April 5 - “First order …”

I woke up at 3 am with a horrible cramp in my lower leg that tracked all the way down into my ankle. Very painful. Even when it started easing up, I couldn’t get back to sleep. After all, it was about 4 pm in Spain (and in my body) time. After an effort to restart my bedtime routine by working a crossword puzzle, I finally gave up and got up. And when I started moving around, I was sore all over. 

It took a long time, but I did manage a quick nap around five.  I spent the majority of time otherwise reading through mail and newspapers. Oh, and it suddenly hit me. I had forgotten to take my evening meds. That explained a lot. 

Once Chris got up, our first order of business was a Walmart run to do some major replenishment of supplies. Like bananas, of course. Then we went over to Randall’s to pick up a prescription for me. We also grabbed some milk (Walmart was out of one percent) and ice cream (on sale) as well. 

Back at home, Corey came over to show us his new violin. We even got an impromptu concert. He played one that sounded like an Irish jig. Reminded me of Joe, the Irishman who sat at our table for dinner each night. Fun guy, for sure, and he has an incredible testimony about how he was introduced  to Jesus. That’s an image that will forever be in my mind. 

And once Corey was finished, it was Janell’s turn. She wasted no time in convincing us to come across the street. Seems she got a new toy as well. There in her driveway was a brand-new Prius. She was so proud of all the bells and whistles. Now Brennan has a slightly used car waiting to assist in meeting his every whim.  

I watched an Astros game on TV in the afternoon. It sure is easier to stay awake at three in the afternoon than at three in the morning. That’s when they played while we were in Spain. Oh, and Chris got started on our massive pile of cruise laundry.

All in all, it was the quiet day we were hoping for. 

‭‭1 John‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬ says, This is how we have come to know love: He laid down His life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers.

April 4 - “European Falls”

Well, now. Yesterday was a … day. It started about 1 am local time (something like 6 pm here). Chris apparently had a dream or two. Maybe she was reliving her two crashes. She has certainly given new meaning to the term, “European Falls.” 

Not long after the noises began. Our portable fan sputtered noisily, then died completely. I don’t think it liked the European power. It worked fine when we woke up around 6 though. 

A dog started barking outside. Sounded like it was right outside our fifth story window. Surely that wasn’t the case. Then again … we were not the U.S. anymore. 

The final sound was clearly the sound of a ufo landing and taking off. It happened numerous times between one and about 2:30 when I was finally able to get back to sleep. Explains the dog barking. Hmm …

During the hour and a half while the ufo was doing its maneuvers and the dog was barking at it, I played with ChatGPT. I downloaded it a while back, but never opened it. I used it to look at views of the airport terminal in Barcelona. Very nice and new. Looked like wouldn’t be TOO intimidating. 

Oh, I found out the final tally of the distance we traveled from home. 6411 actual miles. From what I understand, that’s 5571 nautical miles. And that doesn’t count all the miles we drove and walked through Barcelona. 

Whew. Feels like a full day’s report already, but I’m just now getting us to the airport. Our driver came a little early, 6:20 am. He didn’t say much, but hey, it was 6:20 in the morning. 

We arrived at the airport around 6:50 or so. After a few wrong attempts, we finally found the American Airlines checkin line (around 7). And the line wasn’t all that long. 

Once we got our bags checked, we wandered around until we stumbled upon a Starbucks (that’s Spanish for Starbucks). Chris had orange juice and an egg and cheese sandwich. I had some good ol’ American coffee and the same kind of sandwich. 

From there it was just a matter of finding our gate. That was easy. It became evident early in the process that the flight was going to be sold out. There were people everywhere. And the workers approached us twice trying to get us to check one or more of our carry-ons. 

Barcelona ATC airspace caused us a one hour delay because they didn’t have enough workers in the department. We finally started taxiing at 11:45. Off the ground at 12:13!

By 2:15 or so we had already had the proverbial sack o pretzels as well as our meal. That was chicken in tomato sauce with mashed potatoes and mixed veggies for me. Chris had the no taste meal. Dried chicken with all the fixin’s (except maybe salt). And then we faced eight hours of ocean. 

