Day 3 - At Sea, Friday, August 19th

Just to back up a bit about Barcelona.  When we visited the church down from the hotel, I noticed a sign that said "lift to roof".  Deb was game so for 3 euro we took the tiny lift up to the top of the church.  Here were some of the views.

Today is our first full day at sea.  Our first port of call will be Kotor, Montenegro but  that is .  So for now we are getting to explore the ship and starting our classes with Bonnie.  We were supposed to be sewing her Razzle Dazzle quilt, but sewing machines couldn't be secured for the trip.  So instead Bonnie gave a lesson on paper piecing and then a lesson on back basting applique with her Spanish Rose pattern.

There were 50 quilters along for classes, some husbands and some children.  Our conference room had 3 large windows looking out on Deck 5 so we often had many people curiously looking on.
We had quilters from allover the US, New Zealand, Germany and I think maybe Australia.

Day 4 would be much the same as this.  Realized that I forgot to mentioned some of the Gaudi architecture we saw in Barcelona.  Maybe some pics of that next.

Day 2 - Barcelona

Today is the day we board the Brilliance of the Seas for our 12 day cruise.  Very anxious.  The bus would not be picking our group up until 11 am so we had some time to kill.  We had been told that in order to visit many of the churches we will see you can not have on shorts that come above the knee and shoulders cannot be bare.  Deb had on a sleeveless top so we went looking for somewhere she could buy a pashmina or shawl.  We hadn't seen anything in the shopping area we visited last night so we headed out from the hotel going in the other direction.

This building had been pointed out the day before as a farmer's market.  We quilters were attracted to it for it's hexagon patterned roof.  So we headed there. Great market with fresh fruit, fish, meat and a couple of souvenir shops.  So Deb found her shawl and we were off to the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.  The evening before there had been live music outside the cathedral.

There was a courtyard in this cathedral where there were fountains and, surprisingly, a flock of white geese.

A view of one of the towers from the courtyard in the cathedral.

Brilliance of the Seas, Royal Caribbean, not the largest of cruise ships, about 2,500 passengers, but plenty big enough for me.

This was our room, cozy huh!  Fortunately, for me anyway we had a large window, I don't think Deb enjoyed such a wide open view.

Before I go much further I guess I should introduce my roommate/fellow quilter, Deborah Mandrell.
Here with Bonnie Hunter. I think we got along very well.  We didn't do many excursions together so we always had lots to talk about at the end of the day.

This was outside of the spa.  Peacocks hold a special meaning for Deb.

This was the center of the ship. Deck 5 was the main floor.  Casino, shopping, our conference room for our class, the theatre.  This center area had a stage and every night before dinner there would be violin music.  After dinner pop music, sometimes big band and we had a Beattle's reunion band as well.

The 2 pools, top was where the most people hung out.  The 2nd was the salt water pool and was a much more tranquil place. There also a kids pool, basketball court, minature golf, gym, running track, pub and 3 additional restaurants that were seperate from the formal dining room and the windjammer buffet.

Well, that's enough for now.  The first two days are days at sea, sailing from Barcelona, Spain to Kotor, Montenegro.  These two days are when our classes are with Bonnie Hunter.

See if this helps

Sorry for the big gap but my old laptop was giving up the ghost.  It lasted 10 years so I guess that was pretty good.  Should get back to posting pictures from my mediterranean trip soon.