Today, we are up only to have breakfast and then get to the airport and on our way back to Phoenix.  It was a good time here  I am leaving Vegas with the same amount of money as I came with - other than meals.  So I consider that a win!

We arrived at Henry Reid Airport in plenty of time to sit for a bit and then board our flight - Yay everything in order and we left on time.  It is only a short 1 hour flight to Phoenix from Las Vegas - unlike our flight the other day!  We could have driven quicker...but who knew it was to be so delayed due to the terrible storms in the east.  

So arrived back on Phoenix and Mike was there to pick us up and drive us back.  I took some time to start packing for the trip home and yay -everything fits in my suitcase! Today the temperature here is a lovely 78 - 80 degrees and feels lovely and warm.  The planes are so cold.  I actually put a sweatshirt on in Sharon's house just to get cozy.

Tonight we are going to Nick's for dinner - this is a favourite restaurant of Mike and Sharon's that isn't too far away.  I think they took me there once several years ago.  It is very good!

Nick's didn't disappoint.  The food was delicious!  I had a capellini pasta with olives, onions, tomatoes and parm cheese.  Very similar to Capellini Pomodoro that the Olive Garden used to serve.  It was so good - I really enjoyed it a lot!

Back to Sharon's for a quiet night and to pack to go home tomorrow.

THE WIZARD OF OZ AND THE SPERE

After our long and tiring day yesterday, we were up at 8:30 to begin our first full day in Las Vegas.  Today I have an agenda!  There is a quilting store called Sew Yeah and I want to go there!   

After a breakfast we were ready to make our way to the front of the hotel to catch a Lyft ride to take us to our destination.  It was a great ride to see part of Las Vegas that I have never seen before.  It wasn't long before we arrived at the shop!  A huge shop with almost everything you can imagine and more!  I loved it!   Average prices per yard here are between 10.00 and 14:00.  The fabrics were all fresh and beautiful.  I can't even begin to imagine how many bolts they had of every designer imaginable.  They are not at all interested in applique not did they have any kits that I was interested in.  Even the kits that were prepared we and weren't very expensive.  I did by a glue pen - the kind I like - because it was pink will little butterflies!

  

After we left there, I had the Uber driver drop me off downtown on Fremont Street.  I really wanted to play blackjack and the tables are way too expensive on the strip.  Also they were doing a Canadian and Par promotion and I had taken $200 cdn just in case I would be able to take advantage of that.  

So back to black jack!  I was playing at a $10.00 table and the gimmick at this table was you had to always place an extra $2.00 on the spot.  If you got a black jack, you were able to spin the wheel for an extra bonus.  I managed to get 5 black jacks while I was playing and the bonuses I got were $30.00, $500.00, $40.00, $20.00 and  $20.00.  I was ecstatic.  This made up for my losing evening last night.  And I still had some of my original US$ left that I brought down with me.  

I took $680 away from the table after starting with $60.00 and went to play the slots at the casing with the at par and played for quite a while.  One thing I realized that if I had a win at the machine - I had to go cash the ticket in and pocket the winnings right away or as soon as you started spinning again, it was using your winnings first instead of going to the US$200.00 - so I was glad I figured that out as quick as I did.

I headed back to the Wynn and got there at 5:30.  Sharon and I had time to go to dinner and had a delicious pizza and salad and then make our way to the Venetian and the Sphere to see the Wizard of Oz.  What a spectacular show.  You really were immersed in the experience.  It was great and I was so glad to have the opportunity to see it.  I didn't manage to get an apple, however they were for sale in the lobby, so I bought one for Kim.  She really wanted one.  I did get some of the leaves, but no luck on the apple.

So back to the Wynn and the Encore for more unlucky slot play - but still fun.  Tired from our day and so much walking, I fell into bed around 12.15.  It was a very busy day.

LAS VEGAS ADVENTURE

Today started off well, got up and out of bed on time and then into the shower and ready to get to the Sky Harbour Airport for our 9:10 flight.  Nope that flight was cancelled!  so Mike was able to get us switched to another flight that was set to leave at 9:00 and sounded like a great alternative.  So we went to our gate only to find out after an hour and a bit that the flight we were on this time was delayed.  First of all by one hour and then later the announcement came that we would be delayed leaving until 4:00.  

