Tag: Freedom of the Seas

Freedom in the Mediterranean….Anchors Aweigh! Away? A-weigh? Well, We’re Off!

The one with the phone…

Advertisements
Rachel HarringtonLeave a comment

Yay!! Its time to board the Freedom of the Seas!!  I have loved, loved, loved my time in Barcelona and I will definitely be back but now its time to cruise!

I had worked with my AirBNB host to get a taxi that would fit us and all of our luggage to get us to the port.  I had no idea who he called (this is important later on!) but the taxi was right on time and we checked out of the apartment and headed to the port.

IMG_6229

I had all of our documents printed out and ready to go, had everyone’s passport, put luggage tags on everyone’s suitcases to ensure that they all made it to the correct cabin.  Should be smooth sailing right on to the ship and ready to sail!  Nope. That is not at all how it happened.  You see, one of my children left his phone in the taxi and didn’t realize it until the taxi had driven off and we were turning in our luggage.

Remember how I said I had no idea what taxi company our host had used??  This is where that little tidbit becomes pretty darn important.  Also important is the international roaming plan I had added to my cell phone before leaving…FOR JUST SUCH AN EMERGENCY!!  AT&T has a $10/day plan that you only pay for if you use.  Well, I used it.  I called our AirBNB host and tried to ask him what cab company he used but it quickly became apparent that his English is limited to email (via Google Translate…I do it too…don’t judge!) and my Spanish is limited to food.

Fortunately I was able to find a port employee that was willing to help.  She explained the situation, let me know that the host was going to call and find the driver, answered the call when the host called back to tell me the driver was on his way back, and negotiated with the driver when he wanted to charge me 30€ for bringing the phone back.  Now I get that he did give up his place in line for a new fare to come back, and I already had 10€ in my hand ready to give him for his trouble but 30€ seemed excessive to me.  Apparently to my translator as well because they got into an argument about it and I ended up paying him 20€ all said and done.

Now with age, comes wisdom (What? Don’t laugh!) plus the fact that I tend to be a go with the flow kind of person once I am actually on vacation (yes, I know I am an obsessive planner leading up to vacation, but that way I can relax once I’m there.) so I was able to laugh about it pretty quickly after we knew the phone was on its way back to us.  My child, however, is still kind of salty about it so that is why I waited three months to write about it! Moving on…

After a fairly easy check in, we stopped and bought six bottles of wine and headed on board.  I may be pretty laid back about this whole situation, but I was certainly ready for a drink!

Our cabin was ready right on time, which is good considering I had six bottles of wine that I was carrying around! Sail away was fun and we were off, headed to our first port of call, Marseille.  That night, we had dinner at Chops, the steakhouse.  It was awesome as always!

IMG_6228

I know this post has been mostly my ramblings but I promise that there are really good port pictures coming soon!! Which ports you ask?  Well I did forget to mention that.  We are hitting some big bucket list cities for me:

Marseille
Nice
Florence
Rome
Naples
One day at sea then back to Barcelona.  All in all an amazing trip!  Marseille is up next so stay tuned!

Freedom in the Mediterranean…More Barcelona!

Rachel HarringtonLeave a comment

For our last full day in Barcelona, I had scheduled two tours through Viator.  First a guided tour of Sagrada Familia in the morning, then a Flamenco Show at Tablao Cordobes in the evening.  Believe it or not, this was my first time scheduling through Viator, I usually book directly through the tour company.  Here is why I didn’t this time…Paying in US Dollars as opposed to Euros.  Booking directly through a tour company usually  means you pay in cash on the day of the tour, in Euro’s.  I am not opposed to doing that usually, but with five people on the trip, that’s a lot of cash to haul around every day.  So booking on Viator means both that I could pay ahead of time and that I could pay in US dollars.  Then, I just have to remember my vouchers…this is never been a certainly so I really like that I can just show them on my phone!  So first up? A guided tour of Sagrada Familia through Viator.

Our only hiccup of the morning came when I was asked to read a map to get us to the Julia Travel office to begin the tour.  I’m not sure if I have mentioned this but I am TERRIBLE with maps.  I am good at following directions, but if I have to navigate via map?  Well, lets just say it’s lucky I like to wander!

