"Have you heard of Marine City?"

That didn't come out right but it's the Sagrada Familia Cathedral designed by Gaudi.

Jon loves statues too.

Well, it's a small world. I arrived at my hostel on Saturday morning after seeing Jon off at the airport. I'm in an 8 person room. My roommates are all women in their 20s. Most just out of college, some still in college. Three of my roommates are from Ohio. First, they asked me if I knew english and I told them I have a basic understanding of the language. Then, they asked where I was from and I told them "north of Detroit". I can't make this stuff up, Sonia asks me if I've ever heard of Marine City? I think I gave her an astonished look and told her that's where I'm from. Turns out, she is dating someone that is related to Rick Parcell. Rick worked for my parents company, Thompson-Phelan. I'm in Barcelona, things like that aren't suppose to happen.

Anyway, all of my roommates are cool. I went out with Mary, Sonia, and Ashley (from Ohio) and Liz (from Australia) last night and we had a good time. We are going to the beach today and it's out to the bar tonight before I leave for Switzerland tomorrow, if I can find the right train station.

Jon and I walked the entire city on Friday and took in all the tourist sites including the Sagrada Familia by Gaudi. We walked up to the Olympic stadium and botanical gardens. La Rambla is the major street in Barcelona. It's where all the tourists go. There are many shops and street performers. Our most memorable moment was probably when we say an old man walking down the middle of the street completely naked. He was only wearing his piercings.

Welcome to Barcelona, Final cruise pics

The cruise ended in Barcelona. We had a great time on the ship. Here are some pics from the cruise. The Welcome to Barcelona Deck Party was the last of many deck parties on the ship.

We had the same servers and staff for all 14 days of the cruise. Above are our servers Ranzil, from India, and Octavio, from Romania.

We also had dinner with the same group everynight. This is our group. You should recognize the two clowns in the back row. In the front left is Cliff. He's from New York and works for ABC. The others are Ray and Nancy. They live in San Jose, CA. Ray was born in Egypt and moved to CA in his 20s. Nancy is from Chile originally and worked for Delta and is now retired. She can fly Delta for free, 1st class, anywhere in the world. Not bad.

That's me with our stateroom staff person, Brian. He's from Mumbai, India. He was really nice and helpful. We gave him the biggest tip.

We were getting ready for Pirate night on the ship. We watched the world premeire of Pirates of the Caribbean 3. Movie was alright but it was free so we didn't care.

This is Rich and Donald. They live in Orlando and work for Disney. Cool guys, we hung out with them during the last week of the trip.

Jon loves our cruise director Rachel.

Our welcome to Barcelona from Disney. It was quite the fireworks display. The cruise was the maiden transatlantic voyage for Disney, so I guess it was a big deal. Rumor has it we will be able to sell some of our stuff on ebay to collectors becuase it was the first crossing.

Gibraltar (UK)

The Defense of Gibraltar, shown above. Gibraltar is a strategic military base occupied by the British. It's a big rock.

Jon half way up the rock with Africa in the background.

The city of Gibraltar from the top. Our cruise ship is out there.

The Rock of Gibraltar that Jon and I hiked up. I think we are the only people from our cruise that walked to the top of the rock.

Cadiz, Spain

There wasn't a lot in Cadiz but we did visit a fort, the park above and the Cathedral below. From 2-5 nothing happened because of Siesta.

Cathedral at the City Centre.

Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands

The streets of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands.

Above the clouds at Mt. Teide, about 6,000 feet, site of the crazy bus ride.

The rock of Gibraltar

We are in Gibraltar today. It's basically a rock about with a small city at the bottom. The city is only 3 miles by less than 1 mile. Jon and I walked to the top of the rock after walking through the city. It was about 1,500 feet high and really steep and a 4 or 5 mile walk. We ran into some of the people on the cruise at the top and when we told them we walked up, they gave us this look like we were absolutely crazy. When I think of it we did only see 2 other walkers and they stopped about midway up. The walk down was much quicker but harder on the legs. We can see Africa about 20 miles away and took some good pictures from the top. We also saw little monkeys. They were climbing all over the visitors center and one of them tore a women's bag open. I guess they like to try and steal things from people. For those of you that are wondering with great anticipation, the Boyz II Men concert was good. They are definitely good singers. The lady next to me was really into the concert, probably a little too much. She must have been there biggest fan back in the day. Only three of the singers were there, one guy was missing. We saw one of them on the deck by the pool earlier in the day and I think Jon and I were the only ones that recognized him. Hard to believe there was once a day when that would never have happened. Most of the people knew all the words to their songs though, us included. We are dorks. Tomorrow is our last day at sea then we'll be in Barcelona on Friday and Saturday. Take it easy.

