Phyllis and I go ashore via tender to look around Sydney. Shawna and Gramma stayed on board. The first thing you see is the worlds largest “violin”. We hear both fiddle music and bagpipes around the port. The people of this area trace their roots to the Scottish Highlands.
The walk through town led us to a post office, pharmacy, a couple of museums, and lunch at Horton’s. I had a goal of eating at a Tim Horton’s on this trip. Lunch was very good.
We visited the Sydney Museum. It was very nice with lots of local history.
The last museum was the “Cossit House”. This was the home of a “Loyalist Reverend”. Loyalist meaning loyal to the Crown of England and not to the Revolution. As a result, he moved from New Hampshire in 1787 to Sydney. The King allocated money for a home and church for the Cossit’s ministry. The next few years were eventful for the family. They had to live in a shack till the home was built. The Reverend got into a disagreement with the local fort commander on paying troops with rum. As a result, he was imprisoned until the King send a letter releasing him and ordering the commander to pay the troops properly. Later he got into a protest against local businesses about not paying the employees and as a result had every window broken in his home. He left the area to avoid further repercussions to his family of 13. His wife had died in childbirth after the 13th child.
It was a fascinating tour with a guide who was knowledgeable, loved answering questions, and was in period dress to boot. The home is restored with the correct furniture and included actual account books and letters from the Reverend. We were given a tour of the sitting room, study, bedrooms, and kitchen where we were given a taste of pine needle tea that was used to fight scurvy. It was pretty awful.
Back to the ship.
Shawna and Gramma had a great day relaxing and taking in spa visits. Shawna went back to the doctor for a follow up on her feet. The report was back from the radiologist in Annapolis, MD that her feet were not broken just as we all suspected. So now that it has been more than 48 hours of ice on her feet, she could now soak them in hot water. So several times a day, she went to the hydro pool in the spa area to help with circulation and healing. Being in a wheelchair all the time made circulation limited and caused her feet to feel extremely cold. There was a concern for blood clots in the legs as well. I am not sharing how black her feet looked from the extreme bruising. So 20 minutes 3 times a day in the hydro pool and then the warming beds help to increase circulation.
I have not mentioned it earlier but we are regularly making trips to the Shops to buy the daily charm. This started with a purchase the first day of the cruise when the ladies got their charm bracelets and five charms. Each day there was another charm to purchase.
More music. The musicians are fantastic.
0 Comments
Today, we are at Prince Edward Island. Shawna will not be able to go. The doctor did not want her to take a tender off ship. The movement and unstable surface could cause even more damage. She insisted that the rest of us go on the tour. She kept both feet up and ice on them.
Later we discovered Shawna had been pampered by the staff on ship. They re-filled her bag of ice throughout the day and made sure she had water or food.
We took the tender to the port and then a bus for our tour of the island.
The tour started with a short drive through Charlottetown and the guide passed around pictures of what winter was like on the island.
To say they get some snow is an understatement to say the least. This is why we visit places when we hope the weather is nice.
After some very pretty countryside, we stopped at a store specializing in “Anne” tourism.
Of course, I bought one for Shawna.
OK, I stepped in for Shawna and pose with Phyllis. I just can not resist being silly.
We had a great time. No one will ever confuse me for Anne no matter how I am dressed up but Phyllis was great.
The store even has a statue of Anne.
From the store, we moved on to the bridge connecting the mainland to the island. The people on the island are very proud of their bridge. Up until 1997, all traffic was by ferry. It is a toll bridge and only charged when leaving the island. A car is $36 usd. For us towing the RV, it would be $72 usd. We plan to drive up and cross this bridge in the future.
The lighthouse still stands as it did when it lit the way for ferry's crossing over.
More pretty countryside and commentary from the tour guide. She is very proud of the island and extremely knowledgeable.
On to our “Anne of Green Gables” experience. When we arrived, we were greeted by a descendant of the author. She was fantastic.
We had lunch and were served by Anne. I guess from the above pictures you can see what it takes to make someone look like Anne.
The museum next to the lunchroom/gift shop is at the home of Lucy Montgomery’s Uncle and Aunt called “Silver Bush”. She was married in the home and many of the books reference the home. From the windows, you can see the lake of shining waters. She spoke of it as the happiest spots in the world.
After the museum, we passed the author's birth home and a lot of pretty countryside.
