jam19872016

I think we will be taking a little more of a southern route on the return since we are going to the Canary Islands after Spain. It wasn't until the turn north towards the Azores the temps dropped.

They were so pretty. Thank you, I have no idea what to expect tomorrow since this doesn't seem to be the same tour I could have booked independently. I guess it will be a surprise. Same routine she has at home for the most part, but the view is much better and she isn't cooking and cleaning 🙂

We've had amazing weather during this transatlantic. The day before we got to the Azores it turned cool but not cold. There were plenty of people outside enjoying the pool deck still. Today the sun did not really come out, it was grey and most people were wearing pants and a jacket. It reached the 70's today, but on deck with the wind blowing it was pretty cool to me and even though I am from Florida, I rarely ever wear a jacket. Even still, until today very few people were wearing anything more than their summer outfits. I think prioritizing warm weather clothes will be fine since it really wasn't needed until today.

My mom's routine is even less exciting than mine. Gets up, has breakfast, reads around the ship until I get up. Once I'm up its back to the room to work on her goals on her games on her tablet. More reading, the daily sudoku. Some meals in-between and whatever shopping events are held throughout the day. More reading and games to end her evening. Rinse and repeat.

The time changes have been a struggle here too. Way harder than I thought it would be. The crew said its been rough on them as well.

Just booked a hop on hop off tour for tomorrow so I'm not gonna stay out real late. Have half my drink from last night, and my fun ship from brunch that I'm going to sit outside with and listen to the ocean I brought a jacket it's getting chilly out but I didn't actually need it.

Salmon was good. Just a bit too dry and missing the noodles that came with it. The beef was a mixed bag. One piece delicious, the other piece a little too tough and oddly it was the undercooked piece. Both were not as hot as I would have liked but I did let it sit while I ate my fish. Overall still good though. Baked Alaska 746. Pretend you don't see I dug in before the picture, first upload failed and I had to take it again.

Both were very good. I tried some of my mom's turkey and pasta dish and it was also very good. Ancho basted salmon and shadow bree ond because spell check can't help me spell it correctly 718.

Oyster Rockefeller 704 Prosciutto and melon

Table ready at 622. Tonight's menu.

I was just outside walking. I should have waved. Next time.

Checked for dinner at 528 with a 80-90 minute wait. We are not ready yet, but it is elegant night so we know it will take a while to get in. The other night when I said it was elegant night, it was not. It was elegant night menu so I got confused. There used to be three on a Journeys cruise, but we only had two. That is fine by me and now that I know I will enjoy having one less day to have to dress up.

Just in case you didn't get enough casino action already. Looking back at the Freedom Heading back. Looks like maybe a naval ship in port with us today. Almost home now. I didn't make it as far as I would have liked, but I was happy with my day in the Azores especially the botanical garden. As for Sete Cidades, I will just have to make it back again someday.

What happened here? This was supposed to be a picture of the clock tower. I can see the Freedom so I know I'm getting close. After I answered natures call I plugged another place into Google. It was sending me back the way I came, and it looked like everything was back that direction and I wanted to explore the other way so I set off on foot to see what there is when you turn right instead of left. There is a basic beach right outside where the ships dock. Walking. Vending machine....with hot foods?

Coming out the other side, a local school had just let out for the day and I was instantly back in the hustle and bustle. Gas price check - €1.44 a liter. Comes out to about $6.09 a gallon keep that in mind next time you are filling up. Unless you live in California, then I guess that isn't really that much of a big deal to you. Continues to look dark off this direction, but it never did rain at the port. Walking back towards the port, I needed a bathroom break and never found any except at the terminal.

This was very pretty. Much prettier than I could capture on camera. I took a while to soak in the beauty of the nature surrounding me. My phone was put away because there were a number of uneven terrains to climb and descend as I explored the area.

There were homeless people scattered throughout the city, but none were confrontational and only one was actively begging people for money. They were just sort of there minding their own business. It was not nearly as hot as Bermuda, in fact it felt quite nice out but I still wasn't full of energy so wasn't really holding out finding anything worthwhile as the walk out of town was uphill, and quite steep in places. It also looked more and more like rain the farther out of town I got and I did not want to be caught in the rain. Imagine my surprise when in the middle of a pretty bustling city I found another hidden gem, the botanical garden This was Jardim Botânico António Borges.

I'd lost wifi at this point so set off on foot without a destination in mind. At some point I picked it up again and never lost it so I'm not sure if this is a dead zone or my phone was acting up. I love the architecture in Europe. The narrow streets and old buildings it all creates a wonderful ambiance that I enjoyed soaking in. Walking.

Back on the ship I grabbed some lunch and set back out to see what the day would hold. I decided not to head to Sete Cidades but instead just head out walking again like I had done in Bermuda. I was disappointed because I will not be stopping here again this trip, but I ended up making the right call as I heard many people complaining that it was not visible today on their excursion. I had no real destination but I did have a list I had found of things to see within walking distance. I plugged the address into google and was able to connect to wifi throughout most of the city with no need to purchase an eSim (which I hadn't been able to do because of.... well issues). I took these steps to reach the city on street level. There is also an elevator and some entrances that are on a slant instead of steps. This one leads to the taxi stand. Walking Ooops, wrong direction so I turned around and walked the other way. I've reached my destination. City Gates. On the main square, the three-arched “Portas da Cidade” is a main landmark impossible to miss.

There is a burger king here if you need a taste of home. I also heard they serve beer. Ol' Stumpy. The skies looking more friendly in this direction. My mom found one item to purchase for a friend back home but that was the extent of her find. She did not go up to street level so this was all she saw. She was not pleased with this port. There is so much more to see and do than this but this was as far as she could venture today before her back started hurting her.

While I've got some downtime I will go ahead and share my day in Ponta Delgada. I was very tired that morning, having not slept well the previous two nights. I wanted to see Sete Cidades but had read that it suffers from poor visibility in bad weather and today had a 90% chance of rain. That morning it was indeed very hazy out with dark clouds but it was not raining. I was going to continue to play it by ear and hire a taxi if I got some pep in my step and the weather cleared up. To start with, though, I was going to walk around the port area with my mom who likes to check out the local shops. Getting off the ship. There is a small strip mall right off the cruise ship. The skies don't look too friendly right now.

Got a duck, tied again 20-20. Tea time was slammed. They were truly overwhelmed by the number of people who showed up. They did the best they could and you could tell they were trying. There is a captains cocktail party right now. I may go to the late one but probably not. Relaxing in the room for now.

I've been hearing both on board and on social media that libraries are being removed from the ships. That's not what I remember reading anywhere so I went to JH for some clarification and this was his response.

I'm not sure what happened that made tea time so popular today. Dining room is completely full with a line outside waiting to get in. I've never seen that, are they giving out free drinks that I don't know about?

Moved from my spot im Habana bar the work going on outside went from mildly distracting to an unbearable nuisance. In the swing time lounge figured knitters wouldn't be too noisy. Group of five ladies knitting and socializing and I would say younger than my initial guess if it's the same group. 30s and 40s.