Jolie Guillebeau: Paintings & Musings

I’m home.

But then again, I love the sea. It feels like home to me too.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt to have someone ready to accommodate your every wish. For example, if you decide to have crème brulée for dessert every single night. Not that I would do that. I would only have it 12 nights of the 14 night cruise. The other two I chose Chocolate Fondue and a Lemon Sorbet, but both times I secretly wished for crème brulée. Because it was that good.

But I digress. You probably want to know where I went and what we did other that eat crème brulée.

On December first, we flew from Portland to Barcelona (via Vancouver and London). Our flights were perfect, it was gorgeous, and we got lounge access in Heathrow thanks to my husband’s airline status. (All his travel does benefit me occasionally.)

We arrived in Barcelona late on the 2nd, got completely lost getting to the hotel, but did manage to get there without a complete meltdown. We’re getting better at traveling together, I think.

The next day I explored the city while Chris drove to Andorra. I went to the Sagrada Familia, walked down Las Ramblas, and bought a couple of bottles of Rioja in preparation for the next couple of weeks.

Chris returned from his quest for another country checked off the list and we found dinner. Can I just say that warm goat cheese has magical properties? And when you put it on a salad with fresh spinach and candied almonds it takes on mythical proportions. Yes, it was a salad. Yes, I’m still thinking about it three weeks later. I think I need to buy some goat cheese this afternoon.

We boarded our ship the next morning and began our 14 days of retreat. On a ship, I do my best planning. My biggest desicion every day is what to have for dinner, so I have brain space to reflect and plan. Plus, there’s something about looking at water and sky that offers a sense of perspective and space. I find a quiet corner and doodle, think back over the year and think ahead to what I really want for the next year. And this year I had two whole weeks for just that.

We sailed along the coast of Spain,  visited the Barbary Apes on the top of the Rock of Gibraltar, and made our way slowly across the Atlantic with stops in the Canary Islands and Madeira along the way.

We edited the book, planned for 2010 collectively and individually and  I triumphed at Daily Team Trivia. (My greatest success was Name That Tune– the songs of Billy Joel, where I singlehandedly defeated two separate teams, each with more than 8 members. I’d also like to point out that Piano Man came out in 1973, four years before I was born. Not that I’m gloating over my ability to retain mundane and useless information.)

And we ate crème brulée. Or maybe I mentioned that already?