AMSTERDAM or Almost home

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TOUR DE FRANCE

What a pleasant surprise to find that the last stage of the Tour was on Sunday whilst I was in Paris. The Tour de France is a century old cycle race held in 21 separate stages in 21 separate area. The last stage starts in a Chateau Chantilly S of Paris, enters Paris and makes several loops down the Champs Elysee to,the Louvre and eventually finishes along the Champs. John and I checked the route a few days in advance and reckoned the areas to watch the last couple of laps. We found a good description of watching from precious years, but due to security, many of the plans we made were changed as we made our way to the course. We made a lucky find and had 2 different viewing angles. It was quite exciting for a MS 150 veteran to be there. Chris Froome a Brit from Kenya won for the 3rd time on Team Sky.

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NORMANDY

I couldn't come all the way to France and not make a trip to the battleground of Normandy. There are 5 different beaches of landing along a 40 mile stretch of the northwestern coast of France. The area is about 150 miles NW of Paris. Many people make the visit over a day and night. I chooses a tour that returned the same day. My bus left @ 0700 and return @ 2100. It was a long day but worth it. My favorite stops out of the 5 different places were the Memorial de Caen and the American Cemetery. There are many stories of individual heroism. One was the climbing of the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc by the Army Rangers to take out a German gun bunker. It was led by a Colonel James Rudder who I am told was an Aggie. There is also photographic evidence of the USS Texas bombarding the Germans during the landing.

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VERSAILLES

Versailles is not just a Palace but a magnificent park and palace About 12 miles SW of Paris Center. It consists of 2000 acres( 2.5 X size if Central Park) of a wonderfully landscaped park and grounds on which sits the Palace of Versailles. The palace is > 700,000 ft which was started by one of the King Louis in 1623 as a hunting lodge and was enlarged to became the center of noble life and power by multiple King Louis over the years. It has the most ornate rooms and halls. It was the home pf multiple treaty signing including the Peace of Paris 1783 in which the UK recognized the independence of the United States. The German Empire was founded in 1871 with a proclamation signed at Versailles and of course the ending and terms of the armistice of WWI was the Treaty of Versailles. Without a doubt this was my favorite excursion of the summer.

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ABOUT PARIS

Paris is one of those places that has a million things to do, from wonderful confections ,art collections and outdoor cafes. I did it all in the first 3 days. Montmartre is a area that is the highest point of Paris has a cathedral and an area with lots of cafes , shops and markets. There are plenty of cafes to sit and enjoy a meal or a Campari.

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TRAVEL TO PARIS

Monday morning and its a short 45 min drive to Girona to drop off the car and board the high speed TGV to Paris. At speed of 290 Km/hr I was there in 6 hours. John and Sandra meet me at Gare de Lyon and a quick Uber to their apartment in the Latin Quarter. Now the real exercise started. Their apartment was on the 6th level and there was no lift. It was basically my daily stair master.

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WEEKEND AT PLATJA D'ARO

After my efforts for 3 wks at Spanish School, I rewarded myself(the key to happiness is to reward yourself frequently) with a weekend at a really nice hotel on the beach. The Cosmopolita Hotel Boutique at Platja d'Aro was just what the doctor ordered. Directly on the beach with a nice bar cafe on the boardwalk and a lovely pool deck on the roof. It was perfect and the crisp cold clear water was perfect. I haven't been in the Mediterranean in years and I didn't remember how nice the water is.

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BARCELONA'S LAST DAYS

The last day of class was quite an interesting day. We spent most of that 3rd week on irregular and reflective verbs. Then I remembered why I had such a hard time with language in high school. I assumed that I was the only idiot in the class until the girl from London chewed out the teacher. It was a Kodak moment as they say. Everyone in the class felt loss and the teacher stopped and game us a pep talk and our certificates. I am going to continue my Spanish at home and attempt to get more comfortable so I can travel to South America in the near future. The afternoon was beautiful and I took the bus to the top of MontJuic. This is a beautiful area of Barcelona which is a the tallest point in B. It is the home of the Olympic Stadium as well as an ancient castle built to guard the port below. There is an exciting trail and overlook here.

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A FIELD TRIP TO COSTA BRAVA

After 2 weeks of 4-5 hours a day of classroom work, the school loaded 50 of us on a bus and we went up,the coast for the day to visit one of the famous beach towns. The water was clear and cold. Probably the coldest water I have been in since rafting in Colorado. Unfortunately, one of the memorial moments of the trip was waiting and looking for the lost girl from California who didn't make it back to the bus on time. After a search party failed to locate her and no answer on her cell, the trip leader decided with much trepidation, to leave and return those of us who did follow directions home. We got the report the next day that she was confused on the time to return. Remember when I mentioned that all the trips were spoken in Spanish. No English from any of the staff. I bet that girl remembers her numbers from here on.

