Saturday, June 16, 2012

Arrived In Boston

We pulled alongside at about 7:30 AM. By 8:30 AM we were in the cruise port terminal. Now sitting in Dunkin Donuts drinking coffee and watching the planes land at Logan Airport. We now have a five hour wait until our plane departs for home. Thanks for reading our blog,
and for coming along with us! We'll see you the next time we take a trip!

Friday, June 15, 2012

Heading To Boston

This Will Be Our Last Post Until Boston. See you then!

To and From the Ship

Our ticket "home" tonight...

Some ice for your drink?

He was nice enough to pose before taking away this sculpture. "Cool"
ice carvings.

Cruise Buddy

Relaxing by the pool at night. No competition for a deck chair!

Where Are We?

Found a ship's compass while exploring this morning. Heading straight
for BH, Maine.

One More Day

Our trip comes to an end tomorrow. We're still enjoying today, though.
We both agree that Bar Harbor's been our favorite so far. We seem to
enjoy the familiar places, including being back in the U.S.

Beautiful Bar Harbor

Everywhere we turn there's a scene like this.

Lunch At Epi's Deli, Bar Harbor

Our third time eating here in 2 years! Good subs!

Backyard Sculpture

Read all about it!

http://www.novascotia.com/en/home/thingstoseeanddo/listingdetails.aspx/william-e-degarthe-memorial-monument/1425

Lobster Anyone?

Our tour guide Alex showed us how to tell between a boy and girl
lobster, and other educational topics..

Postcard Perfect Picture

We really enjoyed our time in Peggy's Cove. Plenty of picture-taking
opportunities.

Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia

Some of the best scenery northeast of Bar Harbor can be found in Peggy's Cove.

Cunard

Apparently, Mr. Cunard has some connection to Halifax.

Halifax

The town clock from the vantage point of the Citadel in Halifax, Nova
Scotia. There's a long story involving a hop-on-hop-off bus ride to
the top of this hill. Paul and Sue both have a DIFFERENT version to
tell!

Ashore

We're actually across the street from this little dot.

Cadillac Mountain

Early morning arrival as lobster fishermen head out to their traps.

Finally Relaxed!

I sat in this same spot 5 years ago! I need this at home!

Anchored In Frenchman Bay

Our transportation Ashore

We are in Bar Harbor, Maine. This is our transportation ashore. No
waiting. Being here brings back memories of our trip 5 years ago. The
pier area is all new, though. Hardly recognized it.

Maine Coast

Back in U.S. waters!

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Maasdam

Our ship, the Maasdam, in port at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Over 700 feet long and about 100 feet wide -- small by ship standards. It seems big to us! Paul commented that we'll finally know our way around by the time we arrive at our final port in Boston. Each day we seem to discover something new we hadn't seen before!

For Andrew

Andrew loves to watch boats "back in" at the boat ramp. Naturally, when we saw this boat being backed into the water we had to snap a picture for him. This one's for Andrew! 

(click on the picture to enlarge it, Mom and Dad)

Wednesday -- Sydney, NS

Wednesday in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Not sure why they stop here. There's not much to see unless you pay for an excursion, which we didn't. We're glad for the "down time", as we've been keeping pretty busy. The WiFi is readily available and free in the cruise terminal, so Paul's taking the opportunity to use the laptop and to get caught up on email, blog entries, etc. Sue has already been through all of the shops and is now sitting nearby, people-watching. She's not impressed and has announced, "This is a boring spot. Why did they stop here?" The ship's crew, those with the day off, seem to be doing the same thing, catching up with home via email. A lot of iPads are in use by the crew. Amazing, how many are carrying smart phones, too, both passengers and crew. Paul carried iPhone, iPad and laptop ashore, "just in case", and downloaded another Kindle book to all three devices so he can read anywhere onboard. A passenger can't be too well prepared! Sue hasn't been "in the mood", yet, to start a book -- paper, of course. Maybe that's why she's keeping Paul on his toes, eating on a schedule and heading to each evening's show by 7:45 to get a good seat. It's quite a routine. Gotta get her into a book!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Charlottetown

From the bus tour...

Yum!

Nothin else to say!

Great Conversationalist

This guy told me all about the local area -- economy, history,
weather, and more.

Montmorency Falls

Read all about it!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montmorency_Falls

We got to see it up close and personal. About 1.5 times higher than
Niagara Falls.

Cruise Friend

When we return from our day out and about there's always a surprise
waiting for us. This little guy would've made the grand kids laugh!
Yes, we spend a bit of time thinking of them and of everyone back
home. Wish YOU were here!

