Welcome to New York

Sorry about missing a day in posting, but I was so exhausted yesterday by 6 pm that I skipped dinner and did not even think about blogging last night.

So here's a brief recap:  Ship arrived in Red Hook, Brooklyn, to a drizzly, low fog.  We had chosen a late departure time, and at 10:10 we started the departure process.  It was a madhouse, but only because there was a line of people exiting the building looking for taxis.  Everyone was stuck behind this line.  Baggage was handled beautifully, found three of them together and all four inside of one minute.  Customs was a three minute line, and then we battled our way outside.  Once clear of that mess we ordered up an Uber ride, he was there in five minutes and we waved at the taxi line as we drove off.  We got lucky with a really nice driver and a big car that held all the luggage.  It was a bit of a traffic hoo-haw, but we got to the hotel at 11:45, and by then the sky was clearing up, too.

Dropped our bags off and headed over to the subway, bought our passes and off to the city we went.  We were in New York!  

I have to say, having seen photos and movies for years and having heard stories good and bad, it was really fun to actually be able to say those words.   Our first subway ride ended up at Central Park at Fifth Ave. across the street from the Plaza Hotel, so it was a real surprise to exit the stairs with a view of leafy trees overhead and then to realize the ornate building was the Plaza.

We meandered through Central Park under what had become beautiful blue skies, along with the carriage rides, joggers, families with strollers and dogs, and just marveled at the fact that we actually made it.  And we even bought a pretzel from one of the many food carts (just like the pølse wagons in Denmark!)  

By 1:30 we were at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where we did our best to see as much as we could.  We had a short list of several 'must see' items, and we used the museum wifi and app to find out which rooms they were in and then we mapped out a route.  Despite this, we ended up backtracking a few times because we got lost, remembered another item that should have been on the  now-not-so-short list, or just decided that a room looked interesting.  

Somewhere in there we stopped at one of the cafes for a late lunch, attempting also to give the knees, ankles and feet a little rest.  We continued on as best we could, but by 6pm my fun meter was pegged, and we decided to head back to the hotel.  A quick stop at the corner grocery got us a six pack and some cheese and bread, and we were set for the night.  We slept like logs until the alarm went off this morning.

We had breakfast at the hotel, then caught the subway down to the Statue of Liberty at 8 am.  We had another glorious, clear day for our trip.  And we walked everywhere, again.  Then we went to Ellis Island and walked through that, too.  Are you getting a sense of what the day was going to be like?  The tickets came with excellent audio headsets and information, but it was information overload.  

View up inside Lady Liberty... The spiral staircase goes to the crown... Which my knees refused to even consider.

The original flame, built by the same guy that was the lead engineer of Mt. Rushmore, Gutzon Borglum.

Sculpture of Annie Moore--yep the same girl seen on our Cobh, Ireland post. First immigrant through Ellis Island.  Her trip took 10 days, ours was only 6.

We could have spent a lot more time at each of these museums, but our joints were still feeling the effects of the day before, so we called 'enough' and went for a quick bite to eat.  And while ordering, we got a phone call from a long-ago friend who migrated from California to New York.  Amy was one of our first rent-a-kids when she was about 9.  She's now forty-something and a mother of two, but we've been keeping up with each other on Facebook.  Since we were in her town, she asked if we could meet for dinner so we could meet her family, so we agreed on dinner at one of her old haunts across the street from her former apartment in the West Village.

So with three hours to fill we decided to go up to the 9/11 Memorial, which was about halfway from where we were to where we would meet Amy and Rob.  All I can say about the the memorial and museum is that is probably the most powerful museum I have ever experienced, and I've been to quite a few museums on our travels.  It truly deserves an entire day to see it properly, and to experience the entire museum.  There are many powerful messages and images; many you have seen or heard before, and many you have not.  I was moved to tears by many of the exhibits, and in many ways it brought back many forgotten memories of that day.  It should be on everyone's To Do list when in New York.

Words and still photos just don't capture the impact of seeing this in person.  The sight and sound of all that water disappearing into a black hole, surrounded by the names of the victims is quite moving.

