Rainy Gibraltar and Fun in Funchal

Currently I'm sitting in an English pub, drining English cider waiting for my English sunday roast to arrive on a rainy afternoon in Gibraltar. We had wild plans of cycling and visiting the rabid monkeys, but the rock is shrouded in cloud and the cable car has, for the second port in the last three, ground to a halt.

The rock is a magnificent thing to see, but it is cold and miserable (hello england) and inside a pub with free internet is definitely the place to be.

There are only 6 days left of the world cruise - and we are all pinching ourselves. 6 days left in a 107 day cruise...

I was IPM yesterday in Casablanca- all the tours to Marakesch were of course cancelled due to the terrorist bombing.. and it rained.. but apaprelty the markets were great and ricks cafe was the place to be (albeit expensive).

The day before that we were at sea.. which is fairly unexciting.. but BEFORE that we were in Funchal, Madeira. What a place! What a contrast to Senegal! Funchal was simply stuning, a deep green, verdant mountaintowering out of the sea. A portugse wonderland! The city was immaculate- the foot paths were tiled entirely in patterns of black and white stone and every street and wrought iron lamp post was swathed in pink and purple flowers. There were gardens littered throughout the city and cafe serving REAL coffee and portugese egg tarts lined the streets. There was a ZARA wheer we spent exorbitant amoutns of money- everything was 15-25 Euros which is unheard of given the UK prices I was accustomed to.

Toby, Jasmine and I wandered down towards the cable car when the rain stated. And the cable car closed. We were devastated becase we really wanted to ride down the MOnte in wicker baskets piloted by portugese men in funny hats, which is THE thing to do i Madeira. We hid out in the cable car cafe eating vegetable soup and contemplating our great cultural loss in missing this experience. We cheered ourselves up with a return to zara and continued purchasing. On the way back to the ship, we wandered around the botanical gardens, taking close-up photos of raindrop-covered flowers with the MACRO function on our cameras.

I can't recommend this jewel of an island any more highly - what a classy and gorgeous place to visit!

As an update - I am still sick. I became mortally ill after my last blog post and was off work for two days. David and Karen have also been suffering from this horrible cold, and several of the passengers as well, so i'm not alone in my affliction. I am on the mend, however. Yesterday I went back to the gym and made it through an attack class.. the next step will be when i wake up in the morning and don't feel physical pain from how tired I am. I really want to be better for the end of the world cruise. 50's and 60's night tonight! then the finals of crew pop idol. THere are cash prizes to be given away tonight. I feel I won't win (Alex will win, I think) but i might get a place.