Hamilton Bermuda

Yesterday we had a lovely afternoon of wandering around the capital city of Hamilton checking out the sights, the coffee and the stores. 

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The ferry Bermudian bringing some tourists in.

Enjoying a coffee on the waterfront

Looking across to the city of Hamilton

The ferry dock

Looking down Front St at the old site of where Smiths and Trimingham's used to be

Fast ferry - Warbaby Fox

Queen St

Par la ville Park

Get that camera out of my face ;-)

Prettiest lady in Bermuda

The Irish Linen Shop

Goslings Rum and looking down Front St

Warwick Long Bay

Weather was a bit shaky this morning so we decided to take a lovely walk on the beach in Warwick and to stick close to Hamilton.  In the end the weather was lovely but a quiet day was welcome.   As there was a threat of rain, I left the big SLR at home and only took the little Lumix.   Considering I couldn't see anything on the LCD I got fairly lucky with the pictures.  These are the type of results that sometimes has me questioning why I have an SLR ;-)    The sand was nice and deep and the surf was coming in with the tide.  Very romantic and relaxing.   As you can see, the crowds were out of control hehehe.

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A Blue Blue Blue Day! East end Bermuda

What a PERFECT day yesterday.  The weather was amazing, the view was wonderful, the pictures turned out perfectly, lunch was great, the swim was refreshing, supper was out of this world, Harbour night was fun and my girlfriend is just the best!

We covered a lot of the east end of the island yesterday with stops at St David's lighthouse, St David's battery, St George, Gates Fort, Alexandra Battery, Fort St Catherine, Blackbeard's Hideout, Martello Tower at Ferry Reach and then back to the house.  Had a lovely swim in the pool and then off to a wonderful supper at the Hog Penny (fish chowder, wahoo - YUM) and then down to Harbour Nights on Front Street.   Needless to say we were pretty tired out. 

As you can see from the pictures below the sky was an amazing blue.  Trust me it was amazing as it looks!  ;-)

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 St David's Lighthouse

 Looking at St George from the top of St David's Lighthouse

Looking at Clearwater Beach from St David's Lighthouse

 One of the cannon's at St David's Battery

 St David's as seen from St David's Battery

 Monument to lost Mariners at St David's Battery

 St David's

 My wonderful girlfriend

 The view from Blackbeard's Hideout

 Alexandra Battery

 The glass beach beside Alexandra Battery

 Alexandra Battery

 Gates Fort

 Waves crash at Gates Fort

 Duel cannons at Gates Fort

 Gates Fort

 Town of St George as seen from Fort St George

 St George

 Panorama view from Alexandra Battery

Panorama view of St George

Bermuda Day Parade

Was a strange weather day.  Windy most of the day, no humidity at all, cool at some points and hot at others.  Some showers in the morning but fortunately it all died off.  It was great weather for the marathon and parade, no one suffering from heat and humidity.

This was quite possibly the longest parade I have every attended hahaha.  It was over 3.5 hours to see all 30 floats, majorettes, marching bands and Gombey dancers.  But that's just the way things happen here, island time!    People are allowed to start "camping" their sites along the parade route at 1.30am, and you can tell that some folks definitely did.    Jen and I found a nice spot in front of the national cathedral and hunkered down for a few hours to watch and take some photos.

Bermuda is a small place and everyone knows everyone.  So the atmosphere was more like a street party with people in the parade interacting with those along the route.  Along the route there was food everywhere, tents set up, lawn chairs out, BBQ's running, alcohol being consumed and lots of partying and great fun.  A bit different from any parade you'll ever attend.  According to the local media several thousand folks were out.  

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 The crowds setup to watch the parade in front of the national cathedral

 

 Some of the classic bikes

 

 "Camping"

 The Bermuda Regiment

 Drummers and Majorettes

 Floats made of flowers

 Steel Drums

 Gombey Dancers

 Autism Float made of flowers

 African Dancers

We bailed on the parade around 3.40pm and headed down to Victoria Park to see a couple of friends of mine who play in one of the local bands - The Travelers.    I've known Glen, Michael and Manual for over 20 years now but this was my first opportunity to see them play together.  The Travelers have been known around the island for a very long time, well over 30+ years.   They only got to play 3 songs but Jen and I enjoyed the show!

 Glen, singer and keyboards.  

The Travelers

 Michael in the middle, Glen on the left and Manual in black.  Not sure of the names of the other 2 fellows ;-)

 Micheal

Back to the house afterwards all tired out!   Burgers on the BBQ and beer.  Sort of like Canada Day, just in Bermuda ;-)

We're heading off to the east end of the island later this morning to see St George and St Davids.   Lovely blue skies, temps are suppose to be up to 25C today and again no humidity.  Should be a lovely day walking around and running on the scooter.

Hope everyone has a great day!