Category: Photography

The last time I wrote, I was offered a job I couldn’t refuse: cat sitting in Paris!

Since then, I visited my family on Hawaii twice, once over the holidays and once to celebrate birthdays in July but didn’t post any photos because it was essentially a trip to visit family, not a vacation.

I’m currently preparing for a longer trip which has been on the schedule for two years. I postponed it because of Covid. It was originally a solo trip but my friend Ann from England decided to join me. She and I traveled to Umbria and Tuscany together with Overseas Adventure Travels and she joined me for a few days in Paris. I’m happy she will join me on this adventure!

The chosen trip is another adventure with Overseas Adventure Travel. I’m flying to London to meet her and we will continue on our journey together after a couple of days decompressing in London. We have no specific plans.

I’m flying into HEATHROW, you ask? It seems that whenever I mention this fact, I’m greeted with a grimace. That’s a terrible airport. I know. I know about its reputation for losing luggage. I’ll pack extra clothes in my carry on and hope for the best. I’ll embellish my luggage so it is unique and easy to find and add my hotel in London as an extra luggage tag

I don’t know if it’s the inevitability of growing older, but planning for a trip like this, consisting of many days in different accomodations, seems to take much longer than it used to and I can no longer throw some things in a suitcase and take off. My ”to do” list this time was very long.

When did I start taking vitamins? Are they that important? I now take blood pressure medications so I had to make sure I had enough to see me through the trip, be sure to carry the original bottles, and I had to consult a travel nurse for possible vaccines. As it turned out, I had to get Hep A, Hep B and Typhoid Fever vaccines. i am up to date on Covid vaccines and fully vaxxed and boosted. I’ve been very cautious and lucky not to get Covid. Fingers crossed my luck continues. I was told to carry a picture of my pills and prescriptions ”just in case.” We’re not going to Russia but still we have to be careful instead of carefree travelers.

I wish we weren’t so hooked to our devices but we are: my iPhone is not only my phone and internet but my only camera and my lifeline to the outside world. My phone is new but my iPad is not, which is why it’s taking forever to type this post. I am very careful about not flashing my phone around and I will be wearing a travel vest with inside pockets.

The weather will be quite warm in some places and we will be in “ tented luxury accomodations” for two nights WITHOUT ELECTRICITY. I spent a great deal of time researching “power banks” and ” portable batteries” for my devices and have one of each. Since I didn’t grow up in the world of computers, it took me time to ascertain which plug goes into which hole with which cord. I know that this will be among the most picturesque parts of the tour, so I don’t want a dead camera. I have never been a happy camper so this experience will be a challenge.

I will be posting when I can, depending on internet access and free time.

If you have any pre- trip tips, I would appreciate them.

Looking forward to my next adventure… I think !

Holland America owns an island in the Bahamas and their ships frequently stop there. It’s a very manicured, polished and pristine spot and its purpose is to make this beauty  accessible to all, including older and handicapped passengers. There are large tenders that take people painlessly from ship to the island and large pathways to lead the way to the various areas.

 I spent a few hours there in the afternoon taking photos and participating in the barbecue lunch.  It sort of reminded me of Disneyland: better than the best, shielding us from the harsh reality of everyday life – in short, a perfect vacation spot. We have to return to the real world soon enough. Escapism can be therapeutic. 

One of the advantages of having a cabin with a balcony is watching the action of  the ship. We saw the workers on land dock the ship in the early morning hours without having to get dressed or put on makeup – such luxury!  

We chose to take an excursion to the middle of the island, where, high on a hill, we visited Good Hope Plantation, toured the house and had high tea on the veranda. The drive took an hour and a half and we were able to see the small villages along the way. The views and flowers of the plantation were extraordinary!

We returned to the ship to prepare for dinner and the evening’s entertainment but took a few images of the ship and its surroundings before going back in. I’ll write about life on shipboard in a separate post. 

As I predicted to some of my friends, my postings on this trip are dependent on the ship’s internet gods. There is no longer a tech person on board so it took me two days to get online with a little help from one of the staff at the front desk.

Today is Tuesday December 4 and my former neighbor Linda and I boarded the ship November 30.  Our first  port was Key West, then we had a sea day and yesterday we had a very busy day in Havana. What an experience!

