It was an easy taxi ride from the dock to Boston South Station, we could have used the subway or a bus service, but choose to use a cab because of the size of our luggage unfamiliarity with out other two options. Again we found a large older train station that offered many dinning options, Nita found the book she’s been looking for the past week, and clean restrooms. Being Columbus Day weekend out train is full – that’s right sold out- we attempted to get an earlier train and it was sold out as well, so it appears that Amtrak is doing well on the east coast. Ron and I called Ride and Roll a bike tour company to arrange a bike tour in NYC for Sunday and once again we heard –“Sold Out”. We’ll attempt to rent bikes and do a self directed tour as we did in Montreal.
We arrived in NYC after a 4 hour train rind, the train was full being it’s Columbus weekend and a lot of students going home. The train rout hugs the coast through most of the rout so the scenery is wonderful, I thing everyone who lives within 20 miles of the coast must own a boat. The fall foliage is not as colorful as that which we saw in Canada but it is still a beautiful time of the year to travel this part of the country. We met Jennifer, Arie, and Avie in the lobby of The Milburn Hotel, and Ron and Avie are typical grandparents with all the gooo – goos and ghaas. We had dinner at the Viand Café at 75th and Broadway a NYC neighborhood diner, where the waters knew 80% of the people who walked through the door. I ordered Tuscan Chicken, something that I make at home, and I was out done. Not only was it good it was a half chicken far more than I could eat, included salad, enough for both Nita and I, all for $13.95. I can see why the locals eat here.
Sunday morning Ron and I went to Columbus Circle and found an abundance of street hustlers offering bikes for rent for the purpose of touring Central Park on a bicycle. The sales agent then escorted us to the bike shop about three blocks away and we were able to procure our bikes for $15 each for two hours, about 66% of asking price after just a little haggling. Our ride took us all the way around the park with numerous stops to see the monuments the lakes, several vista, and conversations with folks ranging from Zurich, Switzerland to Minneapolis, MN. We figured we did between 8 and 10 miles which should make up for some of the “Spinning Classes” that we’ve missed while on our trip. We were due back to Jennifer’s apartment at noon to meet Nita and Avie and their friends, Amy and Miles Moffet who used to live in Birmingham but are now living in New Haven Connecticut. We spent the balance of the day having lunch at a Hudson River Café and walking through Central Park and becoming a bit familiar with New York life and why so many people choose to live so close to each other. At 6:53 PM we were on the New Jersey Transit Authorities train from NYC Penn Station to Newark’s Penn Station to meet Tom and Tako Lento for dinner. Nita and I had met Ton and Tako on our Russia trip July and jumped at the opportunity to reconnect with them while we were in NYC. From Newark Penn Station we were able to walk to Fornos of Spain, a Portages Spanish restaurant that served top notch food in gigantic portions. Salad, rice, bread, and vegetables were served family style Nita and I had Chilean Sea Bass, Ron Salmon, Tako and Avie Halibut, and Tom Monk fish. Each meal was presented with excellent table appeal. None of us were able to finish our meals. My sea bass was 3 times the servings that I have had at other restaurants, as good as any, and well seasoned with a balsamic vinegar sauce. The Lento’s went home with enough fish to eat for a week. Tom and Tako were as delightful and we had remembered them and we hope to connect with them again, hopefully on a future trip to Japan. We got back on the train to NYC and got to bed about 11:15; it was a full day.
Monday was spend on a long walk down the Hudson River down to the Pier where the Intrepid Aircraft Carrier is docked and is now an museum, something that we’ll see next time in NYC, we also saw the free kayaking offered on the Hudson and extensive bike paths the length of Manhattan Island; more to do on our next trip to NYC. Ron and can see us coming back with a three day stop in D.C. and a three or four day stay in NYC; Amtrak will transport our bikes for $20.00 each way so we can use them in both cities.
The Best of our trip:
Best Hotel: Saint Sulpice in Montreal
Best Restaurants: Water Prince – “Seafood Restaurant and Lobster Pond” in Charlottown PEI and Fornos of Spain in Newark
Best City: Quebec… a well preserved picture of the past
Best Surprise: The Train… a relaxing way to get from here to there
Best Achievement: Had a unique Segway tour of DC the same week the owner of Segway drove one over a cliff at his mansion in England and killed himself, we didn’t even fall off ours.
Best Memory: The view of the Chateau Frontenac from Lower Town Quebec on a rainy afternoon
Best Rush: Not great but the bike ride on around the F-1 track in Montreal
Friday, October 15, 2010
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Norwegain Spirit Quebec to Boston
You’d think we would learn, when 2000 people show up to get on a ship the process is slow and tedious, but not so. We like most of the other passengers were at the checkout tent on the dock to board the Norwegian Spirit at 12:00 noon even though the ship didn’t depart until 8:00 PM, after all they are serving lunch, and we don’t want to miss that. So we endured a one and a half hour process of checking in and making our way through security.
Once on board we made ourselves at home having been on the Spirit last January for a Western Caribbean cruise out of New Orleans. Our first full day was dedicated to sailing up the Saguenay Fjord, a glacial cut formation resulting in steep cliffs that now serve to allow the waters of the Atlantic Ocean ant the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to flow 330 miles into northern Canada. The fall foliage provides a colorful palate to appreciate nature’s transitional beauty. Although the air tempetures is in the mid sixties and the ships movement generates a cool wind warm sunning spots were in abundance. A bonus of a spotting of Beluga Whales in the late afternoon provided a delightful finish to a very relaxing day. It was nice to reduce the pace and kick back; I also started the third book of the Stieg Larsson trilogy, The Girl that Kicked a Hornets Nest.
Monday we dock in Sept-Iles (Seven Islands) a small fishing town of 25,000 that has transformed into a center for iron ore and aluminum manufacturing and is making a valiant effort to become a cruise ship stop. There really isn’t much to see or do in Sept-Iles; the best description I heard was any small Mid-western town with a McDonalds, KFC and Wall Mart. There is a small museum tracing the history of the area and the Montagnais Innu people back to 1535. The big plus was the city had set up a huge reception tent just off the ship where they had booths showing their crafts, handing our crackers with local shrimp, but most important free internet service; connecting aboard the ship can run from $.40 to $.75 per minute depending on the plan that you purchase.
Tuesday we docked in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, population of 32,000, a pictures thriving town; a perfect place to live if you somehow could avoid the winters. The houses and buildings around the main streets are reminiscent of our New England, US dating back to the 16th and early 17th century. We walked into town and immediately went to a restaurant recommended by Dawn, one of the ports ship inspectors that I engaged while he was doing his inspection, as the best “lobster experience” in Charlottetown. At the corner of Prince and Water streets we found Water Prince – “Seafood Restaurant and Lobster Pond” Four lobsters ordered that came with a pound of muscles and potato salad, I accompanied my 2lber with a pint of Sir John A’s Honey Wheat Ale. It turned out to be the meal of the trip, so far. The restaurant was small and friendly and our server gave us a heads up on Charlottetown’s best ice cream served at Cow’s at the corner of Queen and Grafton Street sharing a restroom with Subway, I actually had two pints with my 2 pound lobster. The weather was warm but not hot so a leisurely stroll back to the ship and we said goodbye at 5:30 PM. Thus far an outstanding feature of this out of the way cruise itinerary is the friendliness of the people at the ports that we have visited, they appreciated us coming to visit them, at Sept-Iles there were at least 200 people on the pier waving us “goodbye” as we left their little town, you won’t find that anywhere else.
Wednesday is a “Sea Day”, we’ve all formed some habits; being early risers Ron, Nita and I usually meet in the Rallies Restaurant for early coffee then Nita and I go to a 7:30 Exercise Class joined by Ron at 8:00 for a half hour on the machines in the gym before breakfast. As with all cruises food is at a plenty and anything that you want is available, you don’t go hungry on cruises. At sea days gives me time to catch-up with the stock market movements and possibly place a trade that can pay for the vacation, natural gas is up 9 cents and that just might do it for this vacation. We spend the balance of the time reading, napping, writing, and eating, it’s not a bad life but it can’t go on to long.
Thursday we dock in Halifax, Nova Scotia; we’ve been here before, two years ago on our trans-Atlantic crossing from Dover England to NYC. Halifax is a city that appears to have been hit hard by the recession, there are many empty store fronts but in this case I get the idea that the city just over built for it’s tourist trade during good times and now, like in most places it’s survival of the fittest. One of the fittest are the Murphy’s, they own the large restaurant on the pier, the Theodore Tug Boat, the whale watching and tall ship concession and any number of store fronts. Having had a lobster lunch two days ago in Charlottetown we opted for Lobster Wraps, Lobster Quesada, fish chowder and crab cakes. Avie went all out and had a slice of “five berry pie”. We left Murphy’s confident that they will be here if and when we revisit Halifax. We’d seen the Maritime Museum and the Titanic Exhibition on our last visit, so I found the history of the Arcadian people of Halifax interesting.
The Arcadians were the French people living in Halifax in the mid 1700’s, which was a British colony. They wanted French rule and were thus not welcome in Halifax. The British deposed them to Saint George Island, a small island about a mile out in Halifax harbor. In 1762 the British put these 600 Arcadians on a ship and attempted to dump them in Boston but the people of Boston turned then away, so the were put back on Saint George Inland, where the living conditions were deplorable. In 1764 the British scattered the families across Nova Scotia resulting in many of the families, in an effort to stay together, making a pilgrimage to Louisiana where they established a major part of today’s Louisiana culture. Thus French is not spoken in Halifax as it is in Montreal and Quebec.
Friday and our last stop is Portland Maine, what a beautiful entrance into the harbor, magnificent homes line the shore as we approach the downtown port that serviced what is now Old Portland back in the early 1700’s. The brick line streets are all the remain of that old city as most of the city burnt on July 4 1866 resulting from a fireworks celebration that went wrong leaving 10,000 people homeless. The new Old Town was rebuilt in brick with a Victorian appearance. We spent our day walking the city, taking in what I saw as a free spirit lifestyle and eating one more lobster before we leave this colorful part of North America.
Lunch, lobster was enjoyed at DiMillo’s Floating Restaurant a build around an old steel hulled ship right on the water. The atmosphere was pure Maine, the service was great and the lobster was second only to the one we had in Charlottetown two days earlier. Bad habit being hard to brake, we took a short walk back into old town and found Beals Ice Cream for a double dip desert. Nita and I both enjoy the feel of Maine and I feel sure that we will revisit Portland in the future.
The cruise has been a welcome respite in our New England Adventure and I will plan future trips with a similar itinerary, tomorrow we will dock in Boston get back on the train and head to New York City.
Once on board we made ourselves at home having been on the Spirit last January for a Western Caribbean cruise out of New Orleans. Our first full day was dedicated to sailing up the Saguenay Fjord, a glacial cut formation resulting in steep cliffs that now serve to allow the waters of the Atlantic Ocean ant the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to flow 330 miles into northern Canada. The fall foliage provides a colorful palate to appreciate nature’s transitional beauty. Although the air tempetures is in the mid sixties and the ships movement generates a cool wind warm sunning spots were in abundance. A bonus of a spotting of Beluga Whales in the late afternoon provided a delightful finish to a very relaxing day. It was nice to reduce the pace and kick back; I also started the third book of the Stieg Larsson trilogy, The Girl that Kicked a Hornets Nest.
Monday we dock in Sept-Iles (Seven Islands) a small fishing town of 25,000 that has transformed into a center for iron ore and aluminum manufacturing and is making a valiant effort to become a cruise ship stop. There really isn’t much to see or do in Sept-Iles; the best description I heard was any small Mid-western town with a McDonalds, KFC and Wall Mart. There is a small museum tracing the history of the area and the Montagnais Innu people back to 1535. The big plus was the city had set up a huge reception tent just off the ship where they had booths showing their crafts, handing our crackers with local shrimp, but most important free internet service; connecting aboard the ship can run from $.40 to $.75 per minute depending on the plan that you purchase.
