Day13 Monday,April 17, Le Havre, France

Sunday was another relaxing day at sea.  We played cards, read and people watched…the days go by fast.  We are still eating in the Horizon Court..we dress once a day.  And the food choices are excellent.  Seas are very calm, but it’s cold and cloudy.  We went south from Ireland and turned  left into the English Channel towards France.  We dock early and our tour starts at 8 a.m. 

Monday: 

Le Havre, which lies along the English Channel on France's western coast, is the common port-of-entry for big ships calling at Paris and most typically a place to go through on your way to the City of Lights. While Le Havre is an ancient and textured city, dating back to the 16th century, it was very badly bombed during World War II, losing much of its historic appeal. Even still, it's been added to UNESCO's list of world heritage .

Many on the ship chose to make the 3 hour train/motorcoach trip to Paris; we opted for a tour of Normandy.  There were 8 of us on a privately booked tour (connected up through Cruise Critic).  The tour was called “The Band of Brothers Tour” and was with Overlord Tours.  They took us to the main sites of the Omaha Beach sector and followed the footsteps of the famous Band of Brothers (Easy Company of the 101^st Airborne Division ). 

We watched the DVD series Band of Brothers to refresh our memories on what all  happened and got familiar with the men in the 101^st Airborne and Easy Company and the areas where they landed and fought.  The series was remarkable….we watched it twice.

On June 6, 1944, Allied forces launched the largest amphibious attack in  history on five beaches at Normandy.  Nearly 7,000  vessels were involved in the landing and 12,000 aircraft flying 14,000 sorties.  By the 4^th of July, one million men had landed, 148,000 vehicles with half-a-billion tons of supplies.  Today, there are several cemeteries in Normandy, including Bayeaux, the largest British cemetery in the world with 4,648 buried and La Cambe, where 21,111 Germans are buried

Words in a blog cannot express the things we saw today.  It was a hurried trip to see the highlights and there was so much we missed.  But the things we saw were spectacular  and makes us want to come back.  You could spend days and days exploring Normandy.

One of 3 houses along the beach that survived the attack

On Omaha Beach

The day started about 8 as they picked us up at the ship.  The group we were with were from New York, Gettysburg, and Texas.  Interesting group of people, very nice and fun to be with.  There were about 3 vans (8 plus driver per van).  The roads are great…4 lane divided highway with beautiful countryside…large farms with typical French-looking houses (chimneys on both ends).  Fields of yellow canola (seeds are used to make canola oil) and cows, sheep and blooming apple trees.  It took about 2 hours (with a pit stop) to get to the first stop—Omaha Beach.  We walked right down on the beach to get the perspective of the landings.  Then we looked up to the German bunkers overlooking the beach about 130 feet up.

Scenes from the Beach:

German bunkers overlooking
 from the beach

Our guide, Sophie, had a strong French accent and was sometimes difficult to understand, but she knew her history down to the gun placements and was very good.   One thing that she emphasized and was new to us was that the German machine guns from the ridges were shooting crossfire as opposed to shooting straight out towards the sea.  This was intended to prevent the landing parties from reaching the bunkers holding the main German artillary. 

Inside the Cemetery Memorial

American Cemetery

From there, we drove up to the American Cemetery, located overlooking Omaha Beach, where over 9,000 Americans are buried there.  The place is beautiful and so well maintained.  It was designed by a man from Philadelphia.  The families were given the choice as to whether they wanted their loved ones buried at Normandy or brought home.  Over 40% remained in Normandy and are buried here.  As far as you can see, there are white crosses.  A beautiful memorial is in the middle of the cemetery.

Scenes from Pointe du Hoc:  

Field where many died

Bomb crater

German bunker at Pointe du Hoc

Memorial at Pointe du Hoc  on top of an observation bunker

From there we went to Point du Hoc, a point (literally) between Omaha Beach and Utah Beach where the Rangers scaled the cliffs during heavy machine gun fire in order to destroy German gun placements located on top of the cliffs.  When they got to the top, the guns had been moved back about 2 miles inland (due to the bombing of the coastline in preparation for the invasion).  When they got to the top, one was quoted as saying, “We did all this for nothing?”  So one of the men found a trail and followed it and found the German guns.  These pictures show the bunkers, the blown ammunition bunkers and the lookout bunker off the point.  Bunkers were everywhere, mostly connected with tunnels.   Huge bombing craters everywhere. Amazing.

