Fifth Stop: Barcelona, Spain

Come join Melissa and me as we take a bus with green tinted windows tour of Barcelona, Spain.

(Please feel free to just ignore us once again.)



One of the first things that we saw as we started our tour of Barcelona was this bride and groom having their picture made.



Sigh.

I just love wedding pictures.

And for two homesick girls, this next sign we saw through the green tinted bus window was a welcome sight, as well as a sweet reminder of home.



Sigh.

(And just to let you know, our bus was that close to the Starbucks' building....I did not zoom in with my camera. Shiver.)

If I remember correctly (and the jury is still out on this), these next two pictures are of a monument dedicated to the memory of Christopher Columbus.



It is difficult to take decent pictures from the inside of a moving tour bus with green tinted windows, and this monument was so tall that I had to take two shots of it to try to let you see the whole thing. (I was very dedicated to taking pictures of everything to share with you, my bloggy buddies.)



I have no idea what this next building was, but it was really beautiful.



And I'm sorry to say, that I also have no idea what the name of this building is either, but it was stunning. (Of course, I do realize that there is a name on the front of this building, but I just don't have any idea of what it says.....Do you?)



If you have read this blog even once before, then you know that I am a girl who gets a kick out of the "little" things in life. So, you'll understand when I tell you that I really got a kick out of these chocolate covered almonds that I bought in Barcelona.



Sigh.

They were sooooo delicious! And you will all be very happy to know that I did share some of these yummy chocolate covered almonds with Melissa, unlike my cannoli.

Melissa was posing with her salty treat from Barcelona, much like one of Bob Barker's Drew Carey's lovely ladies on "The Price is Right."



(Can you guess how many Euros for this bag of salty treats that I can't pronounce the name of?)

This next picture is of a sign in the bathroom at the little store in Barcelona that all forty of us ladies on the tour bus had to use the bathroom at.



When we read this sign, we got so tickled! (Especially when we thought of Kenny and Yvette.)



It was so funny, because there was no way to really mess up the water closet, because there was no toilet paper or paper towels in the water closet.

(Is it just me, or does water closet sound much more proper than "the bathroom?")

Once we were able to compose ourselves, Melissa took this picture of me "showing" you "The Price is Right" style the empty toilet paper container.



Thank God, I am a lady who doesn't leave the house without a roll of "Charmin To Go" in my bag, so Melissa and I were okay......But I can't speak for the other thirty-eight women.

(FYI~ If you ever decide to go to Europe, take several rolls of "Charmin To Go" with you; bathrooms not having paper was a common occurrence during our trip. But I will share more about that in a later post.)

After we were finished with all of our bathroom nonsense, we had about ten minutes to look around outside. The little store with no toilet paper was located right across the street from this magnificent church building, which is still under construction.



"Isn't that church 'gaudy'?" you ask.

Well, it's very funny that you should ask me that. It is indeed very "gaudy," but not in the way you think.



It was created by a "now" famous architect with the last name of Gaudi. He is now deceased, but when he was alive, everyone thought his designs were ridiculous. (I will have more of them in the next post.) But after his death, people became intrigued with his work.

His name along with his designs, is where we get the term and definition for the word "gaudy."

Gaudy:
1: ostentatiously or tastelessly ornamented 2: marked by extravagance or sometimes tasteless showiness

The name of this church is the Sagrada Familia.
I can't remember the exact dates and times, but they have been working on this building for many, many years, and it is going to take many, many more to see it through to its completion.



It is a massive structure, and it's unbelievably gaudy ornate.



In order for you to appreciate how massive this church building is, click on the picture below to enlarge it. You will notice over to the left hand side of the picture (almost half way down the photo), that there is something resembling a white dot. The white dot is a full grown man's tee shirt.



Pretty incredible, huh?

Well, right before getting back on the tour bus with green tinted windows, Melissa had me snap a picture of this lady's "interesting hair do." Melissa wanted so badly to take a pair of scissors and cut that little "rat tail" off of her head.



Melissa was just saying is all.

That's all for now; I will torture you all with more from Barcelona, Spain, next time.

First Stop: Naples, Italy

I'm going to begin telling you a bit about the trip.....I was gone for so many days and so many things happened that I will probably get some things out of order, and I may even repeat myself a lot a little. So I will just apologize to all of you ahead of time for any confusion or repetition that may take place in the upcoming posts. (Especially to Kenny, who I know falls asleep from time to time while reading this blog.) :)

I thought I would start out by showing you the cruise ship that we were on. Melissa took my picture in front of it so we could show everyone. It was called the Carnival Freedom. The Carnival Freedom was absolutely the most wonderful cruise ship that I have ever seen.....I do realize that it is the only one that I have ever seen, but you will just have to trust me when I tell you that I am certain it is the most wonderful.

I'm just saying is all.



Our first port of call was Naples, Italy. (Hi, Aleisha!) This is a picture of Melissa and I getting off of the most wonderful cruise ship. (I should probably also mention and apologize that Melissa and I took our pictures doing absolutely everything; we just wanted to share the experience with everyone is all. Trust me though.....you will love most all of the pictures.)



We basically just drove through Naples (I will tell you about the driving conditions here in a future post) and then on to Sorrento and Positano to be able to see the Amalfi Coast. This picture is me standing in front of Mt. Vesuvius; it was so beautiful. Mt. Vesuvius you may or may not know is the volcano that erupted and destroyed the ancient city of Pompeii in AD 79 (I believe). It's definitely worth looking up if you are not familiar with it.



These next two pictures were taken along the Amalfi Coast. My camera, of course, does not do this place any justice, so once again, you will just have to trust me when I tell you, "This place is breathtaking!"





The rest of the pictures that I am showing you today were taken in Positano. If you have seen the movie Under the Tuscan Sun, Positano is where Diane Lane goes with the first man that she meets and has a romance with. (Just so you know, I am full of all kinds of perfectly useless information like that. It's a gift.)

Positano is as charming as it is beautiful.
Everywhere you look is an amazing view like this one.



And I have never seen so many different types of flowers and trees in my life. All types and all colors.



We were told that all of the houses like the ones you see on the side of the mountain, you have to walk up steps to get to. The people who live in them have to park their cars on the side of the road (like I said earlier, I will talk about the driving conditions here in a future post) and walk up however many steps to get to their homes......Please understand.....It is a lot of steps.



After looking around and shopping in Positano (I'll tell you about that later too) our tour guide drove us all the way to the top of the mountain to have lunch at a local family restaurant. The name of the restaurant is painted on the plate in the next picture.....Imagine a really attractive Italian man pronouncing it for you......Sigh



This restaurant was like something right out of a movie. Nestled at the top of a mountain with an amazing view, full of very attractive Italian men, and more food than you could even imagine. And the whole place was filled with the aroma of fresh baked bread and rich tomato sauces...mmmmmmm! Each dish that was brought to our table was better than the one before; and after stuffing ourselves full......they brought out platters of desserts. It was overwhelming and wonderful.

After stuffing myself to the point of popping, I had to visit the "ladies room." Kenny and Yvette , this last picture is for you. I walked into the bathroom only to see this little picture window opened and overlooking this......



.... a bathroom with a view......only in Italy.:)