So, dear reader, I owe you some updates. There have been some decent adventures since we last met! I still owe the three remaining days of our WNY / Finger Lakes adventure. Then we returned home and the following week (this most recent week) I went off to Baltimore for a conference (I’ll likely cover that in a single post). Finally, this recent Friday and Saturday I spent with my friends in their timeshare out in the Shenandoah Valley. But one more – we’re planning a camping trip with the dog in two weeks. This shall be an adventure as the dog has never camped before! But for now, we will start with the Martin House.
May 25 started just as many late-spring days in Buffalo – with clouds and gloom. Well, the gloom continued. It didn’t rain though; it was generally pleasant. We had breakfast at SPoT Coffee again with better service than the two prior days (did I mention how much I enjoy their espresso grind?) and then we checked out and went for a tour at The Martin House.
The Darwin D. Martin House in Buffalo, New York, is a world-class architectural masterpiece designed by Frank Lloyd Wright between 1903 and 1905. It’s widely considered to be the best (well, in my opinion one of the best) examples of his prairie house era. Martin was a successful executive, the chief financial officer, I believe, of a large company headquartered in Buffalo at the time and very much appreciated by his employers. He eventually was in charge of building a new corporate headquarters, also designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, but as a lead up to this he commissioned his own house. Before building his own house he had other homes built on the same plot of land. The gardener’s house above, for instance, was commissioned, as was his sister’s house:
And here is the view of the Martin house from his sister’s house – probably the only place where you can take a photograph inside at the Martin House. You can see from the above there are large beds of peonies that are likely blooming now, two weeks later, but at the time they were just green. Frank Lloyd Wright designed the windows used throughout.
Including these on the main house. Again, you can take photographs from the outside but not inside. Below this line of windows there are glass windows allowing light in to the basement level as well.
Upon entry to the main house you have a view towards where I am standing in this perspective. The entry has a door to the steps on the street as well as a door back in this direction to the walkway to the conservatory. The entry itself is fairly compact for the era with an archway to the left on entering (to the right from here) into a receiving room and then to the right (to the left from here) into a formal family area. If you have ever been in a Wright House it follows his philosophy of “compress and release.” The doorway and movement between rooms is compressed and then the room spreads out away from you and higher than you – the release as it is, capturing you into the space.
The view through the entry and down the covered corridor to the conservatory yields this – intended to impress.
What I enjoyed the most in all of this space was the Steinway covered with white oak; most are black but his wife had one covered with white oak. It returned to the house many years ago and is played by volunteers for maintenance.
While we were at the Martin house we started getting text messages from the Inns of Aurora where we were checking in later that day – 140 miles away! Seems they accidentally did not change our spa appointment to the next day. Therefore, we did not dillydally. We moved on, but first stopping at the Walden Galleria to verify that Western New York is not entirely populated by Dead Malls. I had to buy some sponge candy and a pair of swim trunks! And lunch of course (which sucked – mall food court food).
At the Inns we checked into the Zabriskie House, our home away from home for two nights. We definitely could have stayed longer. We enjoyed a couple’s massage at the spa here this evening (more on that later – we returned to the spa for their outdoor thermal spa experience the next day). We would both rate their massage experience as superb, probably the best compared to other resorts where we’ve enjoyed the massage experience (Woodloch Resort for instance, and Wildflower Farms in Gardiner New York). Not that there was anything wrong at the other places… we both realized that some of the reason why we enjoyed this experience better may be because we both had a male masseuse! Bigger hands with pressure more spread out.
We had dinner at the 1833 Kitchen and Bar which is part of the Inns. It was their third night open for outdoor dining for the season.
There are a ton of wines on the list I would have enjoyed traveling but the slow service allowed me to get as far as two only. We did enjoy some good food like this tuna crudo –
And some really good lamb as well (along with salmon, without the lardons please for her). Pro tip – some members of the guest services staff will do nearly anything for you, including the guy who checked us in who said he was “like a dog with a frisbee” and would answer any question. He told us how to get down to the waterfront in the morning for instance:
“Absolutely! No bother at all! You’re throwing a frisbee at a dog! I love this stuff! You will kindly find your way to the right side of The Rowland House following the grass down to the dock just behind the house. The Rowland House is marked with a large R on your map and just across Main St. from your location at Zabriskie House.”
But our true reward for the journey was sunset over Cayuga Lake.
When I was still a serious runner if I were traveling to run a race, especially a longer distance, I would wake up at a reasonable time the day before, have a relaxing breakfast with coffee, and then maybe wander off to the race expo. I might do some light activity for the afternoon, perhaps visiting a museum or do some mild sight seeing, but otherwise I would not exert myself or spend too much time on my feet. And there was always an Italian dinner, maybe pasta, in the evening. Since I’m no longer running the routine for me is different, and the person I travel with, The Boss, has her own routine.
We wake up the day before the race and she does a shakeout run. This is one of the few times I’m permitted to run with her so I dress to run as well. We take different approaches to this. She wakes up, has coffee, relaxes and does a crossword and Wordle or something similar, has a snack, and then heads out. I wake up, get ready, and head out. Not much waiting.
Our run on this particular day took us down to Buffalo’s outer harbor where we ran along the waterfront a bit. As you can tell the weather wasn’t perfect.
We saw the old lighthouse.
We saw Canada off in the distance. In fact, when I ran a speed test from the hotel in Buffalo it told me I had been assigned from an IP address pool in St. Catherines, Ontario.
There were these hardy fools out in the weather getting their exercise in. By this point the drizzle began.
It rained a bit harder after a while. We ended up making our way back to the neighborhood around the hotel where we had coffee at a place called SPoT. This appears to be a local chain of coffee shops where they were utterly unprepared for additional foot traffic for marathon weekend. The espresso was amazing though (I’ll note now their espresso beans make a good latte or espresso but not necessarily good coffee – I brought a bag home). As there were no other craft places nearby we ended up going there more than once.
After a shower we headed out to the expo. Buffalo Marathon has a great race expo especially in relation to the size of the race. It isn’t a huge race, although it isn’t a small race either. It seems to suit the size of the city without overwhelming it.
Even though the weather had turned into crap by this point we did do a bit of sightseeing along the way. Buffalo does have a range of architecture.
Check out this mural for instance.
We eventually made our way to Streetlight Brasserie for brunch. This place has been open for a few years and seems to be using its space wisely. They get a decent “diner crowd” for brunch and midday meals in addition to evenings for more upscale dinner. They have oysters (currently PEI oysters) and other seafood dishes. But they also have two long bars and frequent live music. We happened past it the next day, Sunday, as well hoping to duck in for a bite to eat but they had a band playing that seemed to have brought in about a hundred or so patrons younger than us all of whom were standing around drinking rather than sitting and relaxing so we ended up going elsewhere for that visit.
While we were in the Brasserie the weather took a turn for the worse and my umbrellas (borrowed from Reston Town Center) went inside out on the walk back to the hotel. So, I had no choice but to take a much needed nap, as The Boss did as well, but I did notice the Pierce Arrow Museum (aka the Buffalo Transportation Museum) on the map about thirty minutes walk away. When I woke I took a stroll down to visit it.
The Pierce Arrow Museum is partially dedicated to the history of Pierce bicycle and motorcar company as well as its subsequent mergers, but also dedicated to other transportation from the era of its heyday such as this Templar automobile. There were period outfits on display, relics from the company founding, numerous old bicycles and motorcycles, and other oddities in one room.
In a second room there were more modern classics and antiques.
When I saw my father a few days later I showed him photos of this Chevy 409. He had a similar model sixty years ago himself.