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SAGRAD FAMILIA

The most well known project of Antoni Gaudi is the Sagrada Familia. The Sagrada is the large basilica in Barcelona. Started by another architect in 1882, but the project was taken over by Gaudi a year later. Although Gaudi died in 1926, the church is an ongoing project. There are still adding towers to it. I have seen a lot of European and middle eastern houses of worship over the years, and they start to get a little boring if you are not so religious. However this structure is mind blowing considering it was designed in the late 19th century. This is not the main cathedral of Barcelona, but it has been names a Basilica.

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EXPLORING BARCELONA

In addition to having a large passenger port, there is a rather large, well developed beach, boardwalk and associated structures. The water here is nowhere near as nice as the beachfront up the coast at the Costa Brava. Most of my spare time was spent in cafe's and pedestrian street venues. Spain has a reputation in the financial world as being on the verge of financial collapse, but don't tell that to all the young Europeans who live here and are moving here to enjoy the city lifestyle.

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ANTONI GAUDI

I had apartment 2-3 miles from the school. If you are familiar at all with Barcelona, you will no doubt know of the famous architct Gaudi. This 19th century master has created many beautiful sites in town.. One is the Park Gual. This is a large open area in the upper elevations from which one has great views of the city. His style of design is evident throughout. These pictures were taken about 6 PM. These sites are so popular that the only way to visit them is to buy tickets online days on advance.

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ACTIVIITIES

The school makes sure that in addition to hiring excellent teachers, they have a full staff of young energetic "hosts" that create and accompany excursions everyday. The conversation is exclusively in Spanish. You are forced to learn quickly if you don't want to be in the dark. My first trip was a walk through the "Gothic Quarter", one of the oldest areas of B. We visited the Cathedral of B. It so happens that a girls choir from Philadelphia was singing. We finished in a famous Tapas Bar to properly learn the art of selecting, eating and paying for Tapas. A requirement if one is to exist in B. The. Next day was a boat excursion out of the port of B, same place where a year earlier I caught my Mediterranean, Suez Canal, Red Sea cruise on the RCL Quantum of the Sea. Finished the day with a dinner in the open mercado with two of my classmates, one a doctor from Bergen Norway and the other a chef from Oslo Sweden. That evening, we had Sangria and Salsa lessons on the the rooftop patio. As you can tell I didn't have much time to review my class work. This is an immersion program. They teach by throwing you in it. But it is still very difficult for me. I never had much luck with language while in high school and I'm not finding it any easier. However, after living in the Southwest for most of my life, my "diction" is one of the best in the school according to my teachers. I don't know what to say, but whatever I say, sounds very good!

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SPANISH SCHOOL

The purpose of this trip was to visit Barcelona, which I had first seen last summer to board the Quantum of the Sea Mediterranean Cruise. I thought I should have something constructive to do so I enrolled in an Spanish School. There are several good programs in Barcelona to choose from. I made my selection based on the fact that most only start beginners at a certain week of the month and I needed to start that Monday. The school is very well organized on two different buildings a block apart in Downtown B. I had 4 hours of continuous classroom time. Fortunately, I like coffee and there are several shops between the two buildings. My Level A-0 had 10 students from all over the world. All spoke pretty good English and all wanted to learn Spanish.

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TO SPAIN

The Flight from Hell What ever happened to companies that take pride in the product or service they offer? I'm referring to the airline industry. Now running your flights on time and getting the baggage, that we now have to pay for; to the clint on the other end should be pretty basic. Well it wasn't for this passenger. I planned this trip last November when I purchased some miles from American. Why American? For a Houston based traveler, well they had miles on sale and and as a frequent traveler, I couldn't resist. Next year Ill listen to my friend Eddie the travel agent and by pass American. Anyway the short hop from Houston Bush to DFW on the A320 was uneventful. It was only after arriving in Dallas that the texts staring coming thru announcing the delay. I went to the club to attempt a reroute, but was told for security reasons that would not be possible. Anyway we left 4 hours late which caused me to miss a connection in Madrid. Because the flights out of Madrid were full, I nad another 4 hours on Madrid. I Finally arrived at the apartment in Barcelona @ 9PM instead of the original planned 1 P M. Over the last 5 years I have flown overseas without a problem. All have been on foreign based carriers. This was the first time on a American based airline. So much for FF miles.

