Nassau

We arrived in Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, early Sunday morning.  We spent time on Saturday looking at the excursions and debating on doing one.  We read reviews and finally decided against doing an excursion.  We wanted to explore the town a little and do some shopping.  A lot of the reviews said that the excursions were too crowded and I bet they would have been because there were three cruise ships there that day.  It was also rainy in the morning, so we were happy with our decision.  We took our time eating breakfast and getting off the ship since we weren't in a hurry. 

There were a ton of shops before we got to border security.  I thought they were pushy, but the shops we went to later had so many people trying to get us to buy stuff.  There were a lot of people selling taxi rides, boat rides and other things. 

This guy stopped us and asked if we wanted to take a carriage tour around the city.  We thought that would be a good way to see the city so we did that.  Keith's co-workers told us to be careful and not go to far into the city, so I was a little nervous.  I felt better going into the city in the security of the carriage.

A guy walked by and asked us if we had a camera so he could take our picture.  After he took our picture he said we needed to tip him because that is how he feeds his family. 

The tour was about 20 minutes.  He showed us around and gave us a lot of history about the island. 

This is the Parliament building.  There is a statue of Queen Victoria in front. 

He told us that you paid a lot of money to live downtown.  You could get a luxury apartment for $1000 a month.  He showed us the bank and the hospital. 

After the tour we were walking down the street and a lady asked us if we would come look at her shop.  I of course said yes, so she told us to follow her and don't stop or talk to anyone.  She took us into this giant building that was full of people with booths selling souvenirs.  I couldn't come close to getting a picture to do it justice, but you can get an idea.  She took us to her booth and showed us some souvenirs that she had handmade.  I really liked her, so it made me want to say yes even more.  They were all very quick to drop their prices especially if you started to walk away.  We bought some cute gifts for the kids and a hat for Keith from her.  We mentioned we were looking for our older kids and she said we had to see her mom, so she took us over to her mom's booth.  We couldn't get to her because of the crowds, but her mom saw us and started walking toward us.  As we passed by other booths one lady offered us a coin purse for $1. I stopped to look at it and "mama" was not happy about that.  She yelled at the lady and told her that we were her customers and told me that she had the same thing at her booth.  The lady argued for a minute and then told us we better go with "mama."  It was fun to shop and find some unique souvenirs.   

After we shopped we walked down the street.  We were told there was a beach there, but we could never find how to get to it.  While we were walking down there a lady came up to us and tied bracelets on our wrists and said they were free and were made by the school children.  Then she told us that we needed to donate some money to the kids for our bracelets.  Keith gave her $2 and she asked if he was going to give some money for me.  He told her that was good and she said, "Don't make me take off my belt." After that we were ready to head back to the boat.  We had seen what we wanted to and I couldn't say no anymore!  We went back to the boat.  I didn't realize that I had to have picture ID to get back in, so they sent us over to border security.  Luckily the guy was nice and let me through with Keith. 

It was so hot and humid so we decided to head back to the boat and go to the swimming pool.  We ate some lunch first and then relaxed in the pool for a while.  It was very cold water, but it felt great after being so hot.  Waiters came around so we were able to get Pina Coladas while we sat in the pool! 

That night Vassayo had formal night. We figured we better go since we ditched out on the dining room the night before.  I was nervous about another awkward dinner, but it turned out great.  Julie and Allison told us they were sorry, but we were going to be at a table with Dalin and Karree's kids.  They are the Co-founders of Vassayo and they went around and had their pictures taken that night with all of the brand partners so they wanted their kids to eat with someone else.  I was thrilled, I would take the kids over the brand partners any day.  They were cute kids.  Elise was 14-years-old and Dane was 12-years-old.  We talked about movies, video games and school.  I was impressed with how down to earth they are for being so wealthy!  After we ate, their parents wanted them for some pictures so we were able to leave.  We stopped at a bar and got more Pina Coladas and listened to a man sing and play the piano.   

After that we went up to our room and changed and enjoyed the view from our balcony for a while.  It was so pretty and peaceful.  Later we went down to the Promenade on the boat and did some shopping and got more Pina Coladas, I was bound and determined to make our money worth it! 

We took our drinks back up to our room and decided we better get some sleep, even though we didn't want the vacation to end.  

I didn't sleep great again so I was up early and I got to sit on the balcony and enjoy the beautiful view of Miami.  We got breakfast on the boat and then got off and headed to the airport.  We were hoping to catch an earlier flight, but it would cost too much money.  We debated on doing some sight seeing here in Miami, but we didn't want to drag our luggage around.  Our flight isn't until 5:55 PM today, so we have a long day here in the airport.  At least I got my blogging done!  It was a wonderful vacation.  It was so nice to know the kids are home having a great time with grandma. It was definitely a trip to remember.