It all started so innocently. Let's go on a Caribbean cruise with friends. It morphed quickly from there and turned into a monthlong trip with stops in St Louis, Washington DC, Baltimore, San Juan Puerto Rico and the cruise. It looked like our daughter would not be able to join the family Thanksgiving celebration, but if we went to her in DC then we could easily fly to San Juan. And so, our week-long cruise became a monthlong trip. Let’s start in
DC
We visited several museums while we were there. Now a days you have to schedule a time to go to many of the Smithsonian Museums, so I had booked us in the African American and the National Zoo. It was our first time visiting the African American Museum. We stayed for a couple of hours and then decided we were on the verge of ODing so we left and found lunch. We easily could have spent another 2 hours there; it's just that Jeff and I tend to only be able to handle a couple of hours of a museum at a time. As per the suggestions, we started in the basement and began to work our way up. The museum chronicles the life experiences of the African American starting back in Africa. Alot of the museum is reading placards by photos or items. It can be tough to read the stories at times. One thing I found interesting is that at one time, some of the African tribes traded with some of the European Explorers as equals. I think I find that interesting since so many stories/movies recently in the States have emphasized how many white people viewed the African American to be less of a human being. We made it up to the civil rights movement before we said enough. Another trip to visit Cierra and we will see the upper floors which I believe are heavily artwork.
Another day, I had booked us in the zoo in the afternoon so we could see the panda feeding. Cierra and I both really like pandas. It was a rainy day, but happily the pandas were inside eating so Jeff put up with us as we went back and forth between the three enclosures with a panda each. The panda parents were enjoying their bamboo and we finally realized the little one was in the back of a pile of bamboo in the middle enclosure. I think we spent an hour just watching them. We did not have much more time at the zoo before it closed, but we were able to wander around some and see some of their Christmas light display that was starting that evening.
Cierra had wanted to visit a new private museum that I had never heard of called Planet Word. I agreed and booked us for when they opened one day. The museum is in a former schoolhouse that was revolutionary in how it was designed. Open stairwells and a nicely built place was a big thing back then. Next time you go to DC, I highly recommend this museum. It is very hands on and all about language. There was a word wall which was impressive - the wall discusses where English language words came from, etc and lights up words that are relevant to what it is discussing. They call it the first voice activated museum and there are several exhibits where you talk to an exhibit, and it then does something. In summary it was a fun morning for us.
One place I wanted to visit was the Library of Congress. Little did I know that my daughter now has a pass to the reading rooms and is allowed to tour people around the library. Lucky for Jeff and I she was quite happy to show us around and being true to herself the first room she showed us was the Slavic/Russian reading room. She also made a point of taking us to the Hispanic Reading room because it has very different architecture than many of the other rooms. One of the first places we went to is a large reading room which had upper walls and ceilings devoted to the different classical forms of study such as philosophy or poetry.
In true young adult tradition one thing that Cierra looked forward to with our visit was our checkbook to go to some nicer restaurants. She was also quite happy that her parents were game to going to mostly ethnic restaurants while in town. So as Jeff put it, we had dinner around the world while in DC. Our first night we started at a quasi-fast food Korean restaurant called Seoul Spice where I discovered that my daughter's tastebuds have changed dramatically in one way - she likes spicy food now. The restaurant was kind of like a Chipotle in that you work your way down a line as they add ingredients to your dish. Everything seemed spicy to me; she loved the place much to her parent's surprise. For lunch the next day, we visited Ebbit's Grill which is a DC institution- it was good. We ate at the bar and I noticed a bottle of Scotch from Oban distillery in Scotland which is a SMALL town so we had a taste. Jeff and I enjoyed it while Cierra turned her nose up.
Dinner that night was one we were all anticipating. We were going to Supra which is a Georgian (country not state) restaurant. Ever since Cierra studied abroad, she has spoken highly of Georgian food and wine. If not for Putin, Jeff and I would have visited Georgia this past summer so now we were going to finally get to eat some Georgian food from a highly regarded restaurant. Happy to report, we were not disappointed. Cierra ordered food for us, and Jeff chose the bottle of wine. I happily stuffed myself.
Continuing our world travels, we had brunch at the restaurant at Planet Word Museum - Immigrant Food+. While the restaurant was nice, it was my least favorite. It was food from different parts of the world all with a bit of a Hispanic edge to it. I would try it again, but other places were better.