The lady next to Chris talked her ear off from the time she sat down until they brought food. Nice lady. Just chatty. But after the meal both of them went fast asleep. I watched a movie, walked to the back of the plane to stretch, then put on what I hoped would be a good movie to sleep to. 

No such luck. I did watch a movie, and I did sleep some. Just not at the same time. When I woke up … why not? I turned on a second movie. Chris tried one, too, but we had a hard time getting her screen to behave. She finally gave up. Not me. I finished my movie. About the time our real surprise showed up. Caramel sea salt ice cream. That was some good stuff. And I even had a cup of coffee to follow it up. 

By about 6:30 pm Spain time we were within spittin’ distance of North America. OK. Nobody was gonna test that theory, but the little screen that tracks the flight showed land, for sure. And it said the time in Dallas was 11:30 am. 

Which called to mind our next dilemma. Our ETA in Dallas was now 3:30 pm. Our connecting flight to Houston was scheduled to start boarding at 4:06. Not much time to grab suitcases, throw them through customs and get to a different terminal. About halfway through a notice appeared on our app that they were delaying departure from Dallas until 5:46. That kinda changed everything. Little less stress. Landed at 3:36, but had to hang out for a while due to a medical emergency on board. 

And then the fun began. We had to go through Mobile Passport Control (AKA Customs). Then we had to go down a huge escalator to baggage claim to get our luggage. But they had turned off the carrousel because there were too many bags on it, so we had to wait for it to come back on. Once we finally got them, we went down a long hallway to the place where “all you have to do is switch moving belts.” However, for some unknown reason, there was a backup of suitcases there, so we were sent to a different terminal to put our suitcases on theirs. From there we had to go to the TSA line. It was long, but moved surprisingly fast. And through all those checkpoints, I only had to have an extra knee scanning twice. Yay me!

Once past that last checkout line, we went right to a guy driving a cart to ask where we should go next. He scanned the tickets and wrote down the gate number. It was in an entirely different terminal, and we had to ride the infamous Skyline train to get there. No, he didn’t offer to drive us. 

A long escalator ride -down this time - and a brisk dash at the end (for me, not Chris) led us to the gate he had pointed us to, just as they called the final boarding call. She took our tickets and the scan revealed … American had moved us to another flight, in a different terminal yet. It didn’t even leave for another hour or two. I guess our faces looked particularly downcast as we turned to leave. She stopped us. And lo and behold - there were two seats available. So she hurriedly made us a couple of new tickets. 

Sounds like a happy ending, right? Well …

Remember how American moved us to a later flight? They moved our luggage there, too. So it didn’t arrive in Houston for about an hour after we did. Poor Christina couldn’t make sense of when to come get us. Neither could we, Christina. Thanks for being patient. 

We did finally arrive in Houston. Round about 6:15 or so. Found a spot to greet our luggage when its own flight got there. And after a quick chicken nuggets supper at Chick-fil-a (first sweet tea in 18 days!), we got our luggage before any of the people from that plane even got on the ground! 

We’re baaaack!

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭53‬:‭5‬ says, But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on Him, and we are healed by His wounds.

Father, thank you for this grand adventure that was our trip to Europe and back. It’s good to be home. And just in time to celebrate Easter! Amen. 

April 3 - “2”

Pretty good breakfast at this hotel. Staff made omelets and fried eggs to order. They even made Chris one fresh, scrambled egg. They didn’t understand exactly why she wanted it that way, but they made it nevertheless. The breakfast buffet also included plenty of fresh fruit and lots of stuff I couldn’t pronounce and didn’t recognize. They had one machine that provided fresh-squeezed orange juice. Another machine had about eight different options of ways to prepare coffee. I picked Americano. Better safe than sorry. It was way better than the instant coffee packet in the room. 