My photos haven’t yet been transferred via the cloud from my iPhone to the iPad, so I have no visual record as yet. I’ll be brief and explain what we’ve been doing and hope to send photos as the trip continues..they are uploading now.

Linda and I met at the hotel in Ft Lauderdale, where we both spent the first night at the Pier 66 hotel before getting on the ship.  I came  from San Francisco and she flew from Las Vegas via her home in Utah .

We boarded the ship the next afternoon.  I’ve sailed on the Veendam before.  I chose my old room, an inside cabin on the main deck, aft, but we ended up with an upgrade for a bargain price we couldn’t turn down,  so we are in one of the Vista suites, room 118, on the ninth floor, veranda deck, close to the aft elevator and stairs, which makes it very convenient.  We climb two floors up to the Lido, the casual dining venue, and descend three floors down to the main dining room, and two flights down to the entertainment venues, music and library.  It’s all good.

The weather has been wonderful so far though it was quite warm on Key West.  We used the hop on hop off bus for our mode of transport there and did most of the tour via the bus, then hopped off at the next to last stop to visit the Hemingway house.  When we were finished with our tour,  I climbed  up the stairs to the top of the lighthouse across the street while Linda spent more time with Hemingway’s cats, then we made our way down to the center of town.  Unfortunately my map reading skills need improving, and we went a bit out of the way – not good in the heat of the day. I made another stop to tour the Truman little White House, which I found fascinating.

Now a Florida State monument, Harry spent 174 days here during his presidency recovering from the rigors of his job.  All the furniture was original and showed a more relaxed way of life, with the only entertainment being a radio, piano and record player.  Unfortunately,  we were unable to take pictures inside but I hope to show you the beauty of the Truman Annex when my photos come through,  where people still live today.  It reminds me of some of the “ old fashioned “ military bases, like Hickam AFB, at Pearl Harbor, HI, where my sister and family used to live.

We awoke to the sunrise as we sailed into Havana and took advantage of our veranda to shoot some early morning  shots.

Our Havana day was full of activity.  We chose to take the Best of Havana tour and were escorted through immigration, money change  and customs before embarking on our tour.  The HAL staff did a masterful job in getting us all organized and the entire procedure went smoothly. A Visa is required which was given to us at our check in when we were in Florida, and the $75 fee was charged to our room.

Our guide was Liban, a former professor at the University of Havana, specializing in foreign languages;  his English was excellent and his knowledge  was encyclopedic.  He managed to get us through the ins and outs of the tour with minimal discomfort and hassle.

We visited a community project in an old Colonial house and had a demonstration of a rap song and dance led by some very sturdy seniors.  It was a great just  walking through the streets and seeing the people .

I was surprised at the sheer number of beautifully preserved old American cars from the 50s and 60s in fantastic colors.  They were everywhere!

We also visited the Christopher Columbus cemetery,  visiting some of the most popular graves and learning about the Cuban funeral customs and costs.

We had a mediocre lunch at a black-and-red-and-pink nightclub venue down the street from the National Hotel.   The upside was that we had entertainment of dancers and musicians.  I enjoyed this show, but being confined in a black room, even with entertainment, in the middle of a beautiful sunny and not-too-warm day was not to my liking. Maybe if the mashed potatoes had not been so cold, I wouldn’t be so grumpy .  This was the only downside of the tour, though.  Everything else was well planned and very interesting.

After lunch we went to the top of the hill to visit the fort, do a bit of shopping – cigars, rum, coffee and souvenirs – and got up  close and  personal with the statue of Jesus.  The views of the city were a little disappointing because the sun was in the wrong direction. Our last stop was a walking tour of old Havana, where we saw beautiful buildings and squares.

We started our tour at 9:00 and we were dropped off at the ship terminal at  just after er 4:00 pm.

