* NOTE: Because of sea conditions our WiFi connections have a mind of their own. I’m between Gibraltar and the Azores right now. Seas around 15ish feet or so. They are saying 5.3 meters. So photos are not loading. I’ll be posting ther text versions of this blog and try to match up photos later when possible. 

So when things end, things begin… It can be a hard process, or a process of celebration. It is where we live each moment of each second of our lives. We are the creators of our lives and we choose the situations we are in to learn the lessons and to receive the gifts of the moments we create. It is how we react to those moments that we’ve created that causes the emotions of joy or sorrow, happiness or anger, or whatever it is. That’s when the impression happens. That’s the reward. That’s our lives… That’s where we live. Whew, I’m glad I got through all that. Let’s move on.

We pulled into Barcelona an amazing working port. A city that is rich with history as they all are, but they all seem to have their own special magic. Barcelona is a visual smack right up the side of the head. Gothic architecture, mixed in with a modern energy yet it’s old world. Proud and healthy. I could spend some time here.

Today, we end our 10 day Mediterranean Cruise aboard the Carnival Vista. We packed our bags last night and we are ready to vacate our room. Well sort of. We are only moving downstairs, one floor and still aft. In fact, we put all our hanging clothes on movable metal hangers and the room stewards are going to move our stuff to the new room while we checkout and get our new room keys. As soon as that is done, we are jumping on a Hop on/Hop off bus and take a tour of Barcelona.

As we leave the ship, we jump on a shuttle to take us out of the port to the pick up station for the bus. Once aboard, we hook up our headphones and find the station in English and begin our guided tour with the option to jump off anywhere we want with another bus just 10 minutes behind.

We wove around the port and cruised by the marinas all groomed and beautiful. Then off to the city center we went. What a treat to see those amazing gothic buildings of a thousand years ago right along side of modern shops, businesses and apartments. Barcelona has a real mix of streets and roundabouts. Many old streets that only hold one car, mixed with newer two lane streets and even some four laner’s to move around on.

It was beginning to happen. I had to pee. I held off as long as physically possible and then I told the rest of our group that they could do what they wanted, but I’m getting off at the next stop. Good thing to. We found a pizza place that was not going to sell pizza until noon, but had coffee ready to go. So we all used the bathroom and picked up four speciality coffees and hit the streets looking for a pair scissors and and some finger nail clippers. Not as easy of a task as you think. But we did it.

As Iva has a fettish for food, we were trying to catch another bus, but missed a few of them while I was in a couple of pharmacies. As I caught up with the others at the bus stop, Pete and Iva said they’d be right back. Pat and I let a couple of more buses pass by and then Iva poked her head out of an alley and say, “Hey come here, you’ve got to see this.” So off we went down the alley, ducked in between two craft fair type booths and walked in a door. Wow! A massive indoor fresh market with vendor after vendor with fresh food. I mean real fresh food, cheeses, veggies, meats, eggs, chickens with the heads on, but can be cut to order. Beef legs on clamps where guys with saws are ready to cut you off a hunk. Seafood that was still jumping around on the ice. Amazing to say the least.

They also had an attached standard market that had scissors and finger nail clippers. My beard and Pat’s thumb nail were saved. We also bought a slab of Parmigiana cheese for around 5.50 Euro. That’s a great deal. Now off to the bus stop.

Sure, we were in the time of the afternoon rush. We split up into twos and Pete and Iva were gone. We waited for a couple more full busses and then got on one and started heading the hour long ride back to the port. It was beautiful. Up to the top of the mountain and past the Olympic Statium. (Yep, thoughts of Krysta Palmer ran through my head.) Then down the hill to the sea port to catch up with Pete and Iva. There was a great street market going on with tons of cool nautical stuff, but no time to get caught up in that. We had a ship to catch.

Once back to the Vista, we boarded with our new cards and headed to our new rooms. All of our stuff was there and we began the process of moving back in. we have just started the 13 Day Trans-Atlantic leg of the trip. We only have three stops with this one, the rest are sea days. Gibraltar, the Azores, and Bermuda. We sail into New York on November 3rd.

Tomorrow, our first sea day…

Capt. Paul