April 15 - Unpacked and enjoying some champagne!

 After a good night's sleep I feel human again.  I awoke to a beautiful sunny day here.  (It was calling for rain so I lucked out.)  I had a nice breakfast in the hotel's restaurant.  Here in Spain they go in for huge buffets with all kinds of cold cuts, pastries, fruits plus all the usual eggs, cereal etc.  This one also had a big a la  carte menu so I had fruit from the buffet and eggs royale with smoked salmon instead of canadian bacon.  Seated at the table next to mine was a very nice English couple also going on the Ovation.  They too have sailed a lot with Seabourn.

A car arranged by the ship picked me up around noon and dropped me at the cruise terminal right downtown at the World Trade Center.  That's one of the advantages of a small ship like this one; we can dock here instead of at the port that takes the big ships.  As I checked in I ran into several crew members I've sailed with before.  It always amazes me that they remember names so well.  After all they encounter hundreds of people constantly.  I have trouble remembering my own name sometimes.  The cruise director is one I sailed with last year from Australia to Vancouver and I got a big hug.  The captain is one I sailed with a few times with Al.   In fact we had parties in our cabin on those cruises and he and Al had good conversations about sailing.  

After a nice lunch I came back to my cabin to find my luggage waiting for me.  I'm unpacked and ready to set sail.  As usual there's a Solo Travelers get together in the evening and I've got an invitation to dine with the Entertainment Manager (that position used to be called the Assistant Cruise Director - I don't know why they changed it). I ran into friends from my last cruise and one of them likes to go to the Club and dance so I should have company.  I'm ready!

Oh, this was the view from one of my many windows at the hotel this morning.

Basilica Sagrada Familia

If you've been to Barcelona you know this magnificent church.  If you haven't here's a little about it.  This was designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi. Construction began in 1882 (that's right - 143 years ago) and it's still not complete.  It's the world's largest unfinished Catholic church.  It was designed to have 18 spires. There are no right angles inside or outside the church and as you can see by the crane in the photo, it's still under construction.  On one of our trips here in November, 2010 the building was finally consecrated by Pope Benedict XVI.  We were in Barcelona for several days before a cruise and the city was packed with people from all over for the event. We had an excellent tour guide who arranged for us  to go into the church the day before the consecration. It was magical because there were all kinds of flowers being placed both inside and outside, there was a choir practicing and there was a priest standing in for the Pope to check out the sound system.  We didn't plan to be in Barcelona for that event; it was just serendipitous. Sometimes you just luck out.  

Anyway, we'll be on our way soon.  So bye for now.