Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Bermuda in April 2009 Meme, Lea, and Jim

Saturday

Suzanne, the limo driver, picked us up at 6am and serenaded us to Logan.

At Gate 13, the $400 offer to give up our seats tempted us. Somehow that didn’t seem like enough money for us to endure hanging around a New York airport all day to fly out in the evening giving up our dream to get to Bermuda as soon as possible. We wanted to hurry up and relax!

Our nice flight flew by as we sat next to Bermudian who was in the Army – just back from a training sail to the Azores. He told us some good things to do during our week.

Ah, we stepped off the airplane into warm air and a blue sky Bermuda!

Daniel, the taxidriver, drove up to the St George’s Club. Located up on the hill overlooking the town square, this cluster of small cottages offers a wonderful place to enjoy St George’s.

St George’s is the oldest continuously inhabited town of English origin in the western hemisphere. Founded in 1612, this town contains unique and diverse examples of Bermudian architecture spanning the past four centuries. Small stucco buildings built into the hills makes for a charming village.

Meme and Grampy have had a time share at the St. George’s Club for 25 years. This year Meme invited Jim and me to join her for the week.

Being offered a free glass of champagne, we had lunch right away at the club – grilled fished and open face crabmeat sandwiches – delightful!

Found #32 – wow! What a view of St.Georgre’s Harbor! Some large vessel tied up at the dock – “Maltese Falcon” – this was unusual to have a modern three masted vessel in our sight. With its carbon fiber masts glimmering in the sunshine, it looked like three tinsel Christmas trees (the Charlie Brown type).

Unpacking in our very spacious upstairs “master suite” was easy. I love the sunken tub over looking the harbor and king size bed!

Right away my paint brushes beckoned as we sat at our round table on the terrace. What a sight to paint. Jim fed the chickens!

Jim and I tried out one of the three swimming pools. As the only swimmers in the pool we floated around for a nice long swim in the cool water.


We all walked down the stairs to the old town – to Somers market – bought some dinner.
Tiffany drove us back up the hill. Nice to use the cloth bag that Keara got us in Japan.

Reading, knitting, painting, listening to Appalachian Spring – this is an easy way to spend our first evening in Bermuda.

We enjoyed salmon, mussel pie, coleslaw, and coconut rice for dinner with mincemeat pies for dessert – oh, Pinot Grigio or Chardonnay for the blue hour.

Sunday

Smelling the wonderful aroma of fresh brewed coffee, we woke up around 8am. Meme had made coffee. We walked the high roads to the Stella Maris church. The singing was great – a reggae guitar and singing choir – nice to be with the people of Bermuda for their worship. Denise and Patrick Doolan introduced themselves to us in the church yard afterwards.

We wandered around the square – quiet on a Sunday morning – went to investigate the huge sailing vessel – “Maltese Falcon” – met Captain Chris – who told us the boat was 220 feet long – can go 25 knots! Someone from NY Yacht Club owns it – and a Russian is coming to look at it – they are always looking for crew – the minimum requirement is to have the ABYS certification.

One our way back we stopped for a coffee at the Gourmet Café – sat near some Bermudian army officers – listening to them and the Sunday sounds around town.

Birds called kisskadees sing their name, tree frogs peep, and the motor scooters vrmmm – all special sounds of Bermuda.

The turquoise water, hedges of Hibiscus, white ridged roofs, and pink houses make this a magical place.

Sunday Brunch at the St. George Club must be in the list of top ten things to do before you die. We were the first to arrive at noon.
‘Reservations?” the waiter asked.
“No, do we need them?” we answered.
“Well, what time would you like – now?” he laughed and wrote our number down in the book.
He motioned for us to come in and start the buffet!
The tables were full of delectable dishes; smoked salmon and smoked mackerel, oysters on the half shell (Jim said; “they were outrageous!”), sushi, 5 kinds of salad and coleslaw, too, strawberry salsa, bread in the shape of crabs & fish as well as popovers – oh, and cream of broccoli soup – those were the starters – then omelets made to order, which none of us had, because there was grilled Wahoo, grilled lamb chops, fishcakes, potato gratin, 5 cheese macaroni, garlic shrimp, ham (that tasted like chicken, roast beef, steamed vegetables and two tables of desserts!
We tasted only half of the desserts offered and rated them as follows;

Good, but not as good as the better, best and very best: chocolate cream puffs (too heavy), sliced striped sweet bread (too oily and not very sweet), chocolate bread (dense), chocolate cookie (dry and crumbly), brownie (ok).

Better; vanilla cream puffs, white and chocolate cake with pecans on top.

