Jane and Dave’s Adventures – Page 2 – A blog about our travels

Transatlantic November 3-17, 2021

Getting ready for our Transatlantic:

Getting ready for this cruise was a real pain in the ass. First, we thought this would be our first cruise post-pandemic. But, we saw several great cruise start up deals, and so this is actually our fourth cruise at the (hopefully) ending of the pandemic. For many months prior, we were unsure if the cruise would be cancelled. In addition, we had to comply with the United Kingdom’s (UK) entry requirements which changed many times during 2021. We booked flights on United, and had to comply with their requirements, and schedule changes. A lot of the documentation could not be finalized until 48 hours prior to entering the UK. Requirements eased somewhat in October, with the UK required test changing from a PCR to Lateral Flow test, which is less expensive. So, the terms we are traveling under for the UK is buying and paying for a day 2 lateral flow test which is to be taken on or before day 2 in the UK, and the arrival day is day 0. We will be leaving the UK on day 1. Not sure if we will take the UK test or not. This test has to be purchased from an approved UK provider, so we had to find a provider that would mail the tests to our hotel, which we did, at a cost of about $50. After purchasing the tests, the seller emails you a number which has to be entered on the UK’s required “passenger locator form” (PLF) which cannot be completed more than 48 hours before arrival in the UK. Then, we have to complete United Airlines travel ready forms, giving the information from the PLF, uploading a copy of our vaccination card as well as the usual passport information. We completed all of that on Sunday, October 31 in preparation of our November 1 flight that arrives in the UK on November 2. Princess sends us a very confusing email implying we have to take a COVID test 48 hours before embarking. In addition, Princess is testing everyone at the port. So the email says one thing, but if you go to the Princess website, it does not require a COVID test 48 hours per boarding, just the test at the terminal. Until we are on the ship, the anxiety over whether we have done everything is still there.

Itinerary:

11/1 – 2/21 Fly from Ft. Lauderdale to Southampton, England

11/3/21 Board Regal Princess

11/4 – 5/21 Cherbourg, France

11/6/21 At Sea

11/7/21 Vigo, Spain

11/8 – 9/21 At Sea

11/10/21 Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal

11/11 – 11/16/21 At Sea

11/17/21 Disembark Ft. Lauderdale

We have heard that the ship is not stopping in Bermuda because of “congestion”. What makes this interesting is the ship is registered in Hamilton, Bermuda. We find out our itinerary has changed, with an overnight in Cherbourg, France on November 4 to 5. Our other ports have been pushed back a day, so we’ll be in Vigo, Spain on November 7, and Ponta Delgado, Azores, Portugal on November 10. One thing we have learned in cruising in COVID times, is to be flexible and nothing is written in stone.

November 1, 2021: We got up early, ran a few errands, and left very early at 11:25AM for our 3 hour drive to Fort Lauderdale to catch our 6:15PM flight. We are flying from Fort Lauderdale to Washington Dulles, with a couple hours layover before flying from Washington Dulles to London. We took our time driving, stopping to get something to eat and top off the gas tank, but arrived in Fort Lauderdale about 3:00. Google maps was crazy, and kept changing our route. Finally we decided to just follow the road signs to get us to the airport.

The United person checking us in checked all our documents, asked for the PLF, but really was not familiar with the UK requirements regarding testing. The UK does not require a COVID test to enter the UK if you are fully vaccinated, which we are. So I pointed to the section that states US vaccinated don’t need to be tested before entering the UK, she prints our boarding passes, we check our bags, and prepare to wait for our flight. Dave has passes to the United Club, but we decide to use them when we get to Dulles. The flight is full and they are looking for volunteers! The entertainment set up is poor – the controls are on the armrest and we keep changing stations each time we use the arm rest, which is often. I gave up and played games on my iPad. It seemed like a longer than 2 hour flight ☹️.

Waiting for our next flight, the time has flown by. As I sit here in the United Club at Dulles, drinking wine, I think it was a good decision to save our passes and use them here at Dulles. We boarded, and Dave has got us United premium plus tickets, which I think was the old business class. There is a first class section on the plane, and those seats are like cubicles, so you can actually lay flat. Our seats do not lay flat, but we have more room than economy, and we get better drinks and food (although Dave would disagree on the food). I ordered fried chicken, and it was actually chunks of chicken in pasta. Dave got a ravioli pasta, which he did not speak highly about. We watched a movie and I actually got some good rest for a few hours (it was a 7 hour overnight flight).

November 2, 2021: Before landing, we were given a breakfast of an egg sandwich and yogurt. It is a long walk after getting off the plane to go through passport control. Dave made it through on his first try. In my case, I almost had to wait in another line because my passport was not being accepted. It is just a machine, and you put in your passport. It compares your passport picture to your real life image, and mine kept getting rejected. I was told to go stand in another line, but Dave flagged the monitor and she let me try again, and again! Finally, it accepted me and we were able to move on. We got our luggage, which had been set aside by this time because it took us so long. We walked through customs which is literally walking through. There is a sign to go one direction if you have something to declare, and another hallway to pass through if you have nothing to declare. Finally, we are out into the main area of the terminal, and after some looking, we find our driver which we had prearranged through a company called Smith’s. He was a very nice man, driving a Ford Galaxy, which is actually similar to a small SUV in the states. Ford does not sell this model in the US. The driver chatted with us for our two hour drive to Southampton.

The hotel, Ennio’s, is in an old building, and I think there are only 5 rooms. Apparently it was not damaged with the bombing in WWII. We arrived around 1:00, and normal checking time is 3:00, but they told us our room would be ready in about 10 minutes. We had great plans to go outside, walk around the city and explore. But we hit the room and put our feet up and chilled for about 3 hours. We napped a little, but mostly just watched TV and rested. About 4:00, we decided to go out and walk a little bit before dinner. It is nippy outside. We are very close to the cruise ship port and saw where we will be going tomorrow. We saw some plaques honoring Jane Austin, and we walked through a little park. Then we headed back to the hotel, as it was a bit chillier than we were dressed for. We have plans to meet up with some people from cruise critic for dinner at 6:00, but I told Dave that I wouldn’t be surprised if we were the only ones that show up. We rested in the room until 5:45, and then took a 5 minute walk to the Duke of Wellington Pub, which we found out is 801 years old.

There were another group of cruiser from our ship there, and we chatted with them for a bit. Unfortunately, as I suspected, none of the cruise critic people showed up, except Dave and me. We had a decent pub dinner. I had cod, peas and chips (French fries), and Dave had shrimp scampi which was not like scampi we get in the states. His shrimp were breaded and fried, and he got chips and peas as well. Dave drank a Chardonnay, and I drank Swordfish beer, which is a dark beer.

After dinner, we came back to our hotel, had some sambucca, and went to bed!

November 3, 2021: Woke up in Southampton to 32 degrees! Brrrrrrr! We had a nice breakfast at the hotel, and took a taxi to the port, which was less than a mile away. We dropped our luggage and got in line to wait to get our COVID test. After the test, you wait some more for the results. From the time the taxi dropped us off to actually boarding the ship was an hour and forty minutes….a long time to just be in line or waiting. As we checked in, we were asked if we had our French vaccination certificate. We did, but only because I had seen it discussed on cruise critic.

View of Southampton from our stateroom. Our hotel is to the right of tower in back of building with all the white windows

Once onboard, it was time to eat (seems like always time to eat or drink on a ship!), and we got a sandwich from the International Cafe. The International Cafe is one of our favorite places on Princess ships. We are noticing some differences between Princess and Celebrity, which we liked better on Celebrity. Embarkation was much quicker, no masks required, buffet was easier to navigate, no place to put your drink in the theatre (you had to hold it), escargot is not offered every night at dinner, etc. We basically explored the ship in the afternoon, listened to a piano player in the piazza, went to dinner in the evening, watched a “yes or no” game show, and went to see a comedian in the theater in the evening. We lose an hour tonight sailing to France, so we went to bed fairly early.

Regal Princess 3 story Piazza (or Atrium)

November 4, 2021: We ordered room service for breakfast as we have an early tour, meeting at 7:30am. We were running a little late, but Dave knew we weren’t docked yet. We got to our meeting place on the ship, and the crew told us to wait in a lounge for an announcement as the ship had not docked yet. After about 20 minutes, the captain announced he was unable to dock because of high winds, and he may not be able to dock until noontime. Since we lost an hour of sleep, we went back to our stateroom to rest.

About 10:00am we get a message that we are going to dock, and we are to meet for our excursion at 10:35! This is really good news. Our excursion goes to Mont Saint Michel which has been on Dave’s bucket list forever. Mont Saint Michel is in the English Channel, and in ancient times, could only be reached when the tides were low.

Our tour didn’t start until about 11:30. It is a 2 hour bus ride. Finally we could see the abbey in the distance. It is huge, built on a rock, with mud flats all around (the tide was out). Our bus has to park quite a distance away – maybe 2 miles – and then we catch a shuttle to get us closer to the abbey, which drives on a bridge built above where the high tides would otherwise flood access. After getting off the shuttle, we still have quite a distance to walk to get to what used to be a little village which is at the bottom of the abbey. Now, all the houses have been turned into shops and restaurants. It is very quaint looking, but actually a tourist trap now. You walk through the village on an incline, and then start climbing stairs to get to the top of the abbey. There are lots of stairs to climb – I think I read about 285 stairs. Inside, it has all been built of stones, over several centuries. There are many very large rooms, a cloister, a writing room, as well as the church and rooms for the current monks living there. I believe our guide told us there are 9 monks currently residing there and it is a mix of men and women. Because of our late start, our guide moved pretty quickly, but the tour itself, including the climb, took about 2 1/2 hours. We were suppose to have an hour of free time to get lunch and visit the shops, but because of the late start, we were only able to grab a sandwich on the run which we ate while waiting for the shuttle to take us to the bus parking lot. Dave and I walked ahead of our group and caught an earlier shuttle so we could visit the bathrooms. As we were leaving, one lady who had a cane, but was from our bus, was walking toward the bathrooms. In my mind, I thought she was going to be late to get to the bus. Sure enough, she never made it. I’m afraid she got separated and lost. We were all on the bus except one person. The lady obviously had trouble walking, and was traveling alone. Our guide left the bus twice and tried to find her, with no success. I’ve been worried about her and kinda blame the guide as I felt she was rushing us a bit. We didn’t leave the abbey until after 5:30pm, and got back to the ship about 7:45pm. A long day, lots of climbing, and worried about the lady ☹️.

From the historical site brochure: The long history of Mont Saint Michel is thought to date back to 708AD when Aubert, Bishop of Avranches, had a sanctuary built on Mont Tombe in honor of the archangel. The Mount soon became a major focus of pilgrimage. In the 10th century, the Benedictines settled the abbey, while a village grew up beneath its walls. By the 14th century, it extended as far as the foot of the rock. An impregnable stronghold during the Hundred Years’ War, Mont Saint Michel is also an example of military architecture. It’s ramparts and fortifications resisted all the English assaults, and as a result the Mount became a symbol of national identity.

Following the dissolution of the religious community during the revolution and until 1863 the Abby was used as a prison. Classified as a historical monument in 1874, it underwent major restoration work. Since then, work has gone on regularly all over the site. The result is that visitors can now experience the splendor of the abbey that people of the Middle Ages regarded as a representation of the heavenly Jerusalem on earth, an image of Paradise.

Mont Saint Michel has been listed as a World Heritage site by UNESCO since 1979.

The abbey of Mont Saint Michel is a unique building: it’s plan is unlike that of any other monastery. Constrained by the pyramidal shape of the Mount, it’s medieval builders wrapped the buildings around the granite rock. The abbey church, situated at the top, sits on crypts that create a platform designed to take the weight of a church 80 meters long.

The building known as the Merveille, often regarded as the jewel of the abbey’s architecture, is is evidence of the architectural artery of its 13th century builders who succeeded in perching two blocks of 3-story buildings on a steep, rocky slope. This required very precise technical calculations. On the ground floor, a narrow side aisle of the sellae acts as a buttress. Above that the supports of the first two storers of the western building are stacked on top of one another. Finally, the structures became progressively lighter toward the top. On the outside, the building is supported by powerful buttresses. The layout and architecture of the building is influenced by guiding principles of monastic life. The rule of Saint Benedict, observed by the monks of the Mount, dictated that their days be devoted to prayer and work, so the rooms were organized around these two activities, and the space reserved exclusively for the monks to respect the principle of an enclosed order. Again, faithful to this principle, the rooms set aside to receive the laity were put on the ground floor and first floor of Merveille. The construction of the abbey of Mont Saint Michel therefore confirmed to two major imperatives: the requirements of monastic Lire and the constraints of topography.

The worship of Saint Michel: Saint Michel, head of the heavenly militia, was of great importance to Medieval religious sensibility. In the New Testament, Saint Michel appears in the book of Revelation: he fights and defeats a dragon, symbol of the devil. To medieval man living in expectation and dread of the hereafter, Saint Michel was the one who led away the dead and put their souls in the balance on the day of the last judgement. Very widespread in the East from the 4th century, the worship of Saint Michel only appeared in the West in the late 5th century with the building of the first sanctuary at Monte Gargano (Italy) in 492. Around the year 1000, churches and chapels dedicated to the Saint proliferated all over Europe, often on the top of hills or promontories. After the Hundred Years War, devotion to Saint Michel took on a special dimension q because of the resistance of the Mount against the English. Finally, this worship expanded rapidly with the Counter-Reformation, for in the eyes of the church, it was only the warlike angel who could fight against the Protestant heresy. In Christian iconography, Saint Michael is often depicted holding a sword and a set of scales. Popular traditions and cults have made Saint Michel the patron saint of knights and of all guilds associated with arms and scales. The statue that stands on top of the belfry has the traditional attributes of the archangel. It was made in 1897 by the sculpture Emmanuel Fremiet and commissioned by the architect Victor Petigrand who wanted to see the new 32-meter steeple suitable crowned. The statue was restored in 1987.

We climbed almost to the top of the Abbey – just not the tower at the very top.

Walkway through village at foot of Abbey

We were able to go to dinner late, about 8:15pm. After dinner, we stopped by Vines, the wine bar, for a nightcap. It’s in the atrium, so we were able to enjoy the music in the atrium before heading to bed.

November 5, 2021: The ship stayed overnight at the port in Cherbourg, France, giving us a 2 day visit at this port. The extra day is a replacement for not going to Bermuda. Our plans were to walk around Cherbourg independently, but when we get up, it is only 48 degrees, windy and overcast. Too cold for us to get off the ship. So we went to a trivia game, a pyramid game, and the theatre to see AJ Clarke. He is a talented vocalist and pianist, and was entertaining. We also spent some time in the Wheelhouse Bar listening to a pianist and a nightcap in Crooners Martini Bar listening to a guy playing the guitar. In the martini bar, Dave gave the waiter the ingredients for a Black Forest martini. It wasn’t quite the same as Celebrity’s, but Dave liked it.

November 6, 2021: Sea Day! Not much to do but relax. We found out a few days ago that our world cruise next May, 2022 was cancelled. We spent a lot of the day checking other cruises to see what May be available if we take Princess’ offer of bonus Future Cruise Credit of 110% of what we have paid to date, or if we should just get a refund. We decide there will be cruises we want to take, so we are going to apply for the 110% bonus future cruise credit. We also found out that the shore excursions gave us a 30% credit on our Mont Saint Michel excursion because of the shortened time we were allowed. We also found out we are each getting a $100 credit because we will have extremely limited internet from here on until we get home. So I will probably have to finish my blog from home. This evening was a production show in the Theatre, Bravo. These are always very entertaining. This one did not really have a story, but beautiful costumes, dancing and singing. After the theatre, we went to Crooners martini bar for a nightcap, and to listen to AJ Clark, the talented pianist and vocalist, who will be playing most evenings in Crooners.

November 7, 2021: We have an excursion today in Vigo, Spain, “Gourmet Galicia”. We are so happy that we don’t have to meet until 10:10am for this excursion, which gives us plenty of time for breakfast and a little relaxation after breakfast. We have a little walk when we get off the ship to a catamaran. A bit cool for a ride on a catamaran- who expected it to be in the 40’s!!! The local guides keep telling us what a beautiful day it is – and today it is nice that we have bright sun. But it is still cold. Amazingly, Dave and I are bundled up enough that we sit on the top of the catamaran, out in the open for most of the ride. Our guide points out local landmarks and talks about the region. He shows us beds where muscles are grown, points out what was a Citroen factory (I think it’s Chrysler now), and says they’ve also build Peugeot and Toyota.

They used to fish for whales, but that industry was forbidden, I think in the 1980’s. But fishing is still a big industry here. We cruise around the Bay of Vigo and he points out towns along the way. It is very scenic, and while it is not crowded today, in November, I imagine there are many tourists here in the warmer summer months. There are several beaches, but not any people on the beaches today (especially with the temperatures under 50 degrees). We do see a couple of rowers. One of the boats has 10, yes, 10 rowers, which I have never seen before! It is about 11:00am, and the water is a bit rough. Dave spotted a boat with 2 rowers, but I never got a good look at them.

I think there are 10 rowers, and 2 holding balance. The coach is in the motorboat.

We are served some appetizers on the boat: white local wine, Albariño, which is very good, bread, a meat “pie”, and muscles. After about 1.5 hours, we reach our destination, Bayona (Baiona), another cute town on the bay. We did a little walking tour on the town and our guide told us the “Pinta” vessel, of Christopher Columbus fame, docked here in 1493 in Bayona after visiting the Americas. He showed us the spot where the boat tied up to a big rock, and the well where it took on water. We visited a little chapel, which I believe was built in the 1500’s. We were on the main level and we looked up to see two nuns watching from the second level. It sounded like a service was being piped in, but we did not see any other worshipers. We proceeded to walk up to the Parador Conde de Gondomar, a medieval fortress, and to the adjacent hotel for our gourmet 3 course lunch.

We had to choose our entree, and Dave and I both chose the Galician fish stew “Caldeirada”. I thought it was very good, but Dave’s fish had a lot of bones. Other people at our table had the pork loin, which looked very good, and the people choosing that entree said it was very good. We were stuffed after eating. They were generous with the wine and we had several refills. After lunch, we headed back to the catamaran. Our guide did not eat, but did partake of the wine. On the ride back to the ship, he rambled on quite a bit!

Overall, it was a very pleasant day, and I really enjoyed the tour. I felt Vigo and Bayone were really neat towns, and I would have loved to spent more time in both of them.

We have two sea days ahead of us before our last port in the Azores, Ponta Delgada.

November 8, 2021: Today is the first of 2 sea days before we reach the Azores. We are scheduled to get a rapid COVID test this morning at 8:00am, so we could not sleep in. But we gained an hour last night, turning back our clocks one hour. We will gain 4 more hours before we reach Ft. Lauderdale. We went to a destination presentation on the Azores, which is our next and last port. There are 9 islands that make up the Azores. Their main product is pineapple. The presenter said the island is not heavily touristed, but is a refueling stop for cruise ships. We went to the evening show in the theater. The performer was E. Sarah Carter and she played the violin, and sang a little, too. She was entertaining, but probably would not go to see her again. Afterwards we went to Crooners to hear AJ Clarke on the piano.

November 9, 2021: This day was a total waste for me. I was sick and spent the whole day in bed. I did t know if it was something I ate or… COVID…..☹️. Late evening, about 6:30 PM, I called the medical facility and the nurse came and gave me a PCR test. After about 40 minutes, I received the call from the medical facility …. my test was negative 😁! Since I hadn’t eaten all day, we went to the buffet and I had a little to eat. I was still very tired, went to bed, and got about 10 more hours of sleep. Poor Dave just hung around the stateroom all day, even though I told him to go out and do something.

November 10, 2021: Our last port before Ft. Lauderdale – Ponta Delgada in the Azores. The Azores are comprised of 9 islands, formed from volcanos and lava. We are on the largest island, Sao Miguel. Sao Miguel is known for its rich volcanic soil and nurtures a multitude of tobacco, tea and pineapple crops. It is very green and the temperatures average 75 in the summer and 50 in the winter, so everything grows here. It never snows and they never get a frost. Ponta Delgada is the capitol of the Azores.

We have a ship excursion today and have to meet in the theatre at 8:00am. Fortunately, I’m feeling pretty good. We walk out of the terminal and get on the bus with about 31 other people, but it is a big bus, so not packed. Dave and I usually try to sit in the back of the bus because everyone else sits near the front. Sitting in the back let’s us space out better.

Our first stop is Ribeira Grande, the islands oldest town featuring Portuguese influenced architecture dating from the 16th century. There is a picturesque river that runs through this town.

We walked around this town, and looked inside one of its chapels.

I believe our guide said 95% of the population is Catholic. There is a statue here of a priest, Dr. Gaspar Fructuoso, who lived 1522 – 1591, and wrote a detailed historical and geographical description of the archipelago’s of the Azores, Madeira, and Canaries. His writings are still used as a reference today.

Large church with Dr. Gaspar Fructuoso statue

The second stop was at Pico Do Ferro overlook, with a panoramic view of the volcanic Furnas Valley. It was a bit of a hike up to the overlook, but it was worth the effort.

Then we vitiated the Terre Nostra Gardens which is a lush garden with many varieties of plants and trees. This was the best stop on this tour. The gardens date back to 1775. Originally a 4 acre summer residence of Thomas Hickling, a Bostonian merchant. He built a simple house with trees mostly from his native North America. None of thes survived except for a native English Oak. The gardens were subsequently extended and developed by subsequent owners. In 1848, the Viscount of Praia purchased the property, expanded the garden and laid it out amidst the water, the dark groves of trees and plantings of flowers. In 1872, his son, the Marquis of Praia and Monforte, introduced additional improvements with gardening experts who helped develop a serpentine canal, grottoes, lush avenues and trails which were then lined with orange trees. Some of the trees from that period were from North America, Australia, New Zealand, China, and South Africa. By 1990, arborists and horticulturists undertook the identification of approximately 2500 trees as well as the planting of more than 3000 new trees and shrubs. The development of the garden has been ongoing with separate sections for a collection of endemic species, a fern garden, a cycads garden, a garden of annual flowers and plants, and a camellia collection. There are water features, including a swimming pool that is heated to 100 degrees F by the natural hot springs, and pools of water that bubble due to escaping gases. The swimming pool looks muddy, but the color is caused by chemicals in the natural hot springs. The gardens now cover 25 acres.

Swimming pool heated to 100 degrees by hot springs

Our last stop was the hot springs. As soon as we exited the bus we could smell the sulfur. Locals use these steaming pools for cooking. The area we visited was about 2 blocks. The pools, or caldeiras were bubbling and steaming. Our guide said one exploded recently, which was something probably like Old Faithful going off, but these do not gush on a regular basis. We stopped at the souvenir shop, where they were giving samples of locally produced liquors. We bought 2 little bottles – blackberry flavored and cinnamon flavored.

We got back to the ship about 1:30, and headed to the buffet because we were hungry. Afterwards, we packed our cooler weather clothes, because we anticipate warmer weather from here home. There won’t be much to write about, as we have 6 sea days ahead of us. Time to relax. Can’t even use the internet as we don’t have any connection. A little frustrating……

We had dinner in the Crown Grill which is a specialty restaurant. Dave had a filet, and I had lamb chops. The meal as a whole was very good, but we ordered asparagus for our side dish, and it was tough and stringy ☹️. By the time we finished our meal, it was bedtime. We gain an hour tonight, and will gain 3 more hours before Ft. Lauderdale.

November 11, 2021: It is Veteran’s Day! A bagpiper plays all the military hymns in the piazza/atrium, which is a nice salute to the US military. It is a beautiful day outside. The $100 per person credit for no internet has been applied to our account, so we sit for 35 minutes waiting for the future cruises lady to make our future cruise deposits…only to find out after 34 minutes that the Captains Club lady next door has future cruise forms we could have filled out. Because of COVID, there are no brochures or forms sitting out. But you would think the Captain’s Club lady could have got off her lazy butt and asked the line of people if they wanted a future cruise deposit form.

I have observed many people who work hard, seem very smart, but don’t understand efficiency. Just my two cents.

Tonight is formal night. We don’t really dress formal, but dress up a bit more than usual. Lobster is on the menu, and I have two tails. Dave chooses Chateaubriand. Afterwards we listen to AJ Clarke in Crooners, the martini bar, then off to our room.

November 12, 2021: The ship is rocking a bit today and the captain says we have gone around a weather system in the Atlantic. He says it may be choppy for 48 hours more! It is another sea day, which normally I like, but not without internet. We still have very limited access and I can’t even read my emails. Apparently we can send emails, but those we receive say “the message has not been downloaded from the server”. Sometime we can read the subject line, but that’s it. Dave found a book to read from the library the morning, and we went to an enrichment talk about Pan American Airlines, and it’s founder Juan Tripp. We will try to catch some trivia, and more music, but otherwise, not much to do. We turn our clocks back another hour tonight, so we will only be 2 hours ahead of Florida. These 25 hour days give us lots of time to relax…too much time. We have been walking around the ship to get some exercise, and it is a big ship, but very few decks actually go all the way around. It appears decks 8 and 9 have areas sectioned off, which I assume are for quarantine purposes.

After dinner we went to “Liars Club” game show, and then to list to AJ Clarke again. We enjoy sitting in Crooners, the martini bar, and listening to him sing and play the piano. Tonight we set our clocks back another hour.

November 13, 2021: After, turning our clocks back another hour, we are only 2 hours different than home. We will have two more 25 hour days. Much better than going the other direction and having 23 hour days! The water is rough, and we were rocking and rolling overnight. Midship is always better, so we will find someplace to sit and hang out. We sat next to a nice couple from Houston at Breakfast this morning, Jack and Barb. We sat next to them yesterday morning, too, which is purely by chance. You are seated in an available table, with many different servers, eating at whatever time you like. In the evening, we ask for the same server, Alex, and his assistant, Ana. They have taken good care of us, and have snagged some bottles of the wine we like for us even though it is no longer available in the dining room.

One complaint I have is even though you ask for something specific, the crew tend to fill your order without advising you that they have made a substitution. For example, I’ve ordered skim latte which is coffee with skim milk, but some servers just use whole milk anyway. When questioned, they told me they only have one milk. Ana, our server at dinner did that, once, with wine. We ordered a specific Chardonnay, and she brought a substitute, without telling us. When asked, she said our brand was not available in the dining room any longer. Dave said he would go out to one of the bars to get it, and then she went and found the one we like. Now she has a bottle in reserve for us.

We attended another Enrichment Lecture on the “Queens of Cunard”. The presentations are in Princess Live, which is a mini theatre, and they are always packed. Probably because everyone on board is internet starved like we are, and looking for entertainment. The presentations are very interesting, however.

November 14, 2021: Another sea day, and we still don’t have internet. We attended another Enrichment Lecture on the Bermuda Triangle. It was very fitting because we were suppose to be in Bermuda today. One of the theories discussed was magnetic aberration. Interesting, because I was sitting on our balcony in the afternoon, and checked my compass app. It showed the ship heading East, which did not make sense at all. Our heading should always be westerly…west, southwest, or even northwest. I even showed my app to Dave and he thought maybe the captain was going around something. I think it was an example of magnetic aberration. We missed the first few lectures from this lecturer, Franz Schneider, and he mentioned they were recorded and could be watched on the stateroom TV. So we watched one from our room about “Avoiding Disaster”. They are all very interesting.

We went to the Crown Grill, a specialty restaurant, for dinner. Dave and I both had Sea Bass which was very good.

Tonight we gain another hour, so we will only be one hour off from home.

November 15, 2021: Our internet is still pathetic. Dave thinks it may be worse than yesterday. We certainly were not prepared to be totally out of contact. We attended another lecture by Franz Schneider, Cruising the First Century. This was not about the first century, but about cruising from about the 1890’s through the 1990’s. More interesting was a presentation by AJ Clarke of “ Music from the Beatles to Baccarat”. I am definitely a fan of AJ Clarke. He has so much information about writers, background musicians, etc. We attended his show in the theatre earlier in the cruise, and he has performed in the martini bar, Crooners, every evening, which we have attended many evenings, including tonight. We also went to the production show in the theatre which was Motown music. It is formal night, so I finally get escargot and lobster. Dave had Beef Wellington.

November 16, 2021: Our last day onboard. We are scheduled to have a COVID test at 9:30am, so we set out clock to get up early enough to have breakfast before the test. I think this test is required by the USA for the ship to dock in Florida and disembark passengers. We are anticipating a long wait with lots of people, but we’re surprised that we literally walked in and got our test, and left. The whole procedure probably took less than 5 minutes. The longest wait was waiting for the elevator to take us from deck 14 where our stateroom is located, down to deck 6 where the testing takes place. After the test, we went back to the stateroom to pack up most of our stuff, except what we’ll need for the rest of the day and tomorrow morning. Then we listened to another of Franz Schneider’s lectures, “Life on the Liners”, which was about cruising in the 1970’s. In the evening, we went to the martini bar, Crooners, to listen to AJ Clarke one last time.

November 17, 2021: We disembark this morning. Getting off the ship was pretty quick. We have “global entry” which is suppose to speed up entry into the USA and going through customs. Unfortunately, there is only one line for people with global entry, and several lines for people without global entry. The result is it takes those of us with global entry much longer to officially enter the USA. But, they let us in, and we make the long drive home.

Western Caribbean 10/9 to 10/14/2021

Itinerary:

10/9/21 Miami

10/10/21 At Sea

10/11/21 Cozumel, Mexico

10/12/21 Costa Maya, Mexico

10/13/21 At Sea

10/14/21 Miami

We are cruising with Dave’s brother Steve, and Steve’s wife, Pat on Celebrity Summit. We are in Concierge Class and our stateroom’s are next to each other, 8100 and 8102, on the starboard side. When originally booking the cruise, Dave and I are elite, so by booking Dave and Steve in one stateroom, and Pat and I in another, we were able to get one category upgrade on balcony staterooms. However, at one point the prices dropped, and we were able to upgrade to Concierge Class, and actually got a $6 refund.

10/7/2021 – Thursday – One requirement to cruise in these times of COVID-19 is that you have to present a negative COVID test taken within 2 days of boarding. This was a stressful concern, because we were having difficulty booking an appointment for the test, and getting the results in time. Our only option was driving to Sarasota, but again, no guarantee we would get in, and get our result on time. Dave took a rapid test in Sarasota, early on during the pandemic, and they lost his retest, so he had to drive back to Sarasota and take the test again. For these reasons, we decided to order the home tests, that are taken with a proctor. Our two days before was on October 7, a Thursday, to board two days later on October 9. Dave and I had ordered the tests, and they arrived overnight. We got a better deal on ordering a 6 test bundle. I went to Walmart and bought a tripod to hold our phones when we took the test, as the proctor has to be able to see you and the test which is lying on the table. The test cannot be touched or moved for 15 minutes, in order to get an approved test. We were all kind of nervous about this process, but the good news is that we all took the test, one after another, and we all tested negative. Each of us took about 30 to 40 minutes, start to finish. So, in about 2 1/2 hours, we were done.

10/9/2021- Saturday – It is Saturday, and we drove from Englewood to the port in Miami. It is about a 3 1/2 hour drive. Our check in time was 12:30, which is about what time it was by the time we dropped off our luggage to the porters, parked the car and entered the terminal. Unfortunately, it took us awhile to actually get our boarding passes because Pat and Steve do not have passports, but are traveling with their drivers license and birth certificates. Celebrity’s app did not allow for Real ID drivers license’s, only Enhanced drivers license’s when registering online, even though it is legal to travel with the Real ID drivers licenses. The app would only allow me to pick a state that has Enhanced Drivers license, so I chose Michigan, just to be able to register them. I called Celebrity and asked what I should do, and was told they could change it at the port. Well, yes they could, but not without a lot of waiting so the staff could figure out how to fix it. So what should have only taken about 15 minutes, took about an hour. We arrived at our staterooms about 1:30PM, and Dave and I were very disappointed with our balcony. It was very small and angled. We went to customer service and changed the occupants so I was with Dave, and Pat was with Steve. We were also able to change our stateroom to the other side of Pat and Steve, and got a regular size balcony. Fortunately, stateroom 8098 was not booked.

Pat and Steve onboard the Celebrity Summit

We went to lunch in the buffet, and Pat and Steve were impressed with the options. We did not eat much, but 3 of us had Salmon Pattie’s and Pat had pork cutlet (I think).The sommelier convinced us to upgrade our drink package. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the ship, unpacking, and having a few drinks. Steve taught the bartender at the martini bar to make butterfingers! We got a coupon for free play in the casino. Apparently everyone who got a scratch off ticket from the casino in the afternoon, got $5 of free play when you returned in the evening after the ship left port.

Our dinner time is 6:00, and we have a nice table for 4 next to a window on Port side. For dinner, I had my favorite, escargot and a martini, and prime rib. Guava sorbet for dessert. Dave had spring rolls and shrimp cocktail, Salmon for dinner, and apple pie ala. mode. Steve had mushroom soup, escargot, and prime rib and cherry brandy ice cream. Pat had chilled coconut soup (which she didn’t like because it also had ginger in it), pork chop and blueberry crumble for dessert. After dinner we went to the casino for our free plays, which took about 5 minutes to spend. The we went to the martini bar for drinks and a little music before the show. Dave and I wandered into Etsy, the jewelry store for a bit where they tried to convince us to buy a $7,200 diamond necklace. No, thanks. We went to the show in the theatre which was a comedian, Tom Grueter. He was pretty good and I think we all enjoyed the show. After the show, it was back to the martini bar for an after dinner drink!

10/10/2012 – Sunday – We had agreed to meet at 8:30 am to go to breakfast. We ate in the dining room.I tried the apple pancakes and chicken turkey sausage, which I won’t have again. Did not really care for either. We went to a destination presentation, where the excursions for Cozumel and Costa Maya are discussed. We have booked “The Best of Cozumel” for tomorrow, which has a meeting time of 8:45am….early, but doable. But, our excursion for Tuesday at Costa Maya has a meeting time of 7:45am. We have decided that is just too early for us. So after the destinations presentation, we went to the shore excursions desk to see if there was something else we could do. One excursion had an age limit that excluded us, so we are a bit limited. Fabio, the shore excursions guy, is working on options for us. We will see what he comes up with.

We had lunch in the dining room. Steve and I had teriyaki duck breasts, Dave had a BBQ pork knuckle and Fontana cheese panini, and Pat had turkey medallions. After lunch, we decided we’d go back to our rooms and rest for a bit. Dave can watch the Bucs game.

After lunch, Dave watched the Buc’s game and I napped. We went to some entertainment. First was a game called Celebrity Heads. The contestants are suppose to guess the name of a celebrity that is on a video behind them. They ask questions which get a yes, no, or maybe. Then there was trivia – first was music, and we did not do very well. Then general knowledge trivia. And we did much better, but didn’t win. The activity person running the trivia was Carlos. He was a dynamo, full of energy, but made the games fun.

Back to the martini bar, where we enjoyed a show by the bartender.

Took a little rest before dinner. For dinner, Pat had beef ragout, steak and cherries jubilee. Steve had a pomegranate mojito, escargot, trout and cherries jubilee. Dave had shrimp cocktail, trout and cherries jubilee. I had escargot, seafood orzo, and lava cake. After dinner we went to a game where passengers were playing against officers. Then in the grand foyer, all the officers were presented. The captain said we had 348 passengers and 750 (or so) crew. I don’t remember the exact number of crew. We went to the show which was a very talented performer, Tom Franck. He played the piano and sang, but not in a traditional way.

10/11/2021 – We had to be up early for our ship excursion in Cozumel, so we had room service deliver our breakfast. We met in the theater about 8:45am for our tour. I think there were 14 people and we had a big bus, so plenty of room to spread out. The tour was “Best of Cozumel” and our tour guides were two ladies, Mimi and Margarita. We were taken to our first stop was the Mayan Cacao Company.

Mimi gave us a lesson on the Mayas, their culture, how they counted, and their calendar. We saw the recreation of a traditional Mayan house, with two doors. Entry was always one door and exit was always the other door. The house had an altar for deceased loved ones, which is very important in the Mayan culture. We tasted a mini tortilla with a smear of mole, which none of us liked. Then we moved to a building where we were given a small tasting of (grainy) chocolate and learned about the history of chocolate, its manufacturing process, and watched a demonstration of the making of chocolate. When leaving that building, the vendor making chocolate drinks is located. He makes chocolate margaritas, chocolate mudslides, chocolate martinis, and others. I like the chocolate margarita, which is a frozen drink, for $5. The last time I had it, the bartender made a much better drink, but this one was OK. Next, on the same property, we went up the stairs of another building to visit the Tequila Appreciation Seminar for an educational sampling of the authentic Tequila from Guadalajara, Jalisco, with brands you will not find at any other store. After the tequila tasting, we went back downstairs into a shop that sells chocolate bars, Mexican ceramics, and other souvenirs. We reboarded the bus for a drive along the rugged East Coast with its black ironshore and the crashing waves to the Mayan Bee Sanctuary. We participated in a Mayan ceremony.

We learned about the history behind the sacred, stingless Melipona Bee and its importance to the Mayan Culture, and saw some cenotes which are sinkholes. We got a bit of a rain shower, but we’re able to take refuge in the tent of a stone carver. This person carves replicas of Mayan statues and such out of stone, much as the Mayans did. Then we entered another building to sample some honey. The last building had honey and souvenirs for purchase.

We were pretty tired and hungry when we got back to the ship, but managed some lunch and wine in the buffet. We cleaned up in our rooms and rested for a bit. Then the captain made an announcement that the whole ship was invited to the helipad on the front of the ship for sail away. Sail away was suppose to be at 6:00PM, but we were still waiting for the ropes to be released at 6:00PM. Almost exactly 6:00PM, a black car came speeding down the pier and dropped off somebody…we could not see the occupants of the car. Almost immediately after that, the tops got released and we were sailing away from Cozumel. Our adventure on the helipad made us a little late for dinner, but we got plenty of food anyway. Steve, Pat and I had beef short ribs. Dave had a New York Strip steak. Pat had broccoli soup for an appetizer and Dave had a shrimp cocktail. Steve and I had escargot. Steve also got a “Mexican Firing Squad” cocktail, and I had my usual martini. The cocktail server Pubo, brings me blue cheese olives every night. After dinner, we went to the theater for the evening show, which was a “production” show, meaning, music, singing, dancing, and many costume changes. The name of the show was “Life” and the message was that we are only here a short time – you need to make the most of it. The finale song was “I’ve done it all”. It was a long day, we have an early day tomorrow, so we were off to bed after the show.

10/12/2021 – Another shore excursion today and we need to meet in the theatre at 8:30AM. The time was changed from meeting at 7:30AM basically because we told them we wanted to cancel because we could not get ready by 7:30AM. The shore excursions person, Fabio, said he would work on it and ended up changing the time! We had room service for breakfast again, and made our way to the theatre at 8:30AM. There are 3 ships in port today, our Celebrity Summit, Virgin Scarlet Lady, and an MSC ship – Merivalla (?).

Our tour is Chacchoben Mayan Ruins Experience. It is going to be a hot day. We leave the ship and walk the very long Costa Maya pier to get to our meeting place with our guide. There are about 14 people from the ship, and they split us into two groups of 7. Our transportation is one of the mini buses that hold about 15 passengers. So 7 passengers, our guide and bus driver, are not too crowded on the bus. Our guides name is Pedro, and I believe the bus driver was Jimen.

We drive about 1 hour away from the port, which is not surprising. On our previous trips here we learned that Costa Maya was basically a “town” built to house cruise ship visits. There is a small Mexican town nearby, Mahuhual, with small mom and pop shops and groceries for the residents. Of course there are lots of shops, bars and restaurants right at the port, primarily to take cruise passengers money. On the hour long drive, Pedro talks about the local area, the Mayans, the ruins we are going to see, and of course, gives us a sales pitch on cartouches, which we passed on.

The ruins are deep into the jungle and are billed as one of Mexico’s most astounding Mayan sites. The ruins at Chacchoben cover nearly 10 acres and remain virtually unexcavated to this day. Pedro leads us through its temples and gardens. First we see the massive main pyramid, which archeologists have determined is solid. The equinoxes line up with the corners of the pyramid. Prior to Mexico obtaining this property, our guide said the land was farmed and also the owner had cows which roamed the area. We had to watch out for fire ants! We also saw an animal in the rodent family that looked half like a giant rat and half like a rabbit. Pedro said the animal was something like an “aschutto”. I’ll have to look that up.

We walked around the site and saw a big plaza which were stores on one side and tax collectors on the other (according to Pedro). We walked further and climbed some steep stairs to another large plateau where we could see two more pyramids. One pyramid had a “roof” structure of palm fronds. Pedro said the archeologists discovered stone when excavating this area that was still the original white color, and the archeologists built the frond roof to protect those stones.

After exploring the plateau area, it was time for our one hour ride back to the ship.

”Pineapple Town”, near Costa Maya, Mexico

We had lunch in the buffet, went back to our rooms to shower and rest. Dave and I went to a presentation on the Galapagos, which we are thinking about for a future trip.

Tonight is dress up night, which means Lobster for dinner. Pat and Steve had lobster and beef Wellington for dinner. I had lobster with a side of wild mushroom risotto. Dave had lobster and haddock. For appetizers, Dave had scallops Rockefeller, Steve had gumbo and escargot, Pat had French onion soup and I had blue cheese soufflé. The waitstaff and kitchen staff did their parade and everyone cheered them on. For dessert, Steve and I had baked Alaska, Dave and Pat had ice cream.

After dinner, we decided to skip the singer in the theatre, and (unfortunately) spent the evening in the martini bar, where there seems to be a parade of other sorts, like a guy wearing red high heels! I think we sampled most of the available martinis, with a nut and berry martini, which none of us had before, ending up being one of our favorites. After draining the martini bar of most of its alcohol, we all headed to bed.

10/13/2021 – We lost an hour overnight, and with our escapades at the martini bar, we slept in. Pat and Steve ordered room service, and Dave and I went to the buffet for breakfast. Then back to the room to rest up a bit and pack most of our stuff. Pretty uneventful day..just eating and drinking and packing, except for a visit to Essy. We had lunch in the buffet, and dinner in the dining room.

Pat tried eggplant caviar, but hated it, so she got a spinach turnover, roast turkey dinner. Steve had escargot, spinach turnover, Steak Diane with a New York sirloin, Dave had a spinach turnover and a New York sirloin . I had escargot, and New York sirloin. We all had a grand mariner soufflé for dessert. After dinner we went to the martini bar. Dave and I went back to the jewelry store and browsed some more. Then we went back to the martini bar to consider our purchase. Dave went back to the jewelry store to negotiate some more, and came back to the martini bar with the purchase he made. Pat lost the back of her earring, so we crawled around on the floor for awhile, but could not find it. After some martini tastings, we headed to our staterooms to finish packing and put out our luggage for the porters to pick up and have ready for us tomorrow morning in the port terminal.

10/14/2021 – We are up fairly early and desert our staterooms by 8:00am. We went to breakfast in the Ocean View cafe (buffet), and had a nice leisurely breakfast. While eating, an announcement was made that you could leave the ship when ready, which is unusual because you are usually called by number. We cleared customs with the face recognition machine. No agent, no questions, just look into the machine.

