Today was a very good day.  It was a normal, busy, beautiful Friday.  I got my toes done, met up with some old and new friends for lunch, hit commercial street, all in all a nice, productive day.  The best part of it though was making it a priority to find the new Krispy Kreme that opened up here in Bangalore and bring home a box of donuts!  What's so special about Krispy Kreme says you who has a yummy donut store whether it be a Krispy Kreme, Dunkin Donuts, Kolache Factory etc, on every corner?  Well.....it's western tasting donuts.  The donuts you can find here are, well some are good and some not so good, but none really "taste the same" as they do back home.  Since Saturday there has been a big buzz about the Krispy Kreme opening. At lunch today I really think I might have been the only one who hadn't had a Krispy Kreme donut, everyone was talking about how yummy the donuts are, how happy their kids and hubbies were to have had some, etc,  so I made it a priority to find the KK and bring a box home tonight! I was told it was at Brigade and Church street and for the first time since I have been in India, the directions were right on. My driver found the Krispy Kreme shop with no problem. The place is pretty large, not easily missed, but I kept hearing that there were long lines so as soon as we spotted the KK I literally jumped out of my slow moving vehicle and took off at a "fast walk" to get into the store.  There were about six other people taking their time walking up the steps in front of me so I did what any impatient person does and walked a bit faster than they did, took a few steps in front of them and congratulated myself for moving quickly so I wouldn't have to wait in line behind them.  Yeah....that worked out well.  So I passed the slow walkers, then was routed to a different door by the security guard, and in my haste turned right into a glass wall!  It was funny because the lady on the opposite side of the glass almost chocked on her donut as she laughed at me, lol, I don't blame her, I was laughing at me too.  I made the ole "meant to do that" bobble, shrugged and headed for what I hoped was a real door and into the store. Walking into the Krispy Kreme and seeing the donuts "whoosh" down in their assembly line thingy was even better. I needn't have worried about the long lines because though there was a long line when I walked in, the service was great and I was outta there in less then ten minutes with a box of assorted donuts!  The plan was to take home the whole box and surprise John in the morning. That didn't work out too well either.  Once inside the car I couldn't resist taking a quick peak at the donuts. It suddenly occurred to me that my driver Shankar had most likely never had a Krispy Kreme...so I asked him if he'd like one and he picked a chocolate glazed with sprinkles on top.  Well, I didn't want him to feel awkward about eating in front of me so  I picked an original glazed donut and I kid you not that sucker was gone in three bites.  It was so good!  So good that I had to have another. I forgot to mention that I had already bought one in the store and had eaten it even before I made it back to the car.  It took every ounce of will power I had to not take another from the box.  We left KK and headed out to pick up John. It was so funny cuz when he stepped into the car and he smelled and saw the donut box a huge smile came over his face.  He didn't say one word, he just reached for the box, opened it, picked out a donut and his was also gone in record time. Who knew that a box of Krispy Kreme donuts could bring so much joy to our home?  I don't think these donuts are going to last all weekend as originally planned.

Till next time.

So many magic moments on our trip. Could never pick a favorite.  Every day, every port was my favorite.  Every time my kids made me laugh was my favorite moment.  Every time I looked at John and saw him "chilaxing" was my favorite moment.  I am so blessed to have been able to spend a beautiful, unforgettable holiday vacation with the ones I love most in this world. That's it...till next time:)

By Victoria Dominic

A lot can happen in 2 weeks at 6 different ports (7 if you include Barcelona.) This being my first cruise, there was a lot of anticipation and excitement on top of the overwhelming feelings of seeing my family for the first time in a year. It’s hard to put into words, especially words that an audience will hang onto, what we experienced and the sights we were lucky enough to see. Do I write a blurb of all my favorite things about the trip or do I write a novel going into specific detail of the beauty of a small mountain city outside of Sicily, Italy? Don’t worry. I’m a huge advocate for lists- To do lists, grocery lists, things I want to be when I grow up list…and so I think this is another great opportunity for a list. A photo list!

Top 7 Most Memorable Moments on (and off) the Serenade of the Seas:

  “Borrowing” cruise hallway decorations to make Christmas morning as christmasy as possible.

The perfect family photo in front of the leaning tower of Pisa.




          
     



 

What a lovely day to drink wine (and break wine glasses)with an incredible view of the Pantheon.

