Eurostar Barcelona

The Eurostar Barcelona is a great ship! It has 'Love Boat' written all over it, there is velure everywhere and the staff even wear white uniforms, which I think looks great - all those working at sea should wear white!

I have some videos of the ship which I'll upload as soon as I can, its hard to find wi-fi, thank god this little internet cafe is USB stick friendly!

A terribly embarrassing thing happened us on the ship, after taking the visa welcome signs as our queue to avoid running around in the heat looking for an atm, we headed down for our tea in the ships canteen only to be greeted with signs saying "due to technical satellite problem payment by visa is not possible" - YOU ARE KIDDING!

So off we went to see the captain, a lovely lady, to ask for mercy! We were star-ar-ving! She agreed, after what seemed like a lengthy consultation with everyone on board (including the ships doctor - I'm telling you it was the Love boat) and we were frog-marched to the canteen for our dinner, in exchange for Bills passport and word that he would pay as soon as we docked. Its funny because even though we were eventually paying for the meal, we felt we shouldn't look like we were enjoying it too much and ordered very humbly indeed...

I have to say the difference between sailing on the atlantic, or Irish sea, and the meditteranean is massive, I hate sea travel because I feel so ill, but not this time. The sea was like glass the whole way, being on deck was like being at the beach... they even had two pools, which as the sun came up and we were sailing with Sardinia on one side, and Italy on our other, the two kids... sorry Mary and Bill, were up, togs on so fast you could still see bum as they launched into the clear sea water... I won't say whose...!

Bill and kids in the baby pool...

Joe with his new found ability to make faces...

Barcelona - Civitavecchia

Barcelona was wonderful and we were all sad to see the fairytale architecture fade into the mist as our ferry sailed away... It was brilliant to see Bimo as well, I never manage to catch him when he is home and so I was so glad to spend some quality time with the "maestro" (he was my guitar teacher and the best guitarist I know)... It was two days of great conversation and fantastic sightseeing...

One conversation which was ringing in my ears as we queued for the boat though, was the one we'd had about how and why it seems to take the spanish (and the Italians for that matter) so long to anything official. Opening a bank account is like applying for a U.S. visa, form after form after form. Even buying bread can sometimes have you nearly hopping over the counter and saying "look its easier if you...", In the times I've spent living and working in Spain it drove me close to mental breakdowns, and I know my mother has had similar experiences in Italy. For example in the video shop my mom used when she lived in Turin, you could not bring a video back without your card... ???

So as Bimo and we agreed, you just have to go with it, and we did... as the porters beckoned the cars individually onto the boat. Yes, individually. Unlike at home where you are lined up ready to go a half hour before the boat docks and then in it comes, voom voom voom, and out it goes... No, here they wait until the boat docks and then they choose cars by size to go on. The waiting and then reversing mayhem that ensued had me close to tears, especially since the clutch on the van needed to be tightened and was grinding and slipping like a b*tch!

When we docked in Rome by the way... No-one told anyone to drive off, I sat there for ages thinking any minute now and eventually I followed suit, and the other drivers off the boat and into Italy.

These crazy meditteraneans... but don't you just love them?

Fish whisperer...

Lots more videos over on my you tube if you fancy a gander!

Shout out to Ruadhan from Mary - she says Check out the sunfish!

On the bus!

Something fishy!

The aquarium in Barcelona was brilliant! Something for everyone! We also took advantage of those novelty pictures which I hope to scan on here soon!

Meanwhile... here is how we got on!

Waiting to buy a ticket...

Maggot gets so excited she splits in two!

Buzz light Joe...

Zvish...

Little m makes a friend...
M in the water chamber...
...and in the panoramic tank...
Little m gets a new outfit...

Barcelona Part Two...

When I saw this...I had to see for myself!

Little M proving happiness is a new type of fanta you never tasted before...
Paella Mixto and my favorite Arroz nero...
Joe is a big rice fan!
The most amazing creme catalan...
The kids grabbed the opportunity to write to friends...
I grabbed the opportunity...
Little M...Joe gets a new car...

And a regretful farewell to Bimo, before we headed to the Aquarium...

Barcelona Part One...

We saw Barcelona today... all of it! Up at the crack of dawn and onto an open top tour bus! The only way to see a city on a hot hot hot day!

A hug to start the day...

Then coffee, cake and kisses...

Slush puppy love

Little M not too impressed with the onboard headphone guide

An open top bus is a great way to see the sights....

...and see what the locals are up to...

Having a whale of a time...

Then lunch with Bimo - There he is!

Driving

Basque country

Up at 7 and straight on the road. After a few wrong turns due to the Spanish system of the slow lane suddenly turning into a turn. But tom tom steered us on course – we both realised how essential GPS is and recalled our parents struggling with maps, our journey has been relaxed and easy because of our little TomTom... The only thing is when we plugged it into our cigarette lighter the charger started hissing and smoke bellowed out of it so we only have the battery, and then it needs to be plugged into the USB on this computer... makes for an interesting time when both batteries run out!

Our confidence is building with the van, everyday its less of a stomach churning nail biting “will it go?” moment. We keep having to say out loud “it has been overhauled, it is a machine, it works” and every hour that gets easier to believe. Its funny because the only vehicles we’ve spotted broken down on the side of the road are brand new, and as someone said before we left the older an engine the simpler it is, it has less parts to go wrong!

One thing that we’ve noticed with the van is how cool it is inside – so many people remarked on how stupid we were to go without air conditioning but we maintained that we didn’t need it. Air travels from the front windows through the van to the sunroof, so a constant breeze of cool air flows around us – as we travelled along I actually got quite cold and has to put on my cardie! Okay its not by any means the hottest part of our journey but its a good indicator of whats to come. In fairness I’ve never liked air conditioning much, I like windows open... smelling the air, feeling the heat of the sun on the metal as I rest my arm into the cool air.