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.

St. Bart's

April 15, we visited St. Barts, a Caribbean Island that is a French colony.  The island is actually considered part of France.  It is a very high-end island that is a favourite for the wealthy and famous people and their yachts.  Sting has a house here, but we did not see him.  

Here is the island as seen from our ship.

The harbour is beautiful, and busy, as you can see.

We explored the island by ATV.  Good fun.

St. Barts is famous for its fashion shopping.  All the big name stores are here.  Here is a shopper checking it all out.  Despite the temptations, she resisted successfully and only bought one item, a flashy top.

They were having a sailing race while we were here, so the there were lots of boats.

One of the attractions is to go on the Yellow Submarine to view the underwater sights.  We declined, but here is the sub.

Now, off to dinner with our Welsh friends, whom we have met on the trip.

Barbados addendum

This picture is from Peggy's camera.  I can't seem to get it into the main blog, so here it is as an addendum.  I have no more time.  we are heading off to dinner.  Technology can be frustrating.