The One in the Blue Hat

Well, I finally did it, I started my weight loss blog. It is a private blog so if you want to check it out you have to leave me your email address so I can send you an invite. I will not post the comments containing emails. Thanks

Again with Europe

Bill is SO excited for our cruise he just couldn't contain his excitement on our way to the ship!Ok so onto Malta. I knew absolutely nothing about Malta before going and still don't know a whole lot. I learned it is 60 miles away from Sicily and their primary language is Maltese, but most speak English, Italian, French and German. So they are educated. While the island is nice as far as the architecture and landscaping goes, it is also tiny. And now that I have been and can add another dot to the places I have been map, I don't think I would pay to go back. I think we saw it all the day we were there. The hospital, a lot different than the ones I have worked in.

Another European fountain!

These men were just hanging out talking and watching the tourist go by. I thought they were cute!

We grabbed a quick bite to eat where Bill had one of his favorite ham and cheese sandwiches, at a little cafe. This is the wine stock, seemed like a lot of wine for such a little cafe.

The tour recording said Malta has one of the best wines (which is what every country we visited said) but here's a little pic of one of the MANY vineyards we drove past.

Bus stop?

The beautiful sunset from our ship.

It seems like every summer vacay we take Bill has to watch a very important program on t.v. instead of going out and exploring. Wimbledon tennis finals are always interfering with my fun. Grrrr! And here is the happy boy enjoying his tennis

Europe part dose

The peeps that we borrowed wireless internet from must have moved and now we are internetless until we get comcast up and going. I had some pics saved and now will share them with you lovely folks while I am using my grams internet. Enjoy!

There is a street in Barcelona where all the tourists go for shopping. Down the middle of the street is a big island where vendors can set up, and each block seemed to have a theme with the vendors. One block would be filled with artists, the next with performers, or just those who would pretend to be a statue for a euro, the next would be all outdoor florists, then outdoor pet shops, and finally the jewelers and crafty things. But every one sells about the same thing as there neighbor on that particular block, they all have about the same price, and none will bargain even 1 euro, even if you walk away they will just let you walk.This guy was my favorite performer! I wondered if his legs start to go numb or is his butt starts to hurt?Even though the news says Michael Jackson died the weekend before our trip, we saw him alive and dancing in Spain.

Europe is full of these scooters, or as the Italians call them mosquitoes, They are EVERWHERE and some of the most daring and bravest drivers I have ever seen!

Here is a Park Guell that the famous Spanish architect (Gaudi) designed. Samantha brown came here so of course so did we! Gaudi loved mosaics and the entire park is made of broken pottery.

This is Playca D'Espanya. There wasn't a whole lot there for the amount of people that were there. Those pics will come as soon as I get my internet back up.

Europe Vacation Part uno

I know I have posted pics on facebook, but I took over 600 pics so hopefully I won't duplicate too many as some of you may be looking at both of these. I will be posting in segments so keep checking back to see how fun our trip was. Cause it was great times. And I am sad to be back and enter the real world again, blaaaa.

Almost 2 years ago we were watching Samantha Brown on the Travel channel and she showed this super thick hot chocolate that you get in Spain. Well I forgot about it, but when I was booking the vacation and we found out that we were going to Barcelona, Spain Bill quickly reminded me of the hot chocolate we saw on t.v. He had remembered all that time. What a happy boy.

We got off the plane and to our hotel but couldn't get checked in yet. We wanted to shower before we went out and explored and Bill said, "lets go get the hot chocolate." It took us a while to figure out how to say it in Spanish but when we got it it was pure bliss!
Then we took a dip until check-in time.
Billy is still a little fishy.I had to take a pic of the pedi my mom got me for the trip. She is the best.Casa Batillo, designed by Antoni Gaudi, was a house that was built for a rich family. I think it was designed to look like the inside of a dragon. I can't remember, but it was pretty neat.The staircase is meant to look like a vertebrae
In all my pics you will see my dorky white shoes, but I had to be comfortable for all our walking so just ignore them! I really don't wear white shoes with black capris and slacks I promise!

I think these window are supposed to be eyes, or something.

This is the back. And yes, it was one family that lived here. CraZy
This is just a panoramic view of Barcelona. It is pretty huge and not too much room for parks and such.

We took the cable car up to Montjuic cause that is what Samantha did! Up there is just some castle and awesome views of the city.

Montjuic castle entrance.

Here is the Placa d'Espanya. They had a 24 hour bike race going on, who does that?

This is the center of the round-a-bout for Placa d'Espanya