March Cruise 2026 Part Two

 March Cruise 2026 Part Two

Our ship, the Silver Ray, has only been in service for one year.  It is a beautiful vessel, with a new design that has most of the common areas, bars, restaurants, and shopping areas on decks three, four and five. All the rest of the decks are cabins, which makes this very easy to navigate despite it being larger than all the other Silversea ships. There is more art work than we have noticed on other ships, and we sometimes would spend much longer getting to a restaurant since we would stop and examine the various pieces dispersed on stairways as well as displayed on walls and table tops. 

Because this is a larger ship, they had more room to really make the theater special. Aside from having a balcony for the audience, which the smaller ships don’t, the stage is much larger and equipped with the latest technology which really enhanced performances. There are no visual obstructions as there are on older vessels, which means there really isn’t a bad seat in the house. The music and entertainment were fabulous - Silversea does not stint when it comes to hiring absolutely the best singers, dancers, instrumentalists, comedians, etc. that are available.  The Silver Ray band is amazing and the various instrumentalists performing throughout the ship every evening were excellent including the duo in Silver Note.  The "headline" single acts at 9:30 every evening were also stellar. Because the stage is larger, they have a larger Silver Sea band, six members instead of the usual three, which was grand for us since they played at one of the bars before dinner and we were able to dance every night. We also would dance in the nightclub, Silver Note, even though we were not dining there. 

As for dining, there was too often something missing from the Silversea custom of providing great service and delicious food throughout a cruise or crossing.  The problems were definitely "first world issues" and seemingly petty in the grand scheme of life, but at the price we paid, we feel that we can expect perfection - as we have experienced to a high degree on all previous Silversea cruises. Problems included long wait times between courses, cold vegetables that were meant to be hot, bread rolls that weren't fresh, salty spinach, flavorless quiche ... the list goes on.  The worst problem was the fish - it was clear to us that Silversea had not procured the highest quality fish (except on the last two evenings when the branzino and the turbot were excellent).  At first it seemed to be a problem of slightly overcooking the fish (making it dry), but actually the raw product was not high enough quality to be prepared properly.  One exception was the arctic char served in the Marquee which was always good, but every single fish dish in every venue should have been moist and delicious.  That is the Silversea way (up to this cruise). 

We were scheduled to visit eleven islands in fourteen days: St. John USVI, St. Barts, St. Johns, Antigua, St. Kitts, Martinique, Guadaloupe, Bequia, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Road Town, BVI. Unlike crossings, that was a lot of stop and go for us, but we thought we would take advantage of some tours and see some new things. For the most part it was a good decision, but there were places that we can’t for the life of us understand what Silversea was thinking when making up the itinerary. On St. John’s we signed up for a snorkeling trip that sounded great on paper - a catamaran out to a 2.5-mile reef, brilliant fish in clear waters, etc. In reality it was a waste of $160. They consolidated two excursions, which meant that the boat was very, very crowded. They pulled up to one of their sister ships (also overcrowded) above the reef and since they had all just come out of the water it was all disturbed. Why, on a 2.5-mile reef, do they insist on visiting the same one-quarter-mile stretch? I think we saw two fish before they told us it was time to go. Because they had nearly 70 people in the boat, it took lots of time to get us all into and out of the water. 

We stayed on board during our stop in St. Bart’s. Been there, done that and it was certainly not worth a long tender ride to shop at high end stores and eat overpriced dull sandwiches. It was fun having the whole boat to ourselves, and the bars and restaurants were empty allowing for longer conversations with the bartenders, wine stewards and waiters, all of whom were very interesting and well trained. 

Best to all, Cindy and William

March Cruise 2026

 March 16, 2026

We just returned from three weeks in the warm. Our objective was to get out of here for the worst part of the year and in that regard it was a successful trip.  We started in San Juan, Puerto Rico and from the time we got off the plane until the time we got back on a plane in Ft. Lauderdale, we were always warm, in shorts, and happy campers. 