After a few hours there, we decided to head over early to the restaurant where we were meeting our friends, if only to decompress from our museum visit...and we started with a couple of very fine beers and moved on.  We had a lovely visit and 'let's catch up on the last thirty years in person' talk with Amy and Rob, for which we are very grateful.  We very much needed a fun evening, and we received a great dose of it with our friends.  We managed to make it to 8:30 tonight....😄.

My mermaid and rainbow pictures by  Kelly and Annie.  

Now it's time for some feet up and relaxation before tomorrow's adventures.  I'm not entirely clear on where exactly we're going, but we do have tickets to a show tomorrow night, so we hope to last a little later.

Packing Day....

Our least favorite day has arrived.  So we got it over with first thing in the morning so we could have the rest of the day to relax.  So far, everything fits inside the suitcases and we don't think they are overweight.   It is another pretty, sunny day, suitable for shorts and tee shirts.  And for those folks who have packed their bathing suits, apparently one guy decided swimming in his tightly whities is appropriate.  Seriously we would have taken a picture if we had the camera, but this guy was sitting at the bar in his wet undies. 🙄. Then again, that is not a picture you can ever un-see.

We are both very glad that we don't have to end our vacation tomorrow; the weather is supposed to be low 70's for the next few days in New York and we are looking forward to four days being tourists before heading home.  

Now we just have to decide if it is worth it to get up at 4:30 am to see us pass under the Verrazano Narrows bridge and then the Statue of Liberty 30 minutes later....if we do, I'll try to get pictures.

We had a great time in Boston yesterday, but the city deserves more than what you can see in one day.  But we did our best, saw most of the Freedom Trail, and many of the major sights along it.  

I'll edit this shortly and add a few photos:

Odds and Ends

Odds and ends

I wrote a whole post and it disappeared when I went to try and upload it.  Grrrr.  I will try and remember how eloquent and interesting it was, and make a similar replacement post, but the duplicate is never as witty and brilliant as the original.....

Now on our fifth sea day, our routine is lazier and lazier.  I will never re-enter the real world in time to accomplish all that needs to be done.   Today consisted of wake up, eat breakfast, watch "The Princess Bride" out on deck on the big screen while it was lovely and sunny and warm (it is now foggy again only four hours later), write and lose the aforementioned post, eat a farewell lunch with the Cruise Critic group--many of whom we never quite got introduced to in the first place so farewell is a bit of a misnomer--rewrite the post and now it is time to read or something until dinner time.  And speaking of Cruise Critic meetings, we met a couple from north Tustin at lunch, about two miles from where Dad lives and where I went to high school. Small world.

Tonight we will again set our clocks back an hour.  Note to anyone thinking of a transatlantic--go from Europe back to the US, you get the extra hours instead of losing them on the way over.  Also, the sun is on the south side of the ship, not that we are getting a lot of that what with the fog.  But these are things to know for booking your trip.

After five days of waking up whenever the sun comes up, tomorrow we actually will set an alarm to wake up at 6 (which our bodies will think is 7) to have early breakfast, meet with US Immigration and then depart on our quick highlights of Boston tour. We'll spend a few hours at the Quincy Market and along the Freedom Trail before returning to the ship.   Departure is not until 7 pm, although we are losing quite a few passengers who chose to depart in Boston, many locals, Canadians and those with family in the area.

The jigsaw puzzle in the library is complete, and I find myself thinking the knitters onboard have spent their time far more productively.  I do have a travel embroidery box.  Next long cruise I am bringing something for those times when I want to do besides go to shops or pseudo lectures (thinly disguised sales events), although the real lectures have all been very good and well-done.  Tom is currently at one of the real ones, all about the mechanics of the ship by the ships' head engineer. We both really enjoy just sitting on the balcony, but it is better when it is not so foggy.   Something to consider for upcoming cruises.