The Widow Maker was an interesting find. I remember when I was young a lot of people at the time were horrified at the dangers of motorcycles (they still are, just in a different way) and I suspect this is one of the reasons why – companies like Kawasaki learned how to produce more powerful motorcycles which appealed to people who had spent the 1960s buying muscle cars.
In one corner of the museum there were a handful of absolutely beautiful cars from a hundred years ago that had been converted and modernized along the way such as this 1932 Pierce Arrow with a big block Chevy engine and modern tires, wheels, brakes, and power steering and so forth.
I think this Eldorado was the star of the show, though. A 1957 model, exceedingly rare, and the most expensive vehicle, by far, that Cadillac produced during a pretty significant period.
There is one thing I did not notice immediately until I saw a couple of other museum patrons nosing around the back of the structure above. This area was roped off and at first I just figured the installation was to break up the space a bit until I noticed, in the roped off area, light up signs pointing to “Men’s Restroom.”
If you cannot guess what it is.
When the museum closed I spent some time wandering around the Allentown neighborhood trying, unsuccessfully, to find some deli items. Instead, I successfully found a Tim Horton’s. For dinner we went to Frankie Primo’s +39, with +39 being the country code to dial for Italy.
I enjoyed Frankie’s Maiale Sugo dish – slow roasted pork butt with thick noodles. And at the end of the meal they serve complimentary limoncello.
Again, an early night for us. The race would begin at 6:30am on Sunday.
So, in a few different places I’ve asked after port safety in Montevideo, especially around the port / Mercado area and in general the advice is “we were there a few days ago and it was fine but as usual in a big city…” etc.
In Buenos Aires of course the advice is different – do not walk from the port area. The recommendations are to get a taxi or Uber to where we are going or at least as far as Plaza General San Martin, but much of Buenos Aires is still safe for people who look like better targets than Julia and I. Generally, but not always, we’re not the first target, especially on a Holland America cruise. Until recently neither of us wore jewelry or watches worth stealing either.
One of the things I end up doing every time we travel is I try to figure out if it’s safe for myself or a marathon runner to run outside. There is a fun little assessment I do regarding local weather conditions, traffic assessment, and comfort level. You’d be surprised where people aren’t comfortable running outside! For instance, sometimes places like Avignon, France, are lousy places for runners even in the wee hours of the morning because everybody is calling out for you!
So far, Puerto Madryn was one of our favorite places anywhere we’ve traveled for running (with obvious exceptions like Boston and New York City). Puerto Madryn has La Rambla along the sea which continues in some form or another more than three miles out to the point and to the ecological center.
An obvious turn around point for most guests when they walk or run from the ship is Monumento Indio al Telhuelche on a point of land at the end of the main beach.
This is a monument to the labor movement of the indigenous peoples in Patagonia several decades ago. It also has a lovely view.
View from the ship from three miles away.
The view beyond. I would have loved to keep going, but there was plenty to do. We turned around and ran back the other direction where I stopped near the pier for a large beer while waiting for The Boss to double my mileage.
This was a prelude to some souvenir shopping followed by lunch at Náutico Bistró Del Mar.
This was officially Mariscos de Golfo Nuevo with Golfo Nuevo being the gulf around Puerto Madryn. I’m not totally certain all of it was directly from the gulf itself but it certainly seemed fresh, cooked as appropriate, and seasoned with lemons, onions, and vinaigrette appropriately.
Perfect as we were planning to attend the Cellar Master’s dinner yesterday evening, a lunch to share with papas fritas and more large beers.
Eventually after some shopping we returned to the ship. Our original plan was to run, have a beer, return to the ship, and then head back out, but Puerto Madryn is the type of place where when it’s summer you walk around casually as you are. We felt comfortable in our fitness wear in open-door souvenir shops as well as dining outside.
We returned in time for the tango sail away!
Last night we attended the Cellar Master’s dinner. This appears to be focused on wine but is also one of the best meals available on an Oosterdam cruise. Food and beverage staff spoke at length and we were introduced to the entire Pinnacle Grill team – although we’ve met them all at some point.
The menu was great. Somehow we had a mix-up and two of us had scallops instead ofthe foie gras but we were both fine with that especially after yesterday’s bonus lunch.
The Pumpkin Sage Cappuccino is a delightful cream of pumpkin soup paired with a flavor-forward Pinot noir to offset it’s sweet and spicy nature.
For us the warm lobster salad was the star of the show. If it were twice the size of us then it would be perfect for a meal on a day like yesterday. This was paired with a rosé which actually wasn’t the greatest in our opinion, but we do think we would have enjoyed it better as stand alone on a sunny summer day.
The filet with the beef tenderloin and grilled shrimp was the best beef I’ve had on the ship so far but the shrimp were even better. This was nicely paired with the same MTC Syrah I had with dinner a few nights ago!
Dessert was decidedly not a tuille BUT it was the perfect size! Not huge! And Graham’s Six Grapes was a perfect accompaniment.
We both enjoyed this meal better than the Konigstafel but I actually think that’s the point. Konigstafel is to display a variety of what the king wants, Cellar Masters is to share food to pair with wine in more of a best-of. We also dined by ourselves. We’re at the point on a 22 day voyage where we are happy to not socialize as much.
One complaint?
Often it seems as if HAL glasses have spots on them. They need rinse aid of some sort.
So, a few other things to talk about:
We’ve spent a fair amount of time playing table card games, mostly blackjack, and a little bit of craps. We haven’t lost a ton of money – essentially we are even aside from an hour where I played about twelve days ago where I lost several hundred dollars and stepped away from the casino for four days as a result. In the meantime, we’ve gotten to know the casino staff really well especially while playing craps.
Last night we decided to curtail our visits to the casino as we’re winding down the trip. We spent a couple hours with our casino staff friends and gambling buddies playing craps. It was actually the latest we’ve stayed “out” on this trip so far (we’ll likely stay “out” later on the last night when we go to a closed door restaurant). It was a lot of fun.
Yesterday I mentioned running in port. I’ve largely curtailed my treadmill activities although I may pay a visit tomorrow morning. Instead, I’ve been walking an hour or more on the promenade. I’ve had some interesting step totals –
Yesterday – 21,589 (Puerto Madryn)
Sunday – 11,468 (Sea Day)
Saturday – 16,519 (Falkland Islands)
Friday – 7,991 (Sea Day)
Thursday – 15,334 (Antarctica Day 4)
Wednesday – 16,212 (Antarctica Day 3)
Tuesday – 17,667 (Antarctica Day 2, with treadmill time)
Monday – 16,944 (Antarctica Day 1)
I had planned to do a number of yoga and pilates classes, but early in the cruise after my first class I couldn’t get motivated to attend because I didn’t enjoy the instructor’s style, so I never went back. I’ve practiced yoga on Carnival and Cunard cruises, the last time being back in 2017, but I haven’t found any on this or my past two cruises that I truly enjoyed. I almost think decent fitness classes were a casualty of the Covid era.
One thing they mentioned last night which I never would have known – HAL canceled their bottle stewards after Covid. They still have a sommelier around and they have one full time in Pinnacle Grill, but not so much visibly; they just have a beverage runner in the MDR, at least on this ship. You order through your waiter. I wonder if HAL pushed bottles of wine versus elite beverage package more prior to Covid. This, by the way, is one thing I like more about Cunard; HAL has a decent wine list and I think it’s better than our experience on Celebrity nearly four years ago now but you have to ask for it. Cunard is a little more forward with their wine list. And we enjoyed (again, this is four years ago, right before all of the cuts) Celebrity’s beverage service in Blu a bit better.
