Unimaginative Post

My posts have been few and far between. Internet costs more than I expected and I am soooo busy. Everywhere we have been has been very clean - amazingly clean with all of the people. We have visited Livorno, Italy, Monte Carlo, Monaco, Toulon, France, Barcelona, Spain and Valencia, Spain. Each city has been crowded with tourists. We just returned from Valencia which was not as crowded. Valencia is a city that I think I would like to stay in for longer. It doesn’t have the Gaudi Church or other international monuments but it is smaller and just seems easier. The fact that they speak Spanish helps too. I wasn’t very good in Italian. There is a beautiful Opera House here in Valencia. I hope I am able to add a photo to this post of something. The weather everywhere has been perfect. Couldn’t be better. A nice breeze in mid day in Barcelona which was the warmest tour so far. Of course, we have visited many churches and cathedral’s and learned lots of history of each of the areas. These are old places (duh) and it is interesting to see the remains of the Romans and before. Just imagining life in the cities before electricity, water, sewer etc and everyone living in large buildings boggles the mind. Well, my mind anyway. We have had very good service on the ship, good food and entertainment. I don’t think it is fair to compare it to our smaller river cruises though so I won’t. Tomorrow we were supposed to visit Tunis but the Tunisians have said that Israel Nationals can’t go ashore so we will visit Palma, Mallorca. I think we will go ashore on our own if possible to see what we can see. Friday. We did not sign up for a tour but walked and took a hop on hop off bus all around the city. The population is about 350,000 so it isn’t huge but it is a large port. Three cruise ships and a yacht transport were here at this pier and there are others. There is a beautiful marina with many sail boats and yachts. There is a light breeze today and many sail boats are out. The water is a beautiful blue. The town was settled by the Romans in 153 BC. (Just relating a few facts that I could hear over the noise.) There is a cathedral whose interior was one of Gaudi’s projects. Juan Miro lived here and I think died here. The author Gabriel Garcia Marquez rewrote his last book here in Mallorca. He just died yesterday and the newspapers here are full of his life and accomplishments. Many famous people lived and worked here and I can see why. The atmosphere is relaxing and easy. The air is clear and clean. So my question is ----- if all of these cities can keep there streets clean --- why can’t Seattle do it too. This morning we went into town early - before 10 - the streets and alleys were absolutely clean. Looked like they had been washed and picked up during the night. In Valencia, we were touring early also and saw probably 20 people in one section of a park cleaning up after the big big soccer celebration. The rest of the city had already been cleared. Also there is very little graffiti. I did see some but not much at all.