That delay meant that we would not be in time to see the show we had booked at the Sphere.  We had tickets to see the 5:00 show of the Wizard of Oz.  A spectacular one we are told.  So Sharon got on the phone to ticketmaster to hopefully get our tickets changed to the later show or a show tomorrow.  After several unsuccessful calls, it seemed like we would be out of luck and out of pocket for US$220 each. However she asked to talk to someone in a superior position to see if something could be done.  When the phone call came 30 minutes later, the fellow was so kind and said that he would be able to transfer the tickets.  Another call later and he said that it would be easier to refund the tickets and then we could rebook them.

Sharon was on top of that and booked us some seats for tomorrow's 8:00 show.  So other than losing some hours in Vegas, we are finally aboard a 737 aircraft and set to land in Las Vegas at 5:10.  It is amazing how tiring today has been.  I hope I am up to a full evening tonight.  I don't want to miss a minute of this little getaway!

Coming into the Las Vegas Strip is still as bright and beautiful as ever.  The new Sphere is very huge!  The scenes that are broadcast on this ever changing globe are so breathtaking.  I am glad to see it in person!

We arrived at the Wynn which is way further up the strip than I have ever been before.  We got up to our spacious room and got settled, freshened up and made our way downstairs to the casino.  We had a dinner reservation for 7:30 (as it was supposed to be after our show) so a quick gamble and a quick $60.00 gone and a Lemon Drop martini in my hand and it was time for dinner.  We ate at the Cave which is one of the many restaurants in the hotel.  Nice not to have to go anywhere.

After our dinner, we were once again on the casino floor.  Still no luck and then I noticed that I had lost my phone.  I asked one of the casino floor managers to help me and still nothing.  Checked with Lost and Found and it was probably too soon.  So off I wondered to play some machine and give some more time before I contacted Lost and Found again.  More money gone and no phone.  Until I was wandering around and the casino floor manager found me and said that Sharon had found my phone! I could hardly believe that she had found it and not too long after I lost it.  They had been looking for me for 45 minutes.  Sharon as annoyed at me and I don't blame her.  I had wandered too far.  However, now I have my phone back and I will certainly be more careful with my phone and considerate of Sharon to let her know about where I am in our remaining time here.

So...as I sit near Sharon, she is having some unbelievable luck!  I watched her take her bonus spins that went from 9 spins all the way up to 69 spins!  In all she won almost $300.00 on those spins and I figured she deserved such a good win after finding my phone and looking for me for as long as she did!  

So, here I am back in the room at 10:30 and hoping to connect with home, but you don't get free wifi from the room if the room is a free one!  I will remember to do all my messenging tomorrow from the casino floor tomorrow.

Tomorrow my plan is to be at a quilt store called Sew Yeah when they open at 10:00.  After that I would like to go downtown for a while and play some black jack.  It is cheaper down there and there is a possibility that Cdn is at par.  I would like that also!  However, now, I am ready to get to bed!  It has been a long day!

JUST ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE

The weather is gradually heating up.  Today was wonderful at 72 degrees.  Just a taste of what is to come when we hit mid to late Spring at home.  I am still wearing a light jacket when out as it is cool in the shade.  

Sharon had some errands to do so out we went.  Dropped into a couple of cute shops for a browse and then to get some necessaries at a grocery store.  On a whim, I looked for canned oysters and THEY HAD THEM!  $9.99US per can, but bought two cans anyway!  On the whole, food prices are high here.  Higher than at home and that really surprised me.  However, since I haven't seen canned oysters in years in Surrey, I was happy to pay any price to have them.

On our drive to shopping today, it is so beautiful to see the landscape and the beautiful and different cacti.  It is so different with the low buildings and the desert colours.  All of the housing and shopping has to fit in with the natural landscape...so the signage and facades fit in being low to the ground and earth tones.  As you are driving, you can be coming up to a shopping plaza and not even know until you turn in the driveway and then discover the many shops and restaurants hidden there.  Not sure if this is all over Arizona or mainly Scottsdale.  The thought and planning that went into this area to ensure that every building adheres to this code has really enhanced the overall attractiveness of the whole area.

