NorbertsNiece

Bus pics We drove through Carrasco, an upmarket neighbourhood. This is the Sofitel, hotel of choice for the rich and famous apparently An exclusive shopping district supposedly. Only name I recognised! Would have loved a mug!! Estadio Centenario. The National Football Stadium. Held the FIFA world cup in 1930 The Carreta Monument. Memorialising the classic means of transportation and cargo before the introduction of the railroad and automobiles. The Soler building, once a renowned department store The Legislative Palace, Parliament.

The Cruise Director Ed I believe!! 😃 Capt wanted places pointed out.

Stop #2 Dedicated to fallen war heroes Info here The Parliament of Montevideo authorized the Municipality to place a monolith in homage to Faddei Faddeevich Bellingshausen, in the flowerbed located at the intersection of Av. Gral José María Paz and Mar Ártico, in front of the north of the Plaza de la Armada. The plaque displays the following text: “Faddei Bellingshausen From the Russian people to the Uruguayan people in commemoration of the 200 years of the discovery of Antarctica. Bering Institute - Bellingshausen for the Americas (Uruguay) Diálogo de Culturas Foundation - United World (Russia)"

Continuing yesterday's excursion in Montevideo Hebraica Macabi building. Asociación Hebraica y Macabi del Uruguay, commonly known as Hebraica Macabi, is a professional basketball team based in Montevideo. The club currently plays in the Liga Uruguaya de Basketball, the top tier basketball league of Uruguay. Founded in 1944, it participated in most Uruguayan basketball tournaments We drive along the River Plate. Yup. That's a river The Holocaust Memorial The memorial is around 120 metres long, and is mostly made of pink granite, with a central window looking out at the sea. A pair of railway rails are at the approach to the memorial, and the central part of the memorial has two wooden bridge crossings. It also includes several inscribed stele, including one signed by Elie Wiesel More about the Jewish Community in Uruguay here : The Oceanographic Museum Isla de Las Gaviotas, a bird watching sanctuary

Pretty much all the slides from the Captain's talk. Basically, in the maps green is good, red is bad, white lines far apart = high pressure / smoother ride, closer together = low pressure / rough ride Montevideo port closed to all shipping after we left.

Just out of Captain's talk. Have a bit of a crush on him! What a sense of humour! Reason for the Panama talk..... its presence had a profound affect on shipping, and therefore trade, in this part of the world. The talk will go into that

There are more cruise specific lectures planned ahead in the Navigator.

Day 4 Unexpected sea day Good morning and thanks for following. Over 6k views already!! Thank you soooo much. It's so encouraging to know this is being followed. Will continue day 3 after breakfast. We're in the South Atlantic now. White tops. Some rocking. T'ai Chi should be interesting! @0106 yes. Done that.... android phone has those settings. Have put one particular app into deep sleep.

Question..... Does using the Navigator really drain the phone battery?

Letter regarding missed port of call tomorrow

I would ask the guide..... depends on the route they're taking!

I was up there earlier getting land pics. They're certainly not in current usage!

Interrupting the blog. Again. No announcement yet. We're playing scrabble in the Explorations Lounge and Geoff noticed an anomaly..... no Punta Del Este tomorrow!

We had an interesting excursion guided by Fernando. Trouble was the rain. The area around the port is run down. I exercised one of my super powers which entails picking the wrong side of the coach to sit. 🦸‍♀️ WE saw many, many beaches. It will be summer here in a couple of weeks and despite the weather most beach life guard huts were occupied. The other side of the tour bus saw statues, monuments and beautiful houses. First stop Plaza Indepencia, Independence Square, the most important city square in Montevideo, laid out in the 19th century in the area occupied by the Citadel of Montevideo. In its center is a monument to General José Gervasio Artigas, and below it, his mausoleum. Palacio Salvo was designed by the architect Mario Palanti, an Italian immigrant living in Buenos Aires, who used a similar design for his Palacio Barolo in Buenos Aires, once the tallest building in Latin America The Canadian Embassy Office of the President Estévez Palace, formally the work place of the President now a museum Solís Theatre is Uruguay's most important and renowned theater. It opened in 1856 and the building was designed by the Italian architect Carlo Zucchi.

Current location and our route here

In town with us : Montevideo : Costa Fascinosa Punta del Este : Norwegian Star Ushuaia : Oceania Marina Punta Arenas : Regent Seven Seas Splendor

Day 3 Montevideo Good morning and thanks for following. We're not tied up yet. We sailed by what appeared to be a boat graveyard on the way in

We've been for a walk around the promenade deck.

Tomorrow we are in Montevideo, Uruguay and have booked an excursion through HAL. Montevideo, principal city and capital of Uruguay. It lies on the north shore of the Río de la Plata estuary. Montevideo was founded in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, governor of Buenos Aires, to counteract the Portuguese advance into the area from Brazil. During its early years, Montevideo was mostly a Spanish garrison town. Trade expanded toward the end of the colonial period, and Montevideo’s merchants played an important part in securing Uruguayan independence. -------- Info from HAL: ARRIVE: 08:00 ALL ABOARD: 19:00 Easy Montevideo Duration 4 Hours Departs 09:45 See the Legislative Palace -- a beautiful, ornate marble structure that has a place among the three most beautiful Parliament buildings in the world -- and visit the Mercado Agricola, a renovated old market hall that nowadays functions as a farmers’ market. You’ll gain an insight into the culinary customs of Uruguay as you mingle with the locals here. Keep an eye out for the Battle y Ordoñez Park's famous soccer stadium and the Carrasco residential area. On your way back to the port, you will pass the city's many beautiful beaches and visit Independence Plaza, ringed by Government House and the historic Solis, where the mighty and iconic Carlos Gardel used to tango. ------ We will also see the Graf Spee monument; she was the German pocket battleship that was scuttled by her captain on 17th December 1938.

Am trying really hard to be consistent in my blogging but am prone to forget what I prepared pre cruise but like a stuck record I have to churn it out regardless. So. Buenos Aires, city and capital of Argentina. The city is situated on the shore of the Río de la Plata, 150 miles (240 km) from the Atlantic Ocean. Buenos Aires is one of Latin America’s most important ports and most populous cities, as well as the national centre of commerce, industry, politics, culture, and technology. According to tradition, Spanish colonizer Pedro de Mendoza established the first settlement there, which he named Nuestra Señora Santa María del Buen Aire (“Our Lady St. Mary of the Good Air”). Buenos Aires locals are referred to as porteños (“people of the port”) because so many of the city’s inhabitants historically arrived by boat from Europe. And 2 days of our routes around the city.

Dinner and sailaway from Buenos Aires. Love the Delft HAL plates. Never been offered such an assortment of sweeteners before! .

A little walkabout. Pics from the sailaway party where I made an idiot of myself doing the YMCA and failing at the macarena. Found the Dive In; the meat is GF but only the burger bun is, the hot dog bun isn't and neither were the canapés.

@TravelBluebird they have it at the Lido bar too 😃 🍻

The central lifts also have a set of external view lifts. Very cool. Link to a little video here

Will be heading for the sailaway party shortly. Struggling with WiFi a bit. .