What an incredible day!!! It started off with a private tour of the Tower of London and the Crown Jewels!  We were so lucky to be able to go in by ourselves. We had a great history lesson and we could actually hear the guide!  We were also able to spend real time viewing the Crown Jewels rather than being rushed along by a mass of humanity!  By the time we left, there was a 45 minute wait to get in to see the Jewels!  We had a wonderful Warden– the lady in the red outfit — was our guide 6 years ago and we had her again today. She is the first and only female Warden who lives at the tower.  Her name is Moira and she was wonderful!  We were even treated to scones, tea, coffee and pastries after our tour of the Jewels.  Moira took us up in the Tower to a “board room” that was set with all the aforementioned “goodies”!

Wow!  How much fun was today!!!  Even though the weather left a lot to be desired (windy, rainy and quite chilly) it didn’t dampen our spirits at all!  We all had a wonderfully entertaining day at the Races.  This was the fifth and final day of Royal Ascot and we weren’t disappointed. We enjoyed the showmanship of hats and fashion– as well as the races!  This is definitely the UK’s version of the Kentucky Derby — right down  to the fashion display of hats and outfits!  Gentlemen must be in a suit or tails and top hat and women are to be formally attired and wear a hat at all times!  Gaby spent the day with her new friend (our nanny, Lucia).  She also had a good time!

We are off early tomorrow for a private viewing of the Crown Jewels!  So far everything has been wonderful and amazing!  I’m posting the Ascot photos.   We did see the Queen’s Procession with the other members of the Royal Family that opens the day of racing.  I did get a photo of the Queen in her carriage. 

The last two photos are Trey’s belated birthday cake (he attacked the strawberries) and Gaby’s plush bear which she loves!  More tomorrow!  Stay tuned!

So here we are in London, having mostly recovered from our Jet lag… all except Grant, who faithful Heat fan that he is, found an American sports bar that was broadcasting the Championship game live at 2:00 am.  I will give him credit , he was up and on time for our morning private tour of Parliament.

First, however, I must talk a little about our departure.  One of our group, I promised not to give out names, boarded the plane and as they were reading the itinerary, realized they should have checked their luggage all the way through to London, not just Miami… It cost this person $60. 00 because they did not read the itinerary.  That was mistake #1.  Next, after deplaning and heading to baggage claim to claim the luggage in order to recheck it, as the doors closed on the tram, she saw the sign  that said “baggage claim”!  Oops!  That was mistake # 2.  Next, she was searching for a ladies room, and being in a bit of a hurry, she rushed in to see a gentleman standing there who was quite surprised to see her.. After a shocked expression, he began smiling while she beat a hasty retreat.  Mistake #3.  The next error was Annette’s. Being a little tired, she dressed Gaby in her sweater (photo below) but she put it on upside down.  Mistake #4.  Mistake #5 occurred when a nameless someone went into the shower to freshen up, but didn’t put down the window shade.  As she steps out of the shower she sees a gentleman just across the way looking over and smiling.  Opps, mistake # 5.   I have now stopped counting!!!

Alas, a bitter sweet day, because it’s our last.  We’ve had Lots of adventures, made new friends, had great exercise classes, devoured chocolate covered bananas, took a major mountain hike (by some), saw two Great Horned Owls and several Havalinas..   And what, you may ask, is a Havalina?  There is a photo below.  They look like small black pigs, but they are in fact, part of the rodent family. Annette spotted about ten of them this morning on the “Great Hike”.  It was supposed to be a level 2 hike that turned out to be a level 3!!  Annette made it all the way to the top!  Arlene  got almost there.. She didn’t have on good hiking shoes and was worried about slipping on the descent….

We’re all packed (we think) and ready for our 6:00am wake up. We’re coming home with tons of great memories and experiences as well as some new friends we hope will stay in touch ..

We’ve changed our minds.  We’re staying until the rains come in August!!

We are all having such a good time!  I lost 3 lbs this morning. The others are not yet divulging their

fantastic changes! I went to Aqua Shape and really enjoyed it. We all did Yoga Healthy Back (very worthwhile) and then I did stretching while Annette and Arlene hit TRX & Flex ( really difficult I heard)!  We then made time for a Demo lunch where the Chef made a really good crab sandwich using no mayonnaise.  He also taught us how to eat a cupcake— an “ah ha!” moment!  You tear the cupcake In half and turn it upside down to make a cupcake “sandwich” with icing in the middle!

We topped the night off with massages at the spa and had a golf cart drive us home!  Racing now to get to sleep since Arlene and Annette are doing a 6:30 am 4 mile hike tomorrow and I’m doing a 6:00-10:00 am hike and sketch and paint the Sonoran Dessert… 

So, what would YOU like to do?  Firm, tone and strengthen muscles? Lose weight? Relax and stretch? Hike and bike? Learn how to be a better photographer?  Talk to a Psychic? Sketch and paint the Sonoran Desert? Zumba?  Rope course? Desert drumming? Golf lessons?  Fire making? Make a terrarium? Or, veg at the Spa with facials, any kind of massage, make up lessons, etc.. You get the idea.  There is something here for everyone of any shape and of any age..  You can do nothing except enjoy the peace and solitude ( well, unless the three of us are around) and beauty of the resort, or you can schedule yourself to exhaustion.