I HAVE A CARD AND I WILL SHOP

What a wonderful day today!  Visited 3 quilting stores!  This is truly heaven for me.  I did some damage and came home with 3 bags of treasures.

Sharon and I visited a store called 35th Avenue Sew and Vac!  It was huge - as huge as Fabric Depot was in Oregon.  Can't believe how wonderful and it was to be there.  I fondly remembered being down in Oregon with Kit and Rachel in Fabric Depot.  Those were wonderful times we shared...and now I have this wonderful time to remember with Sharon!  

The other store we hit was Modern Quilting.  In this store I realized just how different Sharon's and my favourite patterns and fabrics are.  It was fun to see our differences.  She like bright colours and bolder geometric prints and I am small prints and earth tones.  I bought a pattern with cactus and quail on it - applique.  The Arizona colours are really quite stunning and restful.

The last place we visited with fabric was Hobby Lobby and it was another spot to buy some special items.  All in all it was a fabulous stop and a perfect end to our shopping day!

This evening was an amazing sunset - I did get a picture of it...but seeing it outside is probably better.  Course it didn't hurt to have the beautiful saguaro in the foreground!  Thanks. Arizona!  You lived up to your reputation!

A NEW ADVENTURE DOWN SOUTH

So today began reallllllly early!  Brenda picked me up at 5:45 a.m.  After not very much sleep last night, I was still ready and excited to be on the way.

The drive to the airport was uneventful and quite quick.  Managed to see the sun come up and get into the boarding lounge relatively quickly.  I was flying West Jet and so glad that I wasn't flying Air Canada as with the storms and bitter cold weather in the east, many flight were delayed or cancelled altogether.  The check in counter was very busy with long lines, however, the WestJet counter was quite empty.  

I was surprised that although the temperature at YVR was about 0 the plane still went through de-icing.  So even with that extra time on the ground, we are still going to arrive in Phoenix at 12:45 p.m.  It is a great time to arrive.  The sun is shining and the temperature is about 18 Celsius.

I wasn't going to bring my little puter, but couldn't resist the chance to add to my blog.  I can still add this to the blog and print it out in a book of my adventures.  

Mike and Sharon were there to pick me up and on the way to their house, we stopped in Kierland and had a lovely lunch at Zinc Bistro.  One of Mike and Sharon's favourite Restaurants. It was lovely and delicious.  

We arrived at their house around 4:00 and I settled into my lovely room for my stay.  I am pretty sure it will be a quiet night and an early bed for me!

THIS IS THE END FOR NOW

I think this will be the last post from our days at sea.  There is not much that is different or changing so I will talk about all the little things.  Laundry has been done a couple of times and it will be great to go home with mostly clean clothes.  The seem to do a fabulous job, but they put a label in all your clothes.  This is fine until the scratchy little thing you forgot to remove is poking you in a place you don’t want to touch when you are out in public.  Of course that is when it decides to poke you.  Would be nice if they were thinner and less pokey.

Interesting feature of this ship is that you can view the bridge from a room in behind.  You can't interact with the crew doing their job, but it is interesting to look out through the big windows up front.  It is strictly forbidden to take pictures, but I stood back and snapped a quick one that really doesn't have any detail - but gives you an idea.

We had another day of huge swells.  Playing cards on deck 5 the wave hit the top of the window.  The bang was quite loud and the splash was amazing.  One man was standing at the window when it hit.  What a surprise he got!  We were playing the card game golf.  I had forgotten about that one.  It is a lot of fun for 4 players.  

Magnet seems to be fixed on the bathroom sliding door.  If it stays rocky, it shouldn’t be slamming and banging any more.  Tonight will be a good test of that.  Hmm huge swells and entering the Bermuda Triangle…the skies are looking nasty and the white caps and swells are plentiful.  It is going to be rough seas tonight.  The weather map seems to indicate the rest of the way could be rough.

