Cindy

Here is part 2 of many to my adventure around the Mediterranean with my boyfriend Matt.

So we made our flight to Barcelona, Spain, on May 27. Once we arrived mid-afternoon, we found our way to the baggage claim and thankfully our luggage made it to Spain too. (On a previous trip to Europe, I was without my luggage for two days. I really didn't want a repeat performance.) We dragged our bags towards the exit and was waived through by the authorities. Actually, they just stood there looking bored, while all these travelers pushed past them out the doors. No passport check or anything. We could have been terrorists. Thank goodness we weren't.

We met up with the Princess Cruise line representatives there at the airport picking up a bus load of people who were also on our connecting flight. This first glimpse of our fellow shipmates were starting to make Matt and I feel very young. We knew that cruises usually attract a lot of retirees, but we also thought we'd at least see some people our age. Not yet we weren't.

Our hotel in downtown Barcelona was nice - The Diplomatic. We got checked in, found our room, and of course, crashed. We were both exhausted from the traveling and all of a sudden being 9 hours ahead of those in the Pacific Northwest. After a nap, we got up and decided to use the rest of our day to explore the city.

Before leaving for our trip, I had a couple people tell me to look for work by Antonio Gaudi in Barcelona. Matt had picked up a tourist book on Barcelona and we were able to see some pictures of his architecture as well as learn more about him. He was an architect from the early 1900s, who built and remodeled a few of the residential buildings in the city. He also designed and built a park - Park Guell - and a cathedral (which is still not complete to this day.)

We decided from what we read of Gaudi, we definitely needed to see his work in person. It just happened that a couple of his residential works were walking distance from our hotel. We walked to Casa Mia. This building full of huge apartments is now used as a museum showcasing Gaudi's architectural vision. He was definitely ahead of his time, and a genius when it came to the use of natural light and structures. It's hard to describe his work - it's almost gothic but very futuristic for his time. You should just travel to Barcelona and experience it yourself for full affect. Or you can Google Gaudi. I haven't seen Matt's digital pics yet, but if they turned out well, I'll try to connect them to this journal entry.

After exploring Casa Mia, it was dinner time. Matt had found a "walking tour" in his travel book that started from Casa Mia. We decided to go ahead and follow the trail. We should eventually come across something to eat and see some of Barcelona's sites. We found a cafe with outdoor seating. The weather was clear and warm, and with the sun not going down until around 9pm, this place was perfect. We discovered later that we were probably looking for dinner too early in the evening - it was about 6pm. Most of the places we found were closed and wouldn't open for dinner until after 7pm. (I like the idea of afternoon siestas, can we have those here in the US? Everything shut down between 2 and 4pm, then opened again later in the evening.)

Although, we continued to walk some more after dinner to see more of downtown Barcelona, we were both very tired. The next day we would move our things to the ship, but we'd also have more free time to see more of the city.

Sunday May 28 was a beautiful day. After breakfast and before we had to get onto the bus to check in for our cruise, we took a taxi to see Park Guell. We had been warned that the park was not located in a very friendly part of town and to watch out for pick pockets and thieves. We took our chances and went to the park early enough in the morning that the only people around were Sunday morning walkers and joggers. It was wonderful! The park was originally designed to be a city of its own. It contained several homes and gardens and lots of mosaics. From several points within the park one can look out over most of Barcelona. We could see the sea ports where we'd find ourselves later that day. We could have spent the day exploring the paths running through the park as well as just sitting watching the sun make its way over the city.

We needed to get back to the hotel, to check out and board the bus to our home for the next couple of weeks. We walked to a underground station and took the subway back. (I feel like I'm collecting subway experiences with Matt. We've been on ones in D.C., N.Y. City, Boston, and now Barcelona.) The was a very long line to check out at the hotel. Not only were all the guests who were taking the same cruise we were also checking out, but all the guests who had arrived that morning on the boat were checking in. We finally were able to get on a bus to the port.

The next couple of hours included riding through downtown on a big bus passing Gaudi's Sagrada Famalia (his cathedral still under construction), noticing that the port was very close to the beach, checking in at Princess Cruises, finding our room on the top deck of the ship, exploring to find lunch at the 24 hour buffet, then leaving the ship to see more of Barcelona. The cruise wasn't leaving until later that night.

We caught a taxi to take us out of the port and dropped off near the beach. We walked along the public boardwalk, where Matt discovered his first topless sunbathers. From knowing others who had been to Europe and talked about the women who go topless at the beaches, I wasn't surprised. Matt on the other hand was shocked. So, of course, I had to start pointing out to him all the women without their tops on. (For those inquiring minds, I did not join the topless sunbathers.)

