Europe - Barcelona

Day five - Barcelona, Spain.

I was so excited for Barcelona. I heard from so many people that it was wonderful and one of their favorite places, but the cards were stacked against us from the beginning. I woke up still feeling sick but was determined to go out. Unfortunately it was cold, gray and rainy... no colorful sun or flying parrots and happiness for us.

As soon as we got off the ship we realized we were about fifteen minutes from the city itself. There were busses waiting for us and for 12 Euro they'd take you to the city. Well, we had no Euro with us and it was too far to walk (especially via the highway and me not feeling well) so we got a cab that took credit cards and paid way more than 12 Euro to get into the darn city. See, not a good start.

We got dropped off near La Rambla and slowly started to walk around. I eventually realized this was stupid and stopped in a farmacia to see if there was anything I could get. I took Spanish for years and years so this was my first chance to try and use the small percentage I remembered. Luckily between my Spanish and the pharmacist's English we managed to discuss the problem. She reached back and opened some drawers and laid out a few options. I got got a 30 pill supply of Primperan (honestly not sure what it was and it may be better off if I don't look it up) for 3 Euros! So easy. I took one of those bad boys and man they were a godsend. The rest of the trip I took one of them every 8 hours and felt so so so much better. I was nervous about the next time I had to switch my patch but with this happy little pill I had no issues. Thank you Barcelona Pharmacists! My Spanish was enough to read what side effects to look for in case of problems and luckily I had none of those.

So.... Barcelona!

You can see I look pretty miserable/terrible. Definitely not my best day of this trip!

We started walking up La Rambla and found a gorgeous market that we decided to walk through and explore. So much food! Meats and fish and cheeses and produce, oh my! It was really impressive.

Yes, lots of market pictures. I had to take the fruits and vegetables for my family to see. Back last year when they had an exchange student, Ramon from Spain, he used to tell blatant, let's call them untruths to not do things. One was that "In Aspain we no eat fruits and vegetables." LIES! I see them all right here. My mom laughed when we showed her the pictures later. We walked around and saw Palau Guell (and surprise, decided not to pay to go in) before wandering up to a large city center.

BIRDS! Those pigeons gave me a slight Hitchcock Heart Attack. That poor hot dog vendor, he really didn't stand a chance. All the architecture we saw was stunning. Gaudi knew what he was doing, that's for sure. We wandered in and out of the drizzle just trying to see whatever we could.

My poor husband. His shoe insole was doing something funny in Monaco and for the rest of the trip his foot hurt. So he huddled on the bench in the rain while I got some pictures.

You can tell his foot hurt.

We tried to figure out the subway to save some money but we failed miserably. So we decided to bite the bullet and find a cab. Again. We also went to an ATM and got some euros to have on hand! The famous cathedral in Barcelona is hte unfinished Sagrada de Familia so that was our cab destination.

It was very impressive when we arrived! I know it has been a work in progress for hundreds of years and it is still ongoing. We debated once again paying to enter, but 30 euros (aka almost $50) to walk into a church seemed silly. So we slowly walked around the church, taking it in, before getting a cab back to La Rambla.

Once we got back to La Rambla we found a small outdoor cafe to get Ryan some Tapas. I agreed to have a bit, but my stomach was still iffy. We got sausage, patatas bravas (a favorite from the tapas restaurant we went to in DC, which although good in Spain where we tried it everywhere, simply tasted better at La Tasca. Oops), meatballs, bread and sangria. The tapas were ok, but like I said, I had (and would have) better.

We found the bus everyone else was taking to get back to the ship and hopped on there, paying with the euros we were now carrying. When we got back to the ship they were doing a free art history talk near the champagne bar so I went and sat in. I ended up getting a free art piece to take home for attending the lecture! It is a certified numbered print, certification included, that was actually pretty neat.

The evening was spent back in the cigar bar, I even had Prosecco again. The pills finally kicked in! We went to the buffet for dinner before heading off to the Magic Show (Cripton!) that was entertaining if nothing else. Some tricks were obvious, some were totally mindblowing! He was also a bit Kris Angel like with the leather and eyeliner, but to each their own.

The Champagne Bar, my favorite

 

Next stop - Valencia, Spain!

You can follow along with all of the entries from our trip here!

