UNTIL NOVEMBER

Disembarking from the Liberty of the Seas was as smooth as we've ever experienced. And the ride back to Edgewater and Augusta was uneventful.  We are off to the Caribbean in November.  Until then, take a look at some pictures.  And as Amy says, "Happy sails!"

It's called "Bug Light" because it's cute as a bug. So is she!

One of more than 300 along the Maine coast.

Monument to the Liberty Ships which took troops to Europe in WW2.

Portland, ME coastline.

It was National Lighthouse Day -- the one day a year when visitors are allowed inside.

No selfie here. Or usie.

At 2nd Avenue.

In Halifax Public Gardens.

Taken in a misty rain, but still beautiful.

Guard at the Citadel in Halifax, commemorating the day Canada's first troops went to Europe in WW1.

Every trip must have one cannon!

Bonnie serenaded by Elvis Parsley

Thank you! Thank you very much!

ROBERT B. PARKER IS DEAD AND I DON’T FEEL TOO GOOD MYSELF

September 17, 2015


Boston, the home of the bean and the cod.  Where the Lowells speak only to the Cabots, and the Cabots speak only to God.  A poem by Ogden Nash.

Because we were coming back into the United States from a foreign nation – legal immigrants all – we had to go through immigration.  Everyone one on board had to have their passport examined by a U. S. Immigration Officer.  We didn’t go to the opening night show, so I don’t know how many of us are on ship, but approximately 3,500 had to gather for the ritual.  The first call was at 7:10, and we went through about 9.  Then we headed off ship.

We booked a $20 shuttle to ride a $33 trolley bus, and had great fun.  We rode past revolutionary war sites, into Cambridge, saw the buildings of MIT and Harvard, the Green Monster of Fenway Park, and spent an enjoyable couple hours.  We passed several Duck Boats and I was the only one to salute them.  Quack.  Quack.  Quack.

Then we went back to Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market and had Italian sausages with onions and peppers for lunch, and waffle cones for desert – orange sherbert dipped in chocolate for Bonnie and Blackberry Crunch and Peanut Butter Swirl for me.

We walked back to Clinton Square to catch a shuttle where we joined a couple hundred of our fellow passengers qued up and waiting.  The lady on duty said she had ordered 3 extra buses and within 10 minutes we were on our way back to the Liberty of the Seas and nap time.

The only distressing part of the day was speaking to two Boston residents – one a 20 something who sold us the trolley tickets and the other a 50 something who was our bus driver and tour guide.  Neither of these men knew who Robert B. Parker was.  For those of you who just said, “Who is that?” I’ll tell you.  Robert B. Parker was a life long resident of Boston and the author of the Spenser detective series, along with two other detective series, and one cowboy series.  Spenser, Parker’s fictional hero with no known first name, had his office on Boylston Street, and when I asked the ticket taker if we would see it, he allowed as how he had no ideal who Spenser was, and the driver gave the same reply.  Sadness!  I know it’s fiction, but Parker was one of Boston’s favorite sons for pity sake.

Oh, and I did see a t-shirt display I wanted to hop out of the trolley, push over and hop back on.  It had shirts with Tom Bradey’s picture prominently displayed and the words “Free at Last.”  Looked like an Obozo campaign poster.  But what do you expect in Beantown?  And the Cheatriots were up to their old tricks in their win against the hapless Steelers – for the first quarter Steeler coaches couldn’t talk to their players from the sidelines to the field, and are you surprised, the Boston coaches had no trouble at all.  Did the league make the Boston coaches take off their headsets?  Sure, and I have a bridge to sell you!

We stopped in a bookstore called “Make Way For Ducklings” and bought a couple souvenirs.  Some how I got to talking about trivia with Diedre, the proprietress, a real trivia fan.  She allowed as how she likes to cruise and goes to all the trivias, and met her husband on land at a trivia contest.  I asked if she watches Jeopardy! and she does.  I said, “Do you yell at Alex Trebek?”  “Yes,” she said, “it’s the answer and question show!  Not the clue and question show!”  So watch out Trebek!  We are everywhere!

Diedre said she had a friend who was on Jeopardy! and I told her I have a daughter who was on Wheel of Fortune.  He got third place.

And now when Bonnie wakes up from her nap, I will post this, and fill in tonight and the last day at sea when we reach Kyle’s, as well as add photos then.

TTFN!

