Arrival in the Netherlands

Our flight was uneventful although I was a bit uncomfortable now and then. Having short legs I find it a bind not being able to reach the floor to rest my feet on flights so I ended up putting my legs on Paul's lap now and then so that at least I could even out the blood supply a bit! We also didn't sleep very well – more dozing than anything else.

We arrived at Schiphol airport a bit earlier than expected but it didn't matter – we didn't have anyone waiting for us. We got through passport very quickly – having chip EU passports. The scanners for chip passports was waaay shorter than the queues to see a human. We had a bit of a wait at the luggage carousel. Unfortunately a lot of luggage from a previous flight was still on the carousel and the computerised system could only load a suitcase as and when it found a space on the carousel. So our flight's luggage took a while to get onto the designated carousel. We finally got our luggage. Paul discovered that a padlock on his suitcase had been cut and a tie-wrap was in its place. No doubt customs had seen something suspicious in his luggage on x-ray and opened it. We think it was 3 bottles of vitamin water lying next to each other in the suitcase that heightened suspicions. At least someone was doing their job!

We ended up taking a train from Schiphol Airport to Den Haag and then caught a connecting train to Breda. We almost had the carriages to ourselves – silence was golden! When we arrived in Breda we found the respective bus number that would take us home to Rijisbergen. We were the only ones on the bus apart from the driver. We got off near the local doctor's surgery and walked the rest of the way to Paul's mum's place. I was knackered when we arrived. The weight of pulling 2 small suitcases plus the early morning heat of the day tired us out further.

After something to drink and a few moments to catch our breath, we went to fetch Paul's car from storage just down the road from his mum's house, and then went to Aldi to do a bit of grocery shopping. Unfortunately the car's air-conditioner has packed up so it felt as if we were travelling in a sauna, even with the windows wide open.

When we got back home (Betty's place) we had a refreshing shower and a well deserved afternoon nap. We managed, sort of. The heat in the attic room was almost unbearable despite windows being open so Paul found a fan and aimed it at the bed. The resultant breeze really helped to keep us cool.

After dinnertime we were able to relax. Melvin, the cat, came in to greet us but didn't stay for too long – I guess he was seeking a cool concrete floor to zzzz on to keep cool.

Boston Airport, USA. Flying to the Netherlands.

Paul woke up at around 7am but snoozed for a good while after that. I had a nice zzzz, waking up at around 10am. We had thought about going to see the Barque Europa but I was still quite tired so in the end we didn't go. Hotel check-out was at 12 noon so we relaxed and had a refreshing shower.

Taxis were waiting outside the hotel so we didn't have to phone for one. The drive to the airport was uneventful as was the check-in process. Once our luggage was dropped off we were free to go through security and wait in the terminal for our flight. Unlike a lot of aeroplane terminals that I have been through, the ones in the USA tend to have more food stalls than shops selling goods. There were only 2 shops vs a host of food outlets. We had a bite to eat and Paul had a look at books in a bookshop but in the end he didn't get anything. I opted not to get a book – most books are in American spelling so it would probably drive me nuts wanting to correct words! Eg. Ax instead of axe, check instead of cheque, jewelry instead of jewellery, etc.

Our flight is due to board within the next 15 minutes or so and we've been waiting at the gate, relaxing. So far there has been 2 announcements about suitcases. Earlier there was one where an official mentioned over the tannoy that someone off flight XYZ had taken the wrong suitcase off the conveyor belt and could the person who took it please return to the baggage desk. Recently another later announcement was made, asking newly disembarked passengers on flight ABC to check their hand-luggage because someone had picked up the wrong wheelie case from an overhead locker. Ooops....

Time to board our flight!

Boston, USA. Leaving the Maasdam

Saturday 17/06/17

Boston, USA. Start of Paul's Holiday!

Poor Paul. Seemingly no sooner had he fallen asleep last night then the phone rang. Fog had set in and he had to go on duty until 4am after which the Captain took over. Just after 6am Paul got another wakeup call – he had to go before immigration! Poor chap... It was pointless him going back to sleep afterwards – he had a handover to do with his colleague. From that point onward it was all systems go for him and what a busy morning he had. The cabin steward left cleaning the cabin for as long as he could and when he did, he changed the bed linen and left cleaning the bathroom until Paul had finished his handover and taken a shower.