Pompeii. NO words can describe what it’s like to walk around Pompeii. I won’t even try, but I had to include a picture, as it was a memorable experience.

New Years on a cruise ship. Tons of balloons, champagne raining down on you, and dancing your way into the new year? 2013 is going to be a good one.

“Milkshakes” in Malta. “You shake the milk, like this.”

Said the gorgeous waitress below, to Vince when he asked for a milk shake
at an outdoor cafe in Malta.  Heehee

Last but not least, family karaoke.

I’m sad to have to say goodbye, but thankful for the memories made on this vacation. Until the next family vacay

Thank you Tori for sharing your favorite moments of the cruise with us.  Next up is her boyfriend Ryan. I asked him what his favorite part of the cruise was and these are his thoughts.

By Ryan Oliveria

What was my favorite part about Italy?  That's an excellent question and I'm glad you asked.  Looking back on it, I remember Italy as a wonderland full of mozzarella mountains, espresso springs, and cascading waterfalls of wine.  Rather than rain, the clouds drizzled olive oil over lakes of limoncello as cappuccino kittens frolicked through a gelato… jungle?

Yes it was a magical place full of alliteration and fantastic foods.  You may have been to Italy before, and if that's not how you remember it, then you probably did it wrong.  For those of you who haven't been, it was exactly how I described it.

But besides all of that, my favorite part had to have been the ancient ruins of Pompeii.  We walked through the streets of a city that, a gajillion years ago, was completely destroyed by a volcano.  And because it was completely destroyed and buried, it remained almost completely preserved.  Every street, alley, and pothole was there almost exactly as it was a gajillion years past.  Grooves remained in the roads where carts hard worn down the stone.  There was a restaurant that still had its ovens and serving dishes in tact.  There were beautifully carved ceilings and paintings on the walls in deep red tones.  Walking down these streets, it was easy to imagine what life was like in the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius, at least before all the burning and screaming and ash…  It was unreal.

The whole trip was amazing, but if I had to pick a favorite part, this would be it.  My only regret is not thinking of a better part of nature to be made out of gelato. 

Thank you Ryan.  Pompeii was indeed fascinating and again, a day wasn't enough time to spend and think on all that was.
I'm going to add my favorite pics of Pompeii here. 


The first set of pics I like to call the "What's your pleasure series?" It's amazing to me that a brothel and it's pleasure rooms remained incredibly intact and the paintings above the pleasure rooms depicting the services rendered in each survived
in such fantastic shape and didn't leave much to the imagination of what went on in those rooms. Believe it or not, the beds in the pleasure rooms were slabs of stone, I imagine they used blankets for padding, but I wonder at how in the world that could have been comfortable.  And yes, yours truly did try out one of the beds.  For science.  It was truly fascinating.
Warning!  These pics are not rated PG, there are depictions of spankings and nudity. Oh my!

So many buildings, structures, paintings on walls, furniture, dishes, etc survived and you were able to almost glimpse daily Roman life rituals, traditions, livelihood.  As was mentioned above, can't describe adequately how amazing Pompeii was to visit, but will leave you with pics that hopefully will inspire those who have not visited Pompeii to do so someday. 

That's it for tonight folks.  Hope y'all enjoyed Pompeii as much as we did.  Going to try to wrap this vacation up this week and go back to November and our visit to the Taj. Man...I am so behind.  Or not.

Have a wonderful evening. 

Siempre me

Yeah, yeah, this post is over a week late, I know, I know, sorry.  Once I get way behind on a post  that I was excited to write about it's hard for me to "go back" and get back into it, but let me try.Rome! The Colosseum originally the Flavian Amphitheatre!  However it's spelled, whatever you prefer to call it, we all know it as the Coliseum and just like in pictures, movies, and books is truly is magnificent and I am so glad we got to see it.  There were so many moments during the tour where you actually found yourself quietly contemplating what it must have been like to visit and watch the gladiator games, to be able to see  anything that went on when the Coliseum was a source for public spectacles and entertainment.  As I stared out into the fighting arena and saw the areas where the animals were kept, the rooms where the gladiator fighters were held, imagining where the the trap doors were (rooms remain, doors do not) all the secret rooms, etc., I remember thinking "wow, this is where Maximus fought the Battle of Carthage".... ok kidding, but not really. It was easy and cool to imagine what the Coliseum looked like in all it's glory during one of the many gladiator games or executions or public forums that took place within those stone walls and to wish to have been able to see it as it must have been all those years ago.  The Coliseum, all these years later, removed of all the statues made of marble, plundered and a skeleton of what it once was, remains an exciting and fascinating part of Roman history.  Pics below don't tell the tale but I am glad to share as they truly take you to another time.  I've also included the pics of the Forum which you could view from the Coliseum....there was so much to see in Rome, two days just wasn't enough.