Our guide for the day was Alberto. Once he started talking, he couldn’t stop. For instance, I asked him about the preponderance of graffiti art all around the city. In spite of how it looks, though, he insisted there are no gangs in the city. Sounds like the taggers are all individuals competing against each other for who has the most and best tags. And they only tag the pull-down doors. No tags on buildings - that will get you thrown in jail. 

There are two cathedrals in town. One was built by the very rich. They hired the best architects and the best craftsmen. They also included bars on the windows and spikes on the second story to keep out thieves. 

The other one was built by poor fishermen. It took them 45 years. They brought stones from mountain - one on their back in morning, one in the evening. 

My favorite site of the morning was the Roman walls. Some were very old. Then the Romans added on top of them years later to strengthen them. In several other places they have been repaired using modern materials. Fascinating to see the history unfold. This one was adorned with gargoyles in many shapes, but none particularly scary - goats and dogs and horses. Water runoff from roof was expelled through their mouths. There was also a unicorn up there. Guess it spit out skittles. 

Chris made a discovery walking through the old streets of Barcelona. They are … uneven. Yep. She did it again. Fall number two. This one was a pretty hard one, too. No gorgeous Spaniards to help her. Just me and one other old guy on the tour. Banged up and scraped up her knee. She will be sore for this flight home, that’s for sure. 

But the tour wasn’t over yet, so she had to buck it up and keep going. And she didn’t want to miss  seeing what was next. Well, we actually had to stop and eat lunch at a local spot first. We had a salad with goat cheese in it, and the proverbial plateful of paella (Spain’s word for yellow rice). I liked the salad. The rice? Eh. Take it or leave it. 

But the all-time highlight of the tour - and probably of the entire trip - was our visit to Sagrada Família. It is the tallest church structure anywhere in Spain. In fact no new construction anywhere in Barcelona can be taller. But the size is not its appeal. That place is so intricately carved on the outside that every time you look away, then look back, you see something entirely different. And then on the inside, the stained glass is so ornate that it almost hurts your eyes to take a picture. The colors are bright and riveting (always wanted to use that word).  The stations of the cross are carved outside the back door. Oh! And there is a mysterious statue hanging at about the third story that could only be described as … Batman. I know. So very random. 

Our last stop was a place called Parc Güell. The same artist that created the stained glass in the church did a lot of the artwork in the park. But the most famous piece was his depiction of the dragon that Saint George slew. The statue is very colorful, in his renowned style, but it looks more like a large lizard than anything else. We did get a lot of steps in. Many of them were uphill. We made a wrong turn, but it wasn’t a total loss. The grounds we passed through were beautiful - lots of plants were blooming and stinking the joint up (in a good way).  

When we finally got back to our hotel, we were beat. But there was still work to be done. We had to get the suitcases and backpacks airplane-ready. Chris is a whiz at that. We were pretty much ready to go by 7 pm. Good thing. Our driver arrives at 6:30 this morning to take us to the airport. Comin’ home!

‭‭John‬ ‭16‬:‭33‬ says, I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.

Father, please grease the airport wheels so we can get off the ground and back home soon. Amen. 

April 2 - “A million steps and The Hot Room”

The morning started out lots of fun … for me. We both woke up around 5 am and realized we were pulling into Barcelona. We took a picture, then crawled back into bed. I turned on the tv station that had the cruise info feed. Chris tried to go back to sleep. 

As she arose from one of her catnaps, I commented, “Well, it looks like something has happened and we can’t dock in Barcelona. I don’t know where they are sending us.” Without her glasses, I couldn’t see all that sharp. She sat up and tried to make sense out of what we could see out our balcony window. She was hooked. I finally said the requisite, “April Fools.” For some reason she wasn’t that thrilled. Poked me in the ribs. Of course it was with her sore arm. It hurt … her, not me. Inadvertent April Fools double play on her. 

 Total miles traveled on cruise ship: 5571 nautical miles. 

We pretty much flew through the ship security. Spain’s was a little different. Not that it was hard, or even time-consuming. But we had to show our passport and have our photo and fingerprints taken. I guess that means we are officially in Spain’s criminal database. 

