Caribbean Cruise - Day 4 - Tuesday, December 2, 2014. Belize City, Belize.

By 7:55 on Tuesday morning, I had completed my qigong practice, we had eaten breakfast and we were sitting in the Stardust theater waiting to be called to go ashore for our tour to the Mayan ruin in Altun Ha Altun_Ha. we did not wait very long before our group was called.

Because the Norwegian Jewel could not dock at Belize City Belize_City we were tendered to shore in smaller boats. We went to shore in a small, open-sided boat. On the trip to shore, the air was light and breezy, very pleasant. The boat was rocking and bobbing gently in the water as we waited for people to get on. As we traveled to shore I saw little islands or atolls around us. In the distance I could see buildings on the shore, behind us I saw our ship getting smaller and smaller. It was about a 45 minute trip from the ship to terminal #1 in Belize City. The shuttles run every half hour from the ship to shore. The shore is littered with shops and restaurants.

It took us about an hour to get to Altun Ha by bus. It was an interesting ride, the guide gave us a running commentary about Belize. At first, we thought that it might not be a bad idea to spend a few months a year in Belize when we retire but by the time we finished our tour we reconsidered that idea.

The tour in Altun Ha was interesting. As we were walking to the site the tour guide gave us background information on the Mayans and the site. In 1961 Belize City was almost completely destroyed by hurricane Hattie Hurricane_Hattie. People went to the site of Altun Ha to get stones to rebuild the city. It did not take too long before the authorities realized that this was an archaeological site. the government of Belize hired an American archeologist, Dr. David Pendergast /David_M._Pendergast who was the Field Director of the Royal Ontario Museum's ROM excavation of Altun Ha. He uncovered several tombs which we saw during our visit. In 1977 he discovered the Kinich Ahaw jade head jade head. The tour guide proudly informed us that it is the large jade sculpture to be found in that part of the world.




















According to our guide, the jade head is kept in a vault in the bank of Belize and it is only brought once a year for all the Belizians to see. After the talk about Altun Ha, we were allowed to climb one of the main temples. My wife and I climbed to the top and took pictures.

After looking at the site and taking pictures, we took a walk through the gift and souvenir shops. They were expensive and not all that original, we had seen similar looking souvenirs in Cozumel. we kept seeing the same figures and images over and over again.

Back in Belize City, we were dropped off at a restaurant called the Smokey Mermaid where they gave us a glass of rum punch which seemed to go down okay and did not bother my stomach. We walked around the area a bit and \i took a few pictures of the Taiwanese embassy taiwanembassy which did not look like any embassy that I had ever seen before.

Apparently, Taiwan and Belize have very good relation. This probably accounted for the the reason why there were so many Chinese restaurants and businesses in Belize City.

All in all, it was a good day. we spent the rest if the afternoon on the upper deck of the Norwegian Jewel basking in the lovely Belizian weather. I finished reading the book that I had brought with me on the trip, Super Survivors, by David B. Feldman, Ph.D and Lee Daniel Kravitz Super Survivors. It was a book about how some people not only survive catastrophes in their lives but actually use the experiences to thrive and achieve great things. It was a good book, and inspiring book! I have to think about how to apply the learnings of this book to my own life.

We had dinner at Tsar's, a restaurant decorated in the style of a Russian palace. We found that the quality of the food and the service was much better at Tsar's than at Azur. Our order was taken promptly and the server brought our food within a reasonable period of time. The hot dishes were hot and the salads were crisp and fresh. We were finished our entire meal by 5:30 PM, at Azur we would have been still waiting for the entree to arrive. We would have stayed for desert but we wanted to see the show, acrobats from Russia. Instead, we went up to the Garden Cafe for dessert.



We watched the Russian act called Deja Vu duo-deja-vu, they were a husband and wife team. Both of them were superb athletes, strong and controlled but able to move with grace and elegance.The performed singly and together for a full 40 minutes. The husband sang a couple of songs as well, they were incredibly entertaining.

Amsterdam - Day Two

Our second day in Amsterdam started bright and early. I was up at 7:00AM to practice Taijiquan. I tried practicing in our tiny room the night before but it just didn't work, there was not enough room to move properly, I felt like I was in a street fight, not practicing Taijiquan, so I gave up after the second third of the Yang long form. Since the room was too small I had no choice but to go out into the street by our hotel. The Hotel Fita is adjacent to a school so the cross streets are blocked off to automobile traffic although bicycles had free access to both directions. At 7:00AM in the morning the streets were quite, only a few pedestrians and bicyclists passed by and they all ignored me with a studied deliberation that I found to be reassuring. Feeling refreshed and full of energy after half and hour of Taijiquan I headed back to the hotel.

We ate breakfast in the basement of the Hotel Fita. The basement was nicely done, it had a cozy intimate feel. There were fresh croissants and pain au chocolate as well as granola and muesli, as well as fresh fruit. They had a very nice coffee machine that made cappuccino or European black coffee with a nice crema on top. The hotel keeper made us Dutch pancakes which were absolutely delicious.

After breakfast we purchased tickets for the Rijks Museum which was only five minutes from the hotel. We were concerned about standing in a long line for tickets so we bought advanced tickets for a 2 Euro surcharge, it was worth it not to stand in a long line to get into the museum. We arrived at the museum just after it opened at 9:00AM. We walked right in because we had pre-purchased our tickets. The thing was, there was no waiting because there was no long line. We could have saved ourselves a few Euros by buying our tickets at the museum.


We spent the entire day at the Rijks museum. Taking advise from Rick Steve we started on the top floor of the museum and worked out way down that way we would at least have a chance to look at the upper galleries before the crowds caught up with us.

    The museum itself us a magnificent building. It is a testament to the period when Holland was an economically powerful nation. Most of Holland's wealth came from trade and overseas colonies. These two themes are played out over and over again throughout the architecture and art in the Rijks museum.

 This sculpture represents man and the conflict between technology and the natural world.

This aiplane was designed by Frits Koolhoven, a Dutch designer who had a great influence on airplane design in the early 20th century.

The center piece of the second floor of the Rjks museum is Rembrandt's Night watch. It is a truly magnificent painting. You cannot appreciate the scope of the painting until you stand in front of it. I took this picture behind the crowd because there was never a time that there was not a crowd in front of this picture. Just down the hall from the Night Watch there were other great paintings. I spent a lot of time standing in front of some of my favorite paintings by Vermeer.

On the first floor of the museum I visited the library which is a full service research library for the arts. I spent some time there relaxing and looking at a book of beautiful wood sculptures.

There were so many wonderful and beautiful things to see and experience at the Rjks. We could have spent days there but one day was all we could allot for the Rjks. I have to share this picture of a wonderful Guanyin from the Asian pavilion.

This Guanyin was carved in the 12th century in Asia. It is a beautiful example of the incredible craftsmanship of that period.

I cannot do justice to the Rjks museum in this post. The best thing that I can say is that if you find yourself in Amsterdam on business or in transit and you only have one spare day to see the city then you must go to the Rjks museum, you will not regret it.

We regretfully left the museum around 5PM exhausted and dazzled. On the way back to our hotel we stopped at the underground supermarket that was near the Van Gogh museum to pick up salads for our dinner. The store also carried natural juices that were made from organic fruits. The salads and the juice were delicious. In the evening we went out to look around the city. Back at our room we practiced qigong and I went outside by the school to practice Taijiquan. It was a long and exciting and exhausting day.