And a word about St Barts

Today we docked at St Barts.  It was our first stop on our cruise to the Amazon River. What an almost hidden tropical paradise. Little did I know that the four "French Caribbean" islands are in a row just after the island of Puerto Rico. In fact, the only way to get to them is from PR (at least by plane) or probably from France. 

So the island is very Gallic, expensive, exclusive, and unspoiled for the most part.  Big cruise ships can't dock here so it tends to be low key. Lots of mega personal cruisers and,of course, sailboats. Lunch hour runs from 1 to 4 for most shops so you get the picture of the upscale slow paced life style. We stopped at two real estate agents to pick up their books for rentals - no prices which makes one wonder about the cost.  

Here is a factoid I didn't know before: the French sold the island the the king of Sweden who sold it back to the french at some point. As a result the books all say signs are in French and Swedish but I didn't see any Swedish and all the shop keepers speak French as their first language. I did see a mini Ave Montagne or Faubourg St Honore, however. Didn't buy an Hermes but was tempted. 

The geography is rocky so there never was a sugar trade here and I suspect,as a result,  not the slave trade there was on other islands.Lots of great sandy beaches though.  We walked to one about a mile from downtown to have lunch at a Brazilian French fusion cafe. Our meal was fantastic, cost over 120 and was worth every morsel  Our waitress is rather heroically proportioned (Ian' description)  and of the " if you got it flaunt it" school. I can hardly remember being that young and I coveted her shoes but Ian was particularly impressed with the engineering and design of her foundation garment which he say defies gravity. 

Lovely warm breezes, pink sunsets close out the day. One sure can get used to this life style..I particularly like the fact that some one else is cooking although we looked around and said we look young compared to the geriatric set who are on the cruise but then I suspect we look like most of the others......