Caribbean Cruise Post-Pandemic 8/1-8/15/2021

Itinerary:

8/1/21 Board Celebrity Equinox in Ft. Lauderdale

8/2/21 Nassau

8/3/21 At Sea

8/4/21 At Sea

8/5/21 Cozumel, Mexico

8/6/21 Costa Maya, Mexico

8/7/21 At Sea

8/8/21 Ft. Lauderdale

8/9/21 Nassau

8/10/21 At Sea

8/11/21 St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

8/12/21 Phillipsburg, St. Maarten

8/13/21 At Sea

8/14/21 At Sea

8/15/21 Ft. Lauderdale

We are doing a back to back on the Celebrity Equinox….or, at least that is the plan. On Friday, July 30, 2021, at 3:15pm we receive an email that everyone has to get a Covid test before boarding. This is less than 48 hours before we are to board. We check the local testing sites, and the closest place for us to get a test is in Virginia! After 3 calls to Celebrity, the first two being dropped calls after being on hold for many, many minutes….we finally get an answer from someone. Tests will be done at the port. On Saturday, we read about the disaster on the Celebrity Edge, where people were waiting in the sun for 4 or more hours, waiting to test and board. We were very concerned about what a fiasco it was going to be to board the Eclipse on Sunday. At 11:00pm, I get an email to schedule our Covid test for our embarkation on 8/1. We we given the embarkation time of 2:30pm, so we scheduled the test tor 1:00. On Sunday morning, we received an email that vaccinated people didn’t have to test. Whew! So we do not have to test!

August 1, 2021: We arrived at the port about 2:00pm, dropped off our luggage, parked, when through boarding and we were on the ship in about 20 minutes. We have to wear “tracelets” so if someone tests positive for Covid, they can trace people who were in contact with the infected person.

We explored the ship, got our internet set up (which sucks), spoke to shore excursions to try and switch one of our shore excursions, signed up for a wine tasting and sampled a few drinks. Our dining time is 6:00pm, but Dave wanted to be in our room at 6:00pm to watch sail away. So we ordered from room service and watched sail away from our balcony on the back of the ship.

We went to see a Beatles show, which was a lot of fun. It was a one-man show, but he (Pete Baker ?) was very funny and engaged the audience. Then we went to the martini bar, and sampled several martinis/drinks. Dave enjoyed a “butterfinger” cocktail, which is one of his brother, Steve, favorite drink.

They were having a silent disco, which we had never done before. We got headphones with 3 different channels – so 3 different types of music.

We got caught up in the music and got up and danced, just like lots of other people. The only thing was that everyone may have been listening to different channels than us, and if you didn’t have headphones, all you saw were people dancing but could not hear any music. For us, it was a lot of fun. We danced and enjoyed our “channel”. We are thrilled to be back on a cruise ship after 17 months due to Covid, and thoroughly enjoyed Day 1.

August 2, 2021: We are in Nassau today, but have not booked any shore excursions – which is a good thing. Lots of rain, thunder and lightning. We went to breakfast in the restaurant. Even though we had a table for two, there was an older couple next to us. She was playing some kind of music on her phone which was very distracting. I did not recognize the music at all. Actually, when I first heard it, it sounded like little kids singing. After breakfast, we went up to the solarium and relaxed in a big, round sofa (?) chair for two.

Dave napped a bit and I read the Englewood Sun newspaper online. We could look out towards Nassau, and could see Atlantis in the distance. Nassau is building a big dock to be able to deal with the bigger cruise ships, and more of them. We were the only ship in port today.

Shortly before noon, we weren’t hungry, and the weather looked better, but not great. At least it wasn’t raining. We left the ship to walk around. The diamond store were open as well as some of the souvenir shops. I don’t think any of the restaurants were open, and I didn’t see any of the bars open, either. After walking around for about an hour, we got back on the ship and had a light lunch in the buffet, which is served. Really splurging, we had wine with our lunch, and went to the Ocean Cafe bar to visit our favorite bartender, Imade from Bali, and had another glass of wine. Then we went to a music trivia event, and after that, another trivia event. We never do well in trivia, but got about 50% of the answers right.

We were a little confused about dinner, and where we were suppose to eat. Our card indicated anytime dining, but we also had an assigned time and table. When we went to the assigned table line, he sent us to the anytime dining line. When we got to the anytime dining line, they said we were suppose to be in the assigned table line! After a bit of conversation (they were very nice), we told them what we wanted and they fixed us up. We think we are in anytime dining……? After some vodka and escargot, I was happy.😁

We went to the late show which was a production show called Topper”. Beautiful costumes, dancing, acrobatics on a trapeze, and a little bit of a story to follow. Loved the trapeze acts! After “Topper”, we went to a mind reading act in a smaller theatre, which was packed! This presentation was put on by the cruise director, Eddy Jenkins, and the guy who did the Beatles show (Pete). All the mind reading acts seemed amazing and unbelievable! Of course, it was all trickery of which we could figure out most but not all. But a lot of fun. Eddy and Pete, the two guys presenting the show are very, very funny! After all that excitement, it was time for bed.

August 3, 2021: Thunder & lightning again this morning. I think we are going to have a stormy week. But hey! We are on a cruise ship snd who cares about the weather. One change though…we were trying to get on a tour doing tubing on a river, and we’re on a wait list. Based on the weather, we decided to do our original tour which is more of a bus ride (☹️). If we don’t do a ships excursion in Costa Maya, we cannot get off the ship due to Covid-19 restrictions.

This morning we went to the shore excursion discussion and won $10 off on a shore excursion, which we were able to apply to next week since we already have excursions for this week. Just before lunch we went to a music trivia challenge. We did OK, but there were 10 songs and somehow we only heard 9 songs???? This afternoon we went to an iLearn session and learned some interesting things about our iPhones. We went to the “Deal or no Deal” game and won $55 in casino play money. After dinner we went to see comedian Tom Mc Tigue. Dave didn’t think he was very funny, but I enjoyed the show. Afterward we went to an improv comedy show “Cruise line is it anyway” which was hilarious! It is patterned after “Whose line is it anyway”. The cruise director, Eddy, the Beatles guy, Pete, and two entertainers – a woman and man, were the 4 “players”. I was dying from laughter – really, really funny. We went to the casino to “spend” Dave’s $55 from “Deal or no Deal”. You could not just get the cash, you had to play something in the casino. But if you won, you could cash in your winnings. Dave ended up about $43, so we were ahead. We spent $40 to play “Deal or no Deal” and won $43 which more than paid for his cards. By now it is midnight, so we grabbed a last glass of wine and headed to the stateroom for bed. Fortunately we gain an hour tonight – but that means we’ll lose an hour later in the cruise 😫.

August 4, 2021: We got our extra hour of sleep. After breakfast we went to a presentation by the Captain about the building of Celebrity Solstice class ships. The ship we are on, Equinox, is a Solstice class ship. The Captain is a funny guy and gave a good presentation. Then we went to a presentation about Galapagos and Machu Picchu. Celebrity offers (expensive) excursions to Galapagos, which is on my bucket list if I live long enough 😁. Their excursion to Machu Picchu is high end, using the dome train and the Bingham train. We did the less expensive trains when we went…..

So I do have one complaint so far….the temperature on the ship is too cold! Even Dave complains and grabs his jacket. Who would have thought to bring warmer clothes to the Caribbean in August?

In the afternoon, we went to another iLearn class. This one was about the camera, and features we didn’t know we had – well, some we weren’t aware of. We do learn some shortcuts, too.

I am a little frustrated with the internet onboard. The choices are surf or stream. The stream is more expensive and supposedly allows you to stream TV and movies. I thought the surf would allow me to do emails, access web sites, and get my daily challenges in the games I play. Basically the surf option is good for checking emails. I may opt to spend the big bucks for the stream option next week – it’s $140 for the week, which turns out to be $20 a day. The daily rate is really unreasonable…I think it was like $40 for one day.

We’ve been enjoying listening to music with the “Kickstarters” in the Grand Foyer, and visiting our favorite bartender, Imade in the Oceanview Bar. He introduced us to the Mer Soleil Chardonnay. Unfortunately, he must have introduced more people to this wine because we were unable to get it with dinner – they told us they ran out! One person said there are 1400 people onboard, and they must be heavy drinkers. We were trying to find Decoy Cabernet, but several bars were out of it. Finally found it at the third bar we visited.

The evening show was 6 vocalists from the ships entertainment group singing some of their favorites, accompanied by the ships orchestra. Fortunately we recognized a few of the songs!

August 5, 2021: We arrived in Cozumel an hour later than planned. Don’t know why we were late, but there are two Carnival ships in port with us. Funny story… I told Dave the Carnival Vista was in port with us. He comes out and says No, it’s the carnival Breeze. I look out, and sure enough, it says Carnival Breeze. Later in the day, when we were returning from our shore excursion, we see there are two Carnival ships, the Vista and the Breeze….but when the Breeze pulled in, it blocked the Vista from view! So I really did see the Vista initially. I was very relieved I had not completely lost it!

Went to trivia – feel pretty good – we got 11 out of 15!

This afternoon we went on a shore excursion. Since it started at noon, I was distressed that I might miss some food! Lunchtime! So I got my free gelato and ate it on the way to our meetup place and while I was waiting for our bus number to be called. Surprisingly, everything was quite timely and I didn’t even get a chance to finish my Reese’s pieces which were included with my gelato! We had to sign waivers before getting on the bus – not sure why as this was a pretty tame shore excursion. We got on the bus and drove to our first stop which was a chocolate tasting opportunity. Before tasting the chocolate, our guide gave us a talk on the mayan’s and some information on the Maya culture.

Can you see the green parrot in the background?

While Mexicans apparently celebrate all the holidays, the one that is the most important is the day of the dead, celebrated on November 2. On this day, their ancestors are remembered snd honored. We saw a typical Mayan home, which contained statues for the day of the dead.

Example of Shrine to celebrate Day of the Dead

Finally we get to the chocolate tasting. Our little taste was gritty, and not great. We were shown how chocolate is made, and also all the things added to the coach beans to make it tasty, like honey and sugar. We were then taken to the showroom, where we could take more chocolate, and of course buy some. There was also a bar where we could purchase a chocolate margarita – which I had to have. It was only $5, and very frozen, which was good because it was so hot outside. Did not have any margarita flavor, but it was a good drink and cold! We were taken upstairs for a tequila tasting. We tasted blanco tequila, another tequila good for mixing, and a coffee liqueur made with tequila. These did not interest us, so we bailed after the tasting. It was interesting to hear how we should be drinking tequila compared to how we actually drink it. Back on the bus, we drove around the south end of the island and went to a bee sanctuary. These bees do not sting, but they do bite! Before we entered the sanctuary, we we part of a Mayan ceremony. We were shown a cenote, which is a sinkhole. These were important to the Mayans and probably their source of drinking water. It was basically a sinkhole filing with a little stream of water. Walking to where the bees were, their homes are in logs. We saw a (very) few bees, some flying around, and a guardian bee who protects their hive.

Little Guardian bee sticking his head out

Stingless bees – but they can bite!

Of course we had the opportunity to purchase honey products, but this did not interest us. We left tips, as we were sympathetic to these people who depend on tourism and were without tourist for many months.

Back on the bus, we drove through downtown Cozumel, but a lot of businesses were closed. Once back on board ship we were a bit hungry, so we went to the mast bar and got a hamburger, and then to to Ocean View bar to see Imade and get some Mer Soleil wine ….we got the wine, but Imade wasn’t there!

We skipped the show this evening, but went to another iLearn class about using the google translate app. It’s interesting because we always pick up a tidbit or two 😁.

August 6, 2021: It’s Dave’s birthday! We have a ship excursion that meets at 8:30, but the restaurants don’t open until 7:30am, go we grab breakfast from the buffet. MOST of the food is served, but not all. Coffee and beverage dispensers are self serve.

Our tour guide is “Yam” and his English is pretty good. We are on a big bus, the guide says 26 people, but it’s hard to spread out – especially when someone sits in the seats directly in front or in back of you. Costa Maya is basically just a cruise dock. The city is Mahahual, and it is a very small town, too. We had to drive 1.5 hours. Our tour is going to Bacalar which has a fort from the 1700’s. It was build by the Mayan for the Spanish. Then we went on pontoon boats for a ride on the 7 color lagoon.

The water is beautiful and changes color based on the sun and depth of the water. After about 30 minutes, we stopped, and were given the opportunity to swim for about 30 minutes. We didn’t because our seats on the pontoon were in the open, hot sun. We had put on sunscreen, and I didn’t want to wash it off for the ride back.

After our 30 minute ride back to the starting point, we were given a buffet lunch. We had chips, tortillas, guacamole, lettuce salad, fried fish, black beans, and a chicken dish. Dave snd I both had beers because it was served in bottles – cautious to not get a drink with ice. The ice cold beer tasted great as it was hot. Then we had our 1.5 hour ride back to the ship. Dave switched to rum and Diet Coke for his afternoon pick me up!

This evening we have reservations for the specialty restaurant, Murano’s, because it was Dave’s birthday! The food was delicious. For an appetizer, Dave had a baked pear in phyllo dough with Roquefort cheese. I had salmon and peekytoe crab on a crust – but I forgot the official name. For dinner, Dave had Dover Sole and I had lobster. The lobster was prepared tableside and the waiter set off the fire alarm 😂. But it was delicious. For desert, we picked a sampler which came in 7 little glasses. Then they brought out a chocolate cake for Dave’s birthday! Needless to say, we were stuffed. We decided to head back to the stateroom to rest our full bellies.

August 7, 2021: This morning we had to go to a meeting regarding our back to back. It is a bit of a procedure due to Covid-19. We had a rapid test, and assuming it comes back negative, we can cruise next week, too. We have to meet tomorrow morning, get off the ship as a group, and go through reboarding procedures to meet CDC requirements. We had our test a couple hours ago and have not heard anything so far, so that’s good news.

We attended several trivia’s, including a Beatles one that we’re sure Wayne would have aced. We did pretty good on that one. We have learned that octopus have 3 hearts by going to trivia!

The entertainment crew put on a show, which our trivia lady said they’d been practicing for weeks! Also listened to music by “Queen”. We stopped by Effy to look at a ring I’ve been admiring 😁, and then to the show. The show was basically two vocalists. Before the show, there was a spoof of the cruise director, Eddie Jenkins, doing a dance audition supposedly in 2007. The premise was that he wanted to be a dancer and this was his last chance. Since he failed at dancing, he became a cruise director.

The cruise director and captain have been the best we have cruised with. The captain is very funny and unfortunately for us, he is leaving for vacation and we’ll have a new captain for our second week.

The show was OK, but not that great. The vocalists, Laura Wright and Jesse ?, were talented, but just not music that we liked. We sat through most of the show, but left a little early. As we were listening to the music in the foyer, we got the dreaded announcement from the captain that one passenger has Covid, and has been isolated. Passengers who were in close contact have been tested and also isolated. No close contacts have tested positive, but were being kept isolated in an abundance of caution.

August 8, 2021: Today is our changeover day. The time has been crazy, our watches say one thing and the ships time says something else. We set our alarm for 6:45 with plans to vacate our stateroom by 8:00. Somehow, our time was off and the alarm went off at 6:45, but it was actually 7:45! So we had to hustle to finishing packing up our last minute stuff, as we are changing staterooms. We made it down to breakfast before 8:30, which is when all the breakfast restaurants close down.

B2B people had to assemble in a lounge on deck 5 by 9:30. They kept us together, and we had to leave the ship, go through facial recognition (!), and then wait until the ship was cleared before we could get back on. We were back onboard by 11:00, but everything is pretty much closed. I want to upgrade my internet package, as I could basically only check email last week. I have discovered that part of that is due to my phone ☹️. But, there are some You Tube guys I like to listen to, and I can’t do that with the basic internet package. It turns out it only cost $98 to upgrade for the week because of my loyalty status. I am discovering part of the problem is my phone though ☹️.

Since this is a turnaround day, it seems like there is not much open in the afternoon. We are in “Aqua Class” which gives us special deals in the spa, but more importantly, we have our own restaurant, Blu.

We toured the spa, and saw the exercise room. At least we can say we visited the exercise room. I got on a rowing machine for about 1 minute 😁. At 4:00, the cruise director had trivia “Eddy’s Tricky Trivia” which he runs simultaneously on Facebook live. So, when you leave the cruise, you can still participate in his trivia events.

We signed up for Tuscan Grill, which is a specialty restaurant. Because we’re back to back cruisers, we got a special first night discount. While it is Italian based, they also have several steaks on their menu. We had a great table, at the window, on the back of the ship. It was a great view. Dave was not happy with the wine selection, but we had a couple of glasses that met his approval. We split some dishes so we could taste more things. We had a bruschetta, he had a Caesar salad and I had a heritage beet salad. We split a carbonara pasta dish, and we both ordered petite filet mignons medium rare. Unfortunately, the steak was more like medium well. Dave passed on dessert, but I had a tiramisu. It was an OK experience, but the best part was our table location and not the food ☹️.

The singer from last week, Laura Wright, is the entertainer tonight. We did not care for her music last week, so we went back to the foyer area and listened to some music, and then did the silent disco thing again. We really enjoy the silent disco.

August 9, 2021: This morning we had our first meal in Blu. It has slightly different options than the main dining room. I had an asparagus frittata, and Dave had an omelet. The real test will be dinner, so we’ll see how that goes this evening.

We are in Nassau today, for a short stop, leaving at 3:00PM. After breakfast, we took a walk in Nassau to the Queens Staircase.

It was carved out of solid limestone rock by 600 slaves between 1793 and 1794 to create an escape route from the fort above and is a major landmark of Nassau. Fortunately, we approached from the top, so we walked down the stairs, not up. There is a fort nearby, but it is closed so we couldn’t visit it.

Back on the ship, in the afternoon, we went to observe the hot glass class. There are several different items you can make, and each has a price attached starting at $75 and going up from there. You need to make an appointment and choose the piece you want to make. The class we attended, the lady chose a pumpkin. To be honest, she did not do much of the work herself, but kind of assists the glass blower. Her item turned out very nice.

We also went to a sales presentation on the Celebrity Edge series of ships. It was a video showing how the ship was made, and giving a preview of all the public areas onboard. For me, it seems too big and too many things to do. I don’t know how you would experience all the different areas.

We ate at Blu, our first evening meal. The food is different than the main dining room, and the menu has fewer choices, including some healthy ones. We were a little unhappy that the sommelier was not attentive, but he was probably pretty busy. We flagged down a Maitre D’ and he got us our wine. The issue was we had been served our entree’s and were sitting there with empty wine glasses.

August 10, 2021: Today is a sea day – so kinda the same thing….attended some trivia, and actually did pretty good, but didn’t win ☹️. We listened to music in the foyer. We like the “Kickstarters” band. We had better luck with dinner in Blu. I think the sommelier knew we were upset from the night before as he was very attentive. After dinner we visited some of the shops and Dave bought me a ring I had been eyeing 👁. The evening shows were cancelled as the entertainer tested positive for Covid. We went to the replacement show. The cruise director discussed pop music and lots of little trivia about pop singers. Pete Baker, also on the activity team and the guy who does the Beatles show, played and sang some of the oldies. It was interesting, especially for a last minute switch.

Then we went to “Cruise Line is it Anyway”, which we attended last week. It is a takeoff of “Whose line is it anyway”. Four members of the crew participate, and it seems very impromptu. I find it hilarious. Dave thinks it is a bit vulgar – and he’s right, but I still find it funny. One disappointment was the room was packed – maybe a seat here it there, but pretty much a full house. No social distancing ☹️.

August 11, 2021: Today we have a port visit to St. Thomas, USVI. Dave and I both had a restless night, and tummy issues. We wake up hoping we don’t have covid ☹️. We take our temps, which are normal. We are suppose to go on a ships excursion today, but decide to skip it in case we continue having issues. We feel OK, thinking it must have been something we ate, but we both had different things for dinner. We had a light breakfast, and things seem to be OK. We went up to the sun deck and found some chairs in the shade, and just relaxed. We had hamburgers & fries for lunch, and everything still seems OK. We decide to get off the ship and walk around a bit.

The iguanas were out walking around, too. They would actually approach people, so obviously people have fed them.

Many places are closed, and of those that are open, some obviously have reduced inventory. The people in these ports have to be hurting – no tourism for 16 months, and only a very few ships are visiting now. In addition, the ships that are sailing have reduced capacity. After getting back to the ship, we went to visit Imade, one of our favorite bartenders. He told us there are about 1100 passengers onboard this week which is less than last week’s 1400. Capacity is 3434.

After spending some time with Imade, we went to trivia – and did more awful than usual – only 4 correct answers out of 15 questions! Everyone found it hard as the winning team only had 8 correct answers. On the positive side, we are learning some useless tidbits 😂.

Dinner at Blu…we have trained our sommelier to find our new favorite wine, Mer Soleil. Our dinner was excellent – a rib eye steak cooked and seasoned perfectly. After dinner, we wondered around as we had seen the show in the theater last week. We went to the jewelry store for their emerald extravaganza. Dave could not keep his credit card put away, so I was able to benefit from his problem 🤪.

August 12, 2021: we ordered breakfast in our room as we have an early (for us) shore excursion this morning. We are docked in Phillipsburg, St. Maarten. Our tour is in a double decker bus, and we had seats up top. We start out from the ship on the Dutch side of the island, and drove to the French side. Our tour guide gave us some interesting tidbits, such as, on the Dutch side, English is the primary language although Dutch and Creole are also spoken. Adopting English as the primary language brought in American investors and tourists, which was a boost to their economy. The language on the French side of the island is….French! The French side is larger than the Dutch side. Legend has it that a Dutchman and Frenchman met at one point and walked opposite directions. When they met again on the other side, that became the border. We drove from the Dutch side to the French side and stopped at a street market in Marigot, which I think is the capitol of the French side. Not everything is open, and I just have no interest in souvenirs ☹️.

Our next stop was Mano Beach, which is where the planes land and take off right over the heads of beach goers. Apparent the big planes come in between 1:30 and 4:30 in the afternoon. We were there about 10:00am, so we did not see any plane activity, but we did see the airport.

Sign warning of jets flying right over the top of you!

We were driven back to the Dutch side of the island to visit Toppers rum distillery and get some free rum tastings.

Some of the rums were very good, but we did not buy any. We did have some rum infused gelato though. Our last stop was an Amsterdam cheese shop where we were given samples of cheese. Dave liked the Gouda and bought some. Then it was back to the ship. One of the people on front of us was carrying a big box from Toppers, so I assume he bought a few bottles of rum! When we went through security, they gave us some static about the cheese we bought, but we showed them it was vacuum packed and they let us through. The island is very pretty, and the water surrounding it gorgeous.

We saw one huge house on the French side – definitely some money. However, as typical of the snobbish French….if you ask them a question in English, they respond in French. As Dave says, if it wasn’t for the US, the French would be speaking German!

Back onboard, we had a light lunch, after the rum, gelato and cheese…. We had a message on our phones that one of our tracelets wasn’t working, so we had to go to guest services to change them out. Then we went to the Relaxation room which is reserved for “Aqua” guests. They have comfortable loungers, water and tea, and a view out the front of the ship. I don’t think it is used much, which makes it even better! Dave snoozed 😴 and I worked on my blog. We could go to an Abba trivia, but since we really don’t know much about Abba, we stay in the relaxation room.

Had a wonderful dinner in Murano – Chateaubriand . Made a $30 donation in the casino ☹️. Listened to our favorite band, the Kickstarters. Then we got a nightcap and headed to our room!

August 13, 2021: We intended to get up early enough to go to Blu (our “exclusive” restaurant for breakfast, but woke up late and had to hit the buffet. We went to trivia, and did pretty good! Didn’t win of course, but when we get over 50%, we feel good. Today and tomorrow are sea days, so we will spend most of our time relaxing, visiting bars for Mer Soleil wine, and trivia. Being in Aqua Class gives us access to a Relaxation Room, which has comfortable lounging chairs and a view over the bow of the ship. We are disappointed with our stateroom in that it is under the treadmills. So at 6:00am, the heathy people onboard start their routines and we can hear the pounding. It wakes us up, but we try not to get out of bed.

We are watching the weather in Englewood, as tropical storm Fred is heading our way.

We have had an issue with our bank/credit card/celebrity. It is difficult to contact the bank and credit card when you are at sea. My wonderful husband bought me some jewelry which put us over our credit card limit, only because of timing. We tried to adjust our credit card payment with the bank, but the bank app wouldn’t let us. More complicated, and a long story. When we thought we had things straightened out, it turned out that Celebrity has put through our jewelry charge twice! We have been assured that the final charge will only go through once… we will see…

Another announcement by the captain that someone onboard has tested positive for Covid, but those in close contact were all tested and came back negative. The ship has a separate location where they isolate people who test positive. I think it is part of learning to deal with this virus.

Tonight is a “chic” night, so I’ll be able to wear my new jewels 😁. It is also lobster night….unfortunately, Dave and I both thought our lobster was rubbery ☹️. Instead of dessert, we had a cheese plate, which was very good. We went to the production show, “Life”and enjoyed it. Then we went to the foyer and listened to a tribute to Queen, sat at the martini bar, and after Queen, listened to a DJ.

August 14, 2021: Got up in time to go to Blu for breakfast, and went back to our room for a bit, waiting for the 10:15 talk by the cruise director, Eddy Jenkins’s. His talk is about 10 things you didn’t know about ship life. While waiting, there was a knock on our door, and Denis from Customer Services, who helped us with our credit card issue sent us a bottle of wine and chocolate dipped strawberries! I feel all the crew has been over the top friendly and helpful. Eddy Jenkins is a great cruise director – probably the best we’ve ever had on a ship. He is very entertaining and naturally funny. After the talk, it was trivia time – we seem to be doing a little better – but of course we never win ☹️. Time to pack ☹️.

We had dinner in Blu – my last chance for escargot. Dave and I both had “Duck confit ravioli” for dinner, and cherries jubilee for dessert…. Our last night splurge. After dinner, we stopped at the jewelry store to pick up my appraisals (😁), and then went to the show in the theater. One of the Celebrity singers, Brianna Faulk, sang Tina Turner songs. She is very talented. We would have enjoyed the show more if we recognized more of the songs, but she ended with a fabulous rendition of “Proud Mary”.

August 15, 2021: Debarkation was uneventful as was our drive home. We do not normally cruise in the Caribbean because most of the port visits are to beaches, and we live in a beach town! This cruise was a great opportunity for us to get away because of the pandemic. It is great that ships are sailing again. We enjoyed being on the cruise ship, and for me, no cooking or cleaning for two weeks, and the bonus due to Dave’s hot credit card 😁. They really try to keep the ship clean, with people wiping things over & over. All the crew wore masks, and I noticed some of the waitstaff wearing double masks. We felt very safe. I think the risk is in the ports. Unvaccinated people were only allowed to do ship excursions. Unfortunately, there are always a few people that think the rules do not apply to them. On our excursion in St. Maarten, we were told masks were required by St. Maarten. Unfortunately, there was one couple that never wore a mask, and apparently no one said anything to them.

South America Cruise and Visit to Machu Picchu – just pre-COVID19 February to March, 2020

2/15 – 16/2020: Fly from Miami to Puerto Iguazu, Argentina

2/16 – 18/2020: Hotel Saint George, Puerto Iguazu. Visit Iguazu Falls.

2/18/2020: Fly from Puerto Iguazu to Buenos Aires, Argentina

2/18 – 20/2020: Sileo Hotel, Buenos Aires

2/20 – 3/5/2020: Coral Princess Cruise, Stateroom A618

2/20 – 21/2020: On Coral Princess in Buenos Aires

2/22/2020: Montevideo, Uruguay

2/23/2020: At Sea

2/24/2020: Puerto Madryn, Argentina

2/25/2020: At Sea

2/26/2020: Port Stanley, Falkland Islands

2/27/2020: Cruising Cape Horn

2/28/2020: Ushuaia, Argentina

3/1/2020: Cruising Amalia Glacier, Chile

3/2/2020: At Sea

3/3/2020: Puerto Montt, Chile

3/4/2020: At Sea

3/5/2020: San Antonio, Chile – disembark and travel to Santiago, Chile. Hotel Loreto.

3/5/2020 Disembark Coral Princess, tour Valparaiso, drive to Santiago to Hotel Loreto

3/6/2020 Fly from Santiago to Cusco, Peru. Hotel Royal Inkatha Pisaq

3/7/2020 Tour Pisaq & Ollantaymbo, travel by train to Aguas Calientes, Hotel Hatun Inti Classic

3/8/2020 Tour Machu Picchu, travel by train from Aguas Calientes to Ollantaytambo, Hotel Pakaritampu

3/9/2020 Tour Maras Moray & Chinchero, travel to Cusco, Peru, Hotel Rumi Punku

3/10/2020 Tour Cusco, Peruvian Cooking Class, Hotel Rumi Punku

3/11 -14/2020 Fly from Cusco, Peru to Santiago, Chile, Hotel Loreto

3/14 – 15/2020 Santiago to Miami!

3/15 – 30/2020 Celebrity Eclipse – Santiago to San Diego – Cancelled due to COVID 19 Pandemic

February 15 – 16, 2020

We left Englewood about 9:00am on Saturday. We had to return the rental car before 1:30PM as it was a 1 day rental. We got to Miami, turned in the car, and made it to the airport by about 2:00pm. We had lunch, checked in and boarded our 9 hour flight to Buenos Aires. It was an overnight flight, in economy with tight seats and a baby that screamed. Not much fun. We had breakfast on the plane about 3:30am, which was 1:30am in Englewood. Argentina is 2 hours ahead of Florida time wise. We arrived about 4:30. Our ongoing flight to Iguazu Falls had been changed many times over the last year. Finally we got it changed to an 8:50am flight out of the same airport in Buenos Aires where we arrived, which was not the original situation. We arrived in Buenos Aires, made it through immigration, collected our bags, found our new terminal 1/4 mile away with no transport other than our feet, and checked into our next flight from Buenos Aires to Puerto Iguazu, by about 6:00am. We were dead tired because we got next to no sleep on the flight to Buenos Aires. We managed to make our flight, and the good news/bad news was that it was a very old plane. However, the leather seats were much more comfortable, more room between the seats, and no screaming babies.

We arrived on time in Puerto Iguazu. We are booked at Hotel Saint George and one of the amenities is free transport from the airport to the hotel (remember this amenity). We are dog tired as it is over 24 hours with no good sleep. The plan is to check in, rest for the afternoon, check out the town and where we need to catch transportation to the falls in the morning. I have researched some trails I want to do, so have a general plan in place.

Plan B: so the reason our hotel gives free transport from the airport to the hotel is to give the transport company an opportunity to pitch their tours. Remember, we are dog tired. They have two tours that work really well for us – the first is a half day tour to the Brazialian side which we can do this afternoon, and a full day tour tomorrow. After some discussion, we think, what the heck. Much easier to go with a guide, and didn’t think we could see the Brazialian side without an expensive visa.

So, this afternoon, we visited the Brazialian side of Iguazu Falls, and we are so glad we did. The views are phenomenal. Most of the falls are on the Argentinian side, but better viewed from Brazil. We hiked a little trail, and the falls and the views just kept getting better and better. Our last viewpoint was “Devil’s Throat” or Diablo, the longest, continuous waterfall, which is unbelievable. There are many, many waterfalls in this National Park which is located in both Brazil and Argentina.

Taking pictures of falls over and over is like taking pictures of long views of anything. So while Dave and I took over 40 pictures today, I’m just going to share two. The first is a picture of us at the falls! By the way, it is a really crappy day. It is rainy and we have our ponchos on. Tomorrow the weather is suppose to be better. The second may be a video of the falls – seems to show up as a video on my pad but only as a photo on Dave’s laptop.

Photo (above) of the falls or download video with sound on link below

Video of the falls

Our hotel has a restaurant, so we went there for dinner. As we walk in, they are seating a bus load of Asian tourists….could not help but think of the Coronavirus. We ordered a seafood for two grilled dinner. There were 3 fillets of an unknown to us fish, a huge fillet of salmon, 2 large shrimp prawns, chunks of grilled tomato, eggplant, potato and 4 coblets of corn.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 77A97C7C-BFE7-4D28-ABE1-94BA8BA168D0-768x1024.jpeg — Forgot to take the picture until I was almost done eating 😁

Finally time for a much needed sleep. Tomorrow we will visit the Argentine side of Iguazu Falls. I asked our guide how to pronounce Iguazu and it sounded to me like “E goo Sue”, but I have heard multiple pronunciations.

February 17, 2020 – Argentina side of Iguazu Falls

Plastic seems to be king in Argentina. When we arrived, we wanted to get some Argentinian pesos, so we sought out an ATM. Unfortunately we packed our conversion info, so it was not readily available. We took out the max on the screen, which was 2000 pesos, and were charged a service fee of 379 pesos. That was a bit of a shock to see approximately 19% fee! As it turns out, 2000 pesos is about $32. But, we have been able to use our credit card for everything, even bottles of water. And, the US dollar is also widely accepted. Our seafood dinner for two last night was 2400 pesos, less 20% for our hotel discount =1920 pesos, or about $31 (for dinner for 2!). We are finding food to be inexpensive. Each time we buy something, the big price number in pesos always freaks me out.

We were up early Monday morning for our tour – 6:00am – so we could eat breakfast and meet our guide at 7:50am. It looks like a beautiful day with plenty of sunshine, but hot. Our guide shows up in a big bus, and several people from our hotel are going on the same tour….no wonder with that free transportation from the airport. Lots of other people, from other hotels, are already on the bus.

It is a short drive to the Argentina side of the national park. Today we see lots of wildlife, and up close. Some were more up close than we wanted. There are raccoon type animals – they have a different name in Spanish, but the guide calls them raccoons when he is speaking English to us. They are aggressive if you have food. We had a few problems mid-morning when we grabbed a snack. We were literally kicking at them, which didn’t phase them a bit, to get away from them. We were able to get away by going inside the snack shop, which really doesn’t have a place to eat. An interesting experience. We saw them going after coffee that someone had momentarily set on a table. Obviously, they have been fed by humans and now are aggressive to get the food. But I digress…

Today we are going to walk 3 different trails in the park.

The first trail is the best one, as we go to see the Devils Throat waterfall from an Argentinian perspective. We walked to a train, and then rode an open train about 1.5 miles. Then we walk through a jungle, on paved pathways. We saw lots of raccoons, monkeys, and a caiman. A caiman is like an alligator, only smaller. He was right next to the path, laying on some lily pads in the water. All the people walking by did not phase him a bit. The monkeys were in the jungle, but moving too quick for any pictures. We get to the end of the path and have a beautiful view of “Devils Throat” which is the biggest waterfall.

The second trail is called the upper circuit and you view the falls from the top. As we walked, we definitely had some beautiful views of the falls.Walking above the falls let’s you view the slowly moving water which will soon go tumbling over the falls. As we walked along, we saw many huge spiders in their webs just off the path. Our guide said these are called golden spiders because when the sun shines on their web, it looks like gold.

After our second trail, it is about 1:00 and our guide directs us to a restaurant, supposedly with air conditioning. We were very hot and sweaty, and air conditioning sounded real good about now. Well, the air conditioning units were fighting a losing battle with people going in and out the doors almost continuously, and some people leaving the doors wide open. It was cooler inside, but barely. Because of the heat and activity, we did not feel like eating much. We did have a snack, and drank lots of fluids.

Most of the people in our tour group had elected to do a boat trip on the river, like Maid of the Mist at Niagra, which includes getting very wet. Dave did not want to get wet, so we went on our third hike. The third hike is the lower circuit and you were able to see the falls from below and watch the water falling. This trail had more ups and downs where the first two trails were very flat. Again, some beautiful views of the falls.

The first photo is to illustrate how there are many waterfalls.

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Beautiful view of Devils Throat from our third hike on lower circuit.

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Various pictures of some of the wildlife we saw.

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Look close for the caiman in and on the lily pads.

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I was just amazed at how close we could get and the wildlife did not seem to be afraid of humans. We were warned many, many times to not try and touch the raccoons, with pictures of people who had been bit or scratched. So maybe the wildlife is not afraid of humans because humans are afraid of them!

February 18 – 19. 2020 – Iguazu to Buenos Aires

Tuesday was pretty much a travel day. We flew from Iguazu to Buenos Aires. So, some notes about Iguazu….there are lots of speed bumps! Taxis are pretty reasonable…from hotel to airport was 800 pesos, or about $13usd. We were very satisfied with our hotel in Puerto Iguazu. The staff was very helpful and spoke English very well. We have noticed lots of children and families traveling with children. The school year in Argentina runs March to December, so the kids are on their summer break…it is summer in this part of the world.

Arriving in a Buenos Aires, we land at a different airport – probably their original airport. We had to climb down stairs and take a bus to the terminal. This was true of our flights from Buenos Aires to Puerto Iguazu, too. We hired a private car to take us to our hotel and the taxi fare was the equivalent of $13. We are staying at the Hotel Sileo which is across the street from the Recoleta Cemetary, where Eva Peron is buried. We have a view of the cemetery from our room 😀. After checking in and asking the desk person a thousand questions, we set out to find a few essentials….wine, soda, snacks and a SIM card. We are successful!

We did not have much for lunch, and by 6:00pm we were pretty hungry. Dave had identified a few steak houses, but Argentinians are a late night crowd, and most of the restaurants don’t open until 7:00pm or 7:30pm. Our hotel knew of one that was open all the time and close by. We are in a touristy area, by the Recoleta Cemetary. We had a great dinner, and very reasonable: two appetizers, we shared an 800gram steak served with bacon, some veggies and French fries. We had a bottle of water, a bottle of wine, and two more glasses of wine (!)….all for about $42.

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The table behind us was a family and the man had ordered a beer. It came in a tall container, holding 2 liters, with an ice cylinder in the center. I hadn’t seen anything like this before. Dave asked the man if we could take a photo, and he was very accommodating, moving chairs and anything that would block the photo.

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Obviously, he drank most of the beer!

The people we have met have been very kind, helpful, and informative. The guy who checked us in at our hotel would have been the exception – Dave said he needed a personality adjustment.

Wednesday – Our plan is to visit the sites in the area called “Centro”. We decided to take the metro/subway. The ticket window lady called someone who spoke English to help us. We had to buy a card, and then “fill it” with enough fare to complete our journey. That done, we had to figure out which direction to go. Dave speaks a very little Spanish, and I speak none. But, we asked passers by and they always pointed us in the right direction and which stop where we wanted to get off. We even had to change lines! But all went well and we found our first destination, Teatro Colon.

Teatro Colon is the Buenos Aires opera house. It is among the worlds top five opera houses, and claims to be number one in acoustics. We were able to get a tour in English, along with about 30 other people! Our guide spoke very good English and was pretty easy to understand. The opera house was built over a 20 year period and contains materials like Italian marble, Parisian stained glass windows, and Venetian mosaics. One reason it took so long to build was that the first architect died, and he was only 44 years old. They found another architect who died under mysterious circumstances – also at age 44. So there was some difficulty to find another architect because of the fear of a curse of dying at 44 years of age. Eventually they found a Belgium architect who was in his 50’s, and they were able to complete the building in 1908. One reason all the different materials is because of the different architects. In the entryway are Venetian mosaics, which are about 1/2 inch square. These were all set by hand. There are several stained glass windows in the entryway and areas surrounding the outside of the theatre, with musical themes of course. One long, large lounge room was only for those with the most expensive tickets. This room had beautiful chandeliers. Dave got so enthralled with taking pictures here that he, and 4 others, got separated from our group and had to ask someone where the group went. We entered the theater, which is 7 stories tall. The stage area is as big as the seating area. The opera season runs from March through December. It was important to be seen. The wealthy ladies of the time were taken with France and wore all the French gowns of the day. However, our guide noted that French seasons were opposite Argentinian seasons. So these fashionistas would wear French winter gowns during Argentinian summers, and French summer gowns during Argentinian winters because they had to be seen wearing the current fashions.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 61D13A72-9189-4EB7-96CD-A23E7345AAB4.jpeg — Lounge for wealthy patrons of the opera

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is DBFA94A6-38AA-459B-9F40-8B4EB6253FE9.jpeg — Inside the theater

The acoustics are so good that Luciano Pavarotti said, “the Colon has only one flaw: the acoustics are so good that every mistake can be heard”.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 7DFAADB2-7C14-421E-A4FF-64EC60224399-768x1024.jpeg — Vent under seat that accounts for excellent acoustics

For some reason, I had trouble posting the pictures of the lounge, and inside the theater. As I work with this website, hopefully I will get better.

After leaving the opera house, we walked to the “Plaza de Mayo”. It was constructed in 1589 and has been the setting for Argentina’s most politically turbulent moments, including the uprising against Spanish colonial rule on May 25, 1810 – hence its name. In the center is a statue, and around the statue are painted white headscarves representing the Mothers of May Square who have marched here every Thursday at 3:30pm for nearly four decades. These are housewives and mothers, turned militant activists, who demand justice for the people who “disappeared” during Argentina’s dictatorial military government, 1976 – 1983.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is A770716E-1F52-4F38-B7EA-947A6CA89081.jpeg — Painted headscarves

At the East end of Plaza de Mayo is the Casa Rosado, better known as the Pink House. The building houses the government’s executive branch and was built in the late 19th century. The president of Argentina works here but lives elsewhere. The nation’s flag flys above the Pink House and a small banner beneath the nation’s flag indicates the president is in. The Pink House was painted pink as a symbol of the unification between two warring political factions: the federales, whose color was red, and the unitarios, whose color was white. Legend has it that the original paint was made by mixing whitewash with bull’s blood.

The balcony of the Pink House faces Plaza de Mayo and is a presidential podium. This is the balcony where Evita rallied the “descamisados”, meaning the working class, who were in Plaza de Mayo, and where Madonna sang “Don’t cry for me Argentina”.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is F03AC958-070F-4AFE-B16F-D0BFB1C656C2.jpeg — The Pink House with Evita’s balcony (with 5 arches) above the big center arch.

Just off the north west end of the plaza, on top of one of the museums, are two figures who ring a bell at the top of each hour.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 3E9C0F8F-C522-404A-9FF9-B4148C134695.jpeg — (Another problem photo) Two figures ringing the bell to announce the time.

We visited a free museum in back of the Pink House, but unfortunately, all the descriptions were in Spanish, so it was a quick visit. Inside the museum were mementos of all the presidents. The displays includes clothing, china, etc. There was a large painting of Juan and Evita Peron, and their 1956 (?) Cadillac was on display. There were a few other, much older, presidential carriages on display, too. This museum was build on the foundations of a fort that had originally sat here, and we could see parts of the original walls.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 6081922E-A5C7-4656-9235-982569721303-768x1024.jpeg — Juan and Evita Peron

After a lunch break of a shared pizza and 2 glasses of beer (for about $8), we walked to El Zanjon de Granados. This house is now a museum, and we had a tour in English. The street it is on was once a small river, the Zanjon, where the first, unsuccessful attempt to found Buenos Aires took place in 1536. At that time, the house was very close to the bay. When the current owner bought and decided to develop it, he discovered all sorts of things below: pottery, cutlery, foundations of past constructions and a 500 foot network of tunnels that took over 25 years to excavate. The house was originally built by a wealthy Spanish family, and had 2 cisterns, 3 lounges, besides bedrooms, bathrooms and a kitchen. Records have shown this Spanish family had servants and a slave. In the 1800’s, Buenos Aires was devastated by disease, especially yellow fever. All the wealthy people in this area moved, trying to escape the disease. The house was subsequently turned into a tenement house, housing over 20 families, with 2 bathrooms and one kitchen. The tunnel network had been built before the Spanish family built their house, by people living along the Zanjon River. Each owner built the structure over the river to try to prevent flooding. It was very interesting because by visiting this house, we heard about the history of Buenos Aires from the residents perspective.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 985FC893-E6C8-42FE-BCC3-9D903AEA9384.jpeg — Excavated tunnel

February 20, 2020 – Buenos Aires

We had an exciting adventure today…..but not until early afternoon.

We were very happy with both of our hotels so far. We do not stay in expensive hotels, and amenities are not that important to us. First and foremost we are looking for a clean bed and bathroom. Hotel Saint George in Puerto Iguazu had several amenities including a pool, hot tub, spa services, an exercise room, a bar and a restaurant. We only used the last two ☹️. Our hotel in Buenos Aires was Sileo Hotel, and it promotes itself as a boutique hotel. The big draw for us was the proximity to Recoleta Cemetary and the cruise ship terminal. It had a bar, but we did not see anybody at the bar. We did have a balcony with a view of the Cemetary, which is a bit of a sore point for me. We reserved a deluxe room with a view of the cemetery. It is a small hotel, I think 8 floors and only 3 rooms to a floor. When we checked in, I noticed the clerk had a paper with our information, and 702 was crossed out and 202 entered. The next paper with someone else’s information had 202 crossed out and 702 entered. We got downgraded from the 7th floor, which would have had a much better view, down to the 2nd floor. I asked for a higher room, but he claimed none were available. Hmmmm…. We did have a view over the Cemetary wall, just not as good as it could have been. Both hotels served breakfasts with scrambled eggs, meat and lots of other goodies.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 1BCD6463-96D6-4C63-99FF-D7C6E0C1473A.jpeg — Panoramic view of Recoleta Cemetary from our hotel room balcony.

