Tuesday, April 23, 2013 My 32rd Birthday, Barcelona, Spain
Mmm, Birthday Ice cream
Not being able to choose the location of your birthday is one of the unfortunate aspects of working on a cruise ship. For me, however, I had nothing to complain about because I happened to be in beautiful Barcelona on my day.
Three days of Birthday.
This year, my birthday was celebrated for three days. On the ship, the night before my birthday, people started to say Happy Birthday as soon as midnight came around. So, there was a birthday night before going to sleep. The very next day was legitimately the 23rd, and the rest of the blog will cover that day. However, since I was in fact born at 4:42pm pacific standard time, on April 23 1981, that meant my actual birth moment wouldn't take place in Spain until the 24th at 1:42am, effectively giving me a third day to celebrate. Lucky me.
I started off my birthday by escorting a panoramic bus tour of the city.
Gaudi's buildings are everywhere.
Knowing that Jennifer and I were friends, the shore excursions department (Silvia) would regularly book us to escort the same tour. This is how we got lots of photos of each other.
Our first stop was the Olympic port from which we took the two first pictures in this post. But after that, we drove up to the top of a hill that overlooks the city.
Obligatory shot of the ship.
Giant Pickle Building.
Tour escort extraordinaires.
We each had a similar moment where we looked down on the city and admitted, "I could see how it would be okay to live here for a little while."
Probably the most impressive sight in all of Barcelona: La Sagrada Famiglia. Also by Gaudi.
The rest of my day...
Watch the Video!
It's an iMovie compilation of me walking around the city on my birthday, our Flamenco night, Jennifer not-so-patiently waiting for my birth moment, and a few shots of the market on La Rambla from the next morning.
She really likes cats.
This would also be the ONLY day I ever got a hotel throughout my entire 8-month contract. Others would get one every overnight, but I was content with just this day.
Eating Birthday pizza out the window of my hotel.
After a restful afternoon where Marcy and I each walked around different parts of the city, we came back to the hotel and waited for the others to show up at the hotel so we could leave together and go to the Flamenco show/bar.
The metro system is really good in Barcelona, so we used it.
It's more fun to ride in the middle between cars.
A little bit later, at the Flamenco place...
Out together for a night of Flamenco and Sangria.
Okay now, a fun one.
On this day in Spain, it's el dia de San Jorge, and it's tradition that men buy women a rose, and women buy men a book. So, later that night, at a restaurant...
Someone thought it would be funny to buy me a book.
Again, Rebecca's face.
Well, it was a fun day. Barcelona is great, but really the thing that made it special were the people who spent the day with me. Marcy planned mostly everything. That is what she likes to do and she's good at it. I never plan because most of the time, by the time the moment comes around, I want to do something else. So, by not planning, I am always happy. But, Marcy did a good job. Also, Rebecca and Jennifer stayed with me all the way up until my birth-moment before taking a taxi back to the ship. So, I appreciate them very much. And I know I mentioned it already, but thanks again to shore excursions (thanks Silvia) for giving me extra time with my friend. And speaking of that friend, don't forget to check out her parallel experience: Jennifer vs. the World: Barcelona. She has her own original Barcelona videos there. I have to say that it's funny we shared pictures for these days, and even though we wrote these blogs separately, we ended up choosing many of the same pictures. But seriously, go watch her videos!
Precious Moments: Rebecca's face in the background.
I leave you now with a special message from Christopher Columbus, who would be pointing towards America, but they decided to face him south instead because at least that way is facing the water.
The World is Round, now Pull my finger.
Next time: Videos: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship Can't Find a Taxi; and Simba, the story of how the lives of four friends were forever changed by a little French puppy.
And also, some shots of St. Tropez and Monaco.
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