Ii just realized that out of our eleven day cruise,  I've only written up to our Rome visit.....we still have Sicily, (Village of
Godfather tour) Pompei, Malta, and our time on the ship t,o write about.  Honestly, that is just way toooooo much, so I asked Tori, Ryan and Vince if they would help me out. Perhaps to give me feed back of their favorite parts of their trip.  I have decided to conclude the cruise posts with their writings and add pics to their writings as best as I can.  Hee hee, I encourage you to keep reading as you will see we all had a great time, though our experiences were each "unique."

First up.  Vincent's musings after catching the "poker game bug", in the casino on the boat..turns out my son is a right, good poker player. He wrote in the "third person" not sure why.  Read on.....

Leave the gun take the cannoli by guest blogger Vince Dominic

“Wait…wait..just listen; I’m just sayin! Gimme…(belch) mm pardon me. Spot me like 50 bucks, and I will QUADRUPLE your investment. It’s foolproof, J! Foolproof!”(J is his nickname for John).

For the life of him, Vince just absolutely could not understand why no one would spot him the cash he needed to buy-in to the Texas Hold Em poker game. The day had been very lucrative thus far. In the qualifying rounds of his poker tournament, Vince had won some ridiculously close games. While some would call it blind wild luck, Vince chose to believe that all the wins he obtained off the ‘river’ card were due entirely to his skill and impeccable intellect. ‘James Bond’ he told himself during his games. ‘No one can touch him, no one can read him. Be the Bond.’ More often than not, in times of high-level stress, Vince would put himself in the shoes of the men he aspired to be like. James Bond, Don Draper, Julius Caesar. Michael Jackson would some days make appearances while on the dance floor. Today, James Bond had served him well. So why would no one stake him? His sister had laughed at him. Her boyfriend, Ryan, had reminded him that security was still not happy with the way he tried to take the Captain of the ships hat, and tried to steer the ship himself. And his own mother had chased him all around the halls, trying to get him to change his piss-soaked pants (C’mon, security was pretty scary). Ok, so maybe he had a couple ‘Old Fashion’s after losing the championship round (where he was pretty much cheated), but hey, 4 drinks never hurt anybody! Or was it 14? Whatever. Irrelevant details. And ok, so maybe in his somewhat drunken stuper, he happened to make-out with a couple married 50+ year olds. You can’t put an age on love!

Oh well; he’d show them. All of em. They’d be singing a different tune, once he started winning high-stakes cash games. The only problem was finding the right benefactor. And maybe a new pair of pants. It started to get chilly down there.

The ship pulled into port around 10:30am. The sun was shining, and there was a brisk chill in the air. One may call it perfect weather. A light sweater adorned Vince as he made his way down the ramp and into the bustling city. Sicily. Home of Mt. Etna, and without a doubt, one of the most beautiful places he had ever seen. Hopefully the women would be as beautiful as the landscape. It would be tough to compete with Rome in that aspect, but one could hope. He made his way down some streets and alleys, and to his delight, it was not as crowded as he had initially thought it may be. At a little café on the corner, he stopped and helped himself to an authentic ‘cannoli’, a sweet Italian treat. Maybe if he had some food in him, he’d stop seeing double. It was a little too heavy on the cream, at least for this early in the morning, but still scrumptious none the less. As he enjoyed his tasty pastry (rhymed. Unintentional), he pondered his situation. ‘Come on Vince, you’re the smartest guy you know; surely you can think of something’. “I can think of something” he said out loud to no one. “And don’t call me Shirley”. Whatever he would do though, needed to be done quick. He only had a couple hours on shore before the ship would leave again. It was time to move. Leave a tip, take the cannoli.. Wait a minute, ‘leave a tip, take the cannoli’. Leave a tip, take the cannoli….  Oh my god, it’s perfect! “Leave the gun, take the cannolis”! Probably one of the more famous quotes from his favorite movie, and he had found the answer he had been looking for! “The Godfather”! Brilliant. Everyone knows that Sicily is origin to ‘La Cosa Nostra’ (aka ‘This thing of ours’, aka THE MAFIA). He would just find some less than reputable bookie, or a loan shark, and get him to invest in him. Foolproof.