Tuesday we docked in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, population of 32,000, a pictures thriving town; a perfect place to live if you somehow could avoid the winters. The houses and buildings around the main streets are reminiscent of our New England, US dating back to the 16th and early 17th century. We walked into town and immediately went to a restaurant recommended by Dawn, one of the ports ship inspectors that I engaged while he was doing his inspection, as the best “lobster experience” in Charlottetown. At the corner of Prince and Water streets we found Water Prince – “Seafood Restaurant and Lobster Pond” Four lobsters ordered that came with a pound of muscles and potato salad, I accompanied my 2lber with a pint of Sir John A’s Honey Wheat Ale. It turned out to be the meal of the trip, so far. The restaurant was small and friendly and our server gave us a heads up on Charlottetown’s best ice cream served at Cow’s at the corner of Queen and Grafton Street sharing a restroom with Subway, I actually had two pints with my 2 pound lobster. The weather was warm but not hot so a leisurely stroll back to the ship and we said goodbye at 5:30 PM. Thus far an outstanding feature of this out of the way cruise itinerary is the friendliness of the people at the ports that we have visited, they appreciated us coming to visit them, at Sept-Iles there were at least 200 people on the pier waving us “goodbye” as we left their little town, you won’t find that anywhere else.
Wednesday is a “Sea Day”, we’ve all formed some habits; being early risers Ron, Nita and I usually meet in the Rallies Restaurant for early coffee then Nita and I go to a 7:30 Exercise Class joined by Ron at 8:00 for a half hour on the machines in the gym before breakfast. As with all cruises food is at a plenty and anything that you want is available, you don’t go hungry on cruises. At sea days gives me time to catch-up with the stock market movements and possibly place a trade that can pay for the vacation, natural gas is up 9 cents and that just might do it for this vacation. We spend the balance of the time reading, napping, writing, and eating, it’s not a bad life but it can’t go on to long.
Thursday we dock in Halifax, Nova Scotia; we’ve been here before, two years ago on our trans-Atlantic crossing from Dover England to NYC. Halifax is a city that appears to have been hit hard by the recession, there are many empty store fronts but in this case I get the idea that the city just over built for it’s tourist trade during good times and now, like in most places it’s survival of the fittest. One of the fittest are the Murphy’s, they own the large restaurant on the pier, the Theodore Tug Boat, the whale watching and tall ship concession and any number of store fronts. Having had a lobster lunch two days ago in Charlottetown we opted for Lobster Wraps, Lobster Quesada, fish chowder and crab cakes. Avie went all out and had a slice of “five berry pie”. We left Murphy’s confident that they will be here if and when we revisit Halifax. We’d seen the Maritime Museum and the Titanic Exhibition on our last visit, so I found the history of the Arcadian people of Halifax interesting.
The Arcadians were the French people living in Halifax in the mid 1700’s, which was a British colony. They wanted French rule and were thus not welcome in Halifax. The British deposed them to Saint George Island, a small island about a mile out in Halifax harbor. In 1762 the British put these 600 Arcadians on a ship and attempted to dump them in Boston but the people of Boston turned then away, so the were put back on Saint George Inland, where the living conditions were deplorable. In 1764 the British scattered the families across Nova Scotia resulting in many of the families, in an effort to stay together, making a pilgrimage to Louisiana where they established a major part of today’s Louisiana culture. Thus French is not spoken in Halifax as it is in Montreal and Quebec.
Friday and our last stop is Portland Maine, what a beautiful entrance into the harbor, magnificent homes line the shore as we approach the downtown port that serviced what is now Old Portland back in the early 1700’s. The brick line streets are all the remain of that old city as most of the city burnt on July 4 1866 resulting from a fireworks celebration that went wrong leaving 10,000 people homeless. The new Old Town was rebuilt in brick with a Victorian appearance. We spent our day walking the city, taking in what I saw as a free spirit lifestyle and eating one more lobster before we leave this colorful part of North America.
Lunch, lobster was enjoyed at DiMillo’s Floating Restaurant a build around an old steel hulled ship right on the water. The atmosphere was pure Maine, the service was great and the lobster was second only to the one we had in Charlottetown two days earlier. Bad habit being hard to brake, we took a short walk back into old town and found Beals Ice Cream for a double dip desert. Nita and I both enjoy the feel of Maine and I feel sure that we will revisit Portland in the future.
The cruise has been a welcome respite in our New England Adventure and I will plan future trips with a similar itinerary, tomorrow we will dock in Boston get back on the train and head to New York City.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Quebec = Europe without crossing the pond
We arrived in Quebec by train Wednesday morning, a quick taxi ride up the hill and we were in Old Quebec at The Château Frontenac Hotel. The name "Quebec", which comes from the Algonquin word kébec meaning "where t
he river narrows", originally referred to the area around Quebec City where the Saint Lawrence River narrows to a cliff-lined gap. French explorer Samuel de Champlain chose the name Québec in 1608 for the colonial outpost he would use as the administrative seat for the French colony of New France. Today Quebec city has grown into a city of 750,000 the seventh largest city in Canada. Old Quebec is the draw of the area, reminding me of many of the European cities that Nita and I have visited; add in the fact that the first language of Quebec is French and you feel like you are in Europe.
We had our first dinner in Quebec in Lower Quebec, taking a Fanicular down the cliff side to La Marie Clanisse. The restaurant is in a cirta 1790 building built into the cliff thus providing an intimate atmosphere, their speciality is seafood thus we ordered various meals from Linguine with lobster sauce and shrimp to Atlantic Halibut. The food was good but a bit pricey at about $40 per plate. We'll spend more time in Lower Quebec, it seems to be the place to find the best restaurants.
The Battle of the Plains of Abraham, also known as the Battle of Quebec, was a pivotal battle in the Seven Years' War (referred to as the French and Indian War in the United States). The confrontation, which began on 13 September 1759, was fought between the British Army and Navy, and the French Army, on a plateau just outside the walls of Quebec City, on land owned by a farmer named Abraham Martin.
The battle involved fewer than 10,000 troops between both sides, but proved to be a deciding moment in the conflict between France and Britain over the fate of New France, influencing the later creation of Canada. Nita and I spent Thursday morning walking in the rain through what is now a park and nature trail reliving the siege on Old Quebec. The culmination of a three-month siege by the British, the battle lasted about an hour about a third of the time that it took us to walk the battle field.
The center piece of Old Quebec is The Château Frontenac Hotel, designed by the American architect Bruce Price, it is one of a series of "château" style hotels built for the Canadian Pacific Railway company at the end of the 19th and the start of the 20th century. The railway company sought to encourage luxury tourism and bring wealthy travellers to its trains. The Château Frontenac opened in 1893, five years after its sister-hotel, the Banff Springs. The going rate for a room at the Chateu Frontenac is $350 to $450 per night but by booking through travelocity I was able to get our rooms for under $200 per night. The key is to book early. Our room is great with a three window view of the river, it's comfortable but not as nice as the Saint-Sulpice in Montreal.
Although several of Quebec City's buildings stand taller, the hotel is perched atop a tall cape overlooking the Saint Lawrence River, thus giving a spectacular view for several miles. The building is the most prominent feature of the Quebec City skyline as seen from across the St. Lawrence, and is a symbol of the city. The hotel was built near the Plains of Abraham.
Thursday afternoon we opted for a bus tour which got us out of the rain and into outlying Quebec City. The tour highlights were Saint-Anne_De-Beaupte (a Catholic Church known for its healing of those in need), Ile d'Orleans (a charming island atmosphere
close to Quebec City ) and Chute Montmorency (Quebec's tallest waterfalls 1.5 X Niagara Falls).
We had dinner at Portofino on the recommendation of the hotel concierge. The magnificent façade of this historic house built in 1760 gives a welcoming entrance out of the continuing rain.(the corner of Rue Saint-Jean, Rue Couillard, and Côte de la Fabrique) Portofino is an Italian bistro with a casual atmosphere good food live music and as soon as we arrived, we smelled the fine aroma of pizza, pasta, and all the other superb dishes of the most popular Italian restaurant in Quebec City.
Friday morning Nita choose to explore Lower Old Quebec. The Up Town is linked by the literally "neck-breaking" steps and the Old Quebec Funicular to the Lower Town, which includes such sites as the ancient Notre Dame des Victoires church, the historic Petit Champlain district, the port, and the Musée de la Civilisation (Museum of Civilization). The Lower Town is filled with original architecture and street designs, dating back to the city's beginnings. Murals and statues are also featured. The Lower Town is also noted for its wide variety of boutiques, many featuring hand-crafted goods some of which we purchased. Quebec city's downtown is on the lower part of the town. Its epicentre is adjacent to the old town where we came in by train and will leave via ship.
Lunch was late at Aux Anciens Canadiens, Nita had the Wild Meat Pie, containing Deer, Elk, Caraboo, and potatoes in pastry. I had red wine Nita had a red beer, we both had soup, I had Maple Syrup Pie she had blueberry cake all this for $19.95 each, but you have
to get there before 5:45 after the prices go to $49.95. The restaurant is 200 yards to the right of the Chateau, if you're in Quebec it's a must. We had reservations at le Lapin Saute for the evening but canceled because were to full, it features rabbit and duck and is hard to get into. It's a must if we ever come back, but for tonight we may have to find some gelato.
he river narrows", originally referred to the area around Quebec City where the Saint Lawrence River narrows to a cliff-lined gap. French explorer Samuel de Champlain chose the name Québec in 1608 for the colonial outpost he would use as the administrative seat for the French colony of New France. Today Quebec city has grown into a city of 750,000 the seventh largest city in Canada. Old Quebec is the draw of the area, reminding me of many of the European cities that Nita and I have visited; add in the fact that the first language of Quebec is French and you feel like you are in Europe.We had our first dinner in Quebec in Lower Quebec, taking a Fanicular down the cliff side to La Marie Clanisse. The restaurant is in a cirta 1790 building built into the cliff thus providing an intimate atmosphere, their speciality is seafood thus we ordered various meals from Linguine with lobster sauce and shrimp to Atlantic Halibut. The food was good but a bit pricey at about $40 per plate. We'll spend more time in Lower Quebec, it seems to be the place to find the best restaurants.
The Battle of the Plains of Abraham, also known as the Battle of Quebec, was a pivotal battle in the Seven Years' War (referred to as the French and Indian War in the United States). The confrontation, which began on 13 September 1759, was fought between the British Army and Navy, and the French Army, on a plateau just outside the walls of Quebec City, on land owned by a farmer named Abraham Martin.
The battle involved fewer than 10,000 troops between both sides, but proved to be a deciding moment in the conflict between France and Britain over the fate of New France, influencing the later creation of Canada. Nita and I spent Thursday morning walking in the rain through what is now a park and nature trail reliving the siege on Old Quebec. The culmination of a three-month siege by the British, the battle lasted about an hour about a third of the time that it took us to walk the battle field.
The center piece of Old Quebec is The Château Frontenac Hotel, designed by the American architect Bruce Price, it is one of a series of "château" style hotels built for the Canadian Pacific Railway company at the end of the 19th and the start of the 20th century. The railway company sought to encourage luxury tourism and bring wealthy travellers to its trains. The Château Frontenac opened in 1893, five years after its sister-hotel, the Banff Springs. The going rate for a room at the Chateu Frontenac is $350 to $450 per night but by booking through travelocity I was able to get our rooms for under $200 per night. The key is to book early. Our room is great with a three window view of the river, it's comfortable but not as nice as the Saint-Sulpice in Montreal.
Although several of Quebec City's buildings stand taller, the hotel is perched atop a tall cape overlooking the Saint Lawrence River, thus giving a spectacular view for several miles. The building is the most prominent feature of the Quebec City skyline as seen from across the St. Lawrence, and is a symbol of the city. The hotel was built near the Plains of Abraham.
Thursday afternoon we opted for a bus tour which got us out of the rain and into outlying Quebec City. The tour highlights were Saint-Anne_De-Beaupte (a Catholic Church known for its healing of those in need), Ile d'Orleans (a charming island atmosphere
close to Quebec City ) and Chute Montmorency (Quebec's tallest waterfalls 1.5 X Niagara Falls).We had dinner at Portofino on the recommendation of the hotel concierge. The magnificent façade of this historic house built in 1760 gives a welcoming entrance out of the continuing rain.(the corner of Rue Saint-Jean, Rue Couillard, and Côte de la Fabrique) Portofino is an Italian bistro with a casual atmosphere good food live music and as soon as we arrived, we smelled the fine aroma of pizza, pasta, and all the other superb dishes of the most popular Italian restaurant in Quebec City.
