Another day in Barcelona

My plans to blog along our trip hasn't worked out very well.  The rest of our stay in Barcelona was so busy, there was no time to update the blog.  Once we got on the boat the intenet was not very stable (kicked us off every few minutes) so it was just not possible to post anything.  Hopefully I can give an overview of the trip in the next few days . . .

In Barcelona, the "tour" ride was a bust. We didn't learn much of the city's history . . . actually we didn't learn much about the city at all. We did get to see the city which was really cool, but we didn't get a lot of history or info. They should have advertised it as a bus ride . . . not a tour. At a stop toward the end of the route we jumped off and walked back to the room looking for my little hummus restaurant . . . which we found. We got a to-go plate and took it back to the room. We ate on our balcony and then took a short nap.

Jim left to go find a pocket knife. Up to that point we had not had anything to assist in cutting up our fruit. When he returned we started listening out for the kids who were scheduled to arrive shortly. We were surprised we had not heard from them yet. I checked out the flight finder on my cell phone and it showed that there was no updated info for the flight and instructed us to call the airline. Because the flight should have already landed . . . and we should have already gotten a phone call . . . my mamma worry button was getting just a tad bit activated. Just then we got a call . . . they were already at the hotel!

They hadn't eaten much all day and were hungry. I had just eaten a large portion of hummus salad and sun dried tomatoes so I wasn't hungy so I stayed in the room while they went to dinner. When they returned we went to the shops.

The next day we headed to the cruise ship as we continued our Mediterranean journey . . . we all agreed that we really liked the city of Barcelona!

noise canceling headphones . . . are amazing!

In yesterdays post I forgot to mention the best thing about our 9 hour flight over here . . . our new noise cancelling headphones. They are amazing! I didn't realize how much noise they were screening out until I took them off after having them on for an hour or so. The engine noise was so incredibly LOUD so I quickly put them back on. Had I been able to find a comfy position in the seat, I would have had no problems sleeping on the flight. I had my new headphones, a pillow and a nice blanket . . . if only I had a nice comfy reclining seat like they have up in first class I would have been set to go. Thanks to my MFR buddy Gail for picking the headphones up for us. She went all the way to the new outlets just to get them because she knew how much they would help the flight noise. You were right Gail . . . they are awesome! Thanks again!!!

Barcelona, Spain

After a short flight to Atlanta and a long 9 hour flight over into Spain, we took a cab ride to our hotel in Barcelona. Jim hardly slept at all on the flight . . . I slept about 3 hours or so. But it was a painful three hours . . . not very restful at all. The regular coach section just doesn't cut it for sleeping. As we were leaving the plane, we walked through first class. We passed by the nice wide seats with nice foot rests and nice heavy blankets (did I mention it was really nice up there?). For a very short second (or maybe two) the extra $10,000 per seat almost seemed reasonable. :)

I had a stressful day on Tuesday before leaving. I thought I was doing so good getting things ready early . . . but I still left a bit too much for our last day before flying out. Jim is a great "get 'er done" . . . "don't worry, be happy" kind of guy. Unfortunately, that trait hasn't rubbed off on me in our thirty years of marriage (did I mention that this is an anniversary trip?). I have to spend some of my "get 'er done" time worrying myself silly about what is still left to do. After all what if I forget something? Well I did forget to pack a couple of significant items on this trip. In case you don't already know the solution to that one is generally quite simple . . . you go shopping (which is kind of fun when you are in Barcelona). Anywho . . . I got up the day of departure a little stressed with tight muscles in my head and neck . . . and a nice little headache. I tried to stretch it out throughout the day but was not completely successful. The overnight flight and trying to sleep in some pretty uncomfortable positions increased the intensity of the headache and with it came a bit of nausea. I had three hours of sleep, jet lag and a major headache by the time we got to our hotel.

We took a two hour nap and then I spent the rest of the afternoon doing some myofascial release work on myself. Jim went and checked out the area around our hotel and picked up some water and fruit from a nearby grocery store. By bedtime I felt a bit better but was very, very tired. Surprisingly Jim was not tired at all. We both got a good nights sleep and then set out to check out the city. We had a great day of sightseeing and shopping. I got a super yummy falafel with hummus, sautéed cauliflower and sun dried tomatoes for lunch at maos vegetarian restaurant (www.maozveg.com) for lunch. Just finished dinner sitting out on the balcony of our room. We are thinking about taking a bus tour tomorrow to get a little of the history of the city. The language barrier hasn't been too bad. It takes a few minutes and lots of hand gestures and folks either understand or act like they do.