So how to spot a Mafioso? To be honest, Vince had just assumed that everyone in Sicily had some ties to the Mob, but somehow as he watched the people go about their business, he doubted that theory. Now logic says that he should be looking for guys who are:

·         5’2’’ with slick-backed hair

·         Wearing full-body jumpers

·         Probably chewing on toothpicks

·         Most definitely standing on a corner

There would no doubt be a little guy who’s really angry. The typical Joe Pesci type. An extremely obese one who talks with his hands excessively. And the last guy in the group would no doubt be tall and maybe a tad on the lanky side. It would probably be a safe bet to expect a fedora somewhere as well. So now that Vince had the criteria, he set about on his manhunt.

He passed a number of places on his journey up the road. Genco Olive Oil, Louis Restaurant, Sonny’s Bar, Henry Hill’s Pool Hall, Capone’s Cars, Soprano’s Waste Management; bunch of duds it looked like. Then all of a sudden, like a light shining through the sky, there it was.. ‘Little Ninos Pizzeria’. Vince never saw a more shady place. A small establishment; old brick oven, red and white checkered table mats. No doubt the perfect front for a multi-million dollar underworld HQ. He was sure of it. But he had to blend in. Nobody would lend him any money if he sounded like some lousy tourist.

(Vince walks through the front door, and comes face to face with the scariest looking 5’0’’ man he’s ever seen. No doubt it was Nino. 97 years old, but most likely deadly as ever)

Nino: “Bongiornio, my friend!”

Vince: “Ahem. Uhh Howz youz doin?”

Nino: “..Eh very well, Grazie. I make a pizza for you?”

Vince: ‘Ahh he’s speaking code to me, I see..’  “Eyya yea, a ..‘pizza’.. sounds good. I’ll have mine FULLY loaded please..”

Nino: “You uh want some pepperonis on that?”

Vince: ‘hah I like this guy; real covert’ “Yea, gimmie 50 big ones” (followed by an oh-so-subtle wink)

Nino: “…..seriously?”

Vince: “I’m good for it, I swear! I will triple your investment, paisan. 50 big ones. Lay it on meh”

Nino: “....what in the, what are you even talkin about??”

Vince: “I need to borrow some dough, my man, and I know you’re the guy to see! Ok not like REAL dough, though you’d definitely be the guy to go to for that as well. Whaddya say? I’m totally good for it. I’m like James Bond when I’m in the zone. Don’t mind the pants..”

Vince had never had a more melancholy walk back to the ship..

End

*Special thanks to Mom and J for the wonderful cruise. I had a fantastic time

Next up are pics from our Mesina/Sicily/Godfather tour....twas AMAZING, see if you can recognize a few sights from the Godfather movies.....and by the way "J" did spot V the $50 buy in.

Tomorrow, we visit Pompei and our guest bloggers Victoria and Ryan will add their thoughts and highlights of the cruise and excursions.  See you then:)

Me

Wait!  Before I talk about the fantastic, mind blowing, more than beautiful city of Rome....I found the "good" pics of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  John reminded me that he took most of the pics that day, before handing the camera to Vincent.  So let's first check out those pics.....leaning tower of Pisa....she is definitely still leaning!

And now the city of Pisa according to Vince......yes, he definitely has his own way of seeing things....

Rome. Roma.  Ciao.  Bonjourno. They say "when in Rome"..........I finally understand what it really means.  When you are in Rome all of a sudden you feel like talking with an Italian accent.  You start rolling your r's...you start puckering your lips when you speak and using your hands a whole lot more as you ask where is the restroom? Only you add an "o" or an "a" to the end of every word thinking that you are impressive with your new found grip of the native language.  "Wherea isa thea toleta, ahhhh grazi!"  Yup.  We sounded that stupid.  Laughing out loud thinking of how we must have sounded, but at the time, you couldn't help yourself.  Rome, Pisa, Sicily, wherever you were in Italy, you wanted to speak like the Italians.  As for me,  I was able to communicate better than my counterparts cough cough, John and the kids ...well they tried.  Spanish and Italian are similar more similar than you would think and I was able to communicate using Spanish and the Italian that I head people speaking around me.  I rocked it.  I did! I did.