But again, especially in the dining room, Pinnacle Grill, and with food in general, HAL has surprised us. The variety of food and drink available is stellar. The MDR menu isn’t as generic as we had on our Celebrity Silhouette cruise a few years ago – and thus we didn’t dine in the main dining room. Here there are often more interesting dishes offered. When you get to know the system and get to know your dining room staff, things are really in your favor. And the Pinnacle Grill breakfast experience is top notch; to think we almost missed it because our goal had been to skip breakfast every day.
Now, speaking of the Lido Market buffet – we still haven’t returned for buffet dining, even though today is Cake Day (it’s hard to handle Cake Day after a few days of a lot of eating). We’ve learned that they do not have an Asian corner on this ship as they do on Noordam and Westerdam (someone please correct me if I’m missing something regarding info and availability this winter please).
Also, today, without eating breakfast, I was craving a typical sandwich, something like a club sandwich, so we ordered room service lunch. They warned us it would be a 45 minute wait; it was a ten minute wait and the sandwich was great.
Friday was a fairly chill sea day for us, but it sure did fill up quickly. It had been two wakeups since we visited our friends in the Pinnacle Grill. Friday night we visited our friends in the Main Dining Room instead.
Crossing the Drake northward was generally a bit bouncy but nothing fell off the counters and none of us tripped or anything. The biggest tragedy was the champagne flutes acting like bowling pins in the cabinet overnight. Nonetheless, we woke up to bouncy seas, room service coffee, and a pretty chill morning. Neither of us left the cabin until 10:30. The Boss decided it was calm enough to have some treadmill time and I ventured forth to complete a number of errands.
On the to-do list –
Get our itinerary straight for our private airport transfer and tour leading up to airport drop off in Buenos Aires; I picked out a few different neighborhoods to visit and some major sites. This also meant I lined up what we wanted to do the day before more independently. I ran this through the concierge but I’m going to check with ShoreEx to see if it’s set up properly.
Have The Boss’s preferences set for Konigstafel. I actually have a photo coming on this. It’s a set menu of something like six or seven courses, but there are a handful of dishes they can sub out for a handful of fish or vegetarian courses. I tried to work this through the concierge but they were attempting an approach where they get us the menu and then menu with options (which I don’t think the dining room will get us) and then we return it during the day tomorrow (today) when we are off the ship so it gets turned back through them (the concierge) prior to dinner tomorrow night (it’s at 6, we get back on board around 4:30 today, so how is that going to work). We ended up talking to our MDR waiter Muis about this and while we were dining two tiers of leadership came over to our table to work it instead.
Do the same for the Cellar Master’s dinner in a few nights (this has not been handled yet).
Arrange appetizer delivery for yesterday afternoon.
So that was handled. Then I tried the Dive-In burger (it was good to great, fries were okay, I wouldn’t write home about it if people didn’t rave about it).
And then I joined my mother for a private behind-the-scenes tour.
Let me tell you, folks. This was something really special. I expected they’d spend an hour walking us through various parts of the ship with a little bit of talk, but instead they spent nearly THREE HOURS walking us through various parts of the ship interspersed with leaders of said area telling us about their jobs, responsibilities, and themselves for 15 or 20 minutes at a stretch!
The person who led us – this was her first tour. We were actually one of two tour groups. Each was supposed to be twenty people and they NEVER do two tour groups but I think because this was a rather long itinerary and there was good demand with a lot of sea days they set a second up. The cruise director kicked us off, and then we met:
The laundry manager and his staff.
Captain Kevin in the flesh in the bridge who then delegated his talk to another.
The provisions manager (runs the mini “warehouses” for food on board)
One of the dancers backstage during an actual production!
The chief engineer; he spoke at great length regarding all of the systems on board. I found this to be the most interesting and asked a number of questions!
The executive chef on board. He walked us through one of the three large kitchens for the main dining room as well as the Pinnacle kitchen (I bet you didn’t realize these are actually adjacent to each other and attached).
Finally, the hotel manager.
All of this was incredibly interesting. They provided us a lot of detail and allowed us to take photos everywhere but reminded us to ask in each area (there was one person on duty who declined and with good reason).
After this tour, they fed us small appetizers and sparkling wine. Then The Boss and I capped off our afternoon with a viewing of Evita (her) and a nap (me), and we enjoyed a pleasant MDR dinner.
Drake passage views
The linen press machine. This can press four sets of napkins at once and they come out the other end fairly well folded!
The view from the bridge. While in Antarctica, they had three spotters on constant rotation looking for whales. They noted 103 whales during the three days where we were sighting whales there. They claim this is an all time high but they’ve said that about so many things now I don’t believe it.
Bourbon storage. They also had a lot of beer and wine and a single case of Chimay.
The engine control room was my favorite part of the tour, possibly from my history of working in network operations centers with similar alert panels on the walls.
A happy breakfast and room service chef. I have more to come on the dining room tour. Spoiler alert – I repeated it yesterday (Friday) with our Friday evening dining experience!
On the left is the 22 day meal rotation for this cruise. Top right is the bread rotation. The right is the Koningstafel.
Yesterday we were in the Falklands. I wore three layers and a raincoat. Our truck was warm so ended up stripping to two for most of the ride. After the excursion we visited the local brewery which was popular with cruise passengers, the entertainment and dance squad from the ship, and locals dressed in shorts and t-shirts just getting out of work (it was 3:30 on a Friday after all). It was a glorious summer day! Aside from the 30 knot breeze…. That of course made return tendering a challenge but all in all it was a good day and lengthy enough for us to work up an appetite for Konigstafel!
Yesterday was what I’ve been looking forward to the most on this cruise – visiting the Falkland Islands, particularly the offroad excursion to Volunteer Point. Supposedly this is the crown jewel of excursions here in Stanley, and with good reason as far as I am concerned.
View through the windshield was often sideways
My recommendation is as follows –
If you are planning this excursion and you’ve booked for December 2027 through February 2028, go ahead and buy it now. For this coming Dec 2026 through Feb 2027 cruise season it may be “too late.”
There were two groups for this excursion, and that’s why I say it may be “too late.” The first set filled I think about seven SUVs, and I believe the second set was similar. You want to be in the first set. Departure time is 8am, immediately upon arrival in Stanley; meeting time is 7:45 (and you know that means that even though there is no real reason on HAL maybe you should be in the World Stage by 7:35). The second group has an 8:30 departure time.
The reason why you want to be in this first group – purely logistics. Both have the same amount of time at the rookery, but realistically the second group leaves the port area around 9:15 meaning you‘re back to Stanley sometime between 3:30 and 4:15. We were back at the port a few minutes before 3pm and sitting outside in the sunshine at the brewery enjoying a beer at 3:08pm, just as the line formed to be thirty people long on this glorious Friday summer afternoon (more about that later). We had time to chat with our cruise mates, enjoy our beer, and visit two souvenir shops. Then it was time to line up for the tender. There was a short line – 1 1/2 tenders full of people – but they were stalled, which is not too unusual for Stanley (more on this later). After waiting on line for about 20 minutes there were then about eight tenders full of people just standing there in the port car park.
Land Rovers at work
Anyway. The penguins are fascinating, but I was just as fascinated by the journey to get there. It seems as if half the vehicles in the Falkland Islands are Land Rovers – not necessarily late model (in fact, most are not), many heavily modified. The majority are Defenders. We saw Defenders driven by teenagers, adults, soccer moms, and old men and women who appeared as if they were long retired.