The last two stops were at a lobster ship dock and the Prince Edward Island Preserve Company. The family has a great sense of humor and is dedicated to helping people who are struggling with illness. They have "Gardens of Hope" which is a free hostel and farm.
Back to the ship to change clothes and head to dinner. Hey! Why don't I show you a few pictures of our food. Everything is always so fancy.
Now for some music at BB King's
Exhausted we head back to the rooms to see our towel animal. Shawna got a gift from Guest Services. Her feet are looking worse but that was expected. Time to ice her feet.
We awoke to bad news. No, Shawna is not alright and we headed to medical. After examining both feet, the doctor had the tech take 4 x-rays to make sure nothing was broken on the small bones between the ankle and the toes. The digital x-ray was evaluated and no breaks were obvious but it was sent off to a radiologist in Annapolis, Maryland for review to make sure. The doctor believes that both feet have severe sprains but not torn ligaments or tendons since she can move her toes. Shawna’s feet do not look good now but the doctor warned that they would look much worse before they heal. He wrapped them in compression bandages and said to keep them elevated and ice on them for the next 48 hours to prevent swelling. He wanted to see her in 2 days and would have the results on the x-rays back from Annapolis by then. We rented a wheelchair to use for the rest of the cruise. The medical staff were great!
So plans changed, but that is life. Shawna filled out an accident report and had an interview with the safety and security officer on the ship. We canceled her ticket for the Charlotte Town excursion planned for Prince Edward Island the next day.
After lunch we took a stroll on the promenade. It was a pretty day with calm seas.
America's Test Kitchen today.
The kitchen was presenting two lessons today. The ladies enjoyed that and I wondered around the ship and eventually found myself ordering a hamburger from the Dine-In near the pool. They have great burgers and hot dogs.
This evening we enjoyed a comedian on Main Stage. He was also a ventriloquist. We were presently surprised with his performance.
We finally got a really good look at the ship. In Quebec we were in a commercial port that is being converted to a cruise port. So it is not the best place for taking pictures.
Saguenay is full of very nice people. It is a bit qwerky.
After walking near the port and visiting several stores including a Canada post office to buy the most expensive postcard stamps. They were $1.27 canadian for each stamp. They cost more than the postcards. We got tickets to the hop on hop off bus to tour the town. We stopped at a local mall called “A place du Saguenay” to buy a couple of things. That was an adventure. We stopped in the “dollar” like store. Almost everything is labeled exclusively in French. It was a little different.
Our next stop was the local museum, the Museum of the Fjord or “Musee du Fjord”. They had a great 14 thousand gallon aquarium, an insect display along with some living insects and amphibians, a local history section (but everything was in French so I had to guess what was on display), exhibit on Dinosaurs that included animated Dino's (pretty cool), and a multimedia simulated journey into the Saguenay Fjord.
On the way back to the ship, we stopped at a glass artisan store and a river known to have a huge salmon migration.
I got change. Yes, this is a Canadian $10 bill. They feel like plastic and are much tougher than our bills despite being fancy looking.
Tonight is our first Gala night where everyone dresses up. It was very nice and we had escargot as an appetizer. We had a great time.
We decided after dinner to go to the Captain's Welcome Toast. Hey, it's free champagne.
Time for some music and performances.
Shawna was hurt in the BB King lounge! It's a lounge so, of course, the room was dark and a step was in dark carpet. She missed the width of the step falling forward to the floor which put a lot of stress on both feet. At the time, she did not think there was any real damage just extremely painful. We headed back to our room to see how her feet looked. Called our stewards and asked for ice to be brought to the room. She iced them for hours to help prevent swelling.
After eating breakfast, we decide to take the free shuttle into Quebec City. It was interesting being in a city that primarily uses French as their language. Signs, announcements, and conversations all in French.
This city is old and has amazing architecture.
The "Fairmont Le Château Frontenac" and "Lieu historique national des Forts-et-Châteaux-Saint-Louis" were spectacular.
The "Notre-Dame de Québec Basilica-Cathedral" was amazing. So much gold.
Gala night was the next night and if our luggage did not arrive, we did not have the proper clothes to wear. So a shopping was needed. We exchange some cash for Canadian Dollars and started looking for clothes at La Maison Simons. It was not an inexpensive store but was the only large clothing store available to us. About 1pm, we received a text message from Air Canada that our luggage had arrived in Quebec City airport. So we put back the clothes that we had started to purchase and went back to the shuttle to get back to the ship.
