Trip details and more

Well, the weekend has finally arrived and with it a chance to catch my breath. This of course means that I haven’t accomplished much of note but I’ve had a great time (not) doing it.

Friday (Halloween) evening we had about 10 or 12 trick or treaters, which has become our usual number. There were double that when our kids were small. The routine in those days meant the shore captain would ‘come out of the woods’ if he was in at camp and take the kids on their rounds while I stayed home to hand out treats. 9 or 10 p.m. usually brought them home totally exhausted, costumes in disarray, full of sugary treats and cranky. The man would have collected ‘his treats’ while chauffeuring and would have a collection of home made fudge, cookies and other goodies and have stopped for a coffee in one of the more closely populated areas for a visit while the urchins made their rounds there on foot. This year was so sedate that I managed to do some mending, finish up the titles on the desk calendar I made, read the paper and straighten up the house.

I read until 11 p.m. in bed – imagine with the light on and no complaints – as I worked my way through the novel I borrowed for the cruise (but as you know literary pursuits were secondary to others) called The Memory Keepers Daughter and it is a wonderful read. Highly recommended. One of those I’d finish in a few days usually here at home.

Saturday morning I slept in – yes!!! Almost felt like I was retired – that is one thing I plan to do when I’m not full time gainfully employed, keep to my natural biorhythms. I reached out and grabbed my book and continued on for a while until the cats really got insistent for kitty treats. I made a very modest attempt at housework – washed a quilt, as it was a gorgeous warm fall day to hang it out– and then the great white hunter was home saying he’d kept on going after hunting this a.m. as he had gear to work on. I did get some brown bread made today but spent the afternoon in the veranda room reading the newspaper while the bread machine did its work. The lunch plans were postponed for a couple of weekends as Charlotte Lane Café is closed until Tuesday while they’ve been attending a Slow Food Show in Italy this week.

I must get my act together and organize the cruise photos, yes yes I know I promised some for this blog but.... I have the last three vacations to scrap and mementos sitting in stacks. This is what happens when you take three vacations in four months. Have actually been looking at the time over the Christmas holidays and it looks like if I were to take five days vacation I’d have two weeks off. Now this all depends on others covering for me as well so this is a dream at present. Really someone back from a two week vacation should be a bit more self-disciplined wouldn’t you think?

At any rate the cruise was a great time and strongly recommended for anyone wanting to see the Northeastern US and Maritimes in a different way. When you come into cities from the cruise pier side you see a completely different side of the port. Although I’d traveled by land to Quebec City, Charlottetown, Sydney, etc. there was a different perspective on arriving by ship. So sit back in your armchair and we’ll travel the route:

Quebec City is of course very historic (romantic except we weren’t a couple) and expensive. Even a bottle of pop was almost double what it cost in Nova Scotia. For the most part the clerks and locals were friendly although I had an encounter with a very rude antique shopkeeper who actually left me speechless (as difficult as this is to believe) when I asked about a price of a medicine bottle in the window. I bought it in spite (and because I really wanted it) and we looked at everything in his shop just to make him nervous. The Entertainment Director said that six of the officers had spent $1000 for supper the night before departure. We got great photos, enjoyed a pleasant fall day and made like the tourists we were ending up with shin splints from all the hills.

The St. Lawrence River was picturesque but we had drizzly sea day, which was filled with my two presentations so not really memorable. We did manage to see a whale late in the afternoon as we met the Bay of St. Lawrence though. Very sheltered so no fear of a rough crossing.

Charlottetown is of course a nice little city. We spent an enjoyable day poking around. Found a great independent bookstore in the Confederation Mall and picked up a reference book on Sea Birds – always planning for that next cruise talk – as well as some t-shirts for the kids. Got some nice tourist photos being Anne with an E with the red braids and straw hat and enjoyed the free internet at the visitors center. Nice not to have a major travel agenda but just hang out.

