Day 17 - Home!

Saturday was an easy relaxing day of travel.  Since we flew in from Barcelona, we were able to get into the very quiet Flagship Lounge in Philadelphia.  Had an on-time departure and arrival.  All bags arrived and we Ubered home.  What a travel day should be like!

Thank you for joining us on our Transatlantic Journey!

Day 16 - The day Theresa was detained in PHL!!

What red wine pairs best with a 
chocolate dount?

We got up early to get ready and wrapped up, and make it to breakfast by 7AM.  Then out the door by 8:01 heading to the airport bus.  It was VERY quick and convenient!  At the airport, we got checked in, bags checked (heaviest was 22.5 kg (49.6 lb) which was PERFECT for rechecking in the US.  Since we were Business Class, we also got the “VIP/Fast Pass” which was almost as fast as we could walk through.  In less than 5 minutes, we were inside, and heading to the lounge.  It is Friday in Lent, so meat was off limits (bummer, because they had an assortment of interesting looking options).

Finally, it was time to head to the gate.  We started walking.  And walking.  As we passed a United airplane on a hardstand (not a jet bridge), but next to an AA plane on a jet bridge, we made the mistake of laughing (we = Bill).  Well, fun fact, Gate E85 is the LAST jet bridge in Terminal 1.  We were heading to Gate E86.  Which was a stairwell down to a holding area, where…we boarded a bus to our plane on a hard stand. 

At least the "no gate" situation gave me a great picture!!

Our flight was good and almost everything went perfectly.  Well…  We started with a movie (Bill picked one that neither of us had heard of, but looked like it might be interesting (Astronaut).  Theresa was NOT diggin’ it, so 30 minutes in, we pivoted.  We tried Rental Family which was supposed to be a comedy.  We could NOT figure out what was comedic about it!!  I won’t say it was awful, but…it was as fun as a doctor’s waiting room.  Finally, we pivoted to a TV show, “Masters of the Air”, which follows the lives of a group of WWII US Army Air Force pilots based in England.  THAT was good!!  It has a great balance of humor and drama.  We watched all four episodes, finishing as we landed in Philadelphia. 

Somewhere along the line during this trip, we were watching TV and the only thing interesting was “To Catch a Smuggler – Lima Peru”, which profiled the Customs officers in the Lima airport.  Well, one thing led to another, a joke or two was made about Theresa having to deal with “To Catch a Smuggler…Philly Style!”  We go to Global Entry, and Bill gets through with no problems.  Theresa…gets the “See Officer” notice.  Bill watches to see how long it will take her, and then sees her leave the officer’s box and head to “Secondary Screening”.  Suddenly, it becomes real!!  Well, Bill goes and gets the bag, and prepares some options for telling the story, including different ways to pick on Theresa’s Mom.  In the end it was just a little issue of “paperwork”.  Theresa bought her ticket several months ago, but then changed her passport, so had a new number.  Once they confirmed why the numbers didn’t match, it was all good.  But she had to stop by and have an AA agent fix her record to show the new number. 

When we bought the flights, it was significantly more for a direct flight to DFW (or same day connecting through PHL) than for us to spend the night in PHL on the way home.  Well, we can get a heck of a hotel night in PHL for what we saved, so… we fly out tomorrow.  We checked into the airport Marriott, which was a quick walk from the terminal.  If you ever missed the hotels of the 80’s and earlier, or wondered what it was like back then…come out to the Marriott in PHL, and relive the 80s!  But they have a lounge with some snacks, and some appetizers for later, so we’ll do that and probably get to bed early tonight!

Day 15 - Barcelona - Pairs well with Beer!!

"Machine" Cappuccino in fine china!

After leaving our room, and breakfast, Theresa wanted to get a summary of our account, but couldn’t get to it on our app.  So, we went to the Sanctuary deck (hoping to avoid lines at the plebian customer service).  Oh, you think we’re getting spoiled?  Just wait!  The attendant there wasn’t able to access the account, so escorted us down to the “Suite Lounge”.  (We had a “mini-suite” which didn’t include all of the benefits of “real suites”.)  Anyway, while that person was printing our folio, they (of course) offered us drinks.  Theresa got a cappuccino, and Bill just got a club soda.  We loitered a bit (since they didn’t throw us out) and just took in the high life!  Then it was time to leave and we got in a long line and realized it was over!

View from the top of the hotel.

We are staying one night in Barcelona, so after disembarking, we headed to our hotel.  One of the credit cards we have gives us a discount on certain hotels, along with free breakfast and $100 off of food. They are usually fancier hotels than is our style, but with the discount, the price is in our comfort zone.  Anyway, our room wasn’t ready yet (only 10:30) so we looked around a little and waited about an hour.  Once in our room, we dropped bags and headed off.

The building in front of our hotel.

Flags of "Catana", Spain, and EU.

The third building has a Gaudi facade.

Even McD is over the top for art!

La Pedrera Casa Mila

We went to La Pedrera Casa Mila, an apartment building designed by Antoni Gaudi, a famous artist, also responsible for La Sagrada Familia (the giant church still not finished).  Walking in, my starting point was Gaudi is Gaudy.  And his work is.  But we understand it more.  He believes everything should “flow” with curvy lines and all that.  (Not sure what’s wrong with straight lines and right angles.  What’s more beautiful than a rectangle?)  Anyway, he designed this apartment in about 1907 for a wealthy family.  The building is about 8 stories tall, and has two courtyards, and is very artsy.  See pictures and comments.