We stayed in a new hotel in a new neighborhood of San Juan called Condado. The ad for the hotel, the Condado Ocean Club, seemed to promise a cool location between the sea and a lagoon surrounded but wonderful restaurants, bars and cafes. The hotel was fabulously expensive where entry level rooms began at four hundred $ a night. I used AMEX points! - which promised an upgrade. Upon check-in, our tattooed, pierced, twenty-something said, “I don’t know why that say you’ll be upgraded, we haven’t upgraded anyone in the two years we have been open." Our room was supposed to be a lagoon view deluxe king. The only true part of that was the king bed. In order to see the lagoon you had to ignore the main street of Condado which was right beneath us. Ignoring that you had to try to forget the large parking lot across the street that was open 24/7 and seemed to insist that everyone back into spaces since we heard the constant ding, ding, ding, of cars and trucks in reverse. Beyond that, yes there was a lagoon, which seemed to be covered with paddle boards, kayaks, and canoes. So much for the view. None of the rooms, either on our side or the seaside had balconies, the only hotel property in Condado that didn’t!

However it was warm outside so that made us happy. As for the hip nature of the neighborhood, we couldn’t find it. Yes, there were cafes - the one that advertised itself as having the best coffee on the island, had in our opinion the worst! We couldn’t finish our espressos it was that horrible. Yes, there were restaurants, mostly Italian or Indian, both equally expensive and unattractive. Yes, there were bars, but they were all featuring the same colorful rum drinks designed to allow those that don’t like the taste of rum to drink until they were sick!  The saving grace was the restaurant hotel which had wonderful personnel and very good food; whew. 

We made the best of our two days there: Cindy managed to run every morning, which was more than difficult given the construction and traffic. I managed to walk an hour each morning searching, in vain, for that perfect cafe, bar or restaurant. The hotel charged $78 per day as a resort fee. This glorified Holiday Inn Express had a small pool with a portable bar which operated in the late morning and early evening. That was the resort part of the hotel!  We didn’t use it, nor did we use the closet gym and never found the sauna/spa. Gracious, the things hotels get away with now!

Our cruise day arrived and we called for an Uber XL since we had luggage for the cruise. We were a bit surprised when our ride turned out to be a Chevy king cab truck! The truck bed had a cover and there was certainly plenty of room for our bags. The interior was very clean and spacious and the driver was really wonderful and we talked with him about the island during our twelve-minute ride to the cruise terminal. When we arrived we were shocked at how long the lines were to deposit luggage. It took us thirty minutes to get to the front of the line where there were only TWO people tagging the bags and handing them off to the longshoremen. Once that was done, things went pretty fast and within another fifteen minutes we were on the ship, a glass of Champagne in one hand and a canapé of caviar in the other. Things were definitely looking up.

We were told that our carefully chosen Silver Suite cabin had been upgraded to a Signature Suite. This was news to us but we figured it had to be better. These suites are unique to the two Silversea ships in the NOVA class, ours the Silver Ray and the other the Silver Nova.  We were very eager to get to our new and upgraded suite. The first thing we noticed upon entering was that there was a guest half bath to the left of us and a closed door to the right. We opened that door to see a walk-in closet and for the life of us, we couldn’t find the other door which we were sure would lead to the bedroom or bath. There was no other door! We walked past the dining area, the living area and there was a door into the bedroom and connected to that was the bathroom, both rooms had very large windows looking out to a very large balcony. The bed filled the room with only two feet on either side before a wall. The bathroom, which was advertised as having dual sinks,  had one sink and two faucets, no way in the world that two people could use the sink at the same time. There was a huge jacuzzi tub taking up too much space in a small bathroom and a toilet hidden behind the entry door, as well as a walk-in shower. Storage was at a minimum, no place to hang wet towels and at night very dark due to poorly designed lighting. I had to make sure I shaved while the sun was shining. As Cindy said, the person or committee that designed this upgraded suite had never spent a single night using it. 

More to follow, Cindy and William

What A Party!!

 What a Party!!

I turned 80 on 15 December 2025, at 07:11 EST. I can’t tell you where I was but it was somewhere between Las Palmas and Ft. Lauderdale in the Atlantic Ocean. I was celebrating on the Silver Dawn and oh my, what a party we had on that ship!