Paul finally managed to tear himself away from the ship at around 12 noon and we headed off the gangway and into the cruise terminal to a waiting taxi. Traffic through Boston wasn't too bad – we had expected delays and traffic interruptions due to the 'Sail Boston' event. It was the taxi driver who was the problem. He drove a bit like a maniac, a bit too fast and was very impatient at traffic lights. He seemed to like the sound of his car hooter too! We were glad we got to the hotel in one piece.

Our hotel room wasn't ready so we left our luggage with the hotel receptionist and headed towards the harbour with the aim of visiting the aquarium. The waterfront was barricaded and we had to find an entrance in the barricade to go through. All in the name of security. Bags and people were searched on entering the waterfront. After a bit of a wait we got through security and took a walk to the aquarium. The entrance fee was rather pricey and there was also quite a long queue to get in so we decided not to go. Instead we took a walk along the waterfront, looking at different boats that had docked for the 'Sail Boston' event. Some boats were open to visitors, others weren't. We caught sight of Barque Europa – she was beautiful! There was lots of activity happening on board – sails being tied down and rigging secured. Some of the volunteer crew were disembarking. The boat was not open to the public at that time so we continued walking along the waterfront. During our walk we stopped at a stall had had calamari – a rather late lunch but it was delicious and quietened our growling stomachs.

The afternoon was drawing to a close and I was getting cold. It was time to return to the hotel to check in. We took a bit of a detour back to the hotel, stopping in a nearby park to have a large cookie. We found a bench to sit down on whilst eating and watched a squirrel. It seemed to be quite 'human-savvy' and hoped for a crumb or two. A lady offered it some food – possibly popcorn – but it wasn't quite the meal that squirrel was hoping for so it carried on its way in search of something more suited to the squirrel's tastebuds.

We were able to check in at the hotel and I had a lovely soak in the bath. Ooooohhh, it felt so good.

Tomorrow we fly back to the Netherlands.

Anchored, Bar Harbour, Maine Excursion: Historic Lighthouses & Acadia National Park by Sea

Another day closer to home and the final day of this cruise run.

It was a beautiful day when the Maasdam lowered her anchors. For me it was another session to see officials from the Department of Immigration before I could leave the ship. As I was on a tour, and also Shore Excursions had asked me to help them with stickering, I made sure I was waiting early in the casino for the immigration process, sitting first in line in the queue, about an hour early than expected immigration officials' arrival. Although the doors to the Neptune Lounge were closed, some guests didn't want to listen to other guests about the fact that they had to sit and wait for immigration officials, saying that they had tours and had to go to the Neptune Lounge. Well, so did we! Crew duly sent them back out again to wait. Unfortunately a group of guests, who had been told to go back outside and wait, go it into their heads to stand right out side the doors thus queue-jumping ahead of fellow guests who they could see were waiting. Also they wouldn't listen to the fact that they were in the wrong line – they had to go to USA Nationals line. But because there was no notice on the door to that effect – they thought people were taking the piss. But in actual fact it had been announced time and time again which queue to line up in. I kept quiet – I was close to loosing my sense of humour altogether. As the group had queue-jumped and they weren't listening to what anyone was saying, I picked up my rucksack and went to the front of the group of guests, and stood between them at the door. One chap yelled at me and said 'hey, get back'! I looked him squarely in the face and said that in actual fact I and others had been sitting at the front of the queue on chairs since 7am. He looked at me and said 'whatever' but nothing more. The group still didn't take the hint and move to the back of the queue.

Eventually the immigration officials arrived and I got through the process without any further ado. Shore Ex was very busy with the tours stickering when I arrived so I ended up helping usher guests to the waiting tender platform on deck 3. An elderly couple in my tour group were slow – the chap had mobility problems – so they were allowed to proceed to the tender platform ahead of the rest of the tour group. Just as well because he took ages to get down the steps into the tender. The tour group themselves ended up going on the next tender and so by the time the couple I accompanied had slowly walked up the pier from their tender, the next tender had arrived. The ship's staff were absolutely fantastic with helping the gentleman; from getting him down onto the tender to helping him off the tender and onto the pier and up the ramp to a balcony and waiting area. We had actually gone on a catamaran-type boat which had been commissioned by the ship to help with the tender process. The ride to the pier was fast and quite exhilarating.

We were on a big boat for the historic lighthouse tour and I stayed with the couple as we made our way down to the boat in case they needed help. I chose to sit outside as the boat made its way out of the harbour and along the coastline and between islands. Unfortunately after an hour of sitting outside I was absolutely freezing cold so went inside and purchased a cup of hot chocolate to help my hands and innards defrost. After having defrosted I remained inside the boat but left the warmth of the cabin now and then to take photographs. The boat ride was very interesting and, apart from seeing Acadia National Park and lighthouses from the sea, we also saw seals and a variety of birdlife. A whale was even spotted but it dived too quickly for most people to see it.

