APRIL 14, 2008 – GIBRALTOR TOMORROW

I had my alarm on silent so I didn’t hear the alarm at 8:30 am; The good news is that we were more rested and we got up by 8:55 am and made it to the first event.
AN INTERVIEW WITH AWARD WINNING ACTRESS RITA MORENO: She is a tiny petite woman who does not look her age of 76. She has been married many years to a Jewish physician who accompanies her on this voyage. It was interesting hearing her anecdotes, but some of them were not too flattering to other celebrities and I didn’t think those stories reflected well on her. She gives a very animated and interesting interview. She will be appearing in her show on board sometime soon.
TRIVIA: Sandy and Berk joined us and we enjoyed their presence and contributions. It wasn’t an easy quiz and we didn’t “place” this morning. Many of the groups have new compositions of members; one still has the same 6 that it started with in Ft. Lauderdale. The winners got to choose their prizes today.
LUNCH: We sat with Mr. and Mrs. USC Trojan. That’s my nickname for them anyway. We talked about the overland tour in Egypt for the most part and the experiences were almost all the same. They went to a perfume or essence oil factory and it was interesting to hear their reactions to the samples. It sounds like you’d become a believer in aromatherapy after that visit. They also told us about a 2010 around the world cruise being planned by Princess. There are only notes on paper, no detailed brochures. But they are looking at ports not included on this world cruise. And it will be 107 days that time.
LIBRARY: I dropped off some books at the library and got today’s cross word puzzle. These recent puzzles do not have a key so it’s hard to know if you’re on the right track. We’re all laughing about that these days. I still have The Grapes of Wrath to read but I can’t even get through the introduction. I can’t really concentrate on it.
FRANKIE’S INTERNATIONAL WHITE ELEPHANT AUCTION SALE EXTRAVAGANZA (THE SEQUEL): Frankie had his first white elephant sale while we were on the overland and he did this follow up by special request. There were a lot of items folks were looking to get rid of. And there was the odd bidding competition. The funniest for for a bottle of lemoncello which went for 3 times what you can buy it for. Go figure. I sold 3 things to lighten our suitcases. One lady actually sold a suitcase and it didn’t take long to be snapped up. I’ve been wanting (for no sensible reason) one of the Princess Cruises zip bags and had been hoping I’d win it at trivia one day. There was one for $5 on the table and Ed asked me why I didn’t buy it. I told him I was still hoping to win it at trivia. Later he spoke directly with a man who was selling a passport case and a bag (still in it’s plastic) for $5 so he got that. A good deal all around.
This event took over 2 hrs and folks were still bargaining as I left.
TRIVIA: We only had 5 this time. Elizabeth came in time to join us or we would have been short 2 players. We came in --- OK by this time you’ve figured it out: #2 like Hertz but we also try harder. After all, we were working under a handicap today.
OPERA SINGER: In Civitaveccia there was a performance by an opera singer from Rome which we missed because our tour was so long. We have it on the TV right now and while it’s not as good as hearing it in person, it is clear that he is spectacular. And he’s singing “Ave Maria” as I type. Need I say more?
FUTURE PLOT: My red hat majarini approached me to do something mischievous when the fashion lady talks next time: we’re going to wear what red and purple we have with us! She’s discussing colors. I’ll let you know how it goes.
SHAGGY DOG: I went directly to the salon and asked them if they had a rate solely for trimming bangs and such. They do: $15. So I made an appt to get my bangs trimmed tomorrow as I’m really going nuts with this hair always in my field of vision.
DINNER: All except Hank and Erna were present. We talked about Barcelona and pick pockets. It seems that some folks from the ship were the victims of pick pockets, particularly along Las Ramblas. That’s not surprising given the crush of people there. We talked about a wide ranging group of topics; the usual we’ve plowed over before.
ENTERTAINMENT: Tonight’s offering: #1 “Hilarious comedy and amazing magic” and #2 “world class tennis speed juggling”. I can hardly contain my heart palpitations. Fortunately, Ed was of a like mind and we didn’t go. It was a very domestic evening in the cabin. No TV: and still no CNN or BBC news. Can you believe it? We see a smattering of papers folks have managed to scrounge on shore during the tours but still not much around.

APRIL 13, 2008 – BARCELONA, CONT…

BARCELONA GOTHIC QUARTER AND CITY DRIVE: This was the name of the 4 hour tour we took. Everything was new to us even though we saw and did many things here when we spent a few days in 1992. The Barri Gothic, the city’s medieval quarter, is really old and it’s generous to say that it has narrow streets. We saw a lot of places where the Kings had lived. There were also many government buildings and all of this gave our guide the opportunity to fill us in on a lot of history. We saw much of the Olympic sites on Montjuic (Mountain of the Jews); the one for the swimming has a superb view of the city behind the divers; very clever of the architect. We saw the cable car we had taken last time.
We had to wait a long time to get in to see the Cathedral of Barcelona as it was Sunday and we weren’t allowed in until all services were done. It is 600 yrs. Old with many side chapels and LOTS of gold everywhere. It is a magnificent edifice and I highly recommend anyone see it when in the city.
We also walked through the old Jewish quarter where people still reside. The streets are barely wide enough for two people to pass by. Along these walks, we would turn a corner and see a musician in a nook playing. The first was a flamenco guitarist and he was terrific. The music reverberated in this tall space and you could hear it until you turned the next corner and found a cellist playing while a baby (and a crowd) sat transfixed. Again the walls served to magnify the music. But one that still resonates with me is the violinist who started playing Ave Maria as we walked on. It was as good as I’ve ever heard and the acoustics were fantastic. We sent others to hear it as we met them along the way.
DINNER: We got back just in time to wash our hands and make it to the dining room. Hank and Erna were there and immediately started laughing telling us of their reaction to the peanut butter ice cream we had sent to their cabin the other night when they didn’t come to dinner. We all had a good laugh and they clearly enjoyed the thought as much as the actual dish. Dave and Twyla had been on the same tour with them, which was shorter than ours, but they wanted to attend the early showing of the folklorico show.
FOLKLORIC SHOW: “Los Muleros’ Flamenco Dancers and Musicians.’ This flamenco spectacular was the best I have ever seen bar none! We went to see the tail end of it after dinner, and then got on the front row for the second performance. We both took a lot of photos. There was a singer, a guitarist, and a drummer but I couldn’t begin to tell you what kind of a drum; it looked like an empty olive oil can but boy what a sound. The dancers were 4 young women (you’d have to be young to do what they did) and a young man. All the women were trying to determine if he had any underwear on during his performances as he had skin tight, stretchy clothing on. Elizabeth voted for a thong; I’m still not sure and I certainly looked hard enough trying to determine it.
Flamenco dancing is all about attitude and these dancers, everyone of them, had plenty of it and more. If you needed to see machismo in the flesh, this young man was that and more. The costumes were marvelous with all the flare they add to a performance. The director of this troupe is an older woman who came out and did a tune solely on the castanets which was unbelievable. And she clearly loves performing. The only problem was that this didn’t last longer. I was exhausted just watching them after the first dance!
I can’t recount all the awards etc. this group has garnered and the cruise director told us that he was besieged with specifications about everything imaginable in getting this performance set up. Of course, we don’t know all about that but we’d all agree it was well worth it.