Sydney was fun as we spent the day hanging out with a former colleague from my safety officer days who’d taken the day off to visit with us. She was at first (needlessly) concerned since there’d been a cruise ship in the day before that perhaps I’d mixed the days up – especially as I didn’t get my act together to call her or turn the cell on until 10 a.m. She was down shortly to pick us up and we headed off to see St. George’s church which was built for the military originally, then to a craft fair where I picked up a beautiful sweater for myself, a nice placemat for the kitty boys which is shaped like a fish and says ‘I love cats’ in the print, a carved stone which says HOPE (where I had a nice chat with the craftsman who is being recruited by the cruise companies to teach craft classes and sell his stained glass and etchings) and we bought some great homemade chocolate. The craftspeople in CB were some of the best on the entire cruise – no surprise to us but our fellow passengers were very impressed – and the prices were sure great. We made it to the library in time to take in the Cuban bagpipers which I mentioned in the interim posting – the Galician bagpipes were a big hit with the Celtic Colors audience and as a bonus we got internet access. My friend fed us (as if we were in need of sustenance – a good fast should’ve been in order) but who could refuse her CB hospitality in the form of homemade soup, tea biscuits and chocolate cake? The shore captain always says he’d be 300 lbs if she were feeding him as she’s such a good cook and you know occasionally he’s right – this is one of those times. We had a nice slide show of her sons wedding photos – beautiful bride and groom and very together mother of the groom was our assessment. This was a good preview for my travel partner who will be filling that role next September herself. All too soon it was time to head back to the ship for the sail away while we listened to the Sydney Mines Legion Band.

Halifax was pretty exciting as we got to visit with daughter # 2 and my travel partner’s son and his fiancée. I was also pumped to get my glasses, as since I hadn’t seen Newport or New York I sure wanted to be able to really see the sights. We took a spin down to historic properties just to say we were off the ship and my travel mate did her ‘buy the postcard, write an Uncle Traveling Max message, and mail it home’ for the scrapbook routine. We hustled on board and got into the hot tub to watch Halifax harbour disappearing while we sipped the drink of the day and reviewed the day with our fellow passengers. It was very odd to head down the coast and look out at midnight to see the Cape Sable lighthouse knowing that we’d just passed our home. Made it sort of like two cruises, the before and after SW Nova sections.

It was noon before we reached Saint John, NB so I did a talk in the morning but I sent my travel partner off to watch the culinary display and galley tour as I did that last time and it’s really fun. Although it was Sunday and quiet in Saint John we visited the market and shopped in the outlets which had opened for us. Nice photo ops in the old port city, which I hadn’t seen for a while and a late, sail away.

We spent a fun day in Portland although somehow in my hilarity I managed to lose a bag of my shopping which consisted of a t-shirt which said ‘Crustacean Nation’ for the prodigal son and a flying monkey which he could’ve entertained the cats with - it was a monkey with elastic loops on its paws and you flung it like a slingshot making it emit a high pitched eeeeyyyyyiiiiiii – a must have. Unfortunately we visited a joke shop where we laughed until we were weak and I must’ve set the bag down somewhere. I’m sorry I lost the bag but I have to say the endorphins released likely made up for it. I picked up a great night-light shaped like a whelk shell in the shade of my bathroom at a lovely home shop, which of course got smashed on the trip home and a top for my oil dispenser, which doesn’t fit. So Portland wasn’t a success for my shopping it seems. It is a very pretty old city, which I’ve visited a few times so it was a nice return trip.

Boston was a good day as we visited along the Freedom Trail seeing the Boston Common and various other sites. My travel mate got some holders for the US quarters she’s begun to collect, I got a good deal on some Mary Jane crocs for next season and we had fun shopping in the markets. We met my cousin for lunch at Durgin Park and the food is good and the waitresses are sassy (as their slogan reads) because I was told “more chew and less chat, that’s getting cold” by our server as I caught up with my cousin. I could just hear my favorite aunt telling someone that during the years she waitressed there. We caught the last shuttle back to the ship and shared the ride with Caribbean Princess passengers who told us there was no lecturer on their ship (which had been my second choice) Nice sail away through all the Boston Harbor islands.

We had a bit of rough weather in Newport, which was a shame as this was the new to us, port of call but we just modified our plans. Instead of a Cliff Walk we hopped on the city bus and for $1.75 we had a city tour of the Gilded Age Mansions. The tender ride in and out was a bit wild but nothing like fall lobstering and we were dressed for it. It was windy, cool and drizzly, reminding us of home. Glad for the afternoon tea following that. Not every day you get a man in white gloves serving your tea from a silver pot, lucky to have one with clean hands put the kettle on in this house. We spent the final ship night enjoying the champagne fountain and the company of some newfound British friends until 2 a.m. (which at 6 a.m. the next day felt like a mistake) as they were staying on for another nine days ending up in Barbados. Now THAT would’ve been nice too.