Ann of Green Gables

Have you read the book or seen the mini-series? This stop was also very beautiful and historical. From here we took a hop-on-hop-off bus tour and ended up in a pub with free WiFi. Good food and drink and a chance to call home and get caught up on the blog. We are going to need a vacation to recover from our vacation! We've kept pretty busy both on and off the ship! Having fun!

Near Cavendish, P.E.I.

The scenery on the north shore of P.E.I is beautiful, as you can see!

Prince Edward Island


We arrived on Prince Edward Island Tuesday around 6:30 am. After a room service breakfast we began our day of touring the island. This is our first opportunity for communication since Quebec..

What day is it?

The only way we know what day it is is to look at the floor mat inside
the elevator. Obviously, today is Tuesday. We are safely in Prince
Edward Island. Eating lunch, and having our favorite beverages.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Quebec City

Finally found free WiFi at the Quebec City information center!

Had a great first day on the ship, exploring, taking pictures of
Montreal, and getting oriented. We are now exploring Quebec on foot,
so we're limited in range. Excursion in the afternoon. We will add
more pictures later. This one taken on iPad by Paul while Sue talks to
her mom via Skype on the cell phone. So far, so good. More to come. We
will be away from shore WiFi until Prince Edward Island on Tuesday.
Until then...

Saturday, June 9, 2012

A Thing Of the Past

We don't have many of these at home anymore. These are at the Montreal
airport, where we are waiting for our shuttle to the cruise port.

Smile!

How would you like to sit next to this couple?!

Friday, June 8, 2012

Fine Dining

This was lunch. Grab and go. Ate it on the plane. The 1+ hour delay robbed us of our leisurely lunch in Detroit. Oh, well... We'll make up for it tomorrow on the Maasdam. We're looking forward to unloading our suitcases, putting everything away, and to staying in one place for a few days.

Meanwhile, time for bed. It's been a LONG first day. More to come as WiFi permits. Hopefully, from Quebec City next time. Until then, please leave your comments and let us know you're reading!

French-English, Both-And

Everything here is in both French and English.

I recall ordering these extra pillows when I made our room reservations. I did that in English.
I sure hope they sleep well!

Did you notice the "Taxe"? (tax) 5% PLUS another 9.5%. Good thing our Priority Club card earned us a 10% discount!

Speaking of English... We had an enjoyable conversations all the way from Fort Myers to Detroit with a Catholic priest from west Cleveland. Father Tim. He was an interesting guy, and it turns out his parish also has a parochial school. We discussed enrollment, challenges with the current economy, the sacraments (Holy Communion and Baptism), and much more. He was quite a conversationalist. Turns out he has a home in Naples, Florida and one in Cleveland. He says he goes to the Cleveland house on his day off. Otherwise, he lives in a parsonage. Oh, and he's been on THREE cruises in the past 6 months! Must be nice!

Clouds of Vertical Development (Cumulonimbus)

This made me think of school! Come August, we'll be talking about vertically-developing clouds in our science unit on weather. Take a trip... think about school. What's up with that?

Hopefully, I'll start to relax tomorrow and maybe think about summer awhile...

By the way, as I write this I'm checking on Sue. She's out for the count....asleep on the couch. It's been a long day for a weary traveler.

In Montreal!

Yes, we made it! It took as long to go from the Trudeau-Montreal airport to our Holiday Inn as it took to go from Detroit to Montreal! Apparently, there's a Formula One Gran Prix race here on Sunday. We're glad to be sailing before then!

Off to dinner... More to come, including pictures.

(This one was added after dinner -- a postcard from the motel gift shop... for you! Wish you were here...)

Whew! Made it to Detroit!

We made it to Detroit with a little bit of trouble. Then, sitting in the terminal, they told us they were dealing with mechanical problems on our second airplane! Let's see if we get off the ground this time!

Later:
It turns out we DID get off the ground after a few minute delay. Can you tell from this picture? This little "puddle jumper" from Detroit to Montreal was very cramped. But, no more delays!

Off To A Good Start?

We were on the runway...ready to go...when the captain came on the intercom to report a system malfunction on the plane. Argh! We had a similar message on the same airline 5 years ago, and that delay lasted almost 2 days! We're hoping for a better outcome this time. Meanwhile, we're sitting back at the gate, waiting for a maintenance crew to arrive. We're off to a good start!?

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Welcome Aboard!

As long as we can find WiFi we'll post daily updates of our 7-day cruise from Montreal, Canada to Boston, Mass. We hope you'll follow along! We're writing this while we're still working, but our departure is only 2 days away....