Recap

We have reached the sunset of our trip.

As bustling and normal as the city of Barcelona was on Friday, it was the exact opposite on Saturday. The city, in fact the entire country, was now in lockdown due to the coronavirus. All tourist attractions, all restaurants were now closed. We found out later that trains and buses were about to go out of service.

We walked around looking for anything open and, except for a few souvenir shops, came up empty-handed. We saw long lines of tourists, luggage in tow, waiting to board buses for the airport. This made us nervous.

We again admired the ancient walls of the Barcelona Cathedral.

We had originally set out to find the Palace of Music. We got in the general area but couldn't find it. We ended up walking down to the harbor, looking for a lunch spot unsuccessfully. On the way back, Brock noticed a building that looked like a "Gaudi". Guess what, that was the Palace of Music! They give daily guided tours, but not today.

We were forced to eat all three Saturday meals at our hotel, but all three were delicious.

It is remarkable that during our whole European tour, everything has been absolutely normal until this final day. The message is clear: it's time to go home! Our timing could not have been more perfect. We had planned all along to leave for home on Sunday, March 15.

All Americans flying home from Europe must fly into designated U.S. airports. Our travel plans called for us to fly to JFK airport in New York City, which is one of the designated airports, so no revisions were needed to our original plans.

On Sunday we woke up extra early, and our drive to the airport was 30 minutes or less. We easily dropped off our rental car, "Brakey", with no tears shed about leaving him. Again, we used 2 trollies to transport our luggage around the airport to the American Airlines check-in area. Since our seats were in the Premium Economy section, we joined a shorter line to check in and drop off our baggage. Everything went extremely smoothly.

Our flight departed Barcelona at 9:35 a.m., and we arrived at JFK Airport 8-1/2 hours later, at 1:00 p.m.

We had heard nightmare stories about American tourists getting hung up for hours waiting to be processed back into the country. We had no such problems. We waited 10 minutes for people to come on board our plane and hand us questionnaires about our health. Since we were sitting in row 13, we were among the first to deplane. As we departed, our temperatures were taken. Those with temperatures above normal were pulled aside. Those of us who tested normal and whose questionnaires indicated no symptoms of coronavirus were allowed to pass through customs. For the first time, we were able to use "Global Entry" to get through customs! It was a breeze.

It was great to be on American soil again!

We had a 7 hour layover at JFK which we spent walking, reading, relaxing, and having a good steak and salmon dinner. Our flight landed in Nashville around 10:00 p.m., and it did not take long for our luggage to arrive. We were home by 10:30 p.m. It was wonderful to get to sleep in our own bed again! We are completely healthy, and self-quarantining for 14 days.

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It is time for the Recap of our European Adventures. Drum roll, please! Here are awards for the Best and the Worst!

Best Ski Resort Hotel: Sport Hermitage Hotel and Spa in Soldeu, Andorra.

Best Non-Ski Related Hotel: Lausanne Palace

Worst Hotel: Central Hotel Verbier. It was more hostel than hotel.

Hardest to get to: Sport Hermitage Hotel and Spa in Soldeu, Andorra, due to recent heavy snowfall.

Best Non-Ski Activity: BMW Museum in Munich, Germany

Best Mountain Experience: L'Aiguille du Midi to see Mont Blanc

Best Ski Lift: Telepherique de la Flegere in Chamonix, France, no contest.

Scariest Drive: to Verbier, Switzerland

Most Anxiety-Filled Drive: to Soldeu, Andorra

Best Spa: Sport Hermitage Hotel and Spa in Soldeu, Andorra

Best Spa Day: Heated waterbed at Valluga Hotel in St. Anton, Austria

Worst Massage: Hotel Zugspitze in Garmisch, Germany

Best Massage: Valluga Hotel in St. Anton, Austria (Jane), Sport Hermitage Hotel and Spa in Soldeu, Andorra (Brock)

Best Powder Ski Days: St. Anton, Austria and St. Moritz, Switzerland. Brock also had a good one in Val d'Isere, France, with a guide.

Worst Ski Day: trying to ski in Lech, Austria, and not being able to find a parking spot, thus not skiing.

Best Scenic Ski Day: Sellaronda in Val Gardena, Italy

Best Hotel Service: Lausanne Palace, no request was too outrageous.

Best Meal: Brasserie Grand Chene at Lausanne Palace (Brock), Restaurant Les Armures in Geneva, Switzerland (Jane)

Best Half Board - Hotel Zugspitze in Garmisch, Germany (Brock), A-Rosa Kitzbuhel in Kitzbuhel, Austria (Jane)

Worst Weather: Garmisch, Germany and Gstaad, Switzerland (Rain)

Worst Ski Access: Garmisch, Germany (Brock) (buses were full so he walked miles to the resort), Verbier, Switzerland (Jane) (it was nothing but walking uphill from hotel to gondola to gondola to gondola - I still have bruises)

Biggest Ripoff: Golfhotel Les Hauts de Gstaad in Gstaad, Switzerland

Best Weather: Barcelona, Spain and Geneva, Switzerland

Harshest Weather: Val d'Isere, France

Worst Behaved Crowds: St. Anton, Austria

Worst Meal and Worst Half Board: Golfhotel Les Hauts de Gstaad in Gstaad, Switzerland

Best Deal: El Palace Hotel Barcelona

Best Fitness Center: A-Rosa Kitzbuhel in Kitzbuhel, Austria

Best Ski Town: Chamonix, France and St. Moritz, Switzerland (Jane), Val d'Isere, France (Brock)

Worst Ski Town: Verbier, Switzerland

Best Chocolate: Laderach in St. Moritz and Geneva, Switzerland

Best Single Run: The first 2 powder runs we did with our guide in St. Anton, Switzerland. Each one took an hour to ski!

Best Rental Car: Slippy, no contest!

Best Scenery: Dolomites in Val Gardena, Italy and the French Alps and Mont Blanc in Chamonix, France

Scariest Moment: Watching skiers on L'Aiguille du Midi

Best On-Mountain Food: Quiche at "The Beach" in Val d'Isere

Most Intriguing Nighttime Venue: the "Bluesman" bar at El Palace Hotel Barcelona

Best Laundry Service: Auberge du Manoir in Chamonix, France; they did our laundry for free! Honorable mention: Avancher Hotel in Val d'Isere, France; they charged 30 Euros for whatever you could fit in a laundry bag.

So there you have it! Thank you for reading our blog! Brock and I have truly had an amazing time celebrating his 60th birthday! No need to feel sorry for him!

No need to worry about us. We are healthy, happy, and DO NOT HAVE CORONAVIRUS!!