I don’t think I mentioned that the carpet on the ship has little fish swimming.  They are always pointing to the front of the ship.  So as soon step into the hallway, you’re aware of the direction you are heading.  It was very helpful for the first few days, now I don’t need them to point me in the right direction, but I enjoy looking at them.

Now as we are nearing the end of the cruise, I am happy to report that we are happy and healthy and hoping to remain that way.  It was a good time and we remain friends – that is good and very important.  I have begun to pack things into my suitcase to prepare for the final departure.  See you soon!

DAY 4 OF 8 DAYS AT SEA

The at sea days are not very exciting.  Today being another one of those.  We had a quiet night last night without any pitching and rolling about and woke up to a lovely day.  The weather was very warm and it was actually too hot to sit out on the balcony for more than a couple of minutes.

A new Scrabble game made an appearance in the game room so Brenda and I were able to have a game.  It was a good game.  I think we play similarly and that always makes for a good game.  We also played a couple of the usual 2 player card games that can pass the time.

The decorations around the ship are really becoming more prevalent.  Each day something new makes an appearance.  There are beautiful displays in each of the dining rooms that appear to be made of marzipan, gingerbread, icing, lights and lot of imagination.  They are fun to look at.  I usually have my camera or my phone handy to snap pictures of any new decorations that appear.

This afternoon the pool deck was very busy with lots of pool time, sun bathing time and just people enjoying the heat today.  I imagine as we sail further west and south that we will see more sunshine and warmer temperatures.  Then, Brenda and I will need to acclimatize ourselves when we get home.  Home might be sunny...but it won't be very warm.  

Home is looking pretty good right now.  I think that 16 days is too long for me now.  I guess I am becoming more of a homebody.  Not exactly homesick, just looking forward to home, family and friends.  I even feel that the food is all starting to taste the same.  Dare I say that I miss my own cooking?  I think I do!

The TV selections are rather dismal.  There is one channel that plays movies, one channel that offers a selection of TV shows (you can’t choose, it is only what is being broadcast) could be a cartoon, Shark Tank, Gilligan’s Island, The Office or Blackish.  Then there are other channels:  MSNBC, BBC or Fox News and a few of different languages.  Wow I can’t wait to get back to our room in the evening to sit back and watch the telly!  Guess they really want you out and about an not in your cabin.

So only a few more days to go until we begin our flight home.  We’ll see what tomorrow has in store for us.

DAY 3 OF 8 DAYS AT SEA

Last night, the ship was really rocking and rolling.  We awoke to the sound of the sliding bathroom door banging first one way and they back the other.  The magnetic closure wasn’t strong enough to prevent the door from coming undone.  Other noises had us rooting around to see if suitcases were moving around in the closet and opening and closing cupboard doors in case something was rattling. After investigating, we determined that the rattling, banging and squeaking was just the ship noises.  Needless to say it was not the most restful night.  Brenda stuffed pillows in the bathroom door track and that stopped the worst of the noise.

In the morning, most of the conversation around the ship was about how rough it was.  I am very grateful that neither of us are bothered by that.  There is always a ready supply of green apples available.  From what people are saying, it really helps for sea sickness.  For me, eating a green apple would bother me more, however, I guess if I felt sea sick, I would try to choke one down.

    

In Ponta Delgado yesterday, the ladies from Colorado introduced me to a really neat app that can use your camera to translate something.  So I tried it on the sugar packets in the restaurant.  This app will also translate a sentence you are trying to say and even say it for you.  Could come in quite handy.

Our day at sea was spent playing more Skip Bo with our ship friends.  We get along so well.  It is very nice to have these times together.  This game is so similar to one I have played with 2 regular decks of playing cards so it wasn't difficult to learn.  Good game for 2 or 4.

 

I also wandered around taking pictures of the beautiful light fixtures.  Some of them hang down two or three decks and the sparkle is magnificent.  There was one pink and white one I was looking for to get a picture of.  After two days of looking, I realized that it is the main one and changes colour.  It can be white, turquoise or pink.  It is quite spectacular.  

Tonight we watched movies on our TV.  We saw a cartoon version of A Christmas Carol with the voice of Jim Carrey followed by Elf – one of my favourites.  The seas aren’t so active tonight, but we will stuff the pillows in the door track just in case.

