WHAT FUN!

Sometimes, the best thing to do is to take some time away from the daily routine and hit the high seas! That's just what we did - we took a cruise to Bermuda, and it sure was a great decision.



We sailed from Norfolk, VA Saturday morning where they have done a great job of building a port facility that is truly competitive with others within easy driving range of Chapel Hill. Our ship was the Grandeur of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean vessel. Five nights was just long enough to get you spoiled with their exquisite service, fine dining, entertainment, opportunities for relaxing by the pools or on the decks, and all the other things we enjoyed. Sunday night's dinner was formal and included a "meet and greet" with the ship's captain.



We docked at King's Wharf in Bermuda early Monday morning and didn't sail until late Tuesday afternoon. It was our good fortune to have a tour guide for Monday who showed us the entire country and taught us a lot about Bermuda. Our Howard U. classmate, Dr. the Honorable Ewart F. Brown, J.P., M.P., just happens to be the Premier of Bermuda and the Minister of Tourism and Transport. Even though he was off island while we were there, he arranged for us to have an amazing tour guide who took great care of us -we wanted for nothing.

We saw a lot of interesting homes. Here is an example of one of the "little" homes that we decided might be suitable. The buildings are lovely pastels and the roofs are designed to draw the rainwater off and into storage tanks.



Here are some of the beautiful homes that we saw as we toured around the islands.







Cars are typically limited to one per home so you see a lot of scooters. With gas at $8 per gallon, that made sense to me!



But if you don't like scooters, there are other options.



In downtown Hamilton, the capitol, we liked the feel of the streets and the shopping area. Note the tourist crossing where it clearly says not to!



The trip back to Norfolk seemed to go too fast. There were lots of activities and of course, there was the ice carving demo on the pool deck. I didn't get a shot of the belly-flop contest, but trust me, it wasn't pretty! Many spent hours in the casino and I suspect the house continued its winning tradition. Bingo, the spa. workouts, running laps, towel folding class, rock wall climbing, card games, dancing, and best of all - food available whenever you wanted to eat - seemed to be the way people spent their time. Getting that one hour back on the return trip helped a lot!


There was lots to see and do and we only scratched the surface. We certainly will return to see more of this amazingly beautiful land and meet more of the friendly people of Bermuda. It is now on our list of places that we highly recommend!