September 2007
Day 3 - Friday, September 21, 2007
We slept in a bit today (may have been the wine last night) and got going about 11:00a to see a bit more of Barcelona before we sail for Marseilles this afternoon.
The day didn't start out well for me. While packing up I managed to drop the folding top of the writing desk onto my iPhone and crushed the glass:
My language removed some of the paint from the walls. You can imagine. I turned it on -- and it still worked! I don't know whether the glass can be repaired or if I just added a few (more) hundred dollars to this trip. I'm not a happy boy..
Checkout went uneventfully and the bags are stored until we return to the hotel to leave for the dock.
For the grandsons, here's a photo of us attesting to our location; you may see more of these (y'think?!?):
Our dinner companions last evening told us about a great restaurant for lunch called Casa Calvet in a building also designed by Gaudí. It turned out to be about a ten-block walk from the hotel; when we found it, we learned that it didn't open until 1:00p for lunch so were out of luck. Here's a picture (to prove to our new friends from San Diego that we took their advice):
 
We spent the balance of our time in Barcelona just walking about and admiring the architecture; some of the most beautiful buildings anywhere.
Many (most?) people get around on motorbikes. When they reach their destination, they just leave the motorbikes on the street or sidewalk:
They're not chained to anything. Someone could just come along in a van and sweep 'em up; apparently no one does.
We picked up our bags, and a taxi, and were driven to the cruise terminal. You could see our ship from some distance away:
 
Embarcation was smooth and soon we were in our stateroom. It's tiny. SWMBO is not happy. Not at all. And we're in here for ten more days. I pointed out that we'd be spending virtually no time in the stateroom; that size didn't matter (in this case). Not as good a salesman as I used to be. Time for wine.
We tried to book shore excursions for each of the stops coming up. There are a number offered. We were a little late getting started with that procedure (online from the state-cubicle (Gael refuses to let me call it a "stateroom")) and all the tours for tomorrow (Marseilles) were sold out. We did get the other days dealt with. And figuring out Marseilles on our own shoudn't be too difficult.
Dinner was fine. We are at Table 610, an eight-top with Norma and Tony from Naples FL, Pat and Don from New York and Christy & Mick from Boise ID. Fine folk.
When I quit working on this page before dinner, I just closed the lid on the Macbook to put it to sleep. When I logged on after dinner, I found that the internet charge clock had continued running and I'd used up 114 minutes of my (pricey) paid-for allotment! Zut Alors! (again please pardon my French). Apparently sleep-mode doesn't disconnect the wireless internet adapter. My bad. Tomorrow I'll throw myself on the mercy of the court. Sigh...
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