PONTA DELGADA IN THE AZORES

Today I was going to go ashore come hell or high water.  Well, if rain had anything to do with the high water part, I should have been more careful what I wished for.  It was raining very hard!  So, once again, we donned our rain capes and set out to see the town.  So glad I found those rain capes on line as we have really needed them on this trip.

Being a Sunday, there wasn’t a whole lot open.  We walked to the centre square and it looked quite lovely.  Once again we saw the small shacks that are part of a European Christmas market, but this time, none were open.  We continued to wander up and down the narrow streets and browse in the shops that were open.  We still were able to enjoy time here … even with the inclement weather, we managed to do the things we want to do.

We came across a lovely little coffee shop, Dondue, and sat down to have a cuppa.  The only seats available were sharing with two other ladies from the ship and from Colorado.  The most delightful young lady waited on us.  The prices on the menu were more than reasonable.  We ordered 2 lattes and a cheese plate with their local bread.  Generous cuts of 3 different and delicious cheeses and the bread was more like a fluffy pita but did have a slight sweetness to it.  It is called bolo levedo.  When our lattes arrived, they were sprinkled with gold dust.  Dereje – you need to up your game!  Our repast was delicious and perfect for a light lunch.

We continued making our way around the small town and I was loving the decorations throughout every street.  Particularly beautiful are the colourful cobbled streets.  Being a volcanic island, black rock is abundant and when mixed with white stones, the patterns are striking and attractive.  I imagine that it would be easy for little ones to remember where to find a friend who lives on the street with the stars rather than a street with a name.

Coming back to the ship, I was slowing and a bit soggy.  Even with the rain cape, my feet were wet and since I was not wearing my hood, my hair was dripping.  However, I made it ashore and was so glad to have seen this quaint place.  I still managed to get a taste of Portugal and a delightful and delicious taste it was!

DAY 2 OF 8 AT SEA DAYS

As I wasn't able to get off the ship yesterday, when Brenda came back she had a treat for me. I had heard that the pastel del nata, Portuguese custard egg tarts, were wonderful to try.  So, she not only brought me back 2 of those, but also a Napoleon withe the same custard egg cream.  They were delicious!

We are on our way to Ponto Delgada in the Azores.  I am glad we are having another day at Sea so I can hopefully feel able to get off the ship when we dock.  Today we played Uno with Stan and Susan.  We have run into this couple from Utah a few times and we get along quite well.  I think that we will be playing games with them a few times before we get off in Port Canaveral.

There certainly is no shortage of things to do around the ship while at Sea.  There is Bingo, bowling, of course the casino is open and it is quite large, trivia, dance classes etc.  If all that fails....you can always eat!  We haven't taken advantage of many of the activities, but plan to try Bingo one day.  It is always entertaining.  (Yah won't be playing Bingo, cards start at $50.00 US and go up from there.)

For the first time ever on a cruise ship...there are no towel friends.  I miss those.  Maybe in cabins where there are children they make an appearance, but we haven't seen any.  I used to like to see them on the bed before turning in for the night.  There are some watermelon carvings around and sometimes you can see a cabbage animal.  I know ... I wondered about that too!  This was an especially weird watermelon carving...not offensive at all!

There is an ice bar on board.  I really want to go look in there.  You put on a heavy cape and enter and drink Vodka or something.  Ahh here is a description.  "Inspired by the ice hotels in Scandinavia, the Skyy Vodka Ice Bar is a unique  arctic like chamber where the bar, seating and glasses are all made entirely of ice.  The bar is 17 degrees F and features specialty drinks made from Skyy Vodka." will try and have a look at that before the cruise is over.  I'm sure there is much that we won't see.  

This ship has  Starbucks.  Twice I have had a coffee drink there, but it is not the same taste or feeling as being at the Finest Cup.  I miss my friend Dereje, his coffee, his family and his staff.  I look forward to a visit there quite soon after I get home.

Christmas decorating around the ship is quite prevalent now.  They seemed to make a gradual appearance.  There are many trees and garlands everywhere.  Christmas songs are becoming more noticeable in the mix of music playing around the ship.  It is really helping to keep reminding me that Christmas will arrive a week after we get home.

