Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Crossing Rio de la Plata from Buenos Aires to Colonia del Sacramento

My latest received SPAM. Haha it's so Funny

Buenos Aires, Dec 5 - 2007 - This was the Morning we had to wake up early. We should cross Rio de la Plata to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay. All our 3 Alarm Clocks were ON as part of our Risk Management Procedures.

With Boat Tickets, Sightseeing and Lunch Vouchers well checked out we took at Taxi down to the Harbour. That was an easy drive, until we met the morning rush at Avenida Antártida Argentina, which runs parallell to Puerto Madero and the new Buquebus Ferry Terminal.

Checking in on this Ferry Terminal, is very similar as to an International Flight. Passporte, Tickets and Security Control and New Ticket and Passport Check. At least, there were no restrictions on water and perfume etc. In fact, these Day-trips are very popular among the Portenos (as the people of Buenos Aires are called) as they can buy tax free perfumes, wine, liquer, tobacco, jewelleries, cloths, candy's, electronics etc. The trip takes about 3 hrs each way, unless go go by the Hydrofoil (50 minutes). We were not in a hurry.

On the Ferry, you will have a seat, similar to what you are used to in an airplane, but more space. There are cafeterias for simple food and beverages. On the deck is a snack bare serving all kinds of beverages, snacks and ice cream. But, it was closed the day we crossed, due to rain. Lucky us. The option was to stroll around Buenos Aires a rainy day. That would have hurt my wallet and credit cards, travelling with two women.

Buenos Aires Skyline - Click to enlarge

Crossing Rio de la Plata. The water is filled with mud and sediments from the great river Parana (incl side rivers like Paraguay, Uruguay and Iguazu). The river delta is growing 46.5 meters a year. Click and you will discover an amazing growth;D

Ingelin, still on board. Too cold water for her to swim (used to Florida)

On Top Deck a rainy Day

First sight of Uruguay

We arrived in heavy rain. No rain coats brought, optimistic as we allways are. Buses were waiting for us. (Luckely I found the Vouchers) To bring us to the Lunch restaurant.

- It will stop raing when we starts the Sightseeing after lunch, I proclaimed.
- Ha ha, Ingelin and Anna replied

Then we had Lunch, in a cellar, originally part of a large brick barn.

After lunch: Sightseeing by bus. Had it stopped raining? As allready told the ladies: Yes.

National Flower (Flag?)
Colonia del Sacramento, Some facts:
Built in Portuguese style of houses and cobblestoned streets, the historic portion of Colonia is reminiscent of old Lisbon. Winding streets and colorful houses are laid out in a pattern different from Spanish colonial cities, and a delight to explore. The historic quarter, Barrío Historico, on a small peninsula jutting out into the river, was named a
UNESCO heritage site in 1995.

And pictures (all taken by ourselfes):

Very relaxing in Old Town - Here the Entrence with sleeping German Sheppard
Some scenes from the Historical, Old Town. Let the pictures talk for themself. It's Wordless Wednesday:














Have you seen my ladies lately?


Flower covered street

Would you believe it, when the walking part of the Sightseeing did start, what did we see? The Sun and Blue Sky.


Flowering Tree

Hey, where is my Cellphone?


Cheese



and cappuccino



New Country - New Shopping. . . .

Papa, very well trained to find a place to rest while the ladies goes shopping (The banking system did not work, so it ended with nothing new in the shopping bag)


Did someone had a huge barbecue? No, the Whale was washed ashore.


After 25 years of Marriage

And when we returned to the Ferry? It started raining and blowing again, and the temperatur dropped from 25 C (77 F) to below 10 C (50 F).

We did buy some small things in the TaxFree, but the banking/creditcard connection failed.
Two minutes before arrival in Buenos Aires, who came running after me but the very servicemined cashier: We have connection, you can pick up the goods. Hurray.

Well off the Ferry, star clair sky in Buenos Aires. We had dinner at an outdoor restaurant around Midnight. Perfect timing. And a wondeful day. (PS. It was Ingelin's Country #63)
This post is part of Mrs Lifecruiser's Cybercruises. If you love to travel, well, then you will find more neutral travel information here than anywhere else in Cyber Space.