We asked our guide for recommendations for street photography and art and he told us to get a taxi to go to the Callejéia de Hamel, in a residential neighborhood a bit off the beaten path..  We lucked out with an English speaking driver named Michel and a blue and white Bel Air convertible to take us.  He picked us up on the street outside the ship terminal. It was pure chance.  He drove at breakneck speed through the streets, and we saw blocks that looked like bombed out Beirut or Aleppo. It was quite amazing. Our guide pointed out, however, that the country has a 99% literacy rate and universal health care, from cradle to grave..even the buried is free – unless you want special flowers. The people we spoke to were universally polite and well-educated.  It was refreshing not to see billboards, though the population seems to be glued to their cell phones.  Internet is not universal but some agencies have websites. Change is inevitable . I’m glad we got there before McDonald’s hasn’t taken over

The Hamel is another community arts project which involves the people in the neighborhood, specializing in art, music and dance  we were told to ask for Elias, and Linda wanted to get a small statue of St Barbara for her sister.  We were able to take fantastic photos  and also go to a modest house in the neighborhood  to find her statue.  It was a good trip,  and Michel the taxi driver found a new contact. He took the tour of the center with us! We all enjoyed the experience.

We were taken back to the terminal and finished off the evening with a cold beer at a sidewalk café at the Plaza San Francisco, where the church  that Pope Francis  visted on his last tour is located .

It was pleasant debriefing, taking in the air and watching the sky turn pink as the sun set.

We will have two sea days in a row at the end of the trip.  We were supposed to land in Cienfuegos tomorrow but the captain just came on the loud speaker to let us know that we have some complications so we will no longer be landing there. We’ll be in Grand Cayman tomorrow. There are always surprises on ship, so we’re considering all the good things : we get to sleep in and we will have more time to enjoy the ship.  We are fortunate that this didn’t happen in Havana !

Hope to send pictures soon.  Stay tuned!

 

 

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I’ll admit to a bit of sadness at leaving Jekyll Island. It was so peaceful and quiet, and we had the most beautiful weather. It was a perfect respite from the cares and worries of the world. We both loved it.

We woke up to cloudy skies and a trek down freeway 95 to Saint Augustine. We arrived at mid morning and had a guided visit to the Cathedral Basilica  of Saint Augustine, which is the oldest parish of a permanent European settlement in North America.  It just celebrated its 400th anniversary. We strolled through St George pedestrian street, and had lunch of soup and salad at one of the oldest  restaurants in the city, the Columbia restaurant, founded in 1905 by Cuban refugees. With all the ornate tiles, it looked like a restaurant one would find in Andalusia.   The early Spanish influence can’t be denied.  St. Augustine has been conquered and fought over by rivaling European colonist powers, finally becoming a part of the United States in 1821.

After our lunch we had a little free time, then boarded a trolley for an overview of the historic district.  We drove by Ponce de Leon’s Fountain of Youth but there’s now an admission price to taste the waters!  We learned about the architecture and how various invaders built and changed the buildings through the years.

We checked into our hotel mid afternoon then had a fantastic dinner out at  Raintree, a charming restored Victorian house.   The crème brûlée was the best!

I didn’t send this post last night because the pictures wouldn’t synch up the iPhone to the iPad so  I’ll continue on with what we did today

We started out the morning with a visit to the Castillo de San Marcos, the ancient fort, and then were dropped off downtown to catch the 10:00 tour of Flagler College.

The college is named for Henry Morrison Flagler, a Gilded Age industrialist who partnered with John D. Rockefeller in Standard Oil. He then dabbled in railroading, putting down tracks down the coast of Florida.   He built the Ponce de Leon hotel in 1888, one of the first of his luxury hotels along the east coast of Florida. This historic landmark now serves as the centerpiece for the college, which started admitting students in 1968.

There are many remarkable facts about this place: it was the first major poured-in-place concrete building in the United States and it launched the careers of young architects John Carreras and Thomas Hastings, who went on to build the New York Public Library and the House and Senate office buildings adjacent to the Capitol in Washington D.C. It was one of the first electrified buildings in the U.S. – powered even before the White House.  Louis Comfort Tiffany did the interiors, with the largest collection of stained glass windows, including 79 in the dining hall.  There is a complete collection of eleven Tiffany Austrian crystal chandeliers in the Flagler Room.

After our tour we visited the ATM across the street, then peeked in next door to another Spanish Renaissance building called the Villa Zorayda, originally built in 1883 by Bostonian Franklin W. Smith as a 1/10 reproduction of the Alhambra in Granada, Spain.  It has a quirky and eclectic mix of antiques and artifacts including an Egyptian mummy wrapped in a cat rug.  This building was a private home, restaurant and club, speakeasy and casino.  It opened as a museum in 1933 and has recently undergone extensive renovation. Unfortunately, no photos could be taken inside.

