Bermuda 2016:
Day 2 - St. George

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Bermuda 2016: [Day 1 - Long Island] [Day 2 - St. George] [Day 3 - Dockyard] [Day 4 - Horseshoe Bay] [Day 5 - Hamilton] [Day 6 - Cup Match] [Day 7 - Crystal Cave] [Day 8 - Heading Home]

	Sunday, July 24, 2016: Early the next day, we got to the airport several hours early. Our luggage hadn't arrived with us and there was no sign of it anywhere in American's tracking app, nor did any of the people we had spoken with have any idea where it was. We knew where it was: all alone in the cargo hold of AA flight 1780, still waiting to depart at 7:05 AM the day before.
	Oh, well, we were on vacation, so back to that. Here are a couple of airlines whose tail logos we didn't recognize.
	We recognized JAL but not the one on the right.
	We were hoping that this was one in a series of apple statues, but it wasn't.
	Debbie had developed vertigo on Friday, and by this morning, she was barely able to function. Tom bought our first souvenirs of the trip: three different pain relievers, carefully selected from the airport gift shop. It took a combination of Goody's and Advil Migraine to make Debbie feel human again. Fortunately, she was feeling much better by Monday.
	Finally, we were en route to Bermuda.
	We left the beaches of Long Island, ...
	... and were flying over the shallow waters of Bermuda just a couple of hours later.
	We looped around to the east end of the island as we made our approach to the airport.
	We flew past the town of St. George's ...
	... and then boom! Our 103rd country!
	Here's an artsy representation of the island of Bermuda.
	Immigration took a while, then we spent a good chunk of time with a nice American Airlines representative regarding our luggage. She couldn't find it either, but she promised to find out what happened to it and tofollow up with us later in the day, which she did.
	With no luggage, we decided to stay at the east end of the island to see St. George's first instead of having to take a cab directly to our hotel. It was just a short cab ride to St. George's but with elevated fares on Sundays, it was surprisingly expensive.
	It was drizzling, which turned out to be the only rain that fell on our heads the entire week.
	So our sightseeing was very brief and consisted mostly of snapping some quick photos. Here is historic Town Hall in St. George's Square (with Orchy posing on a cannon) ...
	... and here is St. Peter's Church.
	We looked for an open restaurant and got very lucky when we found a restaurant on one of the side streets ...
	... that turned out to be a waterfront cafe, Wahoo's Bistro & Patio.
	Of course, we had to start out with Bermuda's famous fish chowder. We foolishly declined the offer of black rum and sherry peppers because we didn't understand that it is the way it is meant to be served, but we didn't make that mistake again later in the week.
	Debbie opted for conch fritters, as usual, and Tom had St. David's Fishcake Platter. The fishcake tasted like mashed potatoes mixed with fish bits. Interesting, but no need to eat it ever again.
	After lunch, we headed toward the bus stop. Our server told us to head up this street, ...
	... then turn right and head up the stairs to the bus stop.
	Sure enough, we're in the right place! We had done enough research on the public transportation system to learn that we could only buy tokens and passes from a handful of locations on Sundays, so we'd have to pay cash.
	When the bus showed up a few minutes later, we each poured a bagful of quarters into the fare box.
	So we're on the bus, ...
	... and got into position to get a picture of this house that we had passed earlier. It was decorated with bottles filled with light and dark blue liquid - the colors of St. George's cricket team for the Cup Match coming up this week.
	The bus trip into Hamilton was very scenic. We moved to the left side of the bus for the remainder of the ride.
	This is the entrance to the Rosewood Tucker's Point resort. Note the seahorses on the hillside. Chicks dig seahorses.
	There was lush vegetation but Debbie managed to pace herself photographing it all.
	Here's a bus stop for the Hamilton-bound buses. We figured out quickly that the pink post indicated that it was for travel into Hamilton, and that blue posts indicated buses headed away from Hamilton.
	Look at that water. Imagine how great it would be to get in it. Imagine how much better it would be if swimsuits from our luggage were involved.