Inside one of the courtyards.

One of the balconies with the (ugly) metal work.

The roof supports are arches of brick, arranged 
as upside down hanging ropes (cantenary).

Guadi designed furniture too.  They call this a "sofa".
I wonder why it didn't catch on??
They also had videos of how the furniture is supposed
to be used.  I'm thinking if it needs an instructional
video, it isn't right for most people!!

Is it just me or does this look like Dr. Suess??

The church through a roof top archway.

La Sagrada Familia.  Almost done! 

Obligatory "selfy".

In the original design, there was no rail or fence on this roof
space.  Yikes!!!

Looking down into a courtyard.

Even the stairs were "flowy".

Can you imagine having vertigo here?

Seems like a spot to sit and ponder.

Where is he going??

Our hotel (well, we're slightly behind it).

Afterward, we walked back passed our hotel to the “square” (which was round), next to a building called “La Triangle”.  Then back at the hotel, we got some lunch.  It was almost 3PM, but they stopped serving lunch at 4, and didn’t start dinner until 8. 

Potatos and Beer!!

We started with these “hot potatoes”, and a couple of Spanish beers.  They were SO good!!  When the server came back and checked on us, asking if they were good, Theresa said they were and they paired really well with the beer!  A manager was walking behind her a bit and must have heard, and he started laughing.  Turns out everything we got went very well with the beer!!

Bill's and Theresa's choices.

Back in the room, we were surprised to find this!

Between the cold weather, the crowds and noise, we were in need of a nap after lunch.  It is sort of strange taking a nap at 4PM, but we managed.  When we got up, we decided being lazy was the best plan for the rest of the day. 

The circular square in the evening

We still had some budget left for our hotel credit, so went upstairs to check out the view -- deciding we didn't want to sit in the cold, listening to DJ music and drink 10 Euro beers.  So, we went downstairs to the bar in the warmth, listening to techno-dance music and drinking 8 Euro beer! 

The roof of the building next to ours

Our view of La Sagrada Familia

Our nightcaps!

Day 14 - Mallorca (Majorca), Spain

Fog rolling across the water before sunrise.

Dawn.

We docked at Palma, went to other side.

We're here...if you don't know!

NOT our cruise ship!

Our last full day on the ship, we stopped at the Island of Mallorca.  We docked in Palma, on the West side of the island, and then boarded a bus for the East side of the island near Porto Cristo to visit a cave.  Cuevas (Cave) Drach has the largest ‘lake’ of any cave (purportedly in the world).  It was pretty spectacular…but we wish we had a little more time.  Our bus was late, and we were sort of hurried through.  But still got a lot of pictures and views. 

The Cathedral.  It's HUGE!!

Many of the buildings had this look.

Lots of towers.  This one is solar?

This one was on the airport property.

Most of the towers were meant for windmills (for water).

Above the Drach Cave.

At the bottom of the cave, they had seating for a “concert”.  Everyone sat, and they turned off all of the lights.  Then three boats (adorned with lights) rowed up slowly.  The lead boat had an “organ” (harmonium) and a couple of violinists and a cellist.  They played a few songs, and the acoustics were really striking.  The hard surfaces of the cave (and water) carried the sound very well, but the stalactites and stalagmites broke it up enough to prevent echoes.  Of course, they INSISTED on NO photography and NO recording.  And of course, some people can’t follow rules.  So, when the people in front of us kept trying to take pictures, the staff would yell at them, flash lights, and keep at it until they got their pictures.  :-\

They are "broken"!

You can see the water.  It is clear!

Waiting for the show to start.

We could walk or take a boat partway back.

The "music boat".

Hey look!!  They have "buckwheat" pancakes!! (See yesterday's blog)

We left the cave and headed to the town where we had time to…shop?  First on the bus.  Then we headed to a place where they made “pearls”.  Not real pearls.  Not “cultured” pearls.  But like candles something dipped in some material over and over until the size is reached.  It was…not motivating to us.  Back to the bus!

Air Europa's hangar.

Air Europa 737

Rolling scenery.

Once on the ship, we got lunch (very late), hit the last trivia, and then it was time to pack.  It went pretty fast, and we then had some time to relax and watch TV.

We headed to the 7:00 show, and by 7:35, we were ready to go.  It wasn't bad, but the last act was a Country Music singer, and honestly Bill was barely hanging in there to begin with, but throw in Country...I'm late for the door!  Then she said something about getting home to her husband, but more importantly her dog...and we were out.

Last dessert!

Straight to our last dinner.  Theresa had an Indian dish (Butter Shrimp) and Bill his last Filet Mignon.  For dessert, they had a "Baked Alaska" but with gelato, so Theresa was all in.  Bill opted for the Cherry Sherbet, but uncertain if it was good, arranged a back up plan with a side of vanilla!  It was the right decision!

We then headed for our last drink and to the room for packing the last of the dirty clothes!

Good Night!!