Day 15: Going Home

And finally, it was time to go home. (I should point out this was actually day 16. I didn't count the first travel day, because it was just waiting around and flying and then recovering at the bed and breakfast. Actually, so that makes it day 17. Wow).

We had a wake up call to make sure we were up, finished packing, and then headed to the buffet for one last breakfast. I don't believe I had an omelet that day, but there was still plenty of good stuff to eat.


Our 'butler' and stateroom attendant, Ivan and Hussein (Ivan pronounced Eee-vahn). The butler made the beds and did turn down service at night, and got us anything we needed. The stateroom attendant emptied the trash and cleaned the bathrooms. This was Ivan's last trip, as we was cutting short his contract to go home and spend time with his wife, who was expecting their first child very soon after that.

We went back to our stateroom and waiting for them to call our boarding numbers. Kevin made the announcement, and that was the last I heard of him (didn't get to see him). We shuffled along with the other people in our departing group and walked off the ship.


Our cruise director, John. He was such a fun guy, and made everyone feel special.


I feel bad. I'm pretty sure this is Phil, the hotel director. I do know he was always a very pleasant gentleman and very nice.

The cruise director is in charge of entertainment and everything relating to the cruise portion of the ship. That makes him one of the most important men on the ship. The hotel director is in charge of everything that would be like a regular hotel - so mainly everyone's lodging.

We gathered our luggage from the luggage carousels (they had us leave our big luggage outside our door the night before to be off-loaded). We got our bags and put them on our shuttle bus and then drove away to the airport. Goodbye Azamara Journey.

Now, when there are roundabouts, which are very prevalent in Europe, they are usually good things that I enjoy so much more than regular intersections. They eliminate the need in most cases for stoplights. However, in Barcelona, they had a huge roundabout with stoplights all along the way. We basically had to make a left hand turn, but had to go through about five stoplights along this roundabout to do it, and each light was red. So annoying.


The sunrise was so beautiful that morning. I wish I could have got out of our bus and taken some more. This doesn't do it justice.

Traffic was bad, but we finally made it to the airport. Our flight was scheduled to leave soon, and we weren't sure we were going to make it in time. Funny enough, the Benicia couple that we met earlier was on a different flight, getting home a couple of hours after we did. Anyway, when we expressed concern, they told us that if it got to crunch time, they would call for all passengers going to Frankfurt. We made it in time, went to Frankfurt (where I spent my last few euros on a Frankfurt magnet, so I can say I've been to Germany), and then made the long flight home.

This flight, unlike the flight there, was all during the day. I liked the movies they were playing, and stayed up almost the whole time. I was very glad when we finally made it home, and waited until my friends could pick us up.


Sunset outside the San Francisco airport. See, we even have nice sunsets here.

And we made it home, had something to eat, and rested, until my mom left the next morning to go home to my dad.

It was such a great trip. What a beautiful world God has given us. Probably the only time I'll get to go to the Western Mediterranean with my Mom. Not that I wouldn't mind going there again real soon, but I think I'd first like to see the Eastern Mediterranean (Greece, Israel, etc) and South America, if I get to go on a cruise anytime soon.

If anything else about the trip catches my attention and I want to share, I'll definitely post it here, but for now, that's the end of my trip report. Thanks to everyone who's read them and to those who have left comments. I hope it was given you a glimpse of the wonderful trip I got to experience and the wonder world we have.

Day 14: Barcelona Bound

We weren't scheduled to arrive into our final port, Barcelona, until 3 PM, but our captain was able to take a different route and get us in at 2 PM, so we had more time in Barcelona. Still, that left us with much of the day at sea, so they scheduled some things to keep us entertained in the morning. Mom and I had breakfast at the buffet. I believe that day I had my last ham, cheese, and bacon omlette, some sausage and bacon, some hot chocolate, and some oatmeal. Yes, way too much, but hey, it was my last real breakfast. I had to go all out.


Here I am with my cruise-crush and dancing partner Kevin. I forgot to put this is yesterday's post, as I took it later that night, after the magic show. He's a little short, but that's OK. Plus I found out that last day he's only 23. I thought he was more like 28. I felt like a cougar.


One really cool thing our captain did, which the parent company Azamara liked so much they say they're going to make it a part of all of their cruises, is to have a representative from each country that worked on the crew to come up, say what country they were from, and say a quick greeting or something like that, and then all stand on stage. It was meant to show how we could all get along and work together. It was great and very emotional. When a crew member got on board that I knew, I'd of course cheer louder. The lady from Brazil who served on the activities staff (she was technically the fashion consultant) was one of my favorites (darn, I can't remember her name). And I think the only American other than the cruise director, was Kevin. He had a great American flag tie. He said he wasn't sure if he should wear it, but decided to. Other people around agreed it was great. It was a great moment that we could all be together and not worry about strifes. The crew member from Pakistan standing right by the crew member from India.


Captain Theodoro and me. He's a very nice and personable captain

We finally sailed into Barcelona. Our final excursion was to go around town and then to the La Sagrada Familia. Driving around town, we went by several places that were host to the Barcelona Olympics. One personal highlight for me was when we went by the diving pool. I would have liked to stop and got out and take pictures. That's the image I have most from those Olympics, seeing the city of Barcelona from the diving platform. Definitely the best diving venue I've ever seen in the Olympics. More things should be open air.

There's a lot of strange architecture in Barcelona. During one vista/picture stop, we saw a building in the distance that one guest described as a bullet. The tour guide said, "we say it looks like many different things," hinting that it looked a bit phallic.


We made it to the La Sagrada Familia, which is a beautiful church that was started over a hundred years ago by the architect Gaudi, and won't be complete until at least 2026. It's all privately funded and is just enormous. There is so much symbolism on there, it's amazing. The pictures don't do it justice, and it looks a lot prettier in person. From a distance, I didn't like it, but it's amazing up close. Each side depicts a different period in Christ's life. This side is the Nativity. The other side is the crucifixion and death of Jesus. But the styles are completely different.


You've really got to see it up close


This is the other side. A lot different looking.

We next made our way to the Museu Picasso museum. Picasso lived in Barcelona the early part of his life (before moving to Paris), and this museum houses a lot of his early works. I like to say his pre-drug period. He was actually a very talented classically trained artist, and you can see he did many great works of art before going into his famous Cubist movement. It was interesting. I'm not the biggest fan of his work, although I do like Guenerica (although that wasn't there) and this painting below, which my parents had a print of (you couldn't take pictures inside the museum at all).


Picasso wasn't really my mom or my thing, but we did enjoy the trip to the museum. We then walked around the area and made it over to the Gothic Cathedral La Seu. It's built over the chapel of a previous cathedral (which St. Peter's in the Vatican is as well). It was very different architecturally from what I had seen previously, which made it interesting, as by that time we had all seen so many cathedrals who would think there would be one that would pique our interest.


The pictures of course don't do it justice. There is a court of geese inside the cathedral grounds which is interesting and this area for the choir which is very different. Very unique and I would like more time to study it sometime.


I forget what this place was, but it was just along the street as we made our way from the Cathedral to our bus.

Our tour finally came to and end. We got to see a lot in the afternoon and evening we were in Barcelona. That night we went to a few last night performances, saw the Kristen Lee Trio one more time, but there were a lot of people who were gone. Since we were overnight in Barcelona, there were plenty of people either checking out the night life, or going to bed early, as we all had to be up early to catch our flights and other connections. I think a lot of the crew had the night off and were going out to enjoy the town. As they were most of the young people aboard, I really wanted to join them, but instead I went around saying goodbye to the ship, and finally went to bed, ready for the next morning and our trip back home.

One more post to come about the trip.