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Dubai

May 29-31 We awoke Friday am in Dubai. It is extremely hot. 90 F as we departed the boat at 9 am. Reminds me of Vegas. John and Sandra joined me in a cab ride to the hotel which is in the Marina District. It takes about 30 min at express way speeds. This place in much larger than I imagined..After dropping my bags, we picked up a Metro pass and rode to the Mall of the Emirates. Amazing place, they have every US brand and then some. Even have an enclosed Ski Slope with SNOW. After a couple hours there we went to the Madinat Jumeirah, a beautiful high end mall with waterways and had some beers and eventually dinner. I returned to my hotel and the Lopez's went back to the ship as they are continuing the cruise for the next month eventually ending in Shanghai The following morning prior to John and Sandra sailing, we walked the old city. The Gold Market or Souk is the largest market of gold in the world. I was tempted to pick up some 1 oz bars as there is very little mark up on the price. This town is very much like Las Vegas without the gaming. It really developed in the 60's when the exploration for oil began in the Emirates. The city is built out of the desert and everything is very modern and well designed. The population is over 2 Million so that is twice as large as Vegas. It was so hot that afternoon that I couldn't get across the sand at my beach and settled on the swimming pool. The final morning I took the Metro to the Burg Khalifa and the Dubai Mall. To ride up the Burg to the 124 floor cost about $30 but the tickets must be purchased for a time and they were sold out till tomorrow. I could buy a $150 ticket to the 148 level, but decided money could be better spent. Well after a afternoon nap in the health club, I headed to the airport for my 24 hour journey home via Doha, Qatar.

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Cruising the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden

May 23 The Red Sea is not Red. Its very blue and clean. Its called the red sea because there is some plankton that under certain circumstances gives off a red hue. It didn't the week i was on it. We sailed for 7 full days and nights to get from Aqaba Jordan to Dubai UAE. Essentially around the Arabian Peninsula. Now we had some hot spots around us. Yemen, Somalia, Gulf of Aden(home of the infamous somali pirate attacks) and finally the Strait of Hormuz. This is some of the busiest commercial shipping lanes on the world. The cruise company looked out for our safety. They had a plan. In Aqaba we loaded a private security force known as VPI. These guys are ex-British SAS and essentially mercenaries. From sundown to sunrise they maned the outside decks. We also ran dark. No running lights, all curtains closed on the ship and we were not allowed outside. We even had an emergency plan and a drill. Nothing happened. I had breakfast one morning with a couple of the security team as  they were on their way to bed. Once you saw these guys, you knew there was nothing to worry about.

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Jordan

May 22
 Aqaba is a small port town at the top of the a 112 nm inlet to the Red Sea. It is positioned just next to the Israeli border town of Eilat, Israel. In fact there is a very active pedestrian border. This is Jordan's only sea access and it was evident in the port. We arrived early in the morning to find about 50 tour buses lined up in orderly fashion to take our ships passengers on the daily excursions There were two, a 10 hour excursion to the ancient ruins of the historic city of Petra(Raiders of the Lost Ark) fame and the much shorter 5 hour trip to the Wadi Rum(Lawrence of Arabia fame), a mountainous valley in the Jordanian desert full of Bedouins, camels and beautiful scenery. John and I choose the shorter trip. We were at the Wadi Rum tourist center in just under an hour where I purchased my head gear for the 2 1/2 hr ride through the desert. We had tea and dates with the native bedouins and rode their camels. It really wasn't as hot as i thought it might be and it was definitely a new experience. We pulled away at sunset and began our week long sail through the troubled waters of the Africa and the Middle East.

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Suez Canal

May 21 We arrived at Port Said around 8 PM sunset on the 19th. Apparently we could not enter until the next morning, so we turn N, into the wind and stopped. John and I found one of the officers and were told that the pilot was coming abound at 5:30, so I ordered coffee and rolls for the room at 6 and we were up on my balcony for the transit. Now the Suez canal is a series of natural lakes connected at both ends by a man made canal. There are no locks as there are in the Panama. .Opened in 1869, it is just wide enough for one way traffic which is the reason we had to wait till the next morning. Southbound traffic in the am, Northbound later in the day. When we entered we fell in line, single file spaced about a mile behind the tanker in front. A tug is interspersed between each ship. I am on the Starboard side of the ship and we were close enough to the fertile side of the canal that I could see the faces of the people lined up to watch us. As excited as our crew and passengers were, apparently this is the largest passenger ship to traverse the canal and the excitement was evident on shore. It took 6 1/2 hrs @ 9 Kts to reach the first lake and then after an hour or two we entered the southernmost canal for the remainder of journey to reach the Red Sea. There were military installations along the western(fertile) side with lots of soldiers and activity. The Eastern side was nothing but sand dunes and dredging.

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Athens

May 18 I've learned the first thing to do in a new city is to engage the services of the Red Hop On buses. One was waiting when we arrived at the Port of Piraeus which is about 20 km south of the town center of Athens. I was in Athens 30 years ago and I didn't remember any thing notable except the Acropolis. My memory was correct. John and Sandra hiked up,the hill to the Parthenon, not able to enter due to the crowds and returned to pick me up in a hotel lobby drinking coffee and checking my email. After a nice stroll down a pedestrian shoping area, we had a greek lunch, hoped back on the red bus and returned to the ship.

