Some serious bougainvillea, as seen from our table in the restaurant Looking onto the beach from our table Looking into the restaurant from the beach The interior of the restaurant When we got up, I drove to a nearby bakery on the French side to buy croissants. One thing you should know about SXM is that lots of animals roam free. It's quite common to be driving along and find the way blocked by a cow or a small herd of goats. So I wasn't surprised, upon parking at the bakery, to find two donkeys standing just ahead of my front bumper. By the time I left the bakery with a bag of croissants, one of the donkeys had moved to behind my car. I was wondering how to get him to move when that became unnecessary, as it appears that croissants are instant donkey magnets. You would have thought the bag had EAT ME written on the outside. The donkeys started for the bag like sprinters off the blocks. Their eyes were fixed on it as though if they blinked it might vanish. The baker's golden retriever ran out and barked furiously in a loud, but, alas, ineffective attempt to donkeyherd. But it was the donkeys' unwavering worship of the bag of croissants was their undoing. I walked around the passenger side of the car. They followed closely. (Very closely.) I continued around the front of the car, and then finally to the driver side, where I opened the door and jumped in. One of the donkeys pressed his nostrils to the window -- the mark he left lasted all day. But I was able to back up and drive away. Next stop was a tiny grocery store for some French butter. On the way back I found the donkeys had wandered into the road, and I had to detour around them. But croissants appeared to have vanished from their thoughts. Judi and I had fresh-baked croissants with French butter for breakfast. It was great. But, alas, I may never eat a croissant again without thinking of Pop Tarts. We spent the day shopping in Philipsburg. What can I say about shopping in Philipsburg? Except that it was a slow day for the jewelers -- at three in the afternoon about half of them told us they hadn't made a sale all day. So they were really willing to deal. No cruise ships in today. That's the time to shop in Philipsburg. And how much jewelry is there on this island, anyway? Forget the island -- just in Philipsburg? Billions of dollars worth? Does anyone know? Lunch today was at the restaurant in the Holland House Beach Hotel. Both the food (below) and the setting were fabulous. The setting: An open-walled room overlooking Great Bay beach, with rich wooden furniture. It recalled colonial times. Hmmm... "recalled colonial times?" What do I mean by those words? When the Europeans conquered other parts of the world, places where the climate and conditions were different from Europe, they didn't want to adopt local cultures -- cultures which were already adapted to local conditions. The Europeans wanted to keep their European ways -- but these ways were not adapted to the local conditions. So rather than "go native" on the one hand, or suffer the impracticality of remaining strictly European on the other, they created hybrid cultures. Part European, but adapted to conditions, the restaurant in the Holland House Beach Hotel is one of these hybrids. Heavy wooden furniture, a dark wooden wall, elegantly tiled floors, but open on three sides to the beach and the tropical breezes -- the Europeans' adaptation to the West Indies, neither fully Caribbean nor fully European. Colonial. This evening at the manager's reception (free drinks!) we met a newlywed couple on their honeymoon: Laura and Jeff. She wore makeup and a sundress. She sat up straight, and looked dead into my eyes when she spoke to me. She had their stay all planned out. When the hors d'oeuvres came around, she popped them straight into her mouth, whole -- no nibbling to see whether she would like them. He wore baggy shorts and a white undershirt. Over the undershirt he wore a green v-neck t-shirt with the sleeves ripped off. He slouched in his chair and his gaze wandered. Regarding plans for their stay, his only contribution was that whatever beaches they went to, there had better be jet skis, parasailing, and other "things to do" (preferably mechanized). Laying on the beach soaking up the rays and listening to the gentle crash of the surf was not his idea of a good time. It would be interesting to follow this couple over time and see how they weather life together. No one tried to sell us pot today. Lunch As I said, lunch today was at the restaurant in the Holland House Beach Hotel, and both the food and the setting (above) were fabulous. The food: Judi ordered Indonesian pork kabobs, which came in a wonderful peanut sauce. The more you chewed each bite, the more complex the flavors became. Her meal also included peas and rice, which was even better than the P&R at Chez Raymond. And the cole slaw seemed to have lemon in it -- a nice touch. I had kroketten with bread -- apparently a Dutch dish. The kroketten were croquettes -- a paste filling, coated and deep fried. The paste was supposedly made of ham. I couldn't taste any ham, but whatever it was, it was great. The "bread" part of "kroketten with bread" was two slices of dry white toast. I couldn't figure that. And I didn't eat them either. Both of our meals came with salads, and the dressing was tasty. I can recommend the restaurant in the Holland House Beach Hotel.

Another diner offered to take a picture of us at our table