Our European adventure is underway, After months and months of planning, we were finally on the plane from San Diego to Galveston to board Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Sea and start the 13 day re-positioning cruise to Barcelona, Spain. We will spend 6 months traveling around Europe, returning on the Navigator of the Seas leaving Barcelona on November 10. Since we are planning to spend the majority of our time in smaller towns, going to markets, hiking, biking, etc., we are planning to rent apartments, where we can enjoy the wonderful food found at the many markets, and pretend that we are living there rather than just passing through. With few exceptions, we will stay at least a week at each place, and many times, more. We are leasing a Puegot through Kemwel on their buy-back lease program for 162 days, the maximum time allowed. I found all the apartments on the internet through the many sites that allow owners to advertize their apartments for direct leasing, rather than through an agency. I found these by Googling “vacation rentals by owner in Spain”, etc. I suppose there is some risk to doing this, but all of the people I have dealt with so far have provided me with enough information to convince me they are legitimate...we shall see. The cruises were booked through Crucon and Vacations To Go, depending on who had the best prices.

To stay in touch with the rest of the world, rather than taking my HP laptop, which Dick refers to as the “boat anchor”, I purchased the cutest little laptop through Amazon.com – an Asus Eee, a completely functioning, albeit small, computer with a 7 inch screen, and weighing just 2 pounds. It comes fully loaded with software (in my case, Linux OS, although, for another $100, you can get one with Windows XP), is wifi and internet capable, and costs only $400! For a travel computer, you can't beat it. For more info, Google “Asus Eee”. You will find hundreds of reviews.

Boarding the ship was a bit of an ordeal, made worse because we forgot to drop our bags off, as instructed, at the dock. Consequently, we had to drag them through the rain to the correct terminal and stand in line, only to be told to turn arounrd and take them to the baggage area – duh!! After an hour or so, we were on board. This is a beautiful ship with capacity for 3100 passengers.

Life on a cruise ship is a bit surreal. It is kind of like living in a shopping mall, complete with shops, bars, restaurants, and of course, the casino. We are experiencing significant, although not severe, “motion in the ocean”, making it a little difficult to walk. Dick is suffering some motion sickness, although he feels fine when he lies down, and his medicine seems to help as well. I have to admit that it was a little creepy last night when we turned the lights out and lay in bed feeling the ship rock and hearing the waves crash against it and the walls creak.

There are lists of activities every day – fitness, games, trivia, lectures, language classes, dancing classes, etc. We keep threatening to take the dance lessons – a different dance every day, but Dick always finds an excuse to get out of it. The ship's staff is wonderful, and works so hard. Except for a very few Americans on the Cruise Director's staff, including the director, it is a totally international staff.

One of our favorites has been a 9 part lecture by Thomas Kimmel, the oldest grandson of Admiral Kimmel, one of the two men who were officially blamed for the success of the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. Thomas also spent 10 years in the Navy before leaving for a 28 year career with the FBI. He has done extensive research and lays out a very compelling case for the injustice of this ruling, the primary points being that Admiral Kimmel and Stark were deliberately not sent the intelligence revealing the plans for the attack, and the ordering of officials to lie about it at the pursuing investigation. Neither Kimmel nor Stark were asked to testify, and Kimmel did not learn of the existence of the intelligence until February of 1942. If you have any interest in this subject, go to www.PearlHarbor911Attacks.com.

In the evenings, there is some sort of live show, and several musical options at the various bars. We particularly like Paul, a young Australian, who plays at the piano bar. Another entertainment highlight was the ice show last night – we saw some routines we have never seen and may go again to the Sunday show.

A highlight for us was Dick's performance in the Guest Talent Show yesterday. It was held in the auditorium and had quite a large crowd. He was pretty nervous, but did very well – played St. Louis Bues and brought the house down. We have found a piano on the 14^th deck for guests to play, and he is playing as we speak. I imagine we will be spending quite a bit of time up here.

We are enjoying the infamous cruise ship food, and were happy to see that they are offering quite a few healthy dishes. Luckily for me, the desserts are not so good that I can't resist and we have not been up late enough for the midnight buffet. I am trying to save myself for the food in Europe. The fruit carvings are beautiful, and they do quite a nice job of producing meals for almost 3000 people.

We thought that with the USD problems discouraging many folks from European travel, the ship might be quite empty. Boy, were we wrong!! Not only do many Americans (especially Texans, since the ship leaves from Galveston) use the cruise as their vacation, flying home right after we get to Barcelona, but loads of Europeans fly to the US just for the cruise. One British guy told us, tho, that Royal Caribbean will not sell the cruises as cheaply to UK and European citizens as they will to us, due to the exchange rate discrepancy – probably the only “bargain” we will see this year!

