November 1, 2023

I had a great opening line for today’s blog, but I forgot what it was.  Maybe something I write below will be it.  Good grief!

Before I forget this, we are falling back one hour tonight, so we will be 4 hours ahead of you.  Several more changes to come until we are back on Augusta time.

We got up at 7, and after showering (with hot water today), we dressed and went to the Wind Jammer for breakfast.  I had two fresh fried eggs, Mom had a bacon sandwich.  We ate in a leisurely fashion, then she went for a sweet roll and a donut, circling the entire Wind Jammer before she found 3, and only 3 donuts.  Then back to the room to get our gear and head out into Cadiz for a visit.  In my talk yesterday about Cadiz, after I finished with some history highlights, I talked about some things that we enjoy seeing in the city – the Cathedral of America and the Torre Taveria (a tower with a camera obscura) – and how to get to them. 

Well, we headed off the ship and promptly did not follow my directions.  There was some kind of race with streets taped off, and we walked around the race course, getting to our first landmark by a circuitous route.  Turning up a street we could have gotten to earlier, we passed the first gelato shop we’ve seen on this trip, but it was not yet open.  We made a mental note to stop on our way back.  Then we came to the Cathedral, walked through a perpetual flea market to the Tower.

The Cathedral of the Americas (at sunrise, viewed from our stateroom window)

The Cathedral

Another view

Yesterday all of the English language times were booked.  Sometime in the early evening I got a Whatsapp from them saying that they had a cancellation and 2 English spots had opened up at 11 and did I still want them.  I said, “Yes,” with the full intention of finding the young couple who had sat at our table the first night and giving the tickets to them.  This was their first visit to Cadiz, and they expressed a big interest in seeing it.  The Tower is one of 160 built as lookout towers so merchants could watch for their ships returning and the captains could find the people who had financed their voyages.  At about 140 feet high it is the tallest tower in the city.  Only 133 remain today and in 1972 a law was passed forbidding the building of any more.  The main attraction is the Camera Obscura, an optical system that reflects imagines on a white screen of the scenes outside.  A periscope-like device is used to gather the images.  From there you can see live scenes all around the city.

Well, we looked in the dining hall at their new table.  We hung out in the promenade for an hour or so looking for them, but they – Matt and Adriane – were no where in sight.  But then maybe they were.  Last night there was a costume contest with 170 adults in costume to be judged, and they were in costume.  They stopped at our table tonight to talk to us, said they had overslept and missed my talk, and spent a couple hours looking for us so we could get them some tips about the city.  Matt said when they didn’t find us, he looked for an app to help and found something called “GPSmycity,” and it mapped out a route for them based on their selections.

When I couldn’t find them, we took the tour ourselves, and climbed 176 steep steps, back and forth to the camera room.  My beloved wife said, “Never again!”

It's not Chick Fil A, but we did see this cow.

After that we went shopping, bought a sweater for each of us (mine was left by yours truly in the closet at 233, and she just wanted a new one).  The first sweater, beautiful, was wool and as soon as she got it on she took it off.  We bought some snacks, had gelato, came back to our cabin and took a nap.  Supper tonight was a Chinese menu and we cleaned our plates.  Now we are chilling out, and when I post this, and some pictures, I will rehearse my Magellan talk for tomorrow (at 9:30), put out the room service menu, set my phone clock back, and catch some shut-eye.

I still don’t remember what I wanted to tell you.  But I am sure it was good.

Oh, this isn’t it, but writing this blog I committed a sacrilege – I used Word.  My new computer, that I bought from a very reliable eBayer, hates WordPerfect.  I touch keys or sometimes just wave my hand over them and the cursor jumps to a new location, the screen collapse to a small size, sections are highlighted all by themselves.  I think Bill Gates has bought out Corel and is messing with me.  But do not fear.  When we get back to 233, I will return to WP.  OH!  Rassen-fracken fricken-bricken!!  It just did it to Word!!  It is not WP!!  I have a very new Lenovo computer with Windows 11 for sale for a very good price!!!!!

Sunset over the ship's bow,

Until tomorrow.

TTFN