This morning we check out of our hotel. We are going to visit the Cemetary and the Eva Peron Museum. The hotel will store our luggage, and after our sightseeing, we’ll go back to the hotel, get our luggage and a taxi to the ship.

The big draw to the Cemetary is Eva Peron’s grave. The Recoleta Cemetary is the most expensive real estate in Buenos Aires. The mausoleum monuments are practically on top of each other, they are packed in. There are more than 6,400 elaborate vaulted tombs and majestic mausoleums, 70 of which have been declared historic monuments. Some are in very good shape while others are crumbling. Some have doors with windows and you can look inside. Sometimes you can see caskets, usually on shelves. Some have little chapels. Many have a narrow stairway going down to a lower level. I imagine big families needed more space for family members. While writing about it seems morbid, it is interesting and some of the monuments are quite beautiful. Some had stained glass windows. There are lots of graves of generals and Presidents. Our Fodor’s book on Buenos Aires had a map of the Cemetary and some of the graves were highlighted. I think one of the most interesting is Eva Duerte Peron’s, of course. She died very young, 33 years old, of Uterine cancer. Because of the political environment, her body was stolen and not returned for 18 years. She is buried in her family’s monument, and not with Juan Peron.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 47712F8D-1D3D-49AF-8F03-4B013B837E82-e1582228043254.jpeg — Evita Peron’s entombed in her family monument.

We saw the tomb of Rufina Cambaceres, a girl who died twice. Entombed on her 19th birthday in 1902, she awoke inside her casket and clawed the top open. Unfortunately she then died of a heart attack before she could be rescued.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 836BB255-7550-42EC-959F-6DB7A9667380-e1582229011863.jpeg — Rufina Cambaceres, the girl who died twice

One last monument is said to be the most monumental sepulcher:

Dorrego Ortiz Basualdo’s most monumental sepulcher complete with chandelier — Recoleta’s most monumental sepulcher, complete with chandelier, belongs to landowner Dorrego Ortiz Basualdo

After the Cemetary, we walked to the Eva Peron museum. We did not take any pictures here. As we walked through, there were descriptions in English. While Eva was really a young woman when married to the president, Juan Peron, she championed women’s right to vote, labor rights, and ran a charitable foundation. Women in Argentina did not get the right to vote until 1961. Previous First Ladies of Argentina did not speak out, but stayed in the background. Dave and I thought her popularity was similar to that of a Princess Diana or Jackie Kennedy. Eva toured Europe and South America promoting Argentina and even signing trade agreements on behalf of Argentina. She was born in poverty, and lost her father at a young age, leaving her mother as the sole breadwinner with 5 children. While her political base was the blue collar worker, Eva seemed to enjoy the good life. Many of her dresses were displayed, and it was documented that she liked the high priced designers. No pictures here, but Dave and I plan to read up more on Argentina politics of the day. It is curious why her body was stolen, and why she was not buried with Juan Peron. Juan had 3 wives – Eva was #2.

Here is our adventure of the day…..After visiting the museum, we walked back to the hotel, collected our bags, and the hotel staff called a cab for us. This was about 1:15pm. The cab arrives, and does not speak English. He keeps babbling to us in Spanish and we keep telling him we don’t speak Spanish. I had the address of the port, and showed it to him. He seemed to understand where we were going, but Dave and I were kinda eyeballing each other. We drive for awhile, and we see some large ships in the distance, so we figure we’re going the right way. Then he starts slowing down, and gradually pulls over to the curb. He is babbling in Spanish and we have no clue what is going on. Dave says to me, “this is not good”. The driver gets out of the cab, and so do we. Finally we figure out that he has run out of gas!!!!!!! He’s gesturing that the entrance is not too far away, but we’re not seeing it. He is pointing to the left and we see our ship to the right. The driver takes my bags and starts pulling them down the street and Dave and I are following….I’m sure our little parade looked comical. We go about a block, and I happen to see another taxi, so I yelled at our first driver to stop, and the second guy figures out what is going on and said he’d take us. So we get everything into the second cab, who drives about another block or two, turns and enters the port. So, yes, we could have walked from where he ran out of gas, but we didn’t know. We were just glad it all worked out. Even though it was a short ride, Dave gave the 2nd driver a nice tip.

We boarded the ship, and spent most of the afternoon relaxing. We have signed up to go to a tango show in the evening with 6 other people I met on Cruise Critic message boards. Buenos Aires is a late night town, and our driver is going to pick us up between 8:00pm and 8:30pm. The driver arrives in a mini van, and proceeds to stop at 3 other hotels picking up more people for the tango show. The tango show is at a restaurant, Cafe de Las Angelos. It is a fairly large theater, and we are seated to the far right of the stage, but could see pretty well. First we are served dinner (it is probably 10:00pm by this time). We have a choice of appetizer, main, and a dessert. Dave had empanadas, trout and chocolate mousse. I had empanadas, steak and a dessert with berries and cream. Most at our table were drinking red wine, and they just left us bottles, so pretty free flowing. Dave and one other person drank white wine, and did not get as frequent refills. The dinner was very good. After dinner, the show began, and while we could not understand the singing, because it was in Spanish, the dancing was really good. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the show. The show ended about 12:15am, so we got back to the ship pretty late.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is A8D9E004-0F7A-47FB-A420-6EC191840CB8.jpeg — Our dinner companions from the ship: Heather and Grant from Canada, Jane & Dave, Mike and Margaret from England, and Mike and Joanne from Ohio.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 7F9DC2CB-3664-43FB-ACB4-4B481FF1C1DF.jpeg — Tango!

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 3CEC82DB-AB77-4219-A1D5-71F77E80C343.jpeg — Tango!

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 033CE632-8FBF-42AE-804F-EFE5FD2840F2.jpeg — Tango!

The tango can be very sultry, but also elegant and beautiful. We all commented that the dancers were very flexible and learning the tango is not possible for us mature people!

February 21 – 22, 2020 – Buenos Aires to Montevideo, Uruguay

Friday: After getting in late from our tango show last night, we were not moving fast this morning. The ship is spending the day in port, and leaving Buenos Aires at 5:30pm.

We have done a lot of sightseeing already in Buenos Aires, and today we are getting off the ship to get a little exercise, and do some shopping. Dave likes the little packages of Kleenex, so we will look for those. I am a bit frustrated because we have the beverage package but it does not include canned soda, only fountain soda, and the only diet and caffeine free sodas are in cans 😢. We will look for some Sprite Zero or diet 7-up. Our last item is a strap for my sunglasses because the one I brought from home, broke. We walk off the ship and towards the city and we quickly found all the items on our shopping list! We decided to walk a little more and found some parks. The first thing we see is a tall monument, and we check it out.

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This monument was given to Buenos Aires by its British citizens. Construction started in 1910 and the opening ceremony was in 1916. We paid $100 pesos (~$1.62) each to ride the elevator to the top. There is a walkway just under the clock and you can walk all the way around. There was a guide, but he was speaking Spanish. There are nice views from the top and the east view looks down on another park that holds the grave of an Argentinian unknown soldier. There were 2 military people guarding the grave, but unlike the US unknown soldier, the Argentian guards stood watch. We wandered around the park a little more, and then headed back to the ship. We passed a wine store, and of course we stopped in and bought a bottle. I guess we smuggled it onboard because security is done by the port and not the ship.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 257C82FE-B3D3-4AB8-A09F-ED6BE45C2FA1.jpeg — Tomb of Unknown Soldier

We went to our elite happy hour, then dinner. We spent the evening listening to Sammy in Crooner’s, the martini bar. He was playing the piano and singing songs from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. We’ll probably go back, as he was very entertaining.

Saturday: we are in Montevideo, Uruguay. Uruguay seems to be a liberal country when compared to its neighbors of Brazil and Argentina. We went on a “free” walking tour….the guide is paid in whatever tip you want to give him. It was a bit difficult to understand some of his commentary, and many of the people he mentioned, we were unfamiliar with, besides having long Spanish names. So I did not learn much about the history of Uruguay. Some of the tidbits I gleaned were that unlike Brazil and Argentina, Uruguay’s national religion is not catholic, and probably 50% of the population is atheist or agnostic. Part of the reason for this is they did not limit immigration. There were immigrants from Africa, and those that were not sold off to slavery stayed in Uruguay. According to our guide, many of the people of Uruguay have African blood. However, we observed very, very few black people. Uruguay was the first country in South America to sever relations between church and state, the first South American country to give women the right to vote, to permit same sex marriage, to legalize marijuana, and to enact a generous social welfare program. Polls consistently rate Montevideo as having the highest quality of life of any city in South America. According to our guide, Uruguay consumes more beef per capita than any other country, and is also #1 in “mate” consumption. Mate is a caffeinated hot drink that of course I had to try. I saw it being consumed in Iguazu, Buenos Aires and Montevideo, but did not know how to get some. Basically is is a cup filled with special herbs with hot water poured over the herbs to seep like tea. Then you drink it through a special straw that filters out the herbs. Our walking guide referred me to a coffee house where I could finally try it. Mate is very common among residents of the South American countries we have visited, but rare to find on a menu.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 48363AF2-4D97-404D-A58D-29541DCE5ADF-e1582400073721.jpeg — Drinking Mate…wine belongs to you know who

We did not find Montevideo as nice as Buenos Aires, but we had a short visit, and were mostly in the old part of town. We wanted to eat lunch here because they supposedly have great beef. There is an old building near the harbor that has 14 restaurants under one roof, where beef is cooked over large fires. It looks like an old train station. It is smoky inside, because of the beef being cooked over open wood fires. We picked one and ordered lunch. We ordered rib eye and told the waitress we would share. The rib eye was so huge, it could have fed at least 4 people. Unfortunately, we found the beef very tough and chewy. Another couple from the ship sat next to us (they had a different waiter), supposedly ordered the same dish, and said their beef was very tender and delicious. To add insult to injury, we ordered a bottle of wine, but Dave liked the Argentine wines much better.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is F6774792-7F84-45F5-95E1-65561B4FF578.jpeg — Grocery store we passed while walking in Montevideo

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is A7F872D0-603C-4ECC-91EA-EB182865749B-e1582400249109.jpeg — Building just off Independence Plaza, designed by famous architect, whose name we missed ☹️

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 85C9D348-87D0-47B3-836F-CD3DCB90E932.jpeg — Montevideo’s opera house, which our guide said also has great acoustics. We did not go inside.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is DB1EE9D5-7DB6-45C4-8A30-720C81C30E91-e1582400436635.jpeg — Cathedral in Montevideo

After dinner tonight we’ll probably go see Sammy in Crooners again. He is going to do a couple of music trivia games tonight. Dave will be good at that – not me. Tomorrow is a sea day, so we will rest. We have been walking a lot, getting between 15,000 and 20,000 steps a day. It will be nice to relax.

February 23 – 24, 2020 – Sea Day and Puerto Madryn

Sunday -A sea day! We did not do too much…mostly read, walked the ship and basically rested. Late morning we attended a lecture on Port Madryn. Our cruise critic meet & greet was held in the late afternoon. Several of the ships officers attended and introduced themselves. It is a formal night so after the meet & greet we changed into our dressier attire, not formal by any means. People wear everything from formal tuxedos and gowns, suits and dresses, t-shirts with a tuxedo design, jeans, pants and ladies pantsuits…..just about anything goes. We ran into the people we met on the Montevideo walking tour, Gail & Gary, that ate steak next to us ….they had the good steak. We sat down and chatted with them for awhile. They’re from Wisconsin, but spend several months a year in the Villages, in Florida. He plays softball so they schedule their vacations around his softball season. He is missing 6 games this trip – made me think of our Stillwater friend, Mikey. We have changed our dining from anytime to fixed. When we went to anytime dinner, there was a huge line and a long wait. After awhile, a couple of waiters came and got us and took us to the set time dining room, where there were several open tables. The late fixed dining time is 7:30pm which works well for us because we can go to the Elite happy hour which is from 4:30 to 6:30pm. We can get a drink and a little snack to hold us over until dinner time. We went to the show which was a production show. Generally we like the production shows, but we did not like this one. The name of the show was Silk, and it was about a man who saved a bird from hunters. The bird later shows up at his house in human form, so he doesn’t realize it is the bird. The bird uses its feathers to weave fabric, but the man doesn’t know the bird is using its feathers. There is music, and snippets of songs we knew. The acoustics were bad, so it took us awhile to recognize the songs. Anyway, we were glad when the show was over.

Monday – Puerto Madryn is in Patagonia. We looked very hard to find something interesting in this port. There was one full day shore excursion, but it included 1.5 hours each way riding on a bus, which just doesn’t appeal to us. So we decide to just get off the boat and see what we could find. It is not very nice in the morning…temps in the 50’s, strong winds, and rain threatening. There are huge tides, so the ship is docked at the end of a long pier, 2 km per our port lecturer yesterday.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is EEAEBAF2-0BB5-4BDD-B00B-9A44EEE367E8-e1582573880740.jpeg — Tide is going out

There are shuttle buses to take us from the ship to the shore. Dave has a map, showing a mall, so we head there first. A couple is doing a free tango show which we stop and watch.

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The mall is pretty small, but has maybe 20 stores on 2 floors. The 3rd floor is a restaurant, and a large play area for kids and teens. I saw a historical museum shown on the map, so we walk there – but it is closed. The port lecturer had mentioned a city tour bus, so we set off to to find it. It was on a train – bus vehicle and did a 1.25 hour tour for $15USD per person. It actually was pretty good. A guide gave descriptions in English and Spanish. English was her second language, so she was a bit hard to understand.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is ED1652BB-A212-46CE-8C39-7CAFD48D8D29.jpeg

Puerto Madryn was settled by Welsh people who arrived in 1865. Knowing this, I wonder why there is not more English spoken here. The indigenous people, Tehuelche Indians were already in the area and helped the Welsh survive. The Welsh people were very hardworking. In 1972, a factory producing aluminum was built outside the city. This plant, which covers a very large area, operates 24 hours a day. The city has grown out ward all the way to the plant, and developed since the plant opened. The four things that contribute to Puerto Madryn economy are Aluminum, tourism, fishing and rock (which is cut and used in buildings).

From March to December, Puerto Madryn is a great place for whale watching. There is a 2 mile long wide pedestrian walkway along the bay where in whale watching season, you can actually see the whales cavorting in the water. There are also sea lions and dolphins. We are not visiting during the wildlife viewing season, so we do not get to see the whales, sea lions or dolphins. During the wildlife viewing season, you can snorkel with the sea lions. Puerto Madryn is also well known for diving. There are several structures out in the bay that our guide said were diving platforms. Our guide pointed out trees along the walkway that had been carved. After our city tour, we walked back and took photos of some of the carved trees.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 94B415C5-59EC-4954-B0DC-EAD72A2DB88C-e1582573796973.jpeg — Serpents?

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This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 7C5E5BD8-C91C-4108-AD39-A337401FD4FE-e1582573857212.jpeg

Besides the historical museum being closed, we noticed a lot of the stores were closed. Our city tour guide mentioned that today was a holiday. We never found out what holiday, but it did explain why we were not finding much to do. The city tour saved our day.

Gasoline – in Buenos Aires we saw stations advertising gas for 53.79 pesos per liter. I calculated that to be about $3.00 per gallon. Not much different that what we pay in the US. In Puerto Madryn I saw a station adverting it’s gas prices. I don’t know what Infinia is as compared to super, but took this photo of their prices.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is B75EE96D-2C63-4671-BA79-7B1974B7FDE5-e1582573901843.jpeg — Looks like super is cheaper than regular?

By the time we finished our city tour, about 2:00PM, the weather had changed for the better. We were stripping off our jackets and sweatshirts. The sun came out!

February 25 – 26, 2020 – Sea Day and Falkland Islands

Tuesday – Another sea day, but a good thing. Dave has a bad cold, so we are not mixing socially, much. We did go to the port lecture of The Falkland Islands. Penguins are the highlight. I am a little amazed at how crazy people are over penguins!

Wednesday – Falkland Islands consist of over 700 islands, but only a few, less than 10, are occupied. While Argentina claims Falkland Islands, they are actually a British possession. In 1982, there was a war between Argentina and the British. Argentina invaded the capital, Stanley. Britain defended its possession. These are approximate numbers, but 3 civilians, 300 British and 800 Argentinian’s died in the war. The civilians were 3 ladies who were in close proximity to a British ordinance that unexpectedly exploded…so, friendly fire. There is still animosity between Argentina and Falkland residents. Falkland is pretty isolated, with few flights, like less than 1 per day. However, they do not fly through any airport in Argentina. They connect through Santiago, Chile or Cape Verde Islands. Our shipboard newspaper asked us to not wear any Argentinian logo wear while in port.

Fortunately, no rain in the forecast, but it is windy with 12 – 22 mph winds forecast throughout the day. The temperature ranges from 48 to 52 degrees. We are fortunate that we are going to make this port. Supposedly it is only a 50:50 chance. The Falklands rarely receive snow anymore. We take tenders to get from the ship to Stanley. It is about a 15 minute ride, and I notice a dolphin riding the wave right next to the tender. As we exit the tender, there is a sea lion sunning itself at the end of the dock. All the activity does not seem to bother him in the least. Another one is swimming just off the dock.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 46430CC9-C47C-4631-BBAB-099B1AA44277-e1582808193649.jpeg — Sea lion sunning himself

We had reserved a full day tour to Volunteer Point to see …. Penguins! We reserved with a Patrick Watts. Not only was he apparently a war hero during the Falklands war, he runs tours in 4×4’s to Volunteer Point. This trip is something that I’m glad we did, but would never do it again.

Patrick Watts has four 4×4 vehicles, and there is a driver and 6 passengers. Our driver was Toni, and she was great. She is a 6th generation Falklander (I’m assuming that’s the correct term), her and her husband own 16000 acres with 5000 sheep, which is considered small. She and her husband drive for Patrick. She is very knowledgeable about the Falklands and answers all our questions. They use generators and solar panels for power. Children are schooled at home by traveling teachers and computers until age 9. Then they are boarded in Stanley through high school. If their grades are good enough, the Falklands pays their tuition, room and board, and a small stipend to attend university in London, England. Currently Toni’s son, who married an English girl and they’re expecting their first child, lives in England. Toni’s daughter, who is single, also lives in England. Toni’s daughter would like to get married and come back to Falkland to run the farm, but she’s in her early 30’s and it will be unlikely for her to find a husband in England who would be willing to move to the Falklands.

As we drive, we are first on a paved road. We see the frame of a crashed helicopter left over from the 1982 war.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is A7C12F28-0675-41D2-81A5-C09E0A838958.jpeg — Hopefully you can make out the remains of a helicopter.

Then we turn onto a gravel road, and drive until we reach a gate. It is about 1 hour and 15 minutes since we left the port city of Stanley. This stop is a rest stop. The person that owns this land likes to bake, and has a “honor” bakery cabinet. You can take one of the baked goods and leave a payment in whatever amount you feel the bakery item is worth. There were brownies, muffins, scones and various bars. They all looked good and I took 4 different ones (The chocolate brownie was for Dave). They also had bathrooms here. The person that owns this land, the Johnson farm, has 26,000 acres if I remember right, and is paid for people to cross the farm. From here on, it there is no road. In some places we can see a path, but it is basically off the road, over rocky, hilly land. It takes us another hour and 15 minutes to get to the penguins.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 7760FB1F-48D2-4863-B68E-341698B88A60.jpeg — We are in the back seat and this is a photo of the “path” we are taking.

It is hard to describe how bumpy this path was. Toni says she is not a religious person, but note the cross hanging from her mirror…. We literally bumped and rocked for 1.25 hours. She did drive very slow to make the best of it.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 4BAEAEA6-27E1-4514-861F-421AA8C50A72-e1582818570310.jpeg — Penguins! And a few people…Kings in the background and Magellanic in the foreground

When we finally are approaching Volunteer Point, the location of all the penguins, Toni points to a house and indicates her brother and sister in law are rangers for the penguins. They are allowed to live in this house, but they do not own it. We have to dip our feet in disinfectant. The penguins are in the process of hatching their eggs, or caring for their newly hatched babies. The eggs or infants are balanced on their feet, and covered by their stomach. Both male and female tend to the eggs and young. There is a large area sectioned off by white stones and we are told we cannot go into that area. There are penguins all over, and a large group inside the stones that are tending to their eggs and/or young. These are the King Penguins.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 554FBCD1-956A-4577-B35C-BCC985E4E2F9.jpeg — You can see the bright yellow markings on these King Penguins.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 1F5159F1-DACC-41A2-8CFC-D7B1210D645C-e1582808052633.jpeg — Everything you want to know about King Penguins

We also see Magellanic and Gentoo Penguins. The Gentoo penguins look similar to the Kings, but are smaller and not as colorful. The King Penguins have a beautiful yellow marking on their face. We saw some Gentoo penguins laying on their tummy and I asked one of the rangers about them. She said they were young, waiting for their parents to return with food. They lay on their tummy, exposing their black backside to the sun for warmth.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 77705008-5BC2-4360-A8DC-26B7AE66C309-e1582807930373.jpeg — Everything you want to know about Gentoo Penguins

The Magellanic Penguins look a little different and have a white marking around their eye. They dig burrows in the sand where they hatch and raise their young.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is C2D3AED5-2EFA-47A4-958D-97D926289704-e1582808305916.jpeg — Everything you want to know about Magellanic Penguins

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is EFC51261-A257-435D-B68F-DBD24538C0DB.jpeg — The baby is hard to see, but it’s in there.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 3AB45B9F-D5DB-4D07-8F6F-FCD837A3B570.jpeg — Young Magellanic Penguins shedding their fuzzy baby covering

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 38BB9862-9509-4294-83E3-FFD7C88CB7AB.jpeg — King Penguins watching for dinner

We get to do that wonderful 2.5 hour drive back to town. It was such a relief when we got back to the gate at the entrance to the Johnson farm because it was now a gravel road. Toni is a very good driver, so she is usually the lead, and the other 11 4×4’s follow her. On the way back, one of the drivers, Shawn, likes a different path, so Shawn and 4 other vehicles take a slightly different path. All the drivers were yucking it up on the radio when Shawn got stuck. It wasn’t serious, but he was hung up for a few minutes. Toni said they purposely drive in convoys in case one of the drivers has a problem.

Toni gives us a little driving tour of Stanley. It takes like 5 minutes, because it is a small town. The entire population of all the Falkland Islands is less than 3000 people. One person collects Whale skeletons, one of which Toni says came from their farm. I think it was the Killer Whale.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 97A7001C-8727-42E4-9BD5-2CBAB9AD2900-e1582807879821.jpeg — Killer Whale skull

She also drove by the Governors house.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is F5A924DD-B8D4-40CE-BFAA-03F480E2A2A1.jpeg — Falkland Island Governor’s home

She drove by the whalebone arch, but did not stop. She takes us back to the port and our tour is finished. It is about 4:30pm, and the last tender back to the ship was 5:00, but there is a very long line awaiting the tenders, which strings back near the whalebone arch. So we walked back and got our picture.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 34059563-DFE8-4CC3-9861-4BDC46A8ED20.jpeg — Whalebone Arch

We got in line, and it started to rain. Fortunately the rain held off until the very end of the day. Our coats were waterproof, so the rain wasn’t too bad. We had to wait about 1/2 hour in the rain before we finally got our tender back to the ship.

We hurried and went to our elite happy hour, and had some shrimp and drinks. I tried a new drink that was like a Margarita, but with muddled jalapeños peppers. It was very good, but very filling.

Tomorrow is a sea day, with a couple of port lectures, but mostly R&R, especially with Dave recovering from his cold.

February 27 – 28, 2020 – Sea Day and Ushuaia

Thursday – Sea Day – Dave is feeling better, so we are more active today. He says he has a chest cold, but whatever he has must not be contagious because I haven’t gotten sick….yet!

We went to 2 port lectures today. The weather is very rough. According to the captain, the waves are 12 to 15 feet high, and winds are 30 mph. Unfortunately, we were unable to sail around Cape Horn. We got within 25 miles and the weather kept deteriorating, so the captain decided it was not safe. Apparently there is a ranger on Cape Horn and he said the winds were 100 knots! When we look out the windows, the waves are huge. Most of the decks are restricted and we can’t go outside. We can get outside on the top deck, but it’s too cold to venture out there. What is really strange, is the ship is not rocking and rolling that much. As the captains makes the turn toward Beaver Channel, he says the ship will list 5 degrees. We felt it when he made the turn, but it was not dramatic. I believe there are only 3 passages from the Atlantic to the Pacific around South America, other than the Panama Canal of course! The Beaver Channel, Drakes Passage and the Strait of Magellan. Our ship is taking the Beaver Channel towards Ushuaia which will be our last Argentinian port.

After dinner we went to the theater to hear a pianist, Reuel. He had a good show, but not as good as a Brooks Aerhen, who we’ e heard on previous cruises.

Friday – Ushuaia – We have a ship excursion today, Drive to the End of the World. It is very cold, about 40 degrees, and 30mph winds….and its summer here! Our excursion is a bus ride to the Argentinian National Park, “Parque National Tierra Del Fuego”. The land of fires refers to the bon fires the indigenous people burned. The scenery is beautiful. We stopped at the end of the Pan-American Highway. We look cold, don’t we? Actually I am very happy with my new coat. It shed rain when we got rained on, and has kept me warm so far this trip.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is CA9511CD-FE02-4EF7-9AAC-41183C80F6A3.jpeg — End of Pan-American Highway

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 3E9708B8-5958-4545-BBE7-50F18880C456.jpeg — 11071.59 miles to Alaska!

We made several stops at different lakes, and the scenery was just beautiful.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 32D2C156-A71B-49BE-9CA1-2E6150FCBC7A.jpeg

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 8640D54B-593A-4BB7-8925-0EA7CE7B431A.jpeg

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 0A49EBA9-9296-4059-AED1-FDD47D77EF54-e1582911312864.jpeg

We spotted some black neck swans.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is E7D5C0B1-B0A4-43C5-ADCF-9DE5C58D2737-e1582911292917.jpeg — Black neck swans

Our guide told us they do not have any reptiles, and few mammals. One native mammal, guanaco, looks like a llama with short hair and is in the camel family. They also have fox, rabbits and beaver. The beaver and rabbits are not native. The beaver were brought here in an attempt to raise beaver for their fur. When the endeavor was unsuccessful, they released the beaver into the forest and with no natural predators, the beaver have multiplied unchecked. Unfortunately, we did not see any of the mammals. But we did see horses outside the visitor center!

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 8E044447-83A9-4E7F-B868-A51078E2C1F3-e1582914541353.jpeg

February 29, 2020 – Punta Arenas

We have an all day ships excursion for the Punta Arenas port. It is a tender port, so we have to take a tender to get to the mainland. Once we are on land, it is warmer, (not warm, just warmer) but very, very windy. our tour bus arrived about 15 minutes late. Our guide for the day, Diego, keeps saying a few more minutes, but it seems like we are waiting a very long time. As is typical, English is Diego’s second language, so it is sometimes hard to understand him.

Our first stop is the Salesian’s Museum. I am a little disappointed in Diego because he just says, “you have 40 minutes here” with no direction. There is some English explanations, but most in Spanish, so his explanations would have been very helpful. The museum is ran by Italian missionaries, the Salesian’s. They traveled through the region and collected artifacts made by indigenous tribes, which is what is displayed. Much of the displays are flora and fauna of the region. Many stuffed animals and birds. There is a little description about taxidermy. One of the animals I was hoping to see was a guanaco, which I finally saw, but he was stuffed.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 69064C28-4370-4AD8-AFC3-E435B45D8954-e1583075713618.jpeg — Guanaco

The indigenous people were hardy people. They did not wear clothes, and it is very cold here. They lived and traveled in their canoes and sometimes huts. They actually built fires in their canoes to keep warm. Apparently they build the fires on a clay and stone platform to keep from burning up the canoe. I was fascinated by the canoe history.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is A099D674-3E34-40B4-B2EC-B62E86B86619-e1583075668547.jpeg

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is F7FDB045-A866-4EE4-8608-1829452D5D77-e1583075646610.jpeg

The Italian missionaries relocated many of the indigenous people to an island where many subsequently died, many from disease. I imagine the missionaries were trying to help them, and save them from the hard life they were living, but the change in lifestyle and exposure to disease killed them.

The museum also had displays showing the original settlers were looking for gold, then mined coal, and then oil.

Our next stop was a Cemetery, which is suppose to be the most beautiful Cemetery in the world, which is probably contested where there are other beautiful cemeteries. There are rows and rows of cypress trees, which according to Diego, are planted in all cemeteries because the smell of the cypress keeps rats away. Diego takes us to the grave of an aboriginal who died about 1910. His body was found next to a dead Spanish soldier, and it is presumed they killed one another. This may have been one of the last, if not the last, of the aborigines. The government decided to bury him in this Cemetary. People come to his grave and rub his hand, asking his intercession with God, for miracles. There are many plaques, indicating gratitude for his intercession.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 8BDADC0D-EAC6-48DB-9229-9BAF11D1AE5B-e1583075611868.jpeg

The next important grave that we visit is José Menendez, a Spanish businessman. He started many businesses and industries in Punta Arenas, many of which are still in existence today. However, it is claimed that he killed off many of the native people. He is said to have offered a reward when the hands of the natives were brought to him. Thus, his monument is covered in red paint and red hand prints, symbolic of protesting his actions.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 20901685-2262-407E-AE94-BE65387839CF-e1583075627375.jpeg — Menendez tomb

Then it is time for lunch (😳), but our lunch break is a very good experience. We are given a choice of a pisco sour (regional beverage), red wine or orange juice as a welcome drink, and an empanada. Lunch is a buffet where we are offered lamb and/or chicken, and a buffet of side dishes. The meat is cooked over an open fire.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is FA408862-8AF5-4041-AB8F-E00164B5FFC1-e1583075576304.jpeg — Fire where our meat was cooked

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is E8B89163-B6AB-4E05-8C3A-FF0BAAC6D562.jpeg — Buffet of side dishes.

Beverages, including red and white wine were pretty free flowing. We had coffee and a rhubarb compote for dessert. Lunch was very good!

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 2BAC0CF0-CB6E-46CD-BC2A-52B8A6DDA49F-e1583075592187.jpeg — The food was great and plentiful!

After lunch, the owner took us for a walk where he had llamas and sheep in a pasture behind the lunch building. They animals knew him very well and would come up to the fence for treats he would give them.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is D1B60632-AA55-4A4E-94C6-6EB652AA8E12-e1583075557812.jpeg — Llama nuzzle

This acreage was in a beautiful setting overlooking the Straight of Magellan. We continued walking to a shed, where there were some old cars, a few sheep, and a stage area. We were given a demonstration on shearing a sheep.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 0BDFF8A7-D467-4F79-B3C1-E0544E793032-e1583075537707.jpeg — There is a live sheep in there! You can see at least one leg sticking out.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 84C00366-A88D-4D3A-98DF-CAE5F27F8EEE.jpeg — Wool from the shorn sheep. We could feel the lanolin!

Obviously, I enjoyed our lunch break. The owner has a huge farm elsewhere with several thousand sheep. He had a small museum, and this farm goes back generations. His ancestor was originally from Scotland with experience raising sheep.

Our next stop was Fort Bulnes, which is a reconstruction. Originally founded in 1843, it was the first Chilean settlement of the territory since the country’s independence only a couple of decades earlier and it became the origin of the city of Punta Arenas. The Chilean President at the time wanted to build the fort to discourage claims from other nations. The structures were built using sod bricks, and some log buildings. Dave had a strong allergic reaction when he entered the building made of logs! While the intent was to establish a town here, the harsh weather kept them from attracting a stable population, and as a result, after 6 years, the fort was abandoned and destroyed. Instead, the government founded the city of Punta Arenas.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is CCD284AD-B773-426C-B617-354235BF4416-e1583079550922.jpeg — Sod bricks used for walls

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 31FE2DB9-EE18-4BE0-99EE-B4CE8914303F.jpeg — Cannons used to say hello ( per our guide Diego)

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 79B054BD-D3C3-451B-8512-965723250BE4-e1583080870850.jpeg — Strait of Magellan from Fort Bulnes site

So sailing into Ushuaia, we were in the Beagle channel (named after the HMS Beagle ship), and today we are in the Stait of Magellan.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is AEBAFEAC-42DC-4613-A472-882B76F23C6C.jpeg — Unusual trees that Diego said only grow 1cm a year (Did not catch the name)

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 66E9F896-6CE6-4B92-9756-8634AF1D4B57.jpeg — Close up of branches on unusual tree

After visiting the fort, we drove back to Punta Arenas to visit the main square, Plaza Munoz Gamerez. Munoz was a Chilean naval officer killed during an uprising. You are suppose to rub the aborigine’s big toe, also part of the statue, which means you’ll return to Punta Arenas. There were lots of young people hanging around the square. Diego did talk about the protests a little. The protests are for free education, better health care and pensions. Many windows are boarded up, or have bars on them. Rocks were thrown threw the windows of the bank. There is a lot of graffiti.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is CFFBDDDF-07AB-41F2-A904-4A8F65A6502E-e1583080510842.jpeg

Sara Braun was a famous citizen of Punta Arenas. She was born in Latvia, but her family migrated because of persecution of the Jews, eventually ending up in Punta Arenas. As a young woman of 24, she married José Nogueira, 42, a Portuguese shipping magnate. The two worked together to build a business empire. He died 6 years later and she took over the business, becoming the first woman to run a business in the area. With the help of her brother, through family ties and astute trading, they controlled the sheep production in the region and influenced the development of Southern Chile. She was involved in many charitable endeavors and is remembered for her charitable works.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is AC9C0E32-7B7D-42E1-B572-DD577376B432.jpeg — Sara Braun mansion

While Diego was not our best guide, I liked this port because I felt like I learned more about the history of this region.

March 1 – 3, 2020 – (2) Sea Days and Puerto Montt

Update: I got an email from my cousin Sandie that the unusual tree we saw at Fort Bulnes was a “Monkey Puzzle Tree”, so named because monkeys couldn’t climb it. Here is the link she sent me: https://owlcation.com/stem/The-Monkey-Puzzle-Tree-An-Ancient-and-Endangered-Plant

Sunday and Monday were sea days, and we went to port lectures, entertainment in the theaters, and a sing-a-long in the martini bar. We just got the last few minutes of a presentation on navigation. One person asked why we didn’t go around Cape Horn. The answer was that there is a person who lives on Cape Horn and communicates with ships. That person indicated the winds were 100 knots, which converts to 115mph. It sounded like that person also has the authority to tell ships not to sail around the Horn. However, with winds that strong, the Captain of our boat, the Coral Princess, was not going to risk the lives of the passengers, or damage to the ship with winds that strong.

We had scenic cruising Monday afternoon as we sailed to see the Amalia Glacier, which is a tidewater glacier. According to Wikipedia, “The tidewater glacier cycle is the typically centuries-long behavior of tidewater glaciers that consists of recurring periods of advance alternating with rapid retreat and punctuated by periods of stability. During portions of its cycle, a tidewater glacier is relatively insensitive to climate change.” To get to this glacier, the ship had to sail into a “dead end” channel, and the glacier was at the end. We were told the captain would do a 360 degree turn so everyone would get a good look, but he only did a 180 degree turn, and we were on the wrong side (port) of the ship. We ran out the back door, and got some good pictures…well, considering it was foggy and raining ☹️. It was interesting because as we got closer to the glacier, there were more and more chunks of ice in the water, and the water actually looked “slushy” on top. I use my google maps frequently when I’m on a cruise to get a better look at where I’m at. It was weird, because google maps showed we were on the middle of land!

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is B255C6B6-9BEB-438B-B45C-35E68FF508E7-473x1024.jpeg — Red arrow points to glacier, blue dot shows us sailing on land !?!?!

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is CBFDD9AD-4224-4EDE-B0E4-FC64D39548A1.jpeg — Ice floes, slushy water and fog covered glacier

Tuesday – Dave is still coughing, a lot, so he is going to stay onboard the ship and I’m going to go on the Puerto Montt tour by myself. We had booked a tour with an independent company, GV Tours. We also booked a transfer from the ship to our hotel in Santiago (with a vineyard tour) with the same company. They have been frustrating because in booking, they say they’ll get back to you with meet up details 30 days before, but they didn’t. I finally heard from them after multiple emails, Facebook messages and WhatsApp. So, I want to see how this first tour with them goes. We have 13 people on a mini bus, and our guide is Val. She is young and nice, but really doesn’t do much “guiding”. As she is talking while we are riding in the bus, I can’t hear her as I’m in the back of the bus. I hear other people around me saying they can’t hear her either, so it’s not just me. But I did learn a few things about this area, mostly from our port lecturer.

Puerto Montt was settled in 1853 , mostly by Germans. However, today, there are very few Germans in Puerto Montt. It is a city of about 250,000 people, and according to our guide, it is the capital of the region. This region of Chile has active volcanos, which is the big draw. Puerto Montt sits on the second largest lake in Chile, Lago Llanquihue, with an area of 330 square miles. In 1960, a 9.6 or 9.8 earthquake destroyed most of the city. Per Val, after the earthquake, many countries came and introduced their industries. Eventually the city recovered and was rebuilt.

Apparently there is not much to see in Puerto Montt, as we head to another city, Puerto Vargas. Puerto Vargas also sits on Lago Llanquihue. we are suppose to have a view of one of the volcanos, but it is overcast and we can’t see much of anything. Val gives us 30 minutes to wander this town, but doesn’t tell us where to go. I asked her if there was a pharmacy, as I thought maybe I could get some medicine for Dave. She offered to walk with me and was very helpful with the pharmacist, translating for me. I got some cough medicine for Dave.

Val walked with me back to the lake area and I asked her about the protests. Her eyes got wide and she said it was very bad on Sunday. Women are protesting for equal rights and men were told to stay away. Our port lecturer had said protests were planned until March 11, and are worst on Sundays. I think because of our itinerary, we will be missing Chile on Sundays which will be a good thing. Sunday the 8th, we’ll be in Peru, and the following Sunday, the 15th, we’ll be boarding Celebrity Eclipse for the last leg of our trip.

Puerto Vargas is known as the rose city, and there are roses planted everywhere. I also saw blue hydrangeas and other flowers, but roses and rose bushes were prominent.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is DB264802-B400-4889-84C4-BFD8A05324AF-e1583333839985.jpeg — There were rose bushes all along the roads in Puerto Varas

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 37FC7DC4-B946-4934-8FB8-6874E2A905AE-e1583333728952.jpeg — One of my favorite flowers

On our way to Petrohue Waterfalls, we made a quick roadside stop. The sun had lifted some of the fog, and we had a beautiful view of Osorno Volcano.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is F8C9466B-F5D8-4351-ABB2-3E328AFDB511.jpeg — First of many views of Osorno Volcano.

We also had an opportunity to feed and pet llamas….which I did not do.

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Then it was on to Petrohue Waterfalls. After seeing Iguazu Falls, this was not impressive. But, we saw remains of lava flow and views of the Osorno Volcano. The Osorno volcano last erupted in 1869. We walked a path to see the waterfalls and listen to the rushing water.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 7C68A865-C623-4D9F-BB63-62F000EC3A1D-e1583334329142.jpeg — Lava flow remains from years ago

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 8E949336-6DB7-4BF0-A1E4-D68FAC02BE0D-e1583334432482.jpeg — Petrohue Waterfalls

After visiting Petrohue Waterfalls, we went back to Puerto Varas. We had better views as the fog had somewhat lifted, although there were still low hanging clouds. We went to a small park along the lake and had a snack of red wine (or white wine or water) and an empanada. There was a statue of a woman in this park, and Val told us her legend.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 4F20003D-10A6-419C-899F-856B25DFFFFB-e1583334956511.jpeg

The legend is that she and the mayor fell in love, but another man was jealous and started causing trouble. So they took the man and put him in the Osorno Volcano, but then the volcano started erupting. The city forefathers contacted a witch who told them the girl had to die, so they killed the girl and a bird took her heart to the Osorno Volcano. Then snow appeared on the volcano and it stopped erupting.

After our snack, we headed to Frutillar, another city, on the bus. This town was also settled with German immigrants, and they have a museum here to recognize that heritage. We did not go in the museum but had an opportunity to take pictures (?). We drove a little further to the “Theatre of the Lake”, where we were given an hour to explore on our own. Again, it would have been nice to have some guidance. I walked along the lake and the views of the volcano were phenomenal. Since I’m not a photographer, and my photographer was not with me, I could not capture the beauty, but I tried. It looked like the volcano was rising up out of the lake through a layer of clouds.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 14ECE448-7F85-4013-A62D-2703AAE66094-e1583335730312.jpeg — The picture can not capture the beauty ☹️

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 76D048C7-19AE-4E6C-9785-666C9D98E2EC-e1583335856203.jpeg — Around the lake were musical symbols. I liked this one because of the weathervane on top.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is D06557EA-DADD-41C6-9AD1-A498EDD6CE1C-e1583335991670.jpeg — I had to take a selfie with the volcano. Don’t I look lonely without my travel buddy?

This was our last port on the Coral Princess. I would say we were a bit disappointed. It just was not as interesting as we thought it would be. Part of this is because we love history, and many of the things we visited were not very historical. I think our lack of knowledge of the Spanish language hurt, too. I felt I just could not get into my blogs very much on this trip as compared to other trips.

We are looking forward to visiting Machu Picchu, the second leg of our tip.

March 4 – 5, 2020 – Sea Day and San Antonio, Chile to Santiago, Chile

Wednesday – spent most of the day packing and trying to decide what clothes we would be taking to Machu Picchu and what clothes we would be storing at the hotel.

Thursday – We have a tour with GV Tours that will pick us up at the ship, and give us a tour on the way to Santiago. I don’t have good things to say about this company. It was hard to get information out of them once we booked. It is the same company that we toured Puerto Montt with on March 3. Eventually I got them to respond via WhatsApp and they said they would be at the port 1 hour after the ship started disembarking. Disembarking started at 7:00AM, we got off the ship by 7:30, went through customs very quickly and exited the port by 7:45AM. GV is suppose to have signs, but we didn’t see anyone. About 8:15AM we found another couple waiting, and she got an email that they would be there at 8:30. That didn’t happen. Part of the problem was that it was cold, and we really didn’t expect it to be as cold as it was. Carolina, the GV guide showed up about 8:50AM, and said her boss told her to be at the port at 9:00. I told her it would have been nice if her boss told us it was going to be 9:00. Carolina was very nice, however. We got in a little mini bus with the other couple and headed to Valparaíso, which was probably over an hour away. She took us to the home of Pablo Neruda, or one of his homes, that is a museum. Pablo Neruda was a a Nobel prize winning poet, diplomat and politician. His house looked like a ship, and had a beautiful view of the harbor.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is FC1FBEFB-45C9-424D-9AAF-2896027D51FF-e1583452675558.jpeg — Pablo Neruda home

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is F587EEE5-077C-45BF-8C4C-1D6006117CFB.jpeg — View of the harbor from Pablo Neruda’s home

Carolina told us how there were many murals all over the city of Valparaiso, and art in general has been promoted. She also said that neighborhoods are not segregated socio-economically, but are very mixed.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 0C31DEC7-A0D5-497C-A553-7F700F921B7E.jpeg — Sample of a mural. This one depicts Chile from North to South.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 2500E50B-3355-4CE1-B07C-B1740DD146B5.jpeg — Another mural by a 16 year old girl

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is A6F23475-A42F-4E0E-8010-054A17B0BC07.jpeg — Mosaic columns

We did a walking tour and she pointed out many beautiful, big, old homes that were built by the rich, but over the years had been divided up into apartments or hotels. While walking, we happened on a free exhibition of photographs by Marcelo Montecino. As we walked through, a guide explained the meaning of each photo and Carolina translated for us. The main theme was showing how poor people lived during the dictatorship.

