We have just returned from the awesome NSP I-Inspire trip to Barcelona and a Mediterranean cruise with stops in Spain, France and Italy. It was a bit nerve racking that terrorists made an attack in Barcelona 2 days after our Royal Caribbean cruise ship left port, and then again in Marseille 1 day after we toured this beautiful French city and countryside. One began to wonder if the terrorists were following us. It is sad that all people in the world cannot live together peacefully and feel the need to express their thoughts and feelings in such violent ways. However, it was a wonderful trip that was made even happier by having managers in our successline on this trip and to be able to spend some time with most of them. The tours were great and it would be difficult to pin point the best one.
Thanks to all of you, we were fortunate to have achieved the Platinum qualifying level and earn a three day pre-cruise trip to Barcelona, where we toured the famous Sagrada Famillia church which has been under construction since 1882. Anton Gaudi, who was the primary architect on the church until his death in 1926, said he saw the building of the Sagrada Famillia as “The temple as a whole, as well being a place for divine worship, will artistically represent the truths of religion and the glorification of God and His Saints.” Apart from the color provided by the actual construction materials used, such as the different types of stone and tiles in the vaulting, there will be many colored symbolical features, like the stained-glass windows and the inscriptions on the lights located in the columns, as well as the skylights in the vaults. Each of its 18 towers has a special significance. Once finished, these towers will be an extraordinary sight with the highest elevation being the central tower which dedicated to Christ. 70% of the work on the temple has been completed; the goal is to complete all of the architectural work by 2026.
To Joy, the tour to Naples and Capri, Italy and visiting the ancient city of Pompeii was beyond words (Pompeii was destroyed over 2500 years ago by the volcano Vesuvius. Excavations of the archeological ruins of Pompeii uncovered relics of how these people lived and how advanced they were – devising a means of pumping cold water onto coils in trenches in their homes during the hot summer months, a means of air conditioning that our current advanced world only invented in 1902. (A devastating earthquake hit Ischia, a small island very near Naples, 3 days after we were there).