S/S Norway After visiting St John, we took a ferry to nearby St Thomas. St Thomas we could have done without. It wasn't wild and beautiful like St John, and it didn't have the beaches or the inexpensive shopping of St Maarten. It was expensive, built-up, crowded, and, well... American. But it did give me a chance to take the best picture of the trip. Actually, the credit for this picture goes to Judi -- she was the one who noticed and composed it. It's the Norway, anchored offshore, framed by trees. The other memorable thing about St Thomas was lunch. We asked a shopkeeper if he could recommend a restaurant that had good "local" food -- Carribean style. He sent us to a place whose name (I'm ashamed to say) I can't remember. The special of the day was... meatloaf? Meatloaf isn't exactly a Carribean food, is it? And we were supposed to "eat local." But we love trying meatloaf (Judi especially is a meatloaf fan). So we said, "Carribean? What the heck," and ordered meatloaf.

The Legislature Building It was by far the best meatloaf we have ever had! Juicy, spicy, flavorful... oh! And it came with "island" (spiced) mashed potatoes. It was one of the best meals of the trip (and we had some good ones)! I have a few pictures from St Thomas. The Legislature Building is painted an interesting shade of light green. There's also an old fort with a clock tower. When we were returning to the Norway, we noticed that the lifeboats had been lowered and were motoring around in the water. We had a brief panic, thinking that maybe something was wrong on the ship, but we quickly realized they were just running a lifeboat drill <g>. Finally, there's a picture of sunlight streaming through a blooming branch of Royal Poincianna.

The Fort With the Clock Tower The Lifeboats Are Down!

Sunlight Through a Royal Poincianna