In the peat
Our squad to transport us to the beach consisted of half a dozen vehicles from Bagley‘s 4×4 Tours (if you want a private tour, go ahead and look them up on Google). Their fleet for this tour consisted of four Defenders, one Nissan Patrol, and I think a Toyota (not too sure on that, I wasn‘t concentrating on photographing it). If you’ve been reading recent Live threads for HAL or other lines you will read “somebody will get stuck” on many of them. So, we ended up in the Nissan and I asked the driver, “does this get stuck more than the Defenders?” At first he wasn’t too amused 🙂. But he did open up a bit. Turns out our driver Nathan has his own business and is an auto mechanic. He’s an interesting guy – originally from St. Helena. The other passengers in our car were put at ease after hearing about his mechanical abilities. “See that Defender? I built that.” He went on to explain that six years ago one of the better looking Defenders was assembled from multiple vehicles and new and used parts from him for one of his friends, and clearly it was still running and not getting stuck.
Rear view
He also explained to us that the Nissan Patrol rides better and is more comfortable than the Defenders (it is), something that was also shared by a couple of our beer drinking buddies at the brewery – the Fords they have are also more comfortable. However, as the Nissan weighs more (three tons instead of 2 1/2), it does get stuck more easily. When did you get stuck last? Once this year so far, in December. He explained how he managed to get stuck when alone with nobody to pull him out so I’m certain there’s some hilarity there, and now he has a two way radio as cell signal doesn’t cover everywhere!
They look like they’re in deep sometimes
So the drive actually really, really does require a good 4×4 – as in, a really good 4×4. My Range Rover Sport at home with street tires, although Mud & Snow, won’t cut it. It would have gotten us two thirds of the way there.
Garage princess
The first quarter of the drive is on dry pavement on what is called a licensed road (you need a license). Then after I think 15 miles you turn off the paved road for a gravel road. At the 27 miles point you turn off that gravel road for another gravel road. That’s the second quarter of the drive. I think around the 35 miles point point you come to a private ranch. This is the rest stop – you stop, you get out, you take a few pictures, you pee.
Typical Falklands Street vehicles
The next quarter of the drive is clearly worse, and until a few years ago it was entirely overland. The ranch is building a lower-quality gravel road across their property little by little. I feel it stretches halfway, as far as distance goes, from the ranch house to the sea. This is probably the worst road I would take The Boss’s Subaru on and not expect to break something. I’d probably take my ancient Mini on it and not really care.
Typical Old Man’s Car in Stanley
The final quarter of the drive is the most rugged.
So, as a farm kid I have memories of driving across dry corn fields at harvest time, or on hay fields. You could do this with a Chevy Vega station wagon, or our later Chevy Cavaliers. For a pasture, you’d need proper four wheel drive and an awareness of where it gets swampy (that’s where you need the tractor).
All of this final quarter is tractor-land. It’s scrubland and peat bog, constantly. The trucks are driving over peat bushes that stand almost to your knees in spots, and they have to go over them because as a path gets used it becomes boggier and boggier. There are numerous small banks to mount, many where the driver takes a 25 or 30 degree angle sideways (my seat-mates thought it was 45 degrees, but no) and many where you see the sky through the windshield. Nathan did show us exactly where he got stuck in December, too, and I can see how it happened.
Anyway, our drive there – and back – occurred without incident. If you have a sore back or otherwise, you may consider not doing this tour. Obviously as the ranch extends the gravel road the tour will become easier, but my hunch is it will take them a few years to complete – and if there’s a change in finances then this activity may change or cease.
Upon arrival you are asked to get out of the truck and walk through a foot bath, then climb back into the truck and you go park. HAL advertises a box lunch which is provided by Bagley’s in this case – one truck has sandwiches in the back, another has thermoses of coffee and hot water and cold water. The sandwiches are designed to feed you. They’re good but not gourmet. They fed us after the penguin viewing.
It’s penguins all the way down
The penguins are amazing. I believe we saw three kinds, but when I post my photos I’ll let you inspect them and correct me (if you’re impatient to wait, check my Instagram link). We saw an abundance of King Penguins, a Gentoo nesting colony, and Magellanic penguins.
Flappy Flappy
The main point of visiting Volunteer Point is to visit the large King Penguin population. This mostly consists of a large squad of penguins hanging out in a stone circle half the size of a football field occasionally squawking and flapping flippers at each other. You’re not permitted to enter the circle but they can come and go as they please. They generally won’t come too close to you but they will follow you if you’re walking where they’re planning to go.
You have to look closely to see the hatchlings!
As of this January there were some still hatching eggs and there were some youngsters hiding under their parents. I didn’t notice this on our first pass through here where we spent ten or fifteen minutes watching them.
Gentoo Jackson Pollock
After the King Penguins, we wandered down into a mini-valley to visit the nesting Gentoos. The Gentoos were really, really smelly even though they were not there in huge numbers (I’m guessing there were fifty or a hundred). They had a larger percentage of youngsters, though. They had painted their whole nesting circle (similar stone henge around them) like a Jackson Pollock painting. This is where we learned that youngsters who are rather large and just fed by their parents flop out on their bellies looking dead as they digest and grow. Hilarious. Anyway, I guess at this point they’re large enough to appear full sized but not at the point where they are ready to take to the seas.
Then we decided to wander out to the beach. The main attraction here seemed to be mainly King Penguins going in small groups (three or four or five) to and from the sea or just wandering aimlessly. There was, however, a seal terrorizing the area. The seal apparently occasionally comes out of the surf and kills a penguin for sport – the guides told us it’s the same seal that has been hanging around for a while now and he doens’t actually eat what he kills.
Penguins having a beach day
So, we saw a group of penguins wandering up the beach to the no-go zone. Then we saw the seal in the surf. I didn’t get a photo of the seal when it came out of the surf, but what happened next is he came out of the surf, the group of penguins took off at a high speed run towards the dune, a ranger yelled at a lady taking photos to “get back” because the seal would bite her too, and then the seal went back into the surf (note this is all anecdotal – I was looking elsewhere when this happened).
Seal
Then we started walking up the beach towards the rocks. Nothing interesting there. Then we started wandering back over the dunes. Then we realized what we weren’t seeing – the Magellanic penguins nesting in burrows in the dunes! In most of the borrows there was a parent penguin standing guard with a younger penguin behind. They were really cute.
Baby Magellanic penguins!
Anyway, we eventually returned to King Circle and watched parent penguins feeding their babies discretely. You really had to pay attention to see them – mostly it looked like there were fat penguins with an extra set of flab just above their feet, but often you would look closely and see the parent leaning down and sharing a tasty morsel.
Hatchling and parent beak!
This was a ninety minute stop at Volunteer Point. Then we set out for the two hour drive back in the glorious summer sunshine…
On return from Volunteer Point the driver dropped us at the “cruise terminal” and we walked to Falkland Beerworks where it seemed as if everybody in town in addition to every cruise ship passenger and the entertainment staff from Oosterdam had decided to throw back a pint or two. Falkland Beerworks has authentic hand-pulled cask ales and in my opinion they are good. IPA fanatics will ask for a bottle of the Iron Lady IPA instead which seemed to be a little toasted like it had been aged in peated scotch barrels and then may be slightly disappointed.
A lot of people also recommend Victory Bar in Stanley which we did not visit. Supposedly they have excellent fish and chips. Instead, after sitting in the sun with cruise friends and observing the locals in shorts and t-shirts we made the observation “it’s very windy; we’d better return to the ship sooner rather than later!” And we left. But not without visiting a couple of souvenir shops.
When we arrived back at the “cruise terminal” there was a line on the dock for tenders and a line through the 20 foot long “cruise terminal” building ending in the glass shed (20’ by 10’) behind it. This is where we joined the queue…. As the line was paused others joined behind us, snaking out into the parking lot. A few minutes later they announced, “tendering operations are paused while the captain repositions the ship to accommodate for worsening conditions.” I later learned that the captain was very frustrated because the harbor master had allowed numerous Asian squidding vessels to drop anchor throughout the bay and harbor around Stanley and they had very long anchor lines limiting the number of safe places for Oosterdam to drop anchor andprovide shelter for tenders. End result, tendering was a game of bumper cars.
