9/22/17 Victoria Falls

Most of the group is going on excursions today.  Some are going to ride elephants.  Mike is taking a ride in an ultra-light over the falls, several are taking a helicopter ride over the falls and a couple are taking a tour of the bridge.  John and Lana, Dave and I took a cab to the Victoria Hotel.  This is a very very posh hotel, built I believe in 1913.  Queen Elizabeth has stayed here (Michael Jackson did also).  We walked in as though we were guests and strolled out into the gardens to the viewing point of the falls.  We walked further to the right and found the sculpture garden.  The work on most of them was outstanding.  They were all carved of stone - leopard stone, dolomite, and serpentine.  For the quality of the work, the prices weren't bad - $1500 to $3000.  We had a lovely stroll and then went back to the front veranda where we asked the doorman to call Eddie - our cab driver.  When he arrived, we asked him to take us to a new bookstore.  He then drove us to the same one we were at yesterday!  We went back to the hotel and had a cold drink out by the pool until lunch was ready.  Dave is napping again so I am trying to finish this blog before we have to go out again.  Tonight we are having a boat ride and dinner on the river above the falls (but not close to the edge!).  We will say good-bye to some of the group as they will leave early tomorrow morning to continue their trip to Cape Town.  Those of us who are not going on the post-trip will be picked up at 10:30.  We will fly from Victoria Falls to Johannesburg.  We have a long delay there until we can catch our flight to Amsterdam.  There we will stay overnight and will arrive in Boston on Monday.  I have decided to wait until we get home before trying to put more pictures on the blog as the wi-fi service, while not bad, is much faster at home.