After getting sufficiently off track from where we thought we were and thankful for the map Matt had of Barcelona, we explored another park, the train station, and some market stalls along the waterfront. When we saw plenty and were ready to head back, we started walking in the direction of the port thinking we'd find a taxi to take us back. We saw plenty of taxis, but we ended up walking the couple miles back to the ship instead. If we kept this up over the next couple of weeks, I wouldn't have to worry about gaining the 10 pounds I was afraid I would.

Back on the cruise ship, we settled in and watched as we shoved off from the dock. The next day we'd wake up in a new port and a new country. That adventure I'll leave for my next entry.

This is the first entry of many about my recent adventure to Europe for a Mediterranean Cruise. My adventurous boyfriend and I visited 10 cities over two weeks.

On May 26, my boyfriend Matt and I began our adventure to the Mediterranean Sea. We boarded a plane to Cincinnati, which led us to a plane to Paris, France. Our ultimate destination was Barcelona, Spain, but we had about 3 hours to kill in Paris. During our overseas flight, Matt stopped a flight attendant to ask, "Do you think it would be difficult for us to leave the airport and return again for our next flight?" The helpful hostess advised that it would probably take us quite a bit of time to get through customs, therefore leaving the airport was not going to be too feasible. I was very uncomfortable with the idea to begin with, because we were going to be in a country where neither one of us spoke the language. I wasn't looking forward to possibly missing our connecting flight to Barcelona, especially after already spending over 10 hours flying.

Well, we arrived in Paris midday May 27 and started making our way across Charles De Gaul Airport to the gate for our next flight. There was quite a bit of construction going on at the airport, so it took us almost a half hour to get to the correct terminal. We were on a bus taking us back and forth from terminal to terminal. Then we walked right through a passport checkpoint and walking away with our first passport stamp. We finally were where we're suppose to be to find our gate. The next thing I know, Matt says, "Let's get some fresh air." I follow him outside, and there we are standing outside the airport watching cars pick up and drop off other travelers.

We now have two hours before our final leg to Barcelona takes off. Matt looks at me and says, "Let's go see Paris." He has figured out along the way that downtown Paris is only about 15 - 20 minutes away from the airport. I followed him down to where the taxis are, and he talks to the man helping people get transportation to where ever they need to go. The man speaks English very well, and starts taking us down a line of taxis asking each driver, "Parler vous Anglais?" (Please forgive the spelling errors, not only do I not speak French, I don't spell it either.) Finally after about 20 cars, a driver says, "Yes." A tip to the man helping us find a taxi, then away we go.

Thank goodness the man who helped us find the taxi had explained to our driver in French what we wanted - an hour drive around Paris to see the famous sights. The driver spoke English, but not very well. He did get us to Paris, and he did take us to the sights. He pointed out the famous museums, palaces, and parks. We stopped at the Arch de Triumph (again spelling) for pictures. Our driver even took a picture of Matt and I together with the Arch behind us. We also stopped at the Eiffel Tower. It wasn't what I was expecting. It was huge, recently painted brown, and to me it looked like a giant cell phone tower. Of course, Matt reminded me that this tower was built long before cell phones. We took more pictures, then back into the taxi for more sightseeing. Our driver pointed out the Louvre, the palace of Marie Antoinette, the Presidential Palace, Napoleon's dome, and many other places that I didn't understand what they were. We also drove down Champs-Elysees Avenue and crossed the Seine a couple of times.

Our driver was just about to take us to see Notre Dame, when we realized that we wanted to be back to the airport in 15 minutes, so we'd have plenty of time to go through security. Matt told our driver that we needed to go back, we were "Fini." The driver was into showing us around by now, probably because his meter was running, so he took us down more famous streets and pointed out more sights on our way back. When we arrived back at the airport, we only had US dollars, so the driver followed us to an ATM for us to give him Euros. He was very kind, and deserved our tip for the ride.

Well, we saw Paris and still had plenty of time to hurry up and wait for our flight to Spain. We met a couple who had come in on our same flight from Cincinnati. They too were on their way to Barcelona to prepare for the same cruise Matt and I were going to be on. Over the next couple of weeks, we ran into Skip and Jo from Nebraska many times. They were taking the cruise with Skip's brother Bruce and his wife Pauline. They were just the first of many interesting people we were to meet during our adventures.

Enough for now. Coming soon...Barcelona and Gaudi.