Sainte Mere Eglise was next.  A little town very prominent in the Band of Brothers movie.  The paratroopers landed in localities all over the area (not according to the plans)  When the Germans heard the planes, they started shooting and many planes were hit and went down some with the paratroopers still on board.  Others jumped when the planes got hit and missed their drop zones completely.  The best laid plans were wrong that night.  The 82^nd and 101^st were completely off their zones .  Some landed in a field that had been flooded by the Germans and with 130 lbs of equipment on them, drowned. 

Ste Mere Eglise

One trooper, Pvt. Steele, is noted for landing in Sainte Mere Eglise and hung his parachute on the church steeple in the middle of town.  In the movie, “The Longest Day”, Red Buttons played this character.  While he hung there, Germans were all around and saw him move.  They shot him—in the foot.  He hung there for two hours playing dead before the Allies got organized and proceeded into town.  After surviving that, he died years later of throat cancer—he had started smoking in the war.

There is a parachute and manniquin dressed in military garb hanging from the church today.  The church is beautiful and just like we saw in the movies (except for the damage that the movie showed).  There is a stained glass window in the church in memorial to the paratroopers that lost their lives in the liberation of Normandy.  A huge organ has been donated and dedicated to all, military and civilians, who died there.

Scenes frorm Sainte Mere Eglise:

Inside the church

Organ

Ste Mere Eglise

Church at Angoville-au-Plain

We ate lunch in Sainte Mere Eglise, but only had a short time to look around.  So we loaded back in the van and headed via back roads for Angoville-au-Plain, a little, little town  where the battle raged for 3 days around a little church.    Two paratrooper medics from the 101^st landed there (they were two of the few who actually landed where they were meant to land—others died as they landed) and set up a make shift hospital in the church.  They saved the lives of over 80 people (local and military) including two German soldiers.  The town was taken over by German soldiers and because the soldiers had treated and saved the German soldiers’ lives, the German commander put a guard outside the church for protection.  Allied forces took back control later.

Inside the church, there were pews that still showed blood stains where the

injured were treated.  This picture shows the bloodstain of a 19 year old boy who died from a head wound.  Also, in the church are several stained glass windows honoring the soldiers, the civilians and the war.  Two of the windows are directly across from one another and show identical saints—two twin brother saints.  Their images are in the middle of the church.  During the battle,

Crack in the floor where the mortor fell

One of the twin saints

when the medics were operating inside the church, they looked up at a noise, then a mortor shell fell to the floor right between the saints….it never exploded.

There was a local family nearby whose home was surrounded by Germans…

eventually killing the father, mother and sister of a 13 year old boy.  The boy was wounded and ended up in the church to be treated.  The medics saved his life.  The two medics were Robert Wright and Kenneth Moore.   In recent years, Robert Wright, while touring Normandy, returned to the town and to the church.  After he recognized where he actually was and when the townspeople learned of who he was, they immediately made arrangements for him to be reunited with the 13 year old boy, now a grown man.  It was an amazing story…one of many, I’m sure.

Robert Wright died and his choice was to be buried in the little cemetery by the church.  There is a simple marker with the initials

 R. E. W .

One more stop was via back roads and is available only to the Overlord

Brecourt Manor Farm

Bunker line

Tours….access to the exact spot of a battle shown in the Band of Brothers movie.  It is located at the farm of Brecourt Manor—just simply a cow pasture.  Orders were given Lt Winters to take out 4 German bunkers that were known to be firing towards Utah Beach.  They did it .  The strategy used for that battle is still used today in ground attacks. The bunkers/guns were found and destroyed.  One of the men in the Easy Company (Marlarky) was actually contacted by the tour company for verification of the exact location.  He came over and showed them exactly where it was and what happened that day.

Whew.  Fast and Furious, but so enlightening, so moving, so awesome.    We recommend seeing the movie….we’ll see it again when we get home.  There are several other movies that also are about the Normandy invasion.  “Saving Private Ryan” is one that we’d like to see again.

We got back to the ship about 6 p.m., ate a great dinner and will relax for the evening.    Watched motorcoach after motorcoach return from various tours around Normandy and Paris…must have been 20-30—unloading masses of people.  Sooooo  glad we took this smaller tour where we could get to places the coaches cannot.