Our final restaurant was an Ethiopian called Letena. It was a totally new experience for all of us and we had no idea what we were in for. I forget the first course, but the main course was served on this huge bread plate, and you tore off parts of it to eat the various items. I am doing a horrible job of explaining it when in reality it was a good meal and a nice evening.
Baltimore
After our Ethiopian meal, we went back to our hotel and bid Cierra good bye. The next morning, Jeff and I ran a couple of errands in the morning and then went to DC's Union Station and found a commuter train to Baltimore. The commuter train takes you to a parking lot that is shared with their airport. We caught a shuttle to our hotel and had dinner there and took their shuttle back to the airport the next morning. Baltimore got a little short-changed on this trip!
San Juan Puerto Rico
While our hotel was located at the convention center and the T Mobile entertainment district, we spent most of time exploring old San Juan. Some of the places we visited are:
Fortaleza street and governor’s house
I had read that this was a famous street you needed to walk down and that it ended at La Fortaleza which was the 3rd fort in San Juan and currently is the governor’s house. Truthfully the street was nice but not all that special. The governor’s mansion is pretty from what we could see, but the security has streets blocked all around it so we could not get that close. They did have a party one night we were in town, but unfortunately, we were not invited!
La Fortaleza is now the Governor’s mansion
Fort El Morro
Fort Morro is the largest of the 3 forts that protected San Juan at one time when all of old San Juan was enclosed in city walls. The fort was built by slave labor by the Spanish in the 1500s. It is on the tip of a peninsula that is old San Juan. It was in use through World War II. You can wander around a lot of the fort which includes a lot of placards describing what was happening in the fort and San Juan during various ages. It was amazing how many countries tried to attack San Juan and all of the Spanish ships with their treasures from the Americas. Oh, this fort has several additions/ modernizations including a lighthouse and WWII pill boxes. And a cemetery on the property.
Cemetery is above sea level, but below the field
1 of 2 photos looking in different directions
We could see current day epitaphs
Fort San Cristobal (Castillo de San Cristobal)
The third and final fort in San Juan. It is smaller than Fort Murro, but still very much a fort unlike Forteleza. Both it and Fort Morro are operated by the US Park Service. Like Morro, it has lots of placards with historic and cultural information. Both of these forts are on several levels and include gorgeous views of the Caribbean Sea.
Cobblestones
Like many old cities, the streets are paved with cobblestones. But unlike most if not all of those cities, these cobblestones are blue. No, they are not painted blue. The cobblestones are another relic of the Spanish occupation. The cobblestones were the ballast in the ships as they came to pick up the gold, etc. The ballasts were blue because they were the waste from iron smelting.
San Juan Cathedral
Like the city of San Juan, the cathedral was originally built in 1521. It is at the top of the hill from what was the main gate to the city. It’s in pretty good shape for its age. It has some very nice faux painting inside and a couple of nice stained-glass windows. It also has the tomb and relic of Juan Ponce de Leon who in addition to looking for the fountain of youth was the first mayor of San Juan.
Paso del Murro walk
On the advice from a blogger on the web, at sunset one night we did the ¾ mile walk from the main gate to Fort Morro along the seaside. It is another Park Service site. It has gorgeous views especially at sunset. Technically old San Juan is on a small island separate from the main island. As you walk along this path you see another very slender peninsula across the way. The water between the two is the main shipping channel for San Juan so we saw a Dole freighter come in and several personal crafts. A unique aspect of the walk is all of the feral cats along the way. Seems Puerto Ricans love their cats. There are lots of them. They have a charity that neuters them to keep the population down, but there were a lot lounging along the large stones. The other interesting thing was how much heat was coming from the walls of the city and fort. The high that day had been in the low 80s, but you could definitely feel the heat coming from the walls.
