DAY 50 LIMA & DAY 42 CRYSTAL SERENITY

We wanted to begin with our thoughts and experience with respect to our tour of Lima, Peru.

We had an amazing day in Lima, Peru.  We went on a private tour with a tour guide and driver.  Once we made the 45-minute drive into the downtown area we walked the entire time until our driver picked us up for the drive back to the port.

Our tour guide was Rodrigo who is married, with a six month old girl, and who is 34.  His wife worked in the IT department of a bank and her Mother watches their six month old girl for them during the week.  He looked much younger than his physical age, except for a few gray hairs.  He said his father who is 60 looks young too.  We were afraid to ask him how old he thought we were.  

He was very mature and he spoke English extremely well.  In addition to speaking Spanish and English fluently, he also speaks Portuguese and plans to learn Italian.  His command of his subject matter was amazing. 

Our driver was Juan.  Our tour guide first said John as in John Lennon to keep it simple for us.  Juan aka John did a great job driving and was able to navigate the streets in a lot of traffic.

Our tour included:

Visit to the first University of the Americas one of 39 universities in Lima.  In addition to our own tour guide, Linda who is head of the tour guide program at the University also personally took us all around the University.

Visit to Plaza San Martin and then a walk through Jr.De la Union which is a walking promenade where we visited several heritage houses including Teatro Municipal and Teatro Segura.

We then proceeded to Lima’s Main Square called Plaza Mayor.

We visited Casa Osambela which is a house that dates back to the 18^th century and then we visited Convento de Saanto Domingo where Keith and our tour guide Rodrigo climbed the tower.

By then we worked up an appetite for lunch.  We began with a Pisco Sour, then had a very tasty Potato Appetizer and for our entrée we had Chicken with Mushrooms and a sauce on top along with Rice.  We passed on the dessert. 

We also visited the Convento de San Francisco and then to a Park called Parque de la Muralla, which overlooks the Rimac River and the Cerro San Cristobal and the Casa De La  Literatura Peruana which became a library after originally being a train station.

Then it was on to the Museo de la Inquisicion.

From there we want to Chinatown.

There is so much to see and do in Lima and this was our fourth visit here.

These photos show the other areas that we visited.

We took this photo because in addition to money stores you can convert money on the street and these people are sanctioned by the government.

Wanna Stone.

A view from the tower that Keith and the Tour Guide Climbed.

You can see the Chanti Town from the Bell Tower.

Saint Rose of Lima

Presidential Palace although the current and last couple of President's do not live there anymore.  The President can serve one term of five years.

The library which was a former train station.

China Town.

A fruit and vegetable market but it was late afternoon when we walked the market so much of the produce had already been sold.

Rodrigo was always pointing out items to us and sharing lots of interesting information with us.

All in all it was a wonderful tour.

after a very long day of touring, we decided to have dinner in our room last evening.  We usually do this two or three times during the course of the World Cruise.  We made it Pizza and Movie night.

We began our meal with salads similar to what Keith has in the Crystal Dining Room as his standing order salad.

For our main course, we had Pizza.  One was with Mushrooms and the other one was the "Everything" Pizza or as Rao says, it was the "Inclusive" Pizza.

As to dessert, we had Popcorn.  After all, when you think Movies you also think Popcorn.  We watched the movie And So It Goes starring Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton.

Although we were docked overnight, we still slept very well last evening, even without the gentle rocking of the ship.  Some people said they heard noises from the pier but between being very tired and on a higher deck we didn't hear a thing.  

Today was turn around day.

About 200 guests departed Serenity this morning with around another 200 guests who boarded so the second segment of the World Cruise will have around the same passengers count as the first segment had.

During this voyage we wailed from Miami, Florida to Callao, Peru and traveled 3,777 nautical miles or a distance of approximately 4,344 land miles.

The second segment of the World Cruise will start in Lima, Peru and conclude in Auckland, New Zealand and will total 19 days, including several sea days.

We decided to make today a sea day on Serenity and just relax and enjoy the ship.  After all, we walked all day yesterday except for our drive to and from Lima.

We both worked out in the morning and Keith worked out a second time.  We had breakfast in our room as we do each and everyday.

We then caught up on reading and writing and we spoke to fellow guests and members of the crew.

We had lunch at the Lido Cafe where we each made Salad Entrees.

In the afternoon, Anne Marie walked for an hour and Keith played Paddle Tennis.  Keith met up later in the day with dear friend Bob and Anne Marie continued to work on her knitting projects.

This evening we will dine by ourselves at Prego.

TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY........

"Face your deficiencies and acknowledge them; but do not let them mast you.  Let them teach you patience, sweetness, insight." - Hellen Keller

Keith & Anne Marie

DAY 49 LIMA & DAY 41 CRYSTAL SERENITY

Just before we went for a pre-dinner drink last evening, we viewed the art work that was on display at the Crystal Plaza from the Odyssey at Sea Art Class.  Art classes are offered on each Crystal Cruises voyage throughout the year.  The type of art class offered will vary by voyage.  For this voyage, it was a combination of sculpture and water colors.  The art work was truly amazing and shows the talents of the guests.  We viewed the work of dear friend Glo and also of good friend Mike.

As the Knitting Program is also part of the Odyssey at Sea Art Class some women displayed their knitting projects (we didn't get a photo of that) and Anne Marie was asked if she wanted to display the purses she made but since she used her own kits from home rather than using the on board kits she passed on displaying the purses.  Maybe next time.

Afterwards, we enjoyed a pre-dinner drink at the Crystal Cove as we listened to John Mentis perform on the piano.  We sat with dear friends John and Linda.

At 5:45 PM, the World Cruise Choir sang two songs.  The choir is found only on the World Cruises and is comprised of guests along with some of the enrichment personnel including reverend Ed and his wife Ruth and a couple of the entertainers.  Some members of the Galaxy Orchestra accompanied the choir along with Assistant Cruise Director Scott Mitchel on the piano.  Cruise Director Gary Hunter introduced the Choir.

Afterwards, we dined at the Crystal Dining Room after being away for two nights at Tastes and then Prego.  It was nice to be back at the dining room.


We enjoyed two nice wines that were provided by our Sommelier, Ivana.

Our Senior Waiter, Ayhan, took excellent care of us.

We began our meal with salads. Keith had his standing order salad and Anne Marie enjoyed a Spinach Salad.

Four our Main Course, Keith had from the Modern Cuisine Menu a Ginger & Black Pepper-Crusted Salmon entree which included Celeriac Puree, Snap Peas & Merlot Red Wine.  He found it to be very tasty and the presentation was fabulous.

Anne Marie had the Seared Sea Scallops from the Crystal Classic menu which was accompanied with Tagliatelle with Vegetables, Mushrooms & Alfredo Sauce.  This is a new recipe that has been recently introduced to the Dining Room and Anne Marie enjoyed it and shared a few of the Scallops with Keith.  Ayaan had ordered some additional Scallops for us.

For dessert, it was a sugar free Swan Dessert for Anne Marie which she also let Keith try.

Keith enjoyed a bowl of delicious Strawberries.

We had mentioned that Anne Marie was knitting a square which will be part of a blanket for an orphanage in South Africa and Anne Marie finished the square by late yesterday afternoon.

When we returned to our room there was a Certificate in the room for Keith for one of the indoor cycling classes he took during the transit of the Panama Canal.

We slept well as we sailed to our next port of call in Lima, Peru.

Keith was up early and back to the Fitness Center for his daily morning workout.  Afterwards, he read and wrote at the Lido Cafe while enjoying some coffee.  With a full day tour planned for today, Anne Marie woke earlier than normal and took a partial morning walk around the ship before we had breakfast in our room. We then got ready to explore Lima.

We have had the opportunity to visit Lima, Peru on several previous voyages, including World Cruise 2013.  Each time we have been in port for one or more overnights.  This time around we have one overnight which is this evening.

We have taken advantage of the time to do full day tours of Lima and that is precisely what we did again today.

Keith had made the arrangements for this private tour many months ago.  We were met outside the security gates of the port, by our tour guide Rodrigo as well as by our driver Juan.  

Our tour guide was Rodrigo who is married with a six month old girl and who is 34.  He looked much younger than that.  He was very mature and he spoke English very well.  In addition to speaking Spanish and English he also speaks Portuguese and plans to learn Italian.  His command of his subject matter was amazing. 

Our driver was Juan.  Our tour guide first said John as in John Lennon to keep it simple for us.  He did a great job driving and was able to navigate the streets in a lot of traffic.

We were driven to Lima which took around forty five minutes.  Our tour took us to a few familiar locations but many of the places we visited we had not seen on any of our previous visits.

We are having some problems posting photos so we will continue with our tour when we post tomorrow.

This evening we will dine in our room. We will also post about this tomorrow.

TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY........

“In a moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing.  The worst think you can do is nothing.” - Theodore Roosevelt 

Keith & Anne Marie