Believe it or not:  Ronnie wants to come back to France.  He loved it.  Wonders will never cease.

Views from the countryside:

French Cow  (Mooo Oui)

Church that survived the bombing

Tomorrow (Tuesday), we take the train from Rotterdam into Amsterdam – we have tickets for the canal HoHo boat.  And hopefully, free wifi to get some blogs posted.

Had to buy more internet minutes...pics are taking all my minutes to load.  We are in Hamburg, Germany now...will post again when we get time....

Bonjour....

Day 11 Saturday, April 25, 2015 Cork/Cobh, Ireland

St. Colman's Cathredral   Cobh Harbor

Port is in Cobh (Cove) Harbor on the Celtic Sea.  The city of Cork (about 15 miles from port) was founded by Irish Saint Finnbar by establishing a monastery in the 6^th century.  It became an urban center around 915 when the Vikings formed a trading post and chartered as a city in 1185 by England’s King John.  It’s in the southwest part of Ireland and the River Lee flows into the harbor which is the second largest natural harbor in the world.  Locals are called Corkonians or Corkmen/Corkwomen.  It was previously called Queenstown.

The flag of Ireland is Green/White/Orange:  Green for Catholics/Orange for Protestants and White for Peace between the two.  (this is Ireland, where these two have fought for years) dating back to the 19^th century.

Waterford Crystal manufacturing is here and dates back to 1783.  The Blarney Castle (which is home to the Blarney stone) is a castle ruins about 25 miles from Cobh and is built 600 years ago.  Kissing the Blarney Stone is the touristy thing to do and dates back to 1446….kiss it and you’ll never be at a loss for words…they say.  But you have to climb stairs to get to it and then you have to lie on your back and tilt your head back and kiss it practically upside down…I’d probably never get up again..

There is also the Blarney Woolen Mills nearby selling woolens, crystal, etc. 

In Cobh, there is a museum (Heritage Center) dedicated to the Titanic and is actually located in the offices of the White Star Line.  This was the departure point where the last 122 passengers  boarded for the Titanic’s last fateful voyage to America.   It is also the place where the Luisitania was torpedoed in WW I and sank in 300 feet of water .   Over 751 survived but over 1198 died and most of the bodies were never recovered.  The survivors were taken to Queenstown (Cork) for hospitalization.

So much history.

First glimpse of Ireland

Woke up to bright sunshine..beautiful morning and gorgeous views as we sailed into Cobh Harbor.  Beautiful  homes along the harbor and everything is so neat, clean and GREEN.  As we docked, there was a wonderful view of St. Colman’s Cathredral, built in 1668 and completed in 1915.  It is made of granite and limestone with stained glass windows and 42 bells.  A visit there was on the list, but we actually forgot to go when we got back from Cork.

While we waited for the crowds to get off the ship, we ate breakfast and then we left and proceeded into Cobh.  Found the train station and as Ronnie stood in line to buy tickets, a young good looking uniformed Irishman said I looked lost and asked if he could be of  help.  We told him we wanted two tickets to Cork with returns and he said, “Ah…lovely accent.  Where you from?”  We said Arkansas and he said “Little Rock”?  He knew more than most US citizens know.

A beautiful train ride into Cork.  About 20 minutes and 4-5 stops.  We thought the Hop On, Hop Off Bus stop was near the train station, but he passed us all up so we started walking into town.  After paying 20 cents for a restroom at the bus station (local busses) we FINALLY found a HOHO bus…actually, we just flagged him down, hopped on and saw the sights of Cork.  A beautiful, beautiful town.   I LOVE the architecture, but it is deceiving.  It’s very metropolitan and bustling…busy, busy.  Busses everywhere.  But it’s clean and neat.  And buildings that date back to the 1600’s.  It was a very interesting tour.   We saw a fairly obvious Muslim presence in City Centre espousing love—not hatred.   

We hopped off in City Centre to visit the City Market…once through was enough.  Fruits, veggies, baked goods and meats of all kinds…very crowded and the smells were overwhelming.  As we got back out to the street, it was pouring rain.  And no raincoats (why didn’t we bring them?)  I lost my desire for shopping, so we found the covered bus stop and waiting on the HOHO bus to finish the route and head for the train station.  Saw more of the city and then we got off at the station for the train back to Cobh.  It was a good tour….viewing a lovely Irish city.

