On the other side of the Island is St. Martin, which is French.  Most of the signs are in French with lots of French bakeries and those fabulous pastries and they use the Euro as their currency base.  The capital is Marigot which has the boutiques, bistros, cafes and art galleries

When you pass from one country to the other, there is no checkpoint and you don’t have to show a passport.  The population is about 102,000 and it is the smallest island occupied by 2 different nations. 

The French side is a bit larger than the Dutch side, but everyone appears to get along as they are fair in the competition, ie.  Most fast foods are on the Dutch side

This Island features many interesting details, the home of America’s Cup, beautiful Orient Beach with its pristine white sand (including a nude beach if you are so inclined and over 40 different species of butterflies.  On the French side, the policemen where the kepis, which is the cap of the French  Foreign Legion.  I saw a policeman but he wasn’t wearing his cap.

So after doing some shopping (there is always shopping to be had), it was back to the ship to depart for St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands.

St Marteen Plaza

View of the Harbour

On the French Side

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Lloyd and I flew to Fort Lauderdale on Thursday and Friday, via, Vancouver and Seattle (staying overnight) and then boarding the plane for  Chicago and finally arriving at  Fort Lauderdale on Friday evening to meet my brother and his wife , who had done a overnighter from Seattle…they were a bit tired to say the least.  And, so were we and we slept in a bed.  The one worry I had was the weather in Chicago but it was stunningly beautiful.  Chilly but sunny.  So we had no flight delays anywhere…Phew!

Leaving Fort Lauderdale

We boarded the Grand Princess on Saturday afternoon to start our 14 day voyage.  Because we hadn’t been on such a large ship before, it took a bit of time to figure out where everything was.  Way more restaurants, bars and venues on the ship and I think we finally have it figured out.

San Juan – Caribbean Sea

I have managed to go sun tanning a couple of times, so am getting brown…after, all isn’t this what a winter vacation is all about.  Just lazing and hanging out.

After 1 full day and a half, we landed in San Juan Puerto Rico.  For those of you who don’t know, Puerto Rico is a US Territory.  They govern themselves but they can’t vote for the US President.

We did a sightseeing tour with Rafael, who entertained us on our 2-1/2 hr. tour.  We did some stops at different points of interest – Old San Juan which is 465 year old neighbourhood with the Spanish –colonial buildings. 

We were then off to Fort San Cristobal which was built by the Spaniards to fortify the island against the British and French invaders.  This fort was really interesting with its dungeons, troop quarters and officer quarters.  What impressed both Lloyd and I was the thickness of the walls.  They must have been at least 10-12 feet.  Very impressive and when you think of the engineering that had to happen to erect this fort, it is a marvel. 

Fort San Cristobal – Main Plazza

San Juan Government Building

San Juan is also home to Bacardi rum and is situated between the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea and also is a point on the Bermuda triangle.  No one told us that when we made our reservations, but I guess we can say that we survived the Bermuda triangle.

We ended the tour with sightseeing in the new part of San Juan, stopping in front of the government building made out of marble.  Even the plaza was marble…again very impressive.

Of course what tour would be complete with time to go shopping?  We unloaded the bus at Christopher Columbus plaza and we were off.  I don’t believe it, but I didn’t buy anything.  Just wandered around looking.  However, I would make up for that in a few days.  By the time we got back to the ship, it was dark and we were off to St. Martin Island.

I’ll have more for you next.  I am having trouble uploading pictures.  So “like” my Facebook Page where I seem to be able to upload easier.

FaceBook Page

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