This is really my first attempt at blogging, so please forgive any mistakes or inaccuracies.
The main topic of this blog is a description of our holiday in the USA and the cruise Tessa and I took in September.
The holiday started on September 2 when we left Cape Town, travelling to Washington D. C. via Amsterdam. We arrived safe and without problems on Saturday, September 3.
Our son Sean who lives in Washington, DC, arranged what he called a "Parental Units party" on Sunday afternoon, going on into the evening, for us to meet many of his friends, which we did, much to our enjoyment and delight. His friends are a widely divergent group of people from all walks of life, all ethnic backgrounds and all absolutely delightful, friendly, and highly intelligent people.
We migrated from Sean's apartment up to the open deck on the roof of the building, where we spent a few hours which passed much too quickly, chatting, eating and drinking. (One of Sean's friends brought along an excellent bottle of whisky from which we partook with much enjoyment.)
We spent the rest of that week in D. C., visiting friends, meeting others, and eating much too much.
One of the highlights of that week, which contained many, was a visit to the Natural History Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, where we saw a mind blowing exhibition of wildlife photography.
(Special note to Gary Smith: the photographs in this exhibition are absolutely astounding and if you can manage to get to D.C. to view it, you should do so. I don't know how much longer the exhibition is going to be on, but I'm sure you will be able to find details on the Smithsonian website.)
We also saw a most engaging exhibit on racial attitudes among various ethnic groups. This provided some very deep food for thought.
Another most interesting exhibit was on the forensic examination of bones found in a Native American burial ground.
The visit culminated in us sitting in the garden of the National Museum of Art, listening to a jazz group which was playing inside the cafe, while we sat outside enjoying the warm evening air and watching the Fountains playing onto the pool in the garden.
On Saturday, September 17, we went to a memorable jazz concert at the Rosslyn jazz festival, where a young girl by the name of Grace Kelly was appearing: she plays alto, tenor and baritone sax, she sings, and writes many of her own numbers.
She has a marvellously inventive, mature, and humorous approach to her improvisation and is a joy to watch and listen to. I went and introduced myself to her afterwards and had a photograph taken with her, which I will post on his blog or on my Facebook wall in due course. I bought one of her CDs, which I only yesterday had a chance to listen to, and it knocked me out! She is a real rising star and if any of you reading this have a chance to go and listen to her, GRAB IT!! (Visit her web site or her Facebook wall)
We left D. C. on Sunday 18th September, heading for San Diego, a hired car, and a week's timeshare in Carlsbad. When we arrived in San Diego the temperature was in the 90s, but all was well with the car and I must say that Tessa managed the driving like a champ! We got to the timeshare by about 3 p.m. and settled ourselves into a very nice one-bedroomed apartment.
We spent a week in Carlsbad, doing what I suppose timeshare tourists always do, namely shopping for groceries, exploring the area, eating out and lazing at the pool. We found a bookshop called Farenheit 451, which had the most amazing bargains in both new and used books. We bought a couple to occupy us on the cruise, and I must say we have really enjoyed them - one was by Jeffery Deaver and the other by Michael Connolly.
On the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of our week in Carlsbad, friends and family met us for a reunion. On Thursday, a friend whom I have known since schooldays, and who now lives in Irvine, CA, came to meet us at the timeshare from where we went for lunch just south of Carlsbad. We found a small Peruvian restaurant called Gero, which looked like nothing from the outside, but the interior decor, the food, and the attention we got from the owner and her staff was nothing short of exceptional. Highly recommended.
On Friday, we drove up to Laguna to meet some friends who live in Los Angeles. We had lunch with them, and one of the couples asked us to stay on and have supper at a local branch of the Cheesecake Factory - how could we refuse?
We had supper with them and eventually left the area of Laguna at about 9 p.m.
This is where the adventure started: when we were almost at the exit to our timeshare, I heard a siren and saw flashing lights behind us. In our ignorance we thought it was an ambulance wanting to pass us, but as it turned out it was the highway patrol who wanted to tell us that our tail lights were not working. As we turned off at our exit, we heard a voice coming from their loudspeakers saying, " Stop the car! Stop the car!"
We pulled to the side and stopped. I told Tessa to put her hands on the wheel and to stay in her seat. When the traffic official arrived at the window she lowered her window and he told her that our rear lights were not working, and that he was concerned that we might be in danger. Tessa told him that it was a hired car, upon which he asked us where we were from. When he heard we were foreigners he became very kind and said that we shouldn't use the car again at night, on which we did not intend to do as we were returning it to the hire car company on Sunday.
I called them as soon as we got back to the timeshare and gave them a real mouthful and demanded a discount.
On Saturday we had more visitors, in the form of our cousins Marda and Melvyn Khan, and Ada Becker, who is my first cousin by marriage. It was a joyous occasion to see them as we had last seen them many years before, when Ada's husband Norman was still alive.
We went out for lunch (again!!) and had a brilliant time at a restaurant in Carlsbad Village.
That evening we did most of our packing, as we had to leave the resort fairly early the following morning.
Sunday morning, we drove through to San Diego, returned the car and did in fact get a discount on the rental. We got them to take us back to the airport from where we got a shuttle to the Holiday Inn on the Bay, where we were going to be spending the night before we boarded the ship for our cruise.
On Sunday afternoon, and Monday morning, we did quite a lot of walking around San Diego. Tessa managed to find a pair of fit flops in her size (3!!) which she had been looking for and which are apparently very comfortable shoes. Nordstrom was having a sale, so we got the shoes not only in the right size, but also for a very good price.
Lucky us!!
On Monday the 19th September we boarded the Celebrity Millennium for our cruise to Miami via the Panama Canal.
More later - lots more very interesting stuff to tell you.