The BEST: lemon meringue pie, crème Brule, pear- apple cobbler, apricots flambé.

The VERY best: coconut cream pie!

After the brunch, Meme took a siesta. Jim and I read for an hour. Ready for some exercise, we decided to hike the Railway Trail from St. George’s to Ferry Point Park; a five mile trek.

Along the outer edge of the island, we hiked along the flat trail between caverns cut through the coral. Beautiful views of the turquoise Atlantic on our right. Jim said my shirt was the same color as the water! On our left we enjoyed delightful views of tropical vegetation, carved coral, a Lover’s Lake Nature Reserve fringed with mangroves, a lime kiln that is over 100 years old and various homes along the shoreline. Along the way we met tourists and Bermudians alike out for a Sunday walk – some taking their dogs for a walk.

Upon arrival at the park, we met the man who sat behind us in church that morning! He recognized us! We realized who he was because he was still surrounded by his three sons who were constantly asking him questions. There were a few families and lots of kids. One boy was carrying a long stick and wearing a home made paper headdress looking like something left over from Easter. This kid reminded us of our son, Fraser, always carrying a stick (hence his Katahdin name “Walking Stick”) and impersonating some character from a story, a movie, or his imagination. It was fun to meet Hugh, his wife, who was not in church, and the other family with them. His wife called to him; “Hugh, I need you over here to help with the dogs!” They headed off to hike toward St George’s as we explored the park.

We saw the best preserved example of a Martello Tower – an egg fortress built to stop Napoleon. Here is where the railway crossed the passage. Now, only the base of the train bridge remained. We debated whether to take the bus back or walk, still thinking of the huge brunch we consumed, we opted to walk back. Along the trail we met up with Hugh and the kids again!

Jim the Joker shared a few jokes especially thinking of the one boy who was wearing a paper head dress with white flaps looking like rabbit ears.
“How do you catch a unique rabbit?” answer? “You neek up on it!”
“How do you catch a tame rabbit?” answer? “tame way’.
Hugh who seemed a lot like Jim asked; “What do you call a Bambi that cannot see?” answer; “No eye deer (no idea!)”
“What do you call a Bambi that can’t walk and can’t see?” answer; “still no eye deer”.

We hurried on ahead thinking of our long walk back. We hiked back around the oil docks – did not like that detour – too industrial for our Bermuda vacation! Whew, it was hot and all of a sudden my feet hurt! Ouch! The heat penetrated through my sneakers and made me so uncomfortable. Jim complained, too. When we got to the main road, we saw a bus pass – geeze, we could have taken that bus back to St. George’s if only there was a bus stop near by.

We hiked along the side of the road, cringing as the fast small cars whizzed along the curvy road. Like an oasis, I spied a bus stop! “Jim, let’s just rest our aching feet here for a few minutes, I mean, we have been walking for two hours straight without a break.” “Sure.” Jim replied; “But, don’t expect another bus for a long time.” However, as I looked through the trees around the bens, a large pink shape seemed to be heading our way! Hurrah! As the bus stopped, on the door we read “exact fare only” – we had no idea what that was, but the bus driver motioned for us to alight. He realized our confusion and invited us to sit down without paying. Lucky for us, we had the magic bus ride for the last few miles of our Railway Trail adventure!

When we arrived back at #32, Meme was having her afternoon tea (at 7 pm?). We convinced her to watch us as we took a swim in the heated pool – nice for our aching feet! The evening was nice – with wine on our patio. Jim was painting and feeding the chickens again. I read the prologue to The Alchemist, and we sipped our white wine as we watched the purple clouds reflected in the lovely sunset.

We snacked on potato chips as we found the PBS channel on the TV for masterpiece Theatre – “Little Dorrit” – only trouble was – it was Rocky Mountain Time – two hours later than Bermudian time. We dozed and waked until we could watch it – some of us kept dozing through the show, but we succeeded in understanding enough of Part 4 the Dickens’ story to be able to see part 5 next week when we are home.

MONDAY

Jim and I enjoyed coffee on our balcony as we took in the sights of the harbor below us. A freighter had come in sometime during the night. We saw the orange lifeboat on the stern – like the one in which Captain Phillips survived the pirate’s hostage. Jim made oatmeal and mangoes for our breakfast. As we were cleaning up, Jim alerted us to movement of the Maltese Falcon.

