Week Fourteen - 3 Months

14.02.17

It's Valentine's Day and someone delivered a card under our door and it was addressed to Eleanor .... I wonder who it's from ....

Eleanor opened it up very carefully as it was very delicate - made from pink sand, shells and sargossa seaweed

 Then she realised who is was from and she was really touched ....

 I think Eleanor was really pleased and loved her card .....

 Love from Arthur xx

Another trip to the Aquarium.  This time with Nanni and Katie (our 3rd trip!).  Let's see if we can get some different pictures ....

We reckoned this was someone doing a handstand - see the legs up in the air?  The arms and head are buried!

Lemurs

The Flamingo's looked so orange today - obviously special shrimps on the menu

Terry the Terrapin

A Bat

This is the first time the Shark has made an appearance

A Patrick .... gazing at the fish

Neil and Katie .... gazing at the fish

All that fish gazing .... just meant we had to go for a beer!

We had an hour to kill so it was rude not too .... 

Time to show Nanni & Katie The Gombeys

Party time ... Bubbles and cake for Kirsty's birthday and a film

15.02.17

Time to visit Nanni and Katie's hotel today - The Southampton Fairmont.  We got to go on the boat that takes us across to their hotel.  It was amazing.  It's a house boat and has sofas and chairs on it (which is a novelty when you haven't sat on a sofa for three months!).  It was also nice to get out of our hotel and have a change of scenery for the day.

 Bye bye Hamilton

 Fairmont's Swimming Pool

 View of the South Shore

 Although they were too big for the slide .... it was still heaps of fun 😀

17.02.17

Rainy day today ... in fact torrential rain so we had to tell Nanni and Katie not to venture out because it was that bad 😬 The hotel even gave us a room for the children to play in with games.  Marion face painted all the children's faces ..... Eleanor became a Unicorn

18.02.17

Neil has a day off so we are up early and off to St George's to join the walking tour.  We didn't make Monday's at Hamilton and we didn't make Thursday's at Dockyard but we were going to make sure we made today's!!

We started at the State House which was built in 1609 and was the building that held the trials.  I think now it is just the Town Hall.

This building below is the Masonic building that the Masons pay rent for each year.  Their rent is "One Peppercorn" and they have a ceremony in April to hand over their rent.  We will be here to watch this ceremony so I'll be sure to video it for my Dad.

Our guide was brilliant.  Where she normally works at the Hamilton Tourist Information Office she comes across on Saturday's to share all her knowledge.  As she's originally from St George's she had lots of stories to share.  Apparently the Outteridge family name is one of the longest families to have lived on the island.

So some brief history that she shared:

In 1505 Juan de Bermudez discovered the island by accident hence the island was named after him.  So to begin with Bermuda belonged to the Spanish.  As the island was so small they left it uninhabited but did leave Hogs.  The map below is one of the first maps and Bermuda is named in the top right hand corner, upside down and in lower case as la bermude.



In 1609 George Somers discovered the island.  He was on the ship called Sea Venture which hit a storm and crashed in to the reef between two rocks.  All 150 people survived and set up a colony on the island. Somers still needed to sail to America so used the wood from the Sea Venture to build two new ships - The Deliverance and The Patience.  He set sail for Virginia but found that the colony that had been left out there was diseased and there were only 60 survivors.  So everyone left for England, via Bermuda where is was considered a 'plentiful' land.

Admiral George Somers rowed around the island and plotted the map below.



Sir George Somers unfortunately died on the 9th November 1610 at the age of 58.  He always said that if he died he would like his heart buried in St George's, Bermuda and his body in Lyme Regis, Dorset.  His wishes were fulfilled. Lyme Regis is twinned with St George's.

 St George, founder of Bermuda

  Somers Garden where Sir George Somers heart is buried

As the island is sub tropical the cedar and Pameto trees flourish

The house below was once owned by a gentleman called Norman Walker 1815-1861.  He was a blockade runner through the civil war and his role was to stop the trading of cotton getting to the English.  He had a stealth ship that was long and grey and would run under steam. This would stay in Bermuda and then slip past the blockade.

His wife lived in this house with him and it is now called Bananarama House as it has a banana plantation in the front garden.

The Unfinished Church - this church was left and the old church was restored instead.  They even got as far as putting the roof on!  Apparently the congregation got in to an argument and it was left unfinished.  Then a hurricane hit and it was left damaged so the stone mason restored it to it's original unfinished state.

Mitchell House - This building is now a National Museum and is Bermuda's oldesting building in St George's built roughly in 1600.  It was build with very short eaves to withstand the hurricanes.  The chimneys at the end also give the building strength.  Houses built 100 years later had their chimneys built on the inside wall and the windows inlaid.  Also at this end of the island you will find the shutters open outwards to keep the houses 10 degrees cooler as they create shade.  As per all the houses in Bermuda the roofs are white with channels leading down in to tanks which collect the rainwater.

This is one of the largest houses in St George's and it was occupied by John van Norton and he was the Grand Master of the Lodge and also the Mayor for 20 years. 

Within St Peters Church grounds is this Cedar tree that was knocked down by Hurricane Fabion 12 years ago.  This church is now a National Heritage site as it is the oldest Anglican church outside the British colony, built in 1612.

 St Peter's Church

Bermuda Perfumery - National Trust building - they make their own perfume on site

Henry Tucker's House

Duke of York and Water Street are the oldest streets in St George's

 Hermit Cottage

This is Pilot Darrell's House, 1795.  Pilot James Darrell was the first black Bermudian to own his own property.  He was a slave on HMS Resolution and he piloted the ship through the narrow channel in 1795.  He was granted his freedom by Admiral George Murray for his skill and hence being allowed to own his own house.

Nanni had to find the house she stayed in 11 years ago .... we found it 

Lili Bermuda - Bermuda Perfumery

Someone has been naughty .....

Compulsory sitting on the canons!

 So we couldn't come to St George's without seeing the reenactment!

Time for lunch at the Wahoo Bar

 Yum ... The Fish Sandwich is good

We need to walk off lunch ..... so we took ourselves off up to Fort Catherine......

 ..... and around the top of St George's ......

 ..... and see some other forts

 Selfie 😍 Ashley, Kirsty & Kirsty with The Wise's

 Time to go home .... now where's that bus!

19.02.17

Sunday and we're off to Dockyard with Nanni and Katie for a tour.  We learnt all about the Naval buildings around Dockyard which was really informative.

After a picnic it was off to Glass Beach (the locals prefer not to advertise this beach as it almost seems sacred.  It didn't help that someone scooped up two suitcases to make jewellery so now you aren't allowed to take any of the glass so that everyone can appreciate it's beauty) ..... a beach that is covered in glass that has been supposedly washed up from a shipwreck.  You could walk on the glass without it cutting your feet.  The pictures speak for themselves but it was stunning.

The end of half term ..... and Nanni and Katie's holiday nearly

love The Wise Old Owls xxxx