The day started normally with Cindy running and me walking around deck eleven; then we had a light breakfast and cleaned up and put on normal clothes. The party started at about 11:30 at the pool deck bar where I had the first of what would be many glasses of Champagne. We started celebrating with the Sunderland Lads, three terrific guys we had met on a previous cruise and we have stayed in touch. They are a clever lot, with lots of stories, jokes and good humor. We enjoyed another glass of Champagne before adjourning to lunch on the outside deck of the buffet restaurant, where we indulged in more Champagne, this time in real glasses. It was a lovely day - sunny, warm and not too breezy - a change from previous days where we encountered some nasty weather. We took a short walk before our nap and returned to the room to find it all decked out in Birthday Balloons, towel animals, and candy: very Silversea!

A longer walk after the nap refreshed us and we went back to the suite to get ready for the cocktail party we were hosting for the lads. Two nights before they had thrown an elegant party in their Royal Suite and it was spectacular. For my birthday, Cindy had arranged the dinner reservations and we had decided that our dress code would be Fancy, not Formal. (An aside: The British lads told us that "fancy" means "in costume" to them but luckily we cleared that up beforehand.) We were dressed to the nines and the butler came in to set up the Caviar, sour cream and potato chips, as well as putting the bottle of Dom Perignon 2015 on ice. The lads arrived looking very sharp and we proceeded to celebrate my birthday in fine fashion. 

After demolishing the caviar and two bottles of Champagne we thought it would be a good idea to have a drink at the Silver Note. This is a small, intimate jazz nightclub on the ship. Cindy and I had gotten to know the singer, Sharon, and the piano player, Sasha, and when we walked in Sharon started to sing Happy Birthday to me - followed by her singing our special song “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore!”  Cindy and I danced and had the floor to ourselves; it was magical. We finished our drinks at the small bar and the five of us headed to dinner in At

lantide, the main dining room.

Cindy had made all the plans and chosen the menu for the evening, including the dessert. We were seated at a lovely table and were immediately served ice cold Champagne. (Are you picking up a thread here?)  Our first course was perfectly seared duck liver served with a wild berry sauce and toasted brioche roll. The next course consisted of medium rare lamb chops, excellent mint sauce, carrots, green beans and roasted potatoes. Two marvelous French reds were on offer that were just perfect for the meal. We had a small cheese course and then the Chef and maitre'd came out with a beautifully decorated chestnut layer cake with rich whipped cream and fresh fruit. About twenty of the serving staff came over and sang Happy Birthday; it was delightful. 

The meal had gone rather late, as these things are wont to do, so we ambled up to the Disco on deck nine and we all danced for hours, finally saying our goodbyes well after midnight. Fortunately, on this evening we turned our clocks back an hour so we were able to get in an extra hour of sleep. My goodness, What a Party!

Part One: Utah Adventures

 September 4, 2025

It is day one of our six-day three-park hiking experience in Utah and I must say I don’t know how it can get better!  The trip got off to a rocky start yesterday (after we landed). The United flight was a success and on time, but the real problems started after the flight with trying to navigate the Las Vegas airport; what a disaster. It is a sprawling place that appears to have grown without plan. Getting from our gate to baggage claim took about twenty minutes. Luggage was very slow in appearing and it was another fifteen minutes before we were ready to pick up the rental car. Normally that is a pretty easy thing to do but here you had to queue up in 95 degree heat with no shade just to be crammed onto an over-heated bus that took another fifteen minutes to get to the rental companies. (PS the return trip a week later from the rental agency back the terminal was quick, efficient, and air-conditioned! Not sure why the opposite direction was so fraught with problems.) 

