FINALLY WE HAVE COME BACK TO THE ROCK

December 10, 2018

Several of you would have been disappointed.  Well, now you are not.

And now I will turn the keyboard over to Bonnie and I shall return later.

First of all my sleep last night was interrupted because they were banging on a pipe under our room almost all night. It was terrible, even earplugs did not block it out.

I am trying to stay awake right now. I was just bored to death. Yes, the magician was back for his second show. And the day after tomorrow he is going to do a close up show in place of David’s talk. And we get the day off. HaHa.

Well, we were up at 6 am because we had to be in the Cabaret lounge by 7:30. Our tour was an early one. We were actually off the ship and on our way before the sun rose at 8:15. It was very overcast this morning but it was not too cold and turned out to be a beautiful day. Our tour took us first to the lighthouse. Beautiful spot down below the rock. Then, we headed up very narrow winding streets to St Michael’s Cave. David has wanted to see this forever. So we saw it today, and it was everything he wanted except we only had 20 minutes to explore. This was just a 2 hour tour. After cave we went to visit the monkeys! We would have rather stayed at the cave. They jumped all over the bus and two males got into a screaming match over a female. It frightened me. They were running around us and screaming at each other. The guide said don’t worry they won’t hurt you. HA! Again I say HA!! Easy enough for him to say. We stayed there about 15 minutes. I took some pictures and videos to show you. Then, we drove down to the airport and the one landing strip that they have to stop traffic whenever a plane comes into land because the main street between Gibraltar and Spain runs through it.  Then it was off for a ride down the mountain and through the town.

We didn’t go all the way back to the ship but had the driver let us off in town so we could walk to the shops. We stopped at the glass blowing factory and shop. We have been here 4 times and this is the first time we have ever seen them actually blowing the glass. It was cool to watch. Then, we stopped in the little store that is a flea market type store where he bought some stamps(?) And a small statue of a monkey for one of the dancers on the ship. He can tell you about that.

Heading on down the shopping street we bought a London Times newspaper( Yeah) and I got a new arrow words magazine (there double Christmas issue). A little later in a toy store I got a minions advent calender. Later we visited a church, lit a candle and made a donation to the fund for a new sound system. We picked up a newsletter and a calendar for the new year. Beautiful church. Later we stopped in a Marks and Spencer store and picked a Christmas present. Then, it was 11:30 and we headed back to the ship. It took about an hour to get back. It is a long walk. We did stop at the supermarket so he could get some Mountain Dew.

Back on board up to lunch, carrot and celery sticks, small salad, half a sandwich and ice cream. Then, today the 2 pm movie was “Skyscraper” with the “Rock” and I had not seen it yet. So I went to the movie and he went to nap.  Then, back to the room for a little rest and then to a miserable supper. I had “Southern fried” chicken, NOT, it tasted like banquet fried chicken.   The Goat cheese souffle was great but the bibb lettuce salad was not. Dessert was ice cream, it was okay.

Then, off to the show which was the magician where I played on my kindle and he watched.  Now in our room and having some coke before bed. We arrive in Cadiz tomorrow and I have a few things I want to look for. Having fun. The weather has really been good. Not to cold not to hot.

Well, here he is to tell you everything I forgot.

I’m baaaaack.

I did not buy stamps.  I bought 6 First Day Covers.  For all of you non-philatelists out there, they are envelopes with postmarked stamps, from the first day they were issued.  One of the neat things about these British FDCs is they have all of the series of stamps in the issue.  For instance, the one celebrating Gilbert and Sullivan (and yes, the Pirates of Penzance is on it) has stamps which range in price from 18 pence up to 39, a total of 5 stamps in all (U.S. FDCs only have one stamp on them).  This one is dated 21 July (almost the Bro’s birthday) 1992.  And they are addressed to the person who subscribed to the issue.  There is a Christmas set from 1980, Village Churches from 1972, Christmas 1990, Christmas 2000, and the final set I purchased is from New Zealand (the home of the woman who almost became Skinny Granny – if you haven’t heard the story, I’ll tell it to you another time).  And this set was mailed to a gentleman in Ontario Canada.  Now I have to find a place to display them!

Now as to the small, very cold, brass monkey I purchased (I have taken a picture of it so you can see it, since I will give it to Becky the next time I see her – and her butt is not soooo big).  Becky, who is the captain of the dance troupe, went with us on our tour of Naples.  She was greeting the audience as we left the Cabaret lounge last night and I asked her if she was touring again.  She said, “No, it is my day to work, and I really wanted to see the monkeys.”  I told her that Bonnie and I were going to see the monkeys and that I would take pictures for her.  She was pleased by that, and when I saw the little monkey in the shop your Mom mentioned above, and costing only 2 pounds sterling, I bought it for her.  She was not on duty at the lounge tonight, so I will carry the little critter in my pocket until we meet up with her again.

My traveling companion has told you that dinner was not very good tonight.  4 of the members of Table 57 (oh, I saw a taxi out in Gibraltar whose taxi license number was 57, and it advertised seating for 8 – just like on board the Pacific Princess) ordered Southern  fried chicken.  Mom and I knew it wasn’t going to be SFC because she has gotten it before and she described it as Banquet Frozen Chicken.  It was worse.  It was well overcooked, dried out and tough.  She didn’t even like the coleslaw, but pronounced the French fries as good.  One of the group got pork tenderloin and he didn’t like the sides with it.  And the other three of us got seafood stuffed trout.  Roberta took a bite and said, “This isn’t good.”  Richard took a bite of his and said, “This isn’t good.”  Not to be outdone, I took a bite of mine and said, “This isn’t good.”  We all three sent it back.  R&R got SFC and I got scallops and the scallops were deeelicious.

I enjoyed the magician.  So there.

There was a note on our bed when we arrived back at 3003 stating that hot water will be off tomorrow from 9 a.m until 11 a.m.  So we will be up in time to shower, shave, and shampoo before that event happens (kind of like being in Russia when they are working on the water lines).  Then we are going out into Cadiz and explore.  One of the shops we will seek out sells yarn.  Guess who asked for that stop?

Well, that’s it for tonight.  It is almost 10 p.m. here, and we turn into pumpkins soon after that.

Oh, mom wants you to know that the movie tomorrow afternoon is White Christmas and she is going to go see it.  Yipeeeeee!

TTFN