December 8, 2024
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - LA ROMANO
My neighbor David Austin and his visiting girlfriend, Suzanne, put together a bike tour of Cotubanama National Park , Bayahibe Beach and Chico Cave for six of us. Above Jim Maas is on the right and Jim Arsenault on left. Joe Wheeler,was also on excursion, but did not join in for picture. Bayahibe was a nice beach town, that we biked all around and then we hiked to Chico cave and went down for a dip in cool spring water. At the edge of beach, there were blow holes, that gave us some refreshing sprays.
We spent our last day in Adelaide exploring the downtown. It was an easy and convenient, 1/2 hour train ride from the port into the CBD. The University had a lot of interesting architecture and it was a nice quiet Saturday to walk around. The River Torrens runs through the campus and provides a many pathways to enjoy.
In the parking lot of the Cube there was another bonus art installation, and this one was much better known by me, Dr. Seuss !
The d'Arenberg Cube in the famed Barossa Valley w as the draw for me here; the wine tasting was an added bonus! The 15M AUD Cube was built in 2017, from the vision of 4th generation winemaker, Chester Osbourn , who likened the solving of a Rubik's cube to winemaking. The avant garde glass, concrete and steel visitor center is 5 stories tall with the top floor tasting room offering panoramic views over the McLaren vale vineyards, the Willunga Hills and the Gulf St. Vincent . The other floors house the Alternate Realitites Museum , a contemporary art gallery, bars, a fine dining restaurant, a virtual reality experience and a wine sensory room. There is currently a Salvador Dali Universe exhibit on a 2 year lease, with some of the artist's sculptures and graphics.