Day 8 – Gibraltar – August 11th

We’re going to call this post “Adventures with Carol”.  This is a saying that has come about because I like to fly by the seat of my pants when adventures await, or I create adventures.  It really depends on the situation.  Sometimes I like to just see what kind of trouble finds me, while other times I like to plan things out.  But more often than not, we like to see what finds us especially when we’re on a cruise.  This is what Europe has been for us – adventurous.  Shawn doesn’t seem to like it too much, but he appreciates it when the adventures pan out. 

We got off the boat in Gibraltar with little to no expectation except to climb the gigantic Rock of Gibraltar.  We normally don’t book excursions with the cruise lines because they are so dang expensive, and this was no exception.  We decided to get off the boat to see what kind of trouble found us.  So off we went.

We walked down the pier and through town to a huge shopping area.  We passed quite a few shops as the downtown area is mainly shopping for tourists. 

Our next top was an old cemetery from the 1800’s that cataloged deaths the occurred in battle, among other things called Tarafalgar Cemetery.  It was interesting to Shawn and me, given that we live at the property line of a cemetery from the 1800’s.  We walked around and read some of the headstones.

Noticing how tall the rock was, the decision to avoid the 80 degree heat and 1,000% humidity was an easy one.  We needed transportation.  Outside of the sky-tram station were taxi drivers trying to sell their tour.  Tending to be a bit skeptical, I asked a lot of questions.  How much is it?  What’s included?  How much would it be if we did this independently?  Are all the tickets paid for?  What will we get to see?  Etc……  In the end, the decision was easy – let’s go!

We gathered a random group of 8 people for the van and headed up the insane drive to The Rock.  The driver and tour guide took us up to a high point where we could overlook Spain, Gibraltar and most awesomely, Africa.   Not knowing if we will ever visit Africa, this was a pretty cool experience.  Some pictures were taken, mostly selfies, the view was enjoyed, and we were soon on our way again.  In an air-conditioned van…..in 1,000% humidity.  I’d say our group got a good deal.

The next stop on our mini-tour was St. Michael’s cave.  From what we gathered they hold productions in the cave when it’s not rainy season.  When it is rainy season, the cave is understandably wet.  Obviously, this is how the stalactites and stalagmites are formed.  They have it designed such that there are lights (which turn different colors), and staircases so that you can get around to see different part of the cave.  This was super interesting given that we’ve visited a number of caves like this in California.  

From there we went to go see the monkeys.  Oh, the monkeys!  The tour was warned many times not to feed them or get too close because, well, they are wild animals.  And boy did they live up to that.  A number of people did not listen and fed the monkeys anyway, which was awful.  But thankfully what they fed them were mainly fruits.  However, one butt-munch decided to feed a monkey packaged cereal.  Yeah, not good for the monkey tummy I’ll bet.

The tour guide moved us from one family of monkeys to the next, which was where these guys were fed.  We hung out at the very top of the rock for a bit and took in the sights, all while monkeys were jumping on the vans, people and even fought with one another a bit.  All in all it was pretty interesting.

Our tour was nearly over with a brief drive by the old Moorish Castle, which was a lookout and defensive space that had cannonball marks from hundreds of years ago.  The walls are 2 meters thick, so the cannonballs did very little damage, but you could see where they hit.  However, the structure was built so well that it withstood many battles.  

Walking back to the boat we decided to stop by a food stand for a shawarma.  Oh – my – goodness this thing was amazing.  I find it a bit amusing that we had to go to Gibraltar for a shawarma, but it was super-duper good.  We also tried banofee pie, which was awesome. 

After leaving port Shawn noticed something pretty cool.  There were a couple of dolphins waiting by the boat just kind of chillin’ there.  The ship started to leave and they swam alongside the boat. Then a few more appeared, then even more came.  Once the boat really started to go and a wake appeared the dolphins began riding the waves of the wake.  It was one of the coolest experiences we’ve had on a cruise ship.  Hundreds of dolphins waited around for the ship to leave, and once it did they were having a blast just playing around. 

Day 7 – Day at Sea – August 10th

Nothing too much to report as today was a day at sea.  We hung around the ship and rested.  That’s all.  More tomorrow. 

Day 6 – Toulon, France – August 9th

Today was by far, our favorite day so far.  With all of the experiences we’ve had and places we’ve been so far, our hearts were glad but not yet full.  Today, our hearts were full.

A few days before we left for our trip we found out that a friend from about 16 years ago was in France with his family.  Interestingly enough, Sarah, Jerome’s wife and I have been chatting on Facebook for a number of years but have never met in person.  Shawn and I met Jerome when he briefly lived in San Jose and came to our church.  Jerome was pretty cool and quickly became a central part of our college church group. 

