Mediterranean Cruise Day 1: Barcelona

I must start by saying that Kristin and I ate a lot. Take our first day, for example (really two days). Beginning with Saturday, Aug. 25, we got breakfast (doughnuts) at Lane's Bakery around 9 a.m. At 12:30 p.m., we had lunch at the Great Dane in the airport. On the flight from Detroit to Amsterdam, we had dinner (surprisingly good chicken) and breakfast (cheese and egg biscuit sandwich). On our flight from Amsterdam to Barcelona (this is now the next morning), we had two mini sandwiches (I ate the tomato, Kristin had the chicken). In Barcelona, we split a open-faced prosciutto sandwich. On the ship, we had dinner at Tsar's (somewhat Russian-like), then at 11:30 p.m. (just before one of the cafeterias closed), I grabbed a huge plate of food (breaded cod, jerk chicken, lots of other stuff) along with a decaf cappuccino.

To summarize a very long paragraph: Approximately eight meals in 31 hours (9 a.m. CST to 11:30 p.m. Central European Summer Time).

Barcelona was nice, but we only got about 1.5 hours before we had to board the ship. We went to a place called Las Ramblas, a pedestrian area with lots of stores and cafes. I bought a soccer jersey (Real Madrid), one of my shopping goals I made prior to the trip.

At the cafe, I wanted some sangria, but it wasn't on the menu, so I ordered a beer instead. Then someone else ordered the sangria, so I was extra disappointed.

After the meal, Kristin and I walked to the boardwalk, which I noticed was missing something vital: stores! No where to buy snacks, drinks or souvenirs. Before catching a cab to the ship, we also took some pics with the statue of Christopher Columbus.

The ship, the Norwegian Cruise Line's Jewel, was HUGE. It dwarfed other cruise ships we saw at various ports. The first thing we did was unpack, then napped for an hour before we had our emergency drill (basically how to put on your life jacket and where to go in case of emergency). After that, we took another nap, then we went to the casino (we didn't gamble, though; they were giving away free drinks). I felt a little woozy at this point, so I put on the motion-sickness patch I got from my physician.

After dinner, we walked around the ship, sent a few e-mails to our parents, then relaxed a little bit.

And no, we weren't really hungry, but we wanted to take advantage of the all-you-can eat, so that's why I got that plate of food. My God, we ate a lot.