Barcelona, Spain
We arrived in Barcelona the night before our cruise. It was a trying evening, as our flight didn't arrive until 10 pm. We waited 30 minutes with 2 hysterical, overtired children (one more so than the other) for our luggage, only to discover it was circling a different carousel. But we arrived at our hotel without incident and promptly went to bed.
In the morning, we had time to walk around Barcelona before the cruise departed. We walked down Las Ramblas avenue, where there were many stalls of flowers and, more importantly to the children, animals (rabbits, ferrets, hamsters, ducklings, chicks, turtles). I'm not sure if pet sales on the streets is a really booming business, but there certainly were plenty of stalls. We also went back to the fresh produce and fish market, where they sell 20ish different kinds of fresh fruit juice byt the cup, for just a euro.
We met the Rousseaus and Gaston (our tour guide from our last trip to Barcelona) at a rotisserie chicken restaurant and let the children get reacquainted. And in this blog, since T.J. was determined to find tapas restaurants throughout Spain, I feel OK in talking about food. ;)
Then it was off to the cruise ship where we were actually staying in the exact same room as we did on our first cruise aboard the same ship. Our concierge was the same, and there were some of the same counselors in the Kids' Club. The grownups enjoyed their champagne, while the kids enjoyed M&Ms and gummi bears. All were happy!
The family with Captain Tommy
First Sea Day
Casablanca, Morocco
Agadir, Morocco
Eating a traditional Moroccon meal in Tiout.
The family donkey ride in Tiout. Jack later kicked me off so he could ride by himself.
Cooking tagine. The food was amazing in Morocco.
The mosque in Agadir, which was right on the shore.
Las Palmas, Grand Canary
Playing at a beach playground in Las Palmas.
Posing with the dog for whom the Canary Islands were named (in Las Palmas, Grand Canary)
Funchal, Madeira
The street toboggans in Funchal, Madeira.
Second Sea Day
Malaga, Spain
Third Sea Day
Barcelona, Spain
Taking the cable car up to Montserrat.
Post Cruise
Our days have been busy, in anticipation of returning to the U.S. in the summer. While I thought it would be easier to move back to the U.S. (just have the movers pack up EVERYTHING), I realize now it's a little more work than I thought. I was a little lax in my inventory about our house contents when we moved here, so I'm trying to be more thorough this time. That means a pretty detailed list of the contents of the house, and it's value. Plus selling all the European appliances, and cars, and miscellaneous other belongings.
We found out Jack is enrolled in preschool back in VA for next fall, which is a relief. Now I need to get all their Belgian health information in line to transfer back to the US and hope they don't need to get any duplicate immunizations (more paperwork)
Amelia seems to have her first loose tooth (only mildly loose -- or is it my imagination?). I'm not looking forward. She also, oddly enough, seems to have a case of athlete's foot. Huh? Well, at least I had some Tinactin on hand ...
Jack is getting high praise at tennis lessons. He seems to be pretty good, from what I've seen, and his instructor says he has real skill. And, even better, they both love playing
No comments:
Post a Comment