 

Back at Cobh, we visited the Heritage Center where the Titantic exhibits and a few shops are located…supposed to have WIFI, but we can’t seem to get connected.  But we got a cup of Irish coffee and a GF brownie…Coffee is stout, but good.  Brownie was delicious…homemade here in Cobh.   As we sat in the café, 3 ladies came in who, I suspect, were passengers waiting for the Titantic to arrive.  They should read the news.   I shopped a bit in the Heritage Center..bought a 100% lambswool scarf made in Ireland.  As cool as  it’s getting, I’ll probably wear it. 

It’s been a very good day.  While you all back home were still asleep, we were out and about in Ireland.  We are now 6 hours ahead of you and we go ahead another hour tonight.  Hard on old bodies.

There is a group coming on the ship at 5 p.m. to perform Irish dancing.  Because we are not doing the dining room tonight, we can go see that!! 

P.S.  We went, we saw.  It was great.  I thought Ronnie was getting into fisticuffs with some of these people who came in late and expected a seat…none, therefore, they decided to stand in front of the little balcony in the back where we were.  Actually, there were more than just him making known their displeasure.

After the show, we went up to Horizon Court for dinner…very relaxed and good food…lots of variety.  From lamb stew to crawfish etouffee.   Klaus, our German dinnermate, came by and sat with Ronnie just as I was leaving….evidently they skipped the dining room too.  We got  our food, ate and were through  in 30 minutes as  opposed to over 2 hours in the dining room.

We sailed away at 8 p.m.  I forgot to mention:  Most of you remember the TV show, “The Love Boat” –the boat was a Princess Cruiseline ship.  So, their ships are known as “the love boat”.  So, every day at noon and at sailaway at every port, they blow the foghorn to the tune of “The Love Boat” soundtrack.  It is really cool….dunno how they do that.  So, as we left Cobh and again as we left the harbor, they played it.

Lots of people lined up on the highways to see us off.  And on the piers along the town.  A band played “Anchors Away”…it was misting rain so they were up under the train station cover.  Cobh, Ireland is one of the most picturesque towns I have ever seen.  Colorful, clean, neat and beautiful as we left….and my camera battery died. 

Lot of fun today…a good day.  I would love to come back to Ireland…..Tomorrow is sea day again.  Then Normandy.

Scenes from Cork, Ireland:

Gaol    Jail

Days 9, 10 Thursday & Friday AT SEA!!

Phillipine cuisine

I think today is Thursday….lol.  The sun came out this morning and we sat on the balcony in the sunshine…it was warm and felt great.    But just a bit later, we went through a rain shower and the temp dropped…it’s been like this all morning.  We have slowed down considerably and the ocean is calm…nice change.

Ronnie's favorite spot...burger grill

We decided to do laundry….a laundromat is on our deck…quite a trek, but for what they charged for one pair of socks and one pair of pants, we did a whole load….spent the majority of the day reading and trying to catch up on the news.  The library on this ship is any bigger than our bedroom with one big, over-sized table…no comfortable chairs, no retreat type area at all. 

Food in the dining room has become a disappointment…actually, only the beef portion.  The seafood, fish, chicken are good, but steaks are very over-cooked and tough.  Dinner mate sent his back twice before he could eat it.  The first one honestly looked like a burned piece of leather.  Maitre de looked a little upset.  Tonight is lobster night…  I think we’ve about decided to forego the dining room and do the Horizon Court on the second leg of the trip (May 2-13).  Our tours end late and on the “off-tour” days, we will eat earlier than dining room hours.  We will be busy and tired…would rather follow our own schedule without taking two hours for dinner.   

Klaus and Sigrid, the epitome of Been There, Done That

Had a nice visit with our German dinner mates last night…very interesting couple.  He buys and collects classic cars….not the ’65 Mustangs….the Lamborginis and Mazzeratis..I have probably  not spelled those correctly, but you get the idea.  While they were in Key West, he ordered one from Prestige Motors in Springdale and had it shipped to him…then shipped to his home in Germany.  Another lifestyle.  Their condo in Florida is actually in the middle Keys…she said further down towards Key West is where the rednecks live…lol.

After dinner, we went to a show…magician…He was okay…did lots of small tricks and, sitting in the back, we weren’t able to see clearly, but it was okay. 