Valparaíso is built on 7 hills and each hill has its own name. There are funiculars to help people go up or down, but they call them elevators. We rode one, but not the tallest.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 992BB3C0-DCA0-4A00-9BAA-2D16C89F383E-e1583454131292.jpeg

She took us to the main square. There were big buildings all around, including the Chilean Navy. One building caught my eye because the bottom part was the old stone building, but it had been totally hollowed out, saving the facade, and a new modern building made of glass was inside the old building shell.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is C9DCD481-910E-496B-848F-D9452645519A-e1583453496698.jpeg

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 615B110C-6102-4718-B24D-B6A586CB9932-e1583453572589.jpeg — Required hero statue being guarded by the military to prevent protestors from marring it with graffiti. The military guards also had the help of razor wire that surround the statue.

Water from the ocean originally covered this area, but it has all been filled it. Carolina told us that every Chilean city has an O’Higgins Park, and this main square was named O’Higgins.

After visiting Valparaíso, we were driven to Viña Del Mar, which looks like a more upscale city. They have a flower clock that used to tell time, but now it’s just flowers. She said everyone has to get their picture by the flower clock.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is D2388796-F848-4CDB-9D93-0B6FF524D5C0-e1583454569192.jpeg

Everyone was getting hungry by this time, and we were driven to a restaurant that was on the beach. The problem is that the water is so cold that no one swims in it, or hardly anyone. It is summer in Chile, and we did see a few brave souls in the water, but most people were just enjoying the view, sitting in the sand. The food was very good. Carolina recommended fish and fries, so that is what we all had.

We saw an Easter Island Moai, in Viña Del Mar sitting outside a museum, “Museo de Argueologia e Historical Francisco Fonck”. Carolina said that Chile has offered to return the Moai, but it hasn’t happened yet. It is a human figure in the fetal position. It’s head is bird-like shaped. It is related to a ritual competition designed to define power on Easter Island. After a series of tests, the winner made the leader of his clan a Tangata Manu, who would be the political leader, along with his clan, until the next spring.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 91D85FC0-377B-4880-935F-4F513A22CD81-e1583455305889.jpeg

Leaving Viña Del Mar, we drove to the Indomita winery. We sampled a red and a white wine, and tasted some Merlot grapes. The building was impressive sitting on top of a hill overlooking the vineyards.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is E5D3E3FF-10FF-4171-9A0A-F005C6D6D5FC.jpeg — Unfortunately, a picture does not do the view justice.

After the winery, we drove to Santiago. We do not like Santiago! The traffic was awful, lots of graffiti, tent cities of homeless, men laying on the sidewalk drunk or drugged up, windows boarded up, gas pumps surrounded by metal barriers….I know the current situation is because of the protests, but we are not impressed. Dave is freaked out about the location of our hotel, and we had moved further away from the protests once. We successfully walked about a mile to get some dinner and find an ATM and Dave commented that he saw some normal looking people. Our hotel room is clean, and the staff has been very nice. We are not disappointed that we are flying to Cusco, Peru tomorrow. Not sure what we will do for 4 days when we get back to Santiago. I think if we had not prepaid for the hotel, we would move to Valparaíso…. a much prettier city.

March 6 – 7, 2020 – Santiago to Cusco to Pisac

Friday – the lady who checked us in at the hotel in Satiago ordered a car to take us to the airport …at the wrong time. We finished up breakfast at 9:00AM and the receptionist said that’s your car, but he locked his keys in his car! We said, we asked for a car for 10:30AM! So he ordered another car for 10:30AM. When we were leaving at 10:30, the 9:00 car was still sitting there – he couldn’t get his keys out. I think our driver was actually an Uber, which is suppose to be illegal in Chile. He wanted us to pay before we got to the airport, which was no big deal. This guy actually spoke a little English, which is highly unusual.

We had left most of our luggage at our hotel in Santiago, so check in at the airport was very quick. We were early because we had been told with the protests, it may take an hour to get to the airport. Our flight wasn’t until 2:30, it was an international flight and we wanted extra time to figure out where we were suppose to go. We got to the airport and were checked in probably by 11:00. When we checked in, what they didn’t tell us was that we had preferred tickets, and so a special lounge. Instead we waited in a food court area where WiFi was very spotty and I kept losing my connection. Then we discovered our flight had been delayed 2 hours. So we had quite a long wait. Finally, we boarded our 2:30 flight about 4:30. The pilot taxied a long way, probably 15 minutes worth, and turned onto the runway. But he didn’t take off. He went back to the terminal. There were a few announcements in Spanish, but nothing in English. Dave overheard our steward telling someone that it was a safety issue. Finally that gets resolved and we are finally on our way to Cusco, 3 hours late. Our preferred tickets were nice – almost like an attempt at business class. Only the first 3 rows, and we got served some food which Dave would not call a meal, but it was something. It was still 3 seats across, but no one in the middle seat.

We got to Cusco late, even though there is a time change so we gained 2 hours. The good news is the tour agency owner, Bryan, and a driver, Edgar, in a mini bus, were there to meet us. We are on a private tour, so it will just be us, the guides, and a driver. Bryan went over our schedule for the next few days, and gave us a packet with tickets and maps. Then Edgar dropped off Bryan in Cusco, and we headed to Pisaq, which is over an hour away. The roads are awful, like really awful. Cusco is at a higher elevation than Pisaq, and the roads were very windy with lots of switchbacks. We could not see because it was dark out. By the time we arrived and checked in, it was 9:00 PM Peru time (11:00 PM Chile time), so we were tired. Unfortunately, they gave us a room on the second story, so in our oxygen deprived state, we had to climb 2 flights of stairs, carrying our luggage – which isn’t much, but still fun to carry up two flights. We had some coca tea which is suppose to help your lungs absorb oxygen. Then to bed.

Saturday – Our guide Rina is suppose to meet us at 8:30AM with our driver Edgar. We got up about 6:30AM, and I looked out the window….cows! Then I went into the bathroom take a shower….NO HOT WATER! We got dressed and went to breakfast, and while I told them there was no hot water, there wouldn’t have been time to shower at that point anyway. The hotel is different….it was built as a hacienda. Every hacienda also had a chapel, so there is a chapel in the courtyard. The chapel was built in the mid 16th century. In 1864 it survived a severe earthquake. This was considered a miracle and people from around the world come to worship here.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is BAA8E779-AB51-44EF-8D94-B2402A3B0FED.jpeg — Chapel at hotel

Rina and Edgar were there on time, and our first stop was the Pisaq Archeological Park. It is an important sight for the terraces and stone structures built by the Incas. At this point, I have to say I wish I knew more about the Incas. Also, while Rina is sharing lots of information with us, some of it seems to be conflicting. I’m not sure if it because English is her second language, or something else. Rini got us there early before the crowds. The Incas built terraces on the mountains to grow potatoes and corn. Rini said there are 3000 different potatoes in this area, and 280 different types of corn….which I found hard to believe. Later, we saw and ate some corn, and it was the biggest kernels I have ever seen. Each kernel was about the size of a marble. Corn was a very important crop for the Incas. The Incas build barns to store their corn. We saw where their sacred area was, and there was a doorway, made of stone, you had to pass thru to get to the sacred area. Before going into the sacred area, there were ceremonial baths, some still with running water. We could not go into the sacred area as there was a red flag signifying the paths had been washed out. The mountain was supposedly in the shape of a condor. There are 3 species that are important to the Incas: the condor which represents the future, the puma which represents the present, and the snake which represents the past. Llamas were also important.

There are many structures built out of stone. Many stone structures were built with no type of mortar, and they are still standing. One of Rina’s conflicting comments was that the stone without mortar was pre-Inca. Then she showed us some stone structures that had mortar, and she said this was Inca. Later in the tour she said there is no pre-Inka.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 460B1715-FB73-414C-B1B5-F47B31E4B327-e1583719652993.jpeg — Wall built without mortar

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is C6B31124-1250-48F4-BFAA-C95942633D0B.jpeg — Wall built with mortar

Anyway, Rina pointed out residential areas which seemed to be formed around a central courtyard. They had windows. At Pisac, they built a cemetery in caves the mountainside. Grave robbers have stolen all the gold, silver and ceramic artifacts, but there are still bones in the caves. It is a wonder how they got the bodies into the caves on the mountainside. This cemetery is the largest Inca cemetery and the oldest in South America.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is C18032CA-4BBC-491E-8FA5-64586D666C0E.jpeg — The holes are where the tombs were

Rina pointed out other ceremonial areas with large niches around the perimeter. She said they would mummify important people and put them in these niches, and then have ceremonies in the center part.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is D66D35F6-9276-439E-94E6-D0D65F6F13D6.jpeg — Our guide posing as how a mummy would be positioned

We left Pisac Archeological Park and drove to the main square in Pisac. There is a large market selling all sorts of souvenirs. Dave and I wanted to get some Peruvian Sols, which is the money they use in a Peru, and more cough medicine ☹️. We accomplished both of those tasks.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is A06B070A-1149-4D57-8D96-7BC2E90875DE.jpeg — Market in Pisac

Our next stop was lunch, and we had a very nice buffet which was included in our tour. There were lots of Peruvian dishes that Rina explained. It was all very good. The corn has the largest kernels I’ve ever seen….like the size of a marble. This picture probably doesn’t really show how big the kernels were.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 53A523AE-9A1D-48B9-9012-DD7EC4845606.jpeg — Corn with huge kernels

After lunch we were heading to Ollantaytambo. Rina asked if we had heard of the capsules hanging over the side of a mountain, which people rent and sleep in like a hotel. I had heard of them, but had never seen one. Since we were passing them, Edgar stopped so I could get a picture. While we were stopped, some children ran up to the car. They were all very cute and in native dress. Of course one asked for money, and Dave gave them a coin. Unfortunately, I was so caught up in how cute they were in their native dress that I didn’t take a picture. Rina said many people still wear the native dress. We have seen children dressed in native clothing at markets that charge for pictures, but these children were living near the road and just saw an opportunity to ask for money. We were in the middle of nowhere.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 36BA6B9E-2A37-4AD7-A825-BD16164E949F.jpeg — Sleeping capsules hanging off the ledge

Peru seems to be a very poor country and I don’t think I’ve seen many nice homes. Most are run down shacks. It may be different in Cusco which is a bigger city.

We reached Ollantaytambo, and there is another huge Inka Archealogical park. Rina says we can walk to the top, it’s easy. Ha! It was not easy, but we did it.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 196A5973-2A77-4491-8FC4-4EDCF3EAF794.jpeg — Looking at where we have to climb

The mountains are supposedly in the shape of a llama, but this took a lot more imagination to see. The mountainside is also terraced for raising crops.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 3C8E9BE4-1A0C-439A-9A2A-88D66928206E.jpeg — Terraces for raising crops

At the top is a chair for an astronomer and his wife. This chair looks at another mountain that has what looks like two faces. On the solstice, the sun hits one of the faces. Rina said lots of people come to watch this happen. The second face is suppose to look more like the astronomer as there are 4 columns on his head as if it were part of a hat. Inca astronomers wore a hat with 4 “columns” on top.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 276DFCC3-9E1B-4E84-BEEC-93C5DB6A8635.jpeg — Face of astronomer in mountain with 4 columns on his head

There were also the ceremonial baths, rooms with niches for mummies, and a lot of similar structures as the Pisac sight. There are several large stones used in the construction, and because it is so high on the mountain, you have to wonder how the Incas got the stones up on top of this mountain.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 450A6AA6-24A5-4EB1-90A1-97F691BCA74E.jpeg — Ceremonial bath

When we finish visiting Ollantaytambo’s archeological a Park, it is time for us to check in for our train to Aguas Calientes. We have to wait about an hour and the train station really fills up. Our seats are assigned, which looks like it is a good thing. It is suppose to be 1.5 hours….but of course for some reason the train stopped several times and we sat and waited. One time I saw a guy walking around outside the train with a screwdriver….that was interesting. As we ride, we can see the Urubamba River next to the train. This river eventually flows into the Amazon River. It is very dirty looking, as it is reddish, probably with mud or some minerals. Finally we get to Aguas Calientes about 30 minutes late, it is raining, and we can’t find our contact that is suppose to take us to our hotel. We walk all over the place…can’t even figure out where the train station is…finally find the train station, but our contact isn’t there. We wonder what we should do when another tour guide takes pity on us and calls our company for us. They say our contact will be there in 5 minutes, which he was. Of course I’m pissed and the guy just says, “Well, the train was late”. As it turned out, he was an employee of the hotel. Fortunately, our Machu Picchu guide that we were suppose to meet in the hotel lobby knew the train was late and waited for us. His name is Alex, and he went over the whole plan for tomorrow, our trip to Machu Picchu. Our original itinerary said to walk to the bus station at 5:00AM, but Alex is going to meet us in the lobby of our hotel at 6:00AM and walk with us. We are looking forward to visiting Machu Picchu.

March 8, 2020 – Machu Picchu

We made it!

While our itinerary said we should walk to the bus at 5:00AM, our guide, Alex, said he would meet us in the lobby of our hotel at 6:00AM. We like Alex already! We were up at 4:30, had breakfast, checked our small bag with the hotel and at 6:00AM Alex shows up and we walk to the Machu Bus.

Visits to Machu Picchu are very controlled. We had 6:00AM tickets, which is the first group let into Machu Picchu. Only a few hundred are let in each hour, according to the time on their ticket, and I believe they are only suppose to stay 4 hours. When we get to the bus, there is a big line, but Alex leads us to the front explaining those people have 7:00AM entry tickets. At the entrance to the bus, they check our bus ticket, our Machu Picchu ticket and our passport. Then we are let on the bus. It is a 25 minute ride UPHILL. The Urubamba River flows along the road on the lower levels. There are some scary places where we are very close to the edge of the road. We use the restrooms (cost =2sol per person), and then go to the entrance. Here they check your Machu Picchu ticket and your passport. We had purchased tickets to climb a mountain, Huaynu Picchu (Waynapicchu), but decided several days ago that we would not climb the mountain because of Dave’s cough. When we met with our guide last night, he said Huaynu Picchu is 2 hours up and 2 hours down. We told him we did not think we would climb the mountain. This morning, he said he thought that was a good decision. Then he pointed to the mountain, and Dave and I knew our mountain climbing days were over!

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 154CB58D-F717-4752-80CC-C31EDFEA97CB.jpeg — Huaynu Picchu, the mountain we did not climb

After going thru the entrance, our guide took us to the left, up many, many, many stairs. He said we climb first, and then come down. Along the way up, we came to a nice, level, paved walkway. This was part of the old Inca trail.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 1EA2D2E5-382D-4C18-B550-243B1983B859.jpeg — Part of the original Inca trail

Then we walked up some more. We finally get to the top of our climb, and we can see Manchu Picchu in the distance, but it is pretty early so as the sun gets a little higher, it burns off much of the fog and we get a beautiful view of Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu is about 8,000 feet above sea level, and I think we climbed about 1000 feet above Machu Pichu to be able to look down on what is called the Citadel. Machu Picchu is actually the name of a mountain.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 3CEFE75E-347A-42D4-97E8-6B2F4D79DC33.jpeg — Machu Picchu Mountain – the tall peak in the background

Machu Picchu Citadel is made up of two parts – the sacred part where the important people lived, on the left, and the industrial part where workers worked, making ceramics, weaving, etc. on the right. The Sacred part had “beautiful” stonework walls, and the industrial part had stone walls with mortar.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 13C8A966-28B8-4AF9-BACA-B81D2A76615E.jpeg — The Citadel. On the left is the sacred , and residential area. On the right is the industrial area where crafts and objects were made.

I have to say, having a guide for just Dave and I was great. He would talk to us and answer all our questions. In a group of 10 or 20 people, you just wouldn’t get that attention. I am very pleased with our decision here. I am also pleased that our travel agency got us the early tickets. When we first got to the high spot that overlooks the citadel part of Machu Picchu, there are very few people. This high, overlook spot is the agricultural area of Machu Picchu. It is terraced, like the other Inca complexes we visited, and this is where they grew their crops. But by the end of our 2+ hour tour of Machu Picchu with Alex, we see people in continuous lines, one after the other, heading up to the top of the overlook. However, the total number of people allowed to enter Machu Picchu is controlled. I think it is limited to 5000 people per day, spread out over 8 hours.

Hiram Bingham III is given credit for making public the existence of Machu Picchu with the help of indigenous farmers in 1911. He was looking for the last capital of the Incas, Vilcabamba, and when he found a Machu Picchu, he thought he had found the last capital of the Incas. Others apparently found it before him, but Bingham made Machu Picchu’s existence public. Bingham returned with the support of Yale University and his expeditions collected many specimens of exotic animals, antiquities and human skeletons. Peru would like these specimens back, and the US agreed, but only a few specimens have been returned since 2011. I think Peruvians resent the US retaining the artifacts, based on Alex’s discussion.

Alex talks about the Incas and one of the Inca kings, Pachacuti, who was responsible for building Machu Pichu and also expanding the Inca kingdom. Pachacuti lived in a Cusco, because Cusco was the capital of the Inca nation. But Machu Picchu was built for important people, so Pachacuti would visit. The Inca kingdom was made up of 4 groups which Pachacuti consolidated, making it the largest kingdom in all of the Americas at the time.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is BB4A1BAA-D5F4-4786-AC98-2F16A59ECCE1.jpeg — Alex showing us the 4 groups that made up the Inca nation and where they were located. Cusco was the center and the capital.

Only 600 people lived in Machu Picchu, but it took many more to build it. These important people were important because they had “knowledge”. The Inca worshipped the sun, and Machu Picchu had astronomers who knew when to plant and when to harvest and what to plant. A special building, “Temple of the Sun”, had windows which pointed to where the sun would be at the equinox’s. To one side of this building is where the chief astronomer lived and on the other side is where Pachacuti would stay when he visited.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 112E6FE7-B68D-4E9C-86CE-7D7B0FA2C1C1.jpeg — Round structure is temple of the sun. The window showing would perfectly line up with the sun at the December 21 equinox. Another window would perfectly line up with the sun on the June 21 equinox.

At the top of the photo, the building behind the thatched roof with the roof peak, is the building it is believed king used when he visited, because it is divided into two rooms, and no other structure is built the same way. The rectangular building right under the window is where the astronomer would have lived.

The Inca’s watched the constellations. Alex showed us the Southern Cross and a stone which was carved to mimic the Southern Cross. The top point of the cross points East, and I used my compass to verify it.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is B642E9A4-DFB7-4B41-B509-1D457A722A9D.jpeg — Stone carved to mimic Southern Cross. You can’t see it, but the compass on my phone shows that the point indeed faces directly south.

Contrary to what we heard from Rina yesterday, important buildings were build with no mortar. The stones were fit together perfectly. Sometimes they were cut to show a stair step pattern, which was a symbol very important to the Incas. Alex called it beautiful as compared to the structures built with mortar.

One of the structures Alex showed us is the temple of 3 windows. The windows face the East, and when it is the equinox, the sun shines onto a rock, which has the step carvings.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is CCE2318A-8C82-468B-8B45-55537AD6F48D.jpeg — Temple with three windows

Alex showed us an area that was used for religious rites. There is a huge stone next to it, carved to mimic the shape of the mountain in the background. Alex said the Incas thought the mountains were very important.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 936A8F93-679A-43FE-9979-3619A366CBDB.jpeg — Stone carved to mimic mountain behind it.

At this point, Alex left us, but we could have stayed longer if we wanted to. Our ticket would allow us to leave, grab a bite to eat or whatever, and come back in. We decided to wander around a little bit and just absorb the beauty of the mountains.

We exited and relaxed for awhile at the Machu Picchu snack shop, then took the bus back to Aquas Calientes. While we waited for our train to Ollantaytambo to spend the night, we had lunch and walked around this over-touristy town.

March 9, 2020 – Cusco

Last night on the train from Machu Picchu, we were served a “box dinner” with a sandwich, brownie, fruit and chocolate. It was perfect for our dinner. We walked about a block to our hotel, which was very nice. Dave wanted to stay there for the rest of our trip. We went to the bar, and then early to bed after a very long day.

We get up and have breakfast at the hotel, and they have a cute little display of some different types of corn.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is CDE8B615-9840-410A-A2C6-2F3C748A0B6B-e1583808029489.jpeg — Display of different types of corn

Dave was wandering around after breakfast admiring the landscaping. He really liked this hotel. I agree, it was very nice.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is D2ACF039-FA89-4A2B-BB7E-EAA9322AEC20-e1583808039431.jpeg — Our hotel had some beautiful flowers. This is one example.

Rina meets us at 9:00am, but we have a new driver, Luis. Rina tells us that Luis used to be a policeman. I like that idea! Again, the roads are awful. Our first stop is the Salineras Salt mine. We are at 3080 meters of elevation, which converts to over 10,000 feet. Our whole trip has been in the Andes Mountains, so these altitudes shouldn’t surprise me. Dave is still sick ☹️ and the altitude is bothering him today.

The salt beds were originally built by the Incas, but now this salt process is ran by the local families. The salt separates out into 3 layers: the top layer is used for bath salts, the second layer is used for table salt, and the bottom layer is used for animals. The water that flows into the beds is warm, not hot, mineral spring water. Local people that have eaten a lot of the salt have big thyroids, because iodine has not been added to this salt. The salt beds produce 180 tons of salt a year. Rina said that different colors of salt are produced during the wet season, but it is mostly white now because the rainy season is ending.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 6E752976-3325-4B91-BAB5-756FB082247B-e1583808017862.jpeg — Salt beds

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is C8CCD774-26AF-4092-8528-AE161AF4BF60.jpeg — Finished product: Left is bottom layer for animals, middle is table salt and right is bath salt.

We see native women wearing their native hats. The wealthier or higher class women wear white hats. The hats have a colored band, and I believe a blue band means she is married, a pink band means she is available. I can’t remember the color for divorced women or widows. Rina said these women are called Mestiza. Lower class women wear brown hats and are called shepherds.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 6F7224A5-6F6A-4798-8377-E436734B2CFD-e1583808204139.jpeg — Lady with white hat signifying she is upper class, mestiza

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is F4CBCF6F-92F3-43ED-BEAC-A6E5449CA742.jpeg — Lady with brown hat signifying she is a shepherd

Our next stop is Moray, which is another Inca site. This site had 5 different terrace settings, and lots of walking downhill and then….uphill…ugh! The most important one that we see is made up of terraces in a circular pattern with semi circular terraces at one end. In the middle is a rectangular box, with two sections. Rina says this represents marriage. The circle represents the sun and man, the semi circles represent woman and the moon. The barn in the center represents sharing in a marriage. The Incas treated men and women as equals, but the women took care of the home and the men took care of the terraces. The Incas thought the land was Mother Earth and she would be jealous of women. The terraces in this location were used to grow medicinal herbs and plants. Each terrace is a different microclimate, with variations in temperature, and received a different amount of water and sunlight. This picture does not really portray how far we had to walk and how difficult it is for us to walk uphill at these altitudes. Hopefully you can see the path in the very back with a couple of people on it.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 044B8F68-2F73-4335-93AC-EAE48AFCC29A-e1583808163972.jpeg — The circular terraces, the semi circular terraces and the barn or storage area in the center

Each August they celebrate New Year and make a sacrifice back to Mother Earth, something that has come from the ground like fruit it a baked good. The sacrifice is buried in Mother Earth.

Dave had a hard time with the altitude here, and climbing up the stairs and inclines from these terraces. But it is lunchtime, so we drive over these horrible road to Chinchero. Dave had some coca tea, and feels better, but we discuss our afternoon agenda with Rina and decide not to climb more stairs to visit a cathedral here in Chinchero. Instead we go to our last stop, which is a textile demonstration. Two young girls meet us and dress us in Inca hats and shawls and sing to us. One girl shows us how they make soap out of a tuber plant, and wash the wool. Then she shows us how they get the different colors with different plants, flowers and insects. She spun some thread, and the other girl was weaving. Of course they showed us their products. They had alpaca capes that were so soft, I couldn’t resist. It was $30. My second souvenir from this trip.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 7DBA149A-E566-4A2F-804C-181C0D61FC31-e1583808303530.jpeg — Young lady showing us how yarn is made

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 65979735-8EA8-4759-B0D6-15E317CBE6A1-e1583808291283.jpeg — Another young lady making something with the yarn

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is ADFF2E4A-15B5-4CFA-8F79-DA2C308895AB.jpeg — Dave in his Inca outfit

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 0D775B22-5A65-4D66-9697-83DD49DB043C-e1583808279214.jpeg — Me in my Inca outfit

Rina and Luis drove us to our hotel which is very close to the main square in a Cusco. I think Dave has altitude sickness. Cusco is over 11,000 ft in altitude, compared to 8 or 12 feet in Florida. Today he has been drinking coca tea, and it seems to help. We are chilling in our hotel and we’ll see how he feels tomorrow. The most important part of this whole trip was Machu Picchu, so if we miss some other sights in Cusco, we are OK with that.

March 10, 2020 – Cusco

Dave is going to try to do today’s tour. The altitude is very difficult for both of us to adjust to, despite drinking a lot of coca tea. I’m sure part of this is our maturity (☹️), but Dave is fighting something – maybe bronchitis.

This morning when we went to eat breakfast at our hotel, Dave started coughing, and the breakfast room cleared out. So we had the room to ourselves (😁). I am still convinced that whatever is bothering him is not contagious, because I haven’t caught it.

Rina and Luis picked us up at 9:00AM this morning, and we headed to the mountains above the city of Cusco. Great views looking down on the city of a Cusco. It looks very large, but I think the population is about 500,000 (even though Rina told me 1 million, which is why I question some of the things she told us).

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is B607168F-2AB2-449C-A8CB-36FDB07E1C81.jpeg — Cusco from about 11,000 feet

We visited Saqsayhauman which is the spiritual center of the Incas. If you envision the city in the shape of a puma, Saqsayhauman is its head.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 356F0CA8-75C2-4061-A785-EA3D8A5B195E.jpeg — The image of a puma is outlined in red over a map of Cusco. Saqsayhauman is the head.

This temple had been started by a previous culture, but the Incas took over in the 13th Century. The boulders, which are HUGE, are fit together without mortar. It is built in a zigzag shape and extends a long distance, my guess is about 1/4 mile long and in places would be about 88 feet high. Rina says the zig zag shape represents lightening.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 40C527AD-02C3-44EB-8CB3-0EE027299F8E.jpeg — The wall zig zags and uses huge boulders

In the stonework are various shapes.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is A6F7D2B3-8D1E-4EF0-9310-400C7A23F899-e1583886798831.jpeg — Can you see a puma paw?

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 0A550D04-EEDC-4A27-95E2-3903CA501BA9.jpeg — Can you see the head and some of the body of a snake? This one is a little harder to see in a photo.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 6FB3A4B6-6352-4D53-8418-4DA356567BCB.jpeg — Snake that had been filled with gold.

There is a huge open area next to the temple, and it was used for celebrations. All the Incas from the empire would come here to celebrate the equinox, June 21. They would sacrifice a black llama and offer its heart to the sun.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is DC37AB08-3DD8-4B2D-A265-793A7F4A878B.jpeg — Celebration area

It is interesting to me that Switzerland gave Cusco a huge statue of Jesus, which they installed just above this Inca sight. Also, Rina did not take us to see this statue although it was very close to where we were.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is B07D44D9-0CD0-47A1-A0FA-B5D968D61BCE.jpeg — Jesus statue

The next Inca site we went to was De q’enqu. This site was for rain. At the entrance is a huge stone which is supposed to resemble a frog. Water would gather around the bottom of this statue and was ideal for tadpoles, which would become frogs. The frogs were a sign of a good rainy season. At the equinox, the frog statue would leave its shadow on the mountain behind the statue. I didn’t question it, but I would think the shadow would be there other days, too. This site also was a place where people who had passed away would be mummified, and black llamas were sacrificed.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is AEA33004-14D7-4415-8336-D05629795568.jpeg — Picture of shadow of frog on equinox

Before heading back to Cusco, we stopped at two textile businesses. The first one gave us the sales spiel, and then we went out back and they had all sorts of animals. This was to show that different color yarn can be made without having to dye it from different color fur on the animals. Then we went to the second place, and we were given a spiel on how different rugs or blankets are made. They had one example which the girl said was over 1000 years old.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 7B2E5F8B-8288-430E-99F4-85115D190C57-768x1024.jpeg — Over 1000 years old

They had other woven objects that were beautiful, including one that caught our eye because it looked like it was 3 dimensional. We did not buy it, but the price was $800US, which they would discount to $700. Somehow it just wouldn’t fit in our decor, but it was beautiful.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is B738AF0E-E642-4B57-921C-92E8C5AF2EE1-e1583887720230.jpeg — Tapestry with 3-D image

We drove to Cusco, to their main square. Rina said the main square is where the Incas cried. They would come here carrying the mummies on their back. The main Catholic cathedral here was originally an Inca palace. The Spaniards, invading Peru, destroyed much of the Inca temples, or at least all that they found. The Spaniards tried to convert the Incas to Catholicism. The Spaniards built their church inside the Inca walls, and sometimes using the Inca walls. We could not take photos inside the cathedral. The cross the Spaniards carried when invading Cusco was in a niche. Rina showed us the important paintings, most of which had been done by Indian painters, for the Spaniards. Because the Incas were resisting conversion to Catholicism, they would include Inca symbols in the paintings which are hanging in the church. Many of the paintings had snakes in them, which is interesting because snakes represent the past, or the afterlife to Incas. One painting showed Mary in a dress that resembled a mountain, because the mountains were part of Mother Earth which the Incas worshiped. So the Spaniards thought the Incas were worshipping Mary, but they were actually worshipping the mountain.

We went to another Catholic Cathedral, which had Inca temples inside the Cathedral grounds. These were the Sun Temple, the Moon Temple, the Rainbow Temple, the Rain Temple and the Lightening Temple. The Rainbow, Rain and Lightening temples were connected and had one window lined up where you could see through all three.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 79C52FFF-2F79-416C-9D60-BF777DF4510C-e1583887818396.jpeg — Looking through the lined up windows of three temples

There was a beautiful garden, and the shapes of the condor, puma and snake were carved in the grass.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 89DF9D9F-98E4-4D6B-8E3A-B6C992A1DB81-e1583887906607.jpeg — Images of a condor, puma and snake carved into the grass

Our tour was over, and Rina took us to a restaurant for our cooking class. It was a private class for just Dave and me. It was hands on, but only one person could cook, so that was me. First I made a Pisco Sour. They use an egg white to get foam on top, but I could not shake it enough to get a good foam top. The bartender said you could also use a blender which always gives you the foam.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 81534923-2032-4C5D-9593-522DAF842033-e1583887991628.jpeg — Shake, shake, shake!

Next, I made trout ceviche. The trout here is red, and almost looks like salmon.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 14092FF3-21C9-4EA9-A899-2AA736FD27AF-e1583888059845.jpeg — Trout Ceviche

Last I made Lomo Saltado, which was beef tenderloin with onion and tomatoes.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 4DBA5ADA-E61C-4FED-A908-1019A8A10ABF-e1583888144537.jpeg — What you would expect when I cook….

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is C1C134B3-B8F9-4D5A-A8A3-7B709C109715-e1583888211718.jpeg — Finished product

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 2C93F482-C440-47D8-BB9E-702DD38397A7-e1583888269304.jpeg — Room where we ate the delicious meal I made 😁

The final dish was Carpaccio de Pina, a dessert, but we were stuffed, and tired, so they made it for us and we boxed it up to take to the hotel. The meal was delicious, but they did not give me the recipes…except for the Pisco Sour. I’m not sure I could find all the ingredients in the US that they used.

Not much planned for the next few days. We are leaving at 4:30AM for our flight back to Santiago. We have 4 days in Santiago before our cruise, if they let us onboard. We have received several messages that everyone has to undergo a health screening, and I’m not sure Dave will pass. So our plan is to be pretty inactive to try to let Dave rest and get better.

March 11 – 13, 2020 – Santiago, Chile

Wednesday- Dave was really puny looking as we left Cusco, but got much better once we were on the plane. I don’t think I heard him cough once on the 3.5 hour flight, which is amazing. We had pretty stringent health screening upon arrival in Santiago. I can’t say Dave was 100% honest on his health survey, but he did admit to a common cold. We were much relieved he passed the temperature screening. We do not think he is putting other people in danger, although he may be scaring them when he coughs. He has no temperature, and I have not gotten sick. So he’s not contagious. When we checked into our hotel where we are planning to spend 4 nights, we asked for a room with a bigger bathroom than we had when we spent one night here before our Machu Picchu trip. After a bit of back and forth discussion, the guy said he’d upgrade us, so we have a really nice room. It is large, and the bathroom has two sinks! We spent the rest of the day reorganizing our clothes, packing away our heavier clothes that we need for being so cold when we were near to Antartica. It felt so good to put on shorts and sandals. It is much warmer in Santiago – upper 80’s, which I hear is also a deterrent for Coronavirus. Unfortunately, there is a lot of upheaval in Santiago – all of Chile actually, but more so in Santiago. Lots of protesting, marching, tear gas, rock throwing, etc. We have been told the police are shooting out the protestors eyes. So there is much hatred of the police. Our hotel is close, but not in the worst section. Reading the roll call online, one potential cruiser was mugged, and cancelled the cruise. However, the mugging could have happened anywhere. We are taking it one day at a time.

Thursday – slow start this morning, but we still got in our 10,000 steps. We walked to the Centro area, Plaza de Armas, which is an area of a lot of the protests. From what I read, there were no protests scheduled today (yes, someone posted the schedule on a TripAdvisor forum), and the protests are usually late afternoon and on into the night. We went, watching for any signs of protest.

Plaza de Armas is the symbolic heart of Chile. It is a lively place with chess players at one corner, the Metropolitan Cathedral on the opposite corner, the Museo Historico Nacional along one side, and other Palacio’s. The requisite statue is of Don Pedro de Valdivia (1497-1553) , sitting on his horse. He was a Spanish conquistador and the first royal governor of Chile.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 4D7F9CE0-72E8-4A52-8FC3-D2F798158B06-e1584046121917.jpeg — Don Pedro de Valdivia

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 333282FD-CE6D-414B-83DB-68B00BA9DDB0.jpeg — Playing chess in a Plaza de Armas

We visited the Metropolitan Cathedral, which is very large. Don Pedro declared in 1551 that a house of worship would be constructed on this site, but each structure was destroyed by fire or earthquake. The current cathedral was finished at the end of the 19th century.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 4798724D-D0ED-4FEF-AB31-8B353CB33D66.jpeg — Inside of Cathedral picture stolen from the culturetrip.com website. A sign said no photos, so I did not take any photos inside.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 64499B17-BA60-4D05-8C37-68BC985A0A9C.jpeg — Outside of Cathedral

There were 2 museums in the area, and we are not crazy about museums, but one of them, Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, has an “airy cafe”, so we went there for lunch. As we sat there and ate, we decided to go to the other museum, Museo Historico Nacional. As we entered, the museum guard told us it was free! Good thing, because I thought there were explanations in English, but they were all in Spanish. Again, no pictures ☹️. This museum is a colonial era palacio, and there are several beautiful chandeliers. This museum traces Chile’s history from the preconquest period to the 20th century. We did get an English brochure which briefly described each room, but not any of the artifacts. We did enjoy looking at some of the painting and artifacts. There was a military jacket worn by someone which looked like it would fit a boy … it was small! There was also a beautiful dress, white with netting and gold beading sprinkled throughout that I thought was beautiful. I believe it was from the 1920’s. We saw a picture of Bernardo O’Higgins. The guide we had from the port to Santiago told us there is an O’Higgins park in every city. O’Higgins (1778 – 1842) was a Chilean independence leader who freed Chile from Spanish rule in the Chilean War of Independence. He is considered one of Chile’s founding fathers. A museum worker approaceh us and asked if we wanted to climb the tower. We climbed 4 stories (and I thought our climbing days were over) to the tower on top of the museum building and got nice views of the Plaza de Armas and the Cathedral ( see above picture of Cathedral).

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is DD15BFA2-8790-4884-93BC-4B75EF930B63.jpeg — Panoramic view Plaza de Armas and Dave’s arm. I was taking photos today…..

We set out to find Santiago’s oldest structure, Iglesias San Francisco. This is the last trace of colonial architecture in the city. Construction began in 1586. The church survived successive earthquakes, but was rebuilt several times. Out guide from San Antonio port to Santiago when we disembarked the Coral Princess told us the oldest buildings in Santiago are painted red, thus the red color. Unfortunately, the protesters have added their graffiti.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 4F532D72-C91A-4BEE-9DE1-DF6F81A56561.jpeg — Iglesias San Francisco

Walking back to our hotel, we walked into another park, Cerro Santa Lucia. We did not walk to the top lookout point, but up one level where there was a fountain. This park looked interesting, but we are passing up most of our climbing opportunities 😁.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 08456551-3CFF-4E0A-B178-2E4C51A21D81.jpeg — Cerro Santa Lucia fountain

We ventured out early evening looking for essentials (bottle of wine). As we were walking, there were 6 or 8 young men heading in the opposite direction. The guy in the lead had a can of spray paint in his hand.

We sat on our balcony last night which we share with a young German couple. I noticed fruit was growing on the tree, hanging over onto the balcony.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 229E6942-B22F-47B7-BE23-C08CACBD39A8.jpeg — Pomegranates

Friday the 13th..😳 – We have spent most of the day wondering whether our cruise will be cancelled or not. We are taking it easy, and got a late start this morning. We are heading to Cerro San Cristobal. It is a large hill, almost 1000 feet above Santiago with a 72 foot statue of Virgin Mary at the top. It is the second highest hill in Santiago. There is a little church at the top, and also an outdoor amphitheater. We were able to take a funicular most of the way up. Still had to climb several stairs to reach the statue.

Before heading up the stairs, I noticed another unusual tree. It looks like something is growing inside the tree.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is E3ACF2CC-28A2-4E8F-B55B-366F49990ECA-e1584131701472.jpeg — Unusual growth in tree

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is B5C1E03B-3B92-49E6-A2AF-B268B10E1159-e1584131717713.jpeg — Close up of growth in tree

There is a beautiful view of the city from the top, except because Santiago sits in a valley trapping pollutants, there is a lot of smog which reduces visibility.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 1578E258-BB13-4AB3-9ADD-9C8538CC3002.jpeg — View of Santiago and outdoor amphitheater from the top.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is F0064B25-3978-40F7-979A-5BD9E954E74F.jpeg — Our hotel!

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 8031E2B5-4C82-49B2-A554-6361C9B085D0-e1584131680107.jpeg — Statue of Virgin Mary

After our visit to the hill, we walked to the museum of the home of Pablo Neruda. He was a Nobel Prize winner, and we saw another of his houses when we were in Valparaíso. The house is on several levels, and is split up among different buildings. None of the rooms are very big, but they are interesting. No photos allowed, again. Neruda was a collector, so the house is filled with eclectic objects and paintings. He called the house “La Chascona” or “Woman with the Tousled Hair” after his third wife. The house served as a romantic hideaway for many years before the couple married. I think Pablo was a communist as he was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize, as well as the Nobel Prize. According to Wikipedia, the Lenin Peace Prize was mainly awarded to prominent communists who were not citizens of the Soviet Union.

We are going to grab a quick bite to eat, before dark. Someone on our board said they rented a car for the day, driving outside Santiago. When they returned about 10:00PM, they could not get to their hotel due to army tanks and police presence. The hotel they were staying in is on the other side of the park and river that runs through Santiago, than where we are staying, however less than a mile away.

I got an email from Celebrity stating that our cruise is NOT cancelled. So, as long as they let us onboard, we still plan to sail from Santiago to San Diego. Getting to dock in San Diego may be another problem – we’ll see!

March 14 – 15, 2020 – Santiago to Miami!

Saturday-Started as a normal day! We walked to the Costanera Mall which is a magnet for tourists. It is a good distance from our hotel, maybe 4.5 miles, but there wasn’t much more we wanted to see in Santiago, especially since we feel a little constrained with the protests. It is a big, beautiful mall with everything, and lots of people. Dave said it put US Malls to shame because there was so much activity. In Florida, the last few times we went to the mall, they had very few people, including the Port Charlotte mall at Christmastime. While at the mall we ate lunch at Chili’s….so we ate at Chili’s in Chile 😁. We walked back to the hotel, getting there late afternoon, and when I check my email, there is a message from the lady I hooked up with to share a van to the port. She writes that our cruise is cancelled! Despite getting an email that morning saying the cruise will depart as scheduled. I checked the Celebrity website, and sure enough, our cruise was listed as cancelled. Then I checked the cruise critic boards and people had posted the email they got from Celebrity. I did not receive an email! But, since it was showing on the website, we knew it was true. The rest of the evening we scrambled to find flights. We are booked on a United flight for March 30, so we tried to change it, but it was going to cost us more than booking a new flight independently. After literally spending hours, we found a flight that left Santiago about noon, with one stop in Panama, ending in Miami.

Sunday- we found out from the message boards that our ship, Celebrity Eclipse is not being allowed to dock in Chile. However, we get our flight to Panama, in the last row of the plane, in a row with 3 seats. Every time Dave coughed, the lady in the aisle seat cringed. In Panama, they took my scissors that used to belong to Dave’s mom. I was really bummed because they were tiny fold up scissors and I have traveled all over with them for years with no problem. They also took our temps in Panama, and we must have passed because they let us on the plane. Of course we were sitting behind 2 rows of kids, but on an almost full flight, our reward was an empty seat in our row. Miami customs was very quick and easy compared to our last trip through Miami. We rented a car and are spending the night in a Hampton. We’ll drive home to Englewood tomorrow.

This is my last journal for this trip. Our trip ends about 2 weeks early, but after seeing Machu Picchu, the cruise was just our ride home and time to relax. We are very happy with all we saw and all we were able to do. Now we get to fight with Celebrity, who never sent notification of the cancelled cruise, and United to see if we can get any money back from our San Diego to Tampa reservation that was planned for the end of our cruise.

Blue Ridge Parkway and Tail of the Dragon: 9/26 to 10/3/2020

We left home about 1:00 PM on Saturday, September 26, 2020, heading north in my “new to me” 2018 Porsche 911 Carrera S, Cabriolet. We spent the first night in Brunswick, Georgia, and reached our first destination, Roanoke, Virginia, on the next day.

Last year, we traveled on the Skyline Drive and parts of the Blue Ridge Parkway, but did not finish. If I remember correctly, we got off in Ashville. So most of this trip is new territory.

Dave had ordered a couple of books on the Blue Ridge Parkway. One gave information at various mile markers, “Guide to the Blue Ridge Parkway” (guide or guide book), and the second gave information on hikes along the parkway. Unfortunately, book #2 did not get much use.

We intended to head south and get on the parkway about mile marker 122, but the parkway was closed at that entrance due to repairs and maintenance, so we got on the parkway at mile marker (mm) 136, driving southwest to the end at mm 469.1.

Dave had previewed the guide and highlighted points of interest. There are many overlooks with beautiful views. Some of the exhibits are closed due to the coronavirus, but all the beautiful, long views are always open 😁.

Monday, September 28, 2020: The section from mm 136 to 292, covered agriculture and rural life. We will not finish the whole section in one day. Dave has our trip split up and we will spend 4 days traveling to the end, mm 469.1. There are many cemeteries along the parkway, mostly family cemeteries from the settlers in this area. Lots of children, who died in their infancy, are buried in these old cemeteries. A few cabins also survive, as well as interesting, little snippets about the settlers. For example, Sweet Annie, a widow, had frequent soldier guests which her neighbors took a dim view of. We saw an old one room school house, Kelly Schoolhouse, which is no longer in use.

