Up early for Paul for a run along the wide 'Diagonal' road that cuts across the city. Incredibly wide, lots of lanes, multiple dividers, dedicated wide footpaths in the middle and side, trams, cycle lanes... Pretty much the perfect major road. Some pretty good planning, there... The only frustration is that the lights are e all synchronised...so on a Sunday morning when then are no cars....both walkers and drivers spend a lot of time waiting for....nothing. But they seem a patient lot... I did have to deviate just outside the hotel to stay out of the 'on location' film crew that were using the street outside the hotel, and just down the road I thought I was watching a major disaster exercise with 5 Ambulances, police etc etc - and at first assumed it was related to the filming up the road...! - but it was in fact a real accident. Munched cars and real patients.

The rest of the run was uneventful, and as it by chance took me near Gaudi's I went the extra to take another look. Hadn't changed. Still wierd.

Back to the posh hotel, big breakfast, then a wander into town to the shopping centres I'd run past earlier. Turned out they are closed on Sundays, so we just extended our walk (about 5km) to see how the locals live and find a supermarket. Walked past their massive stadium and lots of pedestrian malls, playgrounds amongst skyscrapers and lots of the locals. From the outside view it seems like a pretty good place to live.

Dashed back to the hotel with a few minutes to spare, then on the bus to the Cruise ship. First impressions were ' wow!. That thing is massive (About 330M long), we were on the 10th floor, lunch on either the 5th or 15th and the room was just sumptuous. A bit squeezy between the king size bed and the makeup seat, but so much usable space. Cupboards everywhere, a lounge, separate glass shower and toilet, pretty sexy lighting and a balcony with chairs and table. After dumping the gear we went to the buffet, which had everything imaginable, and started to become 'Cruisers' by cruising through as many food choices as we could. Tough week ahead.

The boat had about 8 spa's. multiple pools. 3 water slides (Including a vortex), climbing wall, bowling alley, a gazzillion bars and restaurants and numerous large stages. It even had an Ice Bar (Where the furniture and bar are made of ice)... will do that later... On our cruise there were 3500 guests (800 of whom are Stampin Up) and 1700 crew/staff. We certainly needed the map! Checked out the gym, too. Huge! About 20 running machines, so hopefully no queue.

The evening started off with an informal gathering to welcome everyone then we headed off to the Beatles Tribute band (Who were pretty good) in one of the auditoriums. Meanwhile the boat (Ooops, 'ship') chuffed off fast as we had a lot of 'ground' to cover. The ocean was not rough, but not flat either. Crossing fingers it gets a little flatter. Weather still quite cool, so the pools were empty (Spa's full).

A bite for supper at the smorgasboard (having disinfected our hands (Compulsory) and got into the groove with the chirpy lady who squirted your hands if you bypassed the auto machines... 'Washy washy"....

As with every night, we expect, returning to our room, Yvonne found a boxed Stampin Up present which she instantly fell in love with. I got chocolates, so I was happy!