Once there we moved quickly and got our car and had to wait another ten minutes for the gate keeper at the exit to make sure we were who we said we were. All in all it was one hour from exiting the plane to exiting the car rental facility, which in hindsight doesn't seem so bad but it was frustrating because every step took twice as long as it should have.  We hopped on I-15 North heading for St. George Utah and things went well for ten minutes and then everything stopped. It took another twenty minutes to go about five miles until traffic started to clear up and we could get up to 80 mph towards our hotel. Again, not so bad in hindsight but sitting there in the car and barely moving was frustrating. The scenery in Nevada is desolate and ugly, filled with strip malls, cheap casinos and lots of brown vegetation and brown rocks. Things changed quickly when we hit the twenty-two mile stretch of Arizona - eleven miles of which cuts through the magnificent Virgin River Gorge - it was magical and such a far cry from Nevada. We finally arrived at the Red Rock Resort and the world just went calm.

It is drop-dead beautiful here - surrounded by, as the name suggests - red rock mountains. They are majestic, mysterious, and just plain awe-inspiring! I booked this location since it is at 3000 feet and we wanted a few days to acclimate to a higher elevation than the 500 feet we are used to at home in WV. We had a lovely dinner at the resort restaurant; this being Utah, the wine was expensive and the choices limited, but we did just fine.

In the morning we took a walk around the resort and admired the changing colors of the rocks as the sun got higher and higher.  After a quick breakfast of the leftovers from dinner and some fruit that Cindy brought we were in the car driving the mile to the southern entrance of Snow Canyon State Park. We paid our twenty bucks for admission and the helpful guide suggested how to get the most out of the park in one day, laying out our routes and hikes on the map. From one end of the park to the other is a twenty mile ride on newly paved roads and on either side there are parking areas for the trails, all clearly marked. We spent four hours hiking on lava rock, sand, petrified dunes, dirt, and smooth rock, and at every turn we were richly rewarded with magnificent vistas. We were hiking at about 4000 to 4400 feet, acclimating for our next venues on this trip. Some of the hikes were real challenges, especially the lava flows which were smooth and slippery and hard to navigate, but we did it all thanks to our hiking shoes that our dear friends from Ellensburg had recommended to us so many years ago. We saw some native wildlife, white-tailed antelope squirrels, a few birds, lizards, and some wildflowers, but it was mostly desolate desert and it became increasingly hotter as the morning continued. We had been at it for four hours with lots of pauses for water, but when it hit 100 degrees we decided to go back to our lovely suite for lunch and a nap.

By five o'clock we were back at the park and went way up to the other overlook which afforded stupendous views of the entire area. We stopped at one hiking area specifically to see one of the two lava tubes marked on the map.  It was a slog - which we knew it would be - but the kicker was the thunder and lightning in the distance that we could see through the mountain pass. Knowing that there was no protection should it rain, we quickened our pace and made it to the lave tubes. They were interesting, but we did not linger. Lava tubes are like vertical caves going far down into the ground; we couldn't tell how deep because we weren't about to get too close to the edge of the opening (about 30 feet across).  Made it back to the car and headed home with about an hour to spare before our 7:30 dinner reservation. We cleaned up and got dressed and walked over to the restaurant and within ten minutes of our arrival the heavens opened up and very heavy rain came at an acute angle for at least 30 minutes. Staff stopped to look out the window at this unusual event!  It was well over by the time we walked home but the temperature and humidity were quite high and there were large puddles everywhere. Very exciting weather patterns!

In the morning Cindy ran while I walked up to the park entrance and back. The rains had totally transformed the area we had hiked the day before. Where we encountered red dirt yesterday was today a sea of red mud.  So happy we did not have to hike through that. There were tons of wild flowers bursting with vivid colors attracting hummingbirds and other creatures in the desert. On a wall above me I saw a road runner just looking down at me so I immediately said, "beep-beep" and then looked to see if an ACME safe was falling on my head! Then there were two California Quail nibbling on some leaves on a branch above them.  Such a changed landscape from the much appreciated rain. I met Cindy at a coffee shop we had identified the day before and had a decent cup of joe with a nice Danish pastry, then off to pack for our journey to Zion.  We were well pleased with our first stop and we were afraid we might have peaked - but not to worry, Zion is a marvel.  More soon!