This cabin was just past the school. It was used by the Trail family in the 1890’s.

The Trail family lived in this log cabin in the 1890’s. mm 154.5

We did see some wildlife over the four days – deer, wild turkeys and chipmunks. This is the best photo, though – and only deer.

We stopped to see the Mabry Mill, which is the most photographed spot on the parkway. There is a walkway past several interesting exhibits of rural life. The demonstrations were closed due to the virus.

At mm 189.9 was a cabin belonging to the sister in law of Orlena Pucket, who lived in a cabin adjacent. Orlena delivered more than 1,000 babies in her career as a midwife, delivering the last baby in 1939 at the age of 102! Orlena herself bore 24 (!) children, none of which survived much past 2 years of age.

We had hoped to visit the Blue Ridge Music Center – but it is currently open on limited days due to the virus, and not on Monday when we were there.

We ended the day at mm 215.9, and stayed in Galax, Virginia.

HOTELS during Coronavirus: Our plan for the whole trip is to stay in Hilton properties, mostly Hampton Inns because we have generally found them clean and comfortable. Our first two nights, our room had a sticker on the door indicating it had been cleaned and sanitized. Hampton’s usually have a breakfast buffet, but our first two nights they offered us coffee and a bagged breakfast. Galax, VA Hampton was much looser in their protocols. No sticker on the door, and a wide open breakfast buffet. We had brought breakfast bars, and that’s what I had every morning. Dave could not pass up the biscuits and gravy, so this was his one splurge. I was pretty shocked as throughout the whole trip, with this one exception, there were social distancing markers on the floors, and in the elevators. One other breakfast buffet buffet was open later in the trip, but the only allowed one person or one family at a time. There was coffee available, and 2 out of the 8 mornings, the hotel did not have “dark roast” because of the coronavirus (?)…don’t quite understand this oddity.

Tuesday, September 29, 2020: The weather today is lousy. It is rainy and foggy and we can’t see anything.

We crossed the state line, leaving Virginia and entering North Carolina. We passed the Cumberland Knob area which is where construction of the parkway began in 1935. More than 100 men were involved in the construction, The first section was 12.49 miles heading south from the VA/NC state line. We plugged along, and Dave read from our guide about the places we were passing, but since we couldn’t see much we didn’t stop. The guide does have interesting stories about the settlers in this area. Martin Brinegar earned money by making shoes by hand and selling them for $1. James Caudill, a 16 year old from Elkin, NC was the first to settle in the Doughton Park area arriving after the Civil War ended. He sired 22 children by his first two wives. His third wife outlived him even though he lived to the age of 98. One of his sons, Martin, raised 16 children. Dave had researched a winery in this area. It was rainy and foggy, so we decided to exit the parkway at mm 246 and find the winery. This was the Thistle Meadows Winery. It didn’t opened until noon, and we arrived a few minutes early. The proprietor saw us, came out to the car with a big umbrella and said he was ready for us! We were offered a choice of 6 wines, 1 ounce pours, out of a total of 17 wines they had in stock, for $5. We both sampled, and opted for 6 of the 10 dry wines, and we pretty much chose the same wines. This winery does not grow their own grapes. All the wines we tasted were good. As a bonus, he offered us one pour each of his sweet wines. I tried “Topia Red” which was a coffee flavored, port style wine. Since Dave had stepped away for a moment, I chose “Horse Stomp Red” for him to try. It has the taste of raspberries blended with a white Zinfandel, and enjoyed with chocolate. He liked it and bought two bottles of the “Horse Stomp Red” as well as a bottle of “Devils Garden White” which is their Chardonnay, and a bottle of “Feather Bed Red”, a Cabernet Sauvignon. Some other folks wandered in and did tastings while we were there, probably looking for entertainment on this rainy, foggy, day. We got back on the parkway at mm 246, and continued on to mm 258.7. There is a “Northwest Trading Post” here. It is a gift shop specializing in handmade crafts. While we perused the crafts, we did not make any purchases, but took advantage of the restrooms. Since we could not see anything, we decided to leave the parkway here, and drive straight to Boone, which is where we planned to spend the night. We ate a late lunch in a cute cafe, Our Daily Bread, and ended up getting take out pizza for our dinner. Just a dreary day.

Wednesday, September 30, 2020: We got back on the parkway at mm 291.8 and backtracked to am 285.1. Fortunately, it is a beautiful, sunny day. A little cool for us…the mornings have been in the upper 40’s. We are not early morning people, which is good, because by the time we get going, it is in the 50’s. There is a lot of information about Daniel Boone in our guide. He was born in Reading, PA in 1734, to a Quaker family, the 6th of 11 children. His aunt taught him to read and write. He received a rifle for his 12th birthday. When he was 16, his family moved to the Yadkin Valley in NC. Five years later, he left to take part in the French and Indian War. He later returned to marry his sweetheart, Rebecca Bryan. He helped cut the Wilderness Road 300 miles from eastern Virginia through the Cumberland Gap to the Kentucky River. The settlement at the end of the Wilderness Road was named Boonesboro in his honor. He moved his family to KY, later to Louisiana Territory, ending up in Missouri with his grandchildren. He dies in 1820 at the age of 85. Boone’s trace, at mm 285.1, is where it is said Boone crossed the Blue Ridge. We turn around, and head southwest again. MM 289.8 is the Yadkin Valley overlook, elevation 3830. Yadkin Valley was the home to Boone’s family.

The section from mm 292 to mm 380 is called Grandfather and Black Mountains.

We stopped at mm 294. This is Flat Top Manor, the summer mansion home of Moses H. Cone. He purchased 3800 acres, near Blowing Rock, NC during the 1890’s and early 1900’s. His mammoth textile mills produced high quality denim. He died in 1908, only a few years after completing his mansion. The 23 room mansion was filled with art and objects from Asia. Most of the furnishings and lumber were hauled by oxen from Lenoir, NC. The Cones were almost self-sufficient, with their own dairy, vegetable gardens, carbide gas plant, and local employees. The mansion, open Thursday through Sunday, was closed when we were there on a Wednesday ☹️. Otherwise, it is a visitor center, with craft exhibitions and demonstrations. we did wander around the closed mansion, peered into a couple of windows, admired his view from the sweeping front porch, and walked down to the carriage house (where the public bathrooms we’re located).

After leaving Flat Top Manor, we pass the Sims Creek overlook. A man named Hamp Sims lived nearby. He slept in a coffin and enjoyed scaring visitors who stopped by. We stopped at a viewing spot for Calloway Peak, the highest point on Grandfather Mountain, 5,964 feet, otherwise known as Grandfather’s nose. We were not able to picture a “nose”. We drove on the Linn Cove Viaduct.

I have to confess that this is a stock photo from the internet, because we couldn’t find a place to stop. The Linn Cove Viaduct is 1,243 feet long and marked the official completion of the parkway. It was the missing link, left unfinished for 20 years because of easement problems and environmental issues. Hugh Morton, owner of a Grandfather Mountain, refused access because the earlier proposals would have caused severe damage to the rugged and rocky Linn Cove area of Grandfather Mountain. The compromise was an elevated roadway, as S-curve skirting the perimeter of the mountain. The design required connecting 153 precast sections that were built off the mountain and matched to fit the preceding section. The advanced construction technology eliminated the need for blasting, an access road, and heavy machinery.

We stopped at the Grandfather Mountain Overlook. Grandfather Mountain is the highest mountain in the Blue Ridge, elevation 5,939 (or 5,964 according to our guidebook). It’s name is from the jagged peaks that create a profile of an old man (if you have a good imagination). Grandfather Mountain is one of the oldest mountains in the world.

At mm 316.4, we stop at Linville Falls. Finally, we are going to do a little hike. Linville Falls is one of the most famous waterfalls in the Blue Ridge.

Dave had researched another winery, the Linville Falls Winery. So after our little hike, we exited the parkway at mm 317 and after a little effort, we found the winery. The directions on the website were not very good, so we turned the wrong direction. After driving around awhile, we stopped and asked for directions. The location was actually very close to the parkway, we just should have turned right instead of left. It is a very pleasant location with tables outside, offering nice views. The only negative was they had two fire pits and we did not like the smell of the smoke. We found a table with minimal smoke heading towards us. Because of coronavirus, they are not doing “tastings”, but offer “flights” of four 2oz pours for $12, and you get to keep the glass as a souvenir. Dave and I shared the “flight” and purchased some cheese and crackers to cleanse our palates which turned out to be lunch. The wines we chose for our flight were: Brandy Aged Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Sauvignon, Red Barn Blend, and Petit Verdot. Since I was driving, I did not want anymore wine, but Dave had a glass of one of the wines we tasted, Petit Verdot, and the waiter kindly brought me a bottle of water. Dave really liked the Petit Verdot, so we bought a bottle. As we went to leave, Dave inquired whether the glass his wine came in was ours to keep, too. The waiter said “no, but what am I going to do if I come out after you leave and the glass is gone?”. Of course, I took that as meaning it was ok to take the 2nd glass. Dave felt guilty and left him a nice tip. After our wine stop, we got back on the parkway and continued.

There are several references to the Revolutionary War and Civil War in our guide, especially from this point forward.

We stopped at Gillespie Gap, on the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail. In 1780, British Major Patrick Ferguson sent word to American Colonel Isaac Shelby that if the rebellion did not cease, the British Army would march over the mountains and “hand their leaders, and lay waste to the country with fire and sword”. American Colonel had contacted fellow Revolutionary leaders and rallied their forces to go on the offensive against the British. Shelby and fellow Revolutionary leader Jon Sevier led a group of 1,100 soldiers through Gillespie Gap en route to face British Major Ferguson, meeting at Kings Mountain, SC, where they won a crucial victory. Major Ferguson was killed. The important victory by the group, remembered as the Overmountain Men for their march to the battle, was one of a series of events leading to the British surrender at Yorktown.

There are 26 tunnels on the parkway in North Carolina, and we are at the Little Switzerland Tunnel which is the northernmost tunnel in NC.

We stop to read about groundhogs, frequently known as woodchucks or “whistle pigs”, which are the parkways most frequently seen animal – but we don’t see any. At mm 342.2, we read about the Black Mountains, the highest range in the East with an average elevation of 6,000 feet. We stopped at the Mt. Mitchell Overlook which is the highest mountain in the east at 6,684 feet. My. Mitchell is part of the Black Mountain range.

At mm 361.2, we get a view of Glassmine Falls. The 800 foot falls are so named because at the base of the falls is an old mica mine. Mica is also known as isinglass, and by the locals as glass.

At mm 370.3, we entered the Ashville Watershed. The watershed is one of the largest city owned watersheds in the a United States. This watershed supplies 30 million gallons of water daily and protects one of the few remaining spruce-fir forests in the area.

A long, productive day, but we end the day in Ashville at a Hampton where we’ve stayed before, and dinner at a Carrabbas’s where we’ve eaten before.

Thursday, October 1, 2020. MM 380 to 390 is Ashville and vicinity. We have been to Ashville and visited the Biltmore estate previously. Getting back on the parkway, we stop at the Parkways newest visitor center. We had hoped to see the film shown here, “The Blue Ridge Parkway -America’s Favorite Journey”, but the film is not being shown because of coronavirus. There are some large scale photos and exhibits, but they are roped off to keep people from touching anything. Moving on….

MM 390 to 469 is High Mountain Wilderness Views. This last section boasts the highest peaks on the parkway. We drive at elevations above 5,000 feet. This section has several tunnels, as well. According to our guide, there are black bears in the Blue Ridge. This doesn’t surprise me because we saw a black bear last year. According to our guidebook, black bears do not hibernate. They sleep a good deal in the winter, but their metabolism remains normal. In true hibernation, body temperature drops significantly and heart rate slows to one or two beats per minute.

We enter the Pisgah range, and stop to check out the Mount Pisgah Inn. The complex is along the parkway and includes rooms with balconies and private porches, a restaurant, a gift shop, camp store and restrooms.

Our next stop is at Cherry Cove at mm 425.7. In September, monarch butterflies fly through this narrow gap as they journey toward Mexico. Other butterflies can’t attempt such distances, but monarchs are more like migratory birds, able to fly several thousand miles. We see people on lawn chairs, watching to see the butterflies, even though it is October.

Wolf Mountain Overlook at 424.8 looks at the last stronghold of wolf in the area. The last remaining wolves were shot by farmers in the early 1900’s. Today, wolves have been reintroduced in Great Smokey Mountain National Park.

The highest point on the parkway is Richland Balsam Overlook. We had a little picnic lunch here. We had purchased sandwiches from the Mount Pisgah Inn camp store, and ate them looking out toward Richland Mountain, elevation 6,410.

We briefly drove through the Waterrock Knob Overlook, but remembered stopping there last year. There were many cars here, so we would not have stopped because there were too many people for us to social distance. On the way up to the Overlook is a plaque honoring engineer R. Getty Browning, who played an important part in the present day location of the parkway through NC.

As we traveled this section today, and approach Cherokee, NC., there were references in our guidebook of the Cherokee Indians. Apparently the Cherokee sided with the British during the Revolutionary War, and with the Confederates during the Civil War. At mm 458.9, the Cherokee a Reservation can be traced to a band of Cherokee who took refuge in the Smokies when their tribe was forcibly removed to Oklahoma.

I have not attached many long view photos, because they just don’t capture the beauty.

We end the day at the end of the parkway, mm 469.1, and drive 2 miles to Cherokee. Cherokee is interesting, but not particularly pretty. There are casinos, which is the only place you can get alcohol as Cherokee is dry. Therefore, no chain restaurants, only Mom & Pop places that serve meals, but no adult beverages. And, lots of restaurants did not make it with the shut down due to the coronavirus. We did not want to go to the casino just to eat, besides the fact it was valet parking or pay to self park. So we got fried chicken from a grocery store for dinner.

Friday, October 2, 2020. We are about 90 minutes away from the “Tail of the Dragon”, on US 129. Deals Gap is a mountain pass along the NC-TN state line, bordering the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. Just south of the gap is an unincorporated community that shares the same name, located at the intersection of US 129 and NC 28. The area is popular with sports car and motorcycle enthusiasts who cross the gap into TN to drive along “ The Dragon”, famous for its 318 curves in 11 miles. Before we get to Deals Gap, we saw a line of convertibles heading south that must have been part of a club, and a bunch of Porsche’s, also probably part of a club, assuming they drove the “Tail of the Dragon” early. We got to what I consider the southern starting point about 11:00AM, and perused the store. There is a huge statue of a dragon outside, with parts of vehicles attached that had wrecked on the 11 mile road. There are lots of motorcycles here, and several sports cars. But more motorcycles.

We headed out, and fortunately there was no one close behind me and no one too close in front of me. I was following a car, but he was moving pretty good, so not an issue. The curves are curvy, but banked pretty good. At one point Dave saw a policeman on a motorcycle on one of the curves. It was a fun drive and I’m glad we did it. While this stretch of road is famous for its curves, there are lots of curvy roads in North Carolina. Last year, the road driving to Chimney Rock was pretty curvy!

Time to head home! Just to prove that I do let Dave drive my car:

We arrived home Saturday evening about 6:30PM.

Lily’s Artwork! Just had to share!

Lily is just 5 years old! She definitely has talent!

Abu Dhabi to Milan 4/14 to 5/15/2019

April 14 to 16, 2019 Abu Dhabi

Months before our trip, I looked into the Visa requirement for the countries we plan to visit. Besides reading other people’s experiences, I checked the US website, and each country’s website. We will be sailing on Celebrity, and Celebrity uses VisaCentral as their vendor. I checked VisaCentral’s website and sent them an email. All my sources indicated the UAE visa would be obtained on arrival at the airport. Visas for Oman and Jordan would be obtained by the ship. Currently, we don’t need visas for the European Union.

About a month before the trip, I got no less than 5 emails from Celebrity advising me I needed visas. I got the same 5 emails from my travel agent because Celebrity forwarded the same visa letter to my travel agent, who dutifully forwarded it to me as instructed by Celebrity. Each time I dutifully checked VisaCentral and each country’s website to see if something had changed…it hadn’t. In this letter from Celebrity, the letter stated we need to bring 2 copies of the UAE visa when boarding the ship. I was assuming, based on all my research, when we arrive in Abu Dhabi and go thru passport control, that they are going to give me some document which I will copy at the hotel so I can have my 2 copies for Celebrity when we board.

We get to the Ft. Myers airport for our first flight and try to check our luggage with the Delta representative. He tells us we need a visa for Abu Dhabi. I show him my emails from VisaCentral, and the UAE government website that says we get our visa upon arrival in Abu Dhabi. He says he can’t accept that, and whatever he is looking at on his computer says we need a visa. After going around with him for about 5 minutes, he calls a higher up at Delta who says we don’t need a visa (Delta – please update your documentation for your gate people), apologizes, and checks our bags through to Abu Dhabi.

Finally, we are on our first flight from Ft. Myers to Atlanta…the beginning of about 20 hours flight time. We get close to Atlanta and the pilot tells us the Atlanta airport is closed because of storms. So we circle about an hour and finally land. We had plenty of time between flights on purpose so if there are delays, we are covered. After grabbing lunch at the Atlanta airport, we boarded our flight from Atlanta to Amsterdam. As takeoff time comes and goes, the pilot comes on and says the co-pilot has not arrived at the airport yet as he was delayed by the same storms that closed the airpot earlier. So we got to sit on the plane an extra hour, making our airplane seat time about 22 hours. Again, we had plenty of time in Amsterdam, so the delays did not affect our trip overall. Just a long day with no refreshing sleep. Finally we get to Abu Dhabi and have to wait in line another hour to clear passport control, which is where the visas should be issued. The guy stamps our passports, and Dave is asking him for our visas, since we’re suppose to have 2 copies for Celebrity. The passport control guy says, “You don’t need a visa”! So….we don’t know what will happen when we go to board our ship. Hopefully someone has told Celebrity that we don’t need visas for UAE. We shall find out tomorrow, but needless to say, we are very confused over this visa issue.

Tuesday, April 16: This morning we walked to the Sheik Zayed Mosque. It is about 1.5 miles from our hotel and took us about 35 minutes to get there. We had a nice sidewalk, but did not see anybody else walking! The roads are very nice, too, with several lanes for traffic. As we approached the Mosque from what I think was the west, we did not see an entrance. We saw some signs for parking, and walked to the north. We passed one parking entry, but the pedestrian gate was chained and the car entrance did not open for us. So we continued walking around the mosque and finally found an entrance on the north side. A security guard told us we could not enter there, we had to enter at the south parking lot. This mosque is huge and is suppose to be the 3rd largest mosque in the world, holding 40,000 worshippers. So, walking half-way around from the north side to the south side is a very long walk, but we did it. We actually found a slightly open car gate where we slipped in and saved ourselves several steps. The mosque is beautiful, as are the grounds it sits on. There are hoards of tourists visiting, so we had plenty of company. I worried much about what to wear as there is a very strict dress code. I ended up wearing my blue jeans, a short sleeve top with my black jacket to cover my arms. I wore a scarf that my cousin Sandie gave me YEARS ago, babushka style. I was afraid I could not have any hair showing, but I just needed a head covering, so I was dressed fine.

If you don’t have the proper clothing, you can borrow (rent? I heard there was a charge but I don’t know for sure) an outfit that covers you from head to toe with an attached hood to cover your hair. Men in shorts, sleeveless shirts, or otherwise considered inappropriate were issued a white robe, similar to what Arabic men wear that covers their legs and arms. Dave was dressed fine and didn’t get a white robe. We entered the visitor area with the masses, and completed a little form asking for sex, age, citizenship, tourist or resident on a machine that then spits out a ticket which you have to carry with you on your tour as it is scanned at different points along the way. Finally you walk to the mosque underground, utilizing moving sidewalks. We are able to see the outside of the building which is beautifully decorated, and then inside to see the prayer room.

Beautiful tiles outside sheik Zayed Mosque

The mosque covers 241,241 sq. ft, and holds the worlds largest carpet at 60,500 sq.ft. and 47 tons. The mosque also has the worlds largest chandelier which is from Germany. The chandelier measures 33feet in diameter and contains 1,000,000 Swarovski crystals.

World’s Largest Chandelier 33 feet in diameter with over 1 million Swarovski crystals

There are two identical, but smaller chandeliers, with all 3 hanging in the prayer room. The chandeliers are absolutely beautiful and colorful – not clear glass as I was expecting. There are shallow water ponds surrounding the mosque. The clear water ponds have tile bottoms, so they are very pretty, and calming to look at. Our whole visit took no more than an hour as there isn’t much else to see. There was no charge to visit the mosque.

Sheikh Zayed was very important to Abu Dhabi. He was the first president of the UAE and oversaw Abu Dhabi’s transformation from a small desert city to a modern but conservative city. There is lots of construction and building going on in Abu Dhabi. From my perspective, which may not be true, the lower level jobs – maids, wait people, etc, are held by immigrants. The more professional jobs, ie bank teller, are held by Abu Dhabi’s – in full Arabic dress.

We walked back to the hotel, grabbed some lunch, and got ready for our desert barbecue. Our driver picked us up about 3:15. I had arranged the tour, and found another couple to join us from our Cruise Critic message boards to split the cost. Unfortunately, the day before we left Florida, the other couple sent me an email saying they had to cancel the tour and the cruise due to a medical emergency. At that late time, we couldn’t find another couple to join us, so it ended up being a bit pricy for just the two of us. We headed out of Abu Dhabi to the desert with our driver Faisal (I’m probably butchering his name). It was close to an hour drive and he turned into the sand. He let air out of the tires for more traction. While there were many, many Toyota Land Cruisers, our driver and one other driver stayed together and away from all the other Toyota’s. Driving over the dunes, “dune bashing”, was much more fun than I imagined. It was like being on a roller coaster with the Toyota slipping, sliding and turning to 45 degree angles. There was sand blowing all over the place. Following the other driver gave me some comfort because I could see what was coming next. Dave asked him if he ever tipped one over and Faisal said no, never! We dune bashed for 30 minutes or so and stopped for a break in the middle of nowhere on top of a dune. We took a few pictures and started talking to the people in the other car…amazingly, it was a lady I met thru the cruise critic message boards, Violet! They are Canadiens but have a condo on Placida Road at Fiddlers Green. She and I met up for lunch one day at Leverocks. It was really amazing that Violet and her group were in the other car. After some pictures and talking to Violet and her group, we got back in our respective Toyota’s and did some more dune bashing. Somewhere in the middle of the desert we stopped at a camel farm and saw a large group of camels. Some were roaming loose, but pregnant females and young camels were behind fences to protect them. Two of the loose camels were very friendly and wandered up to us for some petting and pictures. Camels are raised for their meat, however we haven’t seen camel on any menus. There were several donkeys around, and the donkeys are used to carry in supplies for the camels. The donkeys were wandering, loose, also. I’m assuming it is because this is were they get food and water, so there is no need to wander off. As we finished our camel visit and were walking back to the cars, a whole caravan of Toyota’s pull up for their camel visit. We were very glad we were there alone. Hard to get one on one with a camel when there are 100 other people wanting to get one on one with the camel 😁. More dune bashing, and then we get to the “camp” for some entertainment and our desert barbecue dinner. Again, we are the first Toyotas there, ahead of all the other Toyotas, and our drivers pick out a table for us front and center. We also get to all the different activities first. Violet is traveling with her husband, Charlie, her sister Mary, and Mary’s friend, Gail. Mary, Gail and Charlie rode camels….it was less than 5 minutes. The just went in a little circle. Then we could have dune boarded, but since this is the very beginning of our vacation, we all passed as we didn’t want to fall and break something. Next we tried on Arabic dress. The ladies put on long black robes as you see Muslim women wearing and black headscarf’s. Our hair is not suppose to show, but my hair did not cooperate. The men put on long white robes, with a red print headscarf and a black rope gizmo that holds the scarf in place. I asked Faisal why some men had the white head scarfs and others had this red print one. If I didn’t get this backwards, men from Saudi Arabia wear the white ones. While in full Arabic dress, we got to hold a falcon! I think he was fairly young as he was not too large.

After the falcon, We ditched the Arabian dress as it was just too hot. Gail, from Violet’s group, got a henna tattoo, which was very pretty. I did not get one. Gail and Mary walked to the top of a dune to watch the sunset….Dave and I chilled. We have seen plenty of beautiful sunsets in Englewood. Soon our buffet dinner was ready. I’m sure I don’t remember all the choices, but the food had a Lebanese slant. We had lavash bread, hummus, tabouli, macaroni, rice, two vegetarian curries, chicken, lamb, bread pudding, apples, and oranges. Sodas, water and coffee were free. Hard liquor was available for about $6 a shot. They had beer for purchase, but I don’t know the price. After dinner we had entertainment by a belly dancer and a man that danced. Both dancers were really good. We were all quite impressed. I can’t remember the name of the dance that the man did, tabouli (?) dance, but it reminded me of the twirling dervish’s of Turkey. He kept spinning the whole time. I’m sure that sounds weird, but both dancers were really amazing. People could hang out and dance on the stage afterwards, to Arabic music, but we elected to leave. Actually no one got up on the stage to dance. I think everyone left, but, again, we got out of there before all the other Toyota’s left. Dave told me that he was glad I wanted to do the desert barbecue because he enjoyed it much more than he thought he would.

April 17, 2019 Abu Dhabi

Today is our last day in Abu Dhabi. We board our ship and head to Dubai. Abu Dhabi is a very clean, modern city. One thing that amazes me is the speed limits. As we drove to the desert yesterday, the speed limit was 170 km, which is about 100 mph. Today we were driven around “downtown” and the speed limit was 80 km, which is about 50 mph, in the city!

We need to get from our hotel to our ship. Our concierge arranged a half day tour, and the driver would take us to our ship. Dave and I had picked a few things we wanted to see in Abu Dhabi before leaving. The first stop was Capital Gate which is also called the leaning tower of Abu Dhabi. It has an 18 degree lean, which is supposedly 4 times more than the leaning tower of Pisa. There is a Hyatt hotel in this building…but not sure I’d like to stay there! Sorry it isn’t a better picture, but it was a bit hard to capture.

Our driver took us to a souk, which was not on our itinerary. The stuff in the souk was beautiful…carpets, jewelry, clothing, etc., but we are not in the acquiring years (😁). We looked around with a guide, but did not buy anything.

The next stop was Emirates Palace. This is actually the old palace which has been converted into an EXPENSIVE hotel. Dave had to have on long pants and, of course, I had to be dressed conservatively also. I did not realize the palace and hotel were the same location. As tourists, we were allowed into the public areas of the hotel, which used to be the palace. The place is huge with guards all over the place to make sure us peons did not get into the hotel guest areas. Beautiful crystal chandeliers were hanging all over. Nowhere as big as the mosque, but beautiful nonetheless. There is a new palace for the royal family, but our driver said guests of the royal family stay at the Emirates Palace/hotel. This hotel covers such a large area that guests are given bicycles to get around. Picture is of the new palace.

After the Palace/hotel, we went to the Heritage Village. This was an area showing what Abu Dhabi culture used to be. We walked through a recreated desert area with the different types of housing. Of course there were vendors selling all kinds of Arabic goods. There was a museum, which contained costumes, tools and historic pictures. One picture was of Abu Dhabi in 1960. Abu Dhabi in 1960 was a few tents and huts in the sand. There were no roads, buildings, sidewalks….nothing. Today, there are many large buildings, great roads and sidewalks. I enjoyed the museum more than any other sights at the Heritage Village.

Our last stop was the Qasr Al Hosn, which is the oldest building in Abu Dhabi. It is a fort built in 1793. Unfortunately for us, it is under renovation, so we were only able to drive close by.

We were disappointed with our driver, as his English was very difficult to understand. While we enjoyed Abu Dhabi, we do not feel like this is someplace we have to come back to.

We got on the ship, and were disappointed that our stateroom does not have a sofa. Only an oversized chair which also folds out to a single bed. Our balcony is very nice and we have nice furniture. As we look over the side, we see many jelly fish!

April 18, 2019 Dubai

To follow up on the visa issue, we checked in to our Celebrity cruise with no problems. All they wanted was our passports which the ship holds until the end of our cruise. It is very frustrating that Celebrity kept sending emails for no good reason.

We booked a private tour in a Dubai with Dubai Private Tours. Our guides name was “Shah”.

I felt like we saw a lot in our short time in Dubai. We really liked Dubai. We were with our guide about 6 hours. I was a little concerned at first because Shah talked non-stop, and was full of information and details about Dubai and the UAE. However, I got used to his endless information and thought he was a really good guide.

Since our guide met us at 8:00am, there was not a lot of places open until after 9:00. He walked us through the souk Madina Jumeirah, but most of the stores were closed. This souk is also known as Little Venice. Supposedly it is an authentic recreation of an ancient marketplace with traditional Middle Eastern style and ambience. Somehow, to me, being inside and air conditioned, I don’t get the connection as an authentic recreation of an ancient marketplace. But, because of the hype, it was on the tour. We did not spend much time here.

Next was a photo stop of Burj Al Arab Jumeira, the most expensive hotel in the world. It is a 7 star hotel, with a helipad at the top, which is on the top at the left in the photo. Unless you have a reservation, or a guest, you cannot even get on the grounds of the hotel. The building looks like a large sail. Our stop here was along the beach and allowed me to dip my feet in the Arabian Gulf, if you are in the UAE, but also known as the Persian Gulf if you’re in Iran.

On the beach in front of the Burj Al Arab Jumeira

Then we drove to Palm Jumeira Island, which is the man made island that looks like a palm tree. The trunk portion of the tree has lots of tall buildings, most of which are hotels. The palm fronds are villas owned by rich people. Our guide said the villas cost $3 to $8 million USD. If villa owners also own boats (yachts), they cannot dock them by their villas, they have to dock them in the marina. The palm tree part of the island is surrounded by another man made island in the shape of a crescent. We accessed the crescent by means of a tunnel, but there is also a monorail that travels the length on the Palm Island and out to the crescent. There are lots of hotels on the crescent including an Atlantis hotel. However, the king of Dubai is building another Atlantis hotel that is twice the size of existing Atlantis.

According to our guide, Jumeira and Jumeirah means it is owned by the king.

We drove up to the Kings palace gate, but there is no admittance. There are horse statues on the kings gates because the king loves horses.

Leaving Palm Jumeira Island, we drove to the Burj Khalifa, which is the tallest building in the world. It is 2,722 feet total height. This is another building where access is restricted, so to go up into the building, you have to buy a ticket. The cost of the tickets depend on how high you go, and whether it is during prime or non prime hours. The cheapest ticket is $36.75 per person to go to floors 124 and 125, and the most expensive ticket is $143.00 per person to go to floor 148 during prime hours. We did not go up into the building. Actually our guide took us through Souk Al Bahar, a mall next to the Dubai Mall, and we were able to get pictures of the Burj Khalifa. The Souk Bahar looked like a mall in the USA, except some of the goods had an Arabic flair. But, there are lots of US companies, stores and restaurants in Dubai. We saw Applebee’s, Trader Vic’s, McDonalds, 5 Guys burgers, etc. We did not go into the Dubai Mall which is billed as the largest mall in the world, and is connected to the Burj Khalifa.

Burj Khalifa – the tallest building in the world (2019)

We walked through the Bastakiya Quarter which has several museums. We found it had several artists studios selling their art. We walked into a couple of studios, but did not spend a lot of time here, either.

We rode an Abra which is a water taxi across Dubai creek (man made) to visit the spice and gold souks.

I would say the spice souk is a couple of blocks long, with some stores on side streets. There are no cars, all pedestrian walkways. Our guide stopped at one store and explained all the different spices. It is amazing to me that there are probably 100 vendors, all selling the same spices. We sampled a date with an almond in the center, covered with chocolate which was very good. We also sampled some dried lemon, candied ginger, figs, pistachios (California, salted, saffron flavored and one other flavor I can’t remember), and two types of almonds. We ended up buying some pistachios and the chocolate covered dates with an almond in the center. We probably bought a pound or more of pistachios and 6 chocolate covered dates for $10. We just filled a bag with the pistachios and supposedly our guide bargained the price for us…but who knows. As he walked with us in the souks, he knew many of the vendors and kept telling them we were Australians. Later he said Australians never buy anything, so when he said we were Australians, the vendors would leave us alone.

After the spice souk we went to the gold souk. This is a place where we spent some time! They had beautiful jewelry. We did not buy anything, but I sure enjoyed looking. I saw a pair of diamond earrings I liked, but they were about $4,900, so a little rich for my blood. No wonder I liked them! Our guide did not walk with us here, so we wandered on our own. According to our guide, there are no pick pockets and the gold sellers are very honest.

We rode the Abra back across Dubai creek and headed back to the ship.

Some of the things that our guide told us:

Only about 15% of Dubais population are Arabs. The rest are immigrants. Immigrants have to report every 2 years to renew their visa. If the immigrants do not have a job, or if they have an infectious disease, they are deported. There are many more men than women in Dubai.

Dubai is very safe because if you do something illegal, you are thrown in jail and if you’re an immigrant, you are deported. He claimed there is literally no crime. He said there are cameras all over which are watching. Phone calls and social media are monitored.

If 2 Dubai people marry, they are given a house and $40,000. But if its a marriage between a local and an immigrant, they don’t get anything. This is to encourage citizens not to intermarry.

They pay about $2.90 for an equivalent of 1 gallon of gas – similar to what we pay in US.

Alcohol is available in clubs and hotels, but Muslims do not drink alcohol. Also, Muslim men do not wear gold. Gold is only for women.

I mixed up the male headscarves – white represents UAE, and red represents Saudi Arabia. The black rope around the top of the men’s headscarf was originally so they could tie down their camel. These days it is more to hold down the headscarf. It is not Muslims that wear the robes, but Arabs. There are lots of Muslims that are not Arabs. Muslim men are not suppose to show their knees or elbows.

Stuff about the king that I can remember. He has had at least 6 wives, but can only have 4 at a time. Right now he has 2 wives. He has 24 children. He is a big horse fancier and always strives to have the biggest and best. Supposedly this is because in horse races, nobody remembers who came in second. His first born son died young of a heart attack, but the British press insinuated it was the result of heavy drug use. The crown prince is 37 years old. The royal family does not release any information about themselves or what is going on in their family, so it is unknown whether or not the crown prince is married. The successor to the king does not need to be the first born son, but it must be a male relative – brother, son, nephew – who ever the king thinks will be a better king.

April 19, 2019 Muscat, Oman

Today we have a ships tour, “Panoramic Muscat”. We had chosen a walking tour, but it was cancelled. In the Arab world, their weekend days are Friday and Saturday, and Sunday is a workday. So I believe our walking tour was cancelled because so much is closed on Fridays. In reality, it is pretty warm today, so a walking tour would have been very hot. Panoramic tours are generally bus rides, and stops for photo opportunities, and that held true today.

Our first photo stop was the Omani opera house. It was a big marble building with expensive shops attached. It was closed today, so we only saw the outside. Apparently the Sultan is a big fan of opera and has his own orchestra.

The next stop was a photo opportunity of the grand mosque. The mosque is closed to visitors on Fridays, so we could not visit the inside. The capacity is 20,000, but only room for 750 females. Women do not have to attend mosque. They can pray from home. This mosque used to have the largest single piece carpet, but now it’s the second largest after the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi. The chandelier used to be the worlds largest, but now it is second to Abu Dhabi, too. Dave and I thought the landscaping was very nice.

We drove to the Mutrah Souq for some free time to shop. This souq happens to be close to the port. All the souq’s we’ve visited are basically the same: lots of vendors selling pretty much the same goods. It reminds me of the now defunct Dome, or a flea market with lots of vendors with small booths. They had spices, jewelry, clothing, souvenirs, etc. we wandered around, but did not buy anything.

Our last stop was a photo opportunity of the Al Alam Palace. The sultan does not live here, but meets visitors and does business here…it’s the ceremonial palace. The Sultan is in Muscat today as evidenced by the flag flying above the palace.

Our guide was a 25 year old who was educated in Oregon. He said Oman is 50% Omani’s and 50% ex pats. The average monthly wage is $1500. He indicted the Omani economy is not so good right now. Their main exports are oil, gas and fish. Most of their oil and gas goes to China and Japan. He wore the white robe and a smaller, round cap.

He said his cap was due to the African influence, particularly Zanzibar, and is considered casual wear. More formal headdress for men would be a turban. He said women generally wear colorful clothes. The women wearing the black abaya are due to Saudi influence. Most of the women we saw were tourists, but I did see a few Muslim women wearing black. Maybe we saw one woman wearing a white scarf on her head and colorful clothes. I’m not sure if she was an Omani or a tourist. Our guide also pointed out two huge yachts that belong to the Sultan. Apparently the Sultan sailed to Libya on one yacht at onetime, and hasn’t used either yacht since.

Today’s port call was only 5 hours, and we did not think there was much to see in Oman. We were invited to watch the sail away from the helipad on the front of the ship. That is always a neat event, they give free Champaign, and the crew walks around and introduces themselves to the passengers for a one on one conversation. However, Dave wore his Patriots cap and we were cornered by a Canadian passenger who wanted to discuss sports.

We got our pirate letter, and will have a drill tomorrow.

Procedure for cruising through the Gulf of Aden

Today is our 34th anniversary. Dave sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers and we are going to eat at a specialty restaurant tonight.

My flowers from Dave for our 34th Anniversary

April 20 – 25, 2019 Sea Days and Petra

We had 5 sea days traveling from Muscat, Oman to Aqaba, Jordan. We really did not do much – read, attended some presentations, drank a lot of adult beverages and caught colds ☹️. We were just beginning to feel congested, and at dinner when sharing pleasantries with our waiter, he told us he had a cold and had gone to the ships doctor! So, we knew where we caught the cold! Onboard is David Weimers, who worked in Hollywood. He gave some interesting presentations on celebrities and movies. He also worked at a Disney World on some of their animations. We’ve only caught one evening show, due to feeling exhausted from our colds. Did not want to share our disease 😁.

The ship took the pirate issue very seriously. At sunset, lights were dimmed, exits to the outside decks were blocked. During the daylight hours, all open decks had security guards posted watching for pirates. We also traveled in a convoy with two other cruise ships. We could see the other ships as we were traveling. The good news is that there were no issues and we are safe. For Dave and I, this part of the world is fascinating and we are really sad that it is such a hotbed. We are glad we could take this cruise and visit some interesting places. While we are definitely in a Muslim/Arabic world, everyone we have had contact with has been very nice (maybe because they are making money from us?). Anyway, very enjoyable so far.

We did some walking on the ship to try to keep in shape at least a little bit. I had been using the “steps” app on my phone. One day I decided to try the “map my walk” app. Imagine how shocked I was to find out we walked 19+ miles in an hour! Then I realized the app was capturing the ships movement and we had only walked a little over 3 miles.

We had attended a presentation on Petra, and were warned we would have to walk 3 miles. That scared off some people and they cancelled their tour. Dave and I were ready!

Our ship docked about an hour early. We were taking a ships excursion, and wanted to be on one of the first buses. We went to the meeting location to get our stickers about an hour early, and we were already on bus #2! We could understand most of what the guide said. He was born in Jordan and educated in Russia! He was good in that he really did not get into any politics. After leaving Aqaba on the bus, most of the scenery was of desert, with hills. It was amazing the long views we had of the desert. Our guide said Jordan had many historical, biblical sights. One of those is the tomb of Aaron, Moses brother. The tomb is the white building on top of the hill. This is one of two sites claiming to be Aaron’s tomb.

Our guide, Ceia, also talked about the Bedouin’s. Generally they are a nomadic people and live in tents. We did see tents in the desert, with camels and goats around. Our guide said the black tents were the Bedouin’s and the colored tents are gypsies. The government built housing for the Bedouin’s to encourage them to be more permanent. Some have moved into the housing but some still live in tents.

Many of the women we see are covered. If we had stayed in Aqaba, women were advised to cover their arms and knees. Muslim men are also suppose to cover their arms and knees. But many of the women wear black coverings, and the temperatures in Aqaba were mid nineties, and it is not the hottest time of the year yet. While walking in Petra, I saw a woman, covered in black, carrying a baby totally wrapped in what looked like a wool blanket. I will say the temperatures in Petra were cooler than Aqaba because it is at a higher elevation …. I would guess upper 70’s. Ceia said Jordan is 94% Muslim and 6% Christian. In defense of the treatment of women, Ceia gave us many statistics on the number of businesses are owned by women, Jordan gave women the right to vote before Switzerland, women have to have a certain percentage of seats in government, if a father/husband dies women still receive his salary for the rest of their lives or until they remarry/marry…etc. I’m sure he mentioned more, but those are the ones I remember. Ceia also said a Muslim man is allowed to marry a Muslim woman, a Christian woman or a Jewish woman because those religions believe in one God.

After driving about 1.5 hours, we took a bathroom break, which also happened to be a souvenir shop. Dave and I were not tempted…besides, Jordan seems to be very expensive. 1 Jordan Dinar is equivalent to $1.40.

We drove about 15 minutes more (which tells you the bathroom stop generated some Jordanian dinars to the tour company or Celebrity). Our lunch was at a very nice Marriott, served buffet style. I thought the food was good, but Dave is a little more finicky because we had no clue what we were eating. I think one of the dishes was lamb, but could have been goat or camel….

Finally we get the the entrance of Petra. The altitude goes from about 4400 feet down to 2600 feet. It is all downhill going in. It is not known exactly when Petra was built, but the city prospered as the capital of the Nabataean Empire from the 1st century BC. The Nabataeans grew rich through trade in frankincense, myrrh, and spices. It was a center of trade and caravans passed through Petra making it a large, commercial trading center. Petra was later annexed to the Roman Empire and continued to thrive until a large earthquake in 363AD destroyed much of the city in the 4th Century AD. Also in the 4th Century AD, the Nabataean’s converted to Christianity. The earthquake combined with changes in trade routes, eventually led to the downfall of the city which was ultimately abandoned. By the middle of the 7th century Petra appears to have been largely deserted and it was then lost to all except local Bedouin from the area. At the end of the 12th century, after the conclusion of the Crusades, groups of Bedouin’s camped amongst the ruins of the ancient city, and fearing the arrival of treasure hunters, kept its existence secret for many years.

One version of the “rediscovery” of Petra was that in 1812 a Swiss explorer named Johannes Burckhardt set out to “rediscover” Petra. He was an expert in the Arabic language and Islamic religion, dressed up as an Arab and convinced his Bedouin guide to take him to the lost city. Another version that we heard was that Burckhardt was looking for another ancient city and stumbled on Petra. Regardless, Petra became increasingly known in the West as a fascinating and beautiful ancient city, and began attracting visitors.

Just after we passed the entrance to Petra there are horses, and carriages. I am not totally sure how this works….Ceia said the carriages were not available, but the horses were included in our tickets…however you are expected to tip the horse’s owner at the end of the ride. But it seemed like the ride was not very long….maybe the equivalent of a block, which is not very far in the scheme of things.

We started our walk, downhill, and quickly learned that most of the monuments we would be seeing were actually tombs. First we see Djinn blocks which are square, 20 to 30 feet tall, considered by the Bedouins as the seat of spirits guarding the city. The Djinn blocks are generally considered to be tombs either left unfinished or stripped of their original decoration.

Next we see “The Obelisk” tomb which is actually two stories. The top is the Obelisk Tomb and the bottom is the “Bab al-Siq Triclinium”, which is believed to have been used to serve banquets each year to honor memory of the deceased. The Obelisk tomb has five niches carved into the walls, presumably to hold 5 bodies.

In ancient times, Petra was a green city with fountains and gardens. The Nabataean’s had built a dike (Wadi Musa river? I think) and water conduits to divert the water to supply the needs of the city. The dike diverts the river water into a 280 foot tunnel and then into the conduits, partly made of terra-cotta pipes. The Nabataeans built a bridge over the dyke to allow access to the Siq.

