October in the Mediterranean on an Adriatic Cruise

We flew out Monday afternoon from Detroit to Amsterdam on the newest and most modern airplane that either of us had ever been in.  It was a new Airbus that held 234 passengers and had multi-functional entertainment LCD screens on every seat for individual tastes in movies, games, TV series, and even GPS to track the plane in which we were riding.  I realize that we do little flying,  and maybe that is why were were amazed in how jets have modernized.  From Amsterdam we had a shorter flight to Barcelona, Spain where we will embark on our cruise in two days.

It was almost hot in downtown Barcelona so we took a walk to get the feel of the place after we had checked in to the Gallery Hotel.  Here is Bill standing in front of a famous  building called La Pedrera that was built with no straight lines.

The timing of our visit to Barcelona could have been better as this northeast part of Spain called Catolinia is  trying to become independent.  We saw many young people like these above who were protesting police brutality and voicing their support for independence,

Some of the main roads were blocked off where students were protesting, and we saw many police like this on the streets when we took a walk from our hotel.

Barcelona is packed full of motor scooters.  They are parked everywhere by the hundreds if not thousands.  Here Karen stops for a pictured on one of the busy streets.