Boston and Back

November, 2014 —

On Nov 5th we headed back to Boston and spent almost three weeks seeing family and friends.  It was special time, especially with Sara’s father.  We even made it up to Maine for an overnight with Bob’s brother and his family.

Also while back we met with our 4th and 5th graders in Andover, who are sharing this journey with us.  Sara gave a presentation covering all the animals we have encountered and Bob conducted a workshop on why a boat floats.   We also tracked our progress to-date and went over our route for the next year.  There were dozens of questions, as expected, which we so enjoy.  Their enthusiasm is wonderful.

On Saturday, the 29th, we returned to the boat loaded with parts and materials for our all our winter projects.  The winter may be longer than the calendar would suggest!

We got back just in time for friends John and Eileen to arrive and celebrate “the last Thursday of November” with us–since Spain does not celebrate Thanksgiving!  We even had two traditional Thanksgiving dishes with our otherwise Spanish feast.  We had a great time visiting the Picasso Museum, Gaudi’s Park Guell, and sipping café con leche through several days, all in torrential rain!

This starts our new adventure as we acclimate to living in a new city and country.  Bob has been working hard on his French.  Sara plans to learn enough Spanish to be conversant with the locals and to read the language.  Sara has also joined the Barcelona Womens’ Network, an organization made up of 270 women from 28 countries.  They support three charities while also doing a lot of social activities.  We also want to learn more about Gaudi’s architecture, Picasso, and Salvadore Dali.  We feel we need to take advantage of this extraordinary opportunity when we can.

We have met other cruisers and have developed some new friends.  One of the couples, Carol and Gus from Chicago, aboard Indigo, have been in the Med for 13 years.  They are a gold mine of information for us and very willing to share their knowledge.  They have spent time in the eastern Med, our destination for next season.  Politics have changed, as we are all aware, and they have seen it more than many.  They have sailed to Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, doing land travel as well, even spending time in downtown Beirut.  They said it was amazing, but that door of opportunity has now closed.  Western Turkey is as far east as we will go and, yes, we do monitor the news, State Department website of warnings, and talk with other cruisers for updates.

Last week, our niece who is doing a semester abroad at Queen Mary’s College in London and her classmate visited us for a long weekend.  Sightseeing, window shopping, cafe hopping and even surfing keep them busy for long days and into the nights.  So much to do, so little time!  They had a great time, albeit exhausting; we loved their company.

Our winter boat project list has been slowly growing over the last season and is now under review and being prioritized.  For Sara: that includes varnishing and sewing; Bob: engine maintenance and wiring.  Fortunately we have found several good marine stores which will makes things easier.

We will be continuing the fourth and now fifth grade blogs (TAP blogs) as we report on our various land travel throughout Europe.  This blog will pause and pick back up again in May with a very busy schedule to include stops in: Majorca, Sardinia, Corsica (east coast), the Amalfi coast of Italy, Sicily, Croatia, Greece and Turkey.  See you in the spring!