Tear of Grief - Wordless Wednesday

Wreath Laying at Arlington Cemetary

Most of you who know me know I am not in any way, shape or form a morning person. But when my neighbor Carrie sent me the link to Wreaths Across America and asked me if I wanted to do wreath laying at Arlington Cemetary I did not hesitate for a second when I agreed. Wreaths Across America is a nonprofit organization founded to continue and expand the annual wreath laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery begun by Maine businessman, Morrill Worcester, in 1992. Every year huge tractor trailers filled with boxes and boxes of fresh, beautiful wreaths arrive to Arlington and volunteers lay them on every grave. Wreaths Across America now lays wreaths at cemetaries across the country to honor veterans and those who have served. Please feel free to look at their website to learn more!



Lots of people were there!

Saturday Carrie and I got up early, (just like a work day!) and made our way to the metro. We are only a few stops from Arlington, but the train got packed fast! Girl scout troops, boyscout troops, college kids, veterans... tons of people! We almost could not get onto the metro platform since it was so packed. And I am glad we took the metro, because traffic was waaaaay backed up.



Isn't that great thought? SO many people coming to volunteer and say thank you. Amazing.



Helicopters did fly bys all morning in between the various ceremonies



ROTCs and all sorts of members of the armed services came in uniform.

We made our way into the cemetary and saw most people were going up the main hill towards the center, so we instead took a quick left and walked towards the side of the cemetary I have not been to before. On one of the first roads we saw our first truck, but it looked pretty busy so we kept walking to the next one.



Approaching the truck.



Once you made it to the truck volunteers were emptying the boxes of wreaths. You basically got to an open box, grabbed one or more, and then went on your way. Some trucks got a little crowded, but mostly everyone was just trying to help where they could. Some boyscout leaders would just grab a box and take it to their kids instead of having them go into the masses, which I thought was smart! The first time we each only took one wreath, the other times we took about three each.



People then got down to work, laying wreaths. They asked if the headstone had a Star of David on it that you skip it (I heard that after I laid one on one), but I don't think those people would have been insulted! I wish I had some rocks I could have put on top of them or something, I felt bad just skipping those.



My first wreath



Carrie's first wreath



My first wreath was laid at a Marine's grave from WW2. Purple heart, Silver Star. They ask for each wreath you lay that you take a moment, read the headstone, and say thank you. Some of these graves have been unvisited for years, and this is a moment for them to be honored and showed respect.



Carrie laying her first wreath. Later on we actually found David McCampbell, a medal of honor winner. I was walking by and I saw that on his headstone and I just stopped. It seems surprising, the medal of honor winners have the same headstone and are in the same place as anyone else. I thought perhaps they'd have a special section, or a larger marker, but they are just mixed in. I hope I don't sound disrespectful or weird saying that, but it was very humbling to walk by and see that. Carrie laid a wreath on his grave.



Wreaths stretched as far as the eye could see.



I'm not going to lie, I got quite choked up.



Especially when I saw headstones for men (and women) who died in Iraq or Afghanistan. Those were a lot harder for me to see. Men and women who died fighting where my husband fought. Beloved sons and fathers and husbands and wives and daughters and mothers. Seeing that made be go from beyond choked up to actually having tears fall.



Those in uniform were also very emotional to watch. They all saluted and laid their wreaths with such ceremony. Many people just stopped and watched them do row by row.



People were all across the cemetary anywhere you looked, paying respects, heads bowed and hands brushing marble in whispers of thanks.



Patriotism was definitely high. Motorcycles and cars with flags were a common sight. Obviously cars outnumbered parking spaces so people were actually able to drive into the cemetary and park on the sides of the roads.



We were so far down we were actually pretty close to the Air Force Memorial. As we were finishing up in all our sections we got a text from a friend of Carrie's. His father was a Marine who died in a car accident in 2003, and he wanted us to go over and see if he had a wreath yet.



When Carrie laid the wreath on his grave and said her thanks I definitely lost it. Tears and all flowing down my face. We both were definitely wrecks at that point but so so honored for what we had just done.


We decided not to go to another section of the cemetary as it was pretty full at that point. People were coming and going constantly so we decided to skip the metro in Arlington and cross the bridge and walk up the mall towards DC and the yellow line to get home. Six miles, some cold faces and a potbelly sandwich later we made it to the metro to get home. By noon I was parking at home and getting my slightly frozen self into the shower to defrost. Then I took a two hour nap. Maybe three hours.

Overall it was a beautiful, emotional day and I am so honored I was able to be apart of it. Thank you to all those who organized, those who attended, and to Carrie for getting this girl up before 7:30 on a Saturday morning.