Thursday, May 19, 2011

Room service for breakfast -- on time.

As I mentioned yesterday, we are in Tunisia today.  This is on the continent of Africa.  As we came into port, I was on the balcony watching and there were little fishing boats all around us.  As we got closer to the dock, they were outside playing their instruments welcoming us.  We had to be in the showroom by 8:20 am to check in for our tour and when we got there the place was packed.  There wasn't even any play to sit down.  As I was standing there I realized I had left my room key in the room.  For those of you that have been on a cruise before, you know that you have to get your room key scanned when you get off the ship so I had to go back to my room and get mine.  The showroom is on the very front of the ship and my room is on the very back of the ship.  I think I made it to my room and back in about 5 minutes with some time to spare because it was taking them a while to get everyone to their tours.  They said they had 600 people on ship tours today.  They had sent out information to us telling us that it wasn't safe to go out on your own so people booked the ship tours.

As we drove through different parts of town, it appeared to be dirty and poor.  This certainly is not a place I would care to come back to.  When we passed any buildings of any importance -- government buildings, embassies, television buildings, etc. there were military personnel outside the buildings with machine guns.  They were also surrounded by razor wire and had army tanks.  I was really wondering if it was even safe for us to be out.  We made a couple of stops.  One was a restroom break and a stop for souvenir shopping.  It was at Carthage where the ruins were.  We hadn't paid for a tour of the ruins so we could only look through the fence.  I didn't find any souvenirs to buy.  The second stop was at a World War II Cemetery for American Soldiers.  We only got to stay there about 15 minutes and i would have liked to stay longer.  There are 2,841 buried there (I think this number is correct).  They were from U.S. Army and Air Force, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Coast Guard.  They had a wall with all of their names, rank and where they were from.  They also had some stories and maps on several other walls but i didn't have a chance to read any of it.  On my way out, I stopped by the Visitor's Center and signed the book.

When we got back to the ship they let us off at a little village with Duty Free Shops.  We just briefly looked in there but didn't buy anything.  They also had camels that you could ride.  Terry decided to ride one and I got a picture of him.  We then went back to the ship for lunch.

Went to bingo but no luck.

Dinner tonight was one of the best I have had in the Vista Dining Room.  I had Grilled Salmon with Tomato Broth -- salmon brushed with white miso, garlic, sesame and cilantro, grilled, and served in a spiced tomato broth.

We went to the show in the Vista Lounge and the entertainer was Brett Cave -- a show that blends Elton John & Billy Joel with high energy.  He was really good.  He played the piano, sang and cracked hilarious jokes.  He is from England so had some good jokes about the English.

For our last day on the ship tomorrow we have a full day.  We will be in Palermo (Sicily) and have a private excursion booked.  We are to meet our guide as soon as the ship is cleared for us to get off.  We have to attend the disembarkation meeting at 4:30 pm tomorrow so we have to be back on board before then.  '

This is all winding down but we have had a great trip.  We get off the ship on Saturday but will be spending 3 nights in Rome before we fly home Tuesday morning.