Last of Barcelona

While we were walking through the Park de la Ciutadella next to the zoo, this beast charged out and grabbed Peggy in its trunk.




These gorgeous parrots are common in Spain. They are originally escapees that have established sustaining flocks. We saw them a number of times. There were a lot of them in this park.

Rose-Ringed Parakeets are technically what they are, though much bigger than our parakeets. The rose ring is difficult to see and found only in the male.


We didn't realize that Barcelona had its own version of the Arc de Triomf. It was constructed for the 1888 Great Exhibition of Barcelona. It is the portal to the Park de la Ciutadella.

View through the Arc, away from the park.

Back to the hotel. Peg and I had left our stuff in Jim & Sherryl's room since we checked out in the morning. We made our evening flight and though we had some long layovers (including all night in the lounge chairs in Amsterdam), the trip home was not as eventful as the one over.

Vacation highlights over! It was a great trip and spending it with Jim and Sherryl made it extra-special.

Then, it was back to work.

Back to Barcelona

The day after we got off the ship, we caught a cab to see some of the major Barcelona sights we had missed before.

Gaudi's masterwork in Barcelona, the Sagrada Familia cathedral, never finished, eternally in a state of construction.




Some detail of the modernistic, sometimes grotesque architecture.



Saint Paul's Hospital


This was a fascinating sight on Avenida Gaudi. Note the six elderly men on the bench on one side of the square, and the six elderly women on the other.

Gibraltar

Jim is not in our Gibraltar pictures. He was the first of us to get sick. He missed this whole day.


This is a common view of the Rock, but it's actually only a small part of it. I shot this from the top of the Rock.


Peggy and friend.


The Gibraltar apes were the best part of this tour. They are wild but used to tourists. This one is commandeering a vehicle.


Mother and baby.




"Nice view, huh?"


View of Gibraltar From the Great Siege Tunnels


Evacuation monument.

We thought we were going to be in big trouble with Jim. He was in the ship sick and we lost Sherryl! She got separated from the group and we didn't know where she was for quite awhile. Our entire group yelled "Sherryl" but she was nowhere to be found. Finally, our guide got a call from another guide. When she couldn't find us, she had hooked up with another group that was part of the same tour.

Oklahoma

No, our next stop after Lisbon was not Oklahoma. We take a brief break from our cruise review as I am in Oklahoma City for my first board meeting as president of the International Pentecostal Press Association. Back to the cruise later.

Leaving Lisbon

The Tower of Belem was erected in 1515 to guard Lisbon Harbor.


The 1960 Discoveries Monument

Lisbon, Portugal

Peggy at Praca do Comercio


Ken at Arco da Victoria


Cathedral




The massive Cristo Rei is an echo of Rio de Janeiro's Christ the Redeemer.


April 25 Bridge is fashioned after the Golden Gate. Note Christ the King statue barely visible at lowest part of suspension cables on right of pic.

Portugal, Cascais and Sintra

Jim and Sherryl at Cascais, the first stop of two on this tour.


Statue of Don Pedro I in square at Cascais.


Sintra's Palacio Nacional




Sintra

Happy Thanksgiving

From our small family gathering of thankful people. This was our smallest Thanksgiving gathering ever. Planned to have more people but travel and illnesses kept our T'giving small this year.





Perky thinks she's a dog. She loves to play with balls.

Las Palmas, Grand Canary

I love to photograph churches. This is probably the neatest cathedral I have seen other than Notre Dame in Paris ... and the tour bus went right by it without stopping! Nothing we saw was even close to as neat as this! I managed only to get a couple of shots from the bus. With cropping, this one turned out pretty good.


Gargoyles everywhere.


I also like to photograph stained glass from the inside of churches. This had a more modern look than most we saw.


A view of our ship from shore.


The Queen Elizabeth II was with us in two ports, including Las Palmas.


Peggy and Sherryl as the ship leaves port.