Little Britain

I was going to write this post chronologically, but then something happened today that made me want to take a page out of Chris and Paul's (and Booker prize winning authors') book:

A MONKEY TRIED TO CLIMB UP MY LEG AND THEN IT STOLE MY APPLE! I don't think that even capital letters can sufficiently relate my outrage and indignation - not to mention the associated trauma. Believe it or not, this photo shows his dirty paw print on my leg where he tried to climb me before running off the retrieve the apple that I threw in the opposite direction in an act of necessary self-preservation. Josh's response: Oh, I wish a monkey had tried to climb up my leg!

...Rewinding to earlier that day, today we visited the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. It really is a slice of Britain in the Mediterranean, chock full of English pubs, coppers and strange hybrid British-Spanish accents. While Spain does claim sovereignty over the area, in the 1966 referendum only 44 out of a population of 12,000 voted for Spain! However, the real reason to visit Gibraltar is, of course, The Rock.

We were smart enough to take the cable car to the top, but walked the full 4 hours to the bottom. Along the way we saw the Barbary Macaques, the only wild monkeys in Europe (see above), visited limestone caves, the Great Siege Tunnels and an old Moorish castle and just generally enjoyed the stunning views of Europe, Africa and the Mediterranean Sea.

After an interesting, but exhausting walk down, we enjoyed traditional English pub food at the Gibraltar Arms, but ducked across the border for the night to avoid paying the exorbitant prices that automatically follow when the local currency is the pound!