Friday morning Nita choose to explore Lower Old Quebec. The Up Town is linked by the literally "neck-breaking" steps and the Old Quebec Funicular to the Lower Town, which includes such sites as the ancient Notre Dame des Victoires church, the historic Petit Champlain district, the port, and the Musée de la Civilisation (Museum of Civilization). The Lower Town is filled with original architecture and street designs, dating back to the city's beginnings. Murals and statues are also featured. The Lower Town is also noted for its wide variety of boutiques, many featuring hand-crafted goods some of which we purchased. Quebec city's downtown is on the lower part of the town. Its epicentre is adjacent to the old town where we came in by train and will leave via ship.
Lunch was late at Aux Anciens Canadiens, Nita had the Wild Meat Pie, containing Deer, Elk, Caraboo, and potatoes in pastry. I had red wine Nita had a red beer, we both had soup, I had Maple Syrup Pie she had blueberry cake all this for $19.95 each, but you have
to get there before 5:45 after the prices go to $49.95. The restaurant is 200 yards to the right of the Chateau, if you're in Quebec it's a must. We had reservations at le Lapin Saute for the evening but canceled because were to full, it features rabbit and duck and is hard to get into. It's a must if we ever come back, but for tonight we may have to find some gelato.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
"You Can't Leave Montreal"
The city tour by Grey Lines gave us an overview of Montreal and its history, some of what we Ron and I had seen on our bike ride and our walking through Old Town. This tour added new Montreal and Mount Royal.
Mount Royal is a mountain in the city of Montreal, immediately north of downtown
Montreal. The mountain is part of the Monteregian Hills situated between the Laurentians and the Appalachians. It gave its Latin name, Mons Regius, to the Monteregian chain. The mountain consists of three peaks: Colline de la Croix (or Mont Royal proper) at 233 m (764 ft), Colline d'Outremont (or Mount Murray, in the borough of Outremont ) at 211 m (692 ft), and Westmount mount at 201 m (659 ft) elevation above mean sea level. At this height, it might be otherwise considered a hill, but it has always been called a mountain. Some tourist guidebooks state that Mount Royal is an extinct volcano. The mountain is not a traditional volcano as such. However, it is the deep extension of a vastly eroded ancient volcanic complex, which was probably active about 125 million years ago. The mountain is the site of Mount Royal Park, one of Montreal's largest greenspaces. The park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed New York's Central Park, the grounds at Baltimore, as well as parks in Atlanta.
We also visited Saint Josephs Basilica on Mount Royal. In 1904, Blessed André Bessette, began the construction of a small chapel on the side of the mountain near Notre Dame College. Soon the growing number of visitors made it too small. Even though it was enlarged, a larger c
hurch was needed and in 1917 one was completed - it is called the Crypt, and has a seating capacity of 1,000. In 1924, the construction of the basilica was inaugurated; it was finally completed in 1967. The Oratory's dome is the third-largest of its kind in the world after the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro in the Ivory Coast and Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, and the church is the largest in Canada. The basilica is dedicated to Saint Joseph, to whom Brother André credited all his reported miracles.
The Olympic Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve
district of Montreal, Quebec, Canada built as the main venue for the 1976 Summer Olympics. It subsequently became the home of Montreal's professional baseball and Canadian football teams. Since 2004, when the Montreal Expos relocated to Washington, D.C., the stadium has no main tenant, and with a history of financial and structural problems, is largely seen as a white elephant. La tour de Montréal, the tower incorporated into the base of the stadium, is the tallest inclined tower in the world at 175 metres. The stadium's nickname The Big O is a reference to both its name and to the doughnut-shape of the permanent component of the stadium's roof, though The Big Owe has been used to reference the astronomical cost of the stadium and the 1976 Olympics as a whole.It is the largest stadium, by seating capacity, in Canada.
The last thing our tour guide said to us was,"You can't leave Montreal without eating
Smoked Meat." So we sought our Schwartz's Hebrew Delicatessen, a 30 minute walk from our hotel. Smoked Meat turns out to be smoked beef brisket piled high on rye bread garnished with mustard. We ordered sides of slaw and olives, it was good and reasonable $5.90 for the sandwich.
Mount Royal is a mountain in the city of Montreal, immediately north of downtown
Montreal. The mountain is part of the Monteregian Hills situated between the Laurentians and the Appalachians. It gave its Latin name, Mons Regius, to the Monteregian chain. The mountain consists of three peaks: Colline de la Croix (or Mont Royal proper) at 233 m (764 ft), Colline d'Outremont (or Mount Murray, in the borough of Outremont ) at 211 m (692 ft), and Westmount mount at 201 m (659 ft) elevation above mean sea level. At this height, it might be otherwise considered a hill, but it has always been called a mountain. Some tourist guidebooks state that Mount Royal is an extinct volcano. The mountain is not a traditional volcano as such. However, it is the deep extension of a vastly eroded ancient volcanic complex, which was probably active about 125 million years ago. The mountain is the site of Mount Royal Park, one of Montreal's largest greenspaces. The park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed New York's Central Park, the grounds at Baltimore, as well as parks in Atlanta.We also visited Saint Josephs Basilica on Mount Royal. In 1904, Blessed André Bessette, began the construction of a small chapel on the side of the mountain near Notre Dame College. Soon the growing number of visitors made it too small. Even though it was enlarged, a larger c
hurch was needed and in 1917 one was completed - it is called the Crypt, and has a seating capacity of 1,000. In 1924, the construction of the basilica was inaugurated; it was finally completed in 1967. The Oratory's dome is the third-largest of its kind in the world after the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro in the Ivory Coast and Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, and the church is the largest in Canada. The basilica is dedicated to Saint Joseph, to whom Brother André credited all his reported miracles.The Olympic Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve
district of Montreal, Quebec, Canada built as the main venue for the 1976 Summer Olympics. It subsequently became the home of Montreal's professional baseball and Canadian football teams. Since 2004, when the Montreal Expos relocated to Washington, D.C., the stadium has no main tenant, and with a history of financial and structural problems, is largely seen as a white elephant. La tour de Montréal, the tower incorporated into the base of the stadium, is the tallest inclined tower in the world at 175 metres. The stadium's nickname The Big O is a reference to both its name and to the doughnut-shape of the permanent component of the stadium's roof, though The Big Owe has been used to reference the astronomical cost of the stadium and the 1976 Olympics as a whole.It is the largest stadium, by seating capacity, in Canada.The last thing our tour guide said to us was,"You can't leave Montreal without eating
Smoked Meat." So we sought our Schwartz's Hebrew Delicatessen, a 30 minute walk from our hotel. Smoked Meat turns out to be smoked beef brisket piled high on rye bread garnished with mustard. We ordered sides of slaw and olives, it was good and reasonable $5.90 for the sandwich.
Now we can leave Montreal, we catch a train to Quebec at 7:00AM tomorrow.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Experiencing Montreal
We arrived in Montreal at 6:30 PM after an 11 hour trip from D.C., it was a long day, bu
t a great way to travel. Our hotel the Saint-Sulpice in Old Town Montreal is magnificent. All the rooms are suites the staff are super friendly and helpful and we are in the center of Old Town which means that we can walk to everything that we want to see and do. I booked it over Travelocity.com and was able to get our rooms for $198 per night far below the market rate.
We had dinner at Chez Suzette a warm French café that specializes in crepes, quiche, and fondue. Nita and I had the cheese fondue and a chicken/avocado salad, which is something different for us, accompanied by a California Sauvignon Blanc. It turned out to be just what we needed after a long day of traveling. I slept well.
Monday morning was a sleep-in opportunity, Nita and I skipped breakfast, Ron and Avie got out and experienced some to the first class pastry. The highlight of my day was a bike trip around Montreal. Ron and I found Ca Roule Montreal on Wheels where we rented bikes and were given a detailed map and instructions on the many bike trails around the city. Montreal is an island connected to the mainland by 17 bridges. Most of our bike trip was on Montreal’s secondary islands holding their new Casino, their Grand Prix track (Curert Gille-Villeneuve) and miles of bike trails. Part of our ride included a turn around the 4.361 km Grand Prix track; a trip over the harbor on a 1 mile bike bridge and winding through the city following the canals.
In all it was a 2 hour 16 minute tour seeing the many sides of Montreal. We had a great lunch in Atwater, a farmers market, at a beautiful European Bakery, (had a Copenhagen moment, beautiful woman giving directions) we both commented that it would be nice to have this kind of bakery in Birmingham; heck it would be great to have the many miles of bike trails in Birmingham. While in the bike shop we met a guy from Birmingham, Jack Tucker. The world is getting smaller, or someone is following us and we stumble over them... naaa.
While the boys went biking Nita and Avie walked and had a nice French lunch of crepes and an Italian gelato. The old city had some wonderful old buildings but as we walked up the hill new Montreal came into view. Glass buildings, lots of construction and packed side walks.
We did discover that there were not as many restaurants as in old town nor tourist shops. The shopping was on St. Catherine’s Street where the all ready mentioned packed side walks resided. Tomorrow we are looking forward to a Gray Line tour thru all of Montreal. The trees are lovely and the temperature is excellent, good-bye 90 degree weather.
We had dinner at Restaurant Le Bourlingueur, a small french restaurant that served full meals including soup or salad, entree, coffee and desert for a set price. I had grilled salmon accompanied by a Italian Chardonnay for $18.95. The salmon came with rice and grilled cantaloupe melon. The melon gave the salmon a fruity added flavor, it was quite nice. 
t a great way to travel. Our hotel the Saint-Sulpice in Old Town Montreal is magnificent. All the rooms are suites the staff are super friendly and helpful and we are in the center of Old Town which means that we can walk to everything that we want to see and do. I booked it over Travelocity.com and was able to get our rooms for $198 per night far below the market rate.We had dinner at Chez Suzette a warm French café that specializes in crepes, quiche, and fondue. Nita and I had the cheese fondue and a chicken/avocado salad, which is something different for us, accompanied by a California Sauvignon Blanc. It turned out to be just what we needed after a long day of traveling. I slept well.
Monday morning was a sleep-in opportunity, Nita and I skipped breakfast, Ron and Avie got out and experienced some to the first class pastry. The highlight of my day was a bike trip around Montreal. Ron and I found Ca Roule Montreal on Wheels where we rented bikes and were given a detailed map and instructions on the many bike trails around the city. Montreal is an island connected to the mainland by 17 bridges. Most of our bike trip was on Montreal’s secondary islands holding their new Casino, their Grand Prix track (Curert Gille-Villeneuve) and miles of bike trails. Part of our ride included a turn around the 4.361 km Grand Prix track; a trip over the harbor on a 1 mile bike bridge and winding through the city following the canals.
In all it was a 2 hour 16 minute tour seeing the many sides of Montreal. We had a great lunch in Atwater, a farmers market, at a beautiful European Bakery, (had a Copenhagen moment, beautiful woman giving directions) we both commented that it would be nice to have this kind of bakery in Birmingham; heck it would be great to have the many miles of bike trails in Birmingham. While in the bike shop we met a guy from Birmingham, Jack Tucker. The world is getting smaller, or someone is following us and we stumble over them... naaa.While the boys went biking Nita and Avie walked and had a nice French lunch of crepes and an Italian gelato. The old city had some wonderful old buildings but as we walked up the hill new Montreal came into view. Glass buildings, lots of construction and packed side walks.
We did discover that there were not as many restaurants as in old town nor tourist shops. The shopping was on St. Catherine’s Street where the all ready mentioned packed side walks resided. Tomorrow we are looking forward to a Gray Line tour thru all of Montreal. The trees are lovely and the temperature is excellent, good-bye 90 degree weather. It started raining at 5:00 PM and is forecast to continue through the day tomorrow, thus we have scheduled a bus tour of the city.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Touring D.C.
Our day started at the Rayburn Building in Spencer Bachus's office, our congressma
n's who has arranged a guided tour of the Capitol for us, which was full of information, spotting's of Charlie Rangole, Barnie Frank and Stephen Colbert, and a big feeling of patriotism. We then headed to the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown where we met Teeki a woman that Avie had done her residency at UAB several decades ago. We had a light lunch at Furins Restaurant, a small friendly salad and sandwich family establishment.