Fortunately, I am aware of this adorable trait so I always leave super early to  account for the fact that I am most certainly going to get lost so we were not late for our check-in.  We met our tour guide, and after a bit of confusion (one party thought that they had signed up for the tour in a different language) we were on our way to the famous church.  This is one of the most important tourist sites in Barcelona, perhaps in Spain, so there are a lot of people there.  Always.  All around.  And vendors.  Everywhere.

But thanks to our “Skip the Line” tickets, we breezed right in, got our tour guise boxes and headphones and headed in the gate.  We began our tour at the Passion Façade on the west side of the church.  Meant to symbolize the Passion of Christ, this façade is very severe and angular.

IMG_6243IMG_6246

We learned where Gaudi even managed to get himself into the scene (He’s the old man beside the knights on the first level!).

IMG_6171

We then moved inside.  I have no words for how awesome the inside of this church is when you first walk in.  Gaudi wanted to use light as well as architecture in his design.  I’d say he succeeded pretty spectacularly (also, kudos to my son for snapping this picture with his iPhone!!).

img_6667

The interior is meant to mimic nature so the columns look like trees that branch out at the top; the stained glass is colored so that as the sun moves around the church, different colors shine through; there really are no flat surfaces anywhere in the interior (except the floor of course!).

IMG_6257IMG_6247IMG_6251

Then we moved back outside to the other side, called the Nativity Façade.  This façade is meant to celebrate the birth of Christ.  It is typically Gaudi though, his naturalistic style can be seen throughout with animals and trees interspersed liberally in the design.  This facade is the complete opposite of the stark west side, Passion Façade.

IMG_6266

IMG_6269IMG_6273

The Glory Façade, which will, by all accounts, be the largest and most striking façade  is still under construction and covered by scaffolding and tarps.  This will be the primary entrance to the church and is meant to represent the Path to God.

The church is scheduled to open in 2026…exactly 100 years after Antonio Gaudi’s death and I, for one, can’t wait to see it!

Our tour ended in a small building next to the west façade that Gaudi used as an office, and was also used as a school house for local children.  Pro Tip:  This is the ONLY air-conditioning on the grounds…since temps were in the upper 90’s our entire trip you can imagine how popular this little two room building was!

That night, we also had tickets to a Flamenco show at Tablao Flamenco Cordobes.  With Viator, I had the option of just buying tickets for the show, buying tickets for the show + a drink, or the show + a drink + dinner.  Since we all know I am a firm believer in prepaying for my alcohol, I chose the show+drink ticket.  I really vacillated about adding dinner, but ultimately I did not…and boy am I glad (but we’ll get to that later!).

We were ushered into the seating area, and I immediately realized that one benefit to eating dinner there was procuring front row seats to the show as they were all already taken and we were only the second family seated.  We were all handed our drinks…Sangria obviously, and the show began.

These people are crazy talented.  The dancers and singers alike.  The energy they put out, night after night, several times a night is unbelievable.

IMG_6296IMG_6301IMG_6288IMG_6348

The above shot is a good view of what the room looked like.  A Tablao is the wooden stage where the singers and dancers perform.  Overall I think we all really liked the show, but now we were hungry!!

We decided to just walk along La Rambla since we were already there.  We knew that the restaurants there are more touristy, but we were hungry so we were just really looking for someplace with no wait.  We made it approximately one block to a place called Ultramarinos.

So from a street view perspective, it looked fun and the menu had enough variety to ensure that no one would go hungry.  Plus, they could seat a party of five immediately, which was when we wanted to be seated!

I chose my dinner exclusively from the Tapas section.  I have decided that tapas is the greatest way to eat ever.  Period.  Picking five or six “little plates” allows me to taste a bunch of different items and since I have issues making decisions at restaurants, this is genius.  Jarod and Carly both got Paella (different kinds), Tyler got a burger (I know, I know.) and Mom got  (I think) a chicken sandwich…maybe?  At that point I was so in love with my food she could have gotten Krabbie Patties and I wouldn’t have noticed.  But everyone enjoyed their food immensely no matter what they got.   So if you find yourself hungry on La Rambla, head to Ultramarinos.  Is it kitchy?  Yep.  But it is good food and fun so I would definitely head there again.

Next up, we FINALLY board the ship and head off on to France!!  Plus dinner at Chops!