Somewhere mid-day yesterday we crossed over an underwater bank, raising (or is it lowering?) the water depth beneath the keel to about 350 meters.  It also seemingly put us into an entirely different weather pattern.  Outside, it feels like we are in the Caribbean.  After weeks of maximum 63 degree temps we are tossed into the middle of 70's and 80's.  People have removed their jackets and sweaters and have begun to dig to the bottom of the drawers for the tee shirts.  A few have even ventured out onto the open decks where yesterday morning it was blowing cold most and today it is balmy.  Even if it is foggy, it is balmy fog.

Lazy Sea Days

We are on day 4 (of 5) sea days.  We and the rest of the ship have settled into a routine of sleep, eat, go to a lecture/class/show/game/meeting, eat, watch a movie or read, happy hour, dress for dinner, eat, go to the theater show, set the clocks back an hour and repeat.  Tom has been good about going to the gym and using the treadmill.  I have not.

I wanted to show you a couple of pictures from around the ship, especially for the folks who have not cruised before.  Most public areas are concentrated around two areas; the upper public decks which contain the pools, jacuzzis and loungers, and the promenade deck which is the interstate highway on ship filled with the shops, theaters, lounges and the central piazza.  On this cruise there has been little use of the pools while underway as it has been cool and windy, although there are some hardy souls bundled up in blankets and parkas out there watching the big screen.

This is the outdoor promenade, which on this ship is not a complete wraparound deck.

This is the bustling buffet at breakfast time.  And Tom's arm.

This is the aft bar, immediately behind the buffet.  This morning we have intermittent fog, but there are still folks sitting out here watching the wake.

This is the Vista lounge, which is all the way at the back end, but down on the promenade deck, so it is sort of the Key West of the ship.

This is the piazza, three decks of activities, bars, shops, cafes, pizza parlor, ice cream shop, coffee shop, etc.  Right now that is a Zumba class going on.  The balloons are for the balloon drop at midnight tonight on the last formal night.  At the far end of the balloons is the piano and martini bar, Crooners, where I am sitting right now writing this.  The piazza is a central location, midship on the promenade deck.  Between the Vista lounge and the piazza we passed the library, the wheelhouse bar, the future cruise office, the onboard tv studio and the jewelry shop.

The library has an ongoing jigsaw puzzle.

Princess Live!, the tv studio, also used for games and lectures.

The Wheelhouse bar, also a popular daytime gathering spot for reading or falling asleep.

Part-2

If you didn't read Part 1, none of these pictures will make much sense, so you may want to go back and read that first.

Not sure why, but the trees at Blarney Castle have socks.

Blarney Dungeon

Someone, maybe Tom, maybe not...kissing the Blarney Stone.

More shopping opportunities--some really good, some 'rubbish and crrrap'.

At the fort.

Scenes from Kinsale:

Notice Tom's new hat.

Scenes from Cobh Church

Scenes from Cobh

Row houses in Cobh

Lusitania Memorial

Annie Moore, first Irish immigrant through Ellis Island.

Titanic Memorial

Moonlight over the sea

Well, that's about it for the land portion...I'll be back in a day or two with a little more discussion on the cruise ship activities.

Cork and Crossing the Atlantic- Part 1

Well now, this is a two-part post mostly because the pictures are all on my phone and it is easier to write all the words on the iPad than on the little phone screen.   I suppose if I were really, really talented I could edit it seamlessly, but let's not make me get too technical on a lovely sea day.

Yesterday we docked in Cobh (pronounced Cove) Ireland, which was the last port of call of the Titanic...so yes, we're sort of following in her path.  Belfast to Cobh to New York.  Only she never made it and we will.  We have radar, and we're heading more south and it's late summer not early spring.

Tom and I both loved this last port stop.  We took a private tour of just 12 people from the Cruise Critic roll call group.  We were in a new 16 passenger Mercedes Sprinter and we got to all the stops well ahead of the giant buses used by the cruise ships.  Our tour included Blarney Castle, Cork, Kinsale and Cobh.

At our first stop, Tom hiked all the way up to the top of Blarney Castle and did the whole hang upside down thing, but chose not to actually kiss it after hearing about the teenagers who go up and pee on it.  I stayed down below and tried to figure out which of the hundreds of heads hanging upside down in the dark was my husband.  Any one picture looks like any other, so when you see the photo, pretend it's Tom.  It may be him, but more likely it's just a random stranger in the line.