We then jumped on the Hop-On Hop-Off bus to see the sights of D.C. Dinner in Uni
on Station at The America Restaurant which serves regional foods from all over the US including a "tube steak sandwich". We got back on the bus for a night tour of the cities monuments.
Saturday started with a light breakfast, Nita and I find that the biggest danger in traveling is over eating and that early restraint allows for later indulgence. So a short walk to the McDonalds and sharing a “Big Breakfast” was just perfect to start our day.
We were lucky D.C. was holding the 10th annual Book Festival on the Mall this Saturday. Three blocks of the Mall were filled with large tents housed representatives from each of the states and territories promoting authors and literature coming from their respective states. Other tents presented authors from the mutable genres of literature to include Mystery and Romance, Poetry, Children, Teen, and Contemporary. Nita and I happened into the Contemporary tent and listened to Rea Drummond a bloger, housewife, mother, rancher from Oklahoma (www.thePioneerwoman.com) and author. I learned a lot about blogging and decided that I needed to restructure my websites and blogs in an effort to bring all of my websites together.
At noon we met u p with Ron and Avie back at the hotel and walked down to the harbor on the Potomac to have lunch. We had seen the open air seafood market the day before and wanted to try some of the fresh fish and take-in the unique ambiance. We should have sought out the locals and asked for guidance instead we took the easy route and ordered the promoted combination meal on the overhead menu consisting of three jumbo shrimp a crab cake sandwich, slaw and an ear of corn, all for $11.95. It just did not live up to our anticipation. Instead we should have each ordered a dozen steamed shrimp; a dozen steamed blue crab and an ear of corn and then proceeded to get dirty eating the local seafood.
Full but disappointed we headed back towards the mall and parted with Nita and Avie at the La Event Metro station for our trip north to the McPherson Square stop where Ron and I had an appointment to take a 2 hour Segway tour of the Capital. This is the way to see the Capital at 12 ½ miles per hour. Sidewalks, streets and open fields were our path through the city.
The Segway was a quick learn and none of our eight co-riders had any problem moving through D.C. on our two hour tour. The tour is a bit pricy at $70 but it is well worth the price. We got back to the hotel around 6:00 PM, just in time to catch the forth quarter of the Alabama – Arkansas football game. Alabama came from behind to remain undefeated.
Dinner was at the hotel, bland and under seasoned is my best description, but we had to get to bed early so that we could catch our 3:15 AM train to NYC where we would catch our 8:00 AM to Montreal. Nita and Avie insisted that we meat in the lobby at 2:15 AM to catch a cab; Ron would call the desk at 2:00AM and have the desk arrange for a cab to pick us up at 2:15 AM. At 2:37 AM we stood in front of the hotel. No cab.
I have found in life that every-so- often someone has to step forward and assume the role of ass-hole or things will not proceed as you wish because it is easer to just let things proceed on their natural course.
I approached the hotel desk clerk for the second time, “There is no cab.”
“I’ve called twice; they’ve said a cab is on the way.”
“We have a 3:15 train and it’s your responsibility as our host to get us to the train station! Do you have a car?”
“Yes”
“Get your keys and drive us to the train station!”
“I can’t do that I can’t leave.”
“Give me your keys, I need to borrow your car, I’ll leave it in front of Union Station.”
“I can’t do that; I’ll call the cab company again.”
Its 2:42 PM, I look around the lobby and see an older white haired gentleman in a white shirt with a Hotel Logo sitting in a chair on the other side of the lobby, he appears to be the security guard. I shout, “Do you have a car?”
“Yes” he responds in a heavy Irish accent.
“I’ll pay you to drive us to the train station, will you do that?”
He gets up and approaches the desk at a slow pace, “I’ll drive you if he gives me permission,” motioning to the desk clerk, “but I won’t take your money.”
We gain permission from the desk clerk, and I breath a sigh of releaf and feel that once again my Ass-Hole personality served me well.
I announce with pride to my fellow travelers that we are going to make it to the train on time, a good Samaritan is on his way. At 2:47 our Irish, 72 year old knight in white shirt pulls up in front of the hotel in a subcompact Mazda. One of our bags fills the trunk; there are three more large bags, four carry-on and four people.
“I’ll make two trips,” he announces.
Avie mutters, “This isn’t going to work.”
While all this was going on a man in an enclosed pick-up truck from a service that delivers lost airline baggage was delivering some lost bags to the hotel. He pulls in behind the Mazda and comes forward and tells us, “I’ll take your bags and follow the Mazda to the train station.”
Ron and I hustle around loading the bags into the back of the pick-up and getting the ladies into the Mazda. “I’ll ride with you in the pick-up.” I announce.
‘There’s no room in the cab,” the delivery man informs me. “Shit this could be the last time I see our luggage,” I think and grab Nita and my backpacks and Ron and Avie’s carry-on and throw them in the back of the Mazda. I turn to the delivery man and ask him, “ you will follow us and bring our bags to the train station, I can trust you can’t I?”
He mumbles something about a “Big Tip” and I feel better.
At 3: 05 AM Sunday morning we arrive at the gate in Union Station and shortly thereafter board our train to NYC. We arrived at Penn Station at 7:40 AM and changed trains to continue on our
11 hour trip onto Montréal. The train route follows the Hudson River out of NYC up to Albany passing through cities like Poughkeepsie, Rhincliff and Hudson. As we traveled north the fall foliage started to dot the shoreline adding a colorful contrast to the backdrop of the Catskills and Adirondacks. Ron tells me that we passed West Point Military Academy sitting right on the bluffs overlooking the Hudson River. I missed it, I was asleep as were Nita and Avie.
There are 5 lighthouses on the Hudson between NYC and Albany, the Hudson-Athens lighthouse was placed in service in 1874 and still helps to guide ships safely around the Middle Flats between Hudson and Athens.
In Albany we stopped to change engines needing a diesel engine to provide the power needed to climb the hills that we would encounter as we travel further north. The train traveled at a speed ranging from 79 mph to 100 mph between NYC an Albany and then slowed substantially as we entered the mountains further north.
Just before noon we discovered that the Adirondack #69 train does not have the Dinning Car that we so enjoyed on our trip between Birmingham and D.C. Thus, Nita and I succumb to a micro waved cheeseburger and Hinie Lite while Ron and Avie dinned lavishly on a bowl of Raisin Brand Crunchy.
As we traveled north we passed by the 234 miles of connected waterways that shaped the relationship between the United Sates and Canada in the early years of our country. From the Hudson River and Champlain Canal in the south through Lake Champlain and Lake George, all the way to the St. Lawrence River in Quebec these bodies of water were the source of many conflicts including the French and Indian War 1754 – 1763.
At the Canadian boarder the train stopped for a customs check by the Canadian authorities. As we sat waiting for the officers we engaged an 18 year ”shelia,” Lora, from Australia who told us of her three month journey that has taken her from Australia to England to the US and now one week in Canada then back to the US for visits to Florida and California before returning home. She shared that the highlight of her travels thus far was Nashville. We marveled at her courage to travel by herself staying in youth hostels and with “mates” and family.
Three of the four of us sailed through the brief interrogation by the two Canadian officers. Ron however, was questioned extensively, “Have you spent any time in jail?, do you have any tattoos? , have you ever been arrested?” Ron lied to all three questions and we proceeded on our journey into Canada.
n's who has arranged a guided tour of the Capitol for us, which was full of information, spotting's of Charlie Rangole, Barnie Frank and Stephen Colbert, and a big feeling of patriotism. We then headed to the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown where we met Teeki a woman that Avie had done her residency at UAB several decades ago. We had a light lunch at Furins Restaurant, a small friendly salad and sandwich family establishment.We then jumped on the Hop-On Hop-Off bus to see the sights of D.C. Dinner in Uni
on Station at The America Restaurant which serves regional foods from all over the US including a "tube steak sandwich". We got back on the bus for a night tour of the cities monuments.Saturday started with a light breakfast, Nita and I find that the biggest danger in traveling is over eating and that early restraint allows for later indulgence. So a short walk to the McDonalds and sharing a “Big Breakfast” was just perfect to start our day.
We were lucky D.C. was holding the 10th annual Book Festival on the Mall this Saturday. Three blocks of the Mall were filled with large tents housed representatives from each of the states and territories promoting authors and literature coming from their respective states. Other tents presented authors from the mutable genres of literature to include Mystery and Romance, Poetry, Children, Teen, and Contemporary. Nita and I happened into the Contemporary tent and listened to Rea Drummond a bloger, housewife, mother, rancher from Oklahoma (www.thePioneerwoman.com) and author. I learned a lot about blogging and decided that I needed to restructure my websites and blogs in an effort to bring all of my websites together.
At noon we met u p with Ron and Avie back at the hotel and walked down to the harbor on the Potomac to have lunch. We had seen the open air seafood market the day before and wanted to try some of the fresh fish and take-in the unique ambiance. We should have sought out the locals and asked for guidance instead we took the easy route and ordered the promoted combination meal on the overhead menu consisting of three jumbo shrimp a crab cake sandwich, slaw and an ear of corn, all for $11.95. It just did not live up to our anticipation. Instead we should have each ordered a dozen steamed shrimp; a dozen steamed blue crab and an ear of corn and then proceeded to get dirty eating the local seafood.
Full but disappointed we headed back towards the mall and parted with Nita and Avie at the La Event Metro station for our trip north to the McPherson Square stop where Ron and I had an appointment to take a 2 hour Segway tour of the Capital. This is the way to see the Capital at 12 ½ miles per hour. Sidewalks, streets and open fields were our path through the city.
The Segway was a quick learn and none of our eight co-riders had any problem moving through D.C. on our two hour tour. The tour is a bit pricy at $70 but it is well worth the price. We got back to the hotel around 6:00 PM, just in time to catch the forth quarter of the Alabama – Arkansas football game. Alabama came from behind to remain undefeated.Dinner was at the hotel, bland and under seasoned is my best description, but we had to get to bed early so that we could catch our 3:15 AM train to NYC where we would catch our 8:00 AM to Montreal. Nita and Avie insisted that we meat in the lobby at 2:15 AM to catch a cab; Ron would call the desk at 2:00AM and have the desk arrange for a cab to pick us up at 2:15 AM. At 2:37 AM we stood in front of the hotel. No cab.
I have found in life that every-so- often someone has to step forward and assume the role of ass-hole or things will not proceed as you wish because it is easer to just let things proceed on their natural course.
I approached the hotel desk clerk for the second time, “There is no cab.”
“I’ve called twice; they’ve said a cab is on the way.”
“We have a 3:15 train and it’s your responsibility as our host to get us to the train station! Do you have a car?”
“Yes”
“Get your keys and drive us to the train station!”
“I can’t do that I can’t leave.”
“Give me your keys, I need to borrow your car, I’ll leave it in front of Union Station.”
“I can’t do that; I’ll call the cab company again.”
Its 2:42 PM, I look around the lobby and see an older white haired gentleman in a white shirt with a Hotel Logo sitting in a chair on the other side of the lobby, he appears to be the security guard. I shout, “Do you have a car?”
“Yes” he responds in a heavy Irish accent.
“I’ll pay you to drive us to the train station, will you do that?”
He gets up and approaches the desk at a slow pace, “I’ll drive you if he gives me permission,” motioning to the desk clerk, “but I won’t take your money.”
We gain permission from the desk clerk, and I breath a sigh of releaf and feel that once again my Ass-Hole personality served me well.
I announce with pride to my fellow travelers that we are going to make it to the train on time, a good Samaritan is on his way. At 2:47 our Irish, 72 year old knight in white shirt pulls up in front of the hotel in a subcompact Mazda. One of our bags fills the trunk; there are three more large bags, four carry-on and four people.
“I’ll make two trips,” he announces.
Avie mutters, “This isn’t going to work.”
While all this was going on a man in an enclosed pick-up truck from a service that delivers lost airline baggage was delivering some lost bags to the hotel. He pulls in behind the Mazda and comes forward and tells us, “I’ll take your bags and follow the Mazda to the train station.”
Ron and I hustle around loading the bags into the back of the pick-up and getting the ladies into the Mazda. “I’ll ride with you in the pick-up.” I announce.