Well, I’m ready to sign Bill up for the circuit! I wish I had video of how well he can strike the ball!! He has mastered the ability to just “go with it”, unlike yours truly, who has to work on just letting the club rip! The big difference between the first day and the last is that we are both FAR better at self diagnosing what went wrong. Bill strikes the ball well most times. I have an easier time on the range but have not come close to mastering or “translating” that same shot to the course. However, I HAVE HOPE! I am much more consistent then I was at the beginning.. So much to think about and remember. However, Bill and I are in total agreement that Guy is the absolutely PERFECT teacher for us. He has such a nice way of instructing and encouraging! Sometimes he says something and you go “Oh my gosh, that is so easy!” Or, “That makes so much sense!” You should be able to see the lightbulb that goes off in your head! Bill and I hope that we can return one day soon for “refresher” lessons. I hope to come back and show Guy how I’ve improved! Until then, I will be practicing twice a week and continuing to work on my short game ( which at the moment is the best part of my game!” ) Bill is just going to sail along and he’ll be on tour in no time at all! :).

I must not neglect to tell you how lovely this Four Seasons Resort is. There is something for everyone here! The landscape is SO different from Florida but just as beautiful in its own stark way! We actually saw a Road Runner dash across the edge of our putting green — and yes, they do actually go “Beep! Beep”. We’ve had rabbits that are so intent on chewing the tender green grass of the golf course that they are 4′ away from you and not the least bit worried. We’ve seen lots of lizards and we’re told the Bobcats come out with their kittens in the late afternoon at this time of year. One other important note, I’m sure the thermometer read somewhere close to 97 F or 98 F, however, the number on the thermometer does not equate to comfort on the course. There was actually a cool breeze on the range this morning. The heat has never been an issue at all while we’ve been here! What a difference the “dry” heat is from the humidity of Florida!!

Well, we have had a wonderful last day on the river. The afternoon tour was to the “tree top hotel” — Areiu Hotel. We spent the morning packing. Duffy was a tad under the weather this morning so in an abundance of caution, she did not go on the tour with us. However, she seemed fine at dinner this evening.

We took a boat ride to the entrance of the Rio Negro — one of the major tributaries for the Amazon. Actually, the Rio Negro is geologically a lot older than the Amazon River. It is in an area that is the least populous of the Amazon region– and this includes the large city of Manaus with 2 million people. Even with Manaus in the count, the region along the Rio Negro has less than one person per two square miles!! It is a river of black water. During the rainy season it rises , on average, by about 46 feet. They have seen indigenous Indian tribes in the area by plane, but these Indians have never met anyone from the outside world. They are not even sure what kind of Indians they are. There is a photograph, taken from the airplane, of one of these villages and the men are attempting to shoot down the airplane with bows and arrows! Another interesting fact is that there are no mosquitoes in this region. The black water is too acidic for the mosquitoes to survive. There are a very few variety of fish that survive in the acidic flood waters. They eat the fruits off the submerged trees when the floods begin.. These fish develop a large layer of fat. They live off their fat in the dry season when the flood waters recede from June until November.

We visited a hotel that is literally built in the trees! There are several large round towers that hold guests. The hotel was first conceived back in the 1980’s when Cousteau came to the area to explore the region. He thought the area was so beautiful, he suggested they build something to allow others to see the area. The reality TV show, Survivor, Amazon was filmed here using this hotel as a base. Also,the movie, Anaconda, was filmed here by George Lucas. While the Hotel is very interesting and a great place to visit and walk around on the suspended walkways, I don’t think it’s a place I would want to spend the night.

We were so late getting back to our ship, that we actually missed the ship!! Our guide was very talkative! We were supposed to be back by 5:00 pm because our ship was up anchoring and repositioning. We saw Sojourn go sailing past us and we had to chase her for about 45 minutes before she stopped to anchor. She was repositioning for a Beach Party dinner on the shore. While it looked like it might be nice, we ended up getting back so late we decided to eat on board instead of doing the beach barbecue. The skies looked threatening and the bugs looked huge ! One of the photos below is of a Rhineocerous Beetle, found only during the wet season! We opted for the quiet of the main dining room and AC, and bug free!
We fly home tomorrow but we have all enjoyed this journey immensely!

We continue to enjoy our last few precious days of this wonderful journey.. We are headed for the large city of Manaus– about halfway into Brazil along the Amazon River. Manaus is a large industrial center for Amazonia- the region. We will fly home on Monday. We have one more neat tour scheduled for tomorrow and I will try to post photos of it , IF I get all my packing done in time!

