Europe 2011 - Day 5

Time to go to the ship

After a wonderful several days in Barcelona, we awoke realizing it was our last day there until we finish the cruise and we really had a wonderful time. Barb and I got to spend some quality time together just enjoying.

We packed and were out of our room at 10:30am and into our cabin on the ship at 11:30am and were eating by noon.

Then it was time to change and work on our tan. We are up front on the spa deck, deck 12 and there is an adults only deck on 15 with a direct elevator only steps away from our room so we went up there and relaxed for a couple of hours.

Barb's Flowers

After getting back to our cabin we found out that the itinerary for the first few days has changed due to a potential general strike in Italy that could affect the scheduled itinerary. Major demonstrations are also planned in the center of Rome on Tuesday, so they switched our Rome arrival day to Wednesday. They also cancelled the port of Naples and substituted Marseilles, France in its place.

We have been to Naples and Capri several times and have never been to Marseilles so that change will be good. We had a tour of the gardens at the Vatican scheduled for Rome so the ship is working on getting that changed for us – what great service.

The schedule for the next four days is therefore as follows:
Monday – Monaco
Tuesday – Marseilles, France
Wednesday – Rome
Thursday – Livorno, (Florence/Pisa)



No room for anymore shoes!!

So if you read about any problems with strikes in Italy, hopefully we will be in a different port.
Then we went for a walk around the ship and stopped for Pizza. And later we stopped for some snacks – so by 6:00pm we had eaten three times since Noon!!

The ship left the dock at 5:00pm and we were on our way for 12 fun days sailing on this brand new ship, the Carnival Magic.

The shops opened at 7 pm and of course we went and bought our normal souvenirs and then it was to the Comedy Club to hear a comedian do a very funny show.

Dinner was at 8:15pm and for the first time we actually had the table location that we wanted without having to ask for it once we arrived on the ship. Our table is in the forward dining room, downstairs on the main floor and in the center. It is a round table for 8 and should be perfect.

Our Room

Our table mates are going to be just fine. Two couples are related, Mom and Dan and Son and his girlfriend and the other couple are from Indianapolis. It should be an enjoyable table.

After the show, we went to the Casino and introduced ourselves to the Manager, Troy and our new Casino Host, Carlos. As far as we call tell we don’t know anyone in the Casino, but of course we will. We never play on the first night so we then went to the 10:30pm adult comedy show which was really funny.

Then it was time to crash and be ready for Monaco and Monte Carlo tomorrow – docking at 9:00am.

Europe – 2011 – Barcelona – In Barb’s Own Words

What a beginning to a fabulous time…I am sold on Barcelona!!!!!!!the people are kind, fun & the beaches unbelievable…like 3 miles of beauty & NO prudes just natural & no one cares…The history is wonderful including folk dances in the street, not for tourist but young & old sharing their heritage!!!!

Our hotel was well unbelievable, I was NOT born to be pampered, don’t handle it well and they were everywhere making sure I am happy,,,very good at what they do!!! So I am happy now leave me alone I can manage!!!!! Seriously the other half live VERY differently, VERY!!!!!

We are now on to the ship wow in less than an hour from leaving the hotel we were in our room , changed & laying in the sun, not bad….everyone happy & even unpacked.. I really miss everyone, but not wishing I was there more wishing you were here!!!!

Love you all, mom

PS I am a very, very lucky person!!!!!

Europe 2011 - Day 4

Lots of street sweepers are out every morning

Thanks goodness we didn’t have to get up early this morning as we had been up late the last two nights and also walked a lot each day.

Today we started out at 10:00am with a 1 ½ hour walking tour of Barcelona’s seafront. Then we took a 1 ½ hour boat tour of the harbor and along the entire city coast line, about 3 hours.

After the tours we got a cab and ate lunch at an outside restaurant close to the hotel.

The entrance to Mar Bella Beach

Then it was up to the Mar Bella Beach for an afternoon of sitting out and walking on the beach. What a wonderful beach it has been and we will hate to leave it. This has been the most relaxed, family friendly nude beach that we have ever been to – and it is right in the middle of the city, not hidden and /or a long walk to get to like a lot are. The United States should be so free and neither words nor pictures could describe this environment.

Back to the hotel then to change for the evening.

The most famous opera house in Barcelona and maybe in all so Spain is the Palau de la Musica Catalana. It opened in 1908 The site was named a World Heritage Site in 1997. We were lucky enough to get tickets to tour the building in the early evening. The building and inside was amazing. It was the first structure built in Barcelona of steal and then they encased it with beautiful glass and mosaic columns.



Locals Dancing



Then we walked to a Tappas restaurant we had seen the night before and along the way came across dozens of locals dancing in the square outside the Cathedral to a band. What fun they were having and the tourists were having watching them.

After dinner, we had box seats for a performance. – Wow was it special. The show was a performance by an international guitar master named Manuel Gonzalez who was brilliant on the guitar. I wish we had a video because you cannot describe his talent and how his fingers moved on the strings.

After the concert we walked for a little bit and then it started to rain so we came back to the hotel.

Dinner

A wonderful day – tomorrow it is the ship – the Carnival Magic.

Our seats for the concert

Outside of the conceert hall