Tales of a Shoebox Princess

Saint Thomas is a lot like Saint Maarten, which we visited (it was a "work" trip for me, but my brother boss let me bring Jim) back in 2015 (has it been that long???): hilly with lots of vacation homes dotting said hills.  I have no pictures from breakfast, but it was kind of memorable because it was Pam's birthday. We had agreed to meet Pam and Tim for breakfast at one of the dining rooms so we could order brekky. Jim and I arrived at the agreed upon time and we were ready to go. Pam and Tim weren't there, but we waited and waited. I tried texting Pam, and finally calling, but no answer. Finally 20 minutes later, and we had already ordered and had started eating, she texted back, saying they had missed an alarm and would be down shortly. I won't go into their excuses and argument between the two of them but I was a bit taken aback. I did excuse myself to run up to our room to grab the card I had brought to give to Pam but when I had returned to the table, she had...

 After the first fortress, we got back on the excursion bus to head to the second fortress: San Felipe Del Morro. I was impressed by the greenway leading up to the fort.  The greenway to the left of the long long sidewalk that led from the street to the fort and the greenway to the right. The red dome is a building in the middle of a wonderful cemetery that you can't see in this photo because of the light tan wall.  The fort. See the long walkway? It was long. we approach the entry to the fort. We did not follow a guide in the fort.  This colorful fellow was surveying the tourists as they entered  Inside the fort was my favorite color.  Light house at San Felipe The view of San Juan from San Felipe This tiny little sub-fortress is iconic--many of the souvenirs from this  place feature it and I must agree it is very photogenic.  Why didn't the tourist board use this brutalist structure as souvenir images?  Me from down the hall from the main p...

We were up early enough to watch our approach to Puerto Rico The weather got kind of moody as we were getting closer We'll be going to this fort later in the day   Old San Juan Our ship we're ready for our excursion! We disembarked, walked down the pier and onto the street just off the dock. We met up with the tour group and waited for everyone to assemble. This is the day we saw the most things and took the most pictures. I'll be breaking this day up into at least 2 posts because there was so much I want to remember.  Christmas decorations feature poinsettias This was my favorite sculpture/statue of the trip. Someone is about to get told off. More Christmas! A national park!  Cute ship Who doesn't like displays of armor? But as our guide mentioned, it's heavy and hot, especially in the climate of Puerto Rico A nice large grassy area in the middle of the fortress Just to prove we are there arches surround the plaza in the middle of the fort After walking up a steep ...