Oh boy is it good to be home!
The less said the better about the flight(s) down to Argentina. I’ll just mention that 13 hours in the air in a cramped and full airplane isn’t good for one’s back, one’s rest or one’s outlook :) It’s a good thing Buenos Aires was sunny when we arrived because my disposition was anything but! However, when I finally was able to stand up and walk around, my fanny smiled :)
The cruise line put us up at the Marriott Plaza Hotel (a beautiful place built in the old European style) for the day until the ship was ready to be boarded. We were “housed” in one of the banquet halls - The Dorado Room - until around 12:30 PM (we had arrived just after 7:00 AM) when the ship started sending out shuttles busses to retrieve the new passengers. There is a picture of the Dorado room at the site linked above but it’s most charming feature isn’t fully apparent in the photograph. The ceiling of the room is domed and painted like a summer sky - light blue with wispy clouds. If there weren’t chandeliers hanging from it, you might have thought it was some gorgeous and expansive skylight! Please forgive the links; I had packed my camera rather than carrying it so I wasn’t able to take any pictures of my own and have relied, instead, “...on the kindness of strangers”.
Across from the hotel is the Plaza St. Martin. Dad and I went out to get some fresh air and walk around for a while in the middle of the morning. Plaza St. Martin is a park with tiled pathways and it is filled with Coconut palms and Banyan trees. I had never seen a banyan before and was suitably impressed. These things don’t grow quite as tall as the palms but they make up for it in width and general volume. This Banyan in the plaza was utterly magnificent, nearly 60 feet tall with an in credible, root system that looked like nothing so much as the folds of a gigantic and voluminous skirt!
Once on board, things progressed as they usually do. Our first stop was in Montevideo, Uruguay but I stayed aboard, both because I was still tired from the flight and because it was raining - a condition that had followed the ship for some time (according to passengers who were on for the previous leg of the journey, the weather had been so bad coming down the west coast that the ship had cancelled two port calls as it simply wasn’t safe to take her in!).
One nice thing about bad weather - nobody wants to sit up on deck. There are some tables under an overhang, but since most cruisers are party people, they preferred one of the many indoor cafes, restaurants or bars. That left me, in the peace and quiet, up on deck in the fresh air, reading or knitting and enjoying the sound of the rain hitting the deck. Heavenly!
It was still raining when we docked in Rio de Janeiro a couple of days later but Dad and I went on a bus tour anyway. My pictures aren’t very good, because most of them are taken through a window in the rain.
Crystal Symphony
Rainy street scene
Cathedral of St. Sebastian
Part of a stained glass panel
Cruciform Apex
Statue
We also went ashore in Barbados and walked around Bridgetown for a while in the morning. It was an absolutely beautiful day, warm but not humid with a little breeze to keep things pleasant. There was a steel band playing when we got off the shuttle…
Steel band
Shrubbery
Most of the rest of the trip was spent on board the ship where I ate (oh, the cheeses!) and played Trivia and Name-That-Tune with a truly splendid team, knitted and read and relaxed. I did gain a little weight - but far less than I feared and am back on my diet.
I did get some knitting done - and some crocheting, and I’ll tell you all about that on Wednesday. Right now, I am enjoying being home with my own bed, my cats and gerbils and, most especially, my Myria. And all of you, of course :)
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Wow! I’m the first to welcome you home! I’m glad you had a nice time, though it is a shame about the rain and I am glad to have you back.
Welcome home! Glad you had a ncie time. Looking forward to seeing all your knitting progress. :-)
Fabulous pictures! I like the rainy ones - very artistic :-) The plant is a Bougainvillea and its very pretty isn’t it. There’s some info here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bougainvillea
Rob - Actually I didn’t mind the rain as it was the only time the deck wasn’t filled with people being tortured by an iffy band and a horrendous singer :) Amusingly enough, all the waiters hit me exactly once and, after I asked for bottled water, never bothered me again :)
Caren - Thanks :) I certainly didn’t conquer the knitting world, but I got more done than I thought I would!
Sue - Artistic! That’s it, they’re artistic! Heheh… Thanks for the plant ID - it was getting ready to drive me nuts :) If I lived in the south (where I think it’s required) I would have known that.
Welcome back Robbyn! I missed you heaps! Thanks for the tour guide. The plant is a Bouganvillia. They like warm climates, aww, here’s a factsheet from my favourite gardening program http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s1370572.htm
- really glad to see you home safe and sound.
Again my apologies to Myria for spelling her name wrong (twice) during the chats- I talk fast, and I try to type just as fast, and well, I don’t type as well as I can talk!
Hiya Nattie :) No worries about not spelling Myria’s name right and I tend to be something of a “creative” typist myself! Thank goodness for spell checkers :)
Thanks for the link on the Bouganvillia - now I know what a bract is! Learn something every day :)
Shopping in the rain - it sounds just like England!
What a great trip - thanks for sharing it with us.
Welcome back and thanks for all the photos. Sounds like you had a wonderful time. That bougainvillaea is gorgeous, isn’t it? It’s my favourite shade of pink - always gives the heart a lift when I see it.
Pam - LOL! I hadn’t thought of that :) What struck me was that despite the rain, everybody was out - shopping, strolling, etc. In my part of the US, everybody would just stay inside until the rain went away. I love seeing the forest of umbrellas in Rio :)
Anne - You and I are both pink fans and yes, that is a particularly heart-lifting shade :) Isn’t it amazing what simple color can do for your mood or your outlook?
Welcome Home Robbyn!
I finished that darn stole!
We are all glad you are home, especially Myria I bet. Though we did miss you, it was wonderful getting to know, as much as possible, the elusive Myria.
As soon as you get your land legs back do tell us about your projects you had onboard.
Aarlene - Woo-hoo! Congrats on finishing the stole! Bet you’re glad that one’s done.
Thanks bunches for handling the knitting chat - Myria had a good time and I’m very glad it didn’t have to take a three week vacation just because I was out galivanting.
About the shipboard projects...stay tuned :)
Good to have you back! Myria did a wonderful job guest blogging while you were gone (who knew she was so wild & wonderful? ...except you, of course. :::wink:::), but it’s good to “hear” your voice once again. :)
Bron - Thanks :) Wild and wooly I’m not - I leave that to my better half :) And, to quote Dorothy Gale, “There’s no place like home”!
