22nd January Looking for umbrellas San Juan


 Welcome to the great US of A or at least one of its protectorates, Puerto Rico. And as such we were up showered, shaved (well TOM was) and shat before 6.30am, in order to have breakfast and be in the queue for a ticket, ready to allow us to encounter US border control, something that everyone on the ship had to do regardless of whether they were actually going ashore or not.

We were one of 5 ships in port today with our 2000 passenger vessel dwarfed by the others ships including Celebrity Eclipse and A??? of the seas, and we guesstimated that must have equated to over 15000 passengers in town today.

So armed with boarding passes, passports and Estas we waited in line, fearing the worst which in this case was not being refused entry due to faulty paperwork but the fear of TOM asking the customs officer just what he thought of Trump, something he seems intent on asking any American he meets. As it was our paperwork was in order and TOM was too concerned with why I had to have two sets of fingerprints taken whilst he didn't require any.

San Juan itself was lovely even if we didn't manage to arm ourselves with a map which might have helped our 10 must see itinerary. As it was we saw some, encountered others we didn't know about, and couldn't find others including the famous 'umbrella street', which we later learned had been taken down for the Chrstmas festivities. What we did see was great, a lovely coastal walk, the El Morra fort and cemetery, the ????? and some Battenburg multicoloured buildings running along the cobblestone streets in the old part of the town. Even the sudden and ferocious tropical downpour didn't literally dampen our spirits as thankfully we were under shelter at the time the 10 min deluge began. 

But whoever gave Americans so many options and choices when it comes to ordering a coffee, needs to be taken out and shot. Noone and I mean noone needs options for coffee type, cup size, flavouring, kind of milk, mixed or blended, % recycled cup, hot or cold, iced or steamed, sweetened or salted, shaken or stirred. That's 40 mins of my life I'll never get back.

Tonight, just to mix things up a bit, we went to Gallery 47, which is the upper section of the usual dining room set aside to offer an Italian flavour. And it was 'bella'. Not so sure the same could be said of the evening entertainment, a Lee Evans impersonater (I very nearly wrote Lee Mack there) who was a bit hit and miss. 

But at least we managed to stay awake until almost 10pm tonight, leaving those in the on board casino to either celebrate their winnings ro drink away their losses. 

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