Bermuda, Nov 24/15

Last day. Wandered out to Lookout Point to say goodbye to Bermuda and the Fairmont Southampton.  Now back to cold Toronto -- boohoo.

Bermuda, Nov 22-24/15

Peggy won the rubber game on Sunday, quite decisively by clobbering George with a 73.  Just look at that beautiful swing.

Monday was a sightseeing day. We went to Hamilton on the free hotel ferry, shopped, had lunch, andreturned on the public bus.  A nice relaxing day.  Followed by Peggy sitting pretty on our balcony at the hotel. 

Bermuda, Nov 19-24, 2015

P&G have returned to the scene of their honeymoon to celebrate their 10th anniversary. Not just the same hotel (Fairmont Southampton), but, incredibly the same room.  Weather has been perfect; highs in the low 20s, sunny, with light winds. Perfect golf weather. Friday and Saturday we played golf at the hotel course, Turtle Hill, a pretty little executive 18 hole course. George won on Friday and  broke 80 for the first time in his life. Peggy won on Saturday and also broke 80. Today (Sunday) is the rubber match.

Apres golf has been spent lounging by the pool or the beach. Very relaxing. 

Here's a few photos. 

Z

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Thanks, George

Prague Day 2.2

After the morning walking tour, we had luncch at a charming Art Deco restaurant "Red Earth" in a beautiful heritage building.  Wifi is super slow so I'm going to post only one picture at a time.

Q

PragueDay 2.1

The guided walking tour took us down the hill via many many steps till we reached the river and the famous Charles bridge crowded with tourists. The bridge has many statues, but one in particular has a power that if you rub it, you will return to Prague. Peggy and I have both rubbed it previously when we visited Prague separately, so there you have it --- it works.

Prague Day 2

This morning we took a bus up to the Prague Castle on the top of the hill overlooking the old city.  This is where the Royalty lived in the old days, looking down on the common folks. Beautiful buildings.

For some reason I'm having trouble doing a long blog. So, I will try doing a series of short ones, and see how that works. 

Prague Day 1.2

Here are the pictures that somehow disappeared from the previous blog.

Prague Day 1.1

Oops I forgot to introduce the Markland 5 in the last post. The group consists of Doug & Melanie Heenan, Karen Gaiger, and George & Peggy Torrance.

The pork hocks last night looked so delicious in the rotisserie out front of the "U Supa" restaurant that we all ordered them. They fully met our expectations.

The restaurant itself was quite impressive. It was a gorgeous high-ceiling large room in a heritage building from 1431. And the musicians came and played "The beer barrel polka" right at our table. 

WiFi here is weak, so I'll post this for now.  

GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!!!!

We're here, exhausted but happy. Yes, that mountain of luggage behind us is all ours.

In no time at all the girls had discovered a shopping street.

The main square in Prague Old Town (Wenceslaus) has a famous old clock that animates every hour on the hour. Of course we had to wait at a beer garden to see the action.

OK, off to dinner of pork hocks now. -- yummy. 

Sea Day

Today, April 17, was a day at sea, sailing past the Dominican Republic/Haiti on our way to Miami.  The big event today was the "Country Fair" held on deck this morning.  Each department of the ship's staff had to organize a goofy game for people to play.  You got draw tickets for participating and more tickets for winning.  

Here is Peggy trying her hand at the device constructed by the Electrical Department.  You had to snake the loop around a twisted wire without making contact.  

Here you had to try to bounce a coin off the table into a glass.  Very difficult.  I never saw anyone do it. However, I bet Charlie could do it.

And here you had to smell six different body creams and identify the scent.  Peggy did pretty well, 4 out of 6.

Despite collecting lots of draw tickets, we did not win anything.  Oh well, at least it was fun.  Tomorrow is another day at sea on our way to Miami and then home.  See you all soon.

P&G 

San Juan, Puerto Rico

April 16, our last port of call, San Juan, Puerto Rico.  Puerto Rico is a Caribbean island now owned by the United States.  San Juan is the capital, and the city is over 500 years old.  The city was established by Spain when the island was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492.  Here is Peggy standing in front of a monument dedicated in 1992 to celebrate the 500 year anniversary of his discovery.

We spent the day wandering around the picturesque old city, with its colourful old colonial Spanish buildings.

As you can see, they have renovated the entire old town, and now it is very pleasant for strolling and shopping.  Of course, there is method in their madness, tourism is very important here.

For hundreds of years Spain owned pretty much all of Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.  Puerto Rico was "the gateway" to this whole region.  Because of the ocean currents and the trade winds, the sailing ships of that time that wanted to go to this New World all had to go past Puerto Rico.  So, whoever controlled Puerto Rico, controlled the region.  As a result, Spain built large forts here and for hundreds of years successfully fought off the other countries that tried to take over, including England and the Dutch.  The forts are impressive.

Old San Juan was a walled city.  Here is part of the wall and one of the gates.

We had a nice lunch at a restaurant called "Patio".  I loved the warm plantain chips.  The food here is icy (that is a good thing).  Just look at the choice of condiments on the table.

OK, now on to Miami and then to home sweet home.

P&G.