We have one more sea day on Friday and then we’ll be fully across the Atlantic and ready to see places!  First stop will be Cobh (pronounced Cove), Ireland.  We plan to take the train into Cork..bigger city..and take the Hop On, Hop Off bus. 

Temps have been very pleasant but are expected to get cooler in Ireland…high 50’s. 

Friday:  Lost another hour last night…now, we are 6 hours ahead of home.  My body’s timetable hasn’t adjusted yet.  Neither have our dinner-mates.  They were up doing their laundry at 4 a.m.   --  but they had the laundromat to themselves. Lol

This morning, the seas were calm and the sun was shining on our balcony….temps were extremely warm.  Felt great.  But it’s gotten a bit cooler by afternoon….partly cloudy..sun peeks out occasionally. 

Will definitely be our last night in the dining room.  We waited 30 minutes between salad and lobster….and when mine came, my plate looked almost empty.  I had ordered the  night before (gluten free menu) so I thought I was getting lobster and crab cake.  Just had a scrawny lobster half the size of my palm, two potato wedges twice the size of my thumb, and two asparagus spears twice the size of a pencil lead.  No crab cake…I guess they decided it wasn’t gluten free, so I didn’t get it.  However, I had something very  similar a few nights ago as an appetizer that was GF.  Dunno.  But I was hungry by bedtime.

Ready to be in Ireland!!

Day 8 Wednesday…The Azores

Today is cool and partly cloudy….but we saw land!!!  Docked at Ponta Delgada, Portugal promptly at 8 a.m.  While waiting for the tours to leave the ship, we dressed, ate breakfast (Ronnie went up to get us a big cup of coffee early), watched the people get off, then we ventured out.  Princess offered a shuttle into town so we opted for that.

The Azores are in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, halfway between Euroope and America with just about  nothing between for a thousand miles.  Ponta Delgada is the largest City of Sao Miquel and all of the Azores’ nine volcanic islands.  It’s an old Portuguese settlement, with modern conveniences and noted as the front door to the Azores.

Theories and stories abound about the ancient days.  Suspected to be the tip of the submerged and lost City of Atlantis, it is said that the Vikings, Irish and Arabs landed here centuries before the Portuguese settled here in 1450.  The people are noted for their intestinal fortitude for enduring the volcanic eruptions, pirates and fierce winter storms which have wiped the local population off the archipelago. 

Most of the cuisine on the islands consists of good, simple dishes including grilled fish and steaks and is most noted for its unique-tasting Azorean pineapple which takes two years to mature. 

For centuries, Ponta Delgada was a safe haven, the halfway point in nothing less than a life-threatening journey for sea faring vessels crossing the Atlantic (that’s us—lol)  Today, it’s a small and delightful cosmopolitan city offering all the creature comforts.  It’s also the gateway to the Azores, home of snow-capped volcanoes and hot mineral baths.  “It also is the future memory that one was stranded, for a pleasing while, in the absolute middle of nowhere.”

Universal language:   BUFFET

We’ve walked the streets…it’s interesting to see all the modern stores in these little quaint buildings….Singer sewing machines, Xerox…all located in these quaint shops.  We found a bank with an ATM and got more euros….that was interesting.  Ronnie understands just enough Spanish to get by; I understand just enough French to get by….everything here is in Portuguese….but they do know how to appeal to the Americans.  LOL.

Found the WiFi place and got blogs posted….lots of people here “connecting”…

The city is bigger than I expected….not real touristy….just a busy commercial city with stores and banks…saw a Ford place….don’t know where the cars were…

Regal Princess

Just walked around and then went back to ship.  The Holland American Amsterdam (not the Nieuw Amsterdam) is also in port with us.  We had to load up into motorcoaches for a shuttle into town….words cannot express how I hate those things.  But it was not walkable.  Sun was shining when we got off ship, but then a little rain shower came up....sun is out again and it's in the 70's.

The route into the city went by the old fort walls.  Lots of interesting art graffti on the walls....talented, whoever they were.

My pictures say 4/21/15, but today is 4/22….will fix that. 

Entrance to old fort

Days 5, 6 , 7 AT SEA

Formal Night

Ok, it’s time for land.  We’ve been full speed ahead for 7 days and nights and still haven’t gotten anywhere.  We need land and sun….but the ship has slowed down considerably, the ocean is much, much calmer so we hope to get outside a bit today.  Tomorrow is Porta Delgada, Portugal in the Azores.  Temps are in the 70’s.

