Spencer is the Veendam travel guide, and an excellent one. Thoroughly passionate about travel, thoroughly knowledgeable, thoroughly eloquent, thoroughly a nice guy. The day before the 3 consecutive ports was a sea day, and Spencer gave a 3PM lecture in the Main Showroom, pointing out what each of these 3 ports had to offer.
70 slides were shown, with Spencer commenting on each. Those who missed the presentation in the Showroom could see it over and over again on Channel 28, with the slides filling the TV screen and the Spencer voiceover.
Suddenly there it was, on channel 28. In the slide show of the classy beach resort town of Buzios -- the Brigitte Bardot statue, life-sized and intriguing, with Spencer saying it was commissioned by the loving and appreciative citizens of Buzios.
A strange statue, I thought. Perhaps it was the un-statuelike pose? She was seated, seemingly wearing jeans, on a non-descript slab the size of a suitcase, her right hand oddly placed on her upper thigh. Or perhaps she seemed to me an odd subject for a statue? I couldn’t think of any other statues of sexy actresses.
Whatever the reason, this was a Must See for me. After all, there’s a million beautiful beaches and resorts in the world, but maybe only one Brigitte Bardot statue. After taking a boat over to the main dock, one walks on a scenic pathway just above the beach. 200 yards later, there she is, with a small bunch of tourists gathered around, one by one posing for photos with “Brigitte”.
She looks out on the water, perhaps in the direction of France, perhaps in the direction of Wherever. She’s captured in her prime, a woman once thought to be the most beautiful in the film world.
But in her 1960s heyday, she discovered Buzios, and vacationed there regularly, sometimes with Brazilian boyfriends. She was a key factor in the popularity and commercial growth of Buzios, thus her immortalization in bronze on the waterfront.
The Buzios visit was the last day of this particular cruise. The following morning all passengers disembarked in Rio. A whole new group of passengers was on board by 4PM, about to go on a long and unique cruise.
This last South American cruise is a “re-positioning” cruise that will take 30 days, the ship making its way back north, to reach New York City on April 25. It will then settle in to 4 months of week-long cruises, New York to Bermuda round-trips, for the entire summer.
Rio de Janeiro has a really striking harbor, so I joined the many people lingering on the open decks last night during a an idyllic sailaway. For me it was the beginning of the Return Home, goodbye to Rio and everything “south” -- Chile, Argentina, Antarctica, all the places that made me seek out this contract in the first place.
The Southern Cross, a small and notable constellation of 4 stars that can only be seen in Southern latitudes, (actually pictured on the Australian flag) will now be seen less and less in the next 2 weeks, and then will disappear altogether. Back to the Big Dipper.
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