Departed Erie at 7:30 a.m., drove to Rock
Hill, SC—10 hours. Hampton Inn-no charge.
Cool, low 40s. Some
soft rain. Not much traffic, few construction areas. Tuna fish pitas for lunch.
Cracker Barrel for dinner—next time order the fried pork chops like Tim did!
Three stops for gas--$3.95/Grove City; $3.43/Rock Hill, SC-total gas about $110
for the
Drove 8 hours today
and arrived in Titusville for dinner at Dixie Crossroads (http://dixiecrossroads.com), favorite
seafood restaurant of ours. With a lobster dinner at $12.99, Tim jumped for it.
We are staying at the Hampton Inn—no charge. Today the weather was warmer and
warmer until now it is sunny and mid 80s. Tim is in the outdoor pool as I type!
Ironically we ran into
Sherry and David Golab at a gas station in Blythewood, South Carolina (gas
$3.45/gal) just off I-77. A couple hours later we ran into them again at a
Georgia rest stop.
Total gas cost
today-$100
It is actually hot in
Miami---87 F today! We had a shorter drive today. We stopped at one of our
favorite malls, Sawgrass Mills, in Sunrise, Florida. http://www.simon.com/mall/?id=1262 This is a huge mall and we got plenty of
exercise. For lunch we ate at the Cheesecake Factory. We drove to Homewood
Suites, Miami Airport West for the night.
Since our flight
tomorrow is at 4 p.m. we have plenty of time to organize and weigh our luggage.
The requirements are so strict—our carryon luggage and checked luggage are all
weighed. Carryon has to be less than 13 pounds and the checked luggage cannot
weigh more than 50 pounds. I could probably have done better, but so far my
checked luggage weighs 46 pounds. I had to buy more books because I read two on
the way to Florida.
My carryon (aka cabin
luggage) has to hold my laptop, 2 cameras, one extra lens, a blanket, 2 books,
my jewelry (which I did limit) and an umbrella. I was horrified when I found
that the luggage alone weighed 4 pounds. Add 8 pounds for the laptop and I am
already at 12 pounds. My cameras are not light either and so I am carrying them
in my purse. Once again, I will not be making a fashion statement! If this was
a domestic flight we would be OK, but since it is overseas on Air Berlin things
are a little stricter.
Brief comments so that any possible readers aren’t too bored!
- Miami to Berlin was about a 6
½ hour flight, we left Thursday at 5:15 p.m. EST—arrived about 2:30 a.m.
EST. Waited in terminal for 5 hours. Read a book and made new friends,
even if they did not speak English and we don’t speak Spanish. Pilar was
in the same predicament as we were, but we helped each other the best we
could and it worked! She is from Barcelona and was returning home from
Colombia via Miami, a lovely lady.
- Berlin to Barcelona was a 2 ½
hour flight.
- We finally arrived in
Barcelona at 7 p.m. Friday on Spain time. If that does not all add up, I
am very tired!
- The Air Berlin food was
great—rice, peas, sliced olives, spicy tomato sauce, chicken, brie cheese,
bun, butter, cheesecake topped with caramel. Breakfast was equally as
good. Then they gave us a10 euro voucher for lunch because of our delay.
By the way, Air Berlin made all the arrangements. I remember being delayed like this in Detroit with Delta and the
airline said, “We can get you to Erie in two days.”
- Our luggage passed all tests.
In fact, the airline not as strict as we thought they would be.
- The flights were quite smooth
and our luggage was in Barcelona when we arrived. What more could we
really ask?
- If we were flying the day
before the cruise, we would have missed the cruise.
- We took the Aerobus to the
area of our hotel and then walked the 2 blocks. Cost-5.90 euros each!
- Our hotel is clean, comfortable, and well situated in the center of Barcelona. We walked for a light evening snack in the neighborhood and found a 3 story tech store with a book store inside—like a really really big Best Buy. We will tour Barcelona tomorrow!
Saturday, October 13: Tour
Barcelona
I never expected to love Barcelona so
much! Tim is having a blast from the past since he was here in the Navy forty
years ago. Luckily we got up when we did this morning because our new cruise
friends arrive at our hotel early with today’s tour guide. They called from the
front desk and we had just finished getting ready. No coffee, no croissant! Armando, the guide, was very pleasant and
proud of his city. Originally founded as a Roman city, Barcelona is Spain’s
second largest city with a population of 1,622,000 people. It is the largest metropolis on the
Mediterranean.
Our first stop was the La Sagrada Familia
or Holy Family Church. It is so unique! This
Catholic Church is funded solely by small private donations and construction
began in 1882. Architect Antoni Gaudi invested 40+ years of his life to
designing and building the church. When he died in 1926, construction came to a
halt until there was more money and political times were better (Spanish Civil
War 1936). The church is still not finished and projected finish date is 2026.
Gaudi (whose name inspired our English word “gaudy”) envisioned a church that
would tell Biblical stories on the EXTERIOR. I can’t begin to tell you how
fascinating the exterior of this exquisite church is—from the spires with
mosaic balls atop (there will be 18 spires) the Nativity facade, the Passion façade,
the tortoises and lizards at the base of columns, etc. I wish we had time to go
inside (the line at 9 a.m. was a block long). When finished, the church will
seat 12,000 people-that should give you an idea of the size.
La Sagrada Familia--Nativity Facade
We finished our walk with a gelato—strawberry
and lemon for me, chocolate for Tim. I could eat a lot more!!