Milwaukee

 We planned to spend two days in Milwaukee at the end of our Door County trip. We wanted to re-acquaint ourselves with a city we hadn’t visited in many, many years. Since this was Cindy’s birthday trip, I decided to spring for the Presidential Suite at the Hotel Metro, which is an Autograph property by Marriott. It has a great address, meaning we would be able to walk to everything and park the car for two nights. It is described as an Art Deco masterpiece and it had a restaurant and bar, which if the weather was bad would be a salvation. 

We arrived and had a hard time finding the building since we were looking for something Art Deco and what this was wasn’t what we were looking for!  We just assumed that all the cool designs, stained glass and other aspects of art deco would be inside; they weren’t!  Check-in was very orderly, friendly and efficient. We were told that the Presidential Suite was ready and we could go right to the room which was a pleasant surprise since it was only about one o’clock. I was very excited to see Cindy’s reaction to the suite so up we went in an old - but not stylish - elevator. 

The room was large and laid out in a funny way. The entry was long and dark and the door needed to be pushed hard to close it.  Once in the sitting area, the room opened up and there was a table with coffee fixings and water, a large couch, a large desk and chair, and a fireplace. The bedroom was off to the side and had a king bed but no chairs or other places to sit. There was a small closet with five hangers, but no robes or slippers (as per the advertisement). There was also a small set of drawers but no place to unpack suitcases. The bathroom was large and old but serviceable. The ‘panoramic windows’ were filthy and hadn’t been washed, inside or out, in many a year. There were new insulating glass fittings over the old windows which meant nothing could be opened. The frames of the original windows were made of wood which was falling apart and needed lots of work and paint. One of the windows was cracked. It was just as well since there was nothing to see from the windows, even if they had been clean.  Oh, did I mention that the suite cost $550 per night, before taxes?!!

We managed to unpack as much as we could and went down to have lunch. I stopped at the desk and told them what I needed: hangers, robes, slippers, etc. They weren’t sure they had robes but would look. I asked where to find the Art Deco and was told to go look at the Pfister hotel around the corner!!!  Not the answer I wanted to hear. Lunch was just ok, although Cindy had to send her meal back since it wasn’t what it was described to be. We were on a roll!

We decided to take a nap and after a lovely forty-five minute rest, we got up and Cindy went into the large room to see what the noise was. Turns out some sales rep for the hotel was showing the suite to five Asian men!!  Yep, they just walked into an occupied room and looked around!  Things were going from bad to worse so we decided to go for a walk to the Milwaukee Art Museum on Lake Michigan and take a look.  We checked at the desk to make sure we would be heading in the right direction and the desk clerk pointed the way.  Four blocks later Cindy was studying her iPhone map in some confusion and a nice man stopped to ask if we needed help.  Turns out we did - the desk clerk had sent in the opposite direction!  (Later we found out that it was his 2nd day on the job and he wasn't from Milwaukee.)  Once we arrived at the museum we found that it is marvelous and huge, sleek and modern, and filled with treasures that even I enjoyed. We actually spent about two hours in the museum and as we were coming out into the large foyer, we heard lots of loud music. Seems that on Thursday nights they have a DJ and sell booze for the younger crowd, I assume to get them into the museum. Thursday is also ‘pay what you want” so students and others with limited incomes can come in and pay a very small fee if they want. (We paid full fare 'cause we are culture vultures!)

On the way home we stopped in the Pfister Hotel, where I’ve stayed before, so that Cindy could see the truly opulent Art Deco ceilings, pillars and stained glass. We should have stayed there but they didn’t have a suite available. We also found a place to have dinner nearby at "Lupi and Iris" so we made a reservation and walked a bit more to the hotel to change. Dinner was excellent with a very, very professional staff, excellent wine list and topnotch cuisine. We were really enjoying Milwaukee, at last.

The next morning Cindy ran along the River Walk, which is lovely but devoid of any restaurants, cafes or bars. You would think they would be littering the place but there was nothing.  Cindy discovered the Milwaukee Public Market a block up from the River Walk and we walked back to it to get coffee, but while you could walk around, none of the stalls, bars or restaurants opened until 10am. We cleaned up and walked back to the lake where there was a Memorial Day celebration going on and there were flags everywhere. We walked for a few hours and stopped at a place with tents and tables that called itself the Biergarten. So we had a German beer and Bratwurst which hit the spot. 