By the time tender operations recommenced, the line snaked through the parking lot, out into the street until the constable came around (which they do because there’s nothing else to do), and down the dock adjacent to the tender dock.
Tendering in the rough
It was pretty rough out there. I wouldn’t say it was scary, but the boats were throwing up considerable spray and of course it was dripping in through the hatches. When we arrived back at the ship it was with a sudden crash against the gangplank.
Arriving back on board we had time to rest, shower, and change for the Konigstafel experience! Now this I will write up in real time as I refresh myself by looking at the photos.
Konigstafel is a concept introduced by HAL over the summer last year where once per cruise they offer a “king’s table.” I will note that it is not a chef’s table which implies that the chef gets creative with whatever they have available and / or is fancy or neat. Instead, it’s a set menu throughout Holland America. From the reviews I read last August and September it has not strayed far. Accommodations for dietary restriction are limited; they only have set plates created for vegetarian modifications.
I took this photo from the behind the scenes tour I attended on Friday and on the right you can note the Koningstafel menu. Like I said, they stick to this.
We went through considerable effort to check on getting my partner’s meal changed to exclude beef tartare and lamb because she is pescatarian. They were actually willing to accommodate her, but she said if she had to do it again in the future, because there is so much food, she would probably accept the cauliflower they subbed for the steak tartare and not the modification they made to replace the lamb; she was just not hungry at that point.
The setup for the whole situation begins in the Ocean Bar where there was a jazz band playing (I think this was purely coincidence as the whole bar was not roped off for the event). They make you sign a medical questionnaire as you end up going into crew areas where they check to ensure everyone is healthy (this tells me the entire crew signs the same sheet every single day under threat of not lying and that, in part, is how they maintain a healthier ship). Then, they served us a cocktail.
The cocktail, coincidentally, consists of a sour cocktail similar to a Pisco sour! Some guests were guessing we would actually be served a Pisco sour, but we were not; it was the same menu in September elsewhere.
Update – after checking the menu, the name of the drink was not actually noted! Anyway, this is served with two canapés – crabmeat, caviar, and mint croissant which was to die far as well as caponata.
After the cocktail and canapés we decamped for a full galley tour – identical to Friday’s behind the scenes tour! It was a good refresher, but it did give me the opportunity to skip the food digester section. Also, this is where I noted that it does interfere a little with the kitchen flow and they start to use up some extra resources to make the dinner happen – perhaps this is why they schedule on a busy port day? Less lunch service, more time to prepare, and everybody heads to the Lido instead?
We sat down to an intro from dining room section heads and a bread course which consisted of sesame challah loaf including poppy seed braids. This was served with four butters – plain butter, coconut butter, Thai red curry butter, and blueberry thyme butter. My favorite was made by blending the coconut with the Thai red curry butter 🙂. Poppy seeds were everywhere of course.
An Amuse-Bouche of Asian Wagyu Steak Tartare was served. What a great use for this. The beef was soy-mirin marinated and it was heavily saline. The tempura shiso leaf was a great touch.
This was served with a smoked champ agne cocktail (there is a typo on the menu so it’s now champ agne).
Seafood starter was a Butter poached lobster tail with lemongrass coconut foam made of vanilla, champagne, and orange.
Although diminutive as it should be, perhaps my favorite course. Such good flavor. This was served with a Tattinger Brut Prestige rose.
One thing I’d note – in the reviews I read in September the sparkling rose was served in a champagne flute whereas the smoked champagne was served in a teacup style champagne glass. I think the smoked champagne was better in the flute, as Oosterdam did last night, with the Prestige rose in the teacup style champagne glass.
The one dish which surprised me was the spinach ricotta malfatti which was served with truffle garlic butter, shaved seasonal black truffle, and parmesan foam. The truffle was not overpowering like it sometimes is, and the ricotta did not form a pile of gloop as sometimes happens.
It was quite nice. However, when I see “parmesan” I think “Wisconsin,” rather than Italian equivalents, so I wonder if this could potentially be upgraded? I believe the red is a dehydrated tomato peel. This was served with Pascal Joliet Sancerre Blanc Sauvage from France (basically a white French wine that is good).
Then came a mid-dinner dessert.
Sour cherry granita with vanilla lemon sorbet. Mmmm.
Many guests would say they have happily dined up until this point. Well, folks, buckle up. This is where lamb turns controversial.
The main is a cannon of smoked lamb with pistachio crust served with date purée, lamb jus, and “Mediterranean” vegetables. I put Mediterranean in quotes because I didn’t know carrots are Mediterranean and I think after nine days without fresh provisions and two weeks without full replenishment you probably get what you get on Oosterdam.
They also really started pouring the wine at this point.
And that’s how I found myself sitting there with three glasses of wine.
The Figgins Figlia Merlot / Petit Verdot from Walla Walla is certainly a combination I would definitely seek out again. The port and Amari were there to complement the cheese course and then the dessert course.
Cheese went great at this point in the evening. As did dessert.
This is where it started with sweets galore.
Dessert was interesting – I liked the honey cremieux with lemon curd served with bergamot gel, honeycomb guile (what is that?) and lavender honey. The croutons seemed a bit like cereal. It was good for sampling. The sweets that followed were a bit much.
I couldn’t goad The Boss into eating more than one of these but they were as expected and well presented.
When we arrived in our cabin macarons were waiting on our coffee table. Again, I was a solo diner for these.
Overall, it was a good experience. It was really enjoyable sitting and talking to our table mates, but four hours can be a long time if you are accidentally assigned seats incorrectly (we were not, I had the chance to get to know a couple of folks who have posted on Cruise Critic!). I think if I were cruising HAL again this year I wouldn’t repeat the performance, but if they were doing a different menu every year I certainly would.
It’s great after a day in port where dining is limited (our lunch yesterday consisted of a sandwich on white sandwich bread). Knowing the lamb is coming I may have held off on my Pinnacle lamb a few days ago, though.
And this morning for breakfast – we weren’t hungry; we shared a carafe of coffee and then had nothing until 1pm.
There have been soooo many good experiences lately that it’s almost been overwhelming, and now we’re winding down for the last week of vacation.
Okay, so I’m catching up on my writing as today is our final sea day until our Antarctic adventure begins. I went to two lectures on polar ice today and a third discussion led by the captain on our planned route once we reach Palmer Peninsula early tomorrow morning. Basically he warns us “if you’re living life to its fullest you’re going to be busy.”
Morning view, Friday January 16, 2025
Our mornings are predictably beginning fairly early here and I’m finally settling into a routine where I’m able to fall asleep and take a nap if I’m trying to live life to a fullest. Unfortunately, my Oura ring which I’m using to track my stress levels, heart rate, readiness, and sleep doesn’t seem to be able to tell when I’m taking a nap on a ship. I know it can tell how much sleep I am taking at night but it doesn’t see when I reach the same level of stillness I normally do for a nap at home – because obviously the ship is moving.
It hasn’t tracked a nap since Santiago.
Anyway, the first thing I tend to do in the morning is look outside off the stern of the ship. If it isn’t raining I hop out there and snap a photo. Beautiful, isn’t it? Then I sit at my desk here and write a little and sip coffee.
The further south we were going in the waterways of Chile the more ice we saw and the closer it came to sea level.
On Friday we went down to Pinnacle Grill for breakfast.
