January 25, 2020, Montevideo, Uruguay We had nothing in particular planned for Montevideo, Uruguay this morning, just get off the ship and watch what happens. Suzi asked “what will you do for a blog post.” I said if a story … Continue reading Future Imperfect
January 24, 2010 Buenos Aires Normally I like a narrative post with stories to go with my pictures. This post is stretch. Ataneo Grand Splendid Books is my second favorite bookstore in the world. It’s an old theater, restored, but … Continue reading My Second Favorite Bookstore in the World.
January 20, 2020 Rio You know you’re in Rio when you stand on the rooftop of a Copacabana hotel. Eyes left you see Sugarloaf. Eyes right, you see Copacabana fort. Eyes forward you have Copacabana Beach. Eyes down the Copa … Continue reading Intermission
On our way to the “Venice and Brazil” tour the bus took us to the “Cultural Center,” which is an old prison with cells converted into stalls for crafts people. The bus took us past the old fort, through downtown. … Continue reading Stay Safe in Recife.
We are not booking many tours on this trip but are getting off the ship to see what we can see. However, in Recife I wanted to take the “Venice of Brazil” tour, that would take us on a ride … Continue reading Amsterdam in Brazil, Canals and Tolerance
This is the second post from Belem, it is a continuation of the last post Delta Town, Belem Brazil. The first set of pictures are of boats on the river. This next gallery of photos is from our drive to … Continue reading Life on the Amazon, Belem Brazil
January 13, 2020, Belem Brazil You could say the riverfront of Belem, Brazil has gone to seed but gone to spore is more accurate. Along the river old buildings, some must have been grand in their day, covered with Portuguese … Continue reading Delta Town, Belem, Brazil
January 11, 2020 It was officially called Bange de Cayenne (Cayenne Penal Colony) or Bange. Informally it was tagged “the dry guillotine” because most of the 80,000 people sentenced there died before their sentence was up. Many of the rest … Continue reading Hotel in Hell, Devil’s Island
My last two posts were from Dominica and St. Lucia. On each evening we sailed out of port at about 5 PM and did some scenic cruising along the coast of each island and were treated to beautiful sunsets and … Continue reading Sea Days, Sunsets and iPhones
January 9, 2020 In Dominica the touts were obnoxious. We ran the gauntlet of operators trying to get us into their cab or boat. When I said “no”, politely, I got a somewhat cross “Why?” One driver followed us up … Continue reading Diamonds International. It must be the Caribbean
We are just waking up and early risers are already walking their laps on the Promenade Deck just outside our window. But the shadows are wrong. By some convention everyone walks counter clockwise. (On our other world cruise, I tried … Continue reading The Shadows are Wrong
Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they’re going. –Paul Theroux. If that’s the case everyone on the MS Amsterdam’s 2020 world cruise is a confirmed traveler. The first half of the cruise went pretty much as … Continue reading 2020 MS Amsterdam Grand World Voyage.
Actually it was a little less than 19 miles an hour, 18.9 mph or 16.4 knots as I reckon it. Nineteen miles an hour seems like a leisurely pace to circle the planet. But on a human scale it’s really … Continue reading Coda – Around the World at 19 Miles an Hour…*
We were upgraded to first class on flight 67, Alaska Airline’s “milk run” up the coast to home. It seems like we knew every 4th person passing us getting on the plane. We had early boarding because Suzi broke her … Continue reading S#it Happens — Re-entry
We’ve almost completed our circuit of the earth at the stately speed of 19 knots. Holland America has done most things right on this cruise but I think they overplayed the ending. In the last days we wanted to have … Continue reading A Whirlwind Finish
Each of these pictures help illustrate a story. The cobble stones paving Old San Juan streets are a metallic blue grey. They were made from slag left over from iron production in England and were carried over as ballast in … Continue reading San Juan Stories
We sailed in just at sunrise. At sunset I was on the deck because I thought it was a good perch. Four hours after sunset we sailed out. It is our last sail out of the cruise, beautiful and, in … Continue reading Sunrise, Sunset, Sailout
San Juan was a walled city that spilled out past its walls that were anchored by two forts, Fort Christóbal and El Murro, the oldest Spanish fort in the Americas. In 1898 the US Navy bombarded these walls and breached … Continue reading Fortified San Juan.
The Immigration officer looked at our passports, asked us our names and then put the passports into a scanner. He tapped a few keys on the keyboard, handed us our passports and said “Welcome Home.” Those words jolted me because … Continue reading Are We Home Yet? — San Juan
No matter who we spoke with in San Juan, a driver, a shop keeper, the receptionist in City Hall where we went for directions, Hurricane’s Maria and Irma were not far from anyone’s mind or lips. We saw damage from … Continue reading Crowd Sourcing Help Please — San Juan.
We’ve crossed into our 24th time zone, Atlantic Standard Time (or Eastern Daylight Time.) While we have one more port before Fort Lauderdale people are packing. Many are already packed. We are putting that off until the last minute. I’m … Continue reading My Understanding of Stuff
Today we entered our 23rd time zone, one more to go. It’s a sea day and I wanted to continue to write about art on the Amsterdam. In Art 101 I described some of the art work that I see … Continue reading Amsterdam Art 202 (Sailing Ship Figureheads to Surrealistic Swiss Army Knives)
Sir Francis Drake sacked Cidade Vehla twice. To the British he was a patriotic Privateer. To the people of Cape Verde he was a piratical thug. His two sackings of the low lying Cidade Vehla plus a French attack later … Continue reading One Nation’s Hero — Another Nation’s Thug
Every spring Praia hosts two music events, the Kriol Jazz Festival and the Atlantic Music conference. The Jazz festival kicked off the weekend of April 15 and 15 showcasing local talent. It than took a break for the Atlantic Music … Continue reading Kroil Jazz Festival — Cape Verde