WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Today is wonderful. I'm home!

Sorry I've been AWOL but internet has been too irregular. I tried to post yesterday from Frankfurt but the IP address was blocked by the SHE boards. Then I was just too tired last night and too rushed this morning.

The travel on the way home was flawless and we slept well at the hotel last night in Toronto.

This morning we stopped on the east side of Toronto at a Toyota dealership and had the oil changed since it was more convenient to take the time there, than wait until later this week and do it at home. This dealership washes cars in for service automatically so the thick layer of dust that the car had accumulated during the 35 days it was parked in the garage at the hotel was removed before the long drive.

We took a 100 mile detour and met up with dd's godparents for lunch. She put on a huge spread with only an hour's notice. Very impressive.

The weather in Toronto is the same as it was in Spain – sunny and 60 degrees so we are having an easy acclimatization to being home. In Ottawa it is a bit cooler and cloudier but still almost in the 40s and the snow is almost all gone.

We drove as fast as we could and made it home just moments before the post office closed so I have 5 weeks of mail to sort through this evening. And water in the basement to deal with. It is around the water heater/pump/pressure tank/conditioners so we have no idea who the guilty party is. We've drawn a chalk line around the damp spot and turned the water to the house back on and will watch to see what happens next.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Dh is off to pick up pizza for dinner.

We are slowly reversing the house-shutting down procedures. Water is on, heat is one, HWT is restarted. Clocks are going. (One advantage to being away during a time change is that I don't have as many clocks to reset to the correct time!)

FedEx has been called. Dh asked that a package be posted to us but the company insisted on sending it FedEx. So they couldn't deliver. Our house checker called on our behalf and had a hold put on it. Then when we called they said we had to pick it up (which means a drive into the city.) They called back later saying they would try to deliver it tomorrow which is much better.

The mail pile is still there. I've slit opened all the envelopes but haven't looked at anything. Just slitting open the envelopes took 15 minutes.

[Harriet]

I enjoyed the Google doodle, too. Also enjoyed toons today, like Nancy's dgd, since dd needed some comfort tv time on the couch. When did Daffy Duck get an entirely new set designer - i am out of the loop.

Skippable "Joys of Teaching"
Dd32 called as she finished up with (distant) work to find "someone who actually cares about me" so I knew she'd had a hard day in the classroom. (She teaches instructors in the state college system.) This was the Americans with Disability Act coursework that each instructor must complete with a hands-on classroom teacher rather than dd's usual specialty of creating distance learning courses. For some reason today's group complained the whole time and demanded reasons they had to go to the trouble of learning helps for teaching the handicapped!! She says most are not like that at all and understand the importance. She said after this group she has 750 students finished and not certain how many more to go. I told her to tell the next class first thing that it's time to hike up their big girl or big boy panties and do the coursework that's set before them! What makes it worse is that she is not actually in charge, and it's not her fault, there is a Task Force. But SHE is not allowed to discuss the Task Force in the classroom setting.

Dd13 finally feels well enough to go outside and do the bike riding. She just left. It is actually hot here. Our temps are appropriate for June or July. The bats are swooping our front yard and getting plenty. God bless them, I hope they are on the lookout for mosquitos for the next several months.

Welcome home, Kathryn.

Indiana, that is a lot of weight to lose - it's great you are eating well.

Headphone info passed along to HRH - thanks Emptynester and Cowinkie!

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Here are the last of my travelogues!

Sunday, was in Mallorca.

Famous for its cultured pearls (which were cheap compared to what I bought from Macy's years ago but I have no idea how to determine quality) and wonderful climate, it was a lovely stop.

Being a Sunday, almost everything was closed, but that was OK. We took the shuttle bus into town and the driver, apologizing for his poor English, did his best to give us a commentary. He was delightful and obviously proud of his island. He told us how much to expect to pay for a beer, apologized that shops would be closed, and suggested enjoying one of their many restaurants. He told us there was a wide variety of cuisine to choose from, including a recently opened Vietnamese restaurant (but the prices are not from Vietnam!) He also warned us about gypsies.