Hola from Spain

Las chicas dice ¨tu esta muy caliente¨

At least that is what we keep hearing on the street. First off, it was Victoria Day weekend not Memorial Day. Most people don´t know what I´m talking about. Anyway, we are in Cadiz, Spain today and found this internet station. 2 euros for an hour on the internet beats 55 cents a minute on the ship.

We spent Sunday on Tenerife in the Canary Islands. In the morning, we took an excursion to Mount Teide. It´s an active volcano on the island. We were at an evaluation above 6,000 feet. Our tour guide said the attitude on the Island was ¨mañana, mañana¨(tomorrow, tomorrow) so things move slowly. However, our excursion bus driver obviously has the attitude of ¨hoy, hoy¨because we thought we were going to die going up and down the mountain. We were flying up two lane roads with cliffs on both sides of the road and 90 degree turns. One slip and were would fall to our death, it was nuts. Fortunately for us, our driver caught up to other buses on the way up and down and that slowed the pace and allowed our safe return. When we were at the top of the mountain, we overheard a lady say she wasn´t sure if she could get back on our bus. It didn´t help that the driver appeared to be in his late 60´s.

The rest of the day wasn´t as exciting, we walked around town and everthing was closed because it was domingo. Things are different today in Cadiz. Everything is open and the sun is out for the first time in 3 days and we´re sitting inside on the internet.

We´ve met some people on the cruise and it has been a lot of fun. There seem to be a lot of gay men on the cruise. A guy named Rich from Orlando bought me a drink at the bar last night. Yes I took it, it was free! He´s a nice guy and it turns out he was just being friendly because he´s here with his partner Donald and he, like Jon, is in bed before midnight.

Well, enough of our adventures for now. I have to run. Perhaps I´´ll get a chance to post again tomorrow in Gibralter or on Friday in Barcelona.

LAND!!! I can see it!

But nobody else can. It's almost 3:30am and I obviously am not adjusting to the time changes very well. It's 10:30pm yesterday back home. Nobody is up on the ship. I've run into only 4 other people. I can't sleep but I slept in way too long today.

We can see the Canary Islands, first land in a week. I was on the top deck looking out over the ocean and I could see two islands and more lights up ahead on the horizon. The wind was blowing me all over the place. I was the only person up there, maybe I was the only person dumb enough to be up there in this wind at 3am.

We are almost in Africa. Eventually, we will be able to see Africa but won't get the chance to actually visit.

Tomorrow is the big day. Not because we get to go on land after a week on Santa Cruz de Tenerife but because tomorrow night Boyz II Men perform on the ship. Yes sir, motown philly. Jon and I are pumped for the 6:30 show.

We go on our first excursion tomorrow to an active volcano. We leave at 8:30am. Should be a good time even though it's so early. Our last time change is tomorrow night, finally!!!

Just found out that the Tigers beat St. Louis 8-7, thanks to Mike from Austin, the only other person in the computer cafe and they won yesterday too, he tells me.

Well, I'm going to go read until I'm tired. Maybe I'll get 3 hours of sleep. Hopefully, I'll get the chance soon to post more pics but it takes too long and internet costs too much per minute.

I just remembered it's Memorial Day weekend back home. Everyone have a good Memorial Day!

It do what it do. Out

Feeling better

I no longer have the plague. I'm feeling much better. I hope to work out and run about 2 miles today but we'll see. The weather is also much better. It is still windy but the sun is out and the boat is not rocking nearly as much.

Our cabin staff person, Brian, was sick yesterday and is still out today. Jon says I'm responsible but there isn't any proof of that. Brian is from Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India.

I was able to get out yesterday and take a latin dance class. I learned to salsa dance. My partner was Laura. She is from England. We did very good and received compliments from the instructor. In the elevator, an older lady told me I was impressive on the dance floor. I rock. Then I went back to my cabin and collapsed on my bed and slept through dinner.

We passed an ocean liner on Thursday. It passed in front of our ship by less than a mile. That seems a little close considering it's the only thing we've seen in 4 days.

Jon and I are planning our excursion on Santa Cruz de Tenerife. We'll be there Sunday morning and it should be fun. We were up at 9am today and it felt like getting up in the middle of the night. That's because it's 4am back home. I think our last time change is tonight, thank god.