Yesterday we visited Santarem.. It is a city of around 200,000 people — mostly young people who come from all over the region to attend one of the eleven universities in the city! It is also a large port for shipping soybeans– one of four great industries for this area. The other three are cattle, illegal and legal logging and mining.
The Amazon River and the rainforest provides 20% of the world’s fresh water and 20% of the world’s oxygen . A large part of this region is in danger due to illegal logging (80% of the logging is illegal) and the cutting back of the rainforest to grow crops. Surprisingly, the soil is very poor for raising crops. It is very sandy and has been leached of important nutrients by the constant rains. Still, this does not deter many people from doing “slash and burn”. A family of five needs 70 acres of cleared land to grow the crops to support the family. In order to clear the land, they “slash and cut down the area of the trees and brush, put them in a pile to dry, and when they are dry enough, they burn it.. This produces the ash that will be the necessary fertilizer for the crop to be grown. This is happening at an alarming rate and the government just can’t get a handle on it because the area so so vast and so hard to patrol. They are also clearing land like crazy to graze cattle. Brazil is now an exporter of beef.. We learned that 25% of all the prescription drugs dispensed in the US have some plant material from the Amazon in them. There are still thousands of plants yet to be researched and it is believed that many of them will have great curative powers. — especially for cancer patients we’re told..hopefully these species will not be destroyed before scientists get a chance to research them.

We did a four hour boat trip just outside of Santarem yesterday. It was called “A Meeting of the Waters”. You will see in the photos below the dramatic color mixing of the “black” water mixing with the brown water of the main River channel. The water is black because of all the tannic acid in the water. This occurs during the rainy season when the Tannin trees get submerged and begin to decay. They put a lot of this black “tannin” in the water. One other photo shows a bright green stripe in the water. This is caused by algae and it is quite a stunning emerald green!

Our trip included finding a sloth, a howler monkey, multiple beautiful birds and piranha fishing! One of the photos below shows a “lump” in the top of a tree (sort of looks like a big seed pod). That is the sloth. We learned the sloth only comes down out of the Cicropia tree about once a month to “eliminate”! He climbs down, digs a hole by the base of the tree, does his thing and crawls back up. The sloth has caterpillars attached to his fur which help camouflage him in the trees. The caterpillars get off when the sloth comes down, lay their eggs in the dung, and get back on the sloth for their ride back up. This is a perfect example of symbiosis — the sloth eats the leaves of the tree (gets all the water he needs from the leaves), provides fertilizer for the tree and a hosting place to lay the eggs of the caterpillar who helps camouflage him! This is a very delicately balanced Eco system..

Today is a “River day” as we drift further into the continent..sometimes the vegetation in the water is so thick it looks like you could walk on it. We are in the middle of their rainiest season so the waters are fairly high. Many of the huts you will see in the photos below are abandoned in the rainy season as the waters rise. The natives will be back in 6 months to rebuild or start a new simple hut if they can’t repair the old one.
I will mention that they just discovered an extremely large Anaconda close to Santarem. They are building a road and encountered a 45 foot Anaconda snake.. They did say that was close to a record for this area. In case you ever encounter one of these guys (they crush you to death) try and gouge their eyes. That will make them release their hold on you. They say that is about the ONLY thing that works once they have you in their “grip”! On that note of helpful advice, I’ll sign off for now and hope to post tomorrow night after our tour..

PS. Our boat had some good fisherman on it and we caught 3 Piranha and one small catfish. However, we were not one of the lucky fishermen!
PPS I am posting a few photos of the impressive “fire” drill the crew did on our deck! Had the fire hoses shooting water and everything! Very comforting.

Well, here we are, slowly cruising down a river in one of the most amazing places on earth. The Amazon is home to over 300,000 different species of trees. I can’t even remember all the amazing facts I heard at a lecture this morning, but boy was I impressed. A couple that I remember: there is the equivalent of 275,000 ten ton dump trucks of sediment being carried down this river EVERY DAY! There is enough fresh water flowing into the ocean every day to provide all of New York city’s water needs for NINE years! One analogy that was used– the River moves the equivalent of 300,000 soccer balls (each a cubic foot in size) of sediment every SECOND! I cannot remember the numbers of different species of flowers to be found here– around 30,000 I believe..

The River is a muddy brown- or if you’re romantic- a cafe o’leit color –because of the huge amount of sediment in the water. There is fresh water 110 miles outside of the river as it flows into the ocean the outflow is so great! It is still the rainy season here (always rains but there is a season where it rains a little less). Thus, you see a great deal of floating debris/vegetation in the water. Small huts are built on stilts close to the bank to avoid rising waters in the rainier of times. When we get off the ship, we will be in a surprisingly large city, Manaus, in the heart of Brazil and the Amazon River basin. The Amazon supplies 20% of the world’s fresh water! There is much to be amazed and awed by this great region– including how the first Europeans in the 1500’s managed to travel so far in a land they knew nothing about. They were successful in coming in from the ocean and going all the way to Manaus , which is about halfway down the main branch of the river–mostly looting and pillaging as they went.

We do a tour tomorrow afternoon so I’ll try to remember the more interesting facts!

The first photo is of a moth who is hitching a ride underneath the lip of the whirlpool at the rear of the ship! Photos are not really interesting yet because it’s just mile after mile of jungle river bank and brown water. Duffy is relaxing with her book and Bill is at a lecture on the Gershwins! More tomorrow!