Spain Adventure

Our Trip to Spain:

Day one:  A long and uneventful drive from Birmingham to Juno Beach FL.  We did have a delightful lunch in Macon GA , at The Margarita Grill off of Presidential Blvd.  We highly recommend it if your passing through Macon .  We arrived in Juno Beach about 10:30 EST and found a Hampton Inn had rooms, had failed to find rooms in two other cities via cell phone calls on the highway, but Ron came through.  Six hours sleep and back on the road.  Good night….

Day two:  An hour drive into Miami to drop off the car and shuttle to the ship, Voyager of the Sea.  This is a fantastic ship, I’ve never been on a ship this grand and well appointed. We met a waiter, Jin, from China and shared our memories of our month in China last year.  We left Miami and sailed into the Atlantic for a 10 day voyage to Spain .  Our table mates are two couple traveling together from southern Mississippi , transplanted form Louisiana so Ron has plenty to talk about and they are full of stories.  Tonight’s entertainment was three Argentina Gauchos who presented their native dance and music, a very energetic performance that was totally entertaining.

Day three:  We have started what looks like will be our daily routine.  The morning is exercise.  Up at 6:45 and in the Windjammer Grill for coffee then off to the gym or deck track for a 2 to three mile run ( Kerry 2, Ron 2, Avie 3 mile walk, Nita 2 mile walk), back to the Windjammer Grill for breakfast then back to the gym for weight lifting of a full assortment of machines.  At 10:15 Kerry, Nita, and Avie are in an hour seminar on living healthy; Ron says he knows all this; I’m not sure where he goes.  At 11:15 I go to a drawing class and the others go in their own directions then we meet at 12:30 for lunch; really it’s 1:30 because each day we move our clocks ahead an hour at noon . Dinner is at 6:00 and we’re off to a show; tonight it was an Australian version of Billy Joel, he was quite good.

Day four:  Same routine, this moving the clock ahead one hour each day means we’re getting up one hour earlier relative to Birmingham time.  Avie is sleeping later and Ron is making me look bad, he gets coffee and a muffin and takes it back to the room for Avie; what a guy!  There was no floor show tonight so we sat in a lounge and made friends with a Texas English Lit professor who was traveling with a California English professor that he had met several years earlier before his wife died, (it’s a long story, and one of many that we have heard.

Day five: Our Healthy living instructor tells us that we should be eating 5 to 6 times per day and should always eat before we exercise, that if we want to loose weight we need to be lifting weights and the running and walking is a waste of time if our heart rate is not 70% to 80% of our maximum heart rate. (220 – Age X 80%).   This afternoon we went to an Ice Show, that’s right they have an ice rink on this ship.  The show was full of lifts, double and triple saulcows and even a back flip on ice.  The performers were from Russia, Poland, Minnesota, all over the world, the arena sat about 600 so their will be more performances and we all agreed that we wanted to get tickets for another performance, the tickets are free. What a vacation!  Our head waiter informed us that we needed to be on the lookout for “The Dinning room Gigolo.”  This guy approaches your table if you have an empty seat and a bottle of wine and asks if he can join you for dinner.  By the end of the meal he has drank most of your wine and moved on to his next victim.  “You’ll recognize him; he’s a big guy with a handle bar mustache.  Don’t let him sit with you”. After dinner we went to see LaRaf, an illusionist that left the audience asking, “How did they do that?”  The show was followed by a 70’s Street Party on the Promenade Deck, and a Chocolate Buffet.  Being committed Healthy Living disciples we looked, took pictures and went to bed.

Day six:  We’re now on a 5 to 6 feedings per day schedule. Small snack before gym workout, then breakfast, then cardio workout, lunch, small afternoon snack (fruit), dinner, and a before bed snack (preferably red wine and cheese).  This keeps the body furnace burning fat, turning it into muscle prompted my the heavy exercise schedule.  We’re now 5 hours ahead of home, (we’re up at 7:00 am , it’s 2:00 am at home) naps are becoming a part of our day.  Tonight’s entertainment was J.C. Fisher of Kansas City , a tenor who when the act need help called upon the soprano from Birmingham , Avie Cohen.