Sunday, November 04, 2007

Hometown Meme: BERMUDA

This Hometown Meme comes to you compliments of Rhian's tag (thanks Rhi! :P Sparky)

The Rules: Answer the questions, tag 5 people and then go off on your travels to there hometowns. ONLY ONE answer for each of the questions. No ties!

My dilemma? Which 'hometown' to choose? I've only lived 'north of Toronto' for a couple of years so don't feel like an expert (yet), spent 18 years in Thunder Bay, ON (not much fodder there), another 18 in Bermuda and an odd year here and there. Hmmmm... I'm going out on a limb here and guessing that Bermuda probably has the most appeal.

Best Place to Eat:
This is really tough because Bermuda has so many good restaurants - SO MANY! Lovely, gourmet, world-class yummeries.
But I'm going to choose one that is uniquely Bermudian, a restaurant that tourists rarely venture to because of its location and decor (colloquial would be a compliment). The Black Horse Tavern in St. David's serves the best fresh wahoo ever. EVER. They're known for their shark hash and fish chowder.
The service is shaky, the decor minimally 'diner', though I always chose to sit outside next to the water at the long wooden picnic tables, yet it's the one restaurant I miss and the first I'll go back to on future visits.

Best Shopping Mall:
There are none! That's why so many Bermudians can be found in the King of Prussia Mall on any given day. And why they charter planes for shopping excursions to Atlanta just prior to Christmas. There are a fair number of shops in both Hamilton and St. Georges, if you're into boutique shopping, buying china, crystal, perfume or Louis Vuitton luggage :)

Famous Landmark:
No, not technically a 'landmark' but y'all could care less about Spanish Rock, so I'm going with something that Bermuda is famous for. No, not the Triangle - but good guess :D
Gotta say its pink sand beaches. The sand is made of crushed coral and gets the pink hue from the skeleton of a little animal called a formaniferan (foram for short). And the color/texture of the beach sand changes subtely from beach to beach: world famous Horseshoe Beach is soft, fine and light pink but Church Bay, just a few miles down the coast, is coarse and purplish.

Best Tourism Attraction:
Tourism used to be it's prime source of income (recently taken over by international business) so this is very hard to whittle down to one. But I'm going to say the Olde Towne of St. George. Yeah - it's kind of cheating because within the town there are many lovely attractions :D
It's been continuously colonized since 1612, has narrow cobbled streets, original architecture and historical landmarks a plenty.

Place for the Kids:
The Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo, and it's really not just for kids. I worked at this fabulous world-class facility for five years and let me assure you, it may be small, but it's award winning from it's education programs to it's successful breeding of endangered species and exhibitry.

Popular Outdoor Activity:
Again, the most obvious answer is golf (most courses per square mile in the world) but I'm not a golfer so I'm so not going there! I'd have to say snorkeling and scuba diving. Bermuda has reefs that are accessible from shore teeming with colorful fish, and a huge number of shipwrecks to dive.

Breathtaking Views:
From the top of Gibbs Hill Lighthouse in Southampton, you have a marvelous 360 degree view around the island. It's only 21 miles long and a mile wide, so it's easy to take in from one end to the other.

Only found in BERMUDA:
Horton's Rum Cakes. Mmmmm.


Who to tag... So many of my cohorts are up to their eyeballs in Nano! What the heck:
Thomma Lyn - there are mountains in her midst so maybe she'll grace us with pictures.
Tempest Knight - because she lives someplace totally cool that I hope to someday visit.
Shelley Munro - same reason.
Nicholas - because he needs something else to discuss besides socks ;)
But seriously - N actually hails from across the pond so I'm kind of hoping he'll share his hometown secrets rather than those of his adopted city.
Julia - because eastern Canada is a beautiful place to visit, even though Christine isn't there any longer ;)
Thanks for playing along!

17 comments:

Leah Braemel said...

I'm still trying to figure out why you'd leave such a beautiful place to come back here? (But I'm glad you did!)

Bermuda looks gorgeous!

Anonymous said...

Insert Twilight Zone theme here:

*~*~*doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo*~*~*

You know what I posted on my blog just a couple of hours ago, though I hadn't seen this post of yours yet? That's right; pictures of the mountains where I live! LOLOLOL!

Thanks for the tag -- looks like a fun meme! And your answers were fascinating -- Bermuda sounds lovely and and fun... and did I mention, delicious? :)

Ann said...

Cool meme. I have a cousin from Bermuda, and she brings back the best rum. Yumm.

Wylie Kinson said...

Ann - yes the rum. That would be Goslings Black Seal. Yes - we've got a cupboard full and the inlaws happily replenish the stock when they come visiting.

TL - your pics are gorgeous! And yes, that's Twilight Zone material...

Leah - I shared the good, not so much the bad. Like the fact that's only 21 square miles in the middle of nowhere. Gets to you...

Julia Phillips Smith said...

Cool - I shall get to the meme this week. That pink sand is really, really beautiful. I'm glad you shared Bermuda with us - I've never been there but it sounds totally fascinating.

Tempest Knight said...

Hehehe! I'll do this meme this Friday. ;)

Carrie Lofty said...

I think this is no fair. My hometown is either crappy little Merced, CA (born there) or crappy little Nappanee, IN (raised there). And you get Bermuda?? No competing!! (Gorgeous pics, tho!)

Red Garnier said...

Looks so beautiful!! I was tagged by Rhian for this and I'm going to try to do this today. Lazy me, LOL. ;)

Amy Ruttan said...

Yes, I noticed Nicholas has been talking about socks recently. LOL!

Unknown said...

What an awesome meme! I'd love to visit Bermuda someday. Maybe you can come with me...

Anonymous said...

Bermuda sounds wonderful. I've done my homework. It's up now ;)

Stacia said...

Aw, wahoo! I haven't heard anyone talk about it in two years, since we left FL. I loved wahoo. (But I really love amberjack.)

Julia Phillips Smith said...

I just posted my hometown meme.

Wylie Kinson said...

Julia and Shelley - I'm comin' over!

Tempest - I look forward to hearing about Puerto Rico, chica!!

Carrie - and yet I'll bet you could entice us to visit :D

December - ah, finally someone who knows what wahoo is (as opposed to Wahoo!!) I also lurve amberjack, and mahi mahi, and rockfish...

Christine - that would be awesome! Maybe all the Sexies could go for a booksigning some day :D

Sparky Duck said...

keep this up and I will find a way to keep you out of King of Prussia Mall you know.

Seriously, how could anyone not find this place awesome

Rhian said...

hey - what happened to comment i left?
and do i remember what i said several days ago - of course not! dang it.
i sooooo want to go to Bermuda.

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous. How could you ever leave? If I did this meme it would just be plain sad. LOL!