Looking across the channel
Museum of the Americas (art museum)
The building where the museum is located is undergoing major, major renovations so only about 5 areas were open, but the art was interesting. The first gallery was art of Sierra G and was all posters. He is known for his political statements he makes in his posters. Jeff put his google translator to good use for us in this gallery. From there we went to one that was all an artist who was known for how his art extended beyond the frames. While I did not like much of his scenes, I was quite impressed with how he used materials. He had wallpaper on one that he rolled up so you saw a scene underneath in part of the artwork and in the same piece there was parts built upon the wallpaper. Several of his pieces had portions that continued on past the frame and one piece was actually 2 framed pieces connected by an arm. One of the last galleries we went into was how the Puerto Rican culture had been affected by the culture of the African slaves that were brought to the islands to work. It was interesting to see what they said and compare that to what we had just seen in the African American Museum of the Smithsonian in DC.
The toe pick is shattering Puerto Rico
Flavors of Old San Juan Food Tour
One evening we went on a 3-hour food walking tour of old San Juan. There was 6 of us following around a young energetic lady through the streets as she pointed out different architecture styles, told history of parks and the cathedral and periodically stopped and fed us Puerto Rican food. We went to a coffee shop – coffee is grown on the island as is hibiscus tea for us non coffee drinkers. We had passion fruit paletas (popsicles) since that is very popular treat. We ate plantains in a couple of formats and fried pork chunks. We even got to make our own mofongo which is like THE Puerto Rican food. It is mashed plantains that make a houselike structure over your main food for us a chicken in creole sauce. We also had a pina colada since that drink was first made in San Juan and finished up our tour at a gelato shop. Seems it was all made in house by a retiree who had always wanted to have his own restaurant. It was an enjoyable and very filling 3 hours!
The mortar and pestle to prepare the plantains
Narrowest home in San Juan is the width of the yellow frame
Colorful alley
Many buildings contained gorgeous courtyards
One of many Christmas decorations
T Mobile Entertainment District
This is a one-year-old spot full of huge screens with videos and music and several restaurants. On our last night it was the opening night of its Christmas celebrations so Santa came by way of CocaCola trucks.
Massive video displays including the roof
At leases 20 decorated Coca Cola trucks, Watch the video below for Santa’s departure
Santa’s ride
Watch the brief video below to get the full experience
Santa’s Departure
Cruise
As we leave San Juan we are treated to the Silhouette of Fort El Morro
Charlotte St Thomas, US Virgin Islands
Our first stop we went on a sail and snorkel excursion. Much to our dismay they had to change the location we went snorkeling at because the water was too choppy in the planned spot. The sail was a short cruise and Jeff and I were looking at each other wondering if we should have taken the chance to bail on the excursion, but once we were snorkeling, we were fine. Jeff saw a stingray, a spotted eagle ray and a jelly fish. We both saw a ton of starfish one of which we wondered if it was eating something underneath it. Then we got our champagne and our sail so a nice tour after all. We are travelling as part of a group of eight who mainly get together for dinner. That night we had made reservations for the Candles restaurant which is an outdoor venue, and you eat by candlelight. We had our food when all of a sudden, a big gust of wind came in and then just as fast it was pouring and blowing rain. Happily, there is an inside area too so all of us outside made a dash for tables inside and now have a story to tell!
Windstar refers to their ships as a Yacht. Our ship is nestled in this picture in between two yachts that appear almost as big
St Barts which became St Kitts
Bad news from the captain around 8am – the waves are so big in the harbor that they are going over the pier, so we are changing our plans and going to St Kitts instead. After much deliberation, 3 of the couples opted for the excursion to the beach including us. It was a good choice. Along the way, our bus stopped at the top of a hill where you could look down on a spit of land and see the Atlantic on one side and the Carribean Sea on the other. Then on to our beach. Happily, it was a nice brown sand beach with beach chairs and a restaurant. The water was nice, the beach was good for a medium length walk and a good time was had by all.
Atlantic on the left and Caribbean on the right
Montserrat which we got to look at
Unfortunately, like the day before around 8am the captain came on the loudspeaker to say the waves/swells were too high for us to go to Montserrat. We sat there by the island for an hour or so hoping the wind would die down but no luck. We did get to see the island’s volcano from a distance. One of the tours was going to take buses to the lava and ash from the 1995 eruption. Then he came on to say they were trying to get us in Antigua, later he came to say no luck. Then they tried to take us to a quiet cove along the way to our next stop but that did not pan out either so we had a sea day instead.