We were dropped by the cathedral where we could hop on the the Hop On/Hop Off tour bus and so we took the tour. In the islands, these have been good value, just 15 – 16 Euros and the tours last an hour but then you can use the bus to head back to spots you want to explore further. The quality of the recorded English tour is very good (there are 8 languages in total, you plug headphones in) and the ability to be on an open, double-decker bus gives you an excellent view and no glass so photo taking is easier.

Of course, weather is a factor and it was chilly (about 14 degrees) which can get cold when you are travelling at higher speed. But the sun for our whole trip has been very strong, and over the total of 30 days of the trip, we have had only 1/2 day of rain and a couple of broken cloud days. The rest of the time has been full sun but I'll come home with no tan because I've been diligent with the sunscreen and my hat.

On Sunday, Ken was just wearing shorts, a short-sleeve shirt, sandals and his windbreaker. I had on black jeans, long sleeve shirt, fleece vest, light sweater and shoes and socks. While on the bus, we put my kikoy, which I have been carrying around almost everywhere because it is so versatile, over our legs to keep them warmer. Because my fleece vest zips up like a mock turtlekneck, I was warm enough although I had forgotten my silk scarf.

Once we were done the tour and started walking, I began to heat up badly. First my sweater came off, followed quickly by vest. At that point I had nothing left to remove so we had to walk in the shade because, even with my sleeves rolled up and my shirt unbuttoned as far as was decent, I was super hot. I did not appreciate warm socks that day! (Yet the temperature never got over 20.)

Ken had been told by the tourism representative on board that there was no nude beach in the area, so he spent the day with me and we walked quite a distance. Palma de Mallora is a delightful small city, great for wandering around. We stopped into a McDonald's for a snack, wifi, and washrooms and hopped on the tour bus again to go back to an area where Ken had spotted two parrots. I decided we should just sit still in the park, under a tree, and wait. Sure enough, after about 5 minutes we heard a squawk above us and a parrot was in full view. We watched him for a while and when he and his mate moved up into the higher branches, there is no way we would have spotted them without knowing they were there. So I'm glad he revealed himself to us.

We then walked back to the ship, a 3km walk along the waterfront which was an amazing marina. It was interesting to look at all the yachts and boats. There was a brokerage firm along the way with for sale ads in the window. You'll be pleased to know that a 29' 2001 Sea Ray is only $80K. If you want something larger, like a 78' yacht, then you'll have to come up with almost $4 million. We didn't see any yachts with a helicopter on top, yet, The Economist commented that serious yachts actually have two!

We were back to the ship in time for afternoon tea and then the final trivia game. Then it was the church service for me, and to quickly dress for the last formal evening. We took the time to attend the comedian's second performance and fully enjoyed it once more. I was sitting with one of my trivia team members, an 87 year old from Hong Kong, and she was laughing away, so this comedian did a fabulous job bridging ages and backgrounds. One of my favourite lines was that he called Colin the crises director instead of the cruise director. How accurate!

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Our final day on board had us waking up in Barcelona.

Ken has been here before but I hadn't so we headed out by 9:45 after having done a little bit of packing.

We were going to take the hop on/off bus but the cruise director warned us that he had heard disappointing reviews from former passengers, and we noted it was not by the same firm as we had used in the other ports, so we bought a multipass ticket for the metro/bus system and headed up to Sagrada Familia, the famous Gaudi Cathedral that is still under construction (it was started in the 1800s.) We were meeting one of our industry friends for lunch so decided not to go inside (it now has a roof, or so we heard) and will save that for another time in Barcelona.

Gaudi was an amazing architect and I want to spend a few days (and a few hundred dollars) touring his works around Barcelona but I didn't want to do a rushed tour this time. So we sat in the park outside the cathedral, taking pictures and trying on our own to pick out the bible stories told in the building's exterior artwork. It was Gaudi's goal to depict the bible in the building's stonework so this was a bit of a challenge.