And if you feel for some moment of beauty, visit Fleur de Lisa . Impressive post

Labels: , , , , ,

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Newsflash from SOBE (Miami Beach)

Saturday afternoon - a short report from the Botanical Garden

I will now reveal 3 flowers - each with two levels in their development. The flowers was found in the Japanese Garden in Miami Beach. The Photos are shown without any comments. If you know the name of the different flowers, I'll give you a surprise.







Still in SOBE. We have had a wonderful day. Lot's of stuff to be posted later on. So stay tuned.



Meet other Cybercruisers at Mrs Lifecruiser.

Labels: , , , ,

Friday, November 09, 2007

Biking in SOBE - November 9 - 2007

A Cybercruise mini-report: South Beach Miami (Beach)
Today Ingelin and papa went biking in SOBE (South Beach - Miami Beach).
I have not gone biking for several years. And with the H D (Harley) style handle bars, I had to learn from the beginning. Took me 48 seconds, before I had to put my left foot to the ground. I was not out of balance - but where are the brakes?

Haha - these "design"-bikes have brakes like bicycles in the Art Deco period. Which is the right thing to have here in the Art Deco district of South Beach.

Papa is now an experienced art deco bike biker

Who needs a Harley Davidson in environments like this? I'm a real BIKER. Can't you see and admit .....
We cycled around SOBE - then down Ocean Drive. Wow - the buildings are magnificent.

A real biker drinks what a real biker has to drink: VOSS Water

Before we went to the Beach, we had 17 seconds of rest - or did Ingelin wait for papa?

Ingelin and Art Deco Bikes on the Beach

A Touch of SOBE and the Architecture - with Ingelin and "my" bike

Folks, this is only the beginning. Tons of pictures taken. And lot's of interesting stories and history to come. Art Deco District will be fully reported - with histories from several hotels. So stay tuned in November.
PS - Invited to an Island party with Ingelin - friends of her. Before that, we will go to a restaurant ordering Fois Gras etc. OK?
More to come .....

PS. Hope you all cruisers have had a wonderful Ship Launch Party

Labels: , , ,

Arriving Miami and USA

A Cybercruisers report:

Miami Beach at Night

My first report from Miami is not was it was supposed to be. I’ll spice this “horror” story with some pictures from the first evening with Ingelin in Miami Beach.

I left our winter home at 10 pm Eastern Time on Wednesday and arrived at Miami International airport at 2:15 pm on Thursday.

Ingelin was waiting for me. I had only to go through the passport control. With all papers according to the rules, we both were convinced this should be peace of cake.

The procedure is as simple as this:

Deliver the “green” and “white” formulas together with your machine readable passport.

Have your fingerprints scanned and your face digitally photographed. A simple IT application even youngsters can create.

But what happened here? The controller used up to 8-10 minutes per person. When 60 in the lane before me, I had to send a text message to Ingelin. It might take a while.

Why did it take so long? From distance it looks like nothing was done – only talking. When coming closer to the checkpoint I realized people had to repeat the fingerprint scanning and the photographing again and again. System problems.

What I do when I have such problems? I restart my machine. But not these guys. After 2 hours and 30 minutes, we (all the foreign tourist) were told: Sorry we have Computer Problems. All machines were shut down (36 passport controls they have here) – and restarted again.

New round: Read the Passport in the magnetic stripe reader. No problems. But: Fingerprint and photo – trouble again. Now they ha to restart their machines between each yoyager.

I passed the passport control at 5:15 pm. And Ingelin picked me up.

Here I am at her veranda. Luckely to see Ingelin.

And here is Ingelin.

Some comments: You are not allowed to use your phone until you have passed the control point. What about people waiting for passengers without knowing what’s going on? For 3 hours.

Some people were very tired and sat down on the floor. OH, No. That’s forbidden.

