Wanderung 34

We bounced out of bed around 6:30 and we got out on our balcony just in time to see Fort Catherine, the fort on the seaward edge of the old town of St George on the easternmost part of Bermuda, sliding by us. We had a great view of it and the chance to take some nice pictures before the channel through the coral reef led us out and around to the western end of the island.

Over there we once again edged through a narrow channel through the coral and very cautiously docked at King's Wharf, a dock adjacent to the old naval base that had been located there up until the 1960s. The area has now been converted to a tourist area for those who do not wish to venture too far onto the island, complete with a mini-mall, a couple of pub/restaurants, art galleries, craft stores, and a family fun area at the nearby beach.

But we all wanted to see the main city and capital of Hamilton, so after the ship docked we walked out of the security zone to the adjacent ferry dock and Tourist Information center where they sold tickets. We decided on buying two 1-way tokens for $9, which was sufficient to get us over to Hamilton and back, and then waited for the 9:30 ferry to Hamilton. The ferry curled around the large bay on the western end of Bermuda, giving us a scenic view of the shoreline before we docked in downtown Hamilton.

The lady in the Tourist Information alcove in a nearby building gave us a map of the central part of Hamilton plus the advice that both Route 7 and Route 8 buses would be running out to the dockyard and leaving about every 15 minutes during the day. She also said that "Ed", the Town Crier, would be giving a free walking tour of the city starting at 10:30.

Armed with the map, we set off uphill to the Hamilton City Hall, where we met Ed, who turned out to be a really tall guy (maybe 6'5"?) dressed in a really fancy blue uniform trimmed in gold lace, complemented by a 3-corner hat! He had a big brass hand bell, which he really used to summon the group when necessary, and was just a gold mine of information about the history and politics of Bermuda in general and Hamilton in particular.

We started off in the Mayor's office, which was nicely furnished with desk, table and chairs made from the indigenous red cedar, which had both a beautiful rich red color and a nice wood grain.

Our first stop was the main church in Hamilton, a Gothic style church with a beautiful stained glass window over the altar. The ceiling inside actually was based on ship design in that it was constructed like the hull of a wooden sailing ship, only upside down!

From the chucrh we walked a short distance uphill to the Parliament building. We were fortunate to be able to actually go inside Parliament as it was not in session at that moment, and we were watched by Ed's cousin, who was the Sergeant At Arms for the Parliament. We were allowed to sit at the desks of the 36 members, which looked for all the world like the old fashioned flip-top schoolroom desks, except fancier, complete with inkwells! Both Ed and his cousin filled us in about Bermuda's Parliament and the recent elections where the minority party had reversed roles with the majority party.

Afterwards we even had some time to pose for pictures in the Speaker's Chair before rambling northward into the more run-down areas of Hamilton. Ed kept us together, using the bell as necessary, and explained the significance of the first black school, the first doctor's offices, and a weird building painted in the national colors of Jamaica that I believe he said was haunted.

We even across a local gang, lounging around a car with one of those big, booming stereo systems, parked with its doors open so the young men could enjoy their type of music. They were, however, quite nice to us and seemed respectful of Ed even though he was much older than any of them.

After passing a small park with a bandshell, our 3-hour walking tour ended back at City Hall, where we posed for a final picture with Ed and got his advice on an iPhone repair store hidden in a shopping complex just down the hill from City Hall. Linda had brought her IPhone along, and when we stopped in the store, the young clerk there just rebooted it and the phone started working again. Yay!

By then we were all getting hungry, but when we looked for restaurants in the tourist area we were put off by their high prices. I also found I had lost my hat, so the two of us retraced our steps to search for it while Linda and Jerry found a place that had something to drink and free wifi.

By the time we returned to the bus station surrounding City Hall, I had given up hope on finding my hat again, so we chose a small bakery that had a couple of tables with chairs to have lunch in. That revived us a bit, and as we were finishing we saw a Route 7 bus with "dockyard" on it come into the station. I was quite surprised as the posted schedule had a mid-day gap from about 11-3 pm for the Route 7 buses so we had not expected one to depart.

But we took advantage of that unexpected service and climbed aboard the bus with a bunch of local folks to work our way back to the ship. The bus ride as hilly and jerky, somewhat reminiscent of an old roller coaster, but did give us nice views of the interior of the island and later on the South and West coasts of Bermuda. I noted that every single little bay that was not dedicated to a public beach, had a plethora of small boats anchored out in the middle. Those were mostly sailboats with a few powerboats mixed in, so Bermuda must be a true hot spot for recreational sailing.

The end of the line was the Clock Tower mini-mall, so we searched through that before returning to the ship. Monika tried to sign onto the free Bermuda wifi, but apparently that system was overloaded and she ultimately had no luck. I revisited one end of the mall where I had found some nice ties on a previous visit, but the store had shifted its stock into more touristy items and no longer carried any traditional menswear. So we meandered around the King's Wharf area a for another hour or so, checking out the art galleries and shops, but finally my feet just gave out and we returned to the ship.

Meeting up with Linda and Jerry, who had taken the ferry back to the ship, we had a couple beers and an early dinner up on the rear deck as we were just too tired to wait and then endure a meal in the dining room. Returning to our room, I fell asleep somewhere around 8 o'clock and slept a solid 10 1/2 hours that night!