‘There’s no room in the cab,” the delivery man informs me. “Shit this could be the last time I see our luggage,” I think and grab Nita and my backpacks and Ron and Avie’s carry-on and throw them in the back of the Mazda. I turn to the delivery man and ask him, “ you will follow us and bring our bags to the train station, I can trust you can’t I?”
He mumbles something about a “Big Tip” and I feel better.
At 3: 05 AM Sunday morning we arrive at the gate in Union Station and shortly thereafter board our train to NYC. We arrived at Penn Station at 7:40 AM and changed trains to continue on our
11 hour trip onto Montréal. The train route follows the Hudson River out of NYC up to Albany passing through cities like Poughkeepsie, Rhincliff and Hudson. As we traveled north the fall foliage started to dot the shoreline adding a colorful contrast to the backdrop of the Catskills and Adirondacks. Ron tells me that we passed West Point Military Academy sitting right on the bluffs overlooking the Hudson River. I missed it, I was asleep as were Nita and Avie.There are 5 lighthouses on the Hudson between NYC and Albany, the Hudson-Athens lighthouse was placed in service in 1874 and still helps to guide ships safely around the Middle Flats between Hudson and Athens.
In Albany we stopped to change engines needing a diesel engine to provide the power needed to climb the hills that we would encounter as we travel further north. The train traveled at a speed ranging from 79 mph to 100 mph between NYC an Albany and then slowed substantially as we entered the mountains further north.
Just before noon we discovered that the Adirondack #69 train does not have the Dinning Car that we so enjoyed on our trip between Birmingham and D.C. Thus, Nita and I succumb to a micro waved cheeseburger and Hinie Lite while Ron and Avie dinned lavishly on a bowl of Raisin Brand Crunchy.
As we traveled north we passed by the 234 miles of connected waterways that shaped the relationship between the United Sates and Canada in the early years of our country. From the Hudson River and Champlain Canal in the south through Lake Champlain and Lake George, all the way to the St. Lawrence River in Quebec these bodies of water were the source of many conflicts including the French and Indian War 1754 – 1763.
At the Canadian boarder the train stopped for a customs check by the Canadian authorities. As we sat waiting for the officers we engaged an 18 year ”shelia,” Lora, from Australia who told us of her three month journey that has taken her from Australia to England to the US and now one week in Canada then back to the US for visits to Florida and California before returning home. She shared that the highlight of her travels thus far was Nashville. We marveled at her courage to travel by herself staying in youth hostels and with “mates” and family.
Three of the four of us sailed through the brief interrogation by the two Canadian officers. Ron however, was questioned extensively, “Have you spent any time in jail?, do you have any tattoos? , have you ever been arrested?” Ron lied to all three questions and we proceeded on our journey into Canada.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Train...Train
The East Coast Adventure started on the 2:40 Amtrak Crescent train making it’s dai
ly run between New Orleans and New York City; we boarded in Birmingham for our 20 hour trip to Washington DC. Our accommodations are in a sleeper which Amtrak refers to as a “roomette”; a 4’ by 8’ compartment that functions as a sitting room by day and two bulk beds by night. The roomette contains a commode and small sink, two facing chairs, which convert into the lower bunk and an upper berth. The train is clean and our stewardess is cordial and helpful. “Dinner is served between 5 and 9 and I’ll turn down your room between 9:00 and 9:30, is that OK?” There’s juice, coffee and bottled water available at the end of the car.The trip to Atlanta takes 4 hours, the same trip by car takes 2.5 hours, but I’m not driving and I can get up and walk around and actually see the scenery. Dinner was a NY Strip, baked potato, salad and Mississippi Mud Cheesecake; you don’t get that on an airplane. The steward shared her story of the LSU fans traveling to Tuscaloosa to play the Tide, their so drunk that they have to stop at crossings to be met by local police to have LSU fans put off the train. “It’s a nightmare, and this weekend we have the New Orleans fans traveling to Atlanta, none of us want to work.”
We arrived in DC at 10:00 AM well rested and well fed to find sunny skies and 90 degree weather. We took in the Air and Space, a Star Spangled Banner exhibit, the First L
adies, and a Norman Rockwell collection belonging to Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas. We then found our way down to the Potomac River had a great lunch at Phillips Seafood and checked out the seafood market where we’ll eat tomorrow. We had to have walked 10 miles today so hot and sweaty we retreating to our Holiday Inn Capital room for a shower and some R&R. Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Touring Eastern North America
Tomorrow we board Amtrak in Birmingham, AL for a 21 day trip up the east coast; three days in Washington D.C., back on the train to Montreal and Quebec, then board the Norwegian Cruise Lines for a seven day cruise to Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Maine and off in Boston. We'll end our trip with three days in NYC and back on the train to Birmingham. Over the past 15 years Nita and I have traveled Europe, China and Asia this way now it's time to tour North America.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Getting to Know Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is just as beautiful as I remembered it except the last time we were here, September 2008, we were wearing our winter coats, today it’s in the 90’s with no air conditioning. We spent our day at the Hermitage Museum; it’s overwhelming, the amount and quality of the art on display, over 2.8 million pieces. The building, the past home of the czars, is a display on it own. It becomes evident why the surfs rebelled once they saw how the other half was living.
The rooms containing the “got to see artists”, such as Leonardo DeVinci, were elbow to elbow people. All the big ships are in and there have to be more then 20 riverboats docked in the area. This is their season, it’ll be 20 below this winter, the days will offer 4 hours of sunshine but the Hermitage will be empty. I suggest April or September.
We ended our day at the ballet, not something that I would normally attend but the production was elaborate, the costumes were top quality and other then the lack of any air-conditioning it was a wonderful evening.
Check out the dining room serving staff, there’s no shortage of beautiful single women in Russia.
Friday was a mixed day good = we had a great day in Saint Petersburg; bad = the DOW was down 261 points, but let’s focus on the good.
Our day started with a trip to Catherine’s Place; it knock you back on your heels at first sight through the gate and it builds from there ending with the amber room. Having red the book, The Amber Room, this held special interest to both Nita and I, it didn’t disappoint, this whole trip hasn’t offered any disappointments. The afternoon was spent on a city tour which helped see more in a short period of time, but the real adventure started when we left the tour and started venturing down the Saint Petersburg streets on our own. We had made reservations for six at the Russian Room at #4 on a Street that we couldn’t pronounce, but we did have a map full of streets that we couldn’t pronounce. As you would expect after a half hour walk and teamwork we presented ourselves to the staff of the Russian Room.
Beers all around and a decision that we wanted to experience Russian Caviar, we started with a 5oz jar of red and white caviar. The caviar was served with a blini on which we spread sour cream and caviar, rolled them up and eat like a small burrito, and of course followed with a shot of vodka, and accompanied with pickles, cucumbers, and raw cabbage. The red caviar was salty and carried a mild fish taste but good overall, the white was milder and carried a dirty flavor, a river flavor. The red are from Salmon and the white are from pike and this could explain the difference in taste.
“I wonder what the black tastes like,” was our collective question. ‘Waiter bring us some black and more vodka.” “You’ll want to switch to Beluga Vodka”, he advised. I think this was because the best deserves the best, and it was the best, both the caviar and the vodka. “Wow that was great now we need to eat.”
We ordered Pig Leg, Beef, Stroganoff and dumplings with varied stuffing, the waiter had to talk us into the Pig Leg; it was magnificent, and the stroganoff was the best any of us had ever eaten. This was accompanied by a lemon grapefruit vodka. Our waiter had become our buddy; we thanked him generously and left the restaurant at 9:00PM, headed back to the ship.
Our trip back to the ship involved a half hour walk to the Metro, a ride deep into the tubes, a bus ride and a short walk to the ship, what a last night in Russia. We all agreed tat Saint Petersburg is one of a handful of cities in the world that you could easily send two week exploring and not seeing everything.
Sunday morning we visited Peterhoff, the palace doesn’t match Catherine Palace but the grounds and water fountains are something to remember. Once again we broke away from the tour group, took the hydrofoil back into Saint Petersburg had lunch and found our way back to the boat via the Metro and bus.
We leave tomorrow morning at 3:30AM to start our journey home; it’s been a vacation to remember, friendships to build on, and stories to share.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Saint Petersburg - Day One
Saint Petersburg is just as beautiful as I remembered it except the last time we were here, September 2008, we were wearing our winter coats, today it’s in the 90’s with no air conditioning. We spent our day at the Hermitage Museum; it’s overwhelming, the amount and quality of the art on display, over 2.8 million pieces. The building, the past home of the czars, is a display on it own. It becomes evident why the surfs rebelled once they saw how the other half was living.
The rooms containing the “got to see artists”, such as Leonardo DeVinci, were elbow to elbow people. All the big ships are in and there have to be more then 20 riverboats docked in the area. This is their season, it’ll be 20 below this winter, the days will offer 4 hours of sunshine but the Hermitage will be empty. I suggest April or September.
We ended our day at the ballet, not something that I would normally attend but the production was elaborate, the costumes were top quality and other then the lack of any air-conditioning it was a wonderful evening.
Check out the dining room serving staff, there’s no shortage of beautiful single women in Russia.
The rooms containing the “got to see artists”, such as Leonardo DeVinci, were elbow to elbow people. All the big ships are in and there have to be more then 20 riverboats docked in the area. This is their season, it’ll be 20 below this winter, the days will offer 4 hours of sunshine but the Hermitage will be empty. I suggest April or September.
We ended our day at the ballet, not something that I would normally attend but the production was elaborate, the costumes were top quality and other then the lack of any air-conditioning it was a wonderful evening.
Check out the dining room serving staff, there’s no shortage of beautiful single women in Russia.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Russia - Moscow to Saint Petersburg
We stopped in Yaroslavl, an industrial city of over 600,000 people. Our guide explained the economy was built around heavy industry and their economy is suffering as a result of the global economic downturn. They have sought an acquired foreign investment to move their manufacturing base to what she described as “Consumer ready products”. The hope is that this investment will put them back as the third most prosperous area behind Moscow and Saint Petersburg.
It was Sunday morning so the hubbub of a large city was is absent. Yaroslavl is celebrating its 1000th anniversary thus there’s a lot of construction and restoration taking place. The national funding for these projects did not come in time to make it possible for the city to be finished with the renovations and the new park to coincide with their calibration. It actually looked like the Russian national government had given Yaroslavl the equivalent of TARP funds to keep the population working.
The most striking structure was a new church being built from funds donated by a Moscow business man; The Church of the Assumption. It donned on me that maybe things haven’t changed all that much. In the 10th through 16th century the czars built churches in their honor in the Moscow Kremlin, now the czars of industry are building churches in their home towns to honor themselves.
Back on the ship we spent the balance of the day cruising up the river. At first I found it hard not to be active but soon adapted to the forced relaxation. The people on board are rather homogenized; most about our age, ranging from poor to good shape, most with positive attitudes, enjoying good food, complimentary wine, good service, and a taste for adventure. Strategically Viking has left a catalog in our room and we are looking at the Amsterdam to Prague trip, but that will have to wait for at least another year, we already have plans for the balance of 2010.
Today we arrived at Goritzy in what looked like the middle of the Canadian forest. This is the equivalent of the American northwest; our destination was the Kirillovback-Belozetsky Monastery. Twenty minuets up the road we found a 12th. century monastery that sat on White Lake and looked like a Spanish fortress. At its peek it housed 200 monks and 400 soldiers, today it’s the home of 5 monks, a tourist destination, and a movie backdrop. Talk about a downturn in the demand for your product. The monastery was in a marginal state of repair which added to the appeal of walking through the massive structure. I could imagine it 800 years ago; 200 religious men surviving the bitter cold, the Till of the Hun, and the Russian bears beating at their doors. Our guide showed us part of their 17th. century arsenal of over 8000 muskets. This was not an easy life, even with God on your side.
We’re back on the boat at noon, time to eat again and back to my Steven King book ”It”, I could get used to this, even in a 90 sq. ft. room. 4:00 is Russian Tea, the chiefs have prepared a vast display of pastries for the hungry hordes. They do keep us fed.
