People

Here I am, up early anyway but at last I slept through the night, a first on the trip! Even with exhausting days, it is hard for me to change to such a different time zone and it does take a while! We are just now pulling into the port of Barcelona. I am not rushing off the ship this morning, I will wait until the rush is over and then take the shuttle into town to get on one of the hop on/off buses. There are 3 choices here, and I was going to take the seaside one, but now that Jenny wrote and told me the story of the Cathedral of Barcelona, I think I will head to the Gothic Quarter after all. I will also try to find an area called Barcelonita, that is where our teacher who lived here told me the food is delicious. I don't want to leave Barcelona without some paella!

The people on the trip have been interesting. Such a range of people! There are some who don't smile at you no matter what and I do feel badly for them, they must be having a terrible time on this incredible journey, or just have very unhappy lives. But most people are friendly and happy to be on such an incredible trip. This morning I ate with a very nice lady from Buenos Aires but I didn't practice my spanish, she spoke English. Last night I was waiting at the passenger services desk for Martin for dinner and helped a couple of people with questions. When he walked up a lady asked me if I was Mitzi from the cruise website and I said yes. I have no idea how she knew that. She proceeded to ask me questions about the visit to Barcelona and I had Martin help with some of the information and when we walked away he said they should set up a desk for me to use to help people! Wouldn't that be fun?! Wonder if we could do it, I'll have to check on that next time I see him. Would be fun to try for an hour on a sea day and just see what questions people ask. But I'm not sure I'll be moving by tomorrow, our first sea day. It is nice to know Martin, he said that he has sent an email to the passenger's services desk letting everyone know that if I call for anything they are to page him. I feel so safe knowing that. I could get spoiled being so cared for here!

There are some interesting couples I've met and enjoyed the people. It's interesting, so far it is always the wives that do the talking and the husbands stand/sit quietly by. Just an interesting pattern I thought. Guess it isn't that unusual. I have met 4 women traveling alone which is a first for me. They have my feeling that the independence is nice. One lady's husband died a few months ago and this is her first trip alone but she said she is enjoying it and knows she will do it again. So many stories from the people you meet! Just now a man asked if anyone knew when we would get into France, and yes, I was the one who knew right off the top of my head and explained that it is a month to the day from my birthday so I will be celebrating early in Monet's garden!

I talked to Cesar last night and he promised he would be waiting for me even before the ship docks in Lisbon on Tuesday. I think we will have a wonderful time. We are going to try to make it to Evora but if it looks like it is further than he thinks and we can't make it we will just turn around and go back to Lisbon. The last I heard British Airlines is still on strike. They are flying but not necessarily the same planes at the same times. If this is true when I get to London I might just tour London or maybe I will fly to Lisbon to spend a couple more days with Cesar like he had asked me to do a while ago. I'm glad I do have some extra time, but if my feet are this bad, being in Prague might not be the best idea, in Portugal we would be driving around in the countryside instead of my walking all over. Oh well, I do like all the options!

I'm off to get ready for the day in Barcelona. A great time to practice my Spanish, I think I am much better!

Hasta luego de Barcelona!