My views do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
We went to Hobart, which is on the island of Tasmania, off the coast of Australia only once, and luckily I had it off! We had a drill in the morning, but then we were free until the evening. The Australians on the ship seemed to have a bit of a rivalry with the Tasmanians. The Tassies themselves were very proud. I’d only heard of the Tasmanian Devil, which didn’t get me much information, so I was excited about exploring this island. Matt had raved about the Sushi in Hobart, and I waited all day by my phone for him to message me that he was free, but he never did.
My mom had been there a few times (of course) and she said that there was a market and a prison that was really cool. I used my SIM card data to look up these places on the map, and they were both within walking distance but in opposite directions. I headed for the prison first.
On my way I found a tap room with my name on it!
I was all stuffed up with a cold, but if my friend Emily had been with me, we would have gotten a pint there anyway.
When I got to the prison, all of the tours had been pre-booked and conducted, but with a small donation, I could explore some of the rooms on my own. My mom thought it was really interesting how they kept the prisoners below the courtroom. The courtroom had been converted from a church and the seats were raked like a theater. The less offensive prisoners had more headroom and were kept in cells toward the back. The worse criminals had smaller cells toward the front. There was a little stairway that came up just into the box where the prisoner could speak. I was able to go into the courtroom, but not down to where the prisoners were kept.
With no word from Matt about the sushi, I headed toward the Market. Keeping in mind that everything I buy I have to fit into my already bursting suitcases when I go home, I do love to window shop and browse all of the things I don’t need. I did buy some fresh fruit and this thing:
It had melted cheese and spinach grilled in a flat bread. It was delicious. I sat and ate it in a park as I enjoyed being alone.
The Majestic Princess was also docked next to us, and as I walked back, the difference in sizes was really obvious.
The Golden Princess has one less deck than the Caribbean Princess, but otherwise it’s very similar. I’ve heard that the bigger ships have the same amount of activities, but it takes longer to get from place to place. I prefer the intimacy of the smaller ships.
Still the difference in size blew my mind from this angle. When I got closer, I saw one of my friends from the Caribbean on the gangway, but by then it was too late to meet up. Still, it was nice to see a familiar face!