So now time to get rocked to sleep.  Tomorrow we will be ashore for our last bit of looking around and shopping.  Have a great day everyone!

LISBON FROM MY BALCONY

Sailing into Lisbon was beautiful.  The buildings looked different than what we have seen in our other stops.  It looks newer and more modern buildings painted with creams and pastels.  Must be lovely in the summertime.

Although I really wanted to go ashore here, I decided that I will stay on the ship and let Brenda be my eyes today.  Needless to say, I took lots of pictures sailing in and out.  It was a decent day today weather wise.  Brenda said it wasn’t far to the main square and she was able to walk there with little difficulty.  She walked a lot!  The pictures I am putting in this blog post, I don't know much about them but they are views sailing in and out.

I decided to purchase the internet for the remainder of the trip and then have a manicure as compensation for missing this port.  I sure hope after today and another day at sea I will be able to walk around Ponta Delgada which is still a part of Portugal.  Although still walking gingerly, I feel I will be able to do that.  

After trying to get the keyboard working on the tablet, I have given up.  I find that I am getting really good at typing on the screen keyboard.  Born out of necessity for sure!  Funny though when the actual keyboard is attached, I still go those keys first – so it is now detached and I don’t have to look at it in frustration.

Brenda came back tired from all her walking and showed me the things she had purchased at a better Christmas market than we had seen so far.  She bought some lovely items made of cork.  Portugal is known for the cork: purses, shoes, fabric and more.  I will be looking for some when I go ashore in Ponta Delgado.   

She shared some of the photos that she took of the city.  It sure looked lovely.  The shopping was good too.

CADIZ WE HOPPED ON AND OFF

Cádiz, Europe's oldest continuously inhabited city, founded by the Phoenician's, dates back 3500 years. Due to its strategic port location, where Christopher Columbus sailed from on voyages to America, Cádiz became an important centre for commercial trade.  History lesson is now over!

It was a lovely day weatherwise albeit a bit cool outside.  We started out by taking the Hop On Bus for the one and a half hour circuit.  It was a good way to see some highlights of the city and then come back to the older centre part of town for our walk around.  I especially love all the narrow streets that make up parents of the old city.

There was a Christmas market in the centre square just outside the cathedral. So after we spent sometime in the church, we wandered around the market stalls.  There is always something different to see.  The Christmas markets we have seen on our brief times ashore do not really compare to the larger ones in Germany and France from what I understand, but they are novel and interesting to spend some time and a few Euros while we are visiting.

The cathedral was quite large and had a beautiful creche inside.  I am finding it hard to think of it being so close to Christmas.  I guess it is because we are on a vacation.  I am so very glad that I did as much as I did to prepare for the 24th and the 25th before I left for the cruise.  I should be in pretty good shape when I get home...especially if my hip is not behaving.  Read on to find out more. While walking back to the ship, I had some difficulty and a feeling that my hip and knee were unstable.  I sat down at the bar with Brenda to have a beer and think about things.  Mostly I was thinking about how I would make it back on board.

I visited a washroom before starting the trek back and had to take a picture of the beautiful tile work.  Not the first picture I have taken inside a loo and I am sure not the last but it really was lovely.

Needless to say, I made it back, but was finding that I really had to step carefully and be mindful of something close to hold in to if necessary.  I stayed in the cabin and was lying down to give it as much rest as possible.  Hoping that tomorrow I will be able to get off the ship in Lisbon.  It really was such a weird feeling...there was no indication of anything until it happened.  Hoping tomorrow is a day without issues.

Oh and Pam, I saw the parrots again and managed to get a picture of the noisy squawking birds.  They really are quite loud but also delightful!

FIRST OF 8 AT SEA DAYS

 Today is the first of 8 at sea days.  Thought I would talk a bit about the Norwegian Epic. 

To say this is a large cruise ship is an understatement.  It is huge with 17 decks.  There are only 2 banks of elevators – forward and aft.  We are on the 11th deck aft.  The dining room and Garden Café are forward.  So needless to say there is a lot of walking.. that’s a good thing.  With the wonderful offerings in all the restaurants, we need to walk! 

