LIVE from the Pacific Princess - 31 days from Athens to Ft. Lauderdale

[Pia1913]

Good Morning from Gibraltar. I am not going to bore you with my maladies, so will just tell you about today’s agenda.

　

Morning: Nothing

Afternoon: Movie- The Tourist

Evening: Nothing. OK There is something. Last night’s violinist and the previous night’s female vocalist.

　

We have some unbelievable passengers on this ship who are so generous and trying to help. I really appreciate their thoughtfulness and concern, even to the extent of sharing their meds. Princess cruisers are wonderful. OK, I promised not to discuss me, so over and out.

 

P.S. Dumb fonts are changing again. Amelia says sunny in the 60's Right now at 8:30 sun is just starting to come up and it's cold in the 50's.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Casablanca...Here we come....:):)

 

[Pia1913]

Same day; post Panorama dinner. British dining room menu was so awful it was a no-brainer to eat elsewhere. If nothing else, there is always a salad bar, soup, bread and mashed potatoes. As previously mentioned, we had no intention of going to the show. Clocks go back an hour tonight, so I get more sleep; if in fact I can sleep. Last night was great; took Soma, a sedative someone gave me. I have more for tonight. Never in my life have I ever taken a sleeping aid, but if that makes the pain go away………..so be it. We need to be off the ship at 7:45, (Casablanca tomorrow; extremely long day) and I have arranged for a wheelchair to be on the bus. Just in case. I most likely will not check in in the morning, so will give full report upon return.

 

 

For your entertainment: a trivia question today was, how many seeds are there on the bun of a Big Mac? :eek:

 

a. 168

b. 242

c. 318

 

Somewhere in this world someone actually counted. :p

 

　

Patter presentation offers nothing in the morning, Pirates of the Caribbean in the afternoon and “Do you Wanna’ Dance” at night. For some reason they are also showing the Ruby inaugural documentary on TV at 4 PM. The Ruby? At the end of 2011? :rolleyes:

 

 

Goodnite all.

 

Oh yes. To Bandit. I don't know how old you are but probably MUCH older than me. I am not used to having those "various ailments" to which you refer.

[paul929207]

Sounds like you are improving at least a little. Enjoy Morocco. Hope your tour is great. Last year our tour to Marakesh got back with about 10 minutes to spare.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Sounds like you are improving at least a little. Enjoy Morocco. Hope your tour is great. Last year our tour to Marakesh got back with about 10 minutes to spare.

 

Its a long long way to Marakesh, from Casablanca. A very tiring all day trip, and what I hear, when you arrive at Marakesh , most things have closed for their "siesta".

 

[paul929207]

So Pia, how many seeds are on a Big Mac bun. My wife wants to know.

[blueridge20]

I am one of the lurkers that has discovered Pia's "lives" in the past couple of years. I have enjoyed following along, and hearing about all the different places you are getting to visit. I am sorry to hear about your back problems:mad:, have you by chance tried the acupuncture from the spa? Also sounds like you might need a chiropractor:D Hope you feel better soon!!

[High C's]

I am one of the lurkers that has discovered Pia's "lives" in the past couple of years. I have enjoyed following along, and hearing about all the different places you are getting to visit. I am sorry to hear about your back problems:mad:, have you by chance tried the acupuncture from the spa? Also sounds like you might need a chiropractor:D Hope you feel better soon!!

 

Funny, but I was actually going to suggest the very same thing. I have suffered on/off with my piriformis muscle. The pain is absolutely excruciating. I had never, ever been to a chiropractor, but was at my wits end. Between the treatment, stretches I was taught, and some very strong anti-inflammatories, it finally settled down, but it took some time (ok it took quite a long time). :(

[bcnvcanada]

I have followed with interest your threads on the Princess boards. Have learned much from you. Have meet you on a couple of cruises over the past years. So sorry to hear that you are having back problems. It is a long drive from Casablanca to Marakesh, but well worth it. The Atlas mountain, off snow covered are wonderful. The market square and shops were interesting, especially the snake handlers, will remind you of India. Do hope that you will soon be feeling better, and hope to see you again, Singapore to Vancover. We will join the Diamond in late March.

[CruzinNoony]

Pia, I'm glad you are going on your tour in Morocco. Try sleeping on the bus to and fro. Someone suggested acupuncture. Maybe go talk to them and see if it would perhaps help. I am really looking forward to hearing about how you like Morocco. My daughter-in-law is from there.:cool:

[DGSFlorida]

While I am sure there would be various total numbers of sesame seeds on a Big Mac, the correct number is 178.

