We certainly enjoyed our overnight in Hobart last night, and ended up not returning to the Golden Princess until nearly midnight. We slept so well, partly due to exhaustion and partly to the stability of a ship at berth, and it was nearly 9am before we left the cabin to have breakfast in the Horizon Court Buffet. We didn’t rush, but enjoyed the views of the harbor and the stellar weather.
When we finally left the ship, I carried my iPad in my backpack and we stopped in the cruise terminal, where we enjoyed the fastest WiFi we’ve seen since the Apple Store in Sydney...for 30 minutes. At that point we were cut off. Still, I downloaded the entire second season of The Crown on Netflix (yay!) and several other videos, books and magazines in that timeframe, and we updated all our apps. I think we’re now in good shape until we get to Hawaii. We spoke with the Tourist Information rep in the cruise terminal and asked about walks in the area, and he pointed us in the direction of historic Battery Point and Salamanca Place, beyond the waterfront where we had coffee and dessert last night.
It was already so warm that I removed my fleece and tied it around my waist, and the entire waterfront area was filling up with shoppers and diners also enjoying the weather. We walked down the Esplanade to Kelly’s Steps from the harbor level to Battery Point above it. And walking down the streets with historic Georgian houses and colorful gardens, it suddenly occurred to us that we had walked down that same street nearly 12 years ago. I have been trying to remember what we did all those years ago on our first visit to Hobart (do you see why I need to blog?), and all I remembered was grey, wet, cold weather (and rough seas getting here). It couldn’t have been any more different today.
This reminded me of a book my dad read me when I was very young: Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
Source: Amazon.com
Kelly’s Steps
Battery Point architecture
We covered that area for a couple of hours, and then walked back toward the waterfront a different way, passing through Prince’s Park along the way. We both wished we had another overnight in Hobart (hence the discussion about a potential extended stay), just to have dinner along the waterfront. What a difference 12 years make!
A rotating drawbridgeWe returned to the ship by 4pm, and immediately got ready for dinner. We watched sail away from our table in the Bernini Dining Room (another feast: scallops and salad and orange roughy with enough snap peas, spinach, green beans and mushrooms for a family), and then went to the Most Traveled Guest cocktail party for this cruise. It couldn’t have been better: still daylight with beautiful views of land on both sides of the ship. The hors doerves served there tonight were some of the best I’ve ever seen at these parties, and, if we didn’t enjoy waiters Alona and Lydia so much, and our table by a window, we would have skipped dinner altogether. As we should have. ;-)
Scallop starter
Entree
Mushrooms on the side Most Traveled Guest cocktail party fare:
We stepped outside for a quick sunset photo...
...but chose to skip the Blues Brothers tribute act performing in the Princess Theater at 9:45pm in lieu of an evening in the cabin. We have so many videos to watch tonight (not to mention magazines and books to read) and a quiet evening is just what we need. I forget to mention that, beginning this cruise, we have been returning to our cabin each evening to find that Karen, instead of turning our TV off, is leaving it on and tuned to a channel with a crackling fireplace, a Christmas offering on Princess. We have a gas insert in our fireplace at home, which is way easier and cleaner than a log fireplace, but I do miss the crackling sound. Our cabin feels very cozy tonight.
Life is good. :-)