TO HALIFAX AND BEYOND

September 16, 2015


Dawn dawned in Halifax like it does everywhere.  The sun came up, and people went about their business.  Of course, yesterday morning it dawned overcast and misty (and when we were walking back on board several hours later, the sun came out – oh well).

After breakfast in the Rembrandt dining room, we went ashore and walked to the Halifax Public Gardens, stopping along the way at a news stand so Bonnie could buy a local newspaper, and Canada’s national newspaper.  How refreshing!  Neither Obozo or the Donald were in either paper!  The nice ladies in the shop let me use their wi-fi so I could check email and Pirates scores.  Then we toodled off to the Gardens.

It took us about an hour total to walk there – and it was up hill all the way.  But there was no snow, and no baby sister to carry.  Speaking of snow, they got 180 inches of the white stuff last year, and the ground was green through Christmas – once it started in January it got down to serious business.  Snow was shoveled and plowed off the streets, loaded onto trucks and dumped in the harbor where the last of it melted in July.

The Halifax Public Gardens are an old fashioned Victorian-style field of green and color which opened in 1875.  Paths are laid out, and flowers are arranged in great vistas.  Bonnie posed in front of the statue of Aphrodite – I don’t remember why she was there (Aphrodite, not Bonnie).  We saw less than a quarter of it because the rain came up again, and we headed towards the Citadel.

Walking down Sackville Street we passed fast food row.  McDonald’s advertised “McLobster is back.”  It looked good – a roll with chunks of lobster, but we kept on walking to the historic fort which has protected the city since 1749.  The last time we were here the guards who were on duty were dressed in Scottish uniforms complete with kilts.  This time they were in World War I uniforms in commemoration of the day the first Canadian troops left Halifax to go to Europe to fight in the “War to End All Wars” (whoever named it sure got it wrong!).

The Citadel has seen four versions, but although troops were housed there and naval squadrons stationed in the harbor, there was never a shot fired in anger from the fort or towards it.  May all forts everywhere be able to say that!

One of the major exhibits is a large scale reproduction of the memorial to Canadian soldiers in Vimy, France.  Many Canadians died in the area, and their bodies were later relocated with honor and the French gave the property to Canada, so it is now Canadian sacred soil.  Very powerful indeed.  I took no photographs, it was too moving an exhibit to take snapshots – google it; it is worth the view.

Not all of the guards were in WWI garb.  A few were in kilts and a particularly handsome young man with a very fetching uniform walked by and Bonnie uttered, none too quietly, “He’s cute!”  He turned around and smiled at her and said, “Thank you!”  One of his buddies heard her and stopped to tell us that for the rest of his life, the unsuspecting soldier will be called “Cutie.”

After toodling around for a while, my leg was saying, “No mas!” and we hired a taxi cab to take us back to the ship (stopping in a shopping arcade first for Bonnie to buy some souvenirs).

At supper that night, Linda, one of our table mates, told us about getting up early in the morning to get a shower before her excursion ashore.  After she showered, put on her make up and dressed, she looked at the clock and it was 3:30.  She thought it was 6:30.  So she got undressed and went back to bed.  We appreciated the story which she shared at her own expense.

I did my talk this morning on “Revolutionary Boston” at 9 a.m.  There were about 100 heart souls in attendance.  My last two talks will be at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Friday, after we have sailed from Boston.

Because we are coming back into the United States from Canada we have to go through U.S. immigration.  Officers will come on board and we will be herded into the Michelangelo dining room where our papers will be checked before we go ashore.  Foreigners will go to the Botticelli dining room.  We’ll report on that tomorrow.

TTFN!

BAH HABAH

September 13, 2015


A cool, misty day in Bar Harbor.  We tendered off at 10 o’clock and wandered around town.  We went into a very museum that concentrated on First People culture (Christopher Columbus called them Indians).  I bought a couple of books with creation stories from several of the tribes to use in future talks.  The highlight of the day was stopping at C.J.s ice cream – absolutely fantastic – in fact, that was lunch.  We picked up a couple of souveniers and came back on board.  I napped.  She Who Must Be Obeyed sat on Deck 4 and crocheted.  Now it’s blog posting time.  We’ll try for an exciting blog tomorrow.

TTFN!

