Saturday, February 4, 2012

Oh, you speak Spanish

Passion Facade, Basilica de la Sagrada Familia
Example of stained glass windows at Sagrada Familia

Another example of the stained glass windows
I'd better start recording information about the cruise I went on in November, before I forget the details completely.  In the wee hours of the morning on November 1st, a very good friend and I left home to catch a flight to Chicago, where we met my brother and sister-in-law for the flight to New York City, then the long overnight flight to Barcelona.  Completely bleary and sleep deprived, we headed to our hotel, were able to check in right away, took a short nap, then took the subway to the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia. Very impressive! 

The line to get in stretched around the block, there was even a line to get into the gift shop! After looking around the ground floor and taking pictures, we took the elevator, then walked up a tight spiral staircase to get to the top (reminiscent of the climb up the Statue of Liberty that I took as a child). 

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at the Hard Rock Cafe for late lunch/early supper, then to bed.

What did we learn?  That in Europe, the ground floor in buildings (what we would call the first floor in Amerca) is floor 0 (zero), and the first floor is up one flight.  And the basement is floor -1 (minus 1)

About noon on November 3rd we took a cab to our ship, the Brilliance of the Seas.  Our cab driver greeted us with , "ola," to which I responded, "hello....ola..... buenos dias."  He said laughingly, "Oh, you speak Spanish!"

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