Saturday, January 25, 2020

Jan 24 Los Angeles and before


Sometime has passed since the last blog post, mostly because there hasn't been anything going on. There have been some very pretty sunsets along the way.

We stopped in Puerto Vallarta, a beach town in western Mexico.  Since we have been out for nearly 2 weeks, we had discovered what we had forgotten, or perhaps didn't pack enough.  Literally right across the street from where we docked was a Walmart.  Our day's journey was decided.

 Here's the view from the front door of the Walmart.  The ship is the Insignia.  But it was actually nearly a mile to walk from the ship to the store.  We had to go nearly a half-mile east to get to the cruise terminal, part of it via a tram.  We had to wind through the cruise terminal, feeling like rats in a maze as we followed the signs to "Exit".  Then it was back a half-mile west (no tram) to Walmart, with a very busy street to cross out in front.  If you're on a cruise ship, or just visiting in PV, and need liquor, (or Oreos) this is your spot.
 There was Mexican folk dancing in the terminal.  We were one of three ships in port this day -- us at 650, Holland America Oosterdam at about 2000, and Norwegian Joy at about 3500.  We were about 10% of the people around on this day.
 There was a pirate ship in the bay, successfully repulsed.
 During the two days at sea following PV there an Indian Buffet in the Terrace Grill one night. 
 Being the adventuresome eater I am, I had the sirloin, medium, with baked potato.
 Our arrival in Los Angeles at the breakwater
 La La Land
 Film making may be the big business in town, but at the port it's moving containers.  Lots of huge container ships, lots of containers lying about -- how do they keep track of them?  And Many huge cranes loading/unloading the ships as fast as they can.  Here's about 5 cranes unloading simultaneously.
 We pass the battleship museum USS Iowa.
 We took the shuttle bus to Long Beach and walked around.  If you're a Champ Car fan, or just about any US Racing you'll recognize the Aquarium fountain that's part of the Long Beach Grand Prix circuit.
 There's the Queen Mary berthed across the harbor.

 Fountain in front of the aquarium.


Pedestrian bridge to the shopping mall.

 Long Beach is an interesting old town.


 After visiting LB (and the local Von's, a grocery store), we shuttled back to the ship surrounded by acres of containers.

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