Tuesday morning starts at 7:00AM as we enter another lock; we travel through 18 locks descending 150 meters on our trip from Moscow to Saint Petersburg. As our ship sinks into the lock chamber and I look back at the mass of water behind us held back only by a steel gate, I can’t help wonder what would happen if that gate gave way and that 500 miles of water behind us rushed into our chamber. But then they’ve done this before, several times a day I’m sure, let them do their work and go to breakfast. It’s time to eat again.
Our stop today was at the Island of Kizhi. The island is a museum preserving the
wooden architecture, the farm life and the culture of the area that dates back to the thirteenth century. The sighting of the old church with its 21 steeple onions, the bell tower and the outbuildings as you move up the Volga Baltic Canal peeks you interest to learn more about these magnificent structures; particularly located here where the winter tempetures average 34 below.
We were guided over the island by a young university student who is studying history at one of the Russian Universities outside of Saint Petersburg. He spoke excellent English, was extremely knowledgeable and very personable. We were not able to enter the main church because it has fallen to a poor state of repair and is being held up by an interior system of scaffolding. In addition the interior Iconostasis and decorated alter are deteriorating. We were told that because of the political turmoil within Russia and the economic problems of the country the necessary and needed repairs and maintenance of these structures is threatened, thus I feel lucky that we were able to see this magnificent architectural structure.
The weather is unusually hot for this part of the country as we approach Saint Petersburg, thus the balance of the day consisted of afternoon showers, relaxed cruising, an international dinner and the day ended with our group of six celebrating the day with vodka shots in the Panorama Bar before heading off to bed.
Wednesday, we’re making our way closer to Saint Petersburg but today we are stopping at Mandrogi, a town that had been burned down in the war of 1941 to 1945, I don’t know why they don’t refer to it as WWII, but they don’t. In 1996 a wealthy Muscovite rebuilt the current Mandrogi. As I walked off the ship I smarted off to Nita “this is nothing more then a tourist trap”, with party pavilions a um-pa-pa bar and thaskii shops. As it turned out it’s everything that I thought it was but much more complex.
This rich Muscovite built a commune for artisans to practice their crafts, (pottery, glass blowing, painting, wood carving, blacksmith, weaving, jewelry making, mamushka making, everything a tourist could want and more) and market their goods to a steady stream of tourists coming off the river as well as offer an escape destination to the local surrounding population.
There are 150 people living in the commune, they have a school that includes summer overseas travel for the children and living quarters for the residents. They pool the revenues from their sales and provide for the 150 residents; this sounds like Communism, go figure. The quality of the merchandise for sale was the best that I’ve seen on the trip, they even had a Vodka Museum (I’ve learned that I really don’t like vodka) even though drinking and stealing is strictly forbidden among the residents.
We only spent two hours in Mandrogi, which was adequate, and then we were bake on the river in time for lunch. Dinner was the Captains Dinner which meant “dress-up” and picture night. I encourage all single men readers to check out our servers, all single themselves. The evening ended with the passenger talent show, there was a definite lacking of talent on this cruise. The show ended at 11:00PM; I shot a picture of the sunset as I went to my cabin.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Rollin On The River
Departing Moscow on the river substantiated my conviction that people are people no matter where you find them. The banks of the river were littered with people enjoying the cooling waters adjacent to their tall apartment complexes. Families swam, picnicked, camped, boated, fished and sunned. The further we traveled up the river towards Saint Petersburg the more the landscape looked like any river community in the United States or anywhere else; gone were the high-rises replaced by single family homes. Saturday morning our boat maneuvered the river dotted with fisherman all fishing in one man small inflated boats. The Mc-Mansions started to appear, not as prevalent as you might see tin the U. S. but the money of Russia has found its way to the shores of the river.
The days are growing longer and we are told that it won’t get dark in Saint Petersburg. Moscow is at the same latitude as Anchorage Alaska so Saint Petersburg must be at the same latitude at Fairbanks. In Moscow we had lunch at the Café Pushkin, rated by Zagat’s as one of the best restaurants in Europe , so I am searching the Internet, when I can, for a comparable experience in SP. We’ll have to eat dinner and make our way back to the ship, a thirty to forty minute Metro ride, and are taking comfort in the fact that it shouldn’t be dark on our journey back to the ship.
The food aboard ship has been great, local wine is served with dinner, and the servers are cute and gracious. Tonight I told the restaurant manager to either promote or give Olga a raise, a Linzie Lohan look-alike from Siberia.
Our first stop out of Moscow was in the small village of Uglich, whose largest employer is Tyco Corporation. Our guide was a 29 year old girl who learned her perfect English at Moscow University and teaches English at the local high school an works as a guide in the summer. We were entertained by a six man singing group that sang “boatman” bring Goosebumps as a result of the quality of their performance.
I had been of the opinion that religion had not been aloud in the Soviet Union, but some how four hundred year old well used churches have appeared all over Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union twenty years ago.
The days are growing longer and we are told that it won’t get dark in Saint Petersburg. Moscow is at the same latitude as Anchorage Alaska so Saint Petersburg must be at the same latitude at Fairbanks. In Moscow we had lunch at the Café Pushkin, rated by Zagat’s as one of the best restaurants in Europe , so I am searching the Internet, when I can, for a comparable experience in SP. We’ll have to eat dinner and make our way back to the ship, a thirty to forty minute Metro ride, and are taking comfort in the fact that it shouldn’t be dark on our journey back to the ship.
The food aboard ship has been great, local wine is served with dinner, and the servers are cute and gracious. Tonight I told the restaurant manager to either promote or give Olga a raise, a Linzie Lohan look-alike from Siberia.
Our first stop out of Moscow was in the small village of Uglich, whose largest employer is Tyco Corporation. Our guide was a 29 year old girl who learned her perfect English at Moscow University and teaches English at the local high school an works as a guide in the summer. We were entertained by a six man singing group that sang “boatman” bring Goosebumps as a result of the quality of their performance.
I had been of the opinion that religion had not been aloud in the Soviet Union, but some how four hundred year old well used churches have appeared all over Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union twenty years ago.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Moscow On Our Own
Thursday morning we decided to pass on the ships provided excursions on our own by use of the Moscow Metpo. The system is a complex series187 miles and 182 stations of trains making the entire city available to the more then 9 million Moscowvites moving through the second largest subway system in the world.
It is obviously an easy system to maneuver through to anyone who speaks and reads Russian. The six of us, Gene and Chris, Tom and Kaco, and Nita and I don’t speak or read any Russian thus our day presented a real challenge. Although my first impression of the Russian people was not attractive and cold I have to add extremely helpful. On more then one occasion we found ourselves totally lost and confused, I would walk up to usually a young and attractive woman and blurt out “Do you know Travauak Station?” and hold out my map. In 90% of my attempts they would look at my map to read the station name that I was mispronouncing and then motion the six of us to follow them. In many journeys through the miles of connecting tunnels I an convinced our voluntary guide altered their path to their destination to accommodate our destination. They would give me a small hand motion to follow, no smile, only Russian words and we would maneuver through the mass of humanity on to a speeding pack train, they might hold up 4 fingers to indicate 4 stops, then they would direct us off the train and we would find another helpful Moscowite to assist us on our search for a museum or restaurant.
We went to one of the best collections of Impressionist artists that I have ever seen and ate at the Pushkin Café , one of Europe’s Top Restaurants by Zagat. Sea Bass, borsch, salad, Russian bread, Russian beer, and exemplary service provided an ample reward for our enduring search through the Metpo.
Our day ended at midnight after a two hour tour of Moscow by night. I’ve decided that the people of Moscow are some of the nicest and helpful people of the world and their city is full of beauty despite their historical and political needs to build for necessity rather than for aesthetic appeal.
It is obviously an easy system to maneuver through to anyone who speaks and reads Russian. The six of us, Gene and Chris, Tom and Kaco, and Nita and I don’t speak or read any Russian thus our day presented a real challenge. Although my first impression of the Russian people was not attractive and cold I have to add extremely helpful. On more then one occasion we found ourselves totally lost and confused, I would walk up to usually a young and attractive woman and blurt out “Do you know Travauak Station?” and hold out my map. In 90% of my attempts they would look at my map to read the station name that I was mispronouncing and then motion the six of us to follow them. In many journeys through the miles of connecting tunnels I an convinced our voluntary guide altered their path to their destination to accommodate our destination. They would give me a small hand motion to follow, no smile, only Russian words and we would maneuver through the mass of humanity on to a speeding pack train, they might hold up 4 fingers to indicate 4 stops, then they would direct us off the train and we would find another helpful Moscowite to assist us on our search for a museum or restaurant.
We went to one of the best collections of Impressionist artists that I have ever seen and ate at the Pushkin Café , one of Europe’s Top Restaurants by Zagat. Sea Bass, borsch, salad, Russian bread, Russian beer, and exemplary service provided an ample reward for our enduring search through the Metpo.
Our day ended at midnight after a two hour tour of Moscow by night. I’ve decided that the people of Moscow are some of the nicest and helpful people of the world and their city is full of beauty despite their historical and political needs to build for necessity rather than for aesthetic appeal.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Seeing Moscow for what it is!
Our first day in Moscow didn’t meet my expectations. It’s a big city, it’s the center of Russian trade, the people although not attractive and cold, are not as intimidating as I expected. The whole city is not as intimidating as I had expected, but then I grew up in the 50’s and 60’s when Russia was the evil empire that at any moment could rush our shores and change our way of life.
Red Square was a large paved parade ground bordered on one side by the Kremlin and on the opposite side by the Gum, an upscale department store featuring Dior, Versace, St. Laurent. There were no soldiers, no tanks, Lenin’s tomb was hardly guarded and there was no line to view his body, no one seemed to care. The Kremlin is a mixture of the old and the newer; first a government center much like Washington D.C. office buildings, and the churches built by the Czars as monuments to themselves most of which are not open to the public.
The people of Moscow remind me of country people trying to keep up with the “big city people” and not confident about how their doing. It’s obvious that the Russians are attempting to become “westernized” on a limited budget.
Red Square was a large paved parade ground bordered on one side by the Kremlin and on the opposite side by the Gum, an upscale department store featuring Dior, Versace, St. Laurent. There were no soldiers, no tanks, Lenin’s tomb was hardly guarded and there was no line to view his body, no one seemed to care. The Kremlin is a mixture of the old and the newer; first a government center much like Washington D.C. office buildings, and the churches built by the Czars as monuments to themselves most of which are not open to the public.
The people of Moscow remind me of country people trying to keep up with the “big city people” and not confident about how their doing. It’s obvious that the Russians are attempting to become “westernized” on a limited budget.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Welcome to Moscow
We landed in Moscow on a grey day. As we approached the city I looked out the window and saw what looked like a display of tens of thousands of beige to grey Legos on a sandy landscape all connected by a thread of highways filled with bumper to bumper automobiles. What I was looking at was the Soviet Unions answerer to the social economic problem of the 20th. century; everyone works and everyone has a home.
The two hour ride from the airport to the river port reminded me of the United States of the 50’s. Along the highways were sprawling shopping areas with no rime or reason, no zoning and no sign restrictions. Each merchant attempted to promote their establishment with a bigger sign thus making any vision of the business itself impossible.
We arrived at the river port to find our boat adjacent to an expansive park filled with families riding the rides at the carnival and picnicking along the river. Our boat is a considerable distance from downtown Moscow but close to the Metro line.
With an eight hour differential our bodies didn’t know what to do but welcomed bed at 10:00 PM Moscow time only to wakeup at 3:30 AM and not able to go back to sleep. At 5:30 AM I was up running the pier and familiarizing myself with our home for the next three days.
We hooked-up with Gene and Chris, another couple from Birmingham, who we met through Avie and Ron, for breakfast and coordinated our activities for the next several days.
Our cabin is small, 160 sq. ft., the shower is part of the bath i.e.… the shower head is above the sink and the shower curtain keeps the water off the commode and towels. We’re adaptable. This afternoon and evening we will go into Moscow and attend an evening musical performance.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Waterways of the Czars
There are two sides to Russia: her great cities Moscow and St. Petersburg, and ancient villages like Yaroslavl, Uglich and Goritzy. On this river cruise, We'll spend several days touring the cities’ important landmarks—Moscow’s Kremlin and Red Square, St. Petersburg’s Pushkin, Peter & Paul Fortress and the Hermitage—and also discover the history and culture of Russia’s heartland.