A DAY WITH FRIENDS

September 12, 2015


We got up this morning and had breakfast in the Windjammer before going off on our “Tour of Maine Lighthouses.”  Then it was off to the Platinum Theater to await the call of our group.  We got on bus # 5 (after some confusion – theirs, not ours) and headed out to see 3 local lighthouses.

Ed, who led our tour gave an excellent history talk throughout and did a credible job of communication, after we asked him to turn his microphone up.  Tim, the driver, was never able to get the airconditioner working, but since it was only 67 degrees outside, it wasn’t too bad.

After stopping at our second lighthouse (where we had only 20 minutes – same time limit as the first one) Bonnie said, “You are going to have dinosaurs on your dinosaur tour, arent’ you?”  If you seen Jurasic Park, you know the reference.  We thought that we would get to go inside and climb up the lighthouses to look around, but we couldn’t even walk out to the second one, even though lots of other tourists were doing so.  Must keep to the schedule you know (sounds better pronounced as shed-ule, rather than sked-ule).

At the third light house, low and behold, the door is open and a uniformed guard said, “You need a ticket to go up.  We are calling groups every 15 minutes.”

So I went to get a ticket.  It was 11 a.m., and I was told that the next tickets were for 1:15.  And we were shed-uled to leave for the ship at 11:25.  We were not pleased.  It turns out that today is Maine Lighthouse Day or something – the second Saturday of September, all of the lighthouses are open and folk are invited to visit them.  But not if you were on Tour PW03LB from the Liberty of the Seas.

But the scenery was beautiful and in spite of not seeing any dinosarus, we had a good time.

Back at the ship, we waited for Danielle and Jess, two great ladies we met last October on our re-routed Bermuda Tour.  Faithful readers will remember we came to Canada when a hurricane closed Bermuda.  We ate at Danielle and Jess’s table, and have kept in touch since then.  They drove an hour and half from near Boston to visit us, and we treated them to lunch.  Great time!

In a few minutes, it’s off to supper.  Then we will get tender tickets to go ashore in Bah Habah tomorrow.  And then it’s movie under the stars tonight instead of the show in the Theater.  We’ve seen the commedian and we haven’t seen “Avengers: Age of Ultron.”

Addendum: It was too frazzling cold.  Maybe they’ll show Avengers on our Caribbean run in November.

I’ll try to make a post after supper, and add a few pictures.

See you tomorrow from Bar Harbor.

TTFN!

MOMENT’S OVER

September 11, 2015


At noon today we paused for a minute of silence to reflect on the events which happened 14 years ago.

Before leaving 103 Valley View, my contact in the cruise director’s office called me and asked me if I would lead a 9/11 memorial service on board.  I was honored, and of course, said, “Yes.”  I prepared a 20 minute program which included photos and musical moments – “God Bless America,” “America,” and “The Star Spangled Banner.”  A message was waiting for me in our stateroom that the powers that be had changed their minds (was there something wrong with the ones they had?) and would just do a brief pause.  I told Angel I had prepared a program.  She asked for it on a flash drive, showed it to the cruise director who liked it, but said the company had decided to go with the moment of silence.

During my second talk today (yes, I did two today, and will do two again on the last sea day) I was talking about an explosion that leveled Halifax in 1917, killing 2,000 and injuring 9,000.  One of the heroes was a telegraph operator who stayed at his post, and was killed in the explosion.  Another was a navy man who tried to pull the threatened ship away from the docks and died in the explosion.  I stopped and remarked that I had finished this talk back in May, and had no idea I would give it on September 11.  I remarked about the “heroes” of that day – the firemen, the policemen, the EMTs, the soldiers – who ran into harms way to help others, and asked anyone who had served or was serving in those positions where they willingly risked themselves to protect us to stand.  They received a well-deserved round of applause.

Bonnie said there were about 350 people at the first talk, 250 at the second (I was up against an ice show for the second talk, and blame no one for checking out that spectacular production).

We have early seating for supper and share a table for 6 with 4 ladies – two sets of friends cruising together.  Two are retired school teachers.  Two are single mothers.  Lively and enjoyable bunch.  Shirley, Linda, Carol, and Anna – C&A are on their first cruise; S&L are old hands.

We are taking a tour of Maine Lighthouses tomorrow morning, and then are meeting two friends from one of last year’s cruises.  Danielle and Jess are driving a couple hours to share lunch with us and hang out for a time.  We are looking forward to that.

Well, it’s bedtime.  Up early for breakfast and off into Portland.

TTFN!