We next got a tour of Cork city, and then headed to Kinsale, a very picturesque harbor town with a gazillion restaurants and even a 3 star Michelin chef.  We didn't eat there, but we did stop into a pub for lunch, beer and people watching.

We also were entertained for an hour or so by our driver Steve and his pal Paddy (another driver with the same company) who told jokes, stories and could be a vaudeville act together.  Steve and Paddy served in the military together before they became tour guides and drivers.  

Just before returning to the ship, Steve took us on a quick tour of the church at Cobh.  One of the most beautiful I have seen.  He mentioned something like 200 stonemasons worked on it, it took a great long time, but it is just amazing inside and out.  Its the tall steeple you saw in my sunrise arrival picture on Facebook yesterday.  

After a flurry of deciding which  "cheap, rubbish whatnots for sale" we wanted to spend the last of our euros on (I bought Official Irish Dancing Socks) we returned to the ship. As did everyone else except one Russian couple, who were endlessly paged in English and Russian.  The captain even blew the ships whistle twice as a notice.  They finally showed up 40 minutes late to much jeering and catcalls, possibly escorted by some sort of official with a clipboard.  Shortly thereafter we finally departed.

One thing that has been rather sweet and poignant in many of our ports is that we are the last ocean liner to visit for the season, so many folks come out with their families to see us off.  It was the same in Cobh, where they wished us well and said "we'll see you next year" via megaphone as we departed.

The captain mentioned that the tropical storm ahead of us has moved north into our intended path, so we are detouring south by 180 nautical miles to avoid the heavier swells.  It was noticeably rocky last night, but easy to fall asleep.  Today dawned sunny, with intermittent bands of clouds.  The noon report said we are 200 miles from Cobh, 4000 meters of water under us, moving at 20 knots, with a force 7 wind from the south and an air temperature of 63 degrees.

Today we pretty much did nothing.  Slept in, ate breakfast, attended another  "Once in a Lifetime Onboard Sale" and found the same stuff as the last three onboard sales so bought nothing.  Then, having still not played Trivia and having seen the huge crowd departing the lounge, some of whom were mumbling about the outcome:

- What answer did you put? 

- I wrote 'Iceland'

- We shoulda won, they marked us wrong.

- The prize is a magnet...stop it already.

...so I decided I was not much interested in playing trivia this cruise.

I did wander into the Library and contributed to the jigsaw puzzle in progress for about half an hour.  Then it was time for lunch, a walk on the decks, and write the blog.  It's now 2:15, we'll meet friends for Happy Hour drinks at 3, and then it's time for formal night.  Dinner will be a decision between Chateaubriand or Lobster.  I'm leaning lobster....but we'll see.  There is a show after dinner, which we missed on the first cruise but Sandy and Ken said it was really great, so we're going to it tonight.  

Repeat for tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after....did I mention previously that our days are 25 hours long?  It's because we are slowly crossing time zones, and to arrive in Boston on the correct time zone, we turn our clocks back one hour each night all five days.  It's much more civilized than trying to do it all on one day as required when flying.

I've got one picture on the iPad to include here, but the next post (Part 2) will be the photos from the phone yesterday.  And if I can remember, I will try to take the phone with me tomorrow and get some pictures from around the ship.

Belfast

We kept our touring a little shorter today, only a half day.  It was both fascinating and sobering to see the current Belfast from the eyes of a visitor as explained by a local who was here during all The Troubles.  

Short version: In certain parts of town the two sides still don't like or trust or interact with each other; there is a 40 foot wall separating them with gates that close at night, but they have stopped bombing each other.  That's not to say killings have stopped, they just do them individually instead of en masse.

One of the newest attractions in town is the Titanic museum. The Titanic was launched from the pier just across from where we are berthed, and was built in the shipyard here in Belfast.

And for any Game of Thrones fans, that yellow and black building is where they film.