We walked back to the Placa Catalunya so I could show Ken the giant El Corte Ingles there. It has 9 merchandise floors but we went up to the restaurant on the top to admire the views of the plaza below (and to use the washroom!)

We had a rest in the plaza, watching toddlers run around chasing the pigeons (and thinking of Alex, covered in pigeons in Trafalgar Square) and then tried to contact our friend to meet up for lunch. This got complicated as Ken's phone had signal and he could determine his balance but the call could not connect. So we went to McD's to pick up wifi in the hopes of Skyping him. No wifi. So we went to the tourist information booth in the plaza to find the nearest place we could buy a SIM chip to get a Spanish cell phone. They pointed us to a shop something like Future Shop. We went in and phones were upstairs but there was a cafe by the door so I had Ken check for wifi. Bingo! We checked the phone number against the email with his phone number and that was right but even with Skype we couldn't get through. So Ken emailed our friend and within a moment he phoned Ken. He had given us the wrong number. We arranged to meet at a spot a few blocks away and we walked up. All in all, the confusion only took 40 minutes and within a half hour we were walking along with our friend. It was good to see him again – I believe it has been 5 years for me, the last time I saw him was in Madrid.

We had a wonderful tapas lunch and walked over to another Gaudi building but decided not to tour it because of time. I did spend 45 minutes going through the museum shop in the building. It was full of interesting books on design and architecture and interesting ways to live. I noted many titles to look up when I get back to Canada. There were also interesting items inspired by Gaudi's work. Everything was expensive so it was easy to buy nothing, but everything was also very tempting.

We started to walk back towards the ship but I was tired (I had been standing/walking for 3.25 hours in the morning) despite the long lunch break so we took a bus back towards the ship, getting a chance to see other parts of Barcelona. We got off that bus at the end of its line and immediately hopped another to Baceloneta, an older and picturesque area on the water front. The afternoon shadows were the longest we've seen since Capetown, a reminder that we are now quite far north. We walked along the beach for a bit, I got to see the narrow alleys with apartments that had intrigued Ken so much on his first visit to Barcelona, and then we took a bus back towards the ship.

On the way we got off by the Christopher Columbus statue (with him pointing the wrong way) and then walked the few blocks to the ship. It was very convenient having the ship docked right in the centre of town.

Our suitcases, freshly cleaned by our butler were laid out on the luggage racks, a not-so-gentle hint that it was time for us to start packing for real. Actually, I had spent time on Saturday packing and put away all the formal wear after Sunday's formal night, so one case was already packed.

I cashed in my 35 cruise points (earned during trivia) for a fridge magnet memo holder and then we went for an early dinner, just the two of us this time so that we could eat quickly and get back to packing.

Our cases were out by 10:15 (the deadline is 11) and then used 2/3 of the last of our internet time to check us in for our flights. We had lights out by 10:45.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Tuesday and Wednesday – homeward bound!

I was actually ready to leave the ship but that didn't stop me from tearing up at the thought of leaving our favourite people on board. I'll miss hearing Colin's announcement each morning, letting me know what my schedule will be like, and I'll miss Adrian finding us in the morning, even if he wasn't our server, to wish me good morning and find out our plans for the day. We made sure we were sat at his table for dinner as often as possible. It is his first contract on Silversea as a waiter but we noted he was among the best in the restaurant our second night and enjoyed seeing him each night.

We got up early on Tuesday and the morning went very well. Since our cruise had included flights, Silversea was responsible for getting us to the airport so we went on a bus with a couple dozen passengers. We were in the lounge just an hour after leaving the port and spent 2 hours in quiet comfort, starting to reintegrate into 'real life'.

The first flight was to Frankfurt, a 140 minute flight and very comfortable since we had 3 seats between the two of us. Lots of legroom too.

I went through all my pocketmods (small notebooks I make up from blank-one-side paper in order to take notes through each day) and combined all the important notes (recommended movies, books, tv shows, websites, hotels, etc.) into one pocketmod. Now I can toss the dozen I've used through the trip and come home with just one.