We walk some more and enter the “Siq”. The Siq is a narrow passageway between tall rock walls which is the only easy way to enter the city. The rock walls of the Siq are 280 – 290 feet tall and in some stretches only 10 feet apart. The walls of the Siq have carvings, voltive niches and even ancient graffiti. There are carvings representing gods, but lack descriptions to designate which gods.

After about 1.25 miles, we finally get a peak at “The Treasury”. The Siq opens up into a big open area in front of the treasury, who official name is “al-Khazneh al-Faroun”, which means, the Pharaoh’s Treasury. It was a belief among the Bedouin tribes that an unnamed pharaoh had hidden a treasure in the urn crowning the facade. The facade has numerous bullet holes from useless attempts to take possession of the supposed treasure. However, it is probably most famous because of its position at the end of the Siq and its exceptional state of preservation because it is deeply set into the mountainside and protected from erosion and the elements. Indiana Jones has helped its claim to fame, too. It is 92’ wide and 131’ tall, and two levels. We could not go inside, but were told the lower lever has 3 rooms which originally were stuccoed. Some scholars say this was a tomb of a Nabatean king, others say it was a temple. Dating the structure is debated also. The prevailing theory is it was built mid-century BC to hold the remains of Aretas III (85-62BC) or Obodas II (62-59 BC).

This is not the end of our tour. I thought our guide would leave us at this point, but he continued on with us pointing out more points of interest. Continuing down we go through an area called the outer Siq. We see another group of tombs called the Street of Facades. Some of these tombs have stairways carved into the upper part, believed to be stairways to heaven.

The next point of interest is a Roman styled theatre which could seat between 6000 and 8000 spectators. The area where the theatre stands is at the edge of the urban area. The tombs would have been built outside the city center, but there are a few rooms dug out of the rock above the theatre. These rooms are distinguished from tombs because they lack carved facades.

Just past the theater we stop at a vendor selling refreshments and some souvenirs. The road continues to the area of the ancient city, and across the road and up a hill from here are 4 more tombs. Our guide is leaving us at this point and gives us the choice to walk back to the entrance, continue on to the ancient city, or walk up to the tombs. We check with him as to the best option and he recommends walking up to the tombs because it gives you a view of the ancient city. Of our bus of 40, Dave and I are the only ones walking to the top. It is 200 steps (I counted). These tombs are called the Royal Tombs. The first tomb, and the one we could enter, is the Urn Tomb. It is called the Urn tomb because of the large urn carved onto the top. We could only enter the ground floor, but it did have two levels. The inside was a large cavernous room and the ceiling was multicolored rock. Dave thought it had been painted, but I think it was natural. There was some black on the ceiling which I think may have been from fires inside. To the left of the Urn Tomb is the Silk Tomb. It is called the Silk Tomb because of the multicolored veins of sandstone on the facade. The two other tombs in this grouping are the Corinthian Tomb and Palace Tomb. The Corinthian tomb has many columns but is in a poor state of preservation due to erosion. The Palace Tomb resembles homes of the Hellenistic rulers, consists of three levels, and is believed to be the tomb of the last Nabatean king, Rabbel II (70 – 106 AD), but is not proven.

While there is still much more to see, we have to get back to our meeting point so we don’t miss our bus! It is about 3 miles to this point, so we have to walk back about 3 miles, uphill. I have to mention the carriages, which our guide said were unavailable. While we are walking, these carriages come racing by us. It is truly a miracle that no one (especially us) gets run over. There isn’t much warning, but you can hear them. The area where you walk is very uneven, with lots of stone, making walking difficult. Apparently the Romans “paved” the walkway in some areas, but that just means they laid down some bigger, flatter stones. I was in shock when we left the treasury area and I saw a man with a walker. He was really struggling with the rocky path. There are plenty of vendors selling everything along the path, but there are restrooms, too. There are many people visiting. I could not believe the number of buses when our bus pulled into the parking lot! It was packed!

One other thing our guide mentioned was that the Bedouins lived in the tombs and rocks until 1985. Then the government built them some homes and evicted them from ancient Petra. Ceia said some people (Bedouins) remember which tomb they were born in!

Petra was phenomenal. I would love to go back because I don’t think we saw even 1/2 of it. Dave and I love historic stuff, especially if it’s not in a museum.

My steps app showed we had walked over 6 miles. We left Petra about 6:00PM and had about a 4 hour visit. It was a 2 hour drive home on the bus with the required stop at a souvenir shop for a bathroom break. One of our previous guides told us these shops pay big dollars for tours to stop, even if no one buys anything. We got back to the ship about 8:30, pretty exhausted. Our bad colds were not helping.

As we drove to the port, it was night, and we could see lots of lights, which our guide said was Israel. If you look at a map, Aqaba, where the ship docked, is at the very end of Jordan with Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt as very close neighbors.

Tomorrow is a sea day, and then we have the Suez Canal.

April 26 – 27, 2019 Suez Canal

We left Aqaba and headed south around the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula and then north in the Red Sea to the Suez Canal. As we got closer to Suez, we saw oil platforms, which we had not seen previously.

At the end of the day, Friday, we were approaching the entrance to the Canal. About 11:30PM, the ship dropped anchor to await its morning slot to transit the Canal.

Approximately 50 ships a day transit the Suez Canal. The Suez Canal cuts through Egypt, so we had Egypt on both sides of the ship. The Canal reduces the journey from the Arabian Sea to Europe by over 5,000 miles. Supposedly the first Canal between the Red Sea and the Nile River was dug about the 13th century BC. Cleopatra may have sailed in a Canal between the Red Sea and the Nile River. Napoleon considered the feasibility of a Canal, but his scouts incorrectly concluded the Red Sea was 30 feet higher than the Mediterranean. The current Canal was begun in 1859 and finished in 1869. There are no locks on the Suez Canal, with seawater flowing freely through it. There are two lakes, the Great Bitter Lake and Little Bitter Lake. In general, the Canal north of the Bitter Lakes flows north in winter and south in summer.

The first ship through the Canal was suppose to be the imperial yacht of French Empress Eugenia, followed by the British ocean liner “Delta”. But a British navy ship navigated to the front of the line under cover of darkness and was the first ship to navigate the canal. The captain was officially reprimanded but secretly lauded by the British government.

The Canal was owned by the United Kingdom and France, until 1956 when it was nationalized by the Egyptian President, an event that led to the Suez Crisis. This led to the Israelis striking and then the British and French. Nikita Khrushchev and the Soviets supported Egypt. Eisenhower cautioned Khrushchev to refrain from direct intervention and threatened Israel, Britain and France with economic sanctions if they persisted. The threats did their work and the Israelis, Britain and France withdrew. However, the Canal continued to figure prominently in the conflicts between Egypt and Israel during the ‘60’s and ‘70’s. The Canal was closed during the Six-Day War of 1967, when several vessels were sunk in the waterway, blocking the shipping lanes. The Canal was reopened in 1975 after an international task force had cleared it of obstacles. Unrestricted Israeli use of the Canal was secured in the peace treaty with Egypt in 1979.

Ships transit the Canal in convoys. We were the second ship in a convoy of 21 ships, starting about 5:30am. I believe only the first two ships in our convoy were passenger cruise ships and the others were container ships.

When we reached Great Bitter Lake, there were 11 ships that had entered the Canal before our convoy, but were at anchor in Great Bitter Lake until our convoy of 21 ships passed, then they would continue after our 21 ships. I don’t know why they had to wait and then follow us … it sounded weird, but that’s what we were told. A total of 57 ships transited the Canal today.

The Canal is a little over 120 miles long, and is a “no wake zone”. We went through at about 9 miles per hour. There were two tug boats on each side of our ship all the way through. Before entering the Canal, 4 technical Egyptian crew boarded our ship and two pilots. About midway, the two pilots were relieved and two more pilots boarded the ship. I have no idea why we needed all these people and two tugs ($$$$ probably or the Egyptian full employment plan). At 9 mph, it took over 11 hours to transit the Canal.

The west side of the Canal has a lot of development and is very green. This is because of irrigation from the Nile river. The east side of the Canal has little development and is all desert, the Sinai. However, some of the larger cities are expanding and development is starting on the east side. At one point there is a new city with residences for 750,000 people. Supposedly there are tunnels under the Canal so people can move from one side to the other.

We passed under the Al Salam bridge which looks a lot like the I275 bridge over Tampa Bay. We did not see one car on the bridge. But just past the bridge was a ferry transporting vehicles from one side to the other. Not sure why they could not drive over the bridge.

We exited the Canal at Port Said, which is also a port for cruise ships. We did not stop there as we are on our way to Athens, but have been to Port Said on previous Egyptian cruises.

April 29, 2019 Athens

Our plan it to DIY Athens. Our ship is docked in Terminal B at Piraeus which means we will have to take a port shuttle bus to Terminal A and then walk to the metro. We took the metro from Athens to Piraeus previously, and we remember that it is a long way. Actually there was construction going on then, and we got on the metro going the wrong way and almost missed our ship! Today we had plenty of time. We decided to head out about 9:00 AM, and it is a long walk to the metro, if you can find it! It is about a two mile walk. The first building we saw was actually a train station, not the metro. The ticket agent pointed us to go back across the street. We crossed the street, and again a lot of construction, so not sure where we were going. We were following another couple headed to the metro, and finally found the right building. The Greeks do not make it easy! We got our tickets – actually full day passes for 4.5 euros each, so if we decided to use public transportation in Athens we could, and we would already have our tickets back to Piraeus. We took the green line toward Athens and transferred to the blue line at Monastiraki. Then two stops on the blue line. We were heading to Mount Lycabettus which has a beautiful view of Athens. We left the subway and walked the wrong direction because everything was in Greek (imagine that) but ended up by the Hilton where we stayed a few years ago. We took advantage of the Hilton and took a bathroom break and gathered our bearings.

Dave has a phenomenal sense of direction and once he gets his bearings, he rarely if ever gets lost.

I was also able to use the Hilton WiFi, and pull up directions to Mount Lycabettus from the Hilton. We knew there was a cable car to the top, so our mission was to find the entrance to the cable car. We started walking, and knew we were on the right road. What we didn’t realize was we had to walk up about 500 steps to get to the entrance to the cable car. Usually I count steps, but today I didn’t. All I can say is that there were a lot of steps…I was pooped. We kept looking for the cable car entrance, afraid we missed it. But no, it was just higher up. We were so tired when we finally got to the cable car entrance that we bought round trip tickets for 7.5 euros so we could ride part way down. We got to the top, and of course, there were quite a few people. The views are wonderful. We could see the Acropolis and the ocean.

There is a Greek Orthodox Church at the top, too, and today was Orthodox Easter Monday with a service going on at the church. A priest was walking around sprinkling holy water and soliciting donations. We could not get close to the entrance of the little church. There is also a restaurant which seemed pretty reasonable according to the menu which included an entree, salad and glass of wine for 13 euros. However, we planned to go to our favorite restaurant in the Plaka area, and it was only about 11:20am, so a bit too early for lunch.
We rode the cable car back down, which was only partway down, and started walking towards the Plaka. About 2 minutes before noon, we got to Syntagma Square and happened to catch the changing of the guard. The Greek Soldiers have a very unique ceremonial walk.

Changing of the Guard at the Unknown Soldier’s Tomb in Athens

We have seen it before, but it was cool to catch it again. After the crowds disbursed, I spotted Violet, the Canadian lady I hooked up with before the cruise and the same lady that we ran into in the Abu Dhabi desert. I walked up to her and asked her if she knew the way to a Englewood
😁 . Her group had a guide, and were headed to the Plaka area, too.
Lots of stores were closed today since it was Greek Orthodox Easter Monday, but we did find a pharmacy that was open so we could stock up on cold medicine…which is in Greek…so I hope it works. Finally got to Plaka. This is a big tourist area with lots of souvenir shops. It covers several blocks, up and down a main drag and side streets, too. We wandered a bit and eventually found “our” restaurant. Unfortunately, ownership has changed ☹ .

The old Greek who gave us ouzo was not there any longer – a much younger ownership. The name of the restaurant is still the same, Thespis. It has a beautiful, long view of mountains, I think to the northeast.

View of mountains from “our” restaurant in Athens

If we didn’t have umbrellas over our tables, there is a view of the Acropolis to the west, too. I had lamb kabobs and Dave had sea bass…plus 1/2 liter of white wine and 1/2 liter of red wine. It was a very nice lunch. After lunch we walked through the Plaka some more, but the merchandise is really junk. So no, we didn’t buy anything, but we looked. I was hoping to find a nice jewelry store, but the nice ones were closed today because of a Greek Orthodox Easter. We found another area that billed itself as a flea market, and wandered through there for awhile…same junky souvenirs, but fun to look at. What is neat about Athens is that you run into ruins that are fenced off and protected as you are wandering around. We saw a little church that was protected but the Plaka area was built up all around it.

When walking around, you can look up and get a glimpse of the acropolis from many locations, this one near Plaka.

I really enjoy the DIY trips that Dave and I do. It is much more enjoyable than being herded around with 40 people. However, those big group tours have their place, but we have been to Athens several times and actually stayed at the Athens Hilton for three or four days in the past, so more fun to pick a sight and strike out on our own.
We headed back to Piraeus on the metro and has no issues getting back to our ship, except for the 2 mile walk. We actually got back about 4:00PM. The Qsine specialty restaurant manager was by the elevators looking for people to come to his restaurant tonight. It is normally $45 per person for the specialty restaurants, so we negotiated with him for a rate of $29 per person! Looking forward to dinner!
Tomorrow we strike out on our own again. The ship docks in Katakolon, Greece which is the port for ancient Olympia. We have rented a car and plan to drive ourselves to ancient Olympia.

April 30, 2019 – Katakolon – Olympia

Happy Birthday, Nicole! I am so lucky to have a great daughter in law and today is her birthday! I hope she enjoys every minute!

Some random thoughts….the metro from Piraeus to Athens was disgusting, making Chicago subway cars look pristine, but the other metros we were on were clean and nice. I found this strange because I had dirty Kleenex and could not find a trash can to dispose of them.

Wandering around the ship, not only tonight but other days as well, I have found it interesting that people are dressed in Arabic clothing. For dinner, one couple wore the whole she-bang ….man in white robe with headdress and woman in black robe with black head covering. Similar folks out on the deck while transiting the Suez Canal. Walked by a woman with mans headdress in coffee lounge, with shorts and t-shirt. I really should have taken pictures.

Today we docked in Katakolon, Greece which is the port for Ancient Olympia. This is really a small Greek town. A Greek billionaire, John Latsis, wanted to make the citizens rich, so he built a cruise ship port. It worked! Today there were 2 big ships in port…ours and a Costa ship. We had pre-rented a car from Avis so we could do our own thing. To be honest, I am more the “let’s rent a car that you drive” than Dave is. But he agreed in a moment of weakness, so here we are. He kept asking me about parking at the Ancient Olympia site, but according to trip advisor and cruise critic, there seemed to be two lots for parking.

We rented the car and got instructions. The rental guys told us not to put in more than 15 euros of gas as we’d never use more than that. It was a manual Volkswagen and off we went. The directors were simple enough. Drive 7 km to the first stoplight and turn left, then drive 3 km to the next light and turn right. Drive 27 km more and we’d be there.

At the first stoplight, we turned left and the car died just past the intersection, but blocking traffic. In the midst of the honking and narrow, narrow roadway, we were at a standstill. Could not figure out the problem. Dave was concerned that it was the 192,000 miles on the VW we had just rented. Some guy got tired of honking and came up to the window and stuck his arm in. He did all the things Dave did, but finally the car started. Yeah, but, what does this mean for the rest of our journey? We make all the required turns and stops and arrive in ancient Olympia. We could not find the entrance or anywhere to park. We found one spot, but a policeman nicely told us to move. He told us we had to drive back into the “town”, so we did. We followed the buses and taxis, but never saw a parking lot. After driving around a bit, we saw a space behind a building and in front of a dumpster and decided to park there. Then we had to figure out where to go to get to the site. We followed some people, and came upon a large Museum building. We used their facilities, still looking for the archeological site. Finally we saw a large bunch of people gathered and figured out they were in line to get tickets! We stood in a long line and finally get our 12euro per person tickets. They do not have maps. We walked and enter the site. What really struck me was how large of an area this site covers, 5000 acres. Very little reconstruction, and lots of ruins. There were several plaques to tell us what we were looking at, because otherwise we would never have known.

The first inhabitation of this site was about 3000 BC. The site became a sanctuary to Zeus, built about 1000 BC. A massive statue of Zeus, ranked as one of the 7 wonders of the world was located here. The olympics were part of the celebration of the festival of Zeus, held every four years from about 776BC to the 4th century AD, when the Roman emperor abolished pagan festivals. Another Roman emperor had the temples destroyed in 426AD, then earthquakes in 522 and 551 further damaged the site. Mudslides and silt from the Cladeus River eventually covered much of the area, helping to preserve the site.

We saw the ruins of the temple of Hera, where the Olympic torch is lit for each new olympics.

The temple of Hera held the disk of the Sacred Truce, which all athletes had to swear to, basically saying they would not cheat.

At the entrance to the stadium there used to be “Zane’s” statues, which is plural for Zeus. These statues had the names of athletes that had offended the Sacred Truce , and their offense. You go under an arch to enter the stadium. A marble (?) line makes the starting point.

The track is 200 yards long and the stadium would hold 40,000 – 45,000 spectators.

We saw ruins of statues erected by past winners commemorating their wins at the Olympic Games.

After the stadium, we saw the ruins of a house built for Nero.

In what seemed to be the center, we saw the temple of Zeus.

As we walked back towards our starting point, we saw where a building had covered rooms for the athletes and in the center was an open area that was filled to be used as a swimming pool. The athletes would oil their bodies and apply powder. Another building, ruins but recognizable, had been turned into a church in the 5the century AD. I could imagine this building being a church.

Ruins which became a church in the of 5th century

We finished walking through the ruins and visited a museum. Inside were many artifacts from this site, doing back to 3000BC. Many of the statues from the Olympic era were there. While missing parts, you would make out the intent. Having said that, there were several headless statues that had descriptions of who they were….how would they know if the heads were missing?

Overall, it is interesting, but because of the lack of documentation, maps, whatever, the site was a bit underwhelming. No parking, no organization….the area encompassed is huge. Dave felt the cost of upkeep would be very large. There were many people there visiting, as the lines to get tickets were very long. After leaving the site, and walking back to the car, we stopped to get a gyro. Suddenly it turned very cold, and Dave went back to the car to get our jackets. Still uncomfortably cold while we ate. Otherwise, it had been another beautiful day.

We drove back to Katakolon with no issues and returned our car. We only put 10 euros worth of gas in it. Then we walked the main drag of Katakolon. Lots of souvenirs shops, but a leather purse caught my eye. We let a few moths out of Dave’s wallet and we bought the purse…and more cough drops ☹️.

This was our last port. Tomorrow will be a sea day and packing day, and then the next very early morning we disembark in Rome.

Even though we have been fairly inactive, we have enjoyed this cruise. It is hard to not like food anytime, beverages anytime, room cleaned twice a day, etc. I could get use to this!

I hear people coughing and hacking all over the ship, so it’s not just us. The drugs I bought in Athens seem to be better than the contact I bought on the ship. We’ll keep doing drugs and plugging along. Today we walked almost 6 miles, so we are doing pretty good, considering.

May 1 – 2, 2019 Sea Day, Disembark, Florence

May 1 is our last sea day, and it is a bit sad as the end of our cruise approaches. About 10:00 am the captain come on the intercom system and announces we are heading into the Messina Straights. He says, “it is not as long as the Suez Canal, thank goodness!”. The Messina Straights is the water between mainland Italy and Sicily. It is narrow and you can see land on both sides of the ship. It only takes about an hour to go through the Messina Straights. In another hour, we approach the Stromboli Volcano. This is an active volcano that erupts, the last one that I am aware of was in January, 2019. However it “burps” every 20 to 30 minutes. It always has white steam coming out, but when it “burps”, the smoke is black.

We saw two burps as we cruised by. The even more amazing thing is that Stromboli is on a small island, probably built up from lava, and there are bunches of houses! I don’t know why someone would want to live on an island with an active volcano!

May 2 is our disembarkation day. We have rented a car in the port city of Civitavecchia and plan to drive about 3 hours to Florence. Because of our colds and hacking, we were awake early, but planned to leave the ship about 7:30am. We got down to the exit, and Dave realized he forgot his hat in the stateroom and had to go back and retrieve it. There is a shuttle from the ship to the port exit, and a mad rush to get on the shuttle. We ride and ride and ride, and Dave says this doesn’t look right. We had rented a car in Civitavecchia previously, so Dave knew the location of Hertz office. We get off the shuttle and Dave says this is not the same port exit as last time. We have our suitcases and overnight bags, and start hoofing it. I had the location of Hertz on google maps, but not the distance. We are walking…it is not easy for me to pull 55 lbs. of suitcase plus my overnight bag. Dave has about the same. We keep walking, and resting, and walking. Finally we get to Hertz which was over a mile from where the shuttle let us out. Again, walking a mile is no big deal….but pulling the suitcases made it a challenge. We got the car, a diesel, automatic, Opal station wagon. It has navigation, so while Dave is figuring out how to get out of Civitavecchia, I’m entering our destination. Sure enough, we see the port exit from a couple of years ago about 2 blocks away from the Hertz office. Don’t know why they let us out where there did, but it caused us some pain.

So we get out of town and use the cars navigation to drive to Florence. Our hotel is very close to the Duomo, so we know it is probably in a restricted driving zone. It is a little over 3 hours drive – we made a few wrong turns, but the cars navigation system got us back on track. We get into Florence, the traffic is heavy, the streets are narrow, and the cars navigation system says you have arrived at your destination….but, we are not on the right street and definitely don’t see our hotel. We drive around a bit, restart the car navigation, and get a message that basically says, “your location is in a restricted area” and doesn’t take us any further. Fortunately, I had looked at the directions on a Google Maps before we left the ship and lost access to WiFi. Using Google maps, I was able to direct Dave to the hotel. Yes, it was in a restricted area, but we were able to check in and then park the car in a garage. Whew! We did it!

We walked around Florence a bit and got our bearings. My plan is to get a SIM card for my phone. We asked the reception guy where we could buy one and could not figure out where he was sending us. Dave is very apprehensive about my getting a SIM card, but I think it will be helpful as we drive around Italy. We saw an apple store and popped in, and asked where we could buy a SIM card. He sent us about 2 blocks away to a TIM store. Very busy place! I took a number and there were 14 people in front of me. Finally they call my number, a nice lady helps us, and then asks for my passport. What? They need my passport? She told us when we come back we don’t have to wait in line, just come directly to her. So we walked back to the hotel, got our passports, and walked back to the TIM store. The lady took us right away, installed my new SIM card and I have data!

We plan to go into the Duomo, but tonight just walked around it….it is HUGE! There is a great lunch place close to the hotel.

There are lots and lots of restaurants with lots of great wine. Dave complains a little about watching his carbs as he devours his ravioli for lunch, and pizza for dinner ….. 😁😁😁! Hey, we’re on vacation in Italy! The land of wine and carbs!

May 3, 2019 Florence

It is a rainy day in Florence. It rains and then stops, then rains again, then stops. Sometimes we think the sun is coming out, and then it rains hard!

Dave and I have been to Florence several times, so on this trip we hoped to see a few things we had missed in previous trips.

Our hotel offers breakfast, so of course we eat breakfast at our hotel. We paid extra for a superior room with a balcony, which we cannot use because of the rain ☹️. We are close to the duomo, and actually have a glimpse of the top. The room is good size for being a European hotel room. Our shower is smaller than the one on the ship, but we have a bidet! Dave and I are both still coughing and hacking, and we think maybe we caught a second bug while in our weakened state.

After breakfast we headed to the duomo, Florence’s Cathedral, as we had never gone inside. Yesterday when we walked past, it had a huge line. Today is no different. We waited in line 1.25 hours to get in. The good news is that entry to the duomo is free. It was begun in 1296 and not finished until 1436. The exterior is marble panels of green and pink, bordered by white. It is huge!

The floor area is 89,000 sq ft. As we waited in line outside, we felt most of the cathedral needed a good power washing. It appeared the front had been cleaned recently, and the green, pink and white marble was beautiful. After we finally are let in, I think we are surprised by the bareness! It is a huge open space inside.

If I remember correctly from previous visits to old European churches, people stood during the sermons. When we were in Athens and walked to the top of Mount Lycabettus, the people were standing for the orthodox Easter mass – there were no seats in the church. In the Duomo, they do have seats…some rows of pews, but several rows of plastic chairs. Obviously added over the years. The seats do not fill up the floor space however, so I am sure some people attending mass today have to stand. The floors inside the duomo are beautiful green, pink and white marble, too. There are 44 beautiful stained glass windows by the greatest Florentine artists of their time. The dome was designed by Filippo Brunelleschi.

We had planned on climbing the bell tower which had 50 less steps than climbing the Duomo’s dome (414 vs 464), but I just did not feel up to the climb.

After visiting the duomo, it is almost noon. We head back to the hotel for a bathroom break, then head out for lunch before our reserved 2:00 Academia visit. As we are eating lunch, Dave checked the documentation from where I purchased the tickets online. It says we need identification. Of course, we did not bring any. When we are out walking about, we only carry what we absolutely need. So after lunch, we make a quick trip back to the hotel to get our passports. Fortunately, it is only about a 10 minute walk from out hotel to the Accademia. We get back to the Accademia and of course they do not ask for identification! We debated and then spent 10 euros for an audio guide. It was useless. We had no map, so we could not tell what number to hit on the recorder. Fortunately I had downloaded a Rick Steves audio tour of the Accademia, which was great. I was surprised the Accademia was not huge. I was thinking it would be like the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, but it was no where near that size. Upon entry, the first room contains a state called “Rape of the Sabine’s” which depicts the legend where ancient romans stole women from a neighboring tribe. This statue shows a Roman warrior trampling a husband as he carries off the wife. This is actually a plaster model of the actual statue. In this room, as well as throughout the Accademia, are several works which describe the artist as opposed to the work. Next we go into the gallery that contains David. It is a long gallery with other works/statues lining the sides. These statues are called the prisoners….they are unfinished works of Michelangelo and are called prisoners because the unfinished works seem to be fighting to free themselves from the stone. There is a bust of Michelangelo created by one of his students. Michelangelo was born to a poor but Nobel family. His family did not support his desire to be an artist, but at the young age of 13, the ruler of Florence nurtured his talent by making Michelangelo a member of his household. The amount of famous works by Michelangelo is incredible, at least to me: the Sistine Chapel, designing the dome of St. Peter, the Pieta, David, plus many others. The actual statue of David is 14 feet tall. This statue seems to capture a David as he is sizing up Goliath. He has a stone in his right hand and his sling is over his shoulder. His hands look a little too big for the body, but supposedly represents the hand of man powered by a God. It really is phenomenal and you can even see veins on his hands. I am no artist, but viewing this statue is impressive.

The rest of the museum is not impressive. There is a room of musical instruments, and another room with plaster statues and busts from the Academy art students – not sure how old these are, looked like several were from the 1800’s. We saw the main attraction, which was very impressive, and then left.

We stopped in a coffee shop for some hot tea (for me & my cold) and a glass of wine. It was still raining off and on, and we considered our options. We decided we’d walk to the Ponte Vecchio bridge. The Ponte Vecchio is a medieval stone bridge over the Arno River lined on both sides with jewelry stores. There are a few very nice jewelry stores, but most are selling costume jewelry or worse.

Still raining, so we headed back to our hotel for a break before dinner.

May 4, 2019 Florence

We head out after breakfast this morning for Piazzale Michelangelo which is a little park overlooking Florence with wonderful views of the city. We walk about a mile and decide we are overdressed as yesterday was cool, so we wore warmer clothes today. We decide to go back to our hotel and change. When we head out again, Dave decides we should save our legs and take a taxi. It is quite an uphill climb, so that was a good decision. The view from Piazzale Michelangelo is as promised. Actually, we have been to this overlook before on a ships tour, years ago. But today, on our own, we have plenty of time to enjoy the view. There is a replica of Michelangelo ‘s statue of David in the Piazzale. The view looks across the Arno river towards the duomo.

We climb higher to the San Miniato Church, up about 100 steps. According to legend, the martyred St. Minias, for whom the church is named, was beheaded on the banks of the Arno in AD 250. He picked up his head and walked up the hill to the place the church now sits, where he died and was buried in what became the first Christian cemetery in Florence. In 1018, this church was built to house St. Minias’ remains. This church is over 1000 years old! Although the area has built up around the church, it still sits in the middle of the cemetery with crypts and tombstones. Most are centuries old, but we see a few more recent burials. It is still a restful, peaceful place. The church has a green and white marble facade.

Inside, the floor is tombstones from long ago. Downstairs is the crypt holding the remains of St. Minias. This church seems more decorated with frescos and statues than the duomo. It appears the church is having a video show of some sort, so not the best photo.

The church is much smaller than the duomo, but with a very interesting legend.

We sat in the courtyard of the church, enjoying the beauty of the view of Florence in the distance and pondered what to do with the rest of our time in Florence. We are not interested in visiting museums of paintings, and we have seen much of Florence on our many visits. We decide we have seen and done those things that we wanted to do here. We decide to walk back to the touristy part of Florence and have lunch. On the way, we stumbled onto a beautiful rose garden.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. A little window shopping and walking around. We got caught in a downpour and had to step into a wine bar for a glass of wine to avoid getting drenched.

For dinner, we went to a restaurant recommended by our Hotel. It is not in the “tourist zone”. We got there about 7:30pm, without reservations. The waiter said he had a table as long as we were done by 9:30pm. 2 hours – no problem! Two “local” ladies sat next to us, and when they heard us speaking English, asked where we were from. So one lady has a place in Florence and Sante Fe, New Mexico. Her friend was native Italian. They were amazed we found this place because generally no tourists eat here. They did have an English menu, though. Anyway, it was neat to talk to them and they were very nice. We did have a hard time finding the restaurant because the addresses did not seem to go in sequence. Maybe that’s how they keep tourists away 😁.

A photo from yesterday, in the Loggia della Signoris, which is a big plaza. There are several statues/replicas in this plaza. The original David was here before it was moved to the Accademia, now there’s a replica here. The original statue of The Rape of the Sabine Women, is here, while the plaster model is in the Accademia.

May 5, 2019 Florence to Siena

We checked out of our of our Florence hotel. Our car was parked a few minutes away, but because of the restricted zone, it would be a long drive to get it out of the garage and drive back to the hotel to pick up our luggage. We peaked out of the hotel and it wasn’t raining, so we decided to walk to the garage, 5 minutes away. Of course it started pouring before we got to the garage ☹️. We headed to Siena, but since we could not check in until after 3:00pm, we decided to do one of Rick Steves self guided driving tours – Crete Senesi Drive. It is a back roads loop south of Siena. We drive to Siena and start the drive. The scenery and landscape is just beautiful. This is perfect because it is cold with intermittent rain. This is Tuscany. As we drive we can see the beautiful estates up on hills with trees lining the long driveways. Dave put in an offer on this villa:

It is so difficult to capture the beauty of landscapes in photos. There are many little pull-off area where we can stop and admire the landscape. We see a couple of other cars ….but not many….and 2 are stopping and taking pictures just like us. The first big stop is in a little town by the name of Asciano. We park and walk to the tourist information building. There are very few people here. We got a map of the town, basically one main drag. As we get ready to leave the tourist information building, we hear honking and beeping like crazy. It seems to be a road rally for Fiats! There’s probably 50 of them enjoying their ride down the restricted traffic road in the center of town. So of course we watched the parade of Fiats! Gosh they are small cars! Barely enough room for 2 people. One sporty looking one drives by that has a back seat with a lady crunched up in the back seat. Most of the drivers were “mature”, as were the fiats!

After the parade goes by, we see a restaurant recommended by Rick Steves and stop in for lunch. Lunch had been pizza for the most part…and wine of course. The pizzas are very thin crust, probably about 12” in diameter, and definitely meant for one person. Dave can eat about 3/4 of his, and I generally eat about 1/2. After lunch, we finish our walk about town, passing the old fascist headquarters which is now the police headquarters.

Fascist headquarters turned into police station

While it still looks very rainy, we manage to miss the rain at this stop. It rained as we were parking and then stopped. It rained while we were eating, but then stopped. On our way back to the car it was drizzling, but did not pour until we were in the car.

Our next stop along this driving tour is the Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore. The Abbey is closed between 12:00 and 3:30, and we arrived about 3:00. It is a bit if a walk, downhill, to the abbey, and although it is just spitting rain a little bit, it is chilly – probably about 50 degrees. We walk downhill through the woods to the abbey, and see they have a wine tasting just under the abbey. Of course this is wine from grapes grown by the monks. We go down and taste a couple of wine and support the monks by buying a bottle of wine. By the time we finish tasting and buying wine, the abbey is open.

According to Rick Steves….Bernard Tolomei (1272 – 1348) was the son of a wealthy Sienese family. He moved to the hillsides south of Siena to become a monk. One day he had a vision and took it as a sign to build a church., and founded the Olivtan order. Tolomei was made a saint in 2009. His original humble church is now a brick monastery complex. Entering the church, the choir seats are designed with inlaid wood. The artist, who completed the choir chais in just two years is called the “Michelangelo of Wood”. The woodwork is amazing and each chair is different. One panel depicts a skull, a common symbol for Agam, often shown in Italian paintings at the base of Jesus cross, reminding us that Jesus died to atone for the original sin of Adam. Dave and I have wondered why there is usually a skull in Italian pairings which show a Jesus on the cross, and now we know why! It was dark in the choir area, so we could not get a picture of this magnificent work. The Cloister has 35 frescoes, and Rick Steves gives a description of each frescoe, telling what the picture means. From all the European churches we have seen, it was really interesting to look at the frescoe and understand the message of each.

After looking at the frescoes we head back, uphill, to the car. We get in, and it starts hailing! We decided to shortcut the rest of this driving tour and head to our hotel in Siena.

Our hotel is inside the city walls, so the hotel has to register our car with the police! We have a very nice room, but we are looking at construction outside our window! The hotel gave us a welcome drink – white wine for a Dave and Prosecco for me.

May 6, 2019 Siena: Montepulciano and Montalcino

The weather Monday is still very cool and possible rain, whereas Tuesday is looking better. So on Monday, we decide to do our wine tour and tour Siena on Tuesday.

We drove from Siena to Montepulciano. We have been here before, but this is one of two of Dave’s favorite wine cities. Driving to Montepulciano gives us more time to admire the beautiful Tuscan landscape. It really is gorgeous to have long views across the landscape with villas and driveways lined with cypress trees. We park in a different parking lot than last visit, and we do Rick Steves walking tour which we didn’t do before. Last time, we just went for the wine! It is a hill town, and we get the opportunity (😩) to walk uphill a lot. I would not say there are any exceptional sights, but there are interesting ones. We see the insides of churches, one of which is elliptical in shape. In the church, the frames around their big art pieces are art, too, drawn to look 3 dimensional. In Montepulciano, Montalcino (visited later today) and Siena, all have marble columns. At one time they all had a she-wolf suckling human twins (Romulus &Remus), but in Montepulciano the column now is topped with a lion holding a Medici shield. The Medici’s were a very rich and influential family in the history of Italy.

Marble column in Montepulciano of Lion with Medici Shield

There is a clock tower topped by a popular character in Italian theater, but looks a little like Pinocchio to me.

Montepulciano is known for Nobile wines, which is not as famous as Brunello, which comes from Montalcino. The most popular wine tasting showroom is Contucci Cantina, which we visited in the past, and Dave was not really impressed with their wines. This time we opted for De’Ricci Cantine, which Rick Steves calls the most impressive wine cellars in Montepulciano. You enter through a non descript doorway, and then walk down, down, down amongst barrels of wine in a cellar like atmosphere. I was wondering where we were going to end up, as I had visions of having to walk back up all these stairs. Finally we ended up in the wine shop where we were able to sample their wines. The wines were very good, the people very friendly, and we were much happier with this wine cellar. We did not have to walk back up through the wine cave/cellar. There was a back door, and while we had to walk uphill quite a distance, it was an incline instead of stairs. It was getting late and we had not had lunch. There was a wine shop that offered wine tastings with cheese, so we thought we’d do that instead of lunch. Not one of our better ideas. The cheese was good, the service was slow, the wine was expensive and not very good. Time to leave town.

Leaving Montepulciano, we drove to the other big wine town of Montalcino. Montalcino is not as large as Montepulciano, but is another hilltown which means climbing up and down the streets. Montalcino’s famous wine is Brunello, which can be very pricy. Last time we were here, Dave tasted wine in the fortress and in a shop with machines. You buy a card in advance, insert it into the machine, and get a sample of wine. Depending on the wine, you would be charged accordingly for the sample. It is a smaller town, so no walking tour. We went to the fortress first, and it was pretty packed with people tasting wines….probably because it was inside and they had a heater going (it’s chilly here – which I’ve probably written about daily). There are also (gross) waterclosets here, which is better than nothing. We decided to move on. There are too many choices to wait in lines for wine tastings. We set out to find the shop with the machines. After walking literally up and down several streets, we decide that shop doesn’t exist anymore. But, Dave finds another wine shop that catches his eye. (In every Italian town about every 3rd store is a wine shop). They charge for tastings, which varies in price, depending on the bottle. He samples a couple, and then buys a different Brunello that he has had in the past.

Our mission is accomplished! One wine from Montepulciano and one from Montalcino and a wonderful drive through Tuscany. We drove back to Siena for a brief rest and then find someplace for dinner.

May 7, 2019: Siena

Our hotel, Pensione Palazzo Ravizza was once the residence of a noble. It has beautiful gardens in the back with irises and lilys in bloom. The room is very nice, and large for European rooms. The shower is great, bigger than the ship and the hotel in Florence! Breakfast is OK…the hotel in Florence offered scrambled eggs. Our Siena hotel offers a more European breakfast with fruit, bread, cheese and sausage.

After breakfast, we do our Rick Steves Siena walking tour. It starts in the big Il Campo, which is basically the city square, except it is not square. It is the seat of government. It is shaped like a clamshell, and people sit all over the bowl like area. The city hall has a 330 foot city tower attached, which was unusual for the time, 1340 AD, as usually only churches had towers. The tower represents the rise of a secular society.

Every year a horse race is held here, with various neighborhoods competing. The square is filled with 60,000 people on the inside and the horses run around the outside of the clamshell, but inside the buildings lining the square. There are no rules, and the jockeys frequently fall off. The winner is the first horse to cross the finish line, with or without a rider. There is a large fountain in the square which was an engineering project in the 1350’s to bring fresh water to the city. It is named the Fountain of Joy for bringing fresh water, completely free.

We walk through various Sienese neighborhoods and past nobel palaces of old to visit the Duomo. On the way, we see one of the columns with a she-wolf nursing human babies, Romulus and Remus. According to legend, Siena was founded by two sons of Remus.

The Duomo has dark green and pink marble, similar to Florence’s duomo. Originally the duomo was intended to be much bigger, but building was halted due to the bubonic plague, which killed about 1/3 of Siena’s population. The church has some very interesting artwork, including a Michelangelo statue.

The floor mosaics are detailed, and protected so people don’t walk on them. The mosaic picture we took today is of the she-wolf, the symbol of Siena. But, one of the mosaics, which I remember from our previous visit, was the slaughter of the innocents, when King Herod killed the babies.

There are frescos in one room, the Piccolomini Library, from the 1400’s. These frescoes have never been restored but are beautiful and vivid as if they were freshly done. These frescos celebrate the life of one of Sienas hometown boys, who later became Pope Pius II. The pulpit is made of Carrara marble. The panels, from 1268, are the work of Nicola Pisano, carved in the style of an ancient sarcophagus. These panels tell the life of Christ.

As Dave and I walk thru the duomo, seeing Michelangelo’s statue, the frescos, the mosaics….we realize we have toured this duomo on a previous visit to Siena. We still continue our tour of the duomo visiting the crypt, and baptismal.

Rick Steves walking tour then takes us past some more nobel palaces and overlooks. One of the churches in Siena that we opt out of visiting is the a Church of San Domenico, which contains relics of St. Catherine…a thumb and her skull. St. Catherine, born in Siena, helped convince the pope to move the papacy back to Rome. She is revered, along with St. Benedict, as the patron saint of Europe. Her universal message was that this world is not a gift from our fathers, but a loan from our children.

May 8, 2019 Siena to Pisa to Cinque Terre: Monterosso Al Mare

Dave has been very disappointed in the TV’s in our hotel rooms. In Florence, the picture was awful…it kept flickering. We did get some English channels in Sienna. We’re in Monterosso al Mare, and there are NO English channels….no matter how long he channel surfs 😁.

We left Sienna this morning and drove to Pisa. For some reason, Dave’s internal compass had him get off the autostrada a few exits too early…but he will probably disagree with me. Fortunately I had my phone, but due to some construction, we did a few circular routes. We ended up in the FREE parking lot we were looking for, and actually got a good space. I have to say the navigational system in the car is a bit weird. When we left Montalcino yesterday, it took us down a gravel road….there were NO other cars, and we ran into a bunch of hikers who were as surprised to see us as we were to see them. We surely thought the navigation system messed us up, but we finally got to a main road and all was well. We went through a long tunnel today, and it said we were “off road”. Then we got traffic alerts suddenly out of nowhere, in Italian, so we had no idea what the alerts were telling us, even though the navigation is in English.

Anyway, we got to Pisa, and I had ordered tickets online to climb the Leaning Tower of Pisa!

The area is also known as The Field of Miracles. We have been here before, but could not do the climb. Back then, the tower had “girdles” holding it up. Of course rain was threatening when we were at Pisa! Welcome to our vacation! We had to leave my backpack in the cloakroom which they would not accept until 15 minutes before our scheduled climb. We were scheduled for 12:45pm, and arrived in the cloakroom at 12:25pm….so we had to wait. Just past 12:30, they let us put my backpack into a locker, then we walked over to the tower to wait in line for our chance to climb. Dave and I counted a few different steps, but starting outside, I counted about 270 steps to the top. When they first let you in, you go into the center in a large open space/room to wait a bit – I suppose for other people to come down. You can really feel how tilted the tower is, even in this room. I think they let people up every 15 minutes. I’m not sure how many people are in each group…maybe 30. After awhile they tell you that you can start the climb, or wait. We started the climb. As we got closer to the top, the steps were not as steep, and Dave thinks this is to adjust for the tilt. The steps are very worn, so many people have made this climb. We did break a few times, and others did too. There are a few landings where you can look out, so we took breathers there. After about 235 steps, there is a big landing where you have to walk around the outside of the tower before heading up the last 37 steps. At the top is a big area ringed with huge bells.

Huge Bells on top of LeaninTower of Pisa

Outside of the bells is another walkway around the outside of the tower. Dave did not do the walk around outside the bells because he is somewhat afraid of heights and did not feel safe. It was a really cool view, not only of the Field of Miracles, but also the countryside. After enjoying the views and reveling in the fact we made it up, we headed back down. The whole up and down and walk around took about 35 minutes once the let us into the first room.

I bought the ticket that also let us tour the cathedral. The cathedral was interesting, as Italian Catholic Churches are. The ceiling was unique with many golden squares. Looking towards the front of the church was a big mosaic of Jesus shining above the alter.

Inside Cathedral in the Field of Miracles

The marble pulpit is very similar to the duomo in Siena, including the sculptured panels of Jesus’ life. I am amazed at how similar they are. I need to do more research to see which came first. In the right transept is the whole body (remains) of St. Ranieri, a Christian who lived in poverty in the 12th century. Above his body is a marble sculpture depicting the coronation of Mary, with figures of Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit shown as a white dove. This sculpture is moving.

Marble sculpture depicting the coronation of Mary

We are done with our visit to the church.