Anyway back to Rome.  And when in Rome you take a day and first stop of course is the Vatican. We didn't take the tour, because we wanted to "rome" around and I don't think we went five minutes without snapping a pic of something.  There is not one block in the city that doesn't have something to stop and look at.  Everything had some sense of history and the feeling that you had just stepped back in time.  It was surreal at times.  And this was just roaming around the city.  There are way too many pictures for me to post, (thank you Vincent for handling picture taking duty for most of that day) and I'm not sure these ones are even all my favorites, truthfully I have just picked random ones to give you an idea of what it was like to explore the city with no itinerary, just walking around to see what there was to see.  We weren't disappointed. 

Tomorrow the Amphitheatrum Flavium, or as we know it, "The Coliseum."

Finally, the day we had all been waiting for, Christmas Eve, December 24, the day we boarded the Serenade of the Seas to begin our much anticipated eleven day Mediterranean cruse!  Checking into the cruise was easy peazy.  We found our rooms, unpacked, and started the exploration of the ship. It was cool.

It's all a bit of a blur to me now but I believe we had dinner at around 7 pm and then made plans to reconvene in the Master room (mine and John's stateroom) later that evening to continue our Christmas tradition of opening one present at midnight.  While the kids were unpacking and exploring the ship, John and I and Bruce started trying to "Christmas up" our room.  We had no tree. No ornaments.  My intentions to bring festive Christmasy items on this trip never happened.  But we did bring our Santa hats, wrapping paper, and Christmas tags....hmmmm could that be enough to Christmasfy a cruise cabin? You betcha!  See the little Christmas tags all along the window?  Bruce put up a whole package of them all by himself!  It looked so great when he was done.  And do you see the garland with Christmas ornaments over the window? Heehee I asked John to prove his love to me by swiping that from our corridor. Uh uh uh, stop judging....we merely "borrowed" it for 24 hours....Add presents and stockings and family and wala! A Christmas miracle:) J

You wouldn't think it but Christmas morning in that small stateroom was wonderful. Crowded and tight yes, but the "Christmas feeling" was definitely with us. And of course Santa found us and Bruce received almost everything on his Christmas list. It was a very Merry Christmas indeed!

Jump to the next day (I think)  and our first port stop Livorno (Florence) Italy! That's right leaning Tower of Pisa!

I have to admit, though I was excited about being in Italy, I can't say that seeing the Leaning Tower of Pisa was ever on my "must see" list.  It should have been, it was really impressive.  It was a bit of a walk from the tour bus to the Piazza dei Miracoli, a little overcast and chilly too but when we turned came thru the arches that led to the Miracle Square and the Tower of Pisa came into view, you heard a collective gasp and then everyone saying in many different languages their version of "WOW" at the same time.  Definitely a wow moment in my book.  And there were so many more wow moments to come.  Here are some pics:)

Looking back at these pics I am sorely reminded that I suck at taking pictures.  I don't believe one of these pictures that I took captured the "lean" of the tower and how it looked in person.  I mean it really does lean!  Big time.  OH well, hoping that when Ryan and Tori share their pics they will have done a better job than I.

Next stop Rome.  Truly, truly, fascinating city.  Two days was no where near enough time.  Also to come, Victoria, Ryan and Vincent agreed to be guess bloggers and share with me their thoughts on our trip.  I will add those soon.

Good night for now.

You might be wondering what the ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" in my post title is all about.  Let me try to explain.  We stayed at a really cool apartment/hotel and though the hotel manager understood and spoke English well, she would use "ehhhhhh" in between words....it was cute and also funny at the same time. For example when I asked her where we could pick up the "hop on, hop off" tour bus her answer went something like this: "Ehhhhhhhhhh the tour bus, ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, is peeked up ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh go down one street, ehhhhhhhh and turn right, ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh and then one block ehhhhhhhhhh is right there, she would draw out the ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh's  for almost a full 30 seconds at a time!  It is now an "inside joke" between John and I and now you too!

Now back to our beautiful first day with the kids in Barcelona, where we were?  Oh yes, the kids were troopers, ready to head out and explore with us.  We decided to catch the "hop on/hop off" double decker bus.  We didn't stay on very long as it was a bit past lunch time and we were all pretty hungry.  So we hopped off and did a little touring and then decided it was time for lunch. Luckily we quickly found a great pub.It was a tapas pub/restaurant of course and we feasted on salami, hams, and all different kinds of  tapas and really tasty beer.   Here is where I should show pics of the yummy tapas and us devouring the food and beer but again, this was one of those times that we just had to put the camera down and enjoy. 