Our driver arrived about 20 minutes after we gathered our luggage, so that was not a long wait. He was driving a brand new Mercedes Benz limo-type SUV. Gorgeous. Inside we each had a bottle of water waiting. Luxury, for sure. He helped with our luggage and filled us in on some of the areas as we passed through. 

We got to the hotel too early to get our room, but the front desk guy upgraded us for free to “a room with a view.”  He wasn’t kidding. A beautiful plaza lay beneath us. WOW. 

We got our room key and loaded into the elevator. But the elevator wouldn’t operate. Strange. Finally another hotel patron got on and explained that you had to insert your room key  to activate it 

The room itself was really small. It took us a while to figure 

 out where to put everything. There was a stocked mini-fridge and a pot to make tea or instant coffee. Even a free heavy glass jar of water. But maybe not free. Overall it felt very luxurious. Tiny, but luxurious. 

In the midst of all that plush-ness we had some cheese and peanut butter crackers. No. Not together. Yuk. I had cheese. She had peanut butter. Great lunch. 

Next we took a walk. No place in particular to start with. I just wanted to see what our route to the Flamenco place would look like if we walked. Seemed simple enough. 

Before we went back to the hotel we had to check out the bullfighting arena next door. Actually, bull fighting has been banned in Barcelona. Animal rights and all that. So what to do with the massive stadium now sitting idle? Sound familiar, Houston? They have turned it into a massive shopping complex. Just like a mall on steroids. There is a food court (Even had a Subway. The 6 inch translates into 15 centimeters).  One whole floor (there are at least seven) was a mass of movie theaters. And you could also ride a glass elevator on the outside of the structure all the way to the top … and then get out and walk around. I could definitely see that the astrodome could easily be made to rival this place. All it would take is a couple billion dollars. 

Back in the hotel room we both collapsed. Yes. Onto the bed. It was definitely naptime. 

Time for another hike when we woke up. We had tickets last night for dinner and a performance by flamenco dancers. We decided to walk over. How hard could it be? Not hard at all … as long as you didn’t mind 3 towering staircases. Don’t get me wrong. The view, especially of the first phase, was breathtaking. We passed the Magical Fountain and the massive man-made waterfall in front of the equally massive edifice that was the Museum of the Arts. 

Come to find out, our map app took us all the way around the back side. Basically, we took the scenic route. 

The flamenco place was inside an old village that has been turned into a marketplace for tourists. Everything was … quaint. Perfect description. 

The actual dance and dinner was definitely worth all those steps. Well, the dancing and guitarists and singers were worth it, anyway. The food just wasn’t that good. Well, except for the chocolate pudding. That was great. 

It was also fun to share the experience witt try our friends Lynn and Stephanie. They listened to our horror story about all those steps and our 40 minute hike. Then we listened to the tale of their incredibly hot room (no AC at their hotel). Two comments. 1) Our walk home was much shorter and involved exactly zero steps. 2) They got moved from the Sauna room to the “Cold Room.” You can’t make this stuff up. 

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭12‬:‭2‬ says, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne.

Father, thank you for helping us up all those steps. I was worried about Chris. Amen. 

April 1 - “Roberto the Bull”

On the way to our excursion our guide pointed out a huge black cutout figure of a bull. He said it was the symbol of one of the strongest families in the area. That, combined with the actual bull fighting ring we saw, forced me to make a purchase. I found a tiny blue bull just begging to go home with us. And when I agreed, he grinned a big ol’ happy grin. So Roberto will be joining us for the rest of our journey. 

Now, the excursion itself was way up in the mountains to a place called Guadalest. Tiny little village of 200 people that hosts a million visitors every year. Yep. Pretty crowded. But we were actually lucky. The Holy Week visitors start arriving today and on into the weekend. 

The city center consisted of a statue of Saint Gregory. Looked like the pope. Numerous shops off of a cobblestone street surrounded it. In fact, after the “grand hike” was over (you’ll understand the reference in a second), Chris managed to locate one of the extra little rises that jutted up just a few inches from the street to just before the actual stairs began. 

