CURAÇAO Caribbean.CARTAGENA Columbia. PANAMA CANAL transit

CURACAO 

Cliff hurt his back in NY (must be from me walking all over him) so he spent his day in Curacao resting in our cabin while I went out to do some window shopping. Willemstad looks pretty, but away from the tourist areas it's not quite as pretty & there appears to be very little to do & it's extremely expensive, but the locals are very friendly.

Close to shore the colour of the water is absolutely beautiful

After wandering for a couple of hours I needed a rest so I sat quietly enjoying a frozen mojito slurpie mmm mmmm very refreshing. 

Audrey & Patricia (our dinner companions) were passing by & joined me for a mojito or two (or three!)

Tomorrow at sea & then next stop

COLUMBIA - THE CITY OF CARTAGENA

This was not what we were expecting to see - a massive city of highrise buildings. I think maybe I had watched "Romancing the Stone" too many times & imagined a very old city.

It was only a short stay from 7am-1:30pm & as we hadn't booked any tours we were unsure what to do. Cliffs back was still playing up so we couldn't do a lot of walking. As we left the cruise terminal we entered a bird park full of exotic birds.

And cute little monkeys

There were many eager tour operators trying to secure our business, one man approached us to go on a private tour in his taxi - with Cartagena being the 10th biggest kidnapping city in the world I was too scared for us to go alone, so we opted to do a small tour bus with other passengers from the Sea Princes. "Marlon" our guide was extremely informative - a little hard to understand but very keen to try to please us.

You could probably spend 3 days exploring this city - our very quick tour included the 17th century Santa Cruz monestery on La Popa Hill with a hazy view of the city & suburbs

The Castillo de San Felipe fortress which was built in 1657 by the Spanish. The fort was built for protection from pirates for the gold the Spanish stole from the local indians. It would have been great to see inside the fortress but we would have needed at least 1 hour, time we didn't have.

We visited the brightly coloured shops in the old soldiers quarters

the old walled city, it would have been great to have been able to spend a few hours wandering the streets.

Oh my goodness - what an unusual sculpture

A local women carrying fruit on her head - I thought she was selling fruit but she was actually there for photographs.

we enjoyed our brief stop in Cartagena.

PANAMA CANAL

Nessie - far from home & the wrong kind of loch

Check out the size of this crane "Titan" was it's name, let me tell you the small crane was pretty big, this crane was enormous.

how incredible is this lock system.

Looks like we're almost home - made me feel homesick but sadly not our Harbour Bridge.

Panama is an amazing looking city - we can't understand why this is not a port stop for cruise ships.

Our next stop is the port of Manta, Ecuador - not sure what to expect so I guess we will just have to wait & see.

CHARLESTON - South Carolina

Hello South Carolina - we caught the free shuttle bus for a tour of the area, it was a lovely looking town, very clean & tidy with beautiful building & houses.

I was hoping to do some shopping, Cliff just wanted to wander.

The tree lined streets were full of rich homes all flying the flag.

Cliff & I caught up at a place called Wet Willies - a slurpie bar

Check out all the slurpie machines (not for anyone under the age of 21) Nessie was partaking in a slurpie called "Call a Cab" the name says it all. 

The bar was full of colourful artwork 

After a slurpie (or 2) we were hoping to taste some real southern food - the Southend Brewery & Smokehouse for lunch was just the place mm mm mm - Fried green tomatoes with pimento cheese & chow chow, Smoked jumbo chicken wings with smokey hot sauce, Smokehouse pork rinds with red hot flavouring (so spicy it burnt our mouth) & BBQ ribs with homemade slaw. No idea how high our cholesterol went after this meal.

 Nessie's beer tasting platter.

We met a family on holidays from California - they wanted to take a photo of the saying on the back of Cliff's T-shirt "There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness is produced as by a great tavern"

Tara our extremely friendly waitress

On the way back to the ship we walked to the waterfront which had a fantastic fountain to cool down the local kids

There was a busker singing songs of BB King - I wish he had CD's for sale as I would have bought one - he was fantastic.

