day before

JANUARY 21, 2017 San Pedro still

We ate a quick snack for breakfast and then walked to the USS Iowa, a WWII battleship which was about ¾ of a mile walk from our ship. I should digress and tell you that the Ruby Princess. One of those behemoth ships, is also here at the adjacent pier, and we believe it is headed for the Mexican Riviera. But is us also just dockside.

There are many volunteers, almost all veterans of several of our wars, who escort you around the ship and keep you going in the right direction. Compared to even Pacific Princess, it seems small and when we saw the cabins, it was REALLY small. Many of the sailors lived in closets with 3 bunks on each side of a narrow aisle with small holes to keep their meager belongings. No hangers here.

They have done a nice job getting this ship ready for visitors with many videos, including of men who served on the ship telling what it was like. They were so cute and it added so much. It is worth the time to see it and because we were on adjacent ship, we got a considerable discount (less than senior rate even) to tour.

PORT OF CALL

I recall this area with great fondness but boy what a shock. ¾ of it is like the markets of Mexico. We finally found Ports of Call restaurant and it seems they are going to tear down all of that area and build a more inviting area that reflects what it used to be like with small boutiques, toy stores and a lot of places where you could enjoy a stroll and fun afternoon. The area that remains beyond the restaurant is like a New England village but all the stores were closed. We then walked over to the fisherman’s pier to view the rocket across the way. I’ll let Ed tell you about it as it is a private rocket that landed on a barge somewhere. He wonders how they are going to get it to Hawthorne. Theban is Elon Musk, Ed’s current god of technology.

Then we walked back to the ship. Ed says his apple watch says he did over 10,000 steps today. Supposedly it also does flights of stairs. So he is glowing.

We decided to go for the pre-dinner cocktail party snacks (I couldn’t bear to try to spell the name of that French word for the snacks.) as we had a much larger than we wanted lunch at Ports of Call today. This made us feel very self-righteous.

Went to the show and the same comedian as last evening was on. We had many good laughs and the couple next to us, from Connecticut 12 miles from Sandyhook, were jolly and great fun. They said that the first responders all quite after the school shooting there.

We are supposed to leave after midnight for 8 more days at sea. Should be fun.

A few pics from the USS Iowa including FDR wheelchair, and Ports of Call.