Tuesday, March 22, 2016

San Juan

March 22 - Outstanding day in San Juan! I had skipped all shore excursions and planned a shopping day! Yay! Actually a fabulous day. We had our face to face with TSA, immigrations, and cleared by 9:40 a.m.which was a bit later than hoped for; we were meeting Michael De Sadeleer, the GIA certified shopping consultant. He had made a call for me about a gem stone I was hunting.

As a member of the crew, Michael was delayed disembarking and sent us ahead to Blue Diamond, an exquisite designer jewelry store located in old San Juan. He had paved the way for me, with an introduction to Sunny, the owner and Charles the manager. He had let them know what I was looking for and actually, they shipped in the stone for my perusal. That's scary, but made me feel that I was queen for the day! It took about 3 hours to put the deal together, select the setting and select the additional stones, but once completed, it will be spectacular, even if I do say so! 

Michael gives lectures during the cruise and is more than willing help anyone on the ship who is looking for something special and offers his services with compliments of Regent. He knows the ports and various stores so well, he can determine where you will be able to find the best deal based on what you are requesting or looking for; no cost or obligation to you. And, most importantly, he will hold your hand. He looked at the stone, and assured me that it was a very good stone indeed; I really needed hand holding on this one. If he's on board, take advantage of his expertise. He can put your mind at ease, when making a purchase.

After a Cafe con Leche and a Cordadito, determining the perfect setting, it was done, and I am officially broke. It will take eight weeks and we'll be in touch throughout the creation of this marvel to tweak the design if needed!

Michael not only helped me,  he was everywhere throughout Old San Juan helping a number of people who had requested his assistance.  On his recommendation we made our way up to Barrachina, a family owned restaurant that has been in Old San Juan since 1963 offering "Creative Puerto Rican & International Cuisine!"  Not only that, they are the birthplace of the Pina Colada...quite  honestly the best I've ever tasted! I had two just to make sure! Set in a beautiful courtyard, the bar is circular and can handle most any crowd - Jorge, the bartender, always checks to see if you want alcohol or not. Holy Toledo - so yummy! And NO ice! A very special, very protected, recipe.

I ordered a great Mofongo and Camarones!  John opted for a boring old steak sandwich while Michael had a whole Red Snapper a la Criolla that looked delicious! We each savored our choices thanks to the excellent service from Victor as well as great food - and Sunny at Blue Diamond had arranged to pick up the tab! A lovely surprise!

Time to make our way back to the ship for 4:00 p.m. sailing. The Murphy's and Hudson's had been on the Bacardi Tour and came home filled with plenty of trivia - did you know Bacardi owns 150 other liquor brands - as well as rum! And they escaped Senor Frogs!

Our cell phones worked for the first time so we caught up with all of the kids and puppies. All is well, but the fuzzy ones have had a bit of a time with the stress. I know the Vets take really good care of them, but they do so much better at home! 

We woke up to the news of the bombing in Brussels, and continued to catch news on BBC, CNBC and MSNBC off and on throughout the day. By channel surfing we seemed to get a fairly accurate, well rounded picture of the story as it unfolded.

As lovely as our day was, it was tragically marred by the terrorist attack in Brussels. In what seems to be a series of bizarre coincidences, our cruising schedule seems to intersect  with memorable terrorists events - we were cruising when Seal Team 7 went in for Osama Bin Laden, we were cruising when Paris was bombed, and we just commented on the fact that they had captured the last of the terrorists earlier on this cruise, and suddenly we're faced with the devastating bombings in Brussels.  If only there was a way to erase the hatred.

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