Rocking

The sea is a bit rough today and the ship is rocking. I have not yet taken a Gravol so you know it is not too bad. This is a sea day and so we are free to do as we wish. We had breakfast, took in a couple of port lectures, did a bit of shopping and now I am here to visit with you, Ken has gone topside to see if he can get a little sun. It is almost too late. The temperature will soon begin to drop and I expect it to be cool until we get to Lima in about 10 days. Montevideo, We docked at seven and we had to be in the Princess Theatre at 8:00. This was a Princess tour and we took it because it included a ride on an old steam train. The day is overcast and rain is threatened but that means it is not too hot which suits me just fine. Montevideo is a city of almost 4 million people and it is the capital of Uruguay. The people speak Spanish and it has a constitutional Republic government. It is slightly smaller than Washington State. Most people are of European, mainly Spanish and Italian descent. It is almost entirely like our prairie in that it is flat grass land and it is the breadbasket of South America. Montevideo has one hill and there is an old fort there. It is now a military museum. We boarded our bus and our first stop was independence square. The architecture is amazing. We had a photo op here.

The square is very large and very well kept. There is an amazing mixture of architectural styles. One beautiful building was the Canadian Embassy.

Then we continued on to meet the train. It is a historic steam train and is used for tourism now. It has been refurbished and is beautifully done.

Our train ride is about an hour long and it passed through the less affluent part of the city as is the case with most trains. We passed some shanty towns and the poorer neighborhoods. Soon we arrived at Establacimiento Juanico, Ururguay’s leading vineyard.

We were greeted with glasses of a wonderful sparkling wine. We were given a tour and then taken to a dining area which was set as if they were awaiting the arrival of Kings and Queens.

The wine flowed and the food was great. We were treated to a performance of 2 tango dancing couples. They were fantastic!! Then we had dessert, served with a wonderful dessert wine which was a lot like our ice wine. We had an opportunity to buy wine if we wished, and we wished so we returned with a very nice bottle of Chardonnay which we will enjoy later.

Then we boarded our bus and began the trip back to the city. Of course the bus travelled a different routethan the train so we were given a chance to see other parts of the city. We enjoyed a narrated drive through the city viewing Avenida 18 de Julio, which is their main government area. We learned that they have universal health care and all of their education is free, even university. That is also true in Brazil and in Argentina. I think we could take lessons in this area. Uruguay has no indigenous people they were all exterminated when the Spanish arrived. We returned to the ship around three.