Day 9: Debarcation in Tampa

Today (Sunday) we reach the end of our cruise, but not the end of the warmth yet. We will still be in Tampa today and tomorrow, and do not fly back home until Tuesday.

Back in Tampa.
Goodbye to the m.s. Rotterdam.
Goodbye to the m.s. Rotterdam.

Since we won’t be able to get into the AirBnB until the afternoon, we have selected the latest debarcation slot. We have a last leasurely breakfast and relax until it is our turn. Leaving the ship and entering the U.S. is very smooth. We take the free street car further down to the Tampa downtown, where we find some chairs so plunk ourselves down into.

Sitting downtown Tampa.
Marching Monkey in the Tampa Bay sign.
Marching Monkey has found his new love: climbing trees!

There are small lizards in the park where we’re sitting. Apart from reading, we walk around the neighborhood a little bit. There is the site of the “Woolworth Sit-In” and an old movie theater. Otherwise, it is very, very quiet on this Sunday morning.

Lizard on a ledge.
Site of the Woolworth Sit-In.
Tampa movie theater.

Finally it is time to go to the AirBnB. We take the free street car back up, then switch to bus #9. Unfortunately we seem to have read the time tables wrong. We thought the bus ran every 20 minutes, but it turns out that on Sunday it runs once every hour. We did figure out, however, that a bus ticket is two dollars per person single trip, exact change.

A Great Egret, similar to the one we saw in Guatemala.
Palm trees have fruits, although we’re not sure what kind.
Bus stop where we spend something like 45 minutes waiting.

Once we’ve dropped our heavy stuff (the suitcase and Nicoline’s backback with the laptop and other electronics) in the AirBnB, we head back downtown. This time we don’t take the bus but walk to the free street car. There is an arts festival downtown that we want to look around in.

Nicoline with a big lemonade we share.
Tampa arts festival.
Tampa arts festival.

Woman with platform shoes at the Tampa arts festival.
Guitars from license plates at the Tampa arts festival.
Different glass sculptures at the Tampa arts festival.

By the end of the day we eat at a Jamaican place and head back home.

“Jerk Hut” Jamaican restaurant.
Marching Monkey with a Jamaican beer.
Walking back, an old cigar factory in the sunset.

We get ourselves some muffins and organge juice for breakfast tomorrow morning at the Ybor grocery store. Some of the neighbors are sitting outside and want to pose for the camera.

Ybor grocery store.
Neighbors posing for the camera.
Neighbors posing for the camera.