Marseilles

Well, dinner in the Murano was excellent as expected - and had a little added excitement because Elliot Finkel came with us to eat.  It was really neat to talk with him and learn about some of the experiences he's had.  Last night he performed in the welcome aboard show, and we did something new - a John Williams tribute medley.  Star Wars, Harry Potter, Jaws, Close Encounters, Schindler's List, Superman, E.T. - it was basically awesome.  I got one of my friends in the acapella group to video it cause it was so much fun to play.  

Today we are in Marseilles, always our first port after embarkation, and Marie and I got off early and went shopping.  All I ended up buying were more blacks to perform in, but they are pretty nice and it was fun.  (and I spent PLENTY of money....not a cheap store).  Now I'm in McDonalds, which turns out to be the best bet for internet here in Marseilles.  I also visited the US Embassy here to find out about voting in the election, and got some info to plan my day next time we're here - I'm going to visit the Chateau D'If for sure.  I got a boat schedule and prices for the ferry ride over - should be fun.  Too bad I have to wait 11 days! 

Malta, and a day off in Tunisia! (no, not a night in Tunisia)

Malta was really fabulous!  I wasn't expecting it to be so interesting.  I got up early and went off the ship on my own, since we had rehearsal in the early afternoon and didn't want to wait for anyone and miss my first time there.  I caught a bus to a big parking lot right outside the main gate entrance to the capital, Valletta, and promptly set off in the opposite direction because I misunderstood the map (slightly embarrassing!!) I figured it out and retraced my steps, but not before I had explored a couple of interesting churches that were over there.  Valletta is utterly amazing!  There are old old churches EVERYWHERE! Plus the streets are alive with people and interesting buildings.  The surrounding area is dotted by medieval fortresses - they really are everywhere you look - sailing into the harbor feels like sailing back in time - more than anywhere else I have been.  I spent an hour in the main Cathedral, where the painter Caravaggio spent a few years of his life and was actually initiated into the Knights of the Order of St. John (incidentally the same knights originally came from Rhodes, where I was last year - I have now seen both versions of the Grand Master's Palace), from which he was later expelled.  His largest painting is there in the Cathedral - the beheading of John the Baptist.  It is pretty huge, and eerie, but masterfully done of course. After my time in town I walked out the other side of the city and followed the fortress walls back to the ship.  As I walked by a monument with one single huge bell I couldn't believe my luck as it began to toll.  It only does so once a day, at noon.  I love it when things like that happen.  Some people had already gathered to watch, and I just came by at the right time.  The thing was LOUD.  I think it is a war memorial.  Once back on the ship, we had Elliot Finkel's second show.  I was quite exhausted by the end of the night, but man that show is fun.  

Now for Tunisia!  Today I got off for the first time in Africa (excepting Egypt once last year - but first time this contract) and I took a tour to the famous historical city of Carthage.  The city has ancient foundations, with Roman ruins on top of those foundations after Carthage was defeated by Rome in the 1st or 2nd century.  And over THOSE is the modern city, which is still called Carthage.  It was definitely a unique experience to see it for myself after learning about it in school.  The last part of the tour was to Sidi Bousaid (boo-say-EED), a pretty unique hillside village where law orders every building retain its white walls and blue everything else. It was really picturesque, and reminded me of Mykonos a bit.  I had only two dollars with me today (poor planning) but that was enough to buy a small brass plate with my name etched on in Arabic while I watched.  Neat!  Another shop owner gave me a gift of a "sandrose" (a crystal formation made by sand, usually found about 3 feet under - the locals dig it up and sell it) because I was a tour escort and I think he was happy that we had our meeting point right outside his shop.  

When I got back to the ship I was puzzled to see it on the other side of the harbor - but we were told to wait and the ship would move - which it did switch berths, but it takes a while.  Moving a ship this big is not an easy process.  So maybe a thousand guests were waiting for the ship to move and get the gangway set up again....nightmare!  Marie found me sitting against a wall waiting, and we decided it would be a while and we would try to find something to eat (it was already after 2 and we were pretty hungry).  Now, something you may not know about muslim countries during Ramadan (the holy month) is that food is impossible to find since everyone fasts from dawn til dusk.  So we settled for a soda and a coffee (which was awful....ew). We waited for quite a while for the line to go down.  When we were finally making our way toward the gangway we decided it was a good day to ride a camel. :-)  There were three men with camels near the ship giving people rides, and when he offered us 5 euros for the two of us we figured, why not? We took turns and had a blast (got it on video!!) and thank goodness we didn't get the scary camel who made horrendous evil belching noises.   By the way, camels are awkward and TALL! It was pretty exciting.  As we continued to the gangway we passed a few local musicians - two drummers and a clarinetist.  Marie put some change in their basket, at which point they sprang into action.  One grabbed Marie and led her over to a chair right in the middle of them.  Another gave her his hat.  Another gave her a drum.  Hooray for the newest member of the tunisian folkloric group! I took pictures and a video until one of them came up to me and traded me his drum for my camera, and made me sit down and play while he took pictures.  Marie and I had more fun those last 100 meters before the ship than we did the rest of the day.  :-)  

AND - did I mention?  We have a day off!!! Hallelujah! Its been over a month and it is SO nice not to have to do anything for once.   Tonight four of us will be eating in the Murano - the classy restaurant on board.  The nice thing about it is that we aren't crew when we eat there - we don't need any special permission and we can wear whatever we want and don't have to wear nametags!! (All this for the nominal fee of $30 plus tip and wine...) Ha ha.  We're really looking forward to it, because the only time we have time to go there is if we have a whole night off, or if we finish by 8 or 9, which happens even less often than having a day off does.  So, Murano, here we come!!