Here are some photos from our jaunt into Gibraltar on the 5th (Monday). For those who do not know, Gibraltar is actually a British Overseas Territory, so we actually had to go through customs to get to the rock. Thanks to that, English was abundant! Enjoy - Collin/Grace

Taken while waiting for the bus to take us into the city of Gibraltar.

Mom took this pic while we rode up the Rock in the cable car.

Another view from the cable car ride

Our view to the west right off the cable car

The monkeys were fearless! They targeted people with backpacks and actively tried un-zipping zippers and undoing velcro.

An adorwable wittle baby monkey!

This is the South West view. The hills to the right are Spain, the distant mountains are Morocco, Africa! The distance from Gibraltar to the most northern point of Africa is roughly 15 miles. 

The ancient Romans called Gibraltar 'A Pillar of Hercules'.. easy to see why! The highest point on the rock is 1,398 feet tall, only 50 feet shorter than the Empire State Building.

The monkeys were definitely a unique experience. They were everywhere, almost like pigeons are to a large city!

You might notice why Simon has his backpack on wrong. Turns out, there's a bit of a story behind it. We had started walking on the rock for about 15 minutes, until we ran into a mother monkey and her baby. The mother singled Simon out, because he was wearing his backpack on his back, and circled right behind him, ready to attack. The child-sized animal leaped up, and grabbed both of Simon's shoulders, giving him a heart attack in the process. He did the quickest 180 about-face I have ever seen, and the monkey flew off, leaving Simon wide-eyed and breathing like a frightened squirrel. From then on he wore the backpack on his front, hugging it and always keeping as much distance between him and any monkeys the rest of the journey. I think he would rather wrestle an anaconda than come face to face with any primates for a long time! 

This massive artillery battery is mounted at the highest point on the rock and was constructed in 1890. It was used in WW2 and was last fired for a training exercise in 1976. The weight of the barrel alone is 28 tons, and fires 380 pound shells with a 109 pound charge. The entire beast weighs 204 tons and has a range of 29,600 yards, meaning it could fire the 15 mile distance to the coast of Africa!

Aaron enjoying the bliss of being on top of the world

As stated above, this cave was outfitted for concerts, complete with enough seating for over 100 people! While we walked around the cathedral-like cavern, they had music playing and multi-colored lights flashing.

Needless to say, Aaron, Paul, and Clare aren't in danger of getting hit by a car (or a scooter) as long as they wear these very subtle jackets...

Simon: Minecraft master, joke-cracking, front-packing extraordinaire! 

Our next exhibit was a tour of the great siege tunnels that were hand-chiseled through the mountain. They were used in the 1783 Great Siege, and were expanded in WW2. The end result housed 10 cannons peeking out towards the enemy.

If Paul isn't picking his own nose, his finger is bound to be up someone else's!

These figures were inside of a jail cell, and every time someone walked by, the redcoat would shout "Halt! Who goes there?!?" It startled us a bit.... just a bit...

This castle, as seen below, is by far the oldest structure any of us had ever been in.

This is the outside view of the castle, if you look on both edges you can see slight indentations on the outside walls. These are ancient craters from cannon balls! 

An interesting architectural ceiling detail in the castle.

Simon being... well, Simon.

The boys got some early British exposure! 

Collin being photogenic, as always. (I promise I was having fun!)

I think Simon caught a whiff of something smelly... or maybe that's just his resting face.

We were craving some hamburgers... thank goodness for Burger King!

Sayanara to the biggest rock any of us have ever seen!