An early arrival in New York City with the Statue of Liberty all lit up as well as the skyline was quite a sight and apparently it is the city that never sleeps because at 6 am the traffic was very busy. We did an express walk off to get an early start and made like pack mules through the pier, customs and to a cab. Had a narrated tour from Brooklyn to Manhattan and got sorted out at the hotel by 9 a.m. The day in New York was glorious weather and we enjoyed all the carts and stalls as we walked from Broadway to Times Square – the books, clothes, bags, food for sale it was all fantastic. Afterwards we picked up our discount tickets to Phantom of the Opera and headed back for a bicycle cart tour of Central Park. It was amazingly clean, safe and beautiful, not at all what you imagine. We had a wonderful afternoon and were delivered to the door of the hotel to get ready for our night on the town. We hoofed it down to the Russian Tea Room where the doorman let us in and the fantasy began. Leather benches, lots of red and gold, and amazing food – what a place, we even got a tour of the upstairs with a crystal dancing bear filled with goldfish and a tree full of Faberge eggs. The bathroom taps were even gold! We made it to the Majestic Theatre just before show time and the venue itself was something else with lots of ornate décor. The play was beyond description – no surprise it’s run for 18 years – the sets, costumes, makeup, orchestra, singing and acting were unbelievable. Hailing a cab was a life threatening experience but we did manage to throw ourselves in the back of one and be deposited at the hotel door. When we caught our ride to JFK airport in the morning there wasn’t much energy left in reserve for those two traveling gals let me tell you.

Now the temptations keep rolling in as I’m going to paste the three emails I was sent this week from ‘my agent’ and they make you wonder how you could resist:

FREE CRUISE
14 Night South America & Panama Canal
Radiance of the Seas November 9 - 23, 2008
Greetings from Sixth Star!
Sixth Star Entertainment and Marketing is looking for a Special Interest Lecturer in one of the following topics: Forensics, Pets, Maritime, Astronomy, Geneology, Celebrities, Caricaturist, Gardening, Hand Writing Analysis, Nature/wildlife, Science, Silhouette Artist to provide an "edu-taining" program onboard the Radiance of the Seas November 9 - 23, 2008. It is a South America & Panama Canal cruise that sails Ft. Lauderdale, FL to Valparaiso, Chile.


Itinerary
09-Nov Fort Lauderdale, Florida 5:00 PM
10-Nov Cruising
11-Nov Cruising
12-Nov Cartagena, Colombia 7:00 AM 8:00 PM Docked
13-Nov Cruising
14-Nov Panama Canal (Cruising Canal) 6:00 AM 6:00 PM Cruising
15-Nov Cruising
16-Nov Manta, Ecuador 7:00 AM 6:00 PM Docked
17-Nov Cruising
18-Nov Lima, (Callao) Peru 7:00 AM 6:00 PM Docked
19-Nov Cruising
20-Nov Arica, Chile 7:00 AM 7:00 PM Docked
21-Nov Cruising
22-Nov La Serena (Coquimbo), Chile 8:00 AM 4:00 PM Docked
23-Nov Valparaiso, Chile 4:00 AM

We are looking for a Special Interest Lecturer to sail on the Sea Princess through the Caribbean Novmeber 29 - December 13, 2008. Sailing roundtrip Barbados. Take a look at the exciting ports listed below.

I T I N E R A R Y
Barbados
St. Lucia
Antigua, Antigua
St. Kitts, St. Kitts
Tortola, British Virgin Islands
Samana, Dominican Republic
At Sea
Montego Bay, Jamaica
Grand Cayman Islands
At Sea
Aruba
Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles
Caracas (La Guaira), Venezuela
Grenada
Barbados

We are currently looking for a Lecturer to provide an "Edu-taining" lecture. To sail on the Emerald Princess through the Caribbean. The cruise dates and intineraries are listed below.

EMERALD PRINCESS NOVEMBER 20, 2008 thru NOVEMBER 30, 2008
Ft. Lauderdale
Princess Cays, Bahamas
At Sea
St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
St. Kitts, St. Kitts & Nevis
Barbados
Dominica
Antigua, Antingua and Barbuda
At Sea
At Sea
Ft. Lauderdale

EMERALD PRINCESS NOVEMBER 30, 2008 thru DECEMBER 10, 2008
Ft. Lauderdale
At Sea
At Sea
Aruba
Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles Grenada
Dominica
St. Thomas, U.S Virgin Islands
At Sea
Princess Cays, Bahamas
Ft. Lauderdale

Today there was a birthday party for a former co-worker and the daughter-in-law arranged it with wine and all of us dressed in rhinestones, boas and sparkly stuff – sounds like fun alreadydoesn't it? At least four of us from work (still hanging in there) attended plus quite a few of the neighbours and other friends so it was a good time.

Back to the salt mines in the a.m. but at least the time change over the weekend is more in sync with my sleep cycles. Doesn't make me want to go to work but at least I won't mind the actual getting up as much.