It has a three-tiered dining room, reminscent of something you would see in New Orleans or Paris—ornate columns, wrought iron railings, long sweeping staircases and huge chandeliers. The ship also has a central promenade with an English pub nestled among the shops—it’s on our list to try out. Barbara and I are thinking of taking up roller-blading so that we can try out the course on board. Also, there’s an ice rink, but we think we’ll just watch on that one—and we’ll just watch at the rock climbing wall. We were going to do ballroom dancing today, but we’ve discovered that it’s Belly Dancing—so I’m thinking we’ll give that one a pass—at least until we’ve been to the gym.