We have a winner

Yesterday, Jon won the Yahtzee tournament on the boat. We are all very proud. I was ill and unable to participate. He beat Chris from Las Vegas in the finals. Chris is here with his significant other Rob, it’s their 3rd Disney cruise. Nice guys, spikey hair with blond highlights, Jon says similar to Patrick.

I’ve been sick the last 4 days due to a throat virus. Some of you may want to get checked out :) Before the trip, my only concern was that I might get motion sickness but that hasn’t been a problem. I am hopeful that tomorrow I will be feeling much better and can get out of my cabin and do more. I haven’t been able to do much since Sunday. Despite my illness the trip has still been a lot of fun.

Tomorrow will be our 4th day in a row at sea. We passed the mid way point in the Atlantic Ocean today. Sunday morning we will be on Tenerife in the Canary Islands. The past two days the sea has been very rough and the boat has been constantly rocking. Currently, the waves are between 12 and 20 feet high. The 10th deck was closed today because winds on the deck were up to 55mph. Small children were being blown all over.

We’ve had to move our clocks ahead 1 hour every night for the past 4 nights. It’s like daylight savings for four nights in a row. That’s a little difficult to get used to. So right now it is 2am on Thursday but back home it’s only 10pm on Wednesday. We are now on GMT. I think we only move ahead one more hour for the rest of the trip.

There is more food than you could ever imagine on this cruise. This has been one of the greatest deals ever. We’ve watched two films and attended two shows. The rumor on the ship is that we will have an advanced screening of Pirates of the Caribbean 3 next week. Hopefully it’s better than the second movie. The real excitement is the upcoming Boyz II Men concert. Stay tuned for more details.

We’ve met people from all over the US. The other day I met a couple from Walled Lake and a lady from Portage. She retired from Western Michigan University. That’s enough for tonight. Later.

Out to Sea

That's our ship (the one in the front)

Today, we start our 6 straight days at sea. I better run every day or I'll get fat eating all this free food. I made up for my 5 months without ice cream in the first two days on the boat. We spent the day on the private island.

They are big on cleaning your hands. They made us clean our hands before getting on the ship and when we were greeted on the ship, the staff member shook our hands. Not sure how that works.

I had to take a trip to the medical center on the ship today. That's an interesting story but one for later. It's 75 cents a minute for internet.

Later

Almost a train wreck

Well, I moved out of my apartment on Tuesday. Wednesday night my parents dropped me off in Toledo at 10pm to catch the train. It arrived 2 1/2 hours late at 2:30am. We were in West Virginia and running about 4 hours late and then it happened.

All of a sudden, the train began to violently rock back and forth like I've never experienced before. I've been on many many train rides but none like this. The train rocked so far over, then back, that I had to brace myself. I didn't know it could go that far over and not jump the track. People starting yelling because, like me and everyone else on board, we thought we were going over. The train almost derailed. It was crazy. We happened to be on a hill at the time in the Appalachians. On my side of the train was the hill and the other side had a drop off of 20 or 30 feet. That could have been bad.

In a matter of seconds it was all over and the train had come to a complete stop. The conductor announced that luckily the train had not derailed. The guy in front of me was freaking out. He took the train because he was afraid to fly. It was a little scary at the time but it was over so I sat back and read some more. Then I fell asleep. I guess I wasn't as concerned as the other passengers. If it were a plane, I would probably still be freaking out. Funny how that works.

The train had to be inspected along with the track. All passengers were required to go to their seats. As far as I know, there weren't any serious injuries but at the next stop a man was taken to an ambulance but he didn't look too critical. The EMS were also waiting when we arrived in DC and took another passenger. According to Amtrak, the rail had become too hot and it expanded creating a kink. They called it a sun kink. I guess you aren't suppose to hit those at high speed. Those that saw it said the entire track was twisted.

I had expected to arrive in DC at 1:30 and have dinner with Carter before my train for Orlando left at 7:30. Unfortunately, the train was 6 hours late and they held my other train for our passengers to transfer just in time to depart.

The rest of my train ride was not as exciting and I arrived in Orlando. I pick up my brother tomorrow and we get on the boat in the afternoon. Then we are off to Spain. 14 days at sea should be interesting.

Good start to the trip!

Posting for my trip

I will be using this blog to post from Europe. Last night, I had a party and had a good time. Tonight, my apartment is empty. My move has begun.