Our last day onboard was at sea. It was a pretty quiet and slow day, but it was also a rough one! The waves were pretty large, but this was no where near as rough as it was when I was on Empress. Regardless, come late in the day the end of the cruise got "extended" a wee bit. I'm returning a beach towel to the front desk when they comment on a couple of passengers that had their life vests. I stepped back, waiting for Beth, and took in part of the conversation that unveiled that a couple windows were broken out on the third floor.

By the time Beth and I got up to one of the lounges the captain was broadcasting that we did have some broken windows and that there was no concern and they were working to repair the windows. That was all well and good until around 5something in the morning, right before our wake up call was set for. At that point the announcement came through that we had to slow down due to the damage we incurred and wouldn't be in Barcelona until noon time. Well, since our flight was at noon that was a big "oh shit". I guess I'm rolling straight into October 13th with this post, as it all kind of blends together.

For my anti-versary we were delayed as all hell. Kindly however they opened up the telephone lines and internet connections to allow us to (attempt to) get our reservations changed. Once we finally got a line we learned that everything out of Barcelona was booked and would put us behind by two days. Our next alternative (thanks to Kirk's quick planning) was to go out of Madrid, but that too wasn't until the next day.

So, we're taking a train to Madrid. To save a few bucks we took the overnight train, which was cheaper than the three hour express train, and covered us from needing to get a hotel in Madrid. I've got to say that the wait in the Barcelona train station for 9ish hours before the 9 hour train ride was slow slow slow. The train wasn't bad, but a bit of an irritation for me. Even though all four of us paid for first class, Kirk and I didn't get sleepers, the chairs didn't move too much, so it was hard to sleep.

The prize of that was getting to see the stars as we went through the countryside. Not even out on the farm was there such an uncontaminated view of the night sky. I've never seen so many and so bright stars in my life. It was quite soothing given the tiring situaton.

We got into Madrid on the 14th, and waited some more before the long flight. I got the bum seat on the flight with a little bit of a larger guy on the side of me, a chair that didn't want to go back, and a lady in front of me that clearly didn't like me leaning my forehead/pillow on the back of her chair. Again, I didn't get much sleep. But then we were back in the states, Filthadelphia to be precise. It was a bit strange to pay for things in dollars instead of euros at this point. A short wait and we were on another quick hop to Baltimore.

You'd think that the final leg would have been a nightmare, but the drive back to Johnstown wasn't too bad and went fairly quickly. Home at last at darn near midnight. I was suppose to be off work that day to go get the girls, luckily Cozy Inn is flexible and I was able to get ahold of them and they tended to the girls for an extra day. Instead I took the 15th off to get my fuzzies.

As normal, they spent several days tired as could be. Saffy was so happy to see me and more than content to cuddle with me each evening for the next three days. I, much like the girls, was tired as could be, and ready to go to bed at 7pm the next two nights. It's just been in the past few days (today is the 26th) that I've been up to 11pm+