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At Sea

Let me tell you a. Little about this beautiful ship. It is the newest in the Royal Caribbean Fleet. Having made its maiden voyage in the summer of 2014. It spent the first 6 months out of Newark, now permanently repositioned to Shanghai. Its the longest passenger ship in the ocean at over a 1000 ft. Holds 4070 passengers when full which it is not on this repositioning . 1700 crew they are some of the best I've encountered in my 15 cruises. Very high tech. Several very large public rooms are great to deposit yourself. The front of the ship is a large solarium with multi layer pools.and a fantastic view of whats ahead. The rear contains a large 2 story room that doubles as a lounge in the day and a special theatre at night. The rear room called 270 reportedly cost 33 million and was my favorite place. We had daily lectures there from a history professor, the ex-DA of LA county, and the ex-president of Paramount Pictures. At night there was a spectacular Circ d'Sole type show or they lowered the blinds and had show which were projected on them. Instead of the usual massive dinning room with assigned seating, there are 4 large theme restaurants which are complimentary. There is a steak hose with a charge. We did it one night when John worked a deal but its really not necessary as the Beef Tenderloin in the "American Icon" is as good as Marie's in Houston. The buffet called the Windjammer was spectacular and very well designed. Plenty of seating. Oh did I mention there was a bakery with right out of the oven cookies and scones. I made regular trips to this. There was a gondola ride on the top called the Northstar with magnificent views over the ship. The only time I felt crowded on the ship was at the main pool but a found other pools to cool off. Sea days were very relaxing!

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Naples

May 16 Naples is one pf the busiest ports in Italy. Home of the one of the richest man on Italy, the owner of MSC shipping. Made fortunes in commercial shipping, started a very popular criuse line. I joined an organized tour from a brochure someone handed me on the boat. 34 of us met off the ship, boarded a bus with an english speaking guide and drove an hour south to the Amalfi Coast. After stop in Sorrento with time for lunch, an 45 min drive south along the coast taking in the sites of the Amalfi Coastline and then an amazing U turn on the narrow cliff highway and a return to Pompeii. Now Pompeii needs no introduction. What you probably don't know is that its origins date back to 700 BC and it was covered by the ashes of the massive eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. We spent 2 hrs with Lour guide Malo who,grew up in the area. The city had streets, shops, fountains, bathhouses. Preserved by the burial under the ash. Back to boat for dinner at one of the fine restaurants on board.

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Rome

May 15 Civitavecchia is a small port town 70 kilometer NW of Rome which is actually the Mediterranean access to rome. We took a bus from the port to the train station and then a commuter train to Rome. John got us off at Pl. St. Pete. A 15 min walk through twisted streets, around a corner and Voila. The Vatican! The surrounding columns are really impressive. We got there about 9:30 as the crowds and lines were just forming We have all been there before so we skipped the entry and proceeded to the bus stop for the HopOn HopOff bus tour; my favorite way of exploring a new town. Now i don't get on and off. I just sit up top listening to the narration and see the major sites of the city. We did get off and walk around the park and ruins of the "Circus Maximus" before riding the bus back to the Vatican to catch the train back to the coast.

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Sea Day

May 14 Sea Day. Got a guided tour of the ship from John and Sandra who had already been on board crossing the Atlantic. Now this is my 15th cruise in 7 years. This is the newest ship in the ocean and these things keep getting bigger and more elegant. They have gotten away from the Nautical theme and now its like being at a modern resort hotel with beautiful and elegant sitting areas and restaurants. Multiple showrooms and venues. Of course one cam still get comfortable on the side decls and upper decks. This ship has done away with the massive dining room and instead has 6 or 7 specialty dining rooms each like a new restaurant at home.

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Barcelona

May 13 In the morning a fantastic breakfast in the lobby of the hotel, i checked out and stored my bag and then it was off to Pre-arraigned meeting place with my travel companions, Sandra and John Lopez. When I turned the corner to the hotel, I saw them having coffee at an outside table. Right behind me, another couple they had arraigned to meet walked up. We were off @ 10 am to find the train to Montserrat. This is an ancient monastery which was built during the dark ages of Europe. It is high in the mountains N of Barcelona and requires an hour train ride and a funicular up the mountain. I left them after a couple hors and returned solo to town to recover my bag and check in the ship so I could leave for dinner. I had bought a ticket for a piano concert that evening at the historic Palou de Musica and i wanted plenty of time to explore La Rambla. The main pedestrian walkway for dinner prior to the show. Everything went off without a problem until I got to the pier. The check in was a Chinese fire drill. Literally. Anyway. I gave my bag to a porter to send onboard and left for the city. I returned to the ship @ 10:30 that evening, after the concert. Walked on , checked in and was in my cabin in 15 minutes. Just in time to watch us back out of the harbor past the Celebrity Reflection which I cruised on January.

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