The whole field of dreams is surrounded by a stone wall. Up one side is a walkway. On our previous visit, aggressive vendors were all along this walkway. Apparently the vendors have now been banned from inside the wall, because they are all outside the wall, now. Just outside the main entrance into the Field of Dreams is a ….. McDonalds. The vendors are still aggressive. We walked back to the car and started to make our way to Monterosso Al Mare..in the rain. At one brief moment today, the car’s outside temperature gauge showed 20 degrees Celsius, which is about 68 degrees Fahrenheit. As soon as I pointed this out, the temperature dropped ☹️. And as we got closer to Monterosso al Mare, it got rainier, colder and foggy!

Part of the road was Autostrada, but when we got within about 25 miles, we turned onto a narrow, windy road that only had a center line occasionally. Dave would pull over when he could to let cars go by us, because we were not familiar with these windy roads and could not go very fast.

Oh, one other point about Italian roads…there are no shoulders, but there are little pull offs every so often. It was rare that we saw a pull off without a car…because men stop to do their business (#1) in all these pull offs. Dave wondered if toilet paper was available!

The road from the autostrada to Monterosso was very windy, and we were not sure about the parking situation. Rick Steves book told us about a parking lot above the town, so I plugged it into my google maps. At first we found an above ground parking lot at 2.5 euros per hour to park….pretty expensive for our 4 days here. We put in enough money for 1 hour to allow us to find our hotel. The roads in the town are restricted and heavy fines are levied if you drive in a restricted zone. Several other people were wandering around trying to figure out the parking situation, too. Finally we just decided to head to our hotel on foot and see what direction they gave us. As soon as we walked another 100 feet, we saw there was an enclosed parking garage and figured this is where we were suppose to be. But we’d already paid for our 1 hour, so off we went to find our hotel. The hotel was about a 10 minute walk downhill, but then it was up about 20 steps when we got close. We checked in, the receptionist explained how to do the parking and took us to our room. We paid extra for this room…..it is a penthouse with terrace. That means, we have to walk up stairs to get to our room. Yes, it is about 79 more steps up, for a total of 99 steps UP. We do have a great terrace…the room is just OK…but we’d enjoy the huge terrace if it would quit raining and warm up just a little! We go back to move the car into the daily parking lot instead of hourly, and haul our luggage 10 minutes to the hotel and then up 99 steps. Believe me, this was no easy task.

We found a nice restaurant fairly close to the hotel and had a bottle of wine. We are feeling much better.

May 9, 2019 Monterosso al Mare

Monterosso al Mare is one of the Cinque Terre towns. The five towns are along the sea on one side and mountains on the other. They are connected by hiking trails, a boat in good weather, and a train. You cannot drive from one town to the next, and there are very few cars in the towns as it is a restricted zone. There is a movable planter that blocks the road, and only cars with the proper authority can pass.

So far we have only visited Monterosso al Mare, which is where our hotel is located. I think it is the biggest of the five towns. We thought we would be doing some hiking, but apparently there have been some landslides and all the trails are closed except one.

Today we walked all around Monterosso al Mare, and it was market day. On market day you see everything being sold from vendors with trucks. They move from city to city each day. They sell clothing, bathing suits, hats, cheese, meat, flowers, vegetables, etc. Everything you can think of…kinda like a Walmart on wheels. The veggies looked great. One bin had red, yellow and green peppers that were the biggest I’d ever seen. Look at them compared to the carrots!

Vegetables for sale in the outdoor market

We wandered up and down the streets, stepped into a little church, and just people watched.

Monterosso al Mare has an old city center and a new city center. To go from old to new, you either need to walk through a tunnel which is under a mountain, or walk over the mountain. We decided to go to the new city center and we walked through the tunnel. We had a nice lunch sitting outside….I had gnocchi with lamb ragu and Dave had lasagne. Of course we both had wine. Then we set off to explore and admire the view. The water views are beautiful. It is a little too cold to swim, but a few people were lying on the beach sunbathing as the sun was nice and warm today. This shows all 5 villages, but hard to pick out from photo.

We wandered to the north end of town where the trail to the next city starts. It had barricades, but of course a few people were walking it anyway. This trail goes to Levanto, which is not considered a Cinque Terre village. However, the trail splits and goes up to a statue. We started up, and saw some neat views and some unusual homes. The trail is mostly steps upward, but there are some sections that are just inclined. Unfortunately we did not have any water, and we had just had lunch with wine….so after about 150 steps upwards, we ran into another couple coming down. They indicated it was still quite a distance, heading up. We decided seeing a statue wasn’t worth it, so we went back down and strolled through the new town looking for someplace to buy water. Got some water and decided to head up to the church of the Capuchin Friars and hilltop cemetery. On the way up there is a viewpoint looking over the sea with a statue of St. Francis and a wolf, looking out at the sea. It is a nice place to break from all the steps upward. We continue on and finally get to the church. It is a former monastery now manned by a single caretaker friar, who we see out and about on the grounds. On the right side of the church is what we would consider a Christmas scene with lots of little houses with Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus in the stable. On the right side of the church is a painting of the Crucifixion, attributed to Anthony van Dyke, a 17th century Flemish master who lived and worked for years in nearby Genoa. Art historians suspect that at best it was painted by someone in the artists workshop. I believe this church is from the early 1600’s according to a plaque at the entrance.

Another 100 yards up is the cemetery. The cemetery is inside the ruins of a castle. In the 13th century, the villagers would have huddled within this castle, hidden from view of the sea and pirates. This castle is the oldest part of Monterosso al Mare. It is interesting how graves have been built into the walls and crevices of the former castle. There are many levels, many graves, and not in neat rows. Rich families have their own little tomb buildings. At the very top, the castles keep or last refuge is where the priests are buried in simple graves.

After wandering around the cemetery a while, we head down. Rick Steves says all the paths down lead into the old town, so we go down a different way than we went up. I counted the stairs down, but must admit I sometimes got distracted by the views. It was about 400 steps, and that did not include the steps up and down the many levels in the cemetery in the castle ruins. At the bottom, in the car restricted area of the village is a hearse. I am thinking someone did not think we would make it….

We are definitely getting a workout. Each time we walk up to our room, it’s 99 stairs! We go up and down at least 5 times a day. Needless to say, I’m feeling it in my legs. Especially after climbing the Leaning Tower yesterday…that was a walk in the park compared to Monterosso al Mare, which may be the most level of the Cinque Terre villages. I am using the “step” app on my phone, and “map my walk” app occasionally. We are easily doing 7 or 8 miles a day, which isn’t much until you add in all the steps up and down, and climbing.

Tree on our way up to our hotel, walking through one of the “streets”.

This is a cute, enchanting village, probably with too many tourists. We are heading into the weekend, and my guess is that there will be plenty more tourists.

May 10, 2019 Riomaggiore and Manarola

Today was another up and down day 😁. These little villages are build as terraces up the mountain sides … nothing is level. I don’t think we will miss hiking the paths between the villages because hiking in the villages is challenging. As you walk in these villages you can hear and sometimes see, water rushing beneath your feet. Walkways were built over the streams, replacing old arched bridges.

We opted to buy a 2 day Cinque Terre card that allows unlimited use of the trains that run between the villages (2 to 4 per hour), as well as free use of public bathrooms (otherwise 1 euro per visit), and many other accesses that we won’t take advantage of like access to the walking trails (most of which are currently closed)…well, maybe…we have 2 more villages to visit, and the Cinque Terre card also covers little shuttle buses that run from the train station to the main square. So far we’ve always walked, but you never know.

The WC (toilets) that cost 1 euro or the Cinque Terre card are very clean, always have toilet paper, soap, running water to wash your hands, and towels. Frequently an attendant checks the bathroom after each use so it always stays clean. Good job Cinque Terre!

Our 2 day Cinque Terre card was 29 euros per person, which seems a little pricey, but it’s giving us what we wanted.

We got a bit of a late start today, but walked to Monterosso’s new town, bought our tickets, and boarded the train to the southernmost village, Riomaggiore.

Rick Steves is our tour guide as usual, and we follow his suggested walk. For these little villages, the high points are the fantastic views – of the Mediterranean Sea, of the houses terraced on the sides of mountains, the street scenes, and the villages’ Catholic Church. The church in Riomaggiore was established in 1340, but the current building was rebuilt in 1870. This church is dedicated to St. John the Baptist, the patron saint of Genoa, the maritime republic that once dominated the region. Rick Steves recommends a little shop for a snack, so we check it out. The husband is a fisherman and the wife serves up his fresh catch. There were a few options, but we felt safe with the calamari…but the sign said they had fresh anchovies from Monterosso al Mare today, so I asked her to throw in a couple of anchovies so I could try them. This fried snack is served in a paper cone with a couple of long wooden picks and a lemon slice. No sauce, but perfectly salted. I tried the anchovies and they were delicious! These were nothing like the oil and salt preserved ones we get in a restaurant. They were so good I convinced Dave to try one and he liked them, too. We walked down to the towns marina, and there were fishing boats along both sides of the walkway. This is because the water is quite rough and they can’t fish. When the boats need to come out of the water, it is a team effort. An alarm is sounded and anyone with a boat helps move the whole fleet.

Fishing boats pulled out of the water due to rough seas

We continue our walk on a bluff above the water, to get a peak at Riomaggiore’s rocky beach. The waves were splashing up on the narrow walkway making it slippery, so we only got a peak at the beach. A few tourists were sitting on the rocks, but no swimmers. This is not a sandy beach, but good sized rocks. Rick Steves says they are football sized! Yet, Europeans lounge on them.

We walk (up and down) back to the train station and catch the train to the next village south, Manarola. Even though we had a little snack, we’re hungry for a light lunch. Getting off the train you walk through a long tunnel, used in WWII during air raids. At the end of the tunnel is a little cafe where we got what they called panini’s, and some wine, of course. The panini’s were on a large round, fresh, but a little chewy, roll. A young couple sat down next to us, saw our Rick Steves book and said they were following him, too. They were told that Rick Steves is in the area now, too. This couple is from LaGrange, Illinois, which is very near to where I grew up. After lunch, we do our Rick Steves walking tour. First he takes us down to the picturesque harbor. Again, boats are lining the walkway. Dave is wondering how they get the boats out of the water and up on this walkway. I saw a big crane and wondered if that’s what they used. Sure enough, Rick Steves mentions in his book to look for the I-beam crane used for lifting the boats in and out of the water! Manarola does not have a sandy beach either but offers deep water swimming. One of its “beaches” has a ladder, shower and rocks to sit on. Walking away from the water is a town square built over the railroad tracks. In the middle is a large circular mosaic depicting the varieties of local fish. We continue, heading up, towards the church. We pass a little waterfall, and the water continues down the Main Street, now covered with pavement. There is a waterwheel along the walkway, reminiscent of how mills were powered in the past. I don’t think this one was a working model. Finally we get to the church, which is in a square with a church, bell tower and a community meeting building. This is the Parish Church of St. Lawrence, dating from 1338. St. Lawrence is the patron saint of the Cinque Terre. There are two paintings in the Gothic style, but they are from the late 15th century. After visiting the church, we head for the Manarola Vineyard Walk. The walk is along one of the mountains and gives you the opportunity to look back down on the village. Again, fabulous views.

View of houses from Manarola Vineyard Walk

You can see large rocks on the roofs to help hold the roofs down during windstorms. Continuing our walk, we end up at the cemetery. This cemetery is located on a little peninsula above the Sea. It is in a wonderful location, very peaceful. You are not allowed to walk into this cemetery, which is ok with me as I think it is respectful NOT to be a tourist in a cemetery even though I frequently am. All I can say is, I think it was a wonderful, final resting place.

Walking down from the cemetery is a little park, again with wonderful views of the water. We continued down the stairs to get back to the train station, as we have finished our visit to this little town.

We took the train back to Monterosso al Mare, new town, and walked back to the old town. There are fewer tourists here. We found a gelato place, splurged on a gelato and sat on a bench in the plaza with the local old folks. We fit right in.

For dinner we are in Monterosso al Mare, the village we are using as our home base. We find a restaurant not too far from our hotel, and on the menu they have…fried anchovies! Of course I had to have them. I liked them with a little lemon and salt. Notice I have already eaten a few….but I didn’t eat the tails!

May 11, 2019 Corniglia and Vernazza

When we got up this morning it was totally overcast. This was a bummer because rain was not forecast until this evening. “Weatherbug” indicated no rain today but “Accuweather” forecasted a 70% chance….Accuweather was most accurate ☹️.

It had not started raining this morning, so we took the train to Corniglia, which is the village in the center. We plan to visit Vernazza today, too, which is the most popular of the villages. We know Corniglia will be a short visit, so that leaves us plenty of time for Vernazza. Corniglia is the smallest of the five villages. It is also the highest elevation wise, and the only one without a harbor. Per Rick Steves, according to legend, the town was settled by a Roman farmer who named it for his mother, Cornelia, which is how Corniglia is pronounced. He also says that the ancient residents produced a wine so widely exported that vases with Corniglia stamped on them were found at Pompei, which is over 400 miles away.

Corniglia is 385 steps up from the train station. Today our Cinque Terre card paid off, because we took the little shuttle bus, which is free with the Cinque Terre Card, up to the village and we did not have to walk up those 385 steps! It really is a tiny village with one main passageway through town, little walkways up to residences and with absolutely no cars!

The bus drops you off at the town square. The main walkway is Via Fieschi, and we head up this walkway. There are many little shops, all selling the same things: food & wine (remember this little village was known for their wine), gelato, and souvenirs. We stop for a honey gelato at one of Rick Steves recommended shops, and it is tasty. We reach another little square that has a WWI memorial sitting in front of what looks like a church. It is actually the Oratory of Santa Caterina. I learned this today – an oratory is used by a service group doing social work in the name of the a Catholic Church.

Up the stairs in back of the oratory is a viewpoint, again with great views. Today we see boats on the water. The little fishing boats are not out – the boats we see look more like boat tours. The water is not as rough as it has been, but the fisherman did not go out. These villages all have viewpoints with stunning views. Continuing on, we reach the end of town viewpoint,

named Santa Maria Belvedere for a church that once stood here. Not sure what happened to the church.

At this point we had seen everything we wanted to see in Corniglia, so we backtracked the walkway to our starting point, which was the bus stop. We had always planned to walk down, but were surprised how many people were waiting to take the bus down! Our walk down was fine, and we discovered the steps were “short steps”, so probably 4 or 5 inches compared to the normal rise of steps. However, it was still a long way up or down.

At the train station, we caught the train to Vernazza. Rick Steves calls it the jewel of Cinque Terre. There are bigger crowds in this village. Lining the streets are the usual shops – food & wine, gelato, souvenirs. On October 25, 2011, this village was buried under 13 feet of mud. All these villages are built in ravines with walks built over the rushing waters. On October 25, 2011, heavy rains directed flash floods through the middle of town. Every building on the main drag had to be rewired, replumbed and reequipped.

It has all been cleaned up and back to doing business as usual. As we walk down the Main Street, we pass a small stone chapel where Mass is celebrated on special Sundays.

At the end of the walking street, we reach the harbor which has a large square. Vernazza is Cinque Terre’s only natural harbor. The fishing boats have been pulled up into the square and they are not in the water today – apparently only the larger tour boats are out there in the sea. From the harbor, we see the main sights of this village. There is a church with an unusual entry – you enter from the east side next to the alter instead of in back of the church. This is because the church was expanded in the 16th century and the piazza on the west was overtaken with the expansion. In the harbor, we see the red storm flag which indicates bad seas. You can see the castle which is in ruins now but was the towns watchtower during the pirate days, and a Nazi lookout in WWII. The British bombed it to chase out the Germans.

It started to rain when we were in a Vernazza, and we were looking for a place for a late lunch. Everyone else was looking for a place out of the rain, too. The few places we saw, even though outside and covered with umbrellas, had people smoking cigarettes which we did not want to deal with. So, we decided to go back to Monterosso al Mare. The train dropped us off in the newer town and as we were walking back to the old part of town, we saw a spot with a view and tables inside. Dave had some great looking bruschetta, and I have ravioli in walnut sauce (which was great!).

We explored old town Monterosso al Mare some more, and checked out all the little shops. Actually bought a Christmas ornament, as well as more wine to take to Bellagio with us. Then we went back to our hotel to chill until dinner and organize our luggage as we are checking out in the morning.

This afternoon on our walk about, we were checking out the menus from different restaurants. Dave saw a pasta at one restaurant, Via Venti, he wanted to try – it was a pasta stuffed with sea bass. So that’s where we went for dinner. I had a pasta with a pesto citrus sauce and prawns. As it turned out, my pesto citrus sauce was delicious, but Dave was not totally happy with his.

We liked Corniglia, but it is very small. We were disappointed with Vernazza….for all the hype, there wasn’t much there. Overall, we enjoyed our visit to Cinque Terre. This is definitely not a place for people with mobility issues. There are lots of stairs, and the walkways are not always smooth. The villages are all just so cute with the painted houses built on terraces on the sides of the mountains. What gorgeous views! We are really happy we chose a Monterosso al Mare as our home base. Because it is the largest of the villages, there was just more to do.

This is actually a picture taken in Corniglia…because it is overcast, the picture does not reflect how beautiful the views were.

May 12, 2019 Monterosso to Bellagio

Happy Mothers Day!

Driving from Monterosso al Mare, we see our first glimpse of the alps.

It is about a 4 hour drive, and then once we get to a Bellagio, we have to get situated. Our hotel is in a “ZTL” zone, which means you need special permission to drive here. Fortunately, the hotel registers us with the police, so we are good. But we still have to find a parking space and get our luggage to our room. We opt to pay 18 euros a day for parking, and we have a spot very close to the hotel. Our car has a primo view of Lake Como 😁.

Our room is very nice with a huge terrace facing the lake.

It is a corner room, so we have views in two directions.

Another view from our Bellagio hotel terrace

Now, if the weather would only cooperate. It is very windy today, and it feels chilly with the temperature in upper 50’s. After checking in, it was late afternoon. We wandered up one of the little streets and had a panini and glass of wine to hold us over to dinner. We wandered through the streets and the shops in Bellagio have more upscale goods. Since I am partial to glass and Dave is partial to wine, we checked out all the glass, ceramic and wine shops. Then we headed back to our room to unpack a little and chill.

Our plan was to relax and enjoy our terrace over the next 3 days, but the weather may not cooperate.

Tonight we walked around Bellagio, checking all the menus for dinner. We chose one, and despite our intentions, we sat outside. However, our table was right under a heat lamp, so it was very cozy. We both ordered menu items with fish from the lake. I had a regional specialty which was fried fish with risotto. Dave had grilled lake fish with side dish (potatoes and spinach) and he won the prize tonight. The waiter expertly prepared his cooked fish table side, removing almost all the bones. Dave’s fish was delicious. My dish was very good, but Daves was better.

Other random thoughts:

Much nicer cars as we drive near Milan…Porsche’s (😁), Ferrari’s, and Aston Martins. Dave thought he saw snowflakes, but the temperature is a little warmer, mid 60’s, so I think it was flower pedals or seeds or something similar.

We filled up the car with diesel the other day, and gas cost about $7 a gallon. You can check my math…it was about 1.62 euros per liter. Many of the gas stations are manned, and they fill the tank for you, like in the old days, but they don’t clean the windshield or check the oil. There are a lot of self service gas stations, and the price is a little less…maybe 1.52 euros per liter. The self service stations have no one around. Not even in the building, or anywhere. Also, no toilets!

I am surprised how integrated Siena, Pisa and Cinque Terre are. The salesperson at our favorite wine store in Cinque Terre was Asian, and very nice and friendly! She remembered Dave every time he entered her store…probably because he was her best customer! In Siena, one of our our waiters was from Antigua. At Pisa, all the aggressive vendors on the walk from the parking lot to the “Field of Dreams” were black (The last time we were in Pisa, all the aggressive vendors were Italian). At our hotel in Cinque Terre, most of the workers were Asian and Black. So far in Bellagio, everyone seems to be Italian. Just interesting because I think I expected everyone to be Italian.

May 13 – 14, 2019 Bellagio

Dave had to get up early (7:45am) and feed the meter for our car. The parking is charged from 8:00am until 8:00pm. Interestingly, the same cars are parked next to us today as yesterday.

Our hotel room includes breakfast. It’s nice that they offer eggs!

Lake Como is very large. We have a resident mama duck who rests just outside our terrace. We have seen lots of ducks and even a couple of swans. Dave took a bathroom break at one point, and the bathroom attendant was feeding some baby ducks. I knew with all the mamas and papas around, there had to be some babies.

The lake looks very clear, but locals say it is too dirty to swim in it. We saw a hotel that literally built a swimming pool out in the lake!

Hotel swimming pool built out in Lake Como

At one point, I got a chance to stick my toes in the water and it was cold! Lake Como is of glacial origin and one of the deepest lakes in Europe at 1300 feet deep. Supposedly the residents say it is shaped like a man and Bellagio is the crotch 😁.

On Monday, we wanted to take a ride on the lake, so we took a ferry to visit Villa Carlotta.

Because of lake taxes and high maintenance costs, owners of once elite villas have been forced to turn them into hotels or open the doors to the paying public. Villa Carlotta is supposedly one of the finest properties on the lake and has lush gardens. It is especially pretty this time of year as the gardens are in full bloom in the spring. The villas first floor is filled with sculptures, the second floor has special exhibitions which currently are photographs mostly from around Lake Como, from the early 20th century. The third floor has rooms with early 19th century French furniture. My favorite part are the rooms with the furniture. To me, it takes you back in time and you imagine how people lived in the early 1800’s. The villa has had several owners. Originally built at the end of the 17th century, in 1801 it was bought by Gian Batista Sommariva. From what I gather, he was a big supporter of Napoleon. There are busts and pictures of Napoleon in the villa. But Sommariva was passed over by Napoleon, and Sommariva lost favor resulting in his decline. Sommariva was a collector of art, and it was under his ownership that the villa became a showplace. Sommariva also began transforming the surrounding park into a garden. He died in 1826, and his heirs sold the villa in 1843 to Princess Marianne of Nassau who gave it to her daughter Carlotta (thus the name) as a wedding present upon her marriage to Georg II of Saxon-Meiningen. It was Georg who enriched the gardens. The gardens are really lovely and it is unbelievable to think of people wealthy enough to have magnificent gardens such as these, on this beautiful lake. Not sure how big the villa is, but the whole property is 17 acres. It had a fabulous ceiling in one room….Dave caught it in this selfie!

Mirror catching photo of tourists (aka selfie😁)

After touring the villa and gardens, we were hungry, and rode the ferry back to Bellagio for a very late lunch. I tried the Aperol Spritz which everyone seems to be drinking and found it very good! I have a new beverage! It was such a beautiful day that we spent the late afternoon lounging on our terrace, after I got another Aperol Spritz to enjoy on the terrace. Then we walked around Bellagio shops some more, before having a late dinner at our hotel.

It is so beautiful at night to see the twinkling lights across the lake.

On Tuesday, we took the ferry to Varenna, which is smaller than Bellagio, and Rick Steves choice of a base around Lake Como. We’re happy with our base in Bellagio.

Rick Steves has a suggested walking tour, which we did. One of his tidbits is that natives claim this is as far north as olives grow. He comments that many of the villas were owned by the regions “improverished nobility who were born and bred not to work. Eventually they were unable to pay for the upkeep of their sprawling houses and some of the villas have been bought by the regions nouveau riche (ie George Clooney). The most interesting site in Varenna for me was the Chiesa di San Giorgio Church (13th century) baptistery which dates from the ninth century. It is rarely open for visitors, but was open today. It is a small “church” and on the walls were paintings of the stations of the cross.

Chiesa did San Giorgio Church in Varenna

We wandered around Varenna some more and decided most of its shops were eateries of some type. There are many neat little walkways, similar to the ones in Bellagio and also in the Cinque Terre villages. Note the stairs….

We decided to head back to Bellagio. For some reason our ferry tickets were for the car ferry…maybe because it was the next ferry back to Bellagio. But it was cool because we got to see some unusual cars ….. a lotus, an older Austin Healy and an old Datsun! Also, it made an extra stop before Bellagio, so we had a longer ride on the lake.

Rick Steves says the Lakes region is where you go to take a vacation from your vacation. This was our plan. A couple of days to chill before heading home. Although windy, the weather has been sunny and warmer yesterday and today, so we have been able to enjoy our terrace – watching the lake, ferries, people, etc., and enjoying a few adult beverages.

Tonight we are doing something we rarely do…eat at the same restaurant. We went to a restaurant, Bilacus, Sunday night, and the food was so good, we decided to go back tonight, our last night. Last night we ate at the restaurant in our hotel, and we were disappointed. I had fish from Lake Como, and I don’t think it was fresh.

Tomorrow we drive to Milan, spend one night, and fly home Thursday.

May 14 – 15, 2019 Bellagio to Milan

May 14: On Monday night, we had dinner in our hotel because Dave was not feeling 100%. Our hotel is supposed to be “primo”, but we were very disappointed with our dinner. Dave had a lakefish dinner on Sunday night that was excellent at Bilacus , so I ordered the same dish at our hotel restaurant. I don’t think they used fresh fish. So this afternoon when we were out and about, we went past Bilacus planning to make a reservation, but it was closed for the afternoon…open for lunch and dinner, closed in the afternoon. We stood there a moment pondering, and one of the workers came by….we asked if we could make a reservation and he said yes, and took our information. This evening when we went back, our previous waiter recognized us and welcomed us. They sat us outside as close to a heat lamp as possible, but also had blankets at each seat. The waitstaff were wonderful. For our first course, we shared a pasta and king prawn dish which was delicious. Then we had the lake fish dish. The chef came out and deboned it for us. I was not up for a sweet desert, so we had a cheese course. OMG, it was great! I had Gorgonzola and Dave had pecorino. Their sommelier recommended a couple of ports and we had one of each. The cheese was served with walnuts, crackers and honey. It was the perfect meal! Then they brought us a lemoncello shooter to finish our meal, gratis! What a great end to our vacation, and what a great celebration for my birthday. We have been following Rick Steves all over Italy, and the chef told us he was at the restaurant just one hour before us and showed us his picture with Rick, on his phone.

May 15: we drove from Bellagio to Milan. The road along Lake Como driving to and from Bellagio is treacherous. Sort of two lane, maybe, with no center line in most places and idiots driving down the middle of the road whether there’s a center line or not! I’m not sure I remember how far it is, but I will guess about 25 miles that took us 1.5 hours! We drove through Como, which is a bigger city than I expected. We got to the airport with no issues, but had a very difficult time finding gas to fill the rental car. All the stations we found were unmanned and you pay in advance. They do take Italian credit cards, but rejected Daves. So how many euros do you feed the pump if you have no clue how much gas it will take to fill it up….trial and error. Then returning the car was fun because the GPS was taking us to the wrong destination. We finally just followed the airport signs, but once we got in the Hertz lot there was no signage, so unclear as to where to go. Bottom line, it took us much more time to get settled in Milan than we thought. We purposefully did not get tickets to see the last supper, which was a good thing. Our concern was not knowing what time to choose for the reservation. We stayed at the Sheridan at the airport, and the train to downtown was just below the hotel. 20 euros per person, round trip to go into Milan.

We found the duomo and got tickets for visiting the Duomo, the Duomo rooftop terraces and the archeological area for 17 euros per person. Our ticket also included the duomo museum, which we knew we would not have time to visit, but could not be excluded from what we wanted to see. The Duomo is huge. It is the 4th largest church in the world. It was built to hold 40,000 people, the population of Milan at the time. Construction began in 1386 and continued to 1810 with final touches added as late as 1965. The detail is unbelievable, with over 2000 statues inside and over 1000 outside, plus tons of adornments. It was built from top to bottom with marble.

We visited the rooftop first, which is all marble. I am wondering how all this weight is supported. We paid a little extra for our ticket to take the elevator to the top instead of walking the stairs. We still had to walk up some stairs, but not from the ground. There are views of Milan, and the Piazza del Duomo 20 stories below, but the duomo’s spires, topped with statues, and all the embellishments kept my attention. To illustrate the detail, at one point, there was a little dove carved from marble, on the floor hiding behind a post. The central spire is a 15 foot golden statue of the Virgin Mary, 330 feet in the air. The church has 135 spires, all different, with a statue on top of each one. How did they get them up there? And, how did they get Mary up above everything else? Amazing!

After the rooftop, we walked down the stairs into the duomo. There are 52 pillars, 100 feet tall, which support the ceiling. The ceiling looks like it is carved, but Rick Steves says it is actually painted. High above the altar on a cross, there is a little red light. This is where a nail from the cross of Jesus is kept. Napoleon crowned himself king of Italy at this alter and supposedly had the nail in his crown.

Look for the little red light just under the white sheet

There are stained glass windows all around the church, which tell the biblical stories. One of the windows dates back to 1470, and some are more modern with one from the 1980’s. Some are stained glass but some were replaced with painted glass because of being destroyed by wars.

We visited the crypt of St. Charles Borromeo (1538-1584), the 16th century bishop who inherited a half finished cathedral and re-energized the project. His body is inside a glass coffin.

We visited the archeological area which is always interesting to me…I love looking at ancient ruins! The spot where the duomo sits has been a spiritual place for over 2000 years. In 2014, archeologists discovered the remains of what might have been a temple to the goddess Minerva. What we can see today are the ruins of a baptistery, the 8 sided paleo-Christian Baptistry of San Giovanni, along with the remains of a little church, dating back at least to the 4th century. At that time, you could not enter the church until you were baptized, and you did not get baptized until you were 18. So the little church would have served those that were not baptized. There were also tombs unearthed in this area, probably for important people because they wanted to be close to the church to help them get to heaven.

We finished our tour of the duomo and walked through the Galleria, which is a high end shopping mall next to the Duomo. Needless to say, Dave walked me through there pretty quickly 😁. While all the stores have the names of high end designers, we didn’t see a jewelry store on the main level! It is an open air, four story glass domed arcade. I took a few pictures to send to Erin to get her thoughts…I don’t think she was impressed.

Thanks to my cousin Sandie alerting me to the bull. In the center of the arcade are several mosaics. One of them is Milan’s city symbol, a bull. For good luck, you are suppose to spin clockwise two times, while standing on the bull’s testicles. Of course I did!

With so much spinning, the mosaic has to be replaced every couple of years. I must say, that particular area of the bull was well worn when I did my spin.

Walking out of the Galleria you enter a little Piazzale with a statue of Leonardo da Vinci, unfortunately, surrounded by barricades so you could not get close. He spent 20 years in Milan and one of his accomplishments was re-engineering Milan’s canal system.

Leonardo’s statue looks at the famous LaScala Opera House. We were there too late to get a tour of the opera house, which opened in 1778. Tickets go on sale two months prior, so no, we did not go to the opera.

Dave thought the electric trolleys still running through Milan were interesting. Some of the cars seem to be quite old, but we also saw some new ones.

We took the train back to our hotel, had a late dinner, and mentally prepared for our trip home (finished our last bottle of wine).

Cuba 8/21 – 8/25/17

Monday, August 21, 2017 Embarkation Tampa, FL Royal Caribbean “Empress of the Seas”

We left home about 10:00am and drove to Tampa. We parked in the public lot at Channelside. It was $75 for our 5 day cruise, paid in advance. The location to the port is very convenient. We were sitting in Windjammer’s by noon, having lunch. Upon boarding, we were given glasses to view the solar eclipse. Lots of people were topside, taking peaks at the eclipse thru their Royal Caribbean supplied glasses. The peak of the eclipse here in Tampa was 2:49pm. Tampa only had about 80% coverage, but the sunshine was noticeably less bright than normal. About 30 minutes before the maximum, Dave remembered he left his hat in the car. So he left me up on the top deck watching the eclipse and got off the ship, got his hat, and made it back in time to see the maximum eclipse coverage. All aboard was 3:00, so he didn’t have much time to spare.

After the eclipse, we met up with fellow cruise critic’s in the Viking Lounge. Only 8 folks showed up which was not surprising as our roll call was not very active. We only met for a short time as we were kicked out of the Viking Lounge to go to our muster drill at 3:30pm. The good news was that we didn’t have to bring or wear our life jackets.

Dave got pretty hot standing out in the heat with no breeze. Me, too, but it affected him worse. At 4:00pm we went to a talk on shore excursions. It was billed as a talk on Cuba, but it really was about the ship’s shore excursions offerings.

While in the “Cuba” talk, the ship sailed away from Tampa-probably about 4:15.

We have some status on Royal Caribbean, mainly because of our cruises on a Celebrity. Our Celebrity status gives us Diamond status on Royal Caribbean. One of the nice perks is we get 3 free drinks each (Dave and I are both Diamond status) between 5:00 and 8:30pm. Their vodka is New Amsterdam, so I had a martini and tried it. It tasted OK. I like Absolute better, but could drink the New Amsterdam martini. We sat at the pool bar and I was amazed at the pours.

There is no way I could have drank 3 of their martinis. I think it had 4 shots of vodka! Dave was not crazy about their house Chardonnay offering, but he suffered through it. While waiting for our drinks, an old geezer sat down next to me and started talking to me. AND, I wasn’t even in my car! Turns out he was a funeral director…I hope he didn’t look at me as future business – especially in the short term! Later, I found out he was actually sizing up Dave….if you know what I mean….After we got our first round of free drinks, it was about 6:00pm and we could see the I275 Bridge in the distance.

Dave as we are approaching Sunshine Skyway Bridge

We went up to the top deck to watch as we sailed under the bridge. Dave said there was not much clearance. Lots of people were up there to watch going under the bridge, and the ship blared its horn as we went under. I can finally cross that off my bucket list as I have always wanted to watch as we sail under that bridge. It is about 2 hours from the dock. The last time we sailed under the bridge was a New Years cruise and we got too cold waiting outside, so we missed the sail under the bridge.

After going under the bridge, we went back to our stateroom, took quick showers and changed for dinner. It is an all casual cruise – no formal night – but Dave still put on long pants and I brought dresses to wear to dinner. Dinner was good – we both had pistachio encrusted salmon. After dinner we watched some entertainment in the atrium – basically name that tune. Thanks to Dave, I won a Royal Caribbean pen. Then we went to the show, which was an introduction to the entertainment onboard. They did feature a comedian and he was funny, but I don’t remember his name. Actually, his website is something like “what was his name?”, so I guess I’m not the only one that can’t remember his name. After the show, we went back to the atrium for more entertainment. This one was “finish the lyric”. We observed. Actually, we recognized most of the songs, but not all.

We went by the library, and it had the fewest books of any ship’s library I have seen. Dave did not find anything to read. Back in our stateroom, Dave is unhappy with the temp. I am ok, but he is concerned that he won’t be able to sleep as he thinks it is too hot.

The Seas are very calm. Could not even feel movement on the ship.

Tuesday, August 22, 2017 Key West, Florida

Today we will dock in Key West, but not until about 1:00pm. We got up about 8:00, showered and went to breakfast in our Diamond breakfast location. The rest of the ship is having brunch starting at 9:30am, but we are happy to just go to breakfast. There is a separate location for Diamond and above, so we took advantage of our Diamond breakfast. I had a smoked salmon omelet, which is my favorite. Dave had pancakes and sausage. We did note them turning away a lot of people, whom I assume did not have the status that we have (thank you Celebrity). After breakfast we went to two talks on Cuba. Many of our questions were answered, and we made a shopping list for Key West. We decided it would be a good idea to take a light backpack – of course that is one thing I didn’t bring, so we put that on our Key West shopping list. Also, did not bring our hand sanitizer, so we planned to buy that in Key West. Also, some water, an umbrella, and a few snacks.

By the time the two talks were over, we had docked in Key West. The ship docked right in Mallory Square. How convenient, except we would not be there for Sunset. We decided we would eat/drink lunch off the ship, a little late, as we had reservations for Chops, the specialty restaurant at 8:00 and we wanted to be hungry. So after disembarking we headed for Hemmingways House. I had been there once before, in a prior life (🙂), but did not remember anything except there was a swimming pool. So, we toured Hemmingways House. He had 70 six toed cats, and they still have 55. We saw cats all over the place. They definitely make themselves at home. We saw the house, his pool, and the place where he wrote 7 books in 7 years, which was a separate structure at the back of his property.

After Hemmingways House, we were hungry and started to try to find a place to eat. The first place we saw, and many after it, were outdoor eating establishments. It was pretty hot, so I was on a mission to find someplace air conditioned. We tried Sloppy Joes, but it was packed. We wandered down Duval, and discovered “The Rum Runner” no longer existed. So we decided to walk to the “Conch Republic” which is an outside venue, but has great mojitos. And that is where we landed. Fortunately, with lots of fans, we had a little air movement and it was OK. I had a mojito, and Dave stuck to his wines. We shared some fish tacos, but Dave was still hungry, so he had a side of fried fish.

After the “Conch Republic”, we finished our Havana shopping list at CVS, and then boarded the ship. It was about 5:00, so we showered and dressed for dinner, and set about to get our 3 free drinks. The pool bar is the best for generous pours, so we went there first. I asked if I could get a mojito as one of my 3 free drinks. The bartender said no, but he would make me one anyway 🙂.

Then we barhopped a bit, watched out the windows to see if anyone was running for the ship, listened to some trivia, and finally made our way to Chops for our 8:00PM reservation. As usual, Chops was great. I had lamb and Dave had steak. We decided to reserve another night, so we are going again Friday, which is our last night on the ship.

After Chops, we had had enough to eat and drink, so we went to our stateroom to chill.

Tomorrow is Havana. It is a late arrival – about 1:00PM, but we think we are ready!

Wednesday, August 23 Havana, Cuba

This morning we attended another lecture on Cuba, but not sure we learned any new information. We grabbed a bite to eat in the buffet before arriving in Cuba. We watched the sail in, seeing the ship that Tim and Nicole will be on in two weeks. It was leaving as we were arriving. Havana looks like a city in disrepair. There have been many years where the buildings had no repairs or maintenance. As we learned much later in the day, the people vote, but there is only one political party. It reminded me of St. Petersburg, Russia. Except, the people in St. Petersburg hated the Americans, and were obviously unhappy people. The people of Havana are friendly, happy and optimistic. I saw several young men who were sporting the newest haircut fad which is cut very short on the sides and longer on top. One other thing we were told – the government does not want people to bring in “donations” as it is going to breed a culture where people are waiting for the ships to come in to see what they can get. Unfortunately, that is already happening. We had young boys hassling us asking for candy. Well meaning people don’t realize what behavior they are encouraging.

Anyway, we arrived in Havana. We had a ship’s tour, so we were one of the first groups to get off the ship. We had to go thru security, where we were scanned and anything we were bringing off the ship was scanned. Again, they do not encourage you to being “donations”. Then we went thru immigration. Not sure what they do, but my immigration officer took much longer than Dave’s. You do have to fill out a visa form. We were told that they would collect the visa, but they didn’t collect them as we exited the first time. After getting thru immigration, we walked down a long hall. At the end of the hallway were the money changers. US citizens are taxed higher than anyone else. Everyone pays a 3% exchange fee, but US citizens pay an additional 10% surcharge. So for every $100 we exchange, we get 87 Cuban “CUC’s” or convertible pesos. We got our 87 CUC’s, and boarded our bus.

Unfortunately, our tour guide was very hard to understand, and we did not get much out of our tour. We did take the tunnel to go to the adjacent island to see the Jesus statue.

It is a pretty phenomenal sight. It was carved out of marble by a woman. Next to the park with the Jesus statue is a military, civil patrol building, with big signs saying do not trespass. After the Jesus statue, we drove on El Malecon, which is the 7 kilometer road along the harbor front. Here you will see the setups for Carnival as well as the US Embassey. Lots of people walk along the harbor front. We also saw the capitol building here, which is very similar to the US Capitol . However, our cruise director said it was 1 foot taller, so it is different. We drove into the city cemetery. Here we picked up a local guiide. Along the entrance road in the cemetery , where we pulled in, were monuments and chapels built by the wealthy. There is also a monument to firefighters, as 29 firefighters lost their life battling a fire. The firefighters monument is the tallest one in the cemetery, and no future building is suppose to be higher. The firefighters responded to a fire in a building containing illegal explosives. The fire set off the explosives and the burning building collapsed on the fire fighters killing them. This incident is very memorable in Havana because our guide tomorrow will point out the building to us (a new building was built on the site). Our guide also explained the burial procedures to us, and indicated that dying is free in Havana. You only pay for the flowers. Of course, this is assuming your family already owns a plot. The deceased is buried in a pine box for two years. At that point, the body has decomposed, and the bones are put into a box inside the gravesite. She took us to the most famous grave. A woman died during childbirth, and was buried with the stillborn baby between her legs. When they dug up the grave 2 years later, her corpse was cradling the baby in her arms. This was a miracle. Now people come to her grave to pray.

After the cemetery, we went to Revolution Square. People gather here for political speeches. It is a huge open area and next to the square, lots of the old cars are parked next o the square. Our guides have told us that most of the old cars are actually taxis. Also, probably few, if any, original parts. They have been very creative with keeping these old cats running.

After revolution square, we rode on the bus to “Centroid” which is basically a flea market. Dave and I are not interested in this stuff. It is apparently hand made by locals

We wandered around for awhile and then went back and sat on the bus. Before getting on the bus, we evaluated the distance back to port (we considered walking), but decided it must be too far. As we later found out, it would have been very walkable.

The bus left us at the port about 6:00PM, and our tour to the Tropicana started about 7:45 PM. We hurried and went to the buffet to get a bite to eat, and then went to our stateroom to change for the Tropicana.

We were gathered in the appropriate spot by 7:45PM, which was our meeting time. We were #27. Interestingly, there were buses for #25 and 26, also 28 through 32. Upon arriving, we got seated in the second tier where people on buses 31 and 32 got seated in the first tier, or right against the stage in front of us. I later determined that our second tier seats were perfectly fine. The show itself was interesting with music, dancing and singing. Lots of ladies butts (😁), but they were not busty. One act had men in thongs – but of course, not as revealing as the ladies. The dancers wore beautiful costumes. My 3 favorite acts were:

Two women used an apparatus and did amazing balancing feats.
Two men did amazing balancing feats, without an apparatus.
A story of love where others were trying to keep a couple of young lovers apart. Near the end, the girl makes an amazing leap and is caught by the other performers.

Tropicana Dancer walking around audience as part of parade

Each table sat about 12 people. The seating is tight and people are packed in. One man in a motorized cart could barely make it through the aisle to get to his table. We were given a welcome glass of champagne. We had 2 buckets of ice for everyone (12 of us at our table) to share. We did request a refill of ice which we got (it was very hot outside). Then we got one can of cola per person, and every 4 people got a bottle of rum to share. I drank most of my rum over ice because I was concerned with the caffeine in the cola. I did add a small amount of cola, but not much. Other tables were able to order additional drinks, but our waitress never offered. The people at the table in back of us must have ordered bottled water, and I don’t know what else. Each person at the table also got a little dish of nuts to snack on. We did pay a little addition money for “VIP” seats, but I think everyone got the same drinks and snacks. The venue is outdoors – I don’t know what happens if it rains. While there is a main stage, there are performers on different levels, including the bar. So you need to look around.

At the end of the evening, there was about 1/3 bottle of rum left from the couple we were sharing with. Dave grabbed it and we brought it back to the ship and our stateroom.

During our talks on Cuba, we were told that the ship would not confiscate rum because they consider it a souvenir. We had no problem carrying bottles of rum onto the ship and into our stateroom. As a side note, with our Diamond status on Royal Caribbean, we get 3 free drinks each night, plus other drink discounts,. This will be our lowest bar bill ever.

