Monday, July 26, 2010

Boarding the Voyager of the Seas

The fourth of July was when we boarded the boat and we decided to do it early as did everyone else. It was my paranoia of boarding early and looking back I think we had more than enough time to explore Barcelona more, but we were still newbies and very green to getting around. Live and learn...

We had one day at sea as we made our way to our first port which was Naples, Italy.

The girls eat the croissant, but not the contents of the sandwich. The only place open for food was the promenade which was one of the places that was 24/7 which served sandwiches, pizza, cookies, fruits, and cakes
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Mommy, Sophie, and Hannah check out the view from the ship as we say good-bye to Barcelona.

The running path that circled deck 11 which overlooked the pool and the view of the ship looking out. We spent many a days taking the girls for a walk around the ship on the track.

Exploring Barcelona

The second day in Spain we took a tour via a shuttle and had to choose which sites we wanted to see. I know we should've seen the Sagrada Familia - Gaudi's most famous church, but it was on another tour route and unfortunately traveling with toddlers you have to make choices on which is the better route. I looked forward to using what little Spanish I could muster up from my days in high school, but the native language is Catalan which is a mix of French and Spanish. The locals understood me and were nice enough to draw, use simple Spanish I could understand, and some people did know enough English to communicate. Either way the first day was a shocker for us as we were trying to find our way around like "Lost in Translation" with new money, new food, and massive heat.

Let me say it was hot! Mind you it wasn't as hot as most people said it would be, but it was in the 90's. All of us sweated massive amounts that we lost weight and keeping hydrated became more of our worry sometimes more than taking good pics. Good thing we had artist daddy Der! He took more of the better pics we see here. Both parents were armed with a camera each so we didn't miss anything LOL!

Besides the girls not liking the local cuisine...Mommy didn't either. Daddy was more open as usual and enjoyed the tapas, etc. Mommy enjoyed getting her Starbucks...sad I know, but it was comforting knowing you can order a mocha! We were worried about the girls and searched high and low for a McDonalds because it would be the only thing they really liked and they had not eaten much for 2 days. Der found a local man with a Micky D bag who directed us to the nearest Micky D and we managed to get chicken nuggets and some apple juice for the girls to eat...YAY!


At a port as we walked along the area looking for a place to eat lunch.


Hannah plays with her food, but manages to eat some potato wedges and mommy sneaked in some small pieces of roasted chicken (which was super yummy!).

Sophie was just not having any of it.

After eating tapas for lunch Mommy and Soph wait for the tour shuttle.

The girls stop to look at the local graffiti.

Der with the girls in front of Catedral de Barcelona one of the many Gaudi churches.

I took Hann and Soph in by myself as Der stood outside patiently with the strollers. Sophie and Hannah really enjoyed looking at everything inside and outside the church and were really excited to tell Der all about it.

There were just much too many pics to post as combined Der and I took over 300 pics, but I tried to get the more spectacular ones.

More of the inside of the church.

One of the many scenes behind bars that the church had.

The girls amazed at the surroundings. Sophie holds a map of our tour.

Der and the girls in front of the water show at night in front of the magic fountain.

My turn to pose with the girls.

Totally beat! Sophie and Hannah spread out in our bed.


Girls enjoying the Font Magica de Montjuic in Barcelona.


My first passport stamp

I've been lagging, but with all the things that were happening I have good excuses for my lack of entries which I will not bore anyone with it since this for the girls :P Everything is a blur up until we left for Europe and even then it's like a dream. We left July 1st to embark on our first trip anywhere outside the US.

The girls did pretty good considering they were in and out of airports for extended periods of time (12 hours of flight, but waiting around airports, etc brings it to way more than that). We flew out of SFO and landed 10 hrs into London's Heathrow airport. Our stop over was 2 1/2 hours and personally I didn't mind since the airport is like a mall!!! The girls got to stretch and have something to drink and snack on (they did not like British food at the airport). The next flight into Barcelona was roughly about 4 hrs and we basically got in at roughly 6:30 p.m. their time. One meltdown was with Soph Soph who could not be calmed down and I figure it was due to her not being able to "pop" her ears :( Other than that we did pretty well and Der and I enjoyed the British tea cookies on the plane and we really loved the movies on the way over...yay British Airways!

First night in we were pooped, but that wasn't the clincher....it was getting my iPhone stolen which not only upset me, but the girls as well. I brought it along for them to play games on along with another iTouch so each girl had their own to play with.

Later we tried to find something for the girls to eat since they didn't like the airport food nor the airline food. Unfortunately they didn't like the hotel food either. I knew going to Europe was going to pose a problem since they only really like Asian food.


Sophie in her PJ's and her travel companion Pooh bear.