We fly out today at 1:05, our travel buddy Ron will take us to the airport, he and Avie won't be joining us this time - Ron don't fly - we will be doing an east coast/ Canada train/auto/ship trip in Sept/Oct with them.
There are two sides to Russia: her great cities Moscow and St. Petersburg, and ancient villages like Yaroslavl, Uglich and Goritzy. On this river cruise, We'll spend several days touring the cities’ important landmarks—Moscow’s Kremlin and Red Square, St. Petersburg’s Pushkin, Peter & Paul Fortress and the Hermitage—and also discover the history and culture of Russia’s heartland.
We fly out today at 1:05, our travel buddy Ron will take us to the airport, he and Avie won't be joining us this time - Ron don't fly - we will be doing an east coast/ Canada train/auto/ship trip in Sept/Oct with them.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Diving and Dancing in Cozumel
Friday January 29, 2010
Today we’re in Cozumel an island 33 miles long and 11 miles wide, 12 miles off the coast of Mexico. Cozumel dates back to 300AD when it was inhabited by the Mayans and drew people from all parts of the Mayan culture to it’s shrine of Ixchel – goddess of fertility and love. In the 1500s the Mayan world was destroyed when the Spanish imposed their culture on the area. The Spanish brought disease which wiped out the inhabitance of Cozumel. The island served as a pirate base of operation and a sleepy village of no more then 700 inhabitants until the early 1960’s when it was discovered by Jacques Cousteau. He put the island on the map through his TV show as one of the best diving destinations of the world. Cozumel has since grown to become the cursing jewel of the Caribbean recently surpassing Saint Thomas of the British Virgin Islands.
With this history and reputation Nita and I were left with little choice as to how we would spend our day in Cozumel. “We would explore the underwater world of Cozumel” Not being susceptible to the high prices of the ship tours we chose to bargain with the sidewalk tour peddlers off the ship. The ship excursion carried a cost of $65 per person the street vendor started at $45 and we made our purchase at $35; “boy are we professional cruisers or what?”
We boarded our boat with 11 other divers (snorkels) and headed for the deep waters (8 to 15 feet) to see for ourselves one of the best dive locations in the world ( we never got out of sight of out ship). We had a blast, the brightly colored fish were plentiful and showed no fear of swimming with us, we even had several spotting of barracuda and man-a-ray. Our journey back to the pier included beer and tequila shots with the traditional Mexican whistle and head shakes.
Ron and Avie, not being water people, chose to explore the retail offerings of Cozumel but failed to find anything that they had to have. Back on the ship the pool side party started building as we repaired to depart Cozumel. The pool side filled with joyful passengers dancing to the rhythms of “Hot-Hot-Hot” and “The Macarena”. Then out of nowhere came the familiar sound of “Sweet Home Alabama”. Nita and I watched for deck 13 overlooking the pulsating activities. Much to our surprise we witnessed a woman join the pool side activities arms raised to the sky, hips gyrating while singing our “Sweet Home Alabama”. Her back was to us but as she spun to the music Nita nudged me and asked, “Isn’t that Avie?” “Ya, but that’s a side of Avie that I’ve never seen before.”
Saturday January 30, 2010
Our journey is coming to an end the weather has turned from mid 80s, sunny, and low humidity to high 60s, cloudy and heavy rain. We did get our early morning deck walk and run in this morning but we’ll be spending the balance or our day inside on the computer, in the library, and in the gym.
It’s been a good get-a-way but not comparable to our past adventures of late to Spain, the Baltic’s, Southeast Asia and China. We’re making plans for future trips to the eastern US and Québec, South Africa, and the UK, hope to see some of you in our travels and invite you to join us.
Today we’re in Cozumel an island 33 miles long and 11 miles wide, 12 miles off the coast of Mexico. Cozumel dates back to 300AD when it was inhabited by the Mayans and drew people from all parts of the Mayan culture to it’s shrine of Ixchel – goddess of fertility and love. In the 1500s the Mayan world was destroyed when the Spanish imposed their culture on the area. The Spanish brought disease which wiped out the inhabitance of Cozumel. The island served as a pirate base of operation and a sleepy village of no more then 700 inhabitants until the early 1960’s when it was discovered by Jacques Cousteau. He put the island on the map through his TV show as one of the best diving destinations of the world. Cozumel has since grown to become the cursing jewel of the Caribbean recently surpassing Saint Thomas of the British Virgin Islands.
With this history and reputation Nita and I were left with little choice as to how we would spend our day in Cozumel. “We would explore the underwater world of Cozumel” Not being susceptible to the high prices of the ship tours we chose to bargain with the sidewalk tour peddlers off the ship. The ship excursion carried a cost of $65 per person the street vendor started at $45 and we made our purchase at $35; “boy are we professional cruisers or what?”
We boarded our boat with 11 other divers (snorkels) and headed for the deep waters (8 to 15 feet) to see for ourselves one of the best dive locations in the world ( we never got out of sight of out ship). We had a blast, the brightly colored fish were plentiful and showed no fear of swimming with us, we even had several spotting of barracuda and man-a-ray. Our journey back to the pier included beer and tequila shots with the traditional Mexican whistle and head shakes.
Ron and Avie, not being water people, chose to explore the retail offerings of Cozumel but failed to find anything that they had to have. Back on the ship the pool side party started building as we repaired to depart Cozumel. The pool side filled with joyful passengers dancing to the rhythms of “Hot-Hot-Hot” and “The Macarena”. Then out of nowhere came the familiar sound of “Sweet Home Alabama”. Nita and I watched for deck 13 overlooking the pulsating activities. Much to our surprise we witnessed a woman join the pool side activities arms raised to the sky, hips gyrating while singing our “Sweet Home Alabama”. Her back was to us but as she spun to the music Nita nudged me and asked, “Isn’t that Avie?” “Ya, but that’s a side of Avie that I’ve never seen before.”
Saturday January 30, 2010
Our journey is coming to an end the weather has turned from mid 80s, sunny, and low humidity to high 60s, cloudy and heavy rain. We did get our early morning deck walk and run in this morning but we’ll be spending the balance or our day inside on the computer, in the library, and in the gym.
It’s been a good get-a-way but not comparable to our past adventures of late to Spain, the Baltic’s, Southeast Asia and China. We’re making plans for future trips to the eastern US and Québec, South Africa, and the UK, hope to see some of you in our travels and invite you to join us.
Friday, January 29, 2010
A Day Ziping ad Floating in Balize
Thursday January 28, 2010
Today we’re in Belize, located between Mexico and Guatemala; it has been an independent contrary since 1981. Its largest industry is tourism and today there are five ships in its harbor thus bringing over 12,000 tourists to a city of 100,000 people. The countries population of 300,000 is made up of 40% Myna and 40% Creole, the government is of parliamentary style reflecting its early British influence.
Ron, Nita and I choose to partake in the cave tubing and zip line adventure. We were met by Marcel and Tom at the pier and matched with a group of young Mormon couples from Utah, we got lucky. They were the kindest fun loving people that we could have spent the day with, when Nita needed help getting out of her inner-tube on the river they were there with a helping hand, when Ron challenged them with their past years ability to field a competitive football team, they shot right back in fun. They were a delight to spend the day with. Unlike the proceeding day in Guatemala our guides were professional, knowledgeable and organized. I now know Belize, it culture, and it’s people.
The one mile float through the caves was an impressive display of the power of time and nature. Locked in a chain of bodies in tubes connected by feet in armpits we floated through the caves and down the river and through the rain forest. As if on cue it even rained on us for the finish of our journey through the rain forest.
Wet and wrinkled we carried our tubes back to base camp and headed for the “Zip Lines”. Believe it or not this is something that Nita has wanted to do for years and her expectations were exceeded. I have not seen my wife this stoked in years, although the climbs to the eight platforms were taxing the exhilaration of flying through the treetops at over 25mph, 60 to 80 feet above the ground was a memory that will be banked for the future. I’m sure that with time the speed will grow and the height will approach the limits of believability; could sky-diving be next?
Avie, although not willing to participate in our high risk adventure, did board a ship tether and fond a Belize City tour to fill her day in Belize. Our day ended again over a delicious dinner sharing our days adventures, retirement and travel make for a good live.
Today we’re in Belize, located between Mexico and Guatemala; it has been an independent contrary since 1981. Its largest industry is tourism and today there are five ships in its harbor thus bringing over 12,000 tourists to a city of 100,000 people. The countries population of 300,000 is made up of 40% Myna and 40% Creole, the government is of parliamentary style reflecting its early British influence.
Ron, Nita and I choose to partake in the cave tubing and zip line adventure. We were met by Marcel and Tom at the pier and matched with a group of young Mormon couples from Utah, we got lucky. They were the kindest fun loving people that we could have spent the day with, when Nita needed help getting out of her inner-tube on the river they were there with a helping hand, when Ron challenged them with their past years ability to field a competitive football team, they shot right back in fun. They were a delight to spend the day with. Unlike the proceeding day in Guatemala our guides were professional, knowledgeable and organized. I now know Belize, it culture, and it’s people.
The one mile float through the caves was an impressive display of the power of time and nature. Locked in a chain of bodies in tubes connected by feet in armpits we floated through the caves and down the river and through the rain forest. As if on cue it even rained on us for the finish of our journey through the rain forest.
Wet and wrinkled we carried our tubes back to base camp and headed for the “Zip Lines”. Believe it or not this is something that Nita has wanted to do for years and her expectations were exceeded. I have not seen my wife this stoked in years, although the climbs to the eight platforms were taxing the exhilaration of flying through the treetops at over 25mph, 60 to 80 feet above the ground was a memory that will be banked for the future. I’m sure that with time the speed will grow and the height will approach the limits of believability; could sky-diving be next?
Avie, although not willing to participate in our high risk adventure, did board a ship tether and fond a Belize City tour to fill her day in Belize. Our day ended again over a delicious dinner sharing our days adventures, retirement and travel make for a good live.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Guatemala
Costa Maya is a cruise ship created stop; the Carnival, Royal Caribbean and NCL cruise lines built the pier and an adjoining shopping center and recreation center then leased the space to local entrepreneurs. With two ships in port today it looked like the day after Thanksgiving in the shopping area. This appears to be a great arrangement for all involved parties including the cruise ship passengers. We were here four years ago and know there’s not much to see or do so we stayed at the provide beach soaking up the sun and local color. Nita bought a pair of Coach Sunglasses and Avie bought some silver earrings both at bargain prices.
Wednesday 01/27/2010
Today we’re in Santo Tomas, Guatemala a country that dates back to before 2000 BC when the Maya people hunted and fished this land. The Europeans arrived in the early 1500’s, with the heaviest influence coming form the Spanish. From 1954 to 1996 a series of military enforced governmental administrations ran the country. Then in 1996 a guerilla faction over threw the standing government to bring peace and some stability to Guatemala.
It’s a country of 12 million people; half are Mayan, still living in farming villages growing corn and beans. We entered Guatemala from the Caribbean; our day trip took us up the Dulce River which connects the Caribbean to Lake Izabal. Our 20 passenger speed boat took us up a high walled canyon full of dense vegetation and wide channels home of many exotic birds. The people are fisherman while the children supplement the family income by selling shells from their carved out wood canoes to the tourists who venture up their canyon in aluminum speedboats. All third world countries are the same.
We finished our tour in Livingston, a city at the mouth of the river. It’s the only black ethnic group of people in Guatemala, the community reminded me of Jamaica, and I have no plans of ever going back to Jamaica or Livingston. I’m sure Guatemala could offer a better representation of their country and their people. Traveling with a retired doctor, Avie, we were told it would not be wise to consume any food in Livingston. Although I don’t often follow Dr. Avie’s fearful warnings, because I prefer to live on the wild side, I agreed with her on this one and only sampled the local beer, then had a late lunch back on ship. The sun has been warm and the humidity low so we are all acquiring a nice tan and a relaxed disposition.
It was good to get off the ship and see Guatemala first hand but the guides here need to be sent to China and Asia to learn how to run a tour; our guide just didn’t have anything of value to add to the tour and wasn’t organized. I’d like to introduce him to James of China.