It was only a half block to our next discovery, the Lightner museums, which was originally the Hotel Alcazar, again built by the aforementioned Mr. Flagler, with an extensive entertainment area, including tennis courts, bowling alley and a swimming pool. The pool has been transformed into a wonderful café, which is where we had our lunch

The museum’s holdings include pieces from the Gilded Age, as well as other collections that Mr. Lightner bought from people who lost their money during the Depression. He had collections in his home town of Chicago but no building in which to house them, until he visited Florida for recuperation after a bout of ill health. The Hotel Alcazar had fallen on hard times and so he was able to convince the city fathers to bring his collection there…and now it has a home. It has been catalogued and organized in three floors.  It’s billed as a collection of 19th century fine and decorative art.

After museum-hopping much of the day, we returned to the hotel for a bit of rest before heading out to a charming inn for our final dinner with new friends.  After a lovely lunch, I ate sparingly…

 

..but I didn’t skip dessert!

Tomorrow is travel day. Fortunately we don’t have to jump on the shuttle until early afternoon and will be home late in the evening.

Hope you enjoyed our trip to Charleston, Savannah, Jeckyll Island and Saint Augustine!

After breakfast, we took an island  tram tour with historical commentary. Not only is there the hotel, but a number of “cabins” owned by the titans of industry, that were built between 1887-1902 .

We were able to tour the three story home of the Rockefeller family. There were eleven bathrooms in the home, when only 10% of the population had running water. It is still a low key home without any ostantaneous furniture. The season was from January to March. There was no kitchen because all meals were taken in the Jeckyll Island club. The grandkids came and enjoyed playing on the island and spending family time together.

Our lunch consisted of an ice cream cone from the town’s sweet shop

After our tour we wandered around the shops and did a little shopping, then walked  over to the turtle rehabilitation center. This is the most popular place in the island and people come from all over the area to learn about the turtles and help in their rehabilitation. We arrived in time for the doctor’s rounds, where a volunteer diagnosed the problems with each of the patients and discuss their treatment. Each patient had a name and was in an individual tank.

We came home to pack and get ready for our evening  meal.  We were treated to a cooking demonstration on the porch of a low country boil, which consists of shrimp, andouille sausage, red potatoes, onions, green and red peppers and corn on the cob. It was delicious.

Fhe evening’s entertainment consisted of the Gullah Geechee Ring Shouters, a group that, through West African narrative, song and dance, explained the culture of their people. These descendants from the  slaves were isolated on the barrier islands of Georgia, primarily  Sapelo Island, which meant the inhabitants  retained their language and culture longer than most because of their isolation.  Their unique dialect was studied as early as 1933 and was discovered to be complex, comprising about 3,800 words and derived from 31 African languages.  Their folklore and medicinal preparations are still used today. We were given remedies for the common cold and hypertension.  We all found the presentation educational and enlightening. They also bragged a little: they performed for the first inauguration of Barack Obama, have been interviewed by national and international news outlets and articles have been written about hem in periodicals, including the Smithsonian, who had a recent exhibition on their culture.

 

It was a wonderful way to end the evening.

Tomorrow: Saint Augustine, Florida, our last stop. Where does time go?

We took the slow route to Jeckyll island, Georgia  today meandering around small villages and marshes to get the flavor of the land.  We did take one side trip, to the smallest church in America.  Our guide Meredith always chooses out of the way, quirky things for us to see.

Some of the people in our group practiced being the pastor. There is room for twelve participants as well as a bit of standing room in the back.

We arrived at the Jeckyll island Club Hotel and ate our lunch at Crane Cottage, one of the outbuildings of the hotel, our home for the next two days.  Crane Cottage is the largest private residence built by the members of the club.  The owner, Richard Crane, founded the Crane Company that built fluid control equipment and plumbing fixtures. It was the first to make colored bathroom fixtures. The “cottage” has 18 bathrooms, practically unheard of in the early 1800s.

We chose the fried green tomatoes  accompanied by three small salads: chicken,  shrimp, and tuna.  The  Key Lime Pie dessert was perfect.

