Day 11 Remembrance Day At The Marhaba Palace

Today was one of those days on the trip that was a day at leisure. As such we waited a bit before going down to breakfast. Like all the buffets, there are too many choices. They will make fried eggs, omelettes, fresh crepes etc while you wait! The big event this morning was a planned Remembrance Day service that we had asked to be held. There are a few veterans on the trip. A private room was arranged and one of our group - June took the lead with a planned program. A few of us spoke briefly and then at exactly 11 am we had a moment of silence. Before that we had the reading of In Flanders Field and other appropriate poems and short prayers. Then we all joined hands and sang Oh Canada. Someone brought a few bottles of wine and we had “up spirits” much like they do in the Legions on this day. In all it was a very appropriate ceremony.

Afterwards we walked along the beach. The sand is very fine and almost impossible to walk on. We stayed near the shoreline! We did get to the marina where we found many restaurants and of course the ever present shops selling the same goods. It was a good way to spend a few hours. A light lunch followed when we got back late to the resort. No problem today as they were still making fresh fried shrimp (while we waited). We did manage to eat enough!! This resort is full so we are allotted a 7:45 dinner start time with assigned or reserved tables. The group as a whole get along very well. It is impossible to get to know everyone but you sit down and start to chat and time flies. This is what happens after our late dinners.

Later in the afternoon we went by bus to a real mall to get a sense of how people in this large city (Sousse) actually shop. The mall was as modern as we have in Canada. Some of the stores have names that are similar to ours. The roadside stalls that were in every small village as we headed north the last few days were gone. No tables selling vegetables, fruit and used clothing. The stores are well lit with bright displays. They have a super store that sells everything from groceries to clothing but much larger than what we know. The food court has a Burger King and a KFC. One thing we noticed was that many young women were not wearing the traditional head scarf. The men (boys) were not wearing hats as we would see in our stores. The other thing noted was that we could not find any place that where you could have a beer. We tried but no luck. Touring tomorrow!