Wednesday 01/27/2010
Today we’re in Santo Tomas, Guatemala a country that dates back to before 2000 BC when the Maya people hunted and fished this land. The Europeans arrived in the early 1500’s, with the heaviest influence coming form the Spanish. From 1954 to 1996 a series of military enforced governmental administrations ran the country. Then in 1996 a guerilla faction over threw the standing government to bring peace and some stability to Guatemala.
It’s a country of 12 million people; half are Mayan, still living in farming villages growing corn and beans. We entered Guatemala from the Caribbean; our day trip took us up the Dulce River which connects the Caribbean to Lake Izabal. Our 20 passenger speed boat took us up a high walled canyon full of dense vegetation and wide channels home of many exotic birds. The people are fisherman while the children supplement the family income by selling shells from their carved out wood canoes to the tourists who venture up their canyon in aluminum speedboats. All third world countries are the same.
We finished our tour in Livingston, a city at the mouth of the river. It’s the only black ethnic group of people in Guatemala, the community reminded me of Jamaica, and I have no plans of ever going back to Jamaica or Livingston. I’m sure Guatemala could offer a better representation of their country and their people. Traveling with a retired doctor, Avie, we were told it would not be wise to consume any food in Livingston. Although I don’t often follow Dr. Avie’s fearful warnings, because I prefer to live on the wild side, I agreed with her on this one and only sampled the local beer, then had a late lunch back on ship. The sun has been warm and the humidity low so we are all acquiring a nice tan and a relaxed disposition.
It was good to get off the ship and see Guatemala first hand but the guides here need to be sent to China and Asia to learn how to run a tour; our guide just didn’t have anything of value to add to the tour and wasn’t organized. I’d like to introduce him to James of China.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Sea Day
Monday 01/25/2010
I’ll guess that that there are 2500 people on the NCL Spirit, based on last nights activities six of them are Vikings fans and the rest are Saints fans or at least cheering for the Saints to win. First the Colts played their usual game of falling behind and then wearing out their opponents to win in the second half, that being done I sat back to enjoy the emotional rollercoaster that the Saints hardcore fans rode through out the balance of the evening. Sprinkled into the evening of football was a Maui Maui dinner accompanied by a California Chardonnay followed by a coconut cheesecake. We then hade an hour of entertainment provided by a Cajun accordion player that was excellent at Cajun music good at rock-a-billy ok at country western and outstanding at Randy Newman’s “Louisiana”.
That all done we went to the disco bar where five screens had been set up for the Saints – Vikings game. Sitting in front of Ron and I was the mother of every Saints player and coach based on the drama the she played out with every play. Adding to her emotional overload was the full day of wine consumption. She barely survived the OT field goal falling to the dancing floor crying with joy. I don’t know which was best the game or the Academy Award Performance by the “Drama Queen”.
We’ve adopted our “Cursing Routine” ; Nita and I are up at 5:30, go to the Buffet Restaurant and meet Ron for coffee (he’s been there for an hour and knows everyone and where everything is) after coffee Nita and I go to the gym and workout on the weight machines for thirty minutes, then I get the opportunity to show off some of my Yoga poses that I’ve picked up from my JCC classes ( I’ve attended two classes so it’s not all that impressive, but I do get a good stretch out of it)
Then it out to the 13th deck where we find Ron doing his three mine run; Nita and I do a two mile walk and run. Our exercise routine done we hit the main dining room for the 7:30 opening and have a full sit down breakfast; Ron and Nita have eggs Benedict ( Nita’s traditional and Ron’s with smoked salmon)
Where’s Avie? She’s still in bed; didn’t sleep well last night, but I’m sure she’ll catch-up with us. Later I found out that she slept in but did get in her 1 ½ hour walk on the walking deck before lunch.
The weather is great, sunny skies and it feels like it’s in the 70’s with little wind other then that produced by the ships movement. This is a sea day so we’ll unwind and continue to explore the ship.
Our first day can be summed up as Relaxation, Exercise, Napping, Reading and Eating, I could get used to this.
This evening’s show was a husband and wife acrobatic act, he’s from Russia and she’s from France, quite impressive strength and balance.
Tuesday 01/26/2010
Nita and I have done our morning exercise, had breakfast and are in the front of the ship watching the docking procedure at Costa Maya, Mexico. Haven’t seen Ron and Avie yet today. We’ve been here before and there’s not much to this place so we’ll take our time and walk ashore to see if we can find some cheap sunglasses we left ours in Ron’s car, so it’ll be another relaxing day in the sun.
I’ll guess that that there are 2500 people on the NCL Spirit, based on last nights activities six of them are Vikings fans and the rest are Saints fans or at least cheering for the Saints to win. First the Colts played their usual game of falling behind and then wearing out their opponents to win in the second half, that being done I sat back to enjoy the emotional rollercoaster that the Saints hardcore fans rode through out the balance of the evening. Sprinkled into the evening of football was a Maui Maui dinner accompanied by a California Chardonnay followed by a coconut cheesecake. We then hade an hour of entertainment provided by a Cajun accordion player that was excellent at Cajun music good at rock-a-billy ok at country western and outstanding at Randy Newman’s “Louisiana”.
That all done we went to the disco bar where five screens had been set up for the Saints – Vikings game. Sitting in front of Ron and I was the mother of every Saints player and coach based on the drama the she played out with every play. Adding to her emotional overload was the full day of wine consumption. She barely survived the OT field goal falling to the dancing floor crying with joy. I don’t know which was best the game or the Academy Award Performance by the “Drama Queen”.
We’ve adopted our “Cursing Routine” ; Nita and I are up at 5:30, go to the Buffet Restaurant and meet Ron for coffee (he’s been there for an hour and knows everyone and where everything is) after coffee Nita and I go to the gym and workout on the weight machines for thirty minutes, then I get the opportunity to show off some of my Yoga poses that I’ve picked up from my JCC classes ( I’ve attended two classes so it’s not all that impressive, but I do get a good stretch out of it)
Then it out to the 13th deck where we find Ron doing his three mine run; Nita and I do a two mile walk and run. Our exercise routine done we hit the main dining room for the 7:30 opening and have a full sit down breakfast; Ron and Nita have eggs Benedict ( Nita’s traditional and Ron’s with smoked salmon)
Where’s Avie? She’s still in bed; didn’t sleep well last night, but I’m sure she’ll catch-up with us. Later I found out that she slept in but did get in her 1 ½ hour walk on the walking deck before lunch.
The weather is great, sunny skies and it feels like it’s in the 70’s with little wind other then that produced by the ships movement. This is a sea day so we’ll unwind and continue to explore the ship.
Our first day can be summed up as Relaxation, Exercise, Napping, Reading and Eating, I could get used to this.
This evening’s show was a husband and wife acrobatic act, he’s from Russia and she’s from France, quite impressive strength and balance.
Tuesday 01/26/2010
Nita and I have done our morning exercise, had breakfast and are in the front of the ship watching the docking procedure at Costa Maya, Mexico. Haven’t seen Ron and Avie yet today. We’ve been here before and there’s not much to this place so we’ll take our time and walk ashore to see if we can find some cheap sunglasses we left ours in Ron’s car, so it’ll be another relaxing day in the sun.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Off on the Norwegian Spirit to sail the Western Caribbean
We’ve been home to long! Nita and I and Ron and Avie are headed to New Orleans to catch the Norwegian Spirit to sail the Western Caribbean.
Our first scheduled stop was in Hattiesburg at the Purple Patriot, a 5 star white table cloth black napkin restaurant that serves an outstanding lunch at reasonable prices. I believe this is our third stop here. If you ever find yourself in Hattiesburg MS at lunch time it’s a must. We arrived in New Orleans about 2:30 Friday afternoon and was joined by George Best one of Ron’s high school buddies.
We spent an hour and a half in the World War II museum, it’s a three hour museum but it closed at 5:00pm so our visit had to be rushed. I learned more about WWII in our hour and a half then I did in my whole 5th grade history class, but them my mind was much more receptive at age 65 then at age 10. It helped to put into perspective some of the information that I had gathered in Thailand about their war with Japan prior to the invasion of Pearl Harbor.
For dinner at the Quarter View restaurant on Clearview we were joined by Sidney and Diane Cotlar; Sidney was another junior high friend of Ron’s. Both had effervescent personalities and openly shared their stories of pre-K and after-K, which I discovered is a part of all New Orleanians lives. The conversation was spirited and the trout stuffed with crab meat dressing and smothered in a Cajun sauce was a must have again we come back to New Orleans and the char-grilled oysters were something that I will have anytime they are available. These people just keep eating; we finished our evening at the Café De Monde for beignets and coffee.
Saturday morning we were off to Algiers to have brunch with Ron’s Cousin Sylvia Evensky and her daughter Barbee and her children Andrew and Carle. Again more food good conversation and another Katrina story, these are strong people.
The balance of the day was consumed with a guided tour of New Orleans by Ron giving us a view of the city through the eyes of a high school boy. We stopped by the house that Fran and Lee lived in (Ron’s sister and brother-in-law) in the Garden District, then went down to the French Quarter where we were entertained by a group of very talented acrobatic street performers.
Our day was topped off with a delightful evening with Mike and Brenda Moffitt. Brenda and Fran have been best friends since kindergarten. They took us to the Southern Yacht Club for dinner and an insight into another part of New Orleans culture as well as another totally different Katrina story.
This is the weekend of the NFC championship and the New Orleans Saint are playing the Minnesota Vikings here in New Orleans later today. Nita and I lived in Minneapolis for ten years and have continued to follow the Vikings, but after spending these two days with some beautiful people of New Orleans I can say with on reservations that the Saints deserve to win as a payoff for what the have endured and for the mess they have clawed their way out of; I’ll hold my wishes for the Super Bowl until I see what happens with the Colts and Jets. Nita and I grew up in Indianapolis.
Our first scheduled stop was in Hattiesburg at the Purple Patriot, a 5 star white table cloth black napkin restaurant that serves an outstanding lunch at reasonable prices. I believe this is our third stop here. If you ever find yourself in Hattiesburg MS at lunch time it’s a must. We arrived in New Orleans about 2:30 Friday afternoon and was joined by George Best one of Ron’s high school buddies.
We spent an hour and a half in the World War II museum, it’s a three hour museum but it closed at 5:00pm so our visit had to be rushed. I learned more about WWII in our hour and a half then I did in my whole 5th grade history class, but them my mind was much more receptive at age 65 then at age 10. It helped to put into perspective some of the information that I had gathered in Thailand about their war with Japan prior to the invasion of Pearl Harbor.
For dinner at the Quarter View restaurant on Clearview we were joined by Sidney and Diane Cotlar; Sidney was another junior high friend of Ron’s. Both had effervescent personalities and openly shared their stories of pre-K and after-K, which I discovered is a part of all New Orleanians lives. The conversation was spirited and the trout stuffed with crab meat dressing and smothered in a Cajun sauce was a must have again we come back to New Orleans and the char-grilled oysters were something that I will have anytime they are available. These people just keep eating; we finished our evening at the Café De Monde for beignets and coffee.
Saturday morning we were off to Algiers to have brunch with Ron’s Cousin Sylvia Evensky and her daughter Barbee and her children Andrew and Carle. Again more food good conversation and another Katrina story, these are strong people.
The balance of the day was consumed with a guided tour of New Orleans by Ron giving us a view of the city through the eyes of a high school boy. We stopped by the house that Fran and Lee lived in (Ron’s sister and brother-in-law) in the Garden District, then went down to the French Quarter where we were entertained by a group of very talented acrobatic street performers.
Our day was topped off with a delightful evening with Mike and Brenda Moffitt. Brenda and Fran have been best friends since kindergarten. They took us to the Southern Yacht Club for dinner and an insight into another part of New Orleans culture as well as another totally different Katrina story.
This is the weekend of the NFC championship and the New Orleans Saint are playing the Minnesota Vikings here in New Orleans later today. Nita and I lived in Minneapolis for ten years and have continued to follow the Vikings, but after spending these two days with some beautiful people of New Orleans I can say with on reservations that the Saints deserve to win as a payoff for what the have endured and for the mess they have clawed their way out of; I’ll hold my wishes for the Super Bowl until I see what happens with the Colts and Jets. Nita and I grew up in Indianapolis.
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