After lunch we got a brief orientation walk around the hotel. The Jeckyll Island Club was originally a private, invitation-only hunting club established in the late 1800s so America’s tycoons could have the luxury  of seclusion.  Their exclusive club was described in the February 1904 issue of Mumsy’s magazine as “ the richest, most exclusive, most inaccessible club in the world.”  Members included J.P. Morgan, William Rockefeller, Vincent Astor, Joseph Pulitzer and William Vanderbilt.  Their exclusive club house was converted into a hotel and that is where we are staying.  The club disbanded after W W II and the island became a part of the Georgia state parks system. We will learn more about its history tomorrow, when we do a lecture and tram tour.

Before checking into our room, we were given a tour of the marshland and Driftwood Beach.

Since this is an old hotel, the rooms are all different.  We lucked out with a spacious room with a view of the front although the bathroom is a bit small. We are not complaining –  being in a place which is a part of history here is worth it.

We had dinner on our own and we opted to indulge and eat in the fabulous  main dining room.  We wanted a light meal so  we chose appetizers: escargots and French onion soup for me, and Oysters Rockefeller and  specialty salad for my sister. We split a Baked Alaska. Well, maybe it wasn’t  such a light meal as it turned out,  but we are on vacation, after all..

Tomorrow we learn more about this fascinating place and will attend a Gullah Geechee ring shout performance in the evening. Google Gullah Grechee to find out more – or wait until my next post.

We had two packed days in Savannah, a delightful, eccentric and beautiful city. With its “open carry “ drinks laws, it reminds me a bit of New Orleans.   It is the home of the Savannah College of Art and Design, and is filled with college age students.  Actors  stroll the streets in period costumes, pretending they’re famous citizens.  In the last two days we’ve met a pirate, Robert Louis Stevenson and Forrest Gump, who chatted with us in the breakfast room of the hotel this morning. It is the land of the whimsical  and artistic. I love it.

We began the day with a trolley tour, which was helpful in giving us an overview of the city.  We started at the river area, then branched out into the neighborhoods which are punctuated by  verdent squares, as you can see by the map.

We got off the trolley from time to time to walk in the neighborhoods.  The entire town is one giant photo op.

We had lunch at Elizabeth’s on 35th, in an elegant mansion..

We took a tour of the Andrew Low house, whose son, William, married Juliette Gordon, who founded the Girl Scouts. She was the last person to live in the house.  She got the house, but no money to run it so she turned it into a boarding house !

We were free today to do whatever we liked. We took our time getting up and eating, then did  some shopping at the many stores at the river’s edge. We returned to the hotel to statch our booty then headed off to the Mercer-Williams house to take the tour.

On the way over, we ran into lots of dogs and their owners, as today was Wag-O-Ween.   Dogs and owners were dressed up, looking for treats from the local merchants-  what a hoot !

We got to the mansion with little difficulty. If you’ve read the book or seen the movie, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil put Savannah on the map as a tourist destination. This house was originally commissioned by the great grandfather of the singer Johnny Mercer (who wrote  “ Moon River,” among many others) and was restored by Jim Williams, a flamboyant  bon vivant  antique dealer whose standing in society was very important to him. He gave a Christmas party every year which was one of the most sought-after invitations in all of the city.  And then there was the murder..

if you haven’t read the book or seen the movie, I urge you to do so. The film, directed by Clint Eastwood, starred Kevin Spacey. Unfortunately no photos were allowed in the interior of the building or the gardens, since it’s still a private home.

We visited the Jepson Center for the Arts to check out their exhibits then, overcome with thirst, ended up at a rooftop bar with views overlooking the city.

We spent both evenings at the Olde Pink House, a place highly recommended both for food and entertainment. We ate in the River Street area with the group last night and wandered over later for a drink. We ate a light meal there tonight- fantastic  appetizers – then once  again  ended up in the basement bar listening to the piano player. Last night Diana Rogers played and sang;   tonight’s entertainment was David Duckworth who sang and played, with his wife Alisa accompanying him on the bass.  Both pianists were wonderful, accomplished musicians and a real treat for us.

Now it’s time to say goodnight, since it is already the next morning.

We leave for Jeckyll Island tomorrow for two nights.