We had the ‘best seat in the harbor’ to watch this spectacle. How a 220 foot three masted modern tall ship raises her sails and sails out the narrow cut to the ocean seemed effortless! We marveled at how easy it seemed to put out the fore course, lower topsail, upper topsail, t’gallant, & royal – looks like they just pushed a button and the sails emerged from the various carbon fiber booms.
Remembering our summer aboard the Regina Maris, when we did this all by hand, Jim and I stared in wonder. What a sight! Jim and I had been in Bermuda the summer of 1976 when we saw Hamilton Harbor full of those nostalgic square rigged vessels. Now this modern version sparkled using the old design with current technology and new fangled material.

Just to add some drama, the ferry boat emerged from the narrow cut entering the harbor exactly at the time the Maltese Falcon was headed to exit. The ferry gave way to the sailing craft just in time!

One might say we had a dramatic start to our Monday!

Down in St. George’s Jim bought us some bus tickets at a variety store. Meme spotted Obama T-shirts and calendars. Everyone in the world loves Barack and his family – yeh for the USA!

With a bunch of people at the bus stop, we waited for Bus #6 to take us to St. David’s Lighthouse. A handsome couple intrigued me, so I asked where they were from – Venezuela! We had a fun chat with them about Caracus, Canaima, their small airplane, and how Venezuela has changed in the past ten years. A lady on the park bench talked with me about knitting. She saw me making the purple mohair shawl and told me about the yellow sweater she had not finished for her grandson. Another lady just passing by, told me to go the knitting shop around the corner, not the one on the main street! Meeting people in Bermuda is one of the fun things to do.

Bus #6 finally arrived and took us along the winding roads passing pink, yellow, blue, and bright green houses in and around the palm treed landscape to reach St David’s Light which is the view directly across from our unit at the St. George’s Club.

Jim has raced in 13 Newport-Bermuda races – always heading for St. David’s Light. In 1996, “Gaylark” won the sterling silver St. David Lighthouse trophy. Jim had not been to this part of Bermuda since 1972 when he stayed in a cove here aboard the yacht “Tantara” before sailing in the Trans-Atlantic Race. We listened to him tell stories about riding motor bikes through the paths in the woods as they got the boat ready.

We took a quick look at the lighthouse and answered the waves from the waitresses at the Lighthouse Grill restaurant. We sat out on the patio overlooking the planted fields, farm land, and the white water shed area on the near hill. In the distance we saw the lovely Clearwater Beach stretching along the turquoise water.

What a lovely lunch we enjoyed; fresh grilled fish, spinach salads with goat cheese and apple pie a la mode. This time we got only one dessert and three spoons – not like at the SGC Brunch when we each got 8 desserts and ate them all!


Meme started talking sharing stories from the past. One was about how dad’s father (CSD) used to tease her all the time. She had a coat with a cape on it. He said it looked like a West Point coat – so she did not want to wear it when she knew she’d see him. She said that she felt dad’s father’s teasing was a compliment to her. She told us how CSD loved children and dogs. He was devoted to his own children. He called Pat Flaherty “Miss Muffin” and little Maury “Illich” (Tchaikovsky’s middle name.) CSD loved music, but had a monotone voice when he sang. One time he was in a bad mood and nothing seemed right to him. With a chuckle, Meme remembers Aunt Marilyn asking him; “Do you like your tea?” (as if, do you at least like that?)

Our waiter, Mahinda was from Sri Lanka. He left his 13 year old daughter, Mahinsh with his wife back home to work in Bermuda for two years. He told us they speack Singalese in Sri Lanka. His daughter already speaks, French, German, English as well as her home language. She is thinking of becoming a veterinarian.

After lunch we wanted to hike up the lighthouse, but a nice man up there told us the lighthouse keeper was not there. Jim said he had called to learn that the lighthouse was open every day from 10-5pm. The man said he was correct, but that the lighthouse keeper was not there today and had not been there last week either! We walked around the grounds and then down the hill to get the bus.

The bus home was full of school children – so polite, they immediately gave us their seats. Lots of energy in that bus, the driver had to keep reminding them to be quiet.

Back at ‘home’, I down loaded photos and worked on my laptop a bit. Jim on the small couch and Meme on the big couch settled in to their books, but quickly fell asleep. Looking at them, I wish I could have moved Meme to the small couch and Jim to the larger couch, but there were no complaints from them.

The afternoon sipped by, before we knew it, it was time to walk over to Dana and Chris’ house. Jackson answered the phone when I called to tell them we were on our way, walking slowly with Meme. I asked him if he remembered me and Jim because we had met him two years ago here and then again in the summer in baddeck. He honestly answered; “no”, but seemed happy that we were coming.