At Frankfurt, Ken's status gave us access to the nicer lounge so we had our linner (lunch/dinner) there and accessed free internet. Even so, I hadn't written the travelogues yet so couldn't get them sent until we arrived home.

The 8.5 hour flight from Frankfurt to Toronto was late leaving but relatively easy. There are four cabins on the plane; the first two were Executive First class (with the pods) and the back two were economy seating with a 2-4-2 configuration. We had two seats together in the third cabin but since the back cabin was virtually empty, I moved back to its front row to stretch out over four seats to rest for a lot of the flight. I would have stayed in my own seat except the gentleman behind me had long legs and his knees were digging into the back of my seat and I hated to recline into him when there was room elsewhere for me. I watched two movies, Ken watched 3 and then we watched some episodes of Big Bang Theory as we were landing.

In Toronto everything went smoothly and our luggage was almost first off the plane. We grabbed a dinner at Subway and then took the hotel shuttle. We were in bed by 11:15.

Wednesday morning we managed to sleep in until 8:30 and were on our way at 10:10. The car started up just fine but was covered in a thick layer of dust. We stopped in Whitby for breakfast and to have the oil changed before the drive home. The dealership also washed the car for us which was wonderful.

We diverted through Peterborough on the way home and had lunch with dd's Godparents. She put on a marvelous spread with just an hour's notice. The weather in Toronto is the same as it was in Spain – sunny and 60 degrees so we are having an easy acclimatization to being home. In Ottawa it is a bit cooler and cloudier but still almost in the 40s and the snow is almost all gone.

We drove as fast as we could and made it home just moments before the post office closed so I have 5 weeks of mail to sort through this evening. And water in the basement to deal with. It is around the water heater/pump/pressure tank/conditioners so we have no idea who the guilty party is. We've drawn a chalk line around the damp spot and turned the water to the house back on and will watch to see what happens next.

Other than that (and the huge pile of things ds moved home while we were away), the house looks great. Now to see how long it takes me to recover and return to normal life.


Please excuse the duplication in this post over what I posted earlier today. I cut and paste from my travelogue.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Dinner is done.

For some strange reason, the plates are still on the table. I must get used to having to clear them and wash them. On the ship, that happened automatically.

I've left my pillow at the hotel this morning so I have to call them and have them ship it here. It is one of a pair from Europe and packs up quite small so I can't live without it, nor can I replace it here.

[Lynlee]

Welcome home Kathryn and Ken

I picked up my car this morning. repairs are done.
It'll be good to have it looking good again. And not cringe at police cars.

I need a quick lunch then theres support group.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Unpacking is progressing. My two cases are emptied and all but the formal wear is either put away or put in baskets for the laundry. The smaller stuff, souvenirs, travel aids, etc. are still in a pile on the spare bed.

I'll get my purse re-loaded and then go to bed.

Tomorrow is a big day. Aside from laundry, I've got a non-profit board meeting and my doctor's appointment.

I've dug out a long-dead, very distant, relative's wedding band and am wearing that while I figure out what to do with my own broken wedding and engagement rings. Don't know why I have this guy's wedding band (I also have his wife's university graduation ring, since she graduated from university in 1898 that is significant) but it fits my ring finger perfectly. He must have had very slender fingers for a man, because my hands are very small. She wasn't petite and her ring fits my thumb.

[Harriet]

Thanks for all the updates, Kathryn. Every port should have a giant statue pointing as a landmark near the cruise ships !!! That would be a big help. Hope the chalk outline helps you solve the crime.

Happy your car troubles are in the rear view window, Lynlee.

I was on the verge of eating all wrong this evening, caught myself, and made myself a big salad. Yay.

Tomorrow after school is a meeting at dd13's school about the high school she will attend starting 9th grade next year. Interesting that we are not invited to the actual high school itself for an event like this. I hope it's not because they don't think we can handle it!