Still hungry, we walked back to the market and found two stools at the counter for the fish restaurant. The place was jammed and the service friendly and fast. The guy next to me, noting our confusion with the menu, said he eats there all the time and to try the shark bites, which were really chunks of grilled swordfish, which we ordered after we finished our blue point oysters and ice cold NZ white. The fish dish came and it was spectacular so I ordered another one while Cindy got the lobster roll, again highly recommended, and it was, according to Cindy,  divine. 

More walking and napping until it was time for dinner at another excellent restaurant around the corner. Again great service and high quality food, not cheap but worth every penny. All and all, a great way to get re-acquainted with Milwaukee after so many years. We had one last meal at the Delta Club at the airport which had a local lager on tap and pretzels and brats; one could not find a more fitting meal in Milwaukee!

Door County

 June 2025

We began Cindy’s birthday "weeks" in Door County Wisconsin. Forty-five years ago Cindy was in a Bluegrass band that played weekend gigs there and she wanted me to see the area. We flew into Milwaukee and drove to Sheboygan for the night. We met Rick, who along with his wife Sue took great care of Colin and his young family when they were stationed in Sheboygan. Rick recently lost his wife to cancer and we wanted to take him to dinner so that we could talk to him and extend our condolences. We ate at a well-known Italian restaurant, Stefano’s, and the food, wine, and conversation were stellar. The next morning we met Rick at the Coast Guard Station; Rick has been with the USCG Auxiliary for 26 years. There we got a tour of the new facilities and vessels and were shown the plaque on the side of the building that has Colin’s name on it as he was head of station when the new building was erected. 

From there we drove north trying to hug the coast of Lake Michigan as much as possible. It is all farmland and forest and very beautiful, a relaxing ride as compared to sticking to the highway. Once on the Door Peninsula we took a quick detour to Whitefish State Park to see the famous dunes and rock formations. The first thing we noticed upon exiting the car was the COLD!  Man, it was cold and windy and not what we were expecting, nor what the weather channel was expecting since they told us it was going to be fifteen degrees warmer and sunny.  Luckily we had stopped at a WalMart for a hoodie and sweatpants as we left Sheboygan. Weather not withstanding, we had a lovely, albeit short, walkabout and noted that we had entered another spring season. We normally go to places in January, February, and March that are entering their spring time so that when we get home to our spring we’ll have had three or four springs under our belts. This is the first time we experienced all those springs and then started over again. Wild flowers, cherry and apple blossoms, tulips, daffodils - you name it - and they were just starting to bloom. Quite lovely.

We stopped for some photo ops at the Blue Ox, the bar where Cindy played back in the late 1970s. She went in and talked to the bartender who told her they don’t do live music anymore. Other than that she said it all looked the same. We finally got to our hotel around four and we were very impressed by it. The night before in Sheboygan we had stayed in what was touted as a boutique hotel on the river but in reality was a Motel 6 with new siding. We had the smallest room imaginable and a tiny bathroom with a toilet that had to have been custom built by Kohler, which is based there. I swear the toilet was only about twelve inches off the ground - which, when you are used to one meeting you halfway - is quite the drop!!  On a positive note, the people were incredibly nice and it was clean.

Back to Door County: This hotel in Sister Bay, the Dörr, is very Nordic in design - as is everything up here - and relatively new. Our room could easily accommodate three of the rooms from Sheboygan. It is light, bright, and well-appointed; we are happy campers. We unpacked and walked down to the lake for a much needed leg stretch. It was still very cold and cloudy and the wind was intense, threatening to remove our faces!!  We retreated to the hotel for a glass of wine and conversation with the bartender who provided us with valuable information regarding restaurants, sites to visit, and general insider information.