The restaurants are interesting.  There is the main dining room and the Garden Café that are “complimentary” restaurants that are always on cruise ships.  However, this ship has a couple of other restaurants that are complimentary dining choices: O’Sheehan’s (pub style) and Shanghai and Noodle Bar (Asian).  We have tried O’Sheehan’s and will try the Noodle Bar soon.  Just gives a different choice to sit down and order from a menu.  Other than that there are 6 restaurant that have a cover charge.  With the 4000 plus passengers this ship can accommodate, extra dining options are a necessity.  We are travelling with about 3200 on this cruise and it doesn’t  seem crowded.  Maybe if the weather was hotter, as it is in the Caribbean, you would notice it much busier in the outside pool area.

There is a 3 lane 10 pin bowling alley and an assortment of bowling shoes.  The weight of the balls goes from 11 to 15 lbs.  When I bowled all those years ago, my bowling ball was 8 lbs.  I can’t imagine trying to use those heavy ones and especially now that I am older.  This ship also boasts a climbing wall, miniature golf, basketball court and an enormous water slide with a huge swirly bowl at the bottom.  There is only two days so far that the slide has been open.  It is quite cool on this adventure.  This wasn’t unexpected…it is December after all.  So there is lot to keep people active and busy.  

Climbing wall on the right

Of course there are shows, trivia, the spa, fitness room and lots to join in on.  Today I am going to find a craft group that meets on Deck 5 at 10:00 am on the at sea days.  So ciao for now.

BARCELONA PRONOUNCED BARTHELONA

My first impression of Barcelona was how lovely and clean the city is.  We were up early to get to our tour.  Today we are starting at Park Guell and then going to see Sagrada Familia.  Both of these were the visions of Antoni Gaudi.

We climbed a lot of stairs up into the park which is built on the side of the hill.  I was so glad when we began our descent down through through the park.  There were  lot of interesting architectural features that are representative of his work.  The coloured tile throughout the park was beautiful.  Often it appeared that the tiles which were designed for this installation were deliberately broken and then pieced back together with grout.  So they were never displayed when they were complete and unbroken.

There were a lot of parrots throughout the park. It reminded me of San Francisco when Pam took me on a special walk down the hill.  There were parrots everywhere!  These looked and sounded much the same as the ones we saw there. It was so nice to have shared that experience with Pam and now to have the memory refreshed today.

Soon it was time to leave the park and go to the Sagrada Familia.  Did we walk out the exit at the bottom of the park?  Nooooo we had to walk up the same stairs as we had before and even more stairs to the top of the park. By the time we got on the bus, I was very grateful that I had arrived alive.

We had some free time to find a cafe with internet and have a bite of lunch.  We have certainly had some tasty bites and delicious coffee.  First in Italy it was Cappuccino and then in France it was cafe au lait.  Now that we are in Spain we ask for cafe leche

So onto the Sagrada.  We were gobsmacked.  Although every picture I have ever seen attest to its beauty, to see it up close is magnificent.  Our tour guide first walked us around the outside to show us how the life from birth to death of Jesus is depicted in the scenes and statues.  Everything that is the architecture of the Sagrada has meaning.  I.e., the 12 towers represent the 12 apostles.  (That is the one significance I remember)  I found it very fascinating, but I didn't retain the information.  Good thing there wasn't a test.

When I first walked inside, the colours from the many stained glass windows playing on the alabaster columns and walls rendered me speechless!  I know impossible as that seems, it really happened.  The immenseness of this cathedral is difficult to comprehend - even standing inside.  

Antoni Gaudi's Sagrada Familia has been under construction for almost 100 years and still there is no date for completion.  Actual completion requires the demolition of some adjacent apartment buildings.  Those residents are not cooperating, so who knows if will ever be finished.  So glad I got to see this beautiful structure!

