We found the people there very helpful about telling us which bus to take to get to a destination (those minivans are the buses), at a cost of about US$1.50 per person. The problem is there was no place we wanted to go.
We then continued on, walking past the several fruit and vegetable stands that inevitably spring up around every island bus terminal, and the fish market, right next door (just like on Antigua). It was another mouth-breathing opportunity.
Across the street was an older building with the sign Meat Market on its front, which I found amusing, for its obvious colloquial connotations, but it appeared to not be in use. This isn't a huge surprise; these islands have lots of fish but very little in the way of meat, other than chicken.
Walking through St. George's like this no longer surprises us. First, we're pretty accustomed to the fact that most of the world doesn't live as we do, and, second, the sidewalks and streets are a bit better than in Dominica, which isn't saying much, but, after nearly five months, we've kind of grown used to them, such as they are.
Everywhere you look, there are buildings in various states of disrepair, whether due to age or hurricanes or being bombed by the US in 1983 (and not repaired since).
I love this kind of signage!
Finally, we needed to climb a hill today, and so headed up this street to the church at the top, which provided a whole new experience from several different perspectives.
Eventually, even with several months of experience, we were starting to feel a bit culture-shocked and headed back to the ship, arriving on board just before 12:30pm. After a good wash up, we went to lunch in the DaVinci Dining Room where I had a delicious chef's salad that I wished I'd tried earlier this winter, because it was served in a homemade tortilla bowl and was really good.
We finished lunch in time to be out on the Promenade Deck for sailaway at 2pm, which was made even more interesting by the 5-masted Royal Clipper yacht anchored in St. George's Harbour. We'd seen this ship a few cruises ago in Barbados, but it was pretty to see it at anchor and not docked.
It was so pleasant sitting in the shade on the Promenade Dexk that we stayed there until nearly 3pm, when Grenada was far behind us.
At 3:30pm, there was an event called Escape Completely in the Princess Patter, and we knew what that was, having seen it on the Royal Princess last fall. The singers and dancers dress as crew and officers and passengers, and do a flash mob in the Piazza. Since we knew what to look for, we had fun spotting the cast members in various uniforms and dressed as passengers.
All three of these are dancers:
Darling Rodney as Mr. Pizza:
It's very fun to watch, but there were no more than 50 passengers there to see it, and it's sad that so much effort is placed on 4 minutes of entertainment that so few people see. (But that's just me going on again about Piazza entertainment.)
We had time for just a quick rest before getting cleaned up for Dinner with Darko. We kept it get simple tonight, but G warned me that he might want another dinner before the evening was over (and he did!). Entertainment options tonight were comedian Phil Tag in the Princess Theater and mentalist Brent Webb in the Explorers Lounge; we've seen both, and recently, and had the Captains Circle party for this cruise at 7:30pm, and so skipped the entertainment tonight. (Sadly, there were no movies on MUTS tonight, perhaps due to the Ultimate Deck Party being held at the Neptunes Reef pool area next door).
We did return to the Michelangelo Dining Room and were seated at the table next to our regular one. It was about 8:30pm, but the dining room was nearly empty. Darko and Komang had maybe six guests; it's quite a change from 5pm when they get slammed with 16 (18 if we get there that early). We started talking with the delightful couple at "our" table who "knew all about us" ( it's always a little scary when we're told that!), and, along with Darko, chatted until after 9:30pm. What a pleasant hour! G had another filet, and I had sorbet and happiness reigned.
Since it was already so late, we stayed up for our first Ultimate Deck Party of the winter (at least a bit of it), but at 10:30pm, picked up popcorn and fuzzy water on our way back to the cabin.
Only four more nights of this. Something tells me tears will be shed. I'm so torn; I want to be home so badly, but I want to be here too. It helps greatly that so many crew friends, most notably Darko, are leaving on the 29th, and Komang and Raymond leave by April 8th. It wouldn't be quite the same here for us after that even if we stayed.
But I think I fear it will never be this good again.