A Beautiful Sunny Day = Sunburn

This morning we did the safe thing and went to the windjammer, I can count on a croissant!  Coffee not so much.  We watched us pull into port, and this lovely lighthouse was right outside our balcony.

Regardless we  got off the ship as soon as we could and motored around a bit, Claire suggested a coffee (quite kind of her since she doesn’t drink coffee) at this place.  I don’t know what they do to their croissants or cookies (nor do I care) , but the coffee was heaven, A Lavender Latte.  

Best coffee of the whole trip!  We wandered up the boardwalk a bit but went back to the pier to catch our sail boat ride.

If you look real hard behind Claire there are a string of children apparently on a preschool outing.

  We walked as a group to the boat and it was a lovely trip, the weather was nice, the folks on the boat were fun and the sailors were nice.  I learned a bunch, not that I remember it all , but still.  Claire moseyed up to the front of the boat, I was a weenie and stayed in the back.  

This schooner belongs to the Canadian Navy, it is the last one. 

Our Ship in the back ground

We grabbed some lunch at a outdoor restaurant by the sailboat, it was lovely, the sun was shining, there was music, and our fish and chips were good.  I even tried a cider, which was o.k.  A little close to beer, but o.k. There was a loitering (actually he was with his dad on a leash  and very well behaved) dog who just needed some of my chips!  I went to the bathroom and got tickeled as this looked down at me.

We wandered and shopped, has ice cream at COWS ( I had maple since I am, you know, in Canada) 

and wandered and when we got back, I had wondered if the 

‘Hop On Hop off‘ bus might be a good way to get a quick overview of the city.  We did not have tickets and the window was closed but a bud driver told us to walk down to another window and it was closed too.  I asked the seconds bus’s driver was there any way to get tickets and he asked if we wanted to get off and on and I said no we just wanted a quick circle before our ship left and he said just get on.  Claire was iffy, but we hopped on and had a lovely tour of the city . We got to see downtown,

the Victorian Garden, The Citadel ( outside),

the graveyard where there are 121 Titanic Victims laid to rest, and the government building with a clock that stopped at the time of the great Halifax Explosion.  That explosion was the greatest non man initiated explosion there has ever been.  We tipped the driver and guide ( The guide sounded like my friend Cheryl - similar inflections and even the sound of her voice was similar - that was fun)  well.

  We are heading back out to sea again towards Boston!

Two Days at once because…….

Yesterday was a sea day, we went to the usual place for painting and we were hugging along minding our own business and we got kicked out again.  So we went to deck ll where it was lighter, and cold.  There is a big table, we had some lunch at the Wind Jammer and painted.  Dinner was at one of the “Extra” restaurants on board, and it was delicious! We shared a wedge salad and peppered bacon in a sweet chili sauce for appetizers.  We both got a filet and shared mushrooms and truffled frites. 

 For dessert we had Molten Chocolate Cake which went well with the bottle of wine we also indulged.  The evenings entertainment was “Tango Bruno’s Aires”. It was awesome, not my favorite but up there.

Today we arrived in Sydney and I was jazzed, and hopeful in spite of the haze that hung low as we pulled into port.  Unfortunately it never went away and the trip was really a waste of a day and $.  We did have a chatty tour guide who had lots of information and history to share.  We drove for about an hour and a half, they let us out to powder our nose and then drove for another hour and a half or so.  We didn’t stop any more because there were literally no views through the fog.  Lunch was at a little Cafe in Igonish where there were mussels, seafood chowder, tomatoe bisque and sandwich stuff placed out.  Fun to have the mussels but no tasty sauce with it. 

We did stop a couple of times after lunch at he Gailic House built by Clay Corson for his wife, Julia, who was ill.  IT worked, Julia  outlived him.  She sold it to the Canadaian Government who sold it to developers who tried to renovate it but it had DEEP problems and unfortunately it is no longer in use.  

We did have some close up views that were lovely,

mostly the time was was spent riding in a bus, listening to the guide and not being able to see much. We also got off at a beach near the Gaelic House.

  We also got out at a Galic School, who knew there was sauce a thing on this side of the pond?

  They have a cute little gift shop but I showed restraint!  The last straw was an accident on the way back ( no not us but it was blocking the 2 lane highway)  making us late, everyone’s knickers were in a wad!

  The bus they had us on was the Cape Bretons Hockey Teams bus, LOL the only time for this old girl to be in a team bus.The head waited told us we wold have to return at 8, and I confess i rather sheered, so he said 7:15.  It is Lobster night so I am looking forward to it.  

