On to Barcelona (and our cruise ship!)

Snow on top of the Pyranees in Spain,
artfully shot from the passenger window...

BAD make your own
Starbucks in a French
rest stop.

We left St. Etienne at 7:30am and started out on our six hour drive to Barcelona where Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas was ready and waiting for us. The drive was uneventful and we successfully navigated a tiny bit of Barcelona traffic. Along the way we saw the snow capped Pyranees mountains when the temp on our car thermometer read 32 celsius (which is around 90 degrees Fahrenheit).

I found a make your own Starbucks machine at a French rest stop. If Starbucks has any quality control people reading this, you should put an immediate end to these machines. The mocha was definitely not a mocha, and not even good. It was, however, caffeinated, which was the primary concern.

It is amazing how much everything changes as soon as you cross into Spain. It isn't like going from Virginia to Maryland, although there are no longer any border patrols or anything. The landscape changes, the architecture changes, the rest stops are a totally different character, the driving style even changes.

Once we made our way to Barcelona, we managed to miss a turn and ended up in a giant roundabout. Google Maps thought our ETA ought to increase by 20 minutes!! But we managed to navigate this giant roundabout and get ourselves back to where we thought we should be pretty easily. Figuring out the ancient Spanish gas pump, however, was not so easily. There were no buttons that did anything on the machine. Finally Doug had to go inside and ask the nice lady if she spoke English (no) but he knew "quatro" and she knew "full car?" and so we managed to tank up the rental car prior to returning it.

We then had to catch a cab to the port, which we could quite literally see from where we were standing, but there were two busy highways to cross, plus once you actually get to the port it is a very long drive to where we actually board the ship.

Do we look like tourists here in Barcelona?? I think no?

hailing a cab

Being in a country where you have almost no understanding of the language is very different from being in France, where Doug is fluent and I know enough to get by without being very nervous. It is disconcerting to not be able to easily ask people things, or read street signs. But it does put something Charlotte said into better perspective. After being in France for about a week and having people speak to her in French, or then in English but with a very very strong French accent (which frankly was harder to understand than just the French), Charlotte said..... "I'm not sure anymore whether I even speak English!" I know, Char, I know.

Boarding the Oasis of the Seas!

But then we boarded the Oasis of the Seas (Royal Caribbean), where the primary language spoken is English although its pretty amazing how many of the employees speak other languages and we certainly hear many, many other languages spoken by the guests. We're on a 7 night cruise that takes us to Mallorca, Marseilles, Cinque Terra, Rome, Pompeii, and back to Barcelona. We're in Mallorca right now but we're not getting off the ship today. There is too much food to be consumed.

When we boarded the ship yesterday, we were immediately able to go to our state room so the girls could change into swimsuits and hit the pool. After the pool, we had the muster drill then our fancy filling dinner. Unsurprisingly the three girls had steak and Doug had ribs. After dinner the girls checked out their respective youth clubs - Char is with 9-11 yr olds and E is with 14+. They both made friends and are looking forward to going back but more pressing issues were at hand at 9pm, the France soccer game. We were extremely, and I mean EXTREMELY disappointed to find that the games are not broadcast on the ship. It is hard to know how much of that is Royal Caribbean's fault as they just don't have the channel it is on.

Central Park on the Oasis of the Seas

We had to figure out how to stream the game because the US women play tonight and we can't miss that game! After trying unsuccessfully to set up a VPN connection to a machine in the US, I signed up for a trial of Fubo which worked. We were able to watch France win in overtime. Hopefully the USWNT can dispatch Spain in regular time to set up a match vs. France on Friday night.

Doug and I have sailed Royal Caribbean a bunch of times back in our 20s. Our only family cruise experiences have been through Disney. So far Disney wins hands down with service and I think with the taste of the food. Everything on Royal has felt a little rushed, a little crowded and not quite as personalized and luxurious. On the flip side, this cruise was quite literally half the price of the same route Disney cruise. The girls really like the activities on Royal, too. They have slightly more grown up things like a zip line, rock wall, a surfing pool, etc. And they love that we can do 2 cruises on Royal for every 1 on Disney. So I am keeping an open mind.

Dinner on the first night!

Hot tubbing! 

Tomorrow, Marseilles, where we will again plant ourselves firmly on the ship to eat ourselves sick :) More exciting adventures once we hit Italy, I promise!

Charlotte silhouetted in the porthole
with lovely barge as background.
Photography classes offered.