It’s also forbidden to leave your luggage unattended. But what happens when you arrive to the Baggage Claim 3 hours after arrival? Have never in my life seen so much unattended luggage at an Airport when I finally come to the Baggage Claim Hall. And to days regulations do not allow you to lock your luggage. Scary.

What is most scary is the fact that US Authorities have implemented new procedures 100% depending on IT – and deployed it without checking the quality and stability of the application and equipment. Not to speak about basic user training. That’s so arrogant to the usual air traveller and foreign tourists I’m tempted to use the word: Terrorism.

We went for a walk to the beach. Papa is Wading at Night


Then we went to the locals favourite cafe and had a wonderful Salad.

More to come...

Labels: , ,

Friday, October 26, 2007

Ingelin is back in Oslo - luggage ?

A horror story from to day

This is Ingelin at her BD party (11-19) - She felt sooooo old her hair went Grey. And blown up. Party baloon hair? I do not know. I was not there.
But today - on TORsday (of course) - she arrived in Oslo.

1. Ingelin arrived at OSL
2. She waited at OSL for her luggage
3. She still waited
4. No sign of her luggage
5. She asked: Where is my luggage?
6. Answere: WE don't know
7. She took the train "home"
8. She misses her 2 suitcases
9. No cellphone - no PC - in the missed luggage
10. No party costumes, personal cloths, no gifts - nothing only but her clothing suited for Miami
11. She need 11 chairs for her B D party on Saturday - papa fix
12. She needs an additional table for 7 - papa fix
13. Understand? Papa has something to do - but for Ingelin: A pleasure - allways

Have you ever experienced "missing luggage" ? Tell me. OK

Labels: , , , , ,

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Fractions from Amsterdam - 2

Wordless Wednesday is here (also from Amsterdam)
Amsterdam - a Weekend in late, late September - #2
Yesterdays post was shorter than first planned. My regular readers know why: Too slow internet upload connection. So, here are more from a memorable weekend in A'dam. (4 hrs uploading)


Picture 1 - Marching for Tibet - Starting the March between van Gogh Museum and Rijksmuseum on Sunday - some thousand people with pink umbrellas walking for a Free Tibet.

Picture 2 - The Art Market this Sunday was entertained by a Harp player - singing old English sacral songs.

Picture 3 - Atlas in Amsterdam - some minutes away from Amsterdam Centraal - The Railway Station.

Picture 4 - Hi, where is my Camera? Is this sensorship?

Picture 5 - Chicken as served at A FUSION - heavenly

Picture 6 - What? A Cat behind me in this restaurant? Yeah - and he just was asleep all the time - Me, unshaved with Soya coloured teeths - haha - it was a great taste. And look - a flower out of my head.

Picture 7 - Channel sightseeing cruiseboats in Amsterdam

Picture 8 - Outside Centrum - we bought a tram coupon and went around Amsterdam - quick, easy and cheap - bought the coupon in a KIOSK

Picture 9 - Rijksmuseum - Amsterdam - Yes we did see it (Rembrandt - Nightwatch) - Saturday we gave up (van Gogh instead) - Museum weather - but Sunday: Sunshine and allmost Summer and direct entry - people everywhere outside.

Picture 10 - Cafe activites - we changed e-mail adresses - after some photos and something to drink

Picture 11 - Anne Claire and Anna - ready for cafe life in old Amsterdam

Picture 12 - Old cafe - very charming - but a steep stairway -watch your step

Picture 13 - Traditional vessel - suitable for channels and sea

Picture 14 - Oranjien - Can't be to Holland without bringing this colour - Orange. Picture taken Sunday 9-30-2007 in Amsterdam

That's it folks - the rest is kept within the Family. Hahaha.

Go crusing you too. Here. Or, do you miss the Cats. Don't worry.

More from Amsterdam - at ginnies blog:

Enjoy weekend
Learning by observing
My birthday gift to me

Do not miss the October fiest in Munich
PS. Font size dedicated Old Lady in the Hills and Haakon in Vence (may be you too..)

Labels: , , , , ,