Our captain got the boat safely back to the pier and the majority of guests headed into town whereas I decided to go back to the ship. Paul and I met up for lunch after which I had a short nap before heading downstairs to help the Shore Ex ladies with collating the next excursions brochure. In the end I got cracking on with stapling the collated brochures and everything was finished within just over an hour. Before leaving I said my goodbyes to the Shore Ex ladies – they were a really nice pair to work with.

Time for me to start packing for home!

You can see my photographs on facebook via this link: Excursion: Historic Lighthouses & Acadia National Park by Sea

Final leg of our journey to Boston!

Halifax, Nova Scotia. Excursion: Halifax by Horse Drawn Trolley

Last night at dinner time Paul and I met up with the 2 doctors (Aileen Siscar and Irene) and a nurse from the medical team, as well as Liz from shore excursions, and her fiance. Sadly Aileen and Irene were called away to an emergency so the rest of us ended up having the major part of dinner without them. Aileen got back around about the time we were starting our dessert. As usual we all ate a bit too much and were full afterwards, our bellies exiting the Pinnacle Grill before we did!

It was a chilly but bright and sunny day when we docked in Halifax but it warmed up a bit during the day. The excursion I was assigned to met not far from the entrance of the cruise terminal. Our horse hosts for the day were Mel and Mike. Mike was a curious chap with a good sense of humour whereas Mel wasn't really bothered, just getting on with what she was there to do.

We had a guide who gave us an interesting history lesson about Halifax and pointed out places of interest as our trolley trundled its way around, such as the city gardens, Citadel, Robbie Burn's statue and much more. Our carriage driver was a huge lass. At first I thought she was a lad until our guide introduced her to us (oops!). Its just that her curves seemed to be all in the wrong places and well hidden underneath her man-like clothing. She handled the Mel and Mike well, making sure they didn't get startled from all sorts of things going on around them – from traffic to humans and building works. Sad to say, not only did I thank the guide and carriage driver, but I also thanked the horses for taking us around Halifax!

Paul was very busy when I got back but eventually we managed to 'touch base' with each other. I went with him to see one of the winches undergoing a load-bearing test. A lifeboat was lowered into the sea and then huge rubber tarpaulins were hitched onto each winch. The tarpaulins were filled with water until a certain weight and left for a few minutes to hang. Then the winch brakes were tested: the full water tarpaulins were lowered a bit and then the brakes applied. Fortunately they held! The water was then emptied out of the tarpaulins.

After the tests were done the lifeboat was then hitched back up out of the water but it went back down into the water as fast as it went up. The winch had broken and fortunately nobody was in the lifeboat when it happened. Unfortunately this happened around about the time that the ship was about to leave and the mechanic who serviced the winches had already left the ship. So a frantic call was made for him to come back to the ship and look at the winch = a delay in the departure. Needless to say, things were sorted fairly quickly and the ship was able to leave without any further hiccups. According to Paul, the technician didn't have to do anything – the winch worked without any problems under his watchful eye – sod's law!

You can see my pictures on facebook via this link:  Excursion: Halifax by Horse Drawn Trolley

Travelling to our next destination:  Bar Harbour, (via sea though!)

Sydney, Nova Scotia

Brrrr, it’s chilly today and a bit overcast.  I didn’t have a tour to go on but instead of sleeping in late, Ana (from the shops) and I agreed to meet up at breakfast time.  Much to our surprise and dismay, crew drills interrupted us.  And they were earlier than usual, for what reason we were unsure – and so was Paul when I asked him later on.  Ana sat at the table desperately trying to eat some breakfast before heading off, and frantically filling a flask with tea or coffee, as well as packing some breakfast to take to her husband.  Poor girl…

In between trying to put my previous blogs onto blogspot I took a walk down on the pier and had a wander around the cruise terminal shops and craft market.  Whilst in the market hall I spied a maple products stall with tiny bottles of maple wine.  My brain got whirring …. “I don’t want to open the bottle of maple wine – it needs to be packed in with the luggage.  However I would still like a bit of sweet wine over the next 3 evenings before we head back to the Netherlands so I’ll get 2 miniature bottles of maple wine".  So after thinking things through, I went into ‘purchase mode’.  Apart from the 2 miniature bottles of wine I didn’t get anything else – I promise!

