What a View!!

We spent last evening with friends at the Top Deck in Savannah, a rooftop bar/restaurant on River Street.

While the conversation was great, we all kept getting distracted by the stunning sunset and the freighters drifting by. I couldn't resist taking several photos!

There is something about commercial ships and ports that I love!

Just look at the sunlight on this ship!

The clouds were spectacular!

And the setting sun was bathing everything in a rosy light.

This is one of my favorite views in Savannah for sure! I don't think I'll ever get tired of it...

Monday is almost done here, but still I wish you a great evening and a fantastic Tuesday morning to those of you who will get there before us...

❧ Silke

Tall Ships in Savannah

This last weekend, the Tall Ships Challenge started in Savannah (for more info, click here). All those beautiful sailboats, some very old, some newer, were docked along Savannah's river front and a sight to behold!

Daniel took lots of photos for us and you and most of them speak for themselves.

I love the shots with the Talmadge Bridge in the background.

The US Coast Guard ship was stunning!

The building in the photo above was built in the 1700s from ballast stones that empty ships would bring carry and unload in Savannah to take on their cargo. It now houses a restaurant.

As we were walking back to the car, this container ship was leaving the harbor - such a great juxtaposition of old and new.

I leave you with a few photos Daniel took on our way back to the car.  The arches below and cobble stone streets are also built from ballast stones.

Everything is so green at the moment and simply beautiful. And our capitol building looked especially bright against the clear blue sky.

With that I wish you a fantastic new week!

We Are Back!!!

Dear friends, we are back from our travels and had a most amazing, fun, exciting and relaxing time! It was hard to choose just a few of the many, many photos we took, but I just wanted to give you a short impression of where we were and what we did...

We spent some time in Tampa before boarding a most lovely cruise ship to sail off into the sunny and warm Caribbean!

The sky was spectacular as we took off on our journey!

Our first stop was in Key West, somewhere we had not visited before. Such a pretty place!

In the evening we ate in the ship's restaurant with the best view ever as we sailed away from Key West toward Jamaica.

Jamaica awaited us with beautiful waterfalls,

colorful birds,

and lush, tropical foliage! Every house plant we have, I found there - only much bigger!

From Jamaica we arrived in Grand Cayman Island and had a most amazing adventure swimming with - and petting - the giant stingrays!

We had never seen water this clear,

nor had we known that these giant fish are so gentle and love to interact with humans. We could have stayed forever...

In Cozumel, we finally experienced the highlight of our trip - meeting up with my cousin, who had moved to Playa del Carmen just a few months earlier. It was sheer coincidence that the trip we had booked much before then would actually make a stop where we could see her! (For those of you who speak German, you may enjoy visiting her blog. Click here!)

It was wonderful!!

And today is her birthday. Happy Birthday, Britta!!!

On board of the ship, we did lots of lounging and reading - I read four books in six days,

much admiring of the view,

a bit of knitting while listening to an audio book,

more lounging and reading,

ooohing and aaahing over sunsets and sunrises, 

and, of course, much, much good eating!! Cheers!

Back home, we did some more sight seeing,

playing with Winslow and Ramses,

walking around the neighborhood (and sampling the kumquats which are starting to get ripe),

and, of course, more eating before my dad is making his way back to Germany! It was wonderful!!

But I have missed you all and my blog! I didn't realize how much I like to stay connected to what's going on in blogland. I hope you are all doing well and enjoying this busy and magical time of the year. I'll try to check in with you all during the next few days!!

It sure feels good to be back!