Shawn swears that we spent a lot of time together during his brief time in San Jose, and he still laughs about Jerome and I being very similar people in male/female form, respectively.  One of Shawn’s favorite stories is about walking into Jerome’s room for the first time – it was nearly the exact same room as mine at the time (same color on the walls, same central poster on the wall, and same desk)…. What are the odds?  He also notes that our personalities were pretty similar………to be honest, I don’t remember that our personalities were so similar, but I do remember that our rooms were almost identical upon seeing it for the first time.  I remember both Shawn and I getting along really well with Jerome, but then again he’s a pretty easy guy to get along with.  ;)  

Fast-forward until a couple of weeks ago when we found out we would be in France at the same time.  We chatted for a bit on FB about meeting up, and we were able to make it happen.  It’s funny because we live merely a few states away, but it took traveling halfway across the world to meet up.  

Jerome and Sarah’s cousin made reservations at a private beach so we could meet up.  They had to drive an hour to get there, and Shawn and I had to navigate our way around Toulon in order to meet up.  It was soooo worth it.  Sarah, Jerome’s wife is awesome, and so are their kids.  And I can’t forget his cousin Frederick – he’s amazingly patient, and has such a great spirit to him.  But enough gushing – you get the point.  They are all pretty cool. 

Back to the start of our day………

We got off the boat having not booked any form of transportation.  The cruise ship wanted around twenty euros per person to get from the place where we docked to the city center area.  I had talked to a person on the cruise ship earlier in the week and asked if we *needed* to book the cruise line’s private water taxi for a million dollars.  The woman we spoke with said no, but in order to get to the city center we would need some form of transportation.  I wanted to wing it, and talked to Shawn about taking a ground taxi if worse comes to worse. 

As we exited the boat we talked to an information center that gave us direction to a water taxi that costs merely two euros a piece – score!  So we walked about a mile to the water taxi stop and boarded a boat.  But not before meeting a very nice gentleman who is a member of the military in France (reserves) who was called back for a period of two years.  It’s been about a year and a half so far and he’s hoping he can move back to the United States where his 8 year old son is located.  He said that life in France is great, but he missed the US like crazy (my words, not his).  He worked along the Eastern Seaboard from New York to near Florida doing various sea-worthy things, and trying to find work in France was a bit difficult.  We also talked about the differences in our education systems and how he felt like the US was a bit more behind – I agreed.  Shawn agreed more.  But enough about that.

We exited the taxi and used our GPS to guide us the 2 kilometers to the beach where we were meeting our friends.  Since we hadn’t eaten that morning we stopped at a local bakery and grabbed a croissant.  It was crispy on the outside, and buttery and soft on the inside. So perfect.  We kept walking and passed by a supermarket, and walked in to grab a bottle of water.  Again, we continued on our way.

If I haven’t mentioned it before, the climate here is hot and humid.  But more humid than hot.  And guess what affects me more than anything (making me feel sick, and quickly dehydrates me)?  That’s right – humidity.  It’s always affected me poorly, but this is ridiculous.  So dang hot, and you sweat as soon as you walk outside.  

After grabbing our water we arrived at the location where we were meeting our friends.  We checked in and waited for a short time before our friends arrived.  They lathered up the kiddos with sunscreen, and off into the water they went.  Sarah, Jerome, Frederick, Shawn and I chatted for a while, trying to catch up after 16 years.  It was a bit difficult, especially since Shawn and I were a bit more reserved.  We were in another country, and I’ve been overly concerned with not offending anyone or being *that* loud American, so I’ve been a little held back on our trip.  I’m trying to be sensitive.  Perhaps overly sensitive, I guess.  But better to be overly sensitive than to be considered another loud and rude American.

We had a lovely lunch after playing in the water, then Shawn and I needed to find our way back to the water taxi so we could make it to the ship before it left us.  We parted ways, said our goodbyes and walked off.  Shawn and I immediately decided that we needed to go out to Colorado and visit Sarah, Jerome and kiddos because meeting in France for a few hours wasn’t nearly enough time to catch up.  So I sent Sarah a message and let her know that we wanted to come out there soon to visit for a long weekend.  She suggested an Air BnB, which we think is a fabulous idea.  We can’t wait to see them again.

By far, our favorite day so far on our trip.  Meeting up with old friends, their super awesome kids, and really cool cousin was a great experience.  Getting together stateside where we can be more of ourselves I think will be good…..and I can’t wait.