And now the rest of the story, or how Dave got upset with me….😳. We are still on the ship as I write this, so I may still be headed to jail. While drinking our rum at Tropicana, out of Havana Club logo glasses, I decided the glasses would make nice souvenirs. I was going to just stick them in my purse, but Dave nixed that. So I asked a waitress if I could buy them. She did not speak English, so she didn’t know what I was asking. A lady at our table across from me spoke fluent Spanish, and asked me what I wanted. I told her, and she said she would ask for me. This was early in the evening. As we were getting up to leave at the end of the evening, the lady at my table had gone somewhere, came back and said “The waitress said they don’t sell the glasses, just take them”. At this point, I don’t know if the “just take them” part was coming from the waitress or the lady, but I didn’t need any more encouragement. I carried them in my hand with my little jacket hiding them as we walked out. I was very willing to buy them, so in my rum soaked mind, that made me less of a thief. Meanwhile, Dave is very unhappy with me and keeps telling me that iI’m going to jail in a Cuban prison and reminding me about the American kid that tried to take a poster in North Korea. There is a little more to this story….but it happens tomorrow.

By the time we are back on the ship and ready for bed, it is 1:00 am and we have a 7:45 am tour tomorrow morning. A short night for us…..

Thursday, August 24, 2017

This morning we are doing a walking tour. A short sleep last night – in bed at 1:00am and up at 6:00am. We are still docked in Havana. Each time we get on or off the ship, we have to go through immigration. Getting off the ship, after the face to face with the immigration officer, everything you are taking off the ship is scanned and you go through airport type security by Cuban authorities. Getting back on the Ship, you and your possessions are scanned again, then the face to face with the Cuban immigration officer, then an additional scanning by the cruise ship security as you re-board the ship. At this point, the Cuban immigration officials still have not collected my visa, but they have collected Dave’s. Dave still thinks it is because they are going to throw me in jail. Yesterday, our guide told us that if someone is caught stealing a cell phone, they get 10 years in prison. How long in prison if you steal 2 Havana Club logo glasses? Anyway, my passport was stamped, and the Cuban immigration officers just look for the stamp after your first trip through. So I still have my visa. Later today, they gave my passport a second stamp.

So we get off the ship and meet our guide for our walking tour. His name is Ramon, his English is self taught, and we are his first group of Americans. I’m sure he has led Canadians and Brits before. Unfortunately, he is hard to understand, but not as bad as our guide yesterday. He walks us around, very slowly, through some of the squares in Havana and points out various monuments and buildings, quoting Cuban history and dates, for about 2 hours (it is a 4 hour tour). One thing we did pick up is that the Cubans are still rationed. I think they get 5 eggs per adult per week, and 6 lbs. of rice. Not sure what else is rationed. Ramon did point out a little store, with a big sign that said they did not accept CUC’s which was the currency tourists are suppose to use. The locals use CUP’s, which are worth about 25 times less than CUC’s. Dave and I hang in there on the tour – even though we are a bit bored – because what else are we going to do. He did lose some other people who bailed out and went back to the ship. So after about 2 hours of this slow wandering, he took us to a (state run) rum and cigar store. Here we could buy….rum and cigars! We made our donation to the government of Cuba, and then stopped in the hotel next door to take a little break. We could get something to drink, use the bathrooms, and/or sit for a few minutes. The bathroom was unisex, and had toilet paper. We were advised many times to bring tissues as many bathrooms do not have toilet paper.

Another side note here – when we were on the tour buses, the buses were very new, Chinese buses. I didn’t use the bus bathroom, but we were told to use the bathrooms on the bus if we needed to, and those bathrooms would have toilet paper.

After our rest stop, we walked some more and met up with a bus to continue our tour. Our bus driver was a little guy – maybe only 5’ tall, but he looked like Geraldo Rivera. We even saw someone get their picture taken with him! Anyway, he drove us to a bar.

This bar had signs that it didn’t open until 8:00PM, but I think during the day it caters to tourists. Here we got some free samples. It was billed as a pairing of rum, coffee and cigars. So, everyone got a cigar, a shot of rum, and a little cup of coffee. Dave was able to order a coke. It was 3 CUC’s (on the ship they’re $3.84). They had a band playing and singing Cuban music. Afterwards, 2 girls came around offering CD’s for purchase. We did not buy. Then back on the bus. Just before boarding the bus, I saw a guy pushing what looked like a clothing rack. It looked like he had long stings of garlic and onions. He saw me trying to take his picture, so he smiled and paused a second so I could get a good picture.

Pushing a cart filled with garlic cloves

All the people we came in contact with were very nice and friendly. Even walking on the streets, people would say hello, even school kids. I didn’t see any homeless people – Dave said he saw one guy sleeping in a doorway. The also keep the streets very clean – no liter. I did have to step over dog poop a couple of times, as there are dogs that wander around. The dogs don’t bother you, but we were advised not to try to pet them as the dogs are not used to human interaction.

The bus took us back to the area near the ship, and we did a little more walking, this time to a square that had more expensive type stores, an outdoor coffee shop, etc. Then we walked back to the square where we started from, San Francisco Plaza, which is right across from the ship. Ramon pointed to a hotel and said they had good mojitos. It was about 12:30, so we got back on the ship, and had lunch. There was one more thing I wanted to do – and that is have a mojito in Havana. So now we are going out on our own in Havana.

We walked back into San Francisco Plaza, and into the hotel our guide recommeded. They had a gift shop, so I bought one postcard to mail to Sandie. She always asks me to mail her a post card. So, Sandie – watch your mailbox! The postcard was 1.5 CUC’s, but that included “local” postage. I didn’t have a pen, but the lady at the reception desk lent me one, and directed us to the post office. Again, very nice, friendly people. The post office lady sold us a stamp for .5 CUC’s and even put the stamp on the card for me.

We walked back to the hotel for a mojito and Cuba libra. It was an inside courtyard, and the drinks were 4CUC’s each.

We walked around a bit more, and the doorman (for lack of a better description) at Hotel Rachel enticed us in telling us there was a rooftop bar. So up we went up an ancient elevator to the roof. Service was slow, but bartender was very nice. He said mojitos were 4 CUC, but for us only 3.5 CUC’s 😁. We enjoyed sitting up on the roof. It was hot, but we were sitting in a covered area, so it was OK. This is where Dave and I found our mission! Or, what we were going to do with the rest of our afternoon.

Remember my Havana Club glasses? Dave and I decided we would try to find some legal ones and buy more. This is the rest of the story…assuming I don’t get thrown in jail once I return to Tampa. At least Dave is liking the Havana Club glasses souvenir at this point. So we started wandering around in the touristy area, tshirt shops and other stuff. We walked, walked, walked. Finally we stopped in one shop that looked promising, but wasn’t. A young woman in the shop tried to be helpful and sent us a few blocks away to where she thought we might find the glasses. She was so nice we gave her a 2CUC tip. And then we walked, walked, and walked some more.

Another side note – while walking through these touristy areas, we were approached several times by locals trying to sell us cigars. We were warned many times, by ship crew, our local tour guides, and stuff I read online on Facebook and Cruise Critic, to never buy cigars from people on the street as they are fake. One person on Facebook said his tour guide hooked him up with a local on the street – and he bought fake cigars.

So as we are walking, we are approached by a guy who we initially thought was a crew member. He spoke very good English. He is just friendly and talking to us, telling us to be sure to get back on the ship on time. We decided to ask him where we might find Havana Club glasses. He sent us 3 or 4 blocks away to Sloppy Joes bar. He thought they might have a gift shop where we could buy the glasses. He even walked us 1/2 block to get us on the right street. Then, he asks us for 20 CUC’s, for the baby…as they are still rationed….we gave him 3 CUC’s and headed to Sloppy Joes….and then it started pouring rain. We got very close, and could see the sign for Sloppy Joes, but hung out at a bus stop shelter with 20 or so other folks trying to stay dry. Finally the rain let up and we went to Sloppy Joes. No, they don’t sell the glasses. But, the very nice bartender (he really was very nice) took our map and suggested we go to the Museum of Rum, and even marked the location on our map. Fortunately, it was near our ship, so we headed back to our ship. As we got close to the ship, it was about 5:00. Dave said he bet the museum closed at 5:00, so we abandoned our mission, and with have to live with our 2 illicit, sin-scarred Havana Club glasses that I swiped from Tropicana.

We got back on the ship, ate dinner and went to the show. This show was one of the best we have ever seen in our 17 years of cruising. Not only us, but you could tell the whole audience enjoyed it. It was a band from Toronto Canada and they played 50’s and 60’s songs. They were young – maybe in their 30’s. The lead singer was really energetic. Dave thought he was going to have a heart attack just watching him! The bass guitarist had a bit of a John Lennon look. They got a standing ovation and came back for an oncor. They were really good. They are billed as Toronto’s premier rock and roll cover band, “Rookie”.

Tomorrow is a sea day, so I don’t expect to have anything for my blog. We have reservations for Chops, the specialty restaurant. Tomorrow is August 25, Lily’s birthday. We plan to see her Saturday after we get off the ship. Unless I get thrown in jail. If that happens, you all will probably know, because I’ll be calling everyone I know for bail money. 😳.

Final thoughts on Cuba

People in Cuba are very friendly. The immigration people were serious, and did not interact with you, but they were not unfriendly. The only people that I felt were “cold” were the money changers at the port. People on the street, in shops, bartenders, post office, etc. were all very friendly.

We were on Royal Caribbean, so some of my impressions may be different than someone traveling a different way or a different line. We were given one bottle of water for each excursion, because it was so hot. Dave and I bought more water, and carried it in our first excursion, but it was not needed. The one bottle was plenty. However, it may have been different if we had a full day excursion. Ours were only Half day or 4 hours. The ship also recommended taking snacks in sealed packages. Fruit, sandwiches, unsealed cookies, etc. would not be allowed into Cuba. All your possessions are scanned entering and leaving the port area by Cuban officials. We bought some peanuts, but never needed them. Again, maybe because we took the shorter excursions. Even our walking tour stopped so we could rest. I’m pretty sure we could have bought a snack at the hotel where we had our rest stop if we wanted.

I used a light, nylon, string backpack to carry tissues, hand sanitizer, water and anything that we purchased.

You are advised to bring an umbrella or rain gear. This is a good idea. It rains most afternoons – kinda like Florida. We lucked out the first day – no rain. So the second day we didn’t go prepared and could have gotten soaked. We lucked out and found shelter when it rained, but then we were stuck there until the rain stopped.

The Cuban people are culturally mixed. There are Cubans who have fair skin and some are very dark. According to our guide Ramon, this is because they have a very mixed heritage that includes other Caribbean people, Spainards, British, Africans, Chinese, etc. The Cubans had African slaves. There is a big hotel being built and our discussion leader on the ship told us they brought in Indians from India to do the labor because if they used Cubans the materials would have ended up in Cuban homes!?!?!?!

There are many dilapidated buildings, some still occupied. Apparently in 1959, Cubans could no longer buy or sell homes. As children married, the just added bedrooms, and sometimes the building became unstable. Some homes are very nice and some have been rehabbed. To me, it reminded me of St. Petersburg Russia, and the influence of Russian communists. Russia has pulled out of Cuba, and now Cuba is friends with the Chinese. Thus the nice, new Chinese tour buses. The children in school used to learn Russian but now they learn Chinese. English is not universally spoken, but those Interacting with tourists seem to speak some English.

We did not have a problem with mosquitoes. Someone told us that the government actually goes into private homes and spray for mosquitos. The streets are very clean with no liter. There are dogs that wander. Sometimes they do their “business” in the streets, so you have to watch for that. We also saw some cats, and a few chickens. These animals are not used to human interaction and we were told not to try to pet them.

We did not have any problem with drinking beverages with ice cubes, however we only got drinks from hotels.

The dress code for the Tropicana is for men – long trousers and closed toe shoes. We bought our tickets for Tropicana through the ship. I understand it is much cheaper to buy them online directly from Tropicana, but then you are arranging your own transportation to and from the Tropicana. When we arrived, we were seated at tables of 12. Each person is given a welcome glass of champagne. Then they brought a can of cola (not a brand you would recognize), and a 700 ml bottle of 7 year old Havana Club to share between 4 people, whom you may or may not know (so there were 3 bottles per table). We also had two buckets of ice to share among 12 people. It was very hot, and we used a lot of ice. We asked for our ice bucket to be replenished, and it was. Each person got a small dish of peanuts for a snack. Some tables were able to order additional items, i.e. bottles of water, but our waitress did not speak English and did not offer. Our tickets did not include dinner, either. At the end of the evening, our bottle of rum still had about 1/3 left. No one else seemed interested, so Dave picked it up. We carried it back to our stateroom with no problem.

Royal Caribbean did not confiscate bottles of rum bought in Havana. They considered them souvenirs and allowed us to bring them back to our room.

I did not see any homeless people, and Dave thought he saw one. As a discussion leader on the cruise said, the rations are enough to live on. This discussion leader also said the average monthly wage is the equivalent of $42 (US) per working adult. I think about our tour guides that received tips – probably at least $5 per person for half day tours, with at least 20 people, which would be $100 for 1/2 day of work. I wonder if they have to turn that money over to the government or something, because the locals are only suppose to have CUP’s. CUP’s is the money for locals. Tourists use CUC’s, or convertible pesos.

The people did not seem to be lazy. Even though the government takes care of people, they work. Cuba has a very high literacy rate.

The Royal Caribbean Empress of the Seas staterooms are small. This ship has been refurbished expressly for these short trips to Cuba. The shower is tight. I don’t know why, but the water in our shower was lukewarm at best. No amenities in the bathroom other than bar soap and liquid soap in the shower. We enjoyed having Diamond status on Royal Caribbean. We got free internet for one device for 24 hours. There are other benefits, but we enjoyed the internet and 3 free drinks, between 5:00pm and 8:30pm each evening. There’s also a one time buy one get one, and a 20% discount on one drink. We had a special venue for breakfast, and Diamond Plus and Pinnicle had breakfast in the Chops restaurant. We were not impressed with the food in the buffet. Today they were suppose to have chicken noodle soup. When I went to get a bowl, there were no noodles in the chicken noodle soup. So, they needed to replenish the soup. The Crew were very good and all our needs were taken care of. In the restaurant we always had to give our room number, and then the staff would call us by name.

Room service now has a $7.95 service charge for everything except a continental breakfast. Lunch was never served in the dining room, but you could go to Chops for $15 per person for lunch. Chops is $35 for dinner, but they do run specials. On Tropicana night, when most of the ship went to Tropicana, Chops had a 2 for 1 special. We booked at embarkation and got a 20% discount. I like the internet fees are for 24 hour periods and generally run $14.95 to $19.95 for one device for 24 hours, rather than requiring you to purchase so many minutes. I think it was $14.95 if you bought it before getting on the ship. On the last day, they offered a $9.95 special.

There are very few balconies on Empress of the Seas, all junior suite or higher, so we had an ocean view stateroom. There was a lifeguard at the pool, which I haven’t seen on a ship before. Probably because too many parents are not watching their children…..

You are allowed to bring into the US 2 liters of rum and 100 cigars. However when we came thru customs, I told the customs officer that we had 3 bottles and he did not make us pay duty.

Do not buy cigars from street vendors. We were warned many times that these cigars may be fake. The street vendors use all sorts of things, other than tobacco, to fill the cigars. The tour guides will take you to official (government?) stores that sell cigars, rum and coffee. One of the official stores that we went to gave samples of the rum to taste. One of our shore excursions took us to a bar where we were able to sample rum, coffee and cigars.

We did not see any supermarkets, or convenience stores. I am not sure where the locals shop. The Cubans are still rationed. One guide told us they get 5 eggs per month and 6 lbs. of rice. He did point out a “hole in the wall” which was a store. There was a sign that said “we do not accept CUC’s” which is the currency tourists use. Locals use CUP’s. It was dark and dingy. Against one wall was a blackboard with items listed and I assume their prices.

Caribbean Cruise 10/8 – 18/2019

10/8/19: We are booked in stateroom L222 on the Crown Princess, cruising round trip out of Fort Lauderdale with Ray and Celeste who are next door in L226.

Balcony door is open between our staterooms

Ray drove from Englewood to Fort Lauderdale. As we drove on Alligator Alley, we checked the weather and saw there was a big rain and thunderstorm over Fort Lauderdale, but fortunately, it dissipated before we got there. We parked at an offsite facility that Ray had arranged. We drove in, they unloaded our luggage from the car and onto a shuttle, and off we went with about 6 or 8 other people on the shuttle. We were dropped off at the dock in a short time, and proceeded through the Princess embarkation. That all went smoothly and quickly. We had received information before the cruise that boarding would be delayed until 2:00PM due to the ship arriving from overseas and having to be inspected by US immigration. We arrived at the port about 1:00PM, and boarding started about 1:30PM. That was a bit of a disaster as everyone got up to be boarded at the same time. So actually getting on the ship took awhile. After we were finally on board, we grabbed a hamburger from the grill in the pool area. It was actually a really good hamburger. We explored the ship a little and kept checking for our luggage, which didn’t arrive until after we left for dinner. We have “anytime dining” and had dinner about 6:00PM. We returned to our stateroom, unpacked, watch the Rays beat Houston on TV, and went to bed. We have adjoining staterooms and the room steward opened the balcony door between our staterooms.

10/9/19: Princess Cays – We are scheduled to arrive at 9:00AM. It is a tender port which means we are suppose to get tickets to take the tenders, shuttle boats actually, from the ship to the island. But of course, tender tickets were not checked, or collected, so lots of rude people just got in the shuttle line making the rest of us who follow the rules, wait. Princess Cays has swimming beaches, snorkeling areas, trinket stores, bars, equipment rental, etc. It can be a fun beach day. They serve lunch there, too. I brought my new full face snorkel mask, and Celeste and I planned to snorkel. Dave and Ray hung out on beach chairs in the shade. Celeste and I had to walk a little distance to get to the snorkeling area. Then we had to swim around a building built in the water -I think it may have been a lifeguard station- to get to the profitable snorkel area. We saw lots of colorful fish and coral. Celeste saw a barracuda, but I didn’t see him. My favorite fish was a beautiful blue one. It was deceiving how deep the water was. It looked like you could reach down and touch the bottom, but I could not stand up. So we were swimming or floating the whole time, probably 45 minutes or so. I had a slight drip into my full face mask, around my right eye, which was stinging because I wore my contact lenses. I also felt the need after awhile to take off the mask to get a deep breath, but I wanted to stand to do it and couldn’t. And, I needed to blow my nose! Because of those discomforts, after about 45 minutes I’d had enough. If there would have been a spot to stop, stand, and get a breath of fresh air, I think I would have continued longer. I really enjoyed seeing the fish and coral. I only saw one small conch shell. The water was beautiful and clear.

After snorkeling, a Celeste and I visited some of the shops but didn’t buy anything. We went back to the guys and decided to go back to the ship instead of eating lunch at Princess Cays. A few other people were going back, too. We figured we’d have the ship to ourselves. Boy, were we wrong! Lots of people apparently didn’t go ashore. We spent a quiet afternoon, sat on the balcony, and explored the ship. We went to the “Elite” happy hour which is for frequent cruisers and suite passengers. Ray and Celeste are one status level below us, but nobody checked ID, so they went to the happy hour with us. Then we went to dinner. We were much happier with our waiter, Ricardo, although the dinner menu wasn’t great. Celeste, Ray and Dave had shrimp cocktails for an appetizer, but the shrimp were small. Celeste had the “always available” chicken, which was dry and rubbery. Dave had the “always available” salmon, which was also dry. Ray and I had a seafood stew which we thought was very good. It contained pieces of fish, shrimp, scallops, and clams in a clear broth. After dinner, we went back to our staterooms to chill as we were tired and the evening entertainment was a vocalist which did not inspire us.

10/10/19: Sea Day – Dave and I went to the dining room for breakfast and were underwhelmed. Ray and Celeste went to Horizon Court (the buffet) and really liked it. Dave and I will have to try it. I have a bit of a phobia about the buffet because of germs, but I’ll try it anyway. Dave and I went to a lecture on the Bermuda Triangle. Little did I know our ship is traveling through the Bermuda Triangle! The lecturer was only “OK”, and I found it somewhat interesting, but Dave about fell asleep. Just a disjointed and hard to follow lecture. Since we are going to the Crown Grill Dining Room tonight, one of the specialty restaurants, Dave and I had a light lunch at the International Cafe. I had green pea soup and a little orzo salad, and Dave had a ham panini and chocolate chip cookies. Dave was disappointed because they heated the panini, but it was still cold. Ray and Celeste ate at the Horizon Buffet. In the afternoon, Dave and I went to the Pyramid Game show. The game is similar to $10,000 pyramid. Passengers volunteer and if they guess 6 words, they won a plastic Princess coaster. Actually, even if they didn’t win, they were given plastic Princess coasters for participating. Watching was an entertaining way to spend an hour.

We went to dinner at Crown Grill, a specialty restaurant. I had Tiger Prawn for an appetizer, black and Blue soup which was French onion soup with blue cheese, and sea bass for my entree. Dave had a lobster cake, shrimp bisque, and a filet. Celeste had the tiger prawn, black and blue soup and Lobster. Ray had the black and blue soup and surf and turf. We all opted out of potatoes and they served mushrooms, asparagus and creamed spinach family style. We all liked the asparagus, so they had to bring more. The food was very good and very filling, but of course we had desert. Dave, Ray and I chose a bite size sampler of all the deserts and Celeste had a milk chocolate peanut butter bar.

We missed the early show and were too tired to wait for the late show. Dave and I wandered around awhile, spent some money in the casino, and ended up watching the Patriots beat the NY Giants in our stateroom.

10/11/19: St. Thomas – Ray and Celeste booked a submarine excursion, but Dave and I planned to wing it. We arrived in St. Thomas about 8:00AM. Dave and I took our time and got off the ship about 10:30AM. We had a few things we were thinking of doing. One thing was the 99 steps, which I guess is actually 103, that leads to Blackbeard’s Castle. However, Blackbeard’s Castle was closed today. There is a gondolier that goes up a mountain and supposedly has good views, but the gondolier was not running today. The last thing on our list was to go to Mountain Top which is famous for their banana daiquiris. It is an inside “mall”, which was good because we were having some rain showers. Lots of tour operators were hawking their tours, all for the same price of $25 per person, and one of their stops was Mountain Top. We opted for an open bus and took one of the tours. The guide stopped at a couple of overlooks and pointed out sights in Charlotte Amalie. He also pointed out islands in the Atlantic and Caribbean Seas. He took us to one overlook containing Drakes Seat which is a green bench with a great view over Magen’s Bay. It is a vantage point where Sir Francis Drake was suppose to have looked out for enemy ships of the Spanish fleet. We went to Mountain Top and we both had banana daiquiris. I bought a $10 visor for rowing, and Dave bought a rum sampler. The tour came back down the mountain and drove through downtown Charlotte Amalie before returning us to the shopping area by the ship. We got back to the ship mid afternoon, showered, and went to the Elite happy hour. Again, Ray and Celeste joined us at happy hour with no issue. Sometimes the crew checks ID, but not on this cruise. The hors d’oeuvres were shrimp and the cocktail of the evening was a Bacardi Limon Mojito. After happy hour we went to dinner (more food ugh). Dave and I had the fish entree and Ray and Celeste had the steak entree. Dave and I wandered the ship a bit and then went back to our stateroom.

10/12/19: Dominica – We signed up for a shore excursion which included a drive through a rain forest and then tubing down a river. There were 10 of us in a van. We were the last to get on, and there was one seat near the back and the other three up front. Dave offered, but I took the seat near the back. Unfortunately, we drove up a mountain on a very windy road and I ended up with a headache and feeling woozy, but managed not to throw up. The driver gave a commentary, but I could not hear a word he said. It was a pretty miserable ride. Finally we got to the tubing venue, ran by a company named Hibiscus.

The river was a little low, but there were several guys accompanying our group. The guys from Hibiscus would help us if we got hung up on a rock or stuck somewhere. It was a pleasant afternoon and I think we all enjoyed the tubing.

Then we had an hour long drive back to the ship, but this time I traded seats with Dave and sat closer to the front, so the ride back was better, but still a windy road. We got back to the ship about 1:30PM, and we were all pretty hungry. We opted to keep our wet clothes on and grabbed a burger in the pool area. It tasted pretty good! After lunch, Dave and I got off the ship and checked out the vendor tents, but did not buy anything. The port is in an industrial area, so there really was no place to walk, and not many vendors. We can see a business area, and I think there’s suppose to be a shuttle to the town, but we decided we’d rather get our showers and get out of our wet, stinky clothes. Went to dinner in the Michelangelo Restaurant and got out preferred servers, Ricardo and Nicolae. I had Seafood Stew, Celeste had Chicken quesadilla, Ray and Dave had Chateaubriand. After dinner, we went to a production show…Disco. We always enjoy the production shows…lots of singing and dancing. After the production show we went to a game show…”Is that your final answer?” Which is a take off of “Who wants to be a millionaire?”. They do it a little differently, using one team of 5 people. Each person answers the question independently until they miss and then the next person sits in the hot seat. Amazingly, there was a winner! Then we were all off to bed as we have an early port call in Grenada.

10/13/19: Grenada – our ship is having a thruster problem and the captain is concerned with potential strong currents in Grenada. So instead of docking, we are going to tender in.

View of our ship sitting wayyyyy out! We had to tender in.

It is a short port call, from 7:00AM until the last tender at 1:15PM. We have a ships excursion, and meet in the wheelhouse at 7:00AM (we got there at 6:50AM actually). The ship didn’t get cleared until about 7:30AM, but then finally we were on the tender heading to port. Our tour bus had 14 people and a really great guide, Valerie, and driver, Dragon. Dragon was talkative and supplemented Valerie’s commentary. We left the port area and headed up a mountain to Fort Frederick. It is a backwards fort, built with the cannons facing inland to defend from inland invaders. Before we get to the fort, our bus breaks down and we have to wait for a second bus. In not too long of time, maybe 15 minutes, we are back heading to the fort. There are beautiful views from the fort, but really not much else to see. Soon we go to leave and find we are switching buses again. Not sure what was wrong with the second bus. The air conditioning in all 3 buses was not very good. Anyway, we are driven around for probably an hour while Valerie points out various points of interest and Dragon stops at various viewpoints. Finally we reach a Spice Plantation. We are shown various spices and where and how they grow. Loofa is actually a vine that grows on a tree. We see what cocoa looks like before it is processed and Valerie describes how it becomes chocolate. Of course we bought a couple of chocolate bars. The outside air seems a bit better than the stuffy air conditioning, so we open all the windows on the bus. Then we go to a nutmeg factory. Because it is Sunday, no one is working, but we get a tour. Only 4 of the 14 actually go on the tour, but Celeste and I were 2 of the 4. The guide told us he walked 4 miles to get to the factory today. He seems very knowledgeable and gave each of us a handful of nutmegs. After the tour, Dave and Ray found a little market and we got some much appreciated cold water. Then we are off driving a long time again, through the mountains while Valerie and Dragon point out plants and trees bearing various fruits or supplying various spices.

I forgot the name of this tree, but the bark was colorful.

After driving a long time, we enter Grand Etang National Park and visit a crater lake. There are monkeys in the trees as we exit the bus.

We are given a complimentary drink here And the choice could be soda, water, beer, or rum punch. Dave, Celeste and I chose the rum punch, but Ray got a beer. The rum punch was very tasty. We walked to an overlook and saw the lake which is in an extinct volcano crater. There is a lady on our bus that is not feeling well….she is diabetic so not sure if it is a diabetic issue, diesel fumes on the bus, car sickness from driving in the mountains, or something else. We left the crater lake and we’re driving to Annandale Falls, when this lady gets really sick. Valerie and Dragon drive to a house where they apparently know the homeowner, but no one is home – probably at church. Fortunately, another neighbor sees Valerie and Valerie asks them if this lady can use their restroom. So we sit stopped for awhile, until the lady and Valerie return. The lady is given lots of plastic bags in case she needs to throw up. We proceed to our last stop which is Annandale Falls. The waterfall has a drop of 30 feet and the pool beneath the falls looks very inviting.

However with our bus problems and our sick passenger, our tour is running late. So we have a quick stop at the falls.

There are 3 guys there who describe themselves as members of a jumpers club. Of course they are looking for tips. All 3 guys jump into the pool from the area at the top of the falls.

Looked like fun and the water looked very inviting for all us hot sweaty people on the bus. It is already 1:00PM, and our tour should have been over by noon. Lots of phone calls from Valerie and Dragon’s boss wondering where we are because we are running so late. Of course, all of the passengers on the bus were not concerned as Princess promises to wait for late returning passengers on ships tours. The last tender was suppose to be at 1:15PM, but we didn’t get back until about 1:30PM. They told us to have our ships card out for identification and then kind of rush us to the tender. All of Princess’s tents and signage is down, and this is the last tender so the port crew will return with us on this tender. We get on the tender and wait. Apparently they are waiting for 1 more person. They tell us it will be about 15 minutes. One of the crew brings us cool washcloths to help cool us down. The sick lady is wheelchaired out of the heat and back to the building which has air conditioning. Finally, at 2:00PM we see the sick lady being wheelchaired back, but not the person we were waiting for. Apparently they decided to wait until 2:00PM and that was it. We got back to the ship and Dave asked the crew about the missing person and they confirmed that they left one. Later, we hear an announcement that the entertainer for the evening didn’t make the ship and the evening program was a comedy presentation instead. I am thinking it was the entertainer that the shuttle was waiting for. We didn’t get back to the ship until 2:30PM and we see the sick lady with her face in a big plastic bag with medical personnel from the ship. We had not eaten since 6:00AM, and had dinner reservations in Sabatini’s, one of the specialty restaurants at 5:30PM. We decided to change Sabatini’s and got a reservation at 7:30PM instead. Then we grabbed a quick, light lunch and noticed the ship hadn’t moved away from anchor. The ship continued to sit at anchor for another hour….we did not leave Grenada until about 3:10PM. Dave and I went to the international Cafe and Ray and Celeste went to Horizon, the buffet. By the time we all ate lunch, took showers, cleaned up, got dressed, we had about 30 minutes to chill before time to go to the Platinum happy hour. Tonight the hors d’oeuvre was sushi and some kind of cherry cocktail. But since we were going to Sabatini’s we didn’t want to snack too much. We headed to Sabatini’s a little early, 7:15PM, but they seated us right away at a table that was freezing! We were all very cold, so finally they moved us, and the second table was much better. Celeste and I had artichoke soufflés and Ray and Dave had calamari appetizers. For our pasta course, we had spaghetti with seafood. There was lots of seafood and not much spaghetti, which was fine with all of us. For our entrees, Celeste and I had lobster 3 ways, Ray had a huge veal chop, and Dave had Saltimbocca. Finally, for dessert I had tiramisu and a tiramisu martini, Celeste had a chocolate mint martini, Ray had a tiramisu martini and Dave had a tart. We all enjoyed every course and had a nice time. However, because we had all gotten up very early, we retired to our staterooms after dinner. We can sleep in tomorrow morning. We are not scheduled to arrive in Bonaire until noon, and all aboard is 7:30PM.

10/14/19: Bonaire – arriving in Bonaire is very picturesque. It is the cutest island so far, and not as many mountains.

We do not have a planned ships excursion. I thought we might take a taxi tour, but that did not happen. Not sure what there is to do in Bonaire other than swim, snorkel or dive. From our balcony on the ship, we could see people in the water nearby, apparently learning to dive. The water was clear and beautiful. We did not do much. We walked around the small business/shopping area and checked the shops. Many were closed between 12:00PM and 2:00PM for lunch, and we were there about 1:45PM. Celeste and I bought a couple of visors that were $5 each, and I got some Visine because my eyes were still kinda bugging me. We are docked close to town, but the town is pretty small, so it only took an hour or so to see what we wanted to see. We got back on the ship and chilled for the afternoon, going to happy hour for sushi and a “deep sea martini”. For dinner, we sat at Ricardo and Nicolae’s table again. They had a new server they were training, Lucas. Ray had Minestrone soup and veal scallopini. Celeste had 2, yes, 2 bowls! of the chilled peach and Prosecco soup and a seafood dish with a long Italian name (it was Italian night) with shrimp, scallops, and garlic for the entree. For dinner, Dave had prosciutto, shrimp cocktail, and veal scallopini. I had a seafood antipasto, chilled peach soup with Prosecco, and the same seafood entree as Celeste. Then we went to another production show that was Motown music, which we all enjoyed. Afterwards Dave and I walked around a bit, and ended up getting an Absolute Citron and a glass of wine to take to our room.

10/15/19: Curaçao- Our last port. The ship arrived at 7:00AM, and we had a ships tour starting at 9:00AM. We had a big bus with pretty good air conditioning today. Our guide was Daneek and the driver was Hortencia. We started with a bit of a scenic drive with Daneek pointing out buildings, forts, sculptures, etc. we were given a photo op from the top of Queen Juliana Bridge.

Crown Princess in port from top of Queen Juliana Bridge

Our first stop was an Aloe plantation. They have been producing aloe products for 22 years and use all natural materials. The life of an aloe plant is 10 years. Before they can start to harvest aloe fronds/branches (?), the plant has to be 2 years old. Then they cut the bottom fronds/branches, leaving the center to grow some more. If the plant shoots out blooms, they are cut off as the flowers zap the energy from the plant. A lady demonstrated how they harvest the aloe. First they cut the end and let the bitter red liquid drip out. What remains is like a gel with sticky goop. She cut it in small pieces to let us taste, and it literally had little to no taste, maybe a little bit like a cucumber. Then we went into their store to try some aloe juice and testers for their products. They make all kinds of lotions, soap, skin creams, shampoo, and juices. We did not buy anything, but their products are available on Amazon. The next stop was a chichi(?) factory. In Curaçao, a chichi is the oldest daughter. Basically it is a plaster figure of a fully endowed woman, and they are painted by locals. They also make a plaster figure of a man, which represents the firstborn male, called a bobo (?), and he has a large belly. The last stop, and probably the reason we signed up for this tour, was a visit to the Curaçao liquor factory. They explained how the liquor is made, which is basically from the peels of Valencia oranges with sugar, cloves, cinnamon and several other “secret” spices. When finished, it is clear, but food colors can be added, which does not change the flavor. It is sold as clear, blue, yellow, red or green. They also sell the liquor flavored with chocolate, rum raisin and tamarind. The taste of the unflavored liquor is similar to triple sec. After our tour, we were given (small) tastes of blue, chocolate and tamarind. All were very good. We could also buy cocktails, and being very hot, I bought a frozen blue something. It was margarita mix and vodka blended with ice. Then the blue Curaçao liquor was put in the bottom of a glass and the flavored, blended ice was poured on top. It was very tasty. Dave bought a sampler package of the 3 flavored liquors, and a small bottle of the clear liquor to see how it tastes in margaritas as compared to triple sec. After the Curaçao liquor factory, we headed back to the ship with our guide pointing our more places of interest.

Many of the old houses are made from local sand and stone, and have to be replastered and repainted every two years, so they are very expensive to maintain. At one time, they were private residences, but now house businesses because of maintenance costs. We got back about 12:30PM. Ray and Celeste visited some of the local vendors in the port area. Dave and I wanted to do a little walking tour, so we got back on the ship, grabbed a hamburger for lunch, and headed back off the ship. We wanted to cross the channel on their famous floating bridge. First we walked through the Renaissance Mall and Rif Fort which is an area filled with souvenir shops and bars. We continued walking along the channel, passing more local vendors. We were heading to the Queen Emma Pontoon Bridge. This pedestrian bridge is the oldest and longest floating bridge in the world, built in 1888, resting on 15 pontoons. It swings open some 30 times a day, and has the nickname of “swinging old lady”, to let big oil tankers, container and cruise ships in and out of the harbor. I have to note here that our ship, Crown Princess, was docked at Mega pier, which is on open water. When we got to the floating bridge, it was in the open position. However, when the bridge is open, there is a free ferry that runs and takes passengers across the channel. So, we rode the ferry.

While on the ferry, we watch a large cargo ship passing through channel with tug alongside.

We also see the Queen Emma bridge starting to close.

Queen Emma pontoon bridge starting to close

On the other side of the channel are more shops and stores, bars and restaurants. We were heading to the Ronde Market, one of the places pointed out by our tour guide. It is a big round building with lots of little stalls with various vendors. I saw hairdressers, clothing, food, bottles of some kind of potion, fruits, vegetables, art….a little bit of everything. But, unfortunately, nothing I wanted to spend money on. We walked back towards the Queen Emma floating bridge, and along the way, at 2:00PM, we heard bells ringing. There is a clock on a wall, with bells beneath, and beneath that was a little diorama that moved on the hour. We only saw the last few seconds, unfortunately.

The white box at the bottom has a little diorama on the hour

We got to the bridge, which was closed, so we could walk across. When we were about 1/3 of the way, the horn sounded which meant a boat was coming and the bridge would open. Dave started to hustle as he was concerned we were going to get stuck on the bridge. As we got to the other side, the bridge was on an angle with the shore, and we had to step across about 6” of open space. The bridge was not opening fully, just enough to let a small boat through. But there is a fence to keep people from walking onto the bridge when it is operating, which was closed and we weren’t sure how to get out. Fortunately it opened to let us through. So, kind of exciting bridge crossing. We headed back to the ship, but made a stop for a couple of local beers. They tasted very good because the beer was cold and we were hot.

Supposedly local beers, but Briton was brewed elsewhere, FOR Curaçao

We got back to the ship and rested a little, took showers, and then it was time for our 5:00PM happy hour. The hors d’oeuvre was smoked salmon and the drink was a Tito’s lemon drop. After happy hour we went to dinner in our usual Michelangelo dining room with Ricardo and Nicolae.

‘We had lots of food and drink, as usual. Ray had shrimp cocktail, seafood chowder, and a meatball, rice and bean entree. He had chocolate sorbet for dessert. Celeste had a short rib starter, coconut pumpkin chilled soup, Steak and chocolate sorbet. Dave had shrimp cocktail, seafood chowder, salmon with a side of the meatballs, and a soft chocolate chip cookie with a scoop of ice cream, all covered with chocolate sauce. I had the seafood chowder, a small portion of the coconut pumpkin soup, and pork belly. Celeste and I did not care for the coconut pumpkin soup. Dave did not like the seafood chowder but Ray and I thought it was good. We had planned to go to a game show, but I wanted to stop by our stateroom first as my eyes were bothering me and I was going to put drops in them. By the time I put drops in my eyes, we decided not to go to the game show. Dave wanted to watch the world series on TV. We received our disembarkation tags, but they were wrong – they showed we transferring to the airport! So Celeste and I went to customer service to get them changed.

The next two days are sea days. We all are planning to read the books we brought. Maybe we’ll catch a lecture or show. We have reservations for the specialty restaurant tomorrow night….just what we need…more food!

10/16 – 17/ 2019: Sea Days – ship is heading back to Fort Lauderdale and we enjoy 2 days of rest and relaxation after 5 port days in a row. On Wednesday, we walked the deck for exercise and had reservations for Crown Grill in the evening. Ray had surf & turf, Celeste and I had lobster and Dave had a steak. After dinner, Celeste did some walking to get her steps in. Dave and I wandered the ship and ended up making a contribution to the casino. On Thursday, we packed. Dave and I went to a game show – “True or Moo” which is actually “True or False”. Celeste and I went to the finals for “Voice of the Ocean” and heard 6 really talented, male, passenger vocalists. We were surprised there were no females. Then we had dinner with Ricardo and Nicolae for the last time. We all had surf & turf, except instead of lobster, it was 2 very large shrimp. Not much entertainment this evening, so we went back to the stateroom to watch TV, read and relax.

10/18/2019: Disembarkation – what a mess! They let too many people off the ship at once, so the luggage claim and customs was packed. Probably took an hour to go through all the lines and finally exit the terminal.

Road trip September, 2019

We drove the Porsche to Illinois to visit Dave’s family. We got great gas mileage, up to 32.4 mpg. The whole trip was 3772 miles, and we averaged 29.4 mpg overall.

We left about noon, Tuesday, September 10, 2019, arriving in Ottawa, IL on Thursday to have dinner with Dave’s cousin Julie, 2 of her boys, Patrick and Michael, and Michael’s girlfriend, Ashley. Julie looked great! We had pizza, some wine, and a great evening.

The next day, Friday, we drove to Normal, IL planning to have lunch with Dave’s sister, Anne. Unfortunately Anne was not feeling well, so we did not get to spend time with her. Before heading to LeRoy, IL to surprise Dave’s brother, Steve, we stopped at Schnuck’s, a grocery store in Bloominton, IL where Steve’s wife, Pat works. We wanted to pick up some wine for the weekend. Leaving Schnucks, we ran into Pat! She was picking up a prescription. We were able to follow her home to LeRoy. When Steve arrived home, he was surprised!

We stayed with Pat and Steve Friday through Monday and had a great visit. Pat and Steve’s kids and grandkids were there for Steve’s birthday dinner, and Stevie, Jamie and Lacy came back Sunday. We played some Mexican dominos and card games.

Monday morning we were up early to start home, but had planned several stops along the way.

Our first stop was the Jim Beam distillery in Clermont, KY. We toured the distillery and at the end of the tour, we each got to sample 3 different bourbons. Dave and I both preferred the flavored bourbons over the straight stuff. The honey flavored bourbon was probably our overall favorite.

We continued driving and stayed in Bardstown, KY. The next day was a long day driving to Front Royal, VA where we spent the night. Front Royal is the entrance to the Shenandoah National Park and the Skyline Drive.

Wednesday we drove the length of the Skyline Drive, and started the Blue Ridge Parkway. The leaves had not started turning yet, but it was a fun drive with the top down, although a bit chilly at times.

There are many stops and overlooks along both the Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is a fun drive with lots of twists, turns, and “spiral” curves. Also pretty slow driving. I think the Skyline Drive was 129 miles long, and the Blue Ridge Parkway is 469 miles. We drove the whole length of the Skyline Drive, and the first 106 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway before taking a break and spending the night in Salem, VA.

Thursday morning we utilized the interstates and drove to Ashville, NC, and then Alt. 74 to Chimney Rock State Park. Chimney Rock is a 315 ft. granite monolith.

After visiting Chimney Rock, we drove back to Ashville, NC to spend the night.

Friday morning we got back on the Blue Ridge Parkway at Ashville,NC and drove the last ~100 miles to the end. The road along the Blue Ridge Parkway reaches higher elevations than the Skyline Drive. The highest point along the Skyline Drive was about 3000 feet, and the highest point on the Blue Ridge Parkway was 6053 feet.

While driving our last leg of the Blue Ridge Parkway, we saw a small bear in the road. He was bigger than a cub, but not full grown. Maybe left Mom in the spring. When he saw us, he scrambled up a tree right next to the road. Of course I stopped and we watched each other, simultaneously watching out for Mom, just in case. He tried to hide behind the tree, and then came down, still peaking from the back of the tree. He was only about 15 to 20 feet away from the car.

Leaving the Blue Ridge Parkway, we drove to Bryson City, NC where we had reservations at a B&B for the night, and Saturday tickets for a ride on the Great Smokey Mountain Railroad. The B&B was in a house built in 1906, right on the main drag and only 1 block away from the train station. Unfortunately, we only got the “B” because the proprietor, Luke, had an early morning meeting out of town. Luke was an interesting character and we had a nice stay. He did make coffee for us, so I had coffee and a breakfast bar for breakfast which was fine. Luke gave us a discount on the room since breakfast was not included.

Saturday morning we boarded the train. We were given drink cups that had free refills for the entire journey. We also had prepaid for a box lunch which was a bbq sandwich, chips and a cookie. The train ride was from 10:30am until 3:00pm. The train stopped for a 1 hour break at Nantahala Outdoor Center. We had been to the Nantahala Outdoor Center over 25 years ago with Tim and Erin, and did a raft trip on the river. The place is much bigger today than 25 years ago. We wandered around a bit and then reboarded the train for the final segment.

Our car is the Piedmont, just to the left of the stairs.

The train hostess said there were 800 people on the train, and they had added extra cars for our journey. They were having a wine tasting, but we could not get a reservation for the wine event because it was fully booked. I think there were about 25 cars in total.

After the train ride we drove about 200 miles to get past Atlanta, and spent Saturday night in Locust Grove, GA. Sunday morning we got up to drive the last 500 miles home, arriving late Sunday evening, September 21, 2019.