[paul929207]

While I am sure there would be various total numbers of sesame seeds on a Big Mac, the correct number is 178.

So then for the Trivia question quoted above the answer is none of the above?

[hmh60]

Now tell me, do any of the seeds ever fall off? These are the questions that get so many trivia players crazy. So many people take these games WAY too serious. I am not too bad at trivia but don't play because so many get really wacky. Followed a thread where they were close to calling security!!

[kruisey]

Hope your pain will ease soon and you get to go on your Moroccan jaunt..Heather:)

[DonahCBrown]

Wikipedia says:

 

How many sesame seeds is on one Big Mac bun from McDonald's?

In: Restaurants and Dining Establishments [Edit categories]

 

Answer:

 

 

about 178

 

and OMG facts says:

 

There's roughly 380 sesame seeds on an average McDonald's Big Mac bun.

 

This is according to a plant manager at Fresh Start Bakeries, a company that has supplied buns for McDonald's since 1964. They should know, they make 5,000-dozen Big Mac buns in an hour.

 

Fresh Start also assures that at McDonald's you will not be eating a bun that's more than 4 days old.

 

But why in the world would anyone know or care???

[Pia1913]

Hi, and it’s still Monday Dec. 5th. We left the ship at 7:45 this morning and returned at 7:00 PM. Our only previous Moroccan experience was in 2001, when we ferried over to Tangier from Torremolinos, Spain, to do an overnight. This was just after 9/11 so things were pretty secure and we weren’t even allowed to go to the market. For today, we chose the Mausoleum of King Mohammed and the Habous Quarter (market, shopping…………..yeah!). We also chose this shorex because the drive between Casablanca and Rabat (the capitol) is only 1 ½ hours compared to 3 ½ to 4 hours to Marrakech; one way.

　

 

There were only 2 buses doing this itinerary and ours departed first. We had 26 passengers on board, plus the driver, the guide and a security man. We had a city tour of old M’dina passing fruit, veggie and meat markets which were just opening for the day. We then went to the Palace of Casablanca from where we walked for more than an hour. The gates are made of cedar wood and chiseled brass, and though this is the King’s palace, he doesn’t live here. His permanent palace is in Rabat and this one is only used for congressional purposes as well as major conferences. We then walked through the Habous Quarter of New M’dina and a wonderful olive market where some of us bought several unusual assortments. I tasted two. No purchase. Next came a visit to the Pasha’s House (the governor). He doesn’t live here either. The best part of this visit was our first potty stop.

 

 

We then drove past the summer resort and on to a shopping area. Oh happy day! NOT! We were taken to a carpet store where there was almost a revolt. The guide got the message that we didn’t consider this shopping and we then went to a great government store. Fixed prices but lots of different things from which to choose.

 

 

Oops……….almost forgot our visit to a mosque. Yes, we had to take our shoes off, but were given plastic bags for them as we entered. This place is beautiful and can hold more than 20,000 worshippers at any given time. It also boasts the world’s tallest minaret; 650’ high.

 

 

Next came lunch; a buffet at a hotel nearby. One of the hotels in the Golden Tulip chain. We met bus #2 leaving just as we were arriving and were told we had an hour for lunch. We didn’t need that hour because there wasn’t enough food. Evidentally they prepared for both buses and that was it. The pushy people on our bus probably had lots to eat because some of us had almost nothing. Guess which category I fell into. When we requested some meat (chicken for me) we were waved away with “NO MORE.”

 

　

Time for Rabat departure, where we visited the Kings Palace with the changing of the guard, the Mausoleum of King Mohammed (we viewed the crypts of his grandfather, father and uncle) anbahd then to the Kasbah, the highlight of which was buying halvah.

 

　

I am so exhausted; can hardly write. If there’s something I forgot, Amelia will fill it in. As an aside, there is nowhere that has worse traffic than here. Not even Beijing.

 

　

The sesame seed answer was 168. :) Goodnite.

[ibfern]

Gibraltar

 

This is a late post, the Internet has been down for iPads and iPhones so I was unable to post sooner. They must have downloaded the fix today while I was in Casablanca, so here is my take on our Gibraltar tour.

 

We had a bloody good time in Gibraltar today. The weather was perfectly clear, warm, and without wind, making this an unusual day for this time of year, we loved it. After a quick breakfast, we met our tour group and off we went to visit and learn about the rock.