Pinnacle Grill breakfast
The Pinnacle Grill menu is obviously more substantial than the MDR menu. On this particular day I had the aloo masala (potato curry I think) and egg burjhi (eggs with peppers and spices I think). It was served with a dosa (lentil crepe), chapati bread, stewed lentils, and some chutneys.
For comparison, today I had the Pan Asian breakfast, you know because I have to try everything out.
Pan Asian breakfast
This was served alongside miso soup poured table side.
I’m really impressed with the variety of food served here. It’s even higher than what we saw traveling in Aqua Class on Celebrity. I know we have some perks due to Neptune Class, but this variety even extends to the room service.
Acai bowl
Anyway. We were cruising through the Beagle Passage past a series of five glaciers as we were dining that morning. I didn’t get the best photos, but that’s fine.
Many of my glacier photos were stained by the window
It was enjoyable to capture the moment and instead rest for a change.
Another day, another glacier
We were able to have a fairly active morning as we were not due to arrive in port until 1pm. This was actually delayed even though our original plan was 2pm; the captain had to wait for a couple of expedition ships to clear out before we had space on the pier.
I was able to go to the gym and have some treadmill time (something I’m hoping to repeat today) before going to the aquatherapy room and the thermal suite.
View from the thermal suiteThese loungers are heated
I mean, this was a civilized way to come into port.
Anyway, unlike Punta Arenas, in Ushuaia it just seems as if you suddenly arrive on a scene. The city itself likes tucked up against the mountains on a narrow tilted shelf pouring itself out at the harbor. It looks and feels as if you’ve suddenly been dumped in Queenstown, New Zealand, or Aspen, Colorado. And it’s priced the same.
Expedition ship in Ushuaia
And there are these pricy expedition ships docked there to remind you of your mortality.
As we didn’t really have any opportunity for souvenir acquisition in our previous three stops we decided to begin our time ashore by going shopping.
Typical construction in Ushuaia – both old and new
There are a lot of shops that sell chocolate alongside t-shirts. And a number of liquor shops as well with whisky that normally costs us $60 at home going for $200 here. Fortunately the local stuff is cheaper – I think a small bottle of Patagonian gin was about $15 USD. We actually found the most interesting gifts in a coffee shop / cafe called Espirito Fueguino Cafe & Gift Shop. I now have a heavy black hoodie with a mythological Patagonian creature on the back of it; it should come in handy the next few days.
There are three museums near the port (there may actually be more, but I searched and saw three). There are two Museo del Fin Del Mundos; we visited neither. We did, however, visit the museum at the Presido, the old prison, which actually consists of about five small museums in one.
A museum in the prison
This museum has about two wings dedicated to prison life – one to the history of the prison and the prisoners who were in residence, and then one completely devoid of furnishings so you could wander around and enjoy the silence.
There were also two gift shops. And an art gallery.
Maritime art
The only requirement for a piece of art to be in the art gallery is it had to be pretty good and it had to have something to do with water. Nonetheless, it was good art, mostly South American from what I could tell. Much of it resembled European art work, or even American art work from the time periods where they were created. For instance, there were a couple of Hopper-esque oil paintings I enjoyed. I could have enjoyed standing in silence in this wing for a while longer but I wasn’t alone. It was time to go eat.
And even though it was neither Patagonian lunch time nor dinner time, we found a nice meal at Isabel Cocina Al Disco.
I think we actually spent big city prices for our meal but it was worth it. One massive 750ml beer from Patagonia Brewing Company and two large but not massive beers from a local brewery that makes a red ale. We also shared the house specialty – seafood and potatoes cooked in a disc from a plow, or a de arado, or plough in British English. In modern times they actually use a cast iron pot with high edges similar to a paella pan.
And thus the term “al disco.”
It was so good. Mussels and baby octopus and shrimp and calamari stewed in white wine-tomato broth with nicely roasted and fried potatoes.
I tell you. I researched this place months ago. I had no idea what the cast iron pot was until now and didn’t connect it until I saw “plough” on the English language menu. And Isabel is easy to get to from the port – you walk off the ship, down the pier, out through the gates, and across the street and it’s to the right one block.
Back to the ship for us.
We did not join Seabourn Pursuit
It was a beautiful late afternoon stroll back to the ship where we whiled away the evening with our feet up on the loungers in the Crow’s Nest.
This is a great pier to walk out
Ushuaia is a great cruise port – my favorite so far. Logistically it’s easy. For excursions buses and vans come straight out to the ship. Visiting town is a half mile stroll along the pier.
Views of the town are stunning
Local beer here is great, by the way. Next up, two days at sea.
We’re not going ashore so early tomorrow so I’m going to try and write in the morning after breakfast.
We came into Puerto Montt this morning and it was gray and gloomy but not raining. That managed to hold up until 1 or 2pm in the afternoon then it started raining miserably. Finally, as we were leaving, the sun came. It was a beautiful sunset.
Anyway. We went on what I felt was the best excursion we’ve been on ever, “A Taste of Chile: Fresh Fusion.” There were only twenty of us. We were driven to the local market in Puerto Montt where we met a chef and he took us around and we learned all about the local Chilean produce as well as seafood. And then we rode in the bus with him to a private dining room.
It was like being at someone’s house with a long table and spending five hours prepping a meal and eating it. We even helped. So much wine, so much pisco, and so much food.
I never got around to writing the entry, at least not here. It was a busy weekend!
Yesterday was The Boss’s first tender ride – and they sat her by the open doorway. Fortunately it wasn’t raining and the boat wasn’t bouncing. I was jealous regardless, though.
As I said, our excursion yesterday was “A Taste of Chile: Fresh Fusion.”
We rode a bus (19 people) to a market and met a chef.
Market in Puerto Montt
The market was primarily a seafood market but also had a number of vegetable and other vendors. Many of them started handing out samples even though they knew we weren’t going to buy anything, such as in the above she started handing us spicy pickled olives which I could have eaten all morning.
Shellfish
Sadly, the oysters were not fresh enough or purchase. The chef has his own standards for buying things such as these which make sense. “Tap it and if it moves, however small, it’s good.” I don’t know if that works for us at home as nearly everything is on ice.
Man cleaning a fishLots of good fish. Hake and Sea Bass were common.Grapes were commonThe good eggs were looseLarge garlicI mean, the garlic here was as large as the eggs – each clove was
This wasn’t the garlic he used for cooking. In their market they have both Chinese garlic (identical and the same price as the packs of four we get in the supermarket for a buck or two) as well as local, Chilean garlic with a little dirt on it (identical to the garlic we buy at the farmer’s market, or what we’re trying to grow ourselves but keep failing at).
Eventually we made our way to Puerto Varas where his private kitchen is that he’s using this year. We were given the option to stay and cook – or drink wine. The alternative was to go shopping in Varas. Only one person chose to join the guide for the shopping excursion. The rest of us drank. Eventually he invited us to join us with prep and five or six of us all got up to assist – all men. We split tasks between shelling beans, splitting clams, and cleaning mussels.
Eventually. He started handing us food to sample (mind you, we’d been sampling since at the market – where vendors handed us grapes, pickled spicy olives, cheese, and a number of other treats).
Raw clam with other seafood added
One of the things I tried was the raw clam. Our second dish after we sat down was actually the cooked version thereof – put under the broiler briefly enough to cook it in butter but that’s it, as it gets tough quickly. It’s the same delicacy that’s required to cook shrimp just until where they’re done as well – something I’ve managed to capture at home in the saute pan but not yet on the grill.
Fish heads
His team also deboned and fileted their own fish removing the parts to keep for stock. The heads and so forth were simmered with onions, chives, parsley, and other stuff for a stock; he reminded us to never boil seafood stock. When the stock was ready he kept the fish heads and we ate the cheeks with our forks at the table.
