Embarkation Day

Today is embarkation day for our cruise! The ship wasn't scheduled to leave until 7:00pm, though, so we decided to spend the morning doing some last minute explorations of Barcelona. We ate our last breakfast at the hotel, packed up, and checked out. The receptionist was gracious enough to allow us to leave our luggage at the front office while we were out for the day.

We took the opportunity to go back to Park Güell and take it all in. This time, we got off at a metro station a little bit closer to the park (and with better signage showing us the way). Apparently this was the “back way,” and there was a lot of graffiti along the way. Most of it was complaints about having to pay to go to a “public” park. I didn't get any photos of this protesting graffiti, but it was mostly along the lines of “art should be free to all,” etc. When I learned that the entrance ticket was €8, I couldn't help but agree.

On the other hand, Park Güell was never really meant to be public anyways! It was originally created by a partnership between entrepreneur Eusebi Güell and architect Antoni Gaudí who planned to create a housing development for the high class of Barcelona. They began development in 1906, but by 1915 only two houses had been sold and Gaudí quit the project to devote himself full-time to the construction of the Sagrada Familia. Eventually, the Park Güell housing project was completely abandoned and the space turned into a public park. Today, one of the houses is privately owned while the other serves as a museum. So in the end, I must say I'm grateful that the project failed because it allows me to see art that I probably would never have gotten the chance to see otherwise!

We spent a long time wandering around the park, taking in the sites and also periodically laughing as we watched tourists attempt to use “selfie sticks” but mostly just end up backing into each other. We even took the time to wait in line to go inside one of the model houses (or Gingerbread houses, as they appear to me). I would definitely invest in one of those houses! Though it's definitely only for the physically fit—there were only 2 rooms on each floor, and 5 sets of staircases!

After we finished touring the house, we decided it was probably about time to pick up our luggage and head to the ship. We took the metro back to the hotel, grabbed our luggage, and headed back out towards the metro where Scott once again got to wrestle the luggage up and down the stairs. We got off at the same stop we had on Monday when we went to the aquarium. We’d look at a map and saw that the cruise port wasn't too far from there. We’d read that most people take taxis from that point to the ship, but we were up for a walk. Plus we (*ahem* Scott!) are cheap and don’t like to spend money when it isn't absolutely necessary.

We walked for a good 40 minutes and still didn't see any cruise ships in sight. We did, however, see a ferry terminal, so we stopped in there to see if they knew how to get to the cruise port. When I told the woman we wanted to walk there, she laughed and gave me an incredulous look. “I guess it is possible to walk there,” she said, “but it is over 3 kilometers, and you have to get over the bridge!” Scott was insistent that we could do it, so the woman reluctantly gave us the best walking directions she could.

She was not kidding—walking to the cruise port is definitely not for the faint of heart, especially carrying two backpacks and a big suitcase! Once we got past the ferry terminal, we did see the cruise ship, but it turned out that we had to walk past it, then back over a very large winding bridge and past it again before making our way to the check-in area. But we refused to give in, and we did manage to make the entire trek in just about an hour. We made it just as they were starting to clear away the baggage area. We were some of the last ones aboard, but at least we weren't the last.  Plus, who else can say they walked the entire way and got to enjoy the view the whole way?

We got settled in to our room and then went straight to the theater to watch the welcome show. It’s a sneak-preview of all the shows that are going to be on for the rest of the week, and a good way to decide what you want to see. We decided against seeing the magician again, but definitely want to see the acrobats again. The musical “show choir” group: we’re still making up our minds. At the end of the show, they introduced the officers and heads of each department on the ship. They’re from all over the world! The captain is from Croatia, and the head engineer is from the USA. But the most exciting part (for Scott, at least) was learning that the head chef is from India. This is going to be a good trip.