To Tunis and Beyond!

The plan for the day was simple enough, walk off the ship, through immigration, turn left, turn right, turn right again, get cash, return to the last turn, board train. Simple right? WRONG! Our only frame of reference was our experience with taxi drivers in Izmir and Alexandria. The difference here is we didn’t want to say yes to the drivers. We must have said “NO” 25 times! We said No nicely, we said No empathetically, we said No with our hands, and with our heads. It was to the point where all we wanted was to get away from the taxi drivers! It didn’t matter if we were supposed to go left we would go right if possible! This lead to family councils on the side of the road, leading to 6 taxi drivers pouncing on us. We did finally overcome it all. Found our ATM. Bought our tickets to Sidi Bou Said on the TGM train. Train ride was uneventful and only 15 min long. We then encountered taxi drivers cousins, the shop keepers of the town. Ever sale pitch in the book was used, including “Everything on sale for Big Families!” and “Everything in store for FREE” or “We are not Cannibals come in our store!” We stuck to our plan, staying in the middle of the street, avoided eye contact and continued on our way. We made it to the scenic look out and took many pictures.

The train ride back was a little more eventful, Scott jumped off at the wrong stop for the boat and the local boys were all attracted to Caitie. The train ride into Tunis was simple. However the Metro, was very similar to Paris, in that it was crowded and everyone spoke French. It took over an hour and 15 min to make it to the Bardo Museum. It was a little more complex than just across the street. Everyone was helpful but they kept speaking French, which wasn’t. We poked around the Museum, took a few pictures of old Roman Mosaics.

To make it back in time we choose taxi as our mode of transportation. He had us back to the ship in a little over 15 min. On board the ship we enjoyed the pool, more food, played and won the game Wheel of Fortune and finished with the movie “Princess and the Frog.”

Hi Ho Hi Ho its off to bed we go!

-Dwight, Launnies, Scott, and Caitie