And by “locate” I mean she tripped on it and fell headlong into one of the shops. Quite the entrance. She said she was worried that she would crash into some of the products on sale. I thought maybe she wanted to get the attention of the two sharp-looking Spaniard guys standing nearby. Intended or not, it did get their attention. They were over her in a flash, reaching to help her up and query as to her condition. She was a little wounded in the hip and arm and pride, but she was a real trooper. Even insisted we check out the store she had so rudely forced herself into. 

The main attractions were the 15 random museums scattered throughout the town. My favorite was the Microgigantic Museum. It consisted of amazing things that were all very tiny. Another was the Museum of Medieval Torture. You get the picture. We didn’t get to go into any of those. 

Instead we went through what had been the home of the wealthiest family in the area. They had it set up to show what life there would have been like. Kind of interesting, I suppose. 

The high point, however, came as we climbed higher and higher. The house was connected to a castle, and the trail led to its highest peak. Long way up there. Very long way. 

Another highlight of the hike was the church bell tower. We heard it sound the hour at 11 and at 12. The castle was taller than the tower, so we were able to get pictures looking down on the tower as well as up at it. 

So after a grand hike like that, I guess it’s understandable that Chris’ foot was a little too tired to make it over that hump. 

The ride back to the terminal seemed really long. At least the part where I was awake seemed long. The nap made the rest of the time go a lot faster.  And the race with one of the other buses made it kind of fun, too. We beat you, Lynn and Stephanie. 

The rest of the afternoon we spent packing. Not nearly as fun as it was a couple of weeks ago. Plus, we still had to figure out what we are wearing in Barcelona so it could go near the top. And we had to have our two big suitcases out in the hall for pickup by 10 pm. We made it. 

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭20‬:‭28‬ says, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life — a ransom for many.

Father, thank you for that guide we had yesterday. He certainly gave out a lot of info in a fun way. Bless him. And thanks for those two kind guys who helped Chris up after her fall. Bless them, too. Amen. 

March 31 - “Cold in Cartagena”

Wellllll … it was cold again. I mean, really cold. When I stepped out on the balcony to take some sunrise pictures, it was 49 with a wind chill of 36. The anticipated high for the day? 59. Skies were beautiful blue (as was the water). Meanwhile, in Galveston, how about a high of 75? Stay cool, my Island friends!

Our excursion was a walking tour of Cartagena. Our guide was a young guy very well-versed in all things Cartagena. He was born and raised there. The other part of the tour was the opportunity to sample 5 different tapas. Best I can tell, that means something along the lines of snack foods. The things we ate ranged from tuna fish on a breadstick to fried chicken salad (my favorite) to a bowl of rice with some kind of mystery meat to  pork in a tomato sauce to some diced French fries with spicy mayo. Weird. Fortunately, we could get a Coke or sparkling water with each one. The cokes there tasted like Pepsi. 

Our guide Dani (who, by the way is a big fan of Real Madrid in soccer) explained lots of historical and cultural fun facts. Remember that parade? Did I mention a bunch of the people walking by were wearing really tall, KKK-like hats that covered their faces? Dani explained that the hats’ point represent the prayers of the people going to heaven. The covered faces indicate that the human is nothing before God. Now that makes sense. 

He also took us to the local Roman amphitheater. It was discovered only recently, so it was really in a shambles. Completely covered in dirt. Even had a neighborhood perched upon it. Now the neighborhood is gone. Kaput. Razed. That’s when they discovered the amphitheater within.  It was dedicated to Lucius and Tiberius, sons of Caesar Augustus, grandsons of the Divine (Julius Caesar) that was a pretty big deal. 

From there he (Dani, not Lucius) dropped us off at a local artisans’ souvenir shop. We bought a really cool nativity set, and Chris actually found a thimble. 

Finally we made our way back to the boat on our own. Not that hard. Cartagena is a nice little town. Reminds me of Galveston. 

‭‭John‬ ‭1‬:‭29‬ says, The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

Father, thank you for our guide Dani. Bless him and his family. Amen.