Mussels
His ceviche was majority sea asparagus which was cleaned by one of our fellow cruise passengers. We always have ceviche which is spicer at home and often is more tart, but Chef has a way of making it not so much.
Ceviche
His version of ceviche is more balanced than what we’ve encountered. Less tart than usual. He also served us pieces of hake that had been stewed with the stock and some apple cider.
I don’t remember what else we ate. We did have blueberries in custard which was good. Every time we turned around they refilled our glass. At one point they switched from Carmenere to a lesser-known Cinsault which was really, really good and a “reserve” bottle. We asked if we could buy a bottle and yes, they let us take one home. Or rather, to the ship. I’m told it’s definitely coming home with us.
It poured rain all afternoon until we were back on the ship at which point glorious sunshine returned. We spent much of the rest of the day and evening resting in our cabins and watching football – they have it available on the NFL channel, but otherwise on the ship aside from the casino bar not so much.
Today we chose to wake up early and go for a run. The Sheraton is near the park along the river here so we decided to run on the trails along the river. If you’re a runner or a cyclist it’s actually quite nice. It’s a bit disjointed around the business district as there are a lot of street crossings but once you get nearly a mile north past South America’s tallest building it becomes a proper suburban trail with room for runners and cyclists. When we first hit the trail at 7am it was pretty quiet. By the time we returned near 8am it was busy with bicycle commuters as well as a moderate amount of joggers.
Running trail along the river
On our return to the neighborhood around the hotel we discovered a random Gandhi memorial.
Gandhi
One of the things I like to do when visiting major cities is to, well, go for a run. And after the run rather than enjoy the free or paid hotel coffee, I tend to find a local coffee or espresso bar. Today was no exception. After a shower we headed out into the Providencia neighborhood to find an espresso bar.
Morning latte
We found a great place called Bafel’s Coffee which opened at 9am (translation – they don’t do an early espresso here). Bafel’s provided me with a proper latte and “Mediterranean eggs” which I translated as “a proper shakshuka, albeit with American-style bacon.” After Bafel’s, thanks to the wonders of modern technology I spent ninety minutes on Zoom with my kid’s therapy group talking about supports needed back home, so, yeah, that used up some of the day, but nonetheless I am happy I wasn’t doing it from the ship.
Shakshuka
Sometime yesterday we decided we were going to take the gondola up Santuario Cerro San Cristobal rather than try to walk or run up it; honestly, until The Boss said it sounded like fun I didn’t have a huge amount of interest. Nonetheless the view was amazing at the top and it was about a quarter of the price of similar attractions at home.
Gondola – or cable car as the locals call it
On our way there we bumped into a few members of my mother’s cruising group who recommended we visit a restaurant at the bottom of the mountain because “they served us a whole bowl of whipped cream when we asked for cream.” We did, but we did not ask for cream. Instead I asked for a Flat White. And beef.
Flat WhiteCarne
So, I’m going to write about this in more depth, likely when I return home. We visited the Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos aka the Museum of Memory and Human Rights. It may become clear why I’m waiting to write about it. It’s a very interesting experience and quite thought provoking especially in the current environment, but it may leave you feeling melancholy. And it’s open a little later than we expected, until 6pm, which came in handy as we were running out of time. I had hoped to go to jazz tonight but for purposes of maintaining rest and readiness I decided we should hold off unless we had a proper siesta which we did not. Instead, we were re-packing this evening and settling down so we do not exhaust ourselves tomorrow.
Human Rights Museum
Dinner was outdoors at one of the hotel restaurants (there are four it seems). I had Chilean oysters and a rockfish crudo along with a Carmenere red wine. My mother and one of her friends joined us.
Oysters no longer sidewaysRockfish
Logistically –
– The restaurants at the Sheraton can get busy or even close when there are conventions. The poolside restaurant closes if there is a chance of rain as they grill outdoors.
– Uber works great here and is 100% legal. It is about a quarter of the price of home. I’ve been ordering Uber Black for half the price of UberX at home. If you’re curious, the two cars we ordered were both made in China – an SUV built by the company that is “Great Wall Automotive” and another one built by Chery.
– The Human Rights Museum is a 30 minute ride in busy traffic.
– Ask the server in restaurants if tip is included. It often is. In the hotel they told us to write “yes” if we want to tip the included amount. In one case elsewhere I provided the recommended tip and also gave a 2,000 peso (about $1.80) note. In cafes I have been rounding up the dollar amount – by about 15 to 20 cents.
– Around the Plaza des Armas, the Presidential Palace, in the grand parks, and other areas which look and feel safe and are otherwise guarded, don’t wear jewelry – anything that can be snatched, whether it’s earrings, a chain around your neck or otherwise. In these neighborhoods the streets are busy but there are a lot of tourists. Pickpockets are there. There is one scam going around where someone splashes something on you and then an old man tries to help you by holding your bags while you clean up. Watch out for stuff like this. In the local, nicer neighborhoods you will see the locals walking around with phones stuffed down the waistline of their pants sticking out where it seems safer and likely is (and there is no police presence, unlike the places referenced above). Three people on our cruise so far have reported being robbed or otherwise on various groups.
– At the airport if you need a taxi see the taxi counter IN THE AIRPORT and follow their instructions.
– Bring Chilean Pesos. It’s safer at local establishments than using a card. At non-tourist establishments, if you stop somewhere randomly, they do not have provisions for dollars.
So it’s been a long day – and night and day. We’re currently ensconced in the 21st floor lounge at the Sheraton in Santiago with a wonderful view of the city and mountains after two flights yesterday (one redeye), customs madness at the airport today, and a city tour with lunch. Oh, by the way, it’s summer.
View from the Sheraton lounge
Logistically what we followed is we booked a private transfer through Cristian at Vamonos Tours. He recommended we expand it to a city tour and I agreed as we did an upgrade to First / Business Class on American Airlines meaning the flight was actually restful and I wasn’t too certain the Sheraton would check us in early (spoiler alert – my mother flew in on a different flight today as well and they wouldn’t check her in without an extra fee).
Plaza des Armas
So I’ll say this. What enabled us to have the energy to do this touring was this – American’s Business Class to South America was great. They offered us better service than I recall from Virgin Atlantic or British Airways’ business class although BA at least was a bit more comfortable (caveat – it wasn’t first class, and this was 2002 when I had the privilege to be upgraded there). Although the lay flat bed once flat felt like a coffin where your feet were constrained, the food was great and the service was very good. They even made us hot fudge sundaes. The domestic product flying to Miami worked well for us as well although obviously there is no lay flat bed (who needs it on a flight less than three hours?) but they did call us out by name as we boarded and as they provided us service.
Today we stayed fit by walking and climbing St. Lucia hill with Hidalgo castle on it. We managed to get more than four miles in (just one mile in the airport alone) and as of 6:57pm 9,586 steps. After all of that craziness, we checked into the hotel (there’s a Walmart convention here in addition to a thousand Holland America cruisers), went up to our room, showered and siestaed. This didn’t really do much for my six hour sleep debt according to Oura, but it let me decompress enough to write this all up.
View from St. Lucia
We’re truly inspired by the setting of the beautiful city of Santiago, in a valley surrounded by mountains, near the coast as if it were California. Although it is rough around the edges, the people we encountered on the street and in the market today were incredible. There is a lot of flair in the city.
Chinchinero Dancing
Our guide was happy we were lucky enough to show up when there was activity in the streets. He also laughed at us because he dropped us at the base of St. Lucia and told us to wait because he had instructions; we mis-heard him and walked up the mountain instead.
