Barcelona 2012

Between Paris and our cruise Jeremy and I basically had 1 day to get ourselves ready before we were on a plane to Barcelona. Since that is where I cruise was leaving from we decided to go about a day and a half early so that we could check things out as we had never been there. The hotel we stayed at was very close to the port, but also close to a more lively area called Las Ramblas, which was a huge street with shops, and street vendors, artists, fresh flowers etc. We basically just enjoyed walking up and down that road. W also spent some time at the marina which was really pretty. The weather was just perfect. I loved every minute of it! While we were walking around we found this market that was just off of Las Ramblas, and let me tell you this market was so cool, they had all these fresh fruits and vegetable,tons of fresh fruit juices that they sold ready to drink, fresh fruits already cut up ready to eat,bulk candy, nuts, fish, meat, and my favorite--the popsicles made from freshly puréed fruits, which were so yummy on a hot day! After we hit hip the market we went and had a glass of sangria at a little patio restaurant, while we relaxed in the shade that evening. It was totally relaxing!

Just a little side story; I wore the WORST shoes ever for lots of walking. I decided to take a seemingly comfy pair of flip flops that were SO uncomfortable my feet were aching within two hours of walking around. Not good when the next two weeks will be filled with walking. My feet hurt so badly that I decided I had to find a new comfortable pair of sandals before we set sail on our cruise the next morning. So I spent a good portion of time going in and out of stores trying to find myself a pair of sandals that would be suitable for A LOT of walking! I thought the ones I had would be good. It I was so wrong. Anyway I finally found a shop that sold shoes that looked pretty comfortable and the prices where reasonable so I asked the girl working if their was a brand that was good for a lot of walking. She pointed me in the right direction,I found some new sandals and literally walked out of the store wearing them my other shoes were hurting my feet so bad. My feet felt better almost instantly. Its amazing what a good pair of shoes can do. I must say I'm SO glad a picked up some new shoes because these new ones are SO comfy, just the right sandal for a lot of waking! Since I'm writing theses posts after the fact, I must say they were awesome sandals for the rest of the trip I literally walked around for hours without a single compliant!

Anyway after I finished my quest for new shoes we headed back to out hotel for the night. We stayed at Hotel Grums Barcelona, which I must say was a fantastic hotel. It was modern and clean, and the service was great. The location was in walking distance from Las Ramblas and the port, which we loved, and it was only a 10 minute taxi ride to the cruise terminal.

The morning of the cruise we had some time to kill since we didn't need to be there until 2pm. So we decided to go back to the little market place we had found the night before. We walked up there and got another yummy popsicle, I chose pineapple, which was delicious, and then we slowly headed back to the hotel to wait. When the taxi picked us up from the hotel we were SO excited to get on the ship...as we approached the terminal I was amazed at how big the ship looked. Mind you we have never been on a cruise, so we were both blown away, we have since found out that cruise ships come in much bigger sizes, and the one we were on was actually relatively small for a cruise ship! After we got to the terminal we checked into the ship and finally our cruise vacation had begun. Over the next 11 days we would get to see more than we could have ever imagined! It was and incredible trip and I can't wait to share more!


To Be Continued....

 On our way to the cruise ship!

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