Fort-De-France, Martinique...

 I went out and snapped a few photos this morning, after we docked…  Just couldn’t see getting up at 6am.  The skies were threatening but held off when the three amigos got off the ship. This morning, we started our walk along the waterfront towards Fort Saint-Louis when the skies opened. Besides getting our walk in, our mission today was to find a bank to exchange dollars for Euros…planning ahead for our spring trip to Europe. Martinique is a French territory, member of the European Union and uses the Euro. However, the banks in Martinique do not offer a currency exchange service…we found out US Dollars tend to be quite difficult to convert to Euros. All the of the five banks we visited referred us to the private currency exchange office…so that is what we ended up doing. Today, tourists and residents crowded the store-lined streets and restaurant-filled back alleys of Fort-de-France. We walked by the Savannah Park, the Post Office to the Schoelcher Library. We dodged a downpour by stopping in a cafe for some French pastries. On our way to circle the block to get the best shot of the Calvaire Chapel overlooking the city, we ensued a deluge of rain. Next, we made our way to St. Louis Cathedral and the Place Monseigneur Roméro. Our next stopped along the La Savanne was the Caribe Currency Exchange Bureau. The timing was perfect in two respects, the worst rainstorm of the day and a pre-Mardi Gras parade with school children dressed for the occasion…in Martinique they gear up for Mardi Gras starting in late January. We followed along with the parade heading back to the ship. The rest of the day was spent in the Retreat snapping photos and taking shelter from the intermittent rainstorms blowing through. Despite the rain showers it was a great day in Martinique… I went out and took photos as we sailed away and later when we sailed past Mount Pelée, pity that most of it was shrouded in the clouds.