We’ve had to move our clocks up an hour every night so we’re now 5 hours ahead of home.  It’s 2 p.m. here and 9 a.m. at home….at some point, I guess I’ll adjust….

The days have gone by very fast and we’ve not been bored but unless you want to learn how to fold napkins (we use paper), make Mardi Gras masks (already have those) or decorate your scooter (not yet!), there’s not just a whole lot to do.  There’s always trivia, bingo and port information seminars, but we’ve been playing cards ---Hand and Foot—and I’ve upheld the tradition (Ladies win) and reading.

The rest of the outfit was tight white leggings....baby doll pj top..omg

We’ve pretty well learned our way around the ship, what areas to avoid (mid-ship elevators) and the easiest route to different places.  The ship is beautiful and plenty big enough to handle the number of people considering EVERYBODY has been inside.  That being said:  our dinner mates and we all agree that it’s not the best—although they tend to say it is.  There is one dance venue in the Piazza with pretty good bands but their selection of music stinks.  The dance floor is dominated by a group of Chinese and their ballroom dancing (Ronnie calls it the “dancing with the stars” style.  We’ve watched them run into people, knock bottles off tables (full of beer) and dance on.  Heard a few comments from various people standing around…There have also been complaints (from us and others) about the lack of dancing venues and variety of music.  They listened, but we’ll probably not see any changes.  The Vista Lounge does have a dance floor---just not used.

I am always amazed at how people can cram their bodies into an elevator…we’ve actually gotten off before our stop when they just  keep on, keep on pushing on.  There are  no stairs mid-ship oddly enough, just elevators, so we have to walk forward or aft to get to the stairs…that’s what we do going down anyway….

Dinner Mates    He's from Copenhagen, She's from Japan...living in Kentucky, but have lived 35 years in Australia

One other thing we’ve  noticed that Regal doesn’t have is a quiet out-of-the way spot to sit and read.  Most of the sides of the ship in the public area are taken up by specialty restaurants (extra $$$$$) .  The Vista lounge  is in the rear of the ship, but unless there’s a movie or something, it’s dark.  And…there’s no place to get to the front of the ship outside or inside to see where you’re going.  The windowed area on the top deck on most ships is a wonderful adult only sitting area which usually has a band and dancing at night….this area on the Regal is “The Sanctuary” an adult-only, daily fee area for “relaxation”.  A wonderful waste of space.

Ok, enough griping…but it’s hard not to compare ships.  And our expectations for this one were too high, obviously.

Our third table in our little nook has been occupied for the last 3 nights by the German couple.  Visited with them a bit last night.  They are on their way home to Hamburg, Germany after spending the winter in Key West (annual thing).  He doesn’t like to fly (who does?) and they look for ships coming over or going back to get back and forth to the US.  Very interesting couple.  They shared a story of their 120 day World Cruise where they were cruising south of Yemen a few years ago.  Suddenly the cruise ship was surrounded by small pirate ships.  She said you couldn’t see down into the ships because of the rolls of barb wire.  The crew kept saying not to worry, they just were trying to sell things.  But in a bit the ship’s security came out all dressed in black carrying weapons and all passengers were ordered to their rooms.  She said shortly afterwards, they heard gunfire and then they were on their way again.  I’ve heard that all cruise ships have security/weapons nowadays…altho passengers have none.   Since most of the crew do double duty, I picture the Show Dancers taking off their tutus and donning black military garb, picking up an AR15 and protecting all.  Maybe not.

Captain did tell us that the low pressure system was still near Nova Scotia with 30 foot swells .  He said the decision to divert and keep at least 500 miles from  it was a good one.  The German couple said that on one of their crossings, the swells (she emphasied not the spray) were as high as the 6^th deck….not something I would want to experience.

This afternoon, the sun came out!!  We walked around on the upper decks for a bit---still windy on starboard side.  But by dinner, the rain started, the swells were as big or bigger than any we’ve had so far….gray, blustery, wintry-looking day.  Tried to dance to big band music---but this was not good big-band music. So it’s movie time….great, great, selection of on-demand movies.

Posting this from the local WiFi in the Azores....sitting by a fountain in a cool, modern mall (smallish).  But I forgot my camera to laptop connection cord to upload the pictures we've taken of the city.  Will do that later.