While we were sailing, we watched a cooking demonstration from the chef who prepared salmon. This may have been the day we did a wine tasting too. We had 5 wines from different parts of the world. We really enjoyed one that was from Spain and are now researching it to see if it would be a good place to visit on our month in Spain next year. We went to Phillipsburg, St Maarten and spent the night so we got an early start on our next stop.
The devastating volcano destroyed 2/3rds of the island
The ladies striking a pose
Beth showed us a photo trick where you can appear twice in the same panoramic image
Phillipsburg, St Maarten
This is the Dutch side of the island (other side is French). We were hardly the only cruise ship in port, but definitely the smallest. When we got in the first night, purely by chance the exact ship (Azamara Onward) that we were on this past summer was across from us at the pier. We happened to see a crew member we knew and went down to say hi; the entertainment director came by too and claimed to recognize Jeff’s face. Guess the small ship cruise world is a small place!
Next day was a key day it was Jeff’s birthday and as a special treat for him we had signed up for an excursion where you sail/race on real America’s Cup sailboats from the late 80s. He had a blast and after we got underway I too enjoyed myself. It was a good morning and we of course bought souvenirs. After cleaning up and eating lunch onboard, we headed out to the main town of Phillipsburg which is known for its shopping. All of the shops are duty free so they tend to be a good price. I saw a couple of nice shirts for Jeff, but maybe a little too nice for our checkbook. There are also a ton of jewelry stores and one of them did make a sale with us and another gave me a free starfish necklace. We ended up back on the ship for dinner where we had a dinner for 2 in Candles again this time no storms, but the crew sang Jeff Happy Birthday and gave him a small cake. The crew also decorated our cabin for him and it was a special night on board the ship since it was crew talent night. People on bigger ships might turn up their noses to hear the housekeeping or mechanical folks were up there singing, but to me it is always a fun night.
We sailed on this Canadian boat
The winner of the America’s cup, Stars and Stripes
Phillipsburg
Jost Van Dyke, British Virgin Islands
We are on a roll, second stop in a row that we got to do!!!. Jost Van Dyke is a small island as in 300 residents. We signed up for the sail and snorkel cruise and enjoyed ourselves. This site had lots of blue coral to see, we saw a trumpet fish and lots of little dark blue fish. Oh, and Jeff saw a jellyfish too and thought he saw a conch. It was nice snorkeling and then we motored over to Foxy’s Taboo for a drink. The drink of the island is the painkiller. We shared one and really liked it. There was a taste of coconut, some rum, nutmeg and an unknown mixture in it. I should have said earlier this island is mainly visited by people in sailing yachts. We oogled a lot of boats today. Happily, on our way back to the pier they put the sails up for us.
Entering the harbor
Yes, this is the port town where tenders dropped us off
Yum
One of the joys of Windstar vessels is that they have a marina/swimdeck at the back of the boat. When conditions are good, we are at anchor and local rules allow, we guests can swim and play on water toys at the back of the boat. It is a blast and happily today we got to use the deck. There was a bit of a current, so they kept us close to the ship. They as in Jena. Jena and Jeff are friends. They met when we were on our Tahiti cruise last year and Jena helped Jeff learn to stand up paddleboard one day on one of the little motos. Jeff was surprised when Jena immediately recognized him when we got our snorkel equipment on the first day.
Back of ship opens to reveal the Marina/swim deck full of water toys
Our traveling companions at Cuadro 44 a small Spanish restaurant on board
Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands
Sigh... last stop of the cruise, but a good one. Our tour for the day was to the famous Baths. The Baths are a national park which I got a kick out of because to me it seemed like a place where people first started visiting to have fun around big boulders and now it is a park. Visiting the baths means scrambling over rocks and slipping through skinny passageways or ducking under low ceilings all while in a little bit of water. It is a fun time and you end up at a beach. Unfortunately for us it was a red flag due to high waves so no swimming for us!
Sunrise on our last day a board
Pick up trucks with seating in the bed are called Taxis
Landscape as we approach “The Baths”
Many advertisers use this location including SI for their Swim Suit issues
Sometimes it felt like the ceiling was pressing in
Click on the brief video to get a 360 view
St Louis
After our time, in the Caribbean, we went to visit my mom in St Louis. We had booked tickets to walk through a park full of Christmas lights. We enjoyed it. Then the weatherman said it was going to get cold and we all packed up and got back to Alabama to prepare for our guests for Christmas.
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