Meme looked lovely in her white pants and apricot and white flower patterned light cotton sweater. Just a short distance along the main road out of St. Georgre’s, we carefully kept our safety from the small speeding cars zooming home from work. The walk included a segment along the old Railway Trail as we neared the driveway to Dana’s beautiful home. We met her in her car driving out to find us. The house that Chris and Dana built on his family’s land is set high on a hill with a beautiful lawn rolling down to the driveway. Across the driveway is their farm yard, full of chickens now. They used to have goats which ate up too much of everything. The driveway continues down to a landing where they have a dock on the St. George’s Harbor. Jackson says that’s where they go swimming. Apparently Chris swims every evening.

Inside the house we saw that they had prepared a quick a feast for us; Wahoo with a homemade red pepper relish, tiny roasted potatoes, salad with subtle trimmings, seeded bread, and broccoli rabe (one of Chris’ favorites which is not always available on the island). I was happy to see that they had plenty of Pelligrino sparkling water!
Their open airy house has a high ceiling and a large tiled living room with a spacious kitchen at one end separated by a granite island. Into the TV room, the wall on the left is a full sized black board.

Dana gave us a choice to eat inside or in the cool evening. We opted for the beauty of the outdoors. Dana set the table on the front veranda – a long teak table with a white cloth and two bougainvillea in blue and white bowls. The deep pink lacey petals covering the tiny white star centers contrasted with the bright blue and white ceramic against the fresh white linen tablecloth with palm trees blowing and the long lawn down to the turquoise waters set the scene for a sensational evening. Chris explained that they have a bougainvillea vine behind the house and that is his favorite flower. (I like a guy who has a favorite flower!)

Jackson was very attentive to us asking. He asked; ‘What have you done in Bermuda so far?” So cute! He had brought out his new toy koala bear that a friend who had just come back from Australia gave him - thinking of our year in Australia. What a thoughtful young man! Jim and I enjoyed playing “I spy snap” with him realizing he also had a competitive nature, too! He is 8 years old, likes to play soccer, baseball, and takes violin lessons as well. Stasia is everything a 2 ½ year old should be- just gave u p her afternoon nap, so was a little ‘touchy’ in the evening – although very charming for us! She and her big brother took turns jumping off the wall – laughing and running around entertaining us with their exuberance.

Lovely conversation made for a wonderful evening. They all fell in love with our Meme presenting her with a photo book about Bermuda – written by Chris’ aunt, Ann Spurling.
This might be kept in the ‘Bermuda room’ at the beach house for all to enjoy.


TUESDAY

Partly cloudy skies and windy today, we decide to head over to Elbow Beach.
“I love the sound of those motor bikes. It reminds me of Italy.” Meme says.

We just walk down the hill to catch the bus to Hamilton. Jim bought us bus passes- we can go anywhere on the island by bus or by FERRY! There is a high speech CAT ferry now – this is new to us for traveling around Bermuda.

We see a goat in a pick-up truck out the front bus window - maybe he is going to “mow” someone else’s lawn? In Hamilton we roam around the streets, we see the old Post Office, the Library, all the shops. Meme and I just had to go into the Irish Linen Shop. With Tea cozies and t-towels, we met Jim out in front. We hike back up to the bus station to get the #7 bus so we can go to Elbow Beach for lunch.
We decided to sit on the patio by the pool, a little windy at the beach, we enjoyed a lovely lunch. Meme and I shared the 3 mini hamburger & sweet potato fries plate. Jim had a chicken pannini – we all enjoyed the Lilly coffee. Airish, our waitress from the Philippines, took good care of us. We left Meme to knit in the Elbow Beach lobby.
Jim and I went for a beach walk – wonderful to stretch our legs along the shoreline and wiggle out toes in the pink sand of Bermuda. We found a protected spot in the coral cliffs at the end of the beach. Jim painted, I photographed. We both stopped and listened to the surf – powerful, beautiful, wonderful.

We ‘bus it” back to Hamilton. In and out of shops, Jim buys a new watch band. We have afternoon tea at the Paridiso Café. Meme insisted on ordering the red current tart – very very good; crust, coddled cream, and fruit (raspberries, red currents, chopped strawberries) on top.

Jim encouraged us to take the ferry back to St, George’s – what a great idea! We sped along the regular channel – the inside passage – almost the whole length of the island. Jim was happy to see Bermuda the way he usually does – from the water! We all liked this much better than the bus ride!

Finally home in St. George’s, we had an early supper at the White Horse Tavern. Sam, our waiter from Mumbai India, recommended the pina coladas! White drinks at the White Horse! Nice dinners, too. Jim had snapper and Meme and I split the almond encrusted rockfish served with banana flambé! Meme and I did a little window shopping as we walked home – even found a Swiss cow bell on a shop window sill. Jim went to pick up a few items at Somers Grocery Store – wine, orange & sultana biscuits, gingerbread, mangoes, jam, and scones.

