We didn't set an alarm for this morning, to watch as the Pacific Princess sailed. But something awoke me at 4:50am (the Pacific Princess is signaling its departure on its horn?) and I looked out our balcony door to see that the ship had just pushed away from its berth and was starting to move. What luck! I grabbed my iPhone and took a photo through the open door, then watched from the balcony as the ship sailed out of sight, en route back across the Sea of the Moon to Moorea. Bye bye Pacific Princess; see you nine days!
You can see the charter boats for day trips just across Pomare Blvd. where our hotel is located.
Then, I went back to sleep. :-)
I don't know if I've mentioned it, but we are getting a free breakfast daily at the Hotel Tiare Tahiti. I'm not sure why, exactly...something about because we're staying here so long. Despite- or maybe because of- its price (about US $ 10.50 per person), we weren't expecting much. That's not a lot of money for breakfast in French Polynesia; prices at the resorts usually start at $20 and go as high as $40. But we were pleasantly surprised this morning when we went down to the restaurant on the first floor of the hotel. We were offered coffee (no decaf, of course. They don't know what that is), tea; hot chocolate or milk; a fruit plate; a baguette (natch!) AND a chocolate croissant (yum); and a glass of fruit juice in various flavor options. We thought that was it, until we were asked whether we wanted eggs or pancakes. We both ordered omelettes and were thrilled. This will be a great way to start the day while we're here. Since we're paying just under $150 per night for our room, all taxes included, this is turning out to be quite a good deal. And everything is working perfectly so far- the microwave; the refrigerator, the shower. We are very content here.
We stored the few valuables we brought with us from the ship in the community safe at the reception desk and headed out explore the immediate area. There are cafes and shops tucked into alleyways all around the Hotel Tiare Tahiti, and a McDonalds directly behind it. Our main goal today was to stock up on some food, and there is a Champion supermarché of considerable size (for French Polynesia) about 6 or 8 blocks away. It was just far enough that we couldn't carry back large quantities of anything, but we did get a few water bottles, and Coke in resealable bottles, and a big roll of paper towels to also serve as paper plates (because paper plates were crazy expensive). G had the brilliant idea to buy one of the ubiquitous loaves of bread (for 53 CFP, of course), and some lunch meat and cheese (and they even had Guldens spicy mustard) and make sandwiches to eat in the beautiful park along the waterfront.
We struggled just a bit with the meat; there were 37 kinds of jambon (ham), but I'm not a huge fan. There was something that looked like turkey but we weren't certain. Then I remembered our Word Lens app and -voila!- that solved the mystery. It was turkey, and they had two kinds, smoked and natural, and they were both from Tahiti. The cheese was from Holland and the mustard was from Omaha, Nebraska. International dining, indeed!
We used a credit card to pay for our purchases (best exchange rate anywhere!) and G was quite a picture with his baseball bat length baguette in one hand and a Princess beach bag filled with our groceries in the other. I carried three bags of Lays (from Dallas, Texas), trying to keep from crushing the chips any more than they already were. They don't have shopping bags in French Polynesia.
We walked toward the waterfront and entered Les Jardins (gardens) of Paofai and Place To'ata near the Tahiti Cultural Center. This is the park area visible in some of my sailaway photos, with hundreds of outrigger canoes stored on the beach and the Evangelist Church across the street. It is a gorgeous park, with several playgrounds for kids and even an outdoor exercise area for adults with equipment like there is on the Royal Princess. I first saw that in China over ten years ago, and still wonder why we can't figure out that would be a good thing to have in the US, too.
We sat in the shade of a pavilion next to where the outrigger canoes are and enjoyed the view of Moorea in the distance and the ferries coming and going and guys on their lunch breaks coming over to take one person and six person outrigger canoes out for a workout. We walked through the park, in the direction of the hotel, and enjoyed the many water features and waterfalls. But by then it was nearly 2pm and getting HOT.
We retreated to the (relatively) cool comfort of our hotel room. We've gotten the temperature down as low as 74 but it was back up to 80 when we walked in. No matter; once the metal plate was in the control, the AC sprung to life again and started cooling things down. And, speaking of sun, it was out in full force today. Two sunny days in Papeete...how have we gotten so lucky?
We made sandwiches tonight (using up that baseball bat of bread) and took them over by the Visitors Center where let roulottes were just setting up. It was a perfect location to watch the sunset over Moorea. A frozen yogurt cup (key lime flavored for me) later, we're heading back to the Hotel Tiare Tahiti, and calling it a day. We've walked beaucoup des kilometres aujourd'hui and are ready for sleep.
Things I learned today:
People might be the same everywhere, but their bathrooms definitely aren't. We have the strangest shower I've ever seen. Thanks to reader Elaine who stayed at the hotel following her Pacific Princess cruise in November, and another Pacific Princess passenger who stayed there before her cruise, I knew what to expect. Whatever, however it is, it provides the best showers imaginable (and we're taking three a day to feel clean in all this heat).
We step up into this. It's like a closed in bathtub with a shower pan.
Papeete, Tahiti on a sunny afternoon is blistering hot. It's not the time to be wandering the concrete jungle of buildings and sidewalks. Unless we're in the water or doing a day tour, our best plan for Papeete is to get up early and get out and explore, and then rest from about 1pm-4pm in our hotel room, then go back out again for a walk and to watch sunset and get a bit to eat, either by making a sandwich and eating it at a park or by going to a cafe or les roulottes.
The Hotel Tiare Tahiti is on Pomare Blvd., the major street along the waterfront in Papeete. Earplugs are provided for guests' use, because it's never silent here. But, between the ear plugs and the hum of the AC, even rooms facing the waterfront (which are the premium rooms) provide an excellent night's sleep.
Whipped cream comes in fire extinguisher-sized containers in French Polynesia. I consider that one of the country's best features. ;-)
