June 20, 2024
Planten un Blomen - Hamburg's Botanical Gardens
After the soccer game, we took advantage of the late summer daylight hours here in Northern Germany. We strolled the gardens for an hour and then found seating in the grassy area, surrounding the lake, to await the nightly fountain show. Can you believe it is 10 pm when show started! Look how bright the skies are! At 10:30, as we made our way home, darkness finally comes. Sunrise starts at 4:50 a.m.! I wear an eye mask to bed each night. Crazy German Summer!
NUKU' ALOFA, is the capital of The Kingdom of Tonga , one of the last remaining Polynesian monarchies in the world. It is on the main island of Tongatapu. The Kingdom of Tonga is compromised of 170 islands, in the South Pacific and many are uninhabited. Most of the islands are protected by lagoons and some like Tongatapu are surrounded by limestone cliffs. This second port for us in Tonga , was the starting point of my latest adventure, off the Ship.
NEIAFU is the second largest town in Tonga . It lies in northern Tonga . The population is just over 3,900.From the 1880's to 1900, it was a German coaling station, until Briatian took over in 1900 as a protectorate. Again, we received another festive greeting of song and dance from the locals.
A bunch of things happening, despite not stepping on terra firm, the last 5 days! We crossed the international date line last night and lost the entire day of January 25th! So Weird! We are now 18 hours ahead of my friends and family on the east coast of USA.