Beautiful Buenos Aires

A big walking day here in downtown BA. According to the GPS we walked 8 kms this morning from our hotel to the Mercado San Telmo. Lots of fruit and vegetables with antiques and various shops. We bought a souvenir, a painted Spanish sign for the kitchen "La Cocina". By this time we were exhausted because of the time change so back to our place for a nap. This city is great for wandering, except for the crumbled sidewalks. I had to buy a walking stick to hold me up! In the afternoon we walked to see the National Congress, a very beautiful building. Everywhere along the streets are sidewalk cafes, we stopped for lunch and a giant beer in a one litre bottle, and we drank it all! So far we plan to stay in tonight and seek out Tango tomorrow.

Buenos Aires

We are safely in our hotel,nice place, has Wifi, close to shops and food. It is hot and busy, very fast, crazy traffic. We are totally exhausted so plan to seek out some wine and snacks then sleep for many hours!

São Paulo, Brazil

We are sitting in the airport with 4 lovely Francophones from Winnipeg who are on the cruise with us! It is such a small world....Our journey has been a bit stressful, the flight was late leaving Winnipeg due to a small malfunction. This put us in late to Chicago, so we raced through the airport and just made the flight! We hope our luggage will get there. It is HOT here and humid. More news later when we get to Buenos Aires.

On the Road Again! South America

This morning we are getting ready to leave for another Grand Adventure! This is what Princess calls an extra special cruise like the one we are taking from Buenos Aires around the Horn. It is going to be an excellent adventure, with side trips to Antarctica and Macchu Pichu. We are booked into the lowest, cheapest cabin, right down in steerage! But we will be very close to the best coffee on the ship and not too far from the dining room. Our adventure begins in the Riva Urban Lofts Hotel in Buenos Aires after a 24 hour flying marathon. We leave Winnipeg and stop in Chicago and São Paulo, Brazil. Probably we will just collapse the first night. We will be seeking Tango demonstrations and Mike has agreed to try a lesson!!! We will see.... We board our ship the Star Princess on Monday Feb 25, so anyone wanting to see where we are can follow on the bridge cam, accessed on the Princess site, princess.com. I will try to Blog when there is something interesting to report. Laurel

Bath, Devon and Grand Princess.....Ship Ahoy

Leaving Wales was a little sad, we had such a wonderful time with Elinor and Paul. They live in such a beautiful place and are so hospitable. Our drive through the little lanes and sheep fields was so fun and a little scary. We had a good trip on the train to Bath, and once there we got a great central hotel courtesy of the tourist info centre. We saw the Roman Baths, what an interesting annd huge structure. Those Romans really lived a good life. Dinner in a pub and a walk around the most unique crescents in England. VERY expensive real estate. Next day another wander and then a bus tour to Stonehenge, where I found that the Stones had shrunk since 1970. Still very impressive and worth a visit.

We decided to spend our last three days in Devon so we booked into a nice B&B in Torquay, where we relaxed and visited Dawlish, where Nikki and went to see her grandma in 1979, what a beautiful little village.

Boarded our ship after a short train trip and an overnight in Southampton. So far, we have met some nice people and some serious jerks...takes all kinds to make a world, I guess.

More later......

Wales

We think Wales may be paradise! Our accommodation in Carmarthen was located in the centre of the town, surrounded by pubs and shopping. We rented a tiny little car and drove out to see Nant Llwyd, where Elinor and Paul and Dennis (German long haired pointer, awesome deaf dog) live. It is so peaceful and beautiful, they are lucky. Their rental barn is nicer than most people's houses, with a view that looks over the hills and fields. The neighboring sheep are plentiful and the rescue chickens were sadly decimated by the local fox. They went from a flock of six down to three. Elinor supplies eggs to the guests of the barn and treats the chickens almost as pets. Paul works in a job where he travels hundreds of miles every week so he is happy to end up in such a peaceful place. We had a wonderful chatty dinner out on Friday night and enjoyed every minute, even the drive through the Welsh countryside at night!

After a little shopping we took a local bus out to the Welsh National Botanical Garden, where it turned out to be kids day. Fun! It is a very interesting place, has a huge greenhouse where they replicate a dry habitat that has Australian and African plants.

Our trip to Bath by two trains was easy and the tourist office found us a nice place to stay near all the sights. We toured the Roman Baths yesterday, so interesting, then a pub dinner before collapsing exhausted.

Today we are off to Stonehenge and tomorrow to Torquay, Devon for three days of rest and relaxation before boarding the ship.

Stockport

Family tree research in Stockport did not tell us a lot more than we knew already but we did find some addresses at the library. Mike and I walked around the neighbourhood where my grandparents lived 100 years ago! It was still somewhat the same and my grandfathers house was still there, we think.

Our visit with Kathleen and Allan was wonderful, they are such nice fun people. We went for a drive around Cheadle and to a lake to feed the ducks, geese and swans. We had a great lunch out at The Governors Inn where Mom and I stayed in 2010. They took us to their home where we visited for several hours, and learned more about the family from Kathleen.

Our train trip to Wales was fine, the country was so beautiful and the journey was comfortable, and took almost 5 hours. The train is so civilized, with tea and coffee served from a cart like the airlines.

We have a car booked for tomorrow and have plans to see Elinor if we can find her out in the wilds of Wales....