EN MARSEILLE, IL PLEUT ET PLEUT ET PLEUT

Today we sailed in Marseille. The weather today is quite nasty.  So glad I bought each of us a waterproof rain cape.  It was advised that we should take a shuttle into town.  I didn’t remember doing that back in 2011.  I thought is was quite walkable.  Due to the inclement weather, I wasn’t going to argue, just purchase the ticket, get on the shuttle, sit down and be quiet.  It was about a 15 minute ride to get to the Cathedral.  Yes I guess we had sailed into the “Old Port” last time.

The shuttle dropped us off right near the Cathedral.  It is such a large and imposing feature of the city.  This would be an easy landmark to find our way backA to the shuttle to return to the ship.  

We started off down the street we were let off at and very quickly realized that we weren’t getting to anywhere to find a café that might offer free internet.  So we made a 90 degree turn and headed up towards a busier street.  It wasn’t long before we found what we were looking for.  

A café au lait, free internet and maybe a bite to eat and just a quiet space to catch up.  Me on my Blog and Brenda on her phone.  We had to be happy with all but one of our requirements.  This was a busy and happening place!  It was like small food court.  There were about 7 or 8 different food offerings.  There was Indian, Lebanese, hamburgers, pizza, Greek and things I didn’t recognize.  There was a bar in the middle and really loud music.  We were able to get on line and do what we were hoping for.

Another errand was to find a place that would sell a game or two and a couple of decks of cards so we would have something to do on the at sea days that were coming up.  We had visited the games room and checked things out and found that they had a few Scrabble games available.  We had taken a Scrabble Box off the shelf and sat down to play.  WTF – we took the box lid off, full of anticipation only to find a single tile.  The letter W.  It would be a very quick game.  The table next to us with their Scrabble box had way more letters, but lacked the required letters to play a game.  Even with us offering our letter W to them – it was just a good laugh.  (I imagined that the several Chess boxes would have all their pieces).  There were no decks of cards – so we knew what we were looking for at our next stop. We were successful – we found 2 decks of cards and a Yahtzee  game to bring back to the ship.

                                          

WALKABOUT IN LIVORNO

Today we were in Livorno.  If we were to take a tour, we could have gone to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa and visit Sorrento.  However, we chose a day to poke around the town and try and find an internet café.  Before I left on this trip, I purchased an eSim hoping to be able to have internet when in town without having to find a spot to sit and work on my blog.  Hoping even more that when we were docked, I would be able to have internet from the balcony.  However, it hasn’t worked so far, so Brenda and I walked a ways away from the port and ended at up at a small pizza restaurant that was ok with us sitting there for a bit.

We ordered a latte each and some pizza.  Brenda also got a sprite and the total bill for everything was just 8 Euro.  The lattes were delicious and the pizza was wonderful.  So glad we walked further into town and found this little spot.  The restaurant also had a shop upstairs called Leghorn Bricks.  Brenda ventured upstairs and came back down to tell me to come up and see.  Turns out, it was a lego store with many made buildings on display.  It was nice to see the Christmas set up she had. I recognized many of the buildings that I have given to Matthew and family over the years.  It was a great find in such a small out of the way place.

After we left, we walked around where the old fort was and through the area they call little Venice.  This area is full of little canals with eyeglass bridges and boats lined up along the sides.  Clearly it is how folks get around these waterways but not like the canal boats in Venice, these are little power boats.

We had a great day with wonderful sunshine.  However, it was only about 12 degrees and very windy.  We ended our visit to town close to where we wcould catch the shuttle back to the port.  It would have been nice to finish off with another latte, but we couldn’t find a café with indoor seating.  Most of the cafes only have outdoor seating – which I am sure is quite lovely on warm days, but today was not one of those. 

Fortunately the shuttle came quickly and we caught our ride.  We were glad to get back to the ship in the early afternoon before the sun went down.  

When we are on the ship, so far we haven’t been very active.  The walk from our cabin to anywhere is a long way.  I think this is one of the downfalls for such a large vessel.  There are so many canes, walkers and elderly (oh my God – me too?) on the Norwegian Epic, that I know we , the aforementioned are all better suited to smaller cruise ships. Less steps inside means we can do the many steps outside without tiring.  On at sea days – the larger ship will be welcome to get the necessary exercise to burn off the calories from the rich foods that are always available.