After having a delicious lunch on the ship, we walked around and explored all the decks. This included a tour of the spa area. Diana showed us around and explained the benefits of having the spa area available for the entire cruise. They had a special discount if we signed up today. Little did we know how important this would be in the near future.
The result was a purchase of unlimited spa access for the entire cruise. After leaving the spa, we had to go to our staterooms to wait instructions for the muster drill at 4pm. This is required of all passengers and if you do not show up, they will not let you stay on the ship.
Time to sail away.
Our luggage arrived at our rooms just before 5pm! Clean clothes! It was a huge relief to have our clothing. Time for our first dinner in the dining room.
After dinner there was a performance on the Main Stage that was great. On the way back to the room, we stopped to listen to the Billboard Onboard and B. B. King Band.
Billboard Onboard is two pianists who play music and sing. They take requests and were fantastic. They played the best Billy Joel Piano man including harmonica solo. We have this on our plans for almost every night. B. B. King's lounge has an six-person band and two singers who play mostly funky and fast to blues music with a dancing floor area. They were fantastic and we will be back often in the cruise. We arrived back at the room later in the evening to find our room straightened and a towel animal. The time change and going to sea level from 4000 foot elevation caused all of us to turn in early. Alarms started going off at 4am because we needed to be able to arrive at the airport early enough to get our bags checked and through the TSA before the boarding time. Kelly drove with us to get all our bags to the airport. Betty/Gramma had her car put in storage for the trip. Excited, we started the trip and our four airport stops. When we checked our bags, we asked the United Agent if they would transfer all the way to Quebec City. She said, Yes! I asked about the customs check in Toronto, but she said the bags would be checked all the way.
The first plane took us from Amarillo to Denver. No problems, flight was on time. The second plane was from Denver to Toronto, Canada. Our problems began in Toronto. We had one person tell us we had to get our bags and then go through customs to recheck our backs. Then we had four people tell us that we did not have to recheck because our baggage claim papers showed it all going to Quebec City. It was very confusing and United was NO help. They could have told everyone on the plane what to do but I think they assumed everyone already knew this detail. The Toronto airport could have had signs with all the steps listed in the correct order to get through customs and that might have helped as well. We decided incorrectly that the 4 were right and the 1 was not. Wrong! Later we found out that only United flights had to do this extra step. Flying in by Air Canada, all bags are checked through. When we arrived at our “gate” which was a waiting room where we stayed for 2 hours waiting on our delayed flight with Air Canada to take us to Quebec City. A bus arrived to take us across the tarmac to our plane. Yes, we had to get off a bus and climb stairs to get into our plane. I had not climbed stairs to get into a plane for at least 40 years. Finally arriving in Quebec City, we discovered our problem. Our luggage was still in Toronto. We contacted the airport personnel about the problem and they said it happens all the time. Really! If it happens all the time shouldn’t someone try to, oh I don’t know, try to warn people! The Holland American shuttle was waiting to take us to the cruise ship, so we had to go on with only our carry-on luggage. That made us very nervous about the future of the cruise. We arrived at the ship at 9pm and passed through security with no issues. After a quick stop at our room, we got ourselves to the Lido deck to get some food. The original plan would have got us to the ship by 6pm and dinner would not have been a problem. As a result of the delayed flight from Toronto and the luggage issues, we were eating at about 9:30pm. The Lido only had the Pizza/Pasta area open because the rest was being setup for opening at 10:30pm. Phyllis was not able to eat that so we asked if a salad could be made for her. Glenn, the server, asked what she would like in the salad and got exactly what she needed. He was fantastic and it made the evening much better for us all. Talked with Guest Services on the ship about our delayed luggage and gave them information from the Airport to find it and send it on. She assured us that they had 4 more flights from Toronto to Quebec City and most likely the luggage would arrive before they sail at 5pm the next day. She gave us some items to help until our luggage arrived tomorrow. I asked, “what if it doesn’t arrive before we sail”. She said it would be sent to the ship’s next port of call the following day. Once again we have the carpet in the elevators to remind us the day of the week. We started our trip by driving to Amarillo to meet Phyllis who arrived at the airport in the afternoon from California. We had a great time visiting over dinner but decided to go to bed early because of the early flight the next day.
Well I am once again married to a younger woman. Whoo Hooo!
Yes kids we are still on our Honeymoon. 60 years old. Wow!. I have found that getting older is NOT for the whippy. |
AuthorWe are a couple who have started on a new adventure... Archives
January 2024
Categories |