Thursday, April 04, 2013

MSC Splendida


After another high speed train we arrived in Marseille, France where we boarded our ship the MSC Splendida.  This Italian cruise line caters to an international clientele so we met travelers from around the world.  I actually didn’t come across another American until our final day onboard.  The kids loved participating the kids club and made lots of new friends despite the language barriers.  Sydney made friends with Chantal from Italy and Gaya from Israel.  Andrew made friends with Christopher Choi from Hawaii. 

Matt and I met a lovely couple from London; Trudi & Luke.  They were great company and were more than happy to indulge me in a Kings English vocabulary lesson.

Our first port of call was Barcelona, Spain.  Montguic Castle was our destination.  We planned to take a cable car ride but found a much more economical city bus along the way.  The castle was very well maintained and several large cannons which Andrew enjoyed. 
We also visited the Christopher Columbus statue, the Magic Fountain which turned out to be not so magical that day.  We happen to visit on the day the fountain was not running :(   But we did stumble upon a fantastic produce & butcher market which I love because it gives you a such a sense of true resident living.
Sydney was over the moon with excitement by all the french bulldogs she spotted.  Europeans take their dogs everywhere; in stores, restaurants, trains, everywhere.

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