On the trip up the peninsula we noticed there were no fast food emporiums. Turns out that that is by design. Retail chains have never been here and will never be here, quite a feat for such a popular tourist destination. Everything here is a mom and pop run business. There is one place, Al Johnson’s, which has been here forever. It is a Swedish restaurant famous for its Swedish pancakes, meatballs and lingonberry jam. It is composed of four huge buildings with sod roofs - and in season they put goats on the roofs to ‘mow’ the sod. It is a real tourist must see and there are goat-themed posters, postcards, and lawn decorations all over the place. We had breakfast there and it was good but not forty-two dollars good. We had no booze, just some Swedish pancakes, eggs and bacon. The place was filled with a waitlist to be seated, so price doesn’t seem to deter the locals (or tourists). 

All the food here is expensive, compared to West Virginia, as is the wine. Again, it is a tourist town but the locals also eat here so I’m not sure if the prices are tourist driven or just reflecting the fact that it takes a while to transport food up here. While expensive, we have found the food to be fresh, well prepared and certainly served with smiles. Everyone smiles up here, must be the water and clean air.

The weather continued to be lousy, cloudy, cold, and very, very windy. We visited three state parks and enjoyed them until we were too cold to continue walking so we drove through them. All and all it was a wonderful trip but I’ll never go back since there are other things we need to do while we can. On to Milwaukee!   Cindy and William

Funchal Bits and Pieces Part One

 There are times when I think all of us have a desire to seek justice. The crazy driver trying to pass you on curves and then cutting you off, you want to see him pulled over by the cops and just give him a smiling wave. Well yesterday such a fantasy took place. I had been out on the balcony admiring the park and reveling in the quiet when one of the little motorcycles without a muffler began roaring up and down the road next to the park as he popped wheelies and revved his engine. We went our for our second walk shortly thereafter and sure enough there he was racing down the road next to the building and going through pedestrian walkways with wild abandon. He zoomed around the fountain for another pass and to our utter joy we saw him pulled over by a motorcycle policeman. You should have seen the other walkers giving thumbs up to the officer and I shouted out, Bravo!  The kid, to our immense pleasure, did not look very happy!

I eat very little meat since we favor fish and vegetables. But when I do eat meat, I consume the five major meat groups, lamb, partridge, goat, rabbit and roast suckling pig!  I’ve had all five on the island and each was better than the other. The first two were grilled, the second two in a fabulous stew and the pig - my goodness, the pig! Sunday lunch found us wandering on small streets and we found a place with pictures of Suckling Pig. We asked it they had it that day and the answer was "of course," so we settled into a lovely courtyard.  We were quickly brought a plate of olives, two small glasses of dry Madeira wine, and menus. We noticed that the people next to us had ordered the suckling pig and when it was brought to their table we just assumed that two of them had ordered the same thing. When we found out that it was only for one, we made sure to share the meal.  It was delicious! The skin was the color of rich Corinthian leather and cracked at the wack of the back of a spoon, the flesh was moist and falling off the bone.  Truly one of the best Sunday Lunches ever!

Coffee culture is alive and well here and even more intense than we’ve seen in other countries. There are cafes every twenty feet ranging from huge outside tented areas to little five person walk-in bars. They seem to be packed at all hours of the day and sometimes we’ll notice that they are having cake and coffee at 6 or 7 pm, just when we are thinking about dinner. Most places charge less than one euro for a coffee, but other high-end sit down places will find you paying 3 or 4 euros for just a plain little cup, nothing fancy. We do not frequent those spots but instead love to try little places. After two weeks going to the same place every morning after our run/walk, we are now known and they just get the order going since it is always the same. Nice to be a local!

We have done many of the tourist things and for the most part enjoyed them. Taking the Teleférico up to the Monte Mountain and gardens was fun. Spending two hours in the Botanical Gardens was another great adventure. Two concerts in one week has left me exhausted not to mention walking past at least five museums and countless must-see churches (which we did not).

The food here has been universally wonderful, in stark contrast to our time last year in Ponta Delgada. The difference is that they actually grow a lot of things on this island and the waters are much warmer meaning far more availability and variety of fresh fish. We have eaten in hole-in-the-wall places where a wonderful lunch was under ten euros and we’ve been to some far more expensive places too. What they all have in common is a deep appreciation for good quality fresh food, prepared with a minimum amount of fussiness and served with pride.

More later,  Cindy and William