Time passes so very quickly!

Halifax – Barcelona – Civitavecchia – Naples. Have we really already been to all those ports? I did some writing between Canada and Spain as we had eight days at sea. Then, we arrived in Barcelona and had only one sailing day between Spain and Italy. No time for blogging. Now, here I sit on July 5th, the day we sail from Italy to Croatia, trying to recall all we’ve done. Don’t panic, I’m not about to present a play-by-play of the past two weeks, but I will share some highlights and reflections. First, let me say the Canadians may be the most pedestrian friendly folks in the world. If we had one toe on the road, cars, buses, all moving vehicles would stop. Halifax has a terrific maritime museum, and I would return to the city simply to eat another Beaver Tail.


Spain was a new country for Emma and Barcelona a city Wade and I hadn’t visited together since taking our last high school group abroad in 2000. We enjoyed having Emma Z and her family on the city orientation tour with us and when we visited La Sagrada Familia, the famous Gaudi cathedral, the two Emmas were making plans to visit again together after its completion. They agreed that though it is slated to be finished in 2026 or 2027 they’d wait until 2028 to avoid the crowds! Another fun moment in Barcelona came when we joined a group of SAS friends at Sports Bar on La Rambla to watch the US vs Ghana World Cup match. Wearing her US flag pinned to her red American Girl shirt, Emma made her daddy proud as she cheered on her team through 30 minutes of overtime play. She was not pleased with the outcome of the game, but was given some high fives and “good games” as we walked back to the ship after the loss. Sunday morning found us at the International Church of Barcelona where we enjoyed a contemporary worship service, heard a fantastic speaker, and met someone with Perry connections during the greeting time.

No classes were held on the one sailing day between Spain and Italy. Instead on “Italy day” a variety of faculty members and interport students and lecturers offered sessions on history, art, culture, etc. The kids’ program was treated with a trip to the 7th deck where they joined some of the kitchen staff and made their own pizzas! I had one slice of Emma’s and must admit she’s quite the pizza chef.

I’ll close now and try to get some Italy reflections posted before we begin our time in Croatia.