The SSQQ 2009
Barcelona Cruise

September 27th - October 4th

A 7-day cruise through the Western Mediterranean Triangle aboard Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas

Visiting Naples, Rome, Florence, Nice, and Marseilles

THE STORY OF THE SSQQ 2009 BARCELONA CRUISE

Story written by Rick Archer
November 2009

INTRODUCTION

We have just made our third stop of the trip.  Today we are in Florence, Italy. I am with a group of 40 as we enter the Galleria dell'Accademia, one of Italy's leading art museums.

The first room we enter is cluttered with six or seven giant unfinished sculptures of men in various poses. These eight-foot tall statues were created by Michelangelo. Oddly enough, these are statues of slaves.  I wonder to myself why Michelangelo would bother sculpting slaves.

Some of the statues are almost finished. I find them interesting to look at. The illusion is a rock slowly becoming a human. As I stare at these massive statues, I wonder again why Michelangelo would spend valuable time carving out slaves. Carving a statue this large is not idle work. It is a big project. I am also curious to understand why these works were never completed.

Then for some reason the crowd suddenly disappears.  They are all running somewhere.  I look up to see where they are going. That is the moment I spot Michelangelo's "David" towering above the crowd like a visitor from the Planet Mars. Although David is 40 away in the distance, I am incredulous to see his statue rise 30 feet into the sky!

I had no idea his statue was so big!  The statue of David completely dominates the room.

When I see him, I gasp. David is so lifelike I swear I expect him to move at any moment. His statue is so beautiful that it literally takes my breath away. I find myself in total awe. Goose bumps break out all over my body. I instantly abandon the sad, unappreciated half-finished slave statues and run to get a closer look at David. Now that I see it first-hand, I can't believe how perfect the sculpture is!

This trip is the culmination of a year of planning. I have traveled 6,000 miles from my home and spent several thousand dollars in the process to be here. The plane flight was an ordeal that took an entire day. I have suffered terribly from every ache and pain in the book in the process. I am tired, I am cranky, I miss my dogs and my daughter and I haven't had a peanut butter sandwich in days. As everyone knows, travel is never easy. There are sacrifices that must be made.

And yet in this exact moment, it is all worth it. I have just seen the most beautiful sculpture in the world.

All the pictures in the books and on the Internet will never begin to equal the experience of seeing this incredible work of art first-hand. This is a masterpiece. I have just witnessed beauty and perfection.

And that, my friends, is the reason that people travel.

THIS WAS A 'CAN'T MISS TRIP' The moment Marla booked this trip in the Fall of 2008, she and I were convinced that this trip had it all. We already knew people were interested.  At our dinner table during our 2008 Italy-Greece Cruise, the favorite topic of conversation was where we wanted to go next year in 2009.  Over the course of our trip, the consensus was strongly in favor of going to Barcelona and making the Magic Triangle Trip across the Western Mediterranean Sea. Due to an odd arrangement of dates in 2009, the studio would be closed for seven days near the end of September.  We had never taken a week off in September before in thirty years, but this peculiar circumstance made the trip even more attractive to me since I wouldn't have to scramble to find substitute teachers.  It was a good thing too because a dozen instructors came on the trip... they would have had to find substitutes as well.  Let's just say the timing worked out well.   This was the perfect opportunity for the studio to take this cruise!   No student had to miss a class and no teacher had to find a substitute. Previously I have been excited about every Destination Cruise that Marla has booked - Mardi Gras, Alaska, New England, Hawaii, and last year's Italy-Greece trip.  However I have say that no previous trip promised the kind of sensational highlights that this one did... the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Vesuvius and Pompeii, the stunning Isle of Capri, the otherworldly architecture of Barcelona, the marvelous museums and ruins of Rome, the museums of Florence complete with Renaissance paintings and Michelangelo's David, the casinos of Monaco, the fabulous French Riviera, and the idyllic beauty of Southern France. Sure enough, our instincts were confirmed.  This year's Barcelona Trip broke the previous mark for passengers on a "Destination Trip" with 90... an unbelievable total considering the shaky 2008-2009 economy.  Yet at the same time, what other trip could combine so much history, natural beauty, rich culture and tradition as this trip across the Western Mediterranean?   The trip promised to be sensational.  And guess what?  This trip completely and totally lived up to the hype.  The 2009 Barcelona Cruise did not disappoint for a moment.   It was a wonderful vacation for everyone.

FULL NAMES AND THE INTERNET

A concern about privacy came up during our trip. Someone pointed out I was basically telling the whole world when their vacation would be taking place by listing the full names of the cruise members. This information in the wrong hands was not such a good idea. After a round table discussion, the consensus was that first names would be acceptable from now on.

My attitude is to "do no evil". If people think listing full names is a problem, then for this story I will stick to first names and see what people think.
If anyone wishes to comment on this issue, I would be curious to know your opinion (privacy assured). For example, now that the trip is over, is there any harm in publishing the full names on the SSQQ Passenger List?  Should I include the full names in this story? Or should I use the first name and one initial? Or do you think sticking to first names only is the right road to take?  

(Rick Archer's Note: It has been a month since I asked these questions.  I have not received one comment.  That tells me this is not a burning issue.  Still, I think from now we will go with first names until the trip is over.  After the trip is over, I will post last names as well unless someone specifically asks me not to.)

SO HOW WAS THE TRIP IN 25 WORDS OR LESS?

After the trip was over, I cannot begin to tell you how many people would see me at the studio and immediately ask how the trip went. They could barely hold back their curiosity. People emailed me for the same reason.  How was it? What happened?

Unfortunately, I couldn't possibly do justice to their request. The story was just too big. So I would beg their pardon and promise to write a story just as soon as I could.

To be honest, I expect to be working on the story of this trip for the remainder of October and most of November.  Maybe even longer. There are so many pictures to and and so many tales to tell.

In September 2009 I wrote a story about the successful August Conquest 2009 Dance Cruise for the newsletter. It was meant to be a quick recap, but when I finished I realized it was 11 pages long. Then it was time to post the newsletter write-up on the ssqq web site. As I got to each story, new ideas occurred to me. Now to my surprise, my story had tripled in size!  And that total doesn't include the unwritten the story of my second Cayman Beach Adventure.

Just to put things in perspective, my record for the longest Cruise Recap to date is 66 pages. I had a marvelous time writing about our Hawaii 2007 Trip. Gosh, that was a great trip. We need to go to back!!!  And you know what?  I never even finished the article. Day Seven in Kauai is still blank and I never wrote a Summary of the trip either.  Oh well, Michelangelo didn't finish everything he started either. So there.

I believe the story of this Barcelona Trip could reach 100 pages if I had the time and energy. There was such a wealth of experiences on this trip that I could go on forever. For now, however, let's start with a gentle overview of the first couple days of the trip and leave the serious writing for later.

NEXT STORY: BARCELONA DAY ONE