It was fun to just sit in the pub and eat and eat and eat, and to eat pork dishes was the best for John and I because have I mentioned we don't get much pork in India?  Anyway, after a very nice, satisfying, fun lunch the two brudders were looking tired so we sent them back to the hotel while me, John, Tori and Ryan decided to keep going. There was much to see and only this day to explore so we decided to visit Gaudi's Casa Batllo! My pictures don't do this building justice, but here is just a small glimpse of what we got to experience.  Words and pics cannot describe how interesting and lovely this place is. Sometimes I don't know why we even bother we cameras as I don't know that I can ever capture the essence of the sights we see.  I applaud those photographers who can and do. And those who are just lucky with their cameras too!

Check out a few  pics of the Casa Batllo. Don't ask me about it because even after the recorded "phone tours" we got to listen to, basically all I got out of it was that this guy was an amazing architect with incredible talent and he designed some of the most fantastic buildings such as the Casa Batllo and the Sagrada Familia church.

After the Casa Batllo, we stopped for some coffees and hot chocolate.  We really enjoy Tori and Ryan's company and we wish the day could have lasted longer but we still had last minute Christmas shopping to do so we said goodbye to the younguns and spent a few hours shopping on our own. 

Awwwww, aren't they just the cutest couple?

Ok, so at this point we are alllllllllllmost done with Barcelona.

Tomorrow I'll begin writing about Christmas on a cruise!  How was it? Was it weird? Was it sad to be on a boat and not in a home? Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!  We had a great time:) 

To be continued......

Serenade of the Seas Royal Caribbean Cruise Christmas and New Years 2012.  Simply one of the best trips I have ever taken in my life.  Didn't expect  to fall in love with Spain and Italy but I did.  Best part of the trip was experiencing it with the people that I love most in the whole world.  My husband and my children.

John and I and Bruce spent a few days in Dubai before we headed to Barcelona where we would meet "the kids", Vincent and Tori and her beau Ryan.  We arrived early in Barcelona on Dec 22, and from the moment we got off the airplane we were in awe.  The weather was cold and sunny, absolutely gorgeous and everywhere we looked the streets were lined with works of art and stunning buildings. Our first evening in Barcelona was spent just resting up and exploring the area near our hotel.  There was so much to see and do but it was hard for me to stay focused as all I could think of was my older kids would be joining us soon and I couldn't wait.  The time difference left us a bit off too, so after an evening of Spanish wine, tapas and of course McDonald's we turned in early looking forward to "tomorrow" when the rest of our family would be with us.  

We woke up early the next morning as we were anxious for the day to begin and for the kids to hurry up and arrive.  To keep busy and keep my anxiety at bay, we ended up taking a walk around the Sagrada Familia church and stopped and had hot chocolate and gelato for breakfast, don't judge, lol.

All the walking around and touring of the streets around us although beautiful to see did not ease my anxiety over the much awaited arrival of Vincent and Victoria and Ryan. I don't know how many times I asked John "what time is it"?  Finally, we started making our way back to the hotel so that we could set up  on the balcony and be there when the kids arrived from the airport. To our happy surprise the kids got in earlier than we expected and were calling out to Bruce as we crossed the street and turned the corner to our hotel!  They were in our hotel room, waiting on our balcony for us! We were surprised and Bruce took off running with excitement to see his "brudder Zinzin and Toey and Wyan".  That was when it truly felt like our Christmas vacation had begun and it was also the happiest moment for me all year.  Finally, my whole family was together.

Bruce and Vincent and Tori have a very special bond and it wasn't long before they were horsing around and Bruce was basking in the attention of his big "brudder" and sister and Ryan. It was so wonderful to have our little group back together. 

The "kids" were real troopers upon arrival too.  They hugged us, put down their bags and headed out with us to see what we could see with our day in Barcelona before we headed out the next night for our Mediterranean cruise! 

There was so much to see too. Looking at the pics now, I realize that I didn't take many pics from our first few hours together.  Sometimes you just have to put down the camera and live in the moment. 

Much more to come, next post will feature, Antoni Gaudi, and more pics of our short time in Barcelona.  Chat to you again real soon!