Dec 21 Curacao

 On to the last of the ABCs (we didn't visit Aruba) for more warm wandering.  We had visited here in 2016 as one of the first ports in the Around The World Cruise. 

http://drdavebradley.blogspot.com/2016/01/january-8-curacao-ho-hum.html

We did, however, have a different parking place than 8 years ago.  It required a walk of perhaps 1/2 mile to get to the center of town, but as expected, there were plenty of places to spend money along the way.

I noticed a certain dissonance with this establishment.  It's always 5 o'clock in Curacao....

...but we don't open until 4pm.

I believe that when Columbus first visited the New Lands he found tanzanite and opened up a Diamonds International store on every island he saw.

Rif fort once protected the harbor and now protects a retail shopping mall.

We were docked across from these buildings in 2016.

The swinging bridge is famous here.  It lies across the harbor opening and moves out of the way for every vessel entering/exiting the port.

Caribbean Christmas

When we arrived the pedestrian bridge was wide open and appeared to be in no hurry to close.  A few steps further was the free ferry, which we figured would be able to go around the harbor traffic and get to the other side quicker.  And it was different way to travel.

We raced the bridge as it started to close.  We won, but just.  It also started to rain.

Street art.  This was the only time we had to get out the ponchos in the 12-day cruise.

Out of the rain and out of the way.

I think this is a great idea.  Lots of bridges are burdened with "love locks" where couples show their commitment by signing their names to a padlock, attaching it to a bridge and then throwing the key into the water.  Unfortunately, that ends up being a lot of weight on the bridge.

Here they've constructed several wire hearts and invited the love locks here.  No weight on the bridge, couples still feel committed.

And by now the 10-minute rain storm had ended.  But we kept the ponchos handy -- the skies were threatening.

Dutch inspired government building

Public restrooms artfully decorated

I find this Christmas art a little frightening...

...and the red M&M has gone rogue.

On our return the bridge was open to foot traffic, but shortly after we started walking across the bells started ringing and the gates were closing.  It had started moving by the time we reached the far side and got off.

Delft porcelain, since this is Dutch