Farewell Charleston - we've had an unbelievable day 

Caribbean next stop

NEW YORK - part 2

Today, we (in other words - me!) needed to escape the maddening crowds. It was going to be a hot day so we left early to walk to Central Park.

Being Sunday morning the streets were quiet, we passed a stable preparing their horses & carriages for the day in Central Park.

They kept the horses in this building

A number of local baseball games were in play -  Who's on first, What's on second, I don't knows on third.

 Many people enjoying the wonderful morning - including us

                             

 What would be a good way to relax & have fun?  

My rowing skills were not as good as Cliff's - I felt I was getting us nowhere & worried about running into other boats - so I was not feeling very relaxed.

The skyline of Central Park West was pretty amazing.

After rowing I think a well deserved soda was in order - there was nothing stronger available until midday.

Another lake full of remote control yachts - we found a shady spot to sit, eat salted caramel icecream, watch the boats & passing crowds.

We left the park & realised we lost Nessie -  not knowing where she could be, I asked these friendly NYPD cops for assistance. One very happy to help & one not so happy

Finally we found Nessie at the Plaza Hotel "Home Alone - Lost in New York"

McCoy's Irish Pub in Hells Kitchen, a soda for Cliff & beer for Nessie. The saying for the day in this bar was - "A hangover is something that occupies the head you neglected to use last night" how very true.

Bon Voyage New York city - we've had a very exhausting 48 hours but well worth it.

A day at sea & then Charleston, South Carolina next stop.

NEW YORK NEW YORK (part 1)

After leaving Iceland, we awoke to extremely thick fog. The Captain made an announcement, due to numerous icebergs off the coast of Newfoundland & thick fog the Sea Princess would not be docking in Halifax & we were proceeding direct to New York. A little disappointed on missing Nova Scotia but excited to have an extra night in New York.

We were lucky enough to be in the 2nd group to be processed by Immigration (apparently the last group finished well after midnight) After the experience of being fingerprinted & retina scanned (which was a little daunting) we decided to walk 7kms from the cruise terminal to the new One World Trade Centre (the tallest building below)

The weather was hot but there was a lovely breeze along the waterfront which was full of joggers, cyclists & families enjoying the ourdoors. By the time we arrived at the World Tower it was dark & very few tourists waiting to visit the observatory - which was great for us. The lift took less than 60 seconds to reach the 102nd floor where the 380 degree views of the city lights seemed to go on forever.

On the way back to the ship we stopped at Greenwich Village for a slice of Joe's Pizza (as recommended by Bec) the walls in this little pizza joint were covered in photos of movie stars who have eaten there - but for us, no stars were to be seen, one of the streets near by was closed for filming, so maybe in the early hours the stars go for pizza.

Now for a weekend to explore Manattan

This was a Saturday, so how busy must Time Square be on a weekday?

I think there's a super hero convention in town

People want their photo taken with the numerous characters in the square - I made the mistake of wanting my photo with Woody, Anna & Hello Kitty - after Cliff took the photo they demanded $5 each - lesson learnt - no more photos with cartoon characters.

Unless its a minion in Toys R us

"These pretzels are making me thirsty" 

Cliff needed a drink after devouring this huge salt covered pretzel

Ahh - nothing like a cold beer to wash down a pretzel - Cliff with Tommy the barman at the Landmark Tavern.

Michael the owner of the Landmark left Ireland & worked in Sydney pubs for a couple of years before moving to Manhatten.

After a full day of walking it was back for a quick sleep before the Lion King on Broadway - good thing I set the alarm or we would have missed it.

We had great seats, the costumes were amazing, Cliff enjoyed the show, but for me it felt more like a pantomime. Exhausted we walked back to the ship & fell into bed.