	There is no such thing as a map of the Bermuda bus stops, so Debbie had walked Google Maps Street View looking for bus stops. She hadn't noticed that sometimes bus stops consist only of a pink or blue pole. This is good information to know that has finally been posted to the Internet for the first time ever. You're welcome, gentle reader.
	It feels disrespectful to photograph cemeteries, but it's fascinating to see how different countries bury their dead.
	Here's a church. Obviously.
	Much of the brush along the road gets neatly trimmed because of the buses that pass it every hour. Behold this artsy photo of the bus passing within inches of the brush. Not shown: the husband saying, "What are you doing with that camera?"
	There's a tourist train in St. George's but we didn't see it running, so we guessed that perhaps it didn't run on Sundays. Seeing this one parked just outside Hamilton confirmed our suspicions.
	We arrived in Hamilton and passed the ferry terminal. We foolishly stayed on the bus because we planned to buy our transportation pass at the bus station, then take the bus to our hotel, but our plans changed.
	This is the Hamilton City Hall and Arts Center, right next to the bus station.
	When we arrived at the bus station in Hamilton, we discovered that their ticket office was closed, so we bolted back down to the waterfront to catch the ferry instead.
	We bought our 7-day transportation pass and made it on the ferry ...
	... just as it was leaving. Whew!
	The rain had stopped and the sky was clearing as we left Hamilton. That's the Bundlings weather luck in action, folks. It's pretty crazy how lucky we are.
	We were disappointed to find that the shipping terminal had no Maersk containers anywhere.
	This ferry route visited five stops before returning to Hamilton. Here is the first ferry stop, Lower Ferry.
	Debbie wants to own this property. Please send cash now to help make this happen.
	Here's the third ferry stop. This can only mean that we are ...
	... headed for the fourth ferry stop, ...
	... Darrell's Wharf, our destination.
	This was our first encounter with Cobb's Hill, our arch nemesis. Our hotel was 1/3 mile straight uphill.
	Fortunately, it was a scenic walk ...
	... and we were at our hotel, the Fourways Inn, eight minutes later. We arrived just as they were calling our cell phone to see if we had arrived in Bermuda yet. We had called them the day before to let them know that we wouldn't make it for our first prepaid night at the hotel.
	A gentleman in Bermuda shorts (of course) showed us to our cottage, one of only 11 units on the property.
	Here is the door leading to our cottage, ...
	... and the staircase leading up to our room. The cottages consist of two levels, with suites on the main level and single rooms like ours on the top level.
	We didn't know it yet, but we had gotten the best possible room, the Cedrene room.
	There was a huge bathroom, ...
	... and a tiny kitchenette with a microwave, tableware, and a refrigerator with a separate freezer, which came in very handy to create frozen water bottles all week.
	We stepped outside of our room to see our balcony, ...
	... and discovered this fantastic view, the very best on the property.
	Shortly after we arrived, we got a call from the nice lady at the Bermuda airport telling us that our luggage was en route and should be arriving around 10:00 PM. With that weight off of our mind, we ventured out to get dinner.
	Here's the Middle Road entrance to Fourways ...
	... and here's Middle Road, one of the main arteries through the island. Bus route 8 along this road can take you to either Dockyard or Hamilton.
	Four Star is a take-out and delivery fast food restaurant just a block away from the hotel. It is split into two different store fronts - one that offers Indian food and sandwiches, and the other that offers pizza and wings, etc.
	There's a nice little view from the parking lot of the Warwick Academy and the tail of the island in the distance.
	It's just a very short walk to the intersection of Middle Road and Cobb's Hill Road where Fourways is located.
	Mmmmm, pizza and Philly cheese steak! Delicious!
	Sunset was beautiful. The rain was long gone.
	At this point, we had no idea which direction we were facing, because Bermuda is situated at an angle and we were turned around about where we were on the Fourways property. We eventually figured out that we were facing roughly north, with the cruise ships at Dockyard at the very end of the island visible in the distance.
	If you zoom waaaaay in, you can see the lights of the Norwegian Dawn cruise ship. Day 3 >