After staying up way to late to watch the President report on yesterday's events, we woke up at 4am to get to Newark Airport to make the 6:30 am flight to Charlotte and connect on to SXM on US Air. We took this flight as we got a good deal on FF miles that put us in First class on the way down. The initial schedule had us arriving at 1:17, however we didn't arrive till after 2pm and it took close to an hour to get luggage. Apparently they decided to use only one of the three carousels and who knows what was going on with the luggage handlers. This was as long a wait as I've ever experienced waiting for bags.

Unity met us promptly outside the front door, and within minutes we were on our way over to The Queen, where we picked up our phone. We then headed up to Orient Beach where we met up with Bruno who introduced us to Paradise Bungalows. After unwinding and unpacking, we took a dip in the pool, and had a nice long conversation with Joy and Ray, who are staying right next to us here in Paradise.

Then off to dinner, Piazza Pascal in Grand Case. We re-introduced ourselves to Pascal, but like last year, it seems his wife Donna was off island. Oh well. We started with a wild mushroom Risotto appetizer. My wife Donna then had pasta Carbonara, which was just incredibly creamy. I had the Seared Tuna special, which included grilled porto bello mushrooms and grilled peppers over a mixed green salad with a balsamic vinegar onion reduction, also absolutely wonderful. And we finished with a lemincello sorbet. Oh, and did I mention Joy and Ray arrived as we were finishing. Total for dinner with a small tip, in either euros or dollars as we paid in cash was $70. And yes, I did ask the server what the policy was regarding tips, he said "A service charge has been included, but if you feel the service was good, a small tip was appropriate." I left slightly over 10% which seemed fair considering all the conversations I've read here on the subject.

After dinner we made a quick stop at the US Marche (?) near the Airport road by Grand Case. Was very unimpressed, and they wouldn't take my credit card as all we had purchased was a bottle of water, two yogurts, and some insect repellent. I wound up with a few euro coins out of my $12.


Well, 9 more days here.