May 14

We arrived in Barcelona on Saturday and uneventfully made our way to the airport and on to Madrid. That is where the action began! Coming from the airport on the subway, we got hit 3 times by pickpockets! We had to change subway trains twice with our luggage, so were real targets. One woman even got her hand in the inside breast pocket of Dick's sport coat! Luckily, we had everything in neck pouches and they got nothing. They are really slick - one guy saw us looking at subway maps so was very helpful and then followed us closely on to the subway, got both of the zippers on my backpack open and his hand in Dick's back pocket before jumping out, just as the train was to take off. Another group of women got between Dick and me getting on the train, blocking him. While he was pushing the doors open, they had their hands in every pocket and then again, jumped off just as the train was taking off. The "old" Europeans blame the "new" ones (eastern countries), since there are now no border controls. Between that excitement, dragging our suitcases up and down several flights of stairs, and walking the last 2 blocks in the rain, we were tired and sad-looking puppies. I was really glad that I had spent a little more on a nice apartment – we needed some pampering. Our landlord, Juan, was very upset about our experience and came back in a few minutes with a nice bottle of red wine to calm our nerves. It seems that our first day of every European trip starts traumatically, but it always improves immensely after that.

The next day was beautiful, and we spent the day following Rick Steves' walking tour. Our apartment is in a great location, near the Puerto del Sol, in the center of Madrid and within walking distance of most of the major sites. We found a festival in Plaza Mayor with lots of local entertainment with folks in traditional garb, and ate at Museo del Jamon (Museum of Ham). There are rows and rows of whole legs of ham, a wonderful deli counter with meat and cheese, a stand up bar, where you can get ham sandwiches, and a sit down restaurant. One of the things I love about Europe is that, while you can certainly spend lots of money eating, there are also very cheap tasty alternatives. In most cafes, you can drink coffee for less money standing at the bar than at sitting at a table, and less sitting at a table inside than outside. We had beer and wine priced on the menu at 1.50 Euro, but because we sat outside on the terrace, it was 3.50 E each. But then yesterday, we had wonderful sandwiches from a pastry shop for 2 E each, a bottle of water for 19 cents, and a lovely lunch sitting on a park bench, They have mastered the art of eating frugally without sacrificing taste. And, you know me – as long as I can eat good food and drink wine for a reasonable price, I am happy! Just a few doors down the street from us is a wonderful restaurant , catering to the locals (until both Rick Steves and Lonely Planet discovered it), where we have eaten the last two nights and will probably continue to eat for the rest of our stay. They take no reservations, and people start lining up at 8:00 for the 8:30 opening. I am going to add to the blog a list of everywhere we stay and eat, for those who are interested.

One of the treats I had read about as being traditional is Churros con Chocolate – deep-fried pastry sticks dipped in dark chocolate pudding – now, how's that for South Beach friendly??? But it seemed culturally ignorant not to try it, don't you think? On a previous walk, we had found one of the places that Rick Steves says is the best for this nasty little delicacy, so we walked back there to indulge. It is on a little side street, and we came in from the opposite direction. We found our table, a waiter appeared, and we ordered. The churros were a different shape from those on our neighboring tables, and the chocolate pudding was lighter colored. Too late, I realized that our chairs were also a different color, and our waiter came from the wrong cafe – we had missed it by one table, and were stuck with what appeared to be a poor imitation of the good stuff next door! Darn!! I am thinking we have to go back and try again.

On our way to Puerto del Sol, we walk down a street that, while safe, is a bit on the seedy side. It is sad to see the young beautiful prostitutes standing in every doorway – not the hard core looking ones in the US. Rick Steves says that many are young girls from eastern countries and Africa who come to Madrid and find that they can't make it here any other way.

Today, we took the bus to Toledo, a historic walled city about 50 miles from Madrid – we were advised that it was much cheaper than the train, and the best way to go. Sure enough, we took the subway to the bus station and headed for Toledo, a direct one hour ride. After a day walking around in this beautiful town (at the top of a very steep hill, as all walled cities are), we boarded the bus home. Not long after we got on the A road (their interstate), we exited again. Dick said, “This isn't good” and he was right. We were on the milk run, stopping in every little town to pick up and drop people off. Two hours later, we were home. Actually, it was kind of interesting – we saw lots of smaller towns and non-touristy areas of Madrid than we had planned, but we were dragging big time by the time we got home. Ah, the joys of traveling – I reminded Dick that we had had two perfectly good days where he wasn't miserable once, so to buck up!

Today, I think we will take this morning off, while I get this posted. This afternoon, we will go back out, perhaps for another try at the Churros con Chocolate and a couple of hours at the Prado, Madrid's famous art museum. On Friday, we will begin a week at Pueblo Ingles near Salamanca, where we will volunteer with 28 other native English speakers from around the world at an English immersion school for a group of Spanish journalists (www.puebloingles. com). We meet the other Anglos tomorrow afternoon at a luncheon where we will be treated to paella, the famous Spanish dish of rice, meat, seafood, sausages, and saffron, and Flamenco dancing.