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| back in Spain |
Steps – 12,527
Humidity – 65%
Rouen is about 150km from Charles de Gaulle –
where we boarded a 2-hr flight to Barcelona today – that is far! I’m surprised
that Rouen doesn’t have an airport, but what do I know. Martin, our very silent
driver, picked us up at 8:30 and we were at the airport by 10:30.
We originally planned on taking a car even though we could have taken a train, good thing, because today was a planned France-wide train strike. I heard more than a few people on the ship discussing their alternate plans.
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| ignore the train routes |
I was a bit worried when Martin took us on what
seemed like every back road from Rouen to Paris – I would have thought a
highway would have been the play, but not Martin. I kept looking at his GPS and
our time of arrival was on schedule, so I figured he knew what he was doing. We
eventually hit the highway and were there when we expected, so…
Once at the airport, we were too early to check
in (we figured this, but I’d rather sit and wait at the airport than be pressed
for time enroute) so we split yet another French chien-chaud. This time, the
French-ness of it was legit – and actually more of a sausage in a baguette,
with cheese and grainy mustard, tasty.
 |
| breakfast |
Check-in was a breeze. As we approached security the line seemed non-existent, so we figured we’d be through in a matter of minutes…nope. Many people (Chris included) had their things flagged for wanding – with that small cloth-like thingy for what…who knows.
Then there was a gaggle of 20ish young women
who for some reason had their things extra-scrutinized. They then decided it
was a good idea to FILM the process. Big shocker…security did…not…like…that.
There was yelling, demands of deleting videos etc, etc. It was quite the show. I,
for once, breezed through, but Chris was in the thick of it. In the end, I’m
not sure what the problem with them was.
We had a short wait before boarding a bus to another
Vueling plane – pretty much the same as the one we took from Barcelona to
Lisbon. This time we were in row#1. We upgraded thinking we’d get more space –
we did, but I was in the dreaded middle. Sideways space wasn’t much better, but
we had plenty of leg room.
We are spending the next 4 days in Sitges,
Spain, which is a 20 drive from the Barcelona airport.
After unpacking a bit we headed out for snacks, then back to the room to recharge. We also bought Kleenex – none in the hotel. This isn’t at all surprising. We’ve been in plenty of hotels outside of North America without Kleenex. I suppose I can blow my nose with TP for the next 4 days…but for €2, I’m going to live my best life!Chips and a beer don’t exactly make dinner, but by the time we were ready to head out again, we weren’t hungry. We walked a bit and headed back.
There are also no face cloths…again…no surprise.
Chris couldn’t care less, but I like to take shower #2 of the day and not get
my hair wet but wash my face…is that too much to ask!?! I’ve been known to ‘borrow’
a face cloth from Regent for post-cruise hotel stays…I returned it of course!
Our room at the Sercotel Hotel is in a great
location – if you want to watch the Pride festival. More specifically, if you
want to hear the Pride festival. As soon as we got to our room, I was worried –
it was going to get loud. It was loud at 5:30 when we arrived and they were
only doing sound check. Sitting on a terrace with that view would have been
great, but a hotel room…yikes. In the end it was loud, but I passed out around
11:45.
Chris found this hotel and picked this room specifically because it overlooks the sea – for that it is wonderful. During non-festival times it would be glorious…we’ll see what the next days bring.
Diana – I thought of that each time I looked at
the map of where we were. Makes me wonder how different things were in those
days. That Gulf Stream is incredible – palm trees in Scotland too!
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