"2004 Nov 16-17 Visit by Cruise ..." a Bermuda Travel Page by grandmaR

We took a ferry to Somerset Bridge (a tiny drawbridge only 22" wide). The people in the picture came by bus from Hamilton and missed the stop and had to walk back down the hill.

I talked to the ferry assistant, and he said he worked a 14 hour shift. He was lying on the bench at the front of the ferry eating a candy bar in spite of the fact that there is no eating on the ferry.

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Commandant's house from harbor

Maritime Museum

Then we caught a bus out to King's Wharf. I shopped at the Craft Market and bought some gifts made in Bermuda, and then we used our Heritage passes (instead of paying $10 admission or $8 for seniors), for the Maritime Museum and toured the Commissioner's House. There was a wonderful doll house full of carefully crafted cedar furniture.

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Dolphin pens

Dolphin's Quest

I thought what the Dolphin Quest has done to the Watergate area was horrible. Then got the high speed catamaran ferry back to Hamilton.

For dinner, we walked up to the Hog Penny and had the Upper Crust Supper ($46.00 including service charge for a 3 course dinner).

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Front of City Hall from temporary bus station

17 November 2004

Wednesday, we started out with our own walking tour of Hamilton. We walked along Front Street, and saw the Centoph, and the Government Buildings, and then walked back to the bus station.

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BUEI old time diver's suit

Then hopped a bus out to the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute. (Non-Heritage pass admission $10.50 or $8.40 for seniors). I got a recommendation for lunch from the guy at the gift shop. Actually, we hopped the bus but it let us off several blocks away - in Paget Parish because there's no outbound stop nearer to the BUEI. On the walk we went past a boatyard and took a picture of a kisskidee bird

We stopped for lunch at the North Rock ($31.50) I had the Bermuda fish chowder which I would swear had beef in it and a side salad.

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Verdmont front garden from upstairs

We took the bus up Collector's Hill and visited Verdmont Built in 1710, the Verdmont Museum is the primary Bermuda National Trust property. They had a really nice dollhouse in the attic. They didn't allow photos inside.

Then we walked back to the bus stop. Since there was no room to stand on the side of the road at the bus stop for the bus in the direction we wanted to go, we sat on a wall on the other side of the road. When the bus came, Bob sprinted across the road to the other side to give me a chance to get over there. We took the bus out through the golf course, past the caves to the Glass Blowers (opposite Grotto Bay) and discovered it (like the Perfumery which I had known about) had closed.

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Feeding the turtles at the BAMZ

So we started back for Hamilton, stopping on the way (at 4 pm) at the BAMZ (Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo) which is also on the Heritage Pass. Regular admission $10 or $5 for seniors. We went to the Zoo first because that closed at 4:30. When the BAMZ closed at 5, we got a bus back to Hamilton and finished the walking tour and also did some shopping at Trimminghams on the way back to the ship.

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Decorative plates at Harley's

Since the dinner coupons for the dining out in town were supposed to be a value of $50, I thought that I should really get our money's worth out of them. There's no point paying $10 for a $50 coupon and then buying a $20 dinner with it. That's why we didn't use it at the Hog Penny.

The most expensive option would have been Tom Moore's Tavern, which NCL has mistakenly located in Hamilton. It is NOT in Hamilton in Pembroke Parish. It is in Hamilton PARISH which is a different location altogether. The problem with Tom Moore's would be that we would have to get a cab as the buses stop running out there at 6, and they don't open until 6:30. So that would not be economical.

We'd stayed at the Hamilton Princess on a previous visit and I figured that would be the best use of the coupon, and I was right. I had a 16 oz. prime rib which was delicious (but I couldn't eat it all and I couldn't take it back to my room and keep it for lunch the next day), which was listed on the menu at $29.50.

The next morning the ship left and went back to St. Georges