Time to get ready for dinner.  Tomorrow is another day.

Sydney, Nova Scotia to Halifax, Nova Scotia

PHOTOGRAPHS

 

 

Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. Excursion: PEI Coast, Lighthouse & Cellar

Yesterday I spent the day trying to catch up on my blogs on blogspot.  It just seems to take ages.  After a day at sea it was good to put foot on land once again.  It was a nice sunny and warm day when the Maasdam docked in at pretty Charlottetown.  As usual, there was a mass exodus as guests headed off the ship to go on tours or to explore the town.

My assigned tour group (Prince Edward Coast, Lighthouse & Cellar) was soon on the bus which followed the coastline in a south easterly direction to our first stop, Point Prim Lighthouse.  It is the first and oldest lighthouse on the island and is circular in shape, made with bricks.  It one of two or three built in such a way in Canada.  Today the lighthouse has wooden cladding on it to protect the soft porous brickwork.   It was a sweet lighthouse, not the tallest I’ve seen or been in.  The tower consists of 5 levels, including the ground floor and the lantern deck.  Wooden steps take guests up to each landing/floor.  Space is very limited inside and the wooden stairs are almost like ladders – but not quite as steep. Having a large group of guests proved problematic with most guests wanting to go right to the top of the lighthouse.  I waited a bit, taking photographs from the outside, before going in.  There were still queues of people wanting to go up/go down the narrow stairs.  Near the top of the lighthouse I heard a few people shouting in frustration at their fellow guests that they had been waiting for nearly 5 minutes to get down the stairs/up the stairs.  I kept my mouth shut and waited patiently, managing to finally reach the top, take a few photographs and head back down just in time before the bus departed.

We headed along the coast to the next lighthouse – Wood Islands Lighthouse.  Along the way we saw the famed maiden statue as we passed through Belle River.  The statue is of a naked woman carved in sandstone, and stands in its owner’s garden near the roadside.  It has caused a few car accidents, so much so that the villagers wanted it taken down/taken away.  The owner won the court battle on the grounds that the carving is ‘art’.  So it remains in its place to this day.

Wood Islands Lighthouse is the second oldest lighthouse on Prince Edward Island, a well preserved wooden structure consisting of 3 floors and a lantern deck, with an adjoining keeper's residence. It was a lovely little lighthouse.  Fortunately access was a lot easier apart from the steps to the lantern deck which were very steep and narrow.  From the top one could see a bald eagle’s nest.  Unfortunately eagles had been building their nests on electric wire poles and caused outages so man-made platforms have been built so that the bald eagles can put their nests on.  There was an eagle sitting with her chick.  What lovely views for the family to grow up with, looking at the lighthouse and out to sea.

Last ‘call’ of the day was at the Rossignol Estate Winery for wine tasting along with Prince Edward Island cheeses.  After tasting wines and making purchases, guests could wander around the vineyards and also have a tour of the small distillery.  Apart from some very nice looking wines and tasting them including rhubarb/strawberry wine, blackberry mead, cranberry wine and something else, I spied some maple wine and got a bottle of it (sorry Paul!).  Yum.

It started to rain on our way back to port, with nature giving a bit of a lightning show in the distance.  The ‘performance’ stopped by the time we arrived back at the terminal.  We made it in good time for departure, much to the determination of our guide.  We had a good 10 minutes to spare before the ‘all aboard time’ so I noticed some guests rushing around the terminal, making last minute purchases or attempting to connect to free WiFi.

We were invited to the Hotel Manager’s office, along with the Captain and 2 or 3 other officers.  His office is big enough, with a conference table for meetings.  The table was set for us and dining room staff brought us our meal – bread, fish, chips and platefuls of mussels cooked with garlic, carrot, onion and leek.   It was a delicious meal along with a bit of wine to compliment the seafood.

When we got upstairs the sun was setting – it was spectacular, so much so that I dashed to the cabin to fetch the camera.  Paul, the Captain and his wife, and I went onto the bridge (a very rare treat) to watch the sun going down behind the horizon.  I gave the camera to Paul to take some pictures – I felt I didn’t have a steady enough hand.  The sight was beautiful, giving us some nice pictures.

Yawn…  I’m tired.  Time for bed!

You can see my photographs on facebook via this link:  Excursion: P.E.I. Coast, Lighthouse & Cellar

Heading towards our next destination:  Sydney, Nova Scotia