Sea Day - So Good So Good

 Today was overcast and gray, we gained an hour and will tonight too!  This was an easy way auto avoid jet lag that’s for sure!  We had a quiet day, well sort of.  We went to breakfasts and Claire got the short end of the stick.  I had banana pancakes ( I was wishing for some coconut syrup!) and Claire ordered eggs and sausage, the eggs were overcooked and the sausage had barely met the bottom of a pan!  She is not a fussed, but seriously?  I did.  I do not think I accomplished much, but still…..We decided to paint and went to the Colony Club where we like to sit at the bar and paint.  The view is from the back of the ship and the lighting overflow the bar is good.  It is not open yet anyway.  But after a couple of hours we got kicked out for an invitation only art sale.  The stuff they are selling is rather lame, I think.  We grabbed some lunch but the Buffett was another day of chaos.  I had some cheese, salami, egg salsa and focaccia.  They did have a chocolate chip cookie I dipped in Ice-cream that was yummy. Shortly we did a champagne tasting, but agreed that we liked the regular wine tasting better,

we had fun women at our table though so that was nice.  Dinner was Italian and Enrique our server brought me a Spanish Menu, that was so cute.  Arancini, Lasagna and a cute little lemon pie.  

The entertainment was a magician, but I have to admit that,  I drifted in and out.  

  After we went to the Schooner bar and listened to two women play Piano and Violin, which was lovely.  After the left this guy showed up and someone requested this song. 

Older Than Ice

 Today we got up early to do a fjord exploration.  By early I mean 0500!  Breakfast was a quickie in the dining room, and then off to queue up soon after.  We were ushered onto a small boat that had 12 Seats.   A lovely Greenlander was our guide/export but honestly we were not sure what her role was. 

Regardless she had on the coolest coat and headband and neck warmer.  The knitted items were made from the soft inner wool of the Arctic Musk Ox.  The coat she said had been her mothers.  I really wanted to know more about her story but was afraid to ask.  She mentioned foster care and that can be a stickey wicket.  

The boat ride took up into one of the fjords here.  A Fjord by definition is a long narrow body of water that reaches far inland.  Claire has been most excited about the Iceland and Greenland parts of the trip, but my interest was Scotland and NovaScotia.  Let me tell you, this was absolutely beautiful.  

Firstly I was blown away at the blue of the icebergs that we sat randomly scattered in the water. 

 I kept thinking I never saw this in Alaska, and how would I paint this color?  It was amazing.  

Secondly the clouds, mountains and snow cover were lovely.  

We arrived at our destination and the guide had some native Greenlander food for us to try, dried reindeer ( I know eating Rudolph is just not right!), dried sardines (?), dried whitefish, blubber whale, shrimp (a la Francaise- meaning shell and head attached) and thankfully some orange and apple slices.  The shrimp were just a no go under the circumstances, and the sardines, too still had their tiny little eyes looking at me.  I tried the Whale and it was like trying to chew a fishy piece of cut up car tire with a but of fat attached.  The guide did advise some soy sauce, which I obediently  dipped my blubber whale bite into, but I could not even begin to chew it.  The reindeer, and other fish were o.k. I didn’t even wish I could purchase some to bring home though.  

The food was set up on a couple of 2x4s balanced on the jawbone of a whale. 

The place we were is is a summer weekend getaway for folks from Nuuk. The green building is a restaurant that is also in Nuuk, it closes in the winter and is open in Nuuk and then in the summer it is open in this Fjord. 

The water here was crystal clear!

There was a fellow who performed a native Drum song for us, and one of them was a war song, the premise is you battle it out on the drums and then when you are done drumming you will be friends.  I am thinking these folks have much to teach us.

On the way back the guide and drummer stayed behind and the boat pilot was a bit more daring with us,

he got up close to a waterfall so we cold take photos, close to an iceberg, it was so amazing you could actually see the ice below the water too!

And lastly he got up close to a really old piece of (Black) ice floating in the water, 

And knocked a piece of it off, It made me kind of sad as this ice is extremely old. The guy with the pilot got it on the back of the boat and the girl behind me said she touched it, and I just had to when we got out of the boat.  I was holding something that was thousands and thousands of years old!

After this adventure and it was a good one! We had to come back on board and get tickets for the shuttle to go into town and knock around.  These two cities ( If you can call them that) remind me of Native American places I have been in the west, somehow and I can not lay a finger on it. Regardless we stopped for a bite of lunch and I had a hamburger that reminded me of a sophisticated White Castle.  

We had a look around and I am still thinking about the Musk Ox knitted sweaters, at around $1,250.00 We looked and looked for some yarn, but everyone was all out, except for a few pieces of remnants, I shall have to see what I can do with that, as of course I did purchase it!

We came back to the ship and had dinner shortly after followed by the entertainment which was pretty good tonight, some show tunes ending up with some ABBA!