Sailing On

16:04 10/05/2010
This morning we arrived in Barcelona!! (I want to sing Barcelona, like they used to in the 1992 Olympic games!!)I woke up early so I showered and went out to watch the ship docking. When I got up on to the 14th deck it was stunning, early morning mist and the sun starting to rise over Barcelona. There were a few of us up there including Dad who had got up before me!

The sky was blue and it felt like it would be a fantastic day. After breakfast I decided to take a trip into the city, I went in by shuttle bus, when we got the the 'World Trade Centre' I spotted a tourist open top bus tour. So I hopped off of one bus and onto another. I found a seat on the top deck plugged in the head set, tuned it to English and away we went! The talk was a litle confused to start with, but once I had worked out where I was I was able to plan my day. One of the things that Barcelona is famous for is the architecture of Gaudi. I was keen to take a look around the Sagrada Familia. It was stunning completely original and his style still is like Marmite, love or hate it!! I also enjoyed seeing the other buildings that he designed including a block of flats with really unusual balconies and some stunning ceramic mosaics. It was well worth the trip into the city.

Because the weather had been so nice there were a lot of very red people around last night!! We went to see a show in the Starlights theatre and it was positively boiling in there.

15:36 11/05/2010
Today as we are at sea its been a whole lot cooler. Us Brits are made of strong stuff and yet again there are people on the sun deck wrapped up in towels and coats determined to soak up the rays despite the wind chill factor!!

This morning I went to a 'behind the scenes' presentation by the staff, I saw how the bag xray machine works, how they make the beautiful food displays, there was a list of all the food that they use during the two weeks which included 1900kgs of bacon, 12 tons of potatoes, 1000kgs of baked beans, 500kgms of smoked salmon, 5 tons of vegetables, each day people on board use 500 toilet rolls and they wash 2000 towels!! Its hard to comprehend the numbers involved. They also have a fully equipt hospital which includes an intensive care bed, 4 other beds and two treatment rooms. They have a staff of 6, an emergency Consultant, two Doctors and three nurses. It looks like they have everything covered.

Tomorrow we arrive in Cadiz, our last stop before heading home to Southampton. Tonight is another 'formal' night, so I have to go and get dressed up, although I feel knackered and can't really be bothered!!!