 

We drove completely around the island, visiting Europa point, and using a newly opened tunnel which enabled us to drive without using side streets. After Visiting the point, and seeing the new Mosque at Europa point, we went to the museum. We were lucky they opened for us since it was Sunday and most stores were closed.

 

After the interesting museum with its Neanderthal skull, we headed to the cable car and up to the top we went, it was such a clear and nice day this ride yielded many spectacular pictures and a lot of oohs and aahs! At the top we were able to take a lot of scenic pictures of our ship, and each other next to the rock. My husband has a bad fear of heights and he toughed it out and I even got him to pose at the edge of the top, with the rock behind us. My hero!

 

Next we went back down the cable car to the halfway point where we were able to see the Apes, the older mothers and fathers and many babies, all so cute from a comfortable distance. These are wild animals and they bite, even through they are as cute as can be. I kept my distance and got to photograph another man who got so close the Ape jumped on his back. It took him a while to get that ape off, and I got his email address to send him the pictures I took because they want to use it for a Christmas card picture.

 

Finally we did the siege tunnel tours which were cool, and involved a lot of walking. I figure I earned my dessert tonight!

 

My favorite experience was when I learned the history of the "f" word! In the 1400's the Brits battled the French. The Brits were fine longbows men, using their middle fingers (called the plucking finger) to pull back the string, so when the French would capture them they would cut off their their middle fingers. After the war when a Brit would see a French person they would hold up their middle finger while they would shout "I've got my plucking finger" and that turned into "pluck off" and so on until it eventually turned into the current "f" word which is often used while holding up that middle plucking finger! Love this story,

[notentirelynormal]

Gibraltar

 

Next we went back down the cable car to the halfway point where we were able to see the Apes, the older mothers and fathers and many babies, all so cute from a comfortable distance. These are wild animals and they bite, even through they are as cute as can be. I kept my distance and got to photograph another man who got so close the Ape jumped on his back. It took him a while to get that ape off, and I got his email address to send him the pictures I took because they want to use it for a Christmas card picture.

 

Too funny. I bet you got some great pictures of this. Make sure to keep a copy for yourself :D

[Kiwi Kruzer]

They are now heading towards a little bit of Portugal , Madeira, an Island in the Atlantic Ocean, and the main port of Funchal.

Its been on my bucket list for years . I would love to cruise in there, but its looking less and less likely for me now.

 

 

Heres a link to the Madeira site......

http://www.madeira-web.com/

link to the cruise ships in port.....

http://www.madeira-web.com/camera/cam-04.html

 

My time zone is not conducive to catching them there....

[Aussie Gal]

David,

 

Madeira is beautiful and is probably the furtherest place we have been from home, though Greenland and Iceland would be a close second. We first visited there in 2009 on Transatlantic and I thought it would be the only time but six months later we were back there on the Ocean Princess when we were on the cruise from Capetown to Dover. I doubt if we will ever return again but in this life one can never say never! I hope you get there one day as it is a beautiful island.

 

Jennie

[Pia1913]

Good Tuesday morning from rocky seas somewhere between Morocco and Portugal. We were rocking and rolling all night and since we heard no prior announcement, perhaps it was unexpected.

　

Today’s offerings are a port talk on Funchal, Madeira (that’s tomorrow’s port) at 9:00, conflicting with a bridge lecture and Zumba. Par for the course; feast or famine. 10:15 brings a culinary demonstration and a pub lunch at 11:30. Noon has signup again for Princess Choir; they didn’t get enough people the first time. At 2:15 there’s a lecture “Gibraltar, a Monolithic Tale of Significance”. The art director’s gonna’ have kittens, because the lecture is at the same time as the “auction.” 3:15 brings another lecture “The Sub-Prime Debacle”, which surprisingly conflicts only with the Maitre D’ Wine Club. Tonight’s entertainment is a male singer; Mark O’Malley.

Forgot to mention last night that we passed Rick's Cafe in Casablanca. Our guide said it was redone and opened several years ago by one of the daughter's of Ingrid Bergman. Even though the film itself was done in California.

[paul929207]

No memtion of trivia lately. Are you keeping the 2000+ folks out of the money?

[Pia1913]

No memtion of trivia lately. Are you keeping the 2000+ folks out of the money?

 

Yes, Paul. They are not winning and sometimes don't show at all.

[CruzinNoony]

Pia, How is your leg? Did you need to use the wheelchair while on the tour in Morocco? :( You said there were only two busses going on the shorter tour. Did the majority of the folks go to Marakech (sp?)?

[paul929207]

Yes, Paul. They are not winning and sometimes don't show at all.

Pia,

You make me proud.