It's so funny, despite fighting it throughout most of my life, I can now say that, YES...I have become my mother. As a child tagging along with my mom shopping or whatever, one might think my mom knew the entire city of Decatur. She spoke to strangers on the street, in the malls or grocery stores like she had known them all of her life. For being so introverted and shy at times, you'd never know it watching her laugh, crack jokes and chatting with people. So yes, I have developed that knack. It's really kind of fun, and I kicked it off from the guy picking us up at the airport all the way through the end of the trip...John just kinda let go and just enjoyed the ride.
We loved Barcelona. Spain was so cool, and even with my limited, broken Spanish, we did great. Ashley even managed to find a restaurant and order in Spanish off the menu with Bree in tow when John and I took off for the flamenco dancing show. I wished I could be travelling here with my family, especially Ollie. So the best I can do is show you all the pictures and share a few emblazened memories.
Europe doesn't come cheap...you think you can put 4 in a room, like a double in the US...Naaahhh, doesn't work that way here. Three is the max, so we had two rooms for a couple of days at the Market Hotel, a budget hotel which had great reviews in Travel and Leisure magazine with breakfasts (the apple glazed muffins with cream cheese or something sinfully delicious in the center were the bomb, you know we were not dieting, okay.)...included in the deal, free wifi (don't you hate paying an arm and a leg just to use the internet in hotels...) free apples and water to send you off on your daily trek, and it was definitely in the middle of things if you like action...It was a 15 minute walk from the main strip, (Las Ramblas). Oh, if only I had money to truly shop for clothes, because guys, you know the Spanish know how to dress. (Like I could really get one more thing in my overweight suitcase)...and the coolest designs were just dazzling before my eyes. Our first dinner was at a Hard Rock Cafe. It was a bit challenging finding it. It's amazing how words I hadn't used in over 20 years (Spanish 101) filtered back into my mind . Just to show you that it's a small world, we were sitting there, enjoying the ambience of your typical Hard Rock Cafe, chowing down on some barbecue ribs...John was still wearing his CAT cap, and low and behold, at a table across from us was another CAT family out of Peoria on an R&R/vacation also. I forgot where they were stationed. You'd almost think we set this rendezvous up! We had a nice evening.
The next day we took a day tour of Barcelona...to go into these churches and see the beautiful, artistic work was amazing...all through Europe, it was just amazing. Then our tour guide was chatting about Christopher Columbus coming back here for this, that and the other...have you ever been so overwhelmed...sensory overload...that you can only just stand there and your mind/body can only filter in so much? The afternoon was dedicated to Gaudi...a man after my own heart when it comes to design. We ran out of time to go into Picasso's museum, John left my backpack with my cell phone in it on the tour bus...(but it all works out in the very end).
We ended the day by dressing up...John and I headed for the flamenco dancing dinner, (yeah, they bring you a fish with the head still on it and the eyes of it are looking dead at you...) and Bree and Ash hit the streets and found a restaurant close to our hotel. Okay, like maybe 6 people were even in this dive...but boy could this guy sing and dance and the guitar playing made you want to grab a pair of castinets and let go...Oh, I almost forgot to tell you...I got drug up on the stage to dance with this guy. John wouldn't go when they tried to drag him, but he pushed me forward. Thanks, John. We spent the next morning getting to the pier, ready to board the NORWEGIAN GEM...an awsome ship.
We had a minisuite with a balcony...which I wanted to share with the girls, but they had insisted on being on their own...so they were a few floors down from us. I'll tell you more about the embarkment of this journey later...although it's winter supposedly in Chennai (probably 90 degrees outside), monsoon season must still be here because it's raining cats and dogs right now...and this internet is acting funny. Maybe I should shut it down lest another power surge should do me in...if you know what I mean.
I SPOKE TOO LATE...I AM WRITING THIS NOW 24 HOURS LATER...OUR SERVER WAS DOWN UNTIL NOW. Vendan says that our street is very bad for internet, I guess the one in front of us and behind us are just fine...somehow I should have known...Tomorrow I will try to tell you about Malta.
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