Curacao is Right Next to Aruba

 December 14, 2022

Mornings have settled into a routine - yoga, room service coffee on the balcony overlooking the Boardwalk, the Aqua Theater, and the bit of the Caribbean that we can see aft of us. Then it's down to. breakfast.  Today we timed it right to meet up with Tobi and Dean and our wonderful Velroy was there to see to our every whim!

After breakfast Ma went back to her room and the three of us "sisters" walked into the shopping area for both window and real shopping! I guess some people can't go home without a t-shirt from each port of call! And, there are other things that are necessary! I have to admit I found a couple!

Such a relief when we see this!

Giggle!

Who knew?

Our ship is just ridiculously huge!

For future reference

Some pretty darn big shoes to fill!

We've had such a big breakfast that we skip lunch and go back to the ship just long enough to gather up Ma and head back to the meeting place for our afternoon excursion, a one-hour trolley train ride into Willemstad, Curacao. The trolley is a half hour late, but we're in the shade and the wind is blowing and it's all good. Turns out we have to pile into large taxis to get to the trolley!  And when we get there I can see why it's called a trolley train!  Too cute.

We luck out by being among the first to board, so we get to sit facing forward. One lady is pretty upset that she had to wait thirty minutes and now she's riding backwards!  Sorry!  We get a very detailed history of Curacao and a drive-by tour of some of the gorgeous old Dutch houses that have been preserved!  There is an entire ministry devoted to locating the owners of the abandoned houses so that they, too, can be taken care of.

This explains in part why I saw the Ndebele magnet and masks.

The original paint color was white.  Then one of the governors gave people permission to use all the bright colors they liked!  Turns out he owned a paint company!!

Many murals, especially if you can walk around the city

The Dutch influence is everywhere!

Our trolley train

The Swinging Old Lady!

This is what you do if you can't put locks on the actual bridge.

Maritime Museum

open-air market for souvenirs

and fruits and vegetables

pretty mosaics on these planters

That's a Holland America ship - no one seems to like their cruises!

This was done by a famous local artist.

This is why they are trying to locate the heirs to the old houses.

Some are better maintained than others.

Simon Bolivar

Swiss Consulate

She's made of car bumpers.

Can you see the Star of David on the gate?

The Wedding Cake House

There are universities for the arts, engineering, and law.

Tiny little houses!

Choo-choo

our tour guide

This organ with it's 1500 pipes is played when the bishop visits the church.

Because he wanted to be sure that I knew I could
go around his equipment to take a photo...

so then I felt obligated to take this shot!

She's called the Golden Rosary

They're everywhere

She's a memorial to the Americans who defended the island!

Love the spiral staircase and the balconies!

Where did this modern building come from??

such odd bark!

This is the tallest of their three bridges, all named for Dutch queens.

All that Venezuelan oil!  They are just 38 miles off the coast.

I guess his feet hurt?

Coming home!

Apparently there is a huge Jewish population, although the majority of the residents are Roman Catholic! Our guide points out all the Jewish homes and gives directions to the largest and oldest synagogue. We only get off twice, though, once fo a quick shot of the Wedding Cake House, named for it's unique architecture and the fact that it was a wedding gift from the groom's father. The other point is a Catholic church, which is lovely.

When we're finished with the tour some people walk back over the Queen Emma floating bridge, named for one of the Dutch queens and called the "Swinging Old Lady".  The bridge crosses St. Anna Bay and connects the two halves of the city. We are close enough to see our ship from here; but it's quite a haul for Ma's walker so we wait for a taxi to take us back to the pier.

Once back I take a quick detour because I have seen a magnet that is done in the Ndebele style and I never expected to see that so are from South Africa! I catch up with the family and we take just a little R&R before joining Tobi and Dean for dinner.  We're pretty close to on time this time!

When I was ordering I mentioned to Roque that I was dithering between his recommended baked potato soup and the Escargot a la Bourguignonne , but I thought I'd ordered the escargot.  He brought the yummy snails swimming in tons of butter and garlic and with the best little piece of bread.  I'd just about rationalized eating every bit and then he brought the soup, too!!  You have to be really careful!  He pays attention to everything!  Glad I ordered the Moroccan Spiced Ahi Tuna and not something even more devilish.  Of course, the bananas Foster wasn't all that virtuous, either!  At least I only drank water!

We have 7:30 reservations for iSkate, an unusual ice-skating show and everyone goes, even Tobi and Dean!  I believe this is Tobi's first show of the cruise. They actually check our reservations on our phones, which is a first! The kids have spent their lives preparing for competitions, which means they never got to choose their music or costumes or routines, so this time they get to choose it all! They're quite talented and the music is great!

Tobi and Dean stop by the casino and the rest of us go to Jazz on 4 to listen to the Good Vibes Quartet.  We've loved them before and they're still super!  But Kelly Goodrich, our new favorite performer, is going to be in the Schooner Bar at 9:15 and will be doing Elton John at 10:00!  Off we go to get good seats and   a drink!  I had a Mai Tai at the jazz club and even though the couple next to us is drinking glorious Mudslides, I go with Jack and Diet Coke - got to make concessions somewhere!

We sing and clap and have a ball until about eleven.  Ma and Maureen give up first, but Robin and I make it to the first break, then head for bed as quietly as we can, given our condition and proclivity for unrestrained laughter!

And a good day was had by all!