Mercado Central
One of the best parts of the day was seafood lunch at El Galeón at the market. It was such a lively scene there – on a random Wednesday afternoon in the summer. I’ve added photos and videos around the city – dancing in the streets, the Mercado itself, and of course a Pisco Sour.
DancingMercado from the outside in the mid-afternoon sunPisco Sour
Christmas this year was peaceful. We had conversations by phone with family starting with Tyler, my 14 year old, calling me at 5:30am. I was sound asleep in the dark and my watch started vibrating. I woke up with a start and realized the phone was ringing so I rolled over and grabbed it. Tyler on FaceTime. “Oh, so you ARE up,” bright and happy! I was expecting could not sleep or upset about something, but nonetheless I was in the dark and a couple of teens were wide awake at their mother’s house and ready to interrogate me…
“Yes, I’m up now, but I’m going back to sleep.”
The next time they called us we were out on our Christmas run.
View of the airport
In my house we run separately except on Christmas and on major holidays, so today was the day. Usually we go down the National Mall from Lincoln past the White House and to the Capitol and back, but neither one of us wanted to see “that part of the town” in the current circumstances so we parked on Ohio Drive and ran south to Haines Point and back opposite the Wharf.
DC Wharf
The Wharf in DC is a newly-redeveloped waterfront area of hotels, condominiums, restaurants, and nightlife. We head down there a few times a year for various events. Even though it’s a hassle and it’s overpriced, we usually enjoy it. Near the Wharf there was a flock of geese loitering.
Geese
Our run ended basically at the Jefferson Memorial which has always been my favorite as there are fewer crowds and it has a view over the Tidal Basin.
Jefferson Memorial
A lot of the seawall near the Jefferson Memorial is under construction and to be replaced, hopefully all the way down to Haines Point. They’ve built a temporary concrete plant next to the MLK Jr Memorial to handle all of this.
Anyway, after this we went home where we had mimosas and omelettes.
And then the presents
One of the more interesting gifts I received was a book of useless information. I haven’t read through it yet as I am busy reading a novel about Antarctica and flipping through Antarctic cruise guides.
As I was awake at 5:30am, the afternoon involved a nap.
Fish pie with pastry crust
For dinner I made Paul Hollywood’s fish pie with pastry crust from his cookbook Baked. And then we topped off the evening with a longer than usual dog walk down to our neighborhood landmark Alcova House.
Alcova House at Christmas
Alcova House was the farmhouse of the original property on the land where we live. The owners sold the land off to the Alcova Improvement Company in 1920 at which point individual parcels were sold over the next couple of decades to people wishing were build. This practice, unlike some of the neighboring communities where the developer owned the land and homes built were consistent, led to the hodgepodge we have here today. We have a mix of ramblers, 1920s Cape Cods, small cottages that sat on large wooded lots back in the day, and infill development.
Not actually this week
On our particular lot, many of the houses are built on lots that are three hundred feet deep and fifty feet wide, like half of a football field. Ours, however, is part of a lot that was diviced two or three times over the past hundred years. Our rear neighbor’s house was built in 1989 off of an eight-sided parcel that was taken from our lot. Our house was built in 1992 after the previous house on the lot – a house built in the 1920s that sat on the rear lot line – burned down due to a maze of extension cords catching on fire.
Thus, a hodge podge.
We’ll see what I get into this week. Today it’s time to start packing.
I always feel like The Waitresses – Christmas Wrapping is stuck in my head on Christmas Eve as I dash to and fro possibly while bundled up too tight, but today was typical Virginia, where the weather was showing it can be bright and sunny and warm for the day. And for this I took advantage of some outdoor time, first by walking to coffee with my retired old man group, then by walking the waterfront in Old Town because I arrived too early for yoga, and finally by enjoying the waterfront at dusk after having a mid-afternoon dinner.
Latte at Idido’s
Back before the earth cooled, or at least in the pre-COVID era, a coffee shop opened across the street from my home, where I was living in a large apartment building before I settled down and moved into a house. This was Idido’s Coffee and Social. I actually wrote entire proposals while sitting at Idido’s.
Once I moved I started walking to Idido’s a few times a week to get out of the house as well as I was still working from home all the time. I started noticing one of my neighbors was meeting his friends there, mostly retired civil servants, once a week, and eventually he invited me to join them.
Well, I have long since gotten out of the habit of going to Idido’s, but my neighbor’s group has grown to include between ten and eighteen people, and I still show up once or twice a month. That’s what I did today. I didn’t have to leave early to go to work thankfully. Instead, I left early got head to yoga.
Months ago I started going to a new yoga studio in Old Town Alexandria. Usually I go with The Boss, other times I go by myself (today was maybe the once this month I will go alone). And being the next town over you never know how long, with metro DC traffic, it will take to get there and find parking. Today’s answer? About 17 minutes. Sometimes it’s 30 or 40 minutes. End result, I was early.
Yes, I know I’m droning on and on about this but there’s a point.
View of DC from Alexandria
I walked out to the waterfront to a spot I have never experienced. Let’s call this “things to do while waiting for yoga.” On this point there was, until recently, an empty warehouse but now there is a city park. It has a great view. I took the photo above with my new phone, an iPhone 17 Pro that I figured would be great for penguin photos next month.
I tried to make a joke about penguins but it just wouldn’t fly.
A month ago I was persuaded to upgrade my phone for aforementioned penguins, in part because the camera is so impressive. Purely as demonstration, not necessarily of quality because nothing is great with full on electronic zoom, I offer you this.
The Capitol from six miles distant
A view of the Capitol from six miles distant – notice it’s just a zoom on the photo above, a separte photo. But still, it tells me I can zoom in on an emporer on the ice and have you, dear reader, see an emporer on the ice.
But enough of this. Yoga as great, mostly floor practice, lots of stretching, then I came home and took a nap.
Dinner was at 3pm on Ada’s on the River. They still had their lunch menu up which was fine, it’s great. Ada’s is a better value than going into DC for fancy food and has a more extensive menu than most places in Arlington
Beau Joie Brut NV Champagne
We had a full bottle of champagne rather than cocktails and glasses. The occasion seemed to call for it, and the $89 restaurant price of the Beau Joie seems to be not tooooo far off from the $59 Total Wine price of the Beau Joie (it wouldn’t have surprised me to find that it was $30 in the store, such is the usual markup).
Oysters and Tuna
They had James River oysters which we refer to as being good enough for a half dozen. We like our oysters a bit more saline and tighter and smaller; the Chesapeake and tributary oysters tend to be less saline and larger. But these were fine and Ada’s serves them with excellent accompaniments. We also had tuna tartare and a dark brioche bread.
Mussels were had
Ada’s does a great job with mussels, served with bread of course in a tomato broth with some spice and dill. After oysters, tuna, and mussels, it seemed to order something starchy, so of course there was a side of lobster mac n cheese. Two pots of mussels were the same cost as the lobster mac n cheese.
Time for Tokaji
In honor of Hungary I ordered a glass of Royal Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos. And then the salted caramel chocolate souffle.
Image of man stirring caramel into a souffle
This was actually the only flop of the day, and it honestly wasn’t a serious flop. The server brought the souffle out with a tin of caramel, but the caramel was lacking in quantity and cold. It wouldn’t pour. So, when he cut open our souffle with a spoon and poured it, it wouldn’t pour, so our poor sad souffle was sitting there looking like molten chocolate until he ran to the kitchen and heated up the caramel. It was good and tasty, but the presentation would have been better if it was as intended. Instead, I’ll need to make it at home!
And that’s all for today’s activities outside of the home. Inside the home I’m rolling out puff pastry. More on that tomorrow, maybe. And I’ll talk about yoga.