Back at #32, we had gingerbread soaked in rum with coddled cream on top! First we watched Cooking with Friends, a Bermudian cooking show taking us to various places on the island – learned some new recipes to share. Check out: www.cookingwithfriends.bm. Do you want to know how to make crème brule in pumpkin shells? Scottish eggs? Trifle? Next we watch some more PBS. We have gotten used to the Rocky Mountain PBS station. Tonight we laughed a lot watching “The Car of the Future’ with Click and Clack, the Tappet brothers. Funny and very informative!

WEDNESDAY

Our Wednesday morning was S L O W and relaxing. We enjoyed our coffee, scones with butter and jam, and papaya juice. Jim and I jumped in the warm swimming pool and met some friendly people from New Brunswick – Shediack right near Moncton. They knew about the Iceberg pub that we ate at when we got marooned there in the snowstorm last February.

We meandered down to the town square, to Somers Park. Everyone paraded around in a festive mood. Some people dressed up in old fashioned costumes, some dressed in high fashion with outrageous “Melbourne Cup” hats, and some like us in comfortable style. This is just one festivity of the year long celebration of Bermuda’s 400th birthday. Today was the start of the Town Crier Competition! International contestants from the US, Canada, Britain, & Scotland joined some Town Crier competitors from Bermuda. A panel of judges rated each one as they YELLED their piece! The mayor of St. George’s and other dignitaries welcomed us all to a gala party with light refreshments – very nice!

We left Meme to cruise the shops. Jim and I hiked up behind the St George’s Club across the abandoned golf course to the beach at St. Catherine’s. Why they closed the golf course and tore down the Mulligan’s golf club is beyond our comprehension. They also tore down the huge abandoned hotel back over there and even the little restaurant on the beach. What is happening to St. George’s?

As we hiked around Blackbeard’s restaurant with the workmen hammering and electric tools humming, we found our way down the tiny pink sandy beach nestled in the coral like a grotto. Jim said; “I’m going for a swim. I can’t come all the way to Bermuda and not take a dip in the ocean!” He swam out into the turquoise water and climbed on the coral outcrops. They had a ladder going up and he dove off – not quite like ET, but some thing to jump off nonetheless.

Jim and I have such fond memories of dinner at Blackbeard’s two years ago – our anniversary with everyone enjoying the sunset – gorgeous sky over the expansive ocean.
With cloud cover today and a 20 knot wind we had a different sky to enjoy as we strolled across this wild side of St. George’s.

Back at #32 we met up with Meme for afternoon tea. She told us of her afternoon escapades around the square – just looking – everything seemed more expensive.
She almost bought some stationery with the caption; “Life is not a rehearsal, live it!”




THURSDAY

Woke up
Swimming
Walked downtown
Lunch at George & Dragon
Shopped old St George’s
Jim & I swam with the parrot fish and Mullets at Tobacco Bay
Carriage House for dinner






FRIDAY
Jim got up early and went fishing with Andrew
Meme & I lingered with our coffee
Downtown by 9 am
Walked around in the morning light
Visited with Ann Brown at her lovely condo on the harbor
Noon ferry to Dockyards
Wandered around the old buildings and shops
Anyone who loves boats will love dockyards
Lunch at Beethoven’s
Best Root beer floats
Veggie kabob
Ride the shuttle train that didn’t stop at the craft fair
Met all the people from Texas from the cruise ship
Ferry to Hamilton
Cecile’s “We really should be shopping somewhere where we might actually buy something.”
Ferry back to St. George’s
Jim not back yet – no fish for dinner?
Meme and I enjoy a sunset with a glass of wine – oatmeal digestives with Rats cheese
Then dinner at the Pub – Trigger fish! Chocolate lava cake with ginger ice cream
Kareoke night!
Listened to Jim tell us his “fishing tale”


SATURDAY

Another nice day!
Jim and I took our last swim in the pool!
Packed up – sad to leave this luxurious place!
Relax and wait for the taxi.
We’ve been viewing the airport from this lovely condo “Ponsettia” – now we have to fly!
Home to 80 degree temperatures!

Bye to all the Causarina pine trees blowing in the soft Bermuda breezes.
Bye to the kissakadess calling their name.
Bye to speckled hen and black tail rooster.
Bye to the Longtails, rockfish and humpback whales.
Bye to expanding waistline!
Bye to pink sands and no shells on the beaches.
Bye to turquoise waters sparkling in the sunshine.
Bye to pink busses and high speed ferries driving all around this paradise island – Bermuda!

No comments:

Post a Comment