We had glorious weather for our excursion today, marred only
by the awful news about the bombing in Boston. We have CNN International and
Fox News so we can see just about what everyone sees at home.
Last night, we didn’t have any new acts so Elliot Finkle put
on another hour long show out of the goodness of his heart. Once again, he was
wonderful. It turned out to be his 60th birthday. He missed his
birthday party when we didn’t stop at Ponta Delgado. He got off the ship today
and the new acts got on board.
We took a panoramic tour of Malaga today and were surprised
that the bus had a wheelchair lift. Bill can ride his scooter next time. He walked
about half a mile out to the bus but the scooter is easier.
I made another collage using some of the pictures I took.
The streets are tiled here as they are in many places in
southern Europe. There was a gorgeous view from the castle. Many plants are
reminiscent of California. People have lemon bushes in their yard just like we
did as children. We saw eucalyptus trees, ice plant ground cover, bottle brush
and many flowering plants.
We came back to the ship for lunch and went swimming for the
first time on this trip. We ran into some friends and that was fortunate as the
staff announced they were working on the elevators and we were stuck on the
Lido deck for thirty minutes. Our friends had no interest in touring the city
as they owned a condo here in the eighties and know the city very well.
They were contacted by a time share company that flew them
to Malaga in order to sell them a time share. They paid about $10,000 to use
the condo for the whole month of November. It turned out that none of their
family (in Florida) had any interest in visiting Spain every year so they gave
it back after a decade.
Tonight, we went to the magic show. Paul Debak’s show was
billed as “an eclectic mix of jaw-dropping sleight of hand, enchanting illusion
and quick-fire comedy, presented with an impish sense of mischief.” It was an
apt description.
He did some astounding tricks with scarves, cards, rings and
ropes. I realized that I was saying, “Ha!” loudly after every trick and I had
to make an effort to stop it.
He had a line of banter that just didn’t quit. He asked a lady in the audience where she was from and she replied, “Racine, Wisconsin”.
He said, “I’m sorry” as though he didn’t hear her so she said it again. He
said, “I heard you the first time. I’m just sorry.” He was pretty insulting and
we lapped it up. After one trick, he said to us, “I can see you are so amazed
you just forgot to clap”. It was true.
