Got up and started repacking – my bag was too heavy, so I redistributed some stuff to everyone else’s bags. We definitely packed lighter than we have in the past, but I still feel like I overpacked. Turns out Jude brought a physical book plus his physical Bible. He also didn’t bring the shoes that I bought him specifically for this trip! The ones he has are full of holes and falling apart. Grrr. I also think that my pack, as cool as it is – it can be a duffle, a backpack, or a roller bag, and has lots of good pockets and is able to be divided up – it is heavy by itself. Graeme and Becky have great rolling backpacks that are very simple. Zane also forgot the flips flops I bought him, but we realised it when we were in Gresham so I was able to buy him some before we left.
Went down for our final breakfast at the hotel. Stole lots of wrapped cakes to bring with us.
Went back and finished packing. G&B accidentally booked their room for an extra night so we left all our things in their room. We headed back to Park Guell which we bought tickets for this time. When we came off the mountain yesterday, we found a way that had escalators going up, so we were hoping to find those, but ended up hiking up the hill again through the neighborhoods, and seemingly endless staircases. So hot and sweaty when we finally made it. The Park is beautiful – amazing views of the City. Flora and Fauna. Gaudi’s hand can be seen throughout. Found a water source and we all got a bit wet, drank a lot, refilled our bottles, and had a tiny water fight. We saw a lot of parakeets and their nests in the palms. The flowers were so bright and beautiful. Gaudi’s mosaics, rolling benches, colonnades, pillars, fountains, buildings.
Lots of influencers trying to get shots. Love finding quiet spots in the midst of all the people. There’s incredible beauty in the big picture when you pull back and look at the architecture, at nature, at the geography, and it’s there when you zoom in to the details of the broken pottery and china used in the mosaics, the colors of the flowers, the insects buzzing around.
We all got ice cream treats at a shop and sat in a park for a bit before heading back to Westfield. We wanted to go to McDonalds to experience that in a foreign country. I got a beer with my meal for the same price as a soda. The food definitely tasted a bit different, but it was fun.
We then went to a big supermarket called Carre Four to get some supplies for the Ferry. Bread, meat, cheese, fruit, water, wine, biscuits. They sold 99 cent bottles of wine.
Went back to the hotel. Zane chatted to Amara for a while which was lovely. Used the internet to activate our Eurail passes and then headed out to get taxis to the Ferry Terminal. Colin and Graeme spent a lot of time and energy trying to figure out the cheapest and best way to get to the Terminal, turns out taxis were the way to go and we were so thankful to not have to lug our bags around on public transport and then have a huge walk to get to the terminal. .
Checked in at the terminal and then went to the waiting room. They said boarding would begin at 830 pm. There were X Ray machines in the room, so we thought someone would come and open that up and tell us to start boarding, but then we saw that people were just heading out of the building and on to the gangway and into the ship, so we did the same. We got on board and went to find our rooms. Our room was so hard to find and far from G&Bs room, and when we got into the room, it hadn’t been cleaned! I headed down to reception leaving Colin and the boys in the room only to find that G&B were there too and their room hadn’t been cleaned either. We ended up getting new rooms right next to each other which was brilliant. The room was great. A double bed, a pull out sofa, and a pullman bed. Table and chairs, bathroom, closet, fridge. G&Bs room had an Italian painting of a woman nursing a baby with an old man passed out nearby. Ours had a painting of Samuel anointing David – still managed to have a naked baby in it though.
Many of the Italian staff on the ship seem super mean and angry. Not accommodating at all as we tried to communicate. I asked one guy (the scariest one) if there was free wifi. He said, “Yes there’s free wifi! It costs 12 euros.” There have been a couple of nice ones, but it’s a bit scary!
We headed out to explore the ship. Had a look at the disco, the casino, the arcade, and the restaurants. We were due to leave at 11 pm. We went to the deck bar and G&B bought us drinks. B and I had Negronis. Italian classics. Super strong and bitter, not terrible, but not easy to drink. We also ate our stolen cakes.
Then we took our chairs to the side of the deck to await departure. More conversations and laughter. Rich time together. Departure was delayed by at least half an hour and everyone was feeling tired, but we stayed until we got past the sand bar and into the open sea.
Back to the room. It was well after midnight.
Lamppostings 