A Soggy Saturday Saunter

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Saturday 21st
We woke to find cloudy skies & raindrops! The big question was 'Will The Children's Parade still take place.' Following breakfast we checked with the reception staff & sadly the Children's Parade and the Wall of Hope mural has been cancelled, hopefully to be rescheduled for next Saturday. I'm guessing with all the rain & lots of bedraggled little ones it would not be good for their health.

For the past three decades hundreds of children, dressed for the occasion parade the Main Street each carrying a flower to be placed in a beautiful flower mural symbolically named 'Wall of Hope'.The initiative combines childhood innocence and the delicacy of flowers calling for peace in the world. I hope we are able to witness this spectacle next week as the ceremony usually culminates with the release of doves.

There must be so many disappointed children today but of course lots of disappointed tourists too who may be here only for a few days & will not have a chance to see the children. Now everything is crossed for a dry afternoon tomorrow for the main flower festival to go ahead.

Despite the rain I thought I would check out where we would be viewing the parade from tomorrow as roads will be closed and I needed to make sure we could get dropped off close by.The map given with our tickets was marked showing we were not too far from the Renaldo hotel. A flat walk from our hotel but nevertheless a little too far for Mr.M. We are in stand 4 but the tiered seating was not marked today so it'll be pof luck whether we are in blue or grey seats. Hopefully ones without puddles!!

Several other people were also checking out their positions and one group from the USA had everything crossed the parade would go ahead as they were leaving Madeira on Monday. My fingers are crossed so too were theirs.

The little cafes scattered along the promenade were quiet, they do not have any cover so they really suffer if it's raining, so to the open top buses which were running empty.

As I made my way back to the hotel I popped into a flower exhibition that is on for several weeks.

A beautiful arched entrance of pin cushion proteas led into two marquees, not huge but so colourful with displays of anthuriums, orchids, lilies, strelizia, & rposes to name a few.

On display also Photographic murals with an abundance of flowers in the foreground brought the place to life. One was a backdrop of a waterfall with gushing water added, very effective.

I decided not to divert away from the promenade today, we are here for the next 13 days so have plenty of time to see what else is on offer during the festival period.

The sun was still hiding behind the clouds when I arrived back at the hotel, decided to make a late appearance.So it was definitely a soggy start to our holiday but as they say 'It can only get better'.

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Comments

[Ruth]

Rain!!!
Yes we woke to raon but it improved. We spent a few days in Jersey recently (never been before ) and there was an excellent gold medal class orchid place there. Can't remember what it was called but a great place to go if ever go there . Beautiful photos -thank you ! Ruth xx