11/22–Port Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center

We are taking a tour. Yes, I know, it’s shocking.  A real, live Celebrity organized tour.  We really shouldn’t admit it but….just kidding! We actually had so much cabin credit, that it would be silly not too. We were planning to go to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on our own – had a car booked and everything, but then we looked at the tour, and it cost the same as if we did it on our own. Plus, using the cabin credit, it was free! So – off we go to sit in the theater with all the other tour people (horrors!) and wait for our bus (double-horrors!).

We’re actually off early, which is a shock, and we’re on the first bus (of 9 going to KSC).  Our tour guide Karen is a doll, she used to work at KSC as a quality control clerk, now she is a tour guide. So she’s got some inside knowledge which is cool.

The drive over to the facility is quick, only about 20 minutes.  On the way we find out that KSC actually built the locks and opened up the waterways between Port Canaveral and Merritt Island, where KSC is located, so they could ship in some of the bigger pieces of equipment and spacecraft.  We also learned about the nature preserve KSC maintains as a human buffer, but also to protect the wildlife, which we see in abundance as we drive:  Egrets, ospreys, great blue herons, wood ducks and of course alligators.

Once at the center, we get to go directly to the Apollo/Saturn 5 rocket center, passing on the way the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB).

Once inside the Saturn 5 building, we watch a movie about the creation and launch of the rockets which is pretty interesting – then we go into the actual launch control room where we watch a reenactment of a launch, complete with rumbling and shaking.  Neat. 

Next we tour around an actual Saturn 5 rocket.  It’s one of the extra rockets that wasn’t ever launched (of course, because once they launch the only thing retrievable is the astronaut capsule).  It’s mammoth and amazing to think that these things were launching men into orbit in the 60’s.  As Karen repeatedly reminded us, we were going to the moon 30 years before someone figured out we could put wheels on suitcases!  Mind-blowing!

Sunny even gets into the act (he’s out of hibernation now that the temperatures are more accommodating!).

We wander through the rocket display and into the “vault” where the actual capsule from Apollo 11 is on display, along with all sorts of space suits, equipment, notes and logs from the lunar landing journey.  Cool!

Back out to the bus, we head to the main KSC area to tour the Atlantis Shuttle display.  We see a great video about the creation and building of the shuttle, then another video about the launch, then the reveal!  It’s brilliantly done so that suddenly the film ends and the screen becomes transparent and there is the shuttle! Talk about capturing the imagination.  It’s the real Shuttle – Atlantis!  Totally cool. We walk around it, learn about the cargo hold, the space lab, all sorts of stuff.

Then we do the Shuttle Launch experience! I’m chicken, I’ll admit, but Karen assures us all it’s not going to make us sick, so, well, ok. And she was right – no motion sickness – just a really cool experience!  You are seated in your chair, buckled in, then turned 90 degrees like you are in the shuttle at launch, watch the countdown, feel the vibrations as the rockets ignite and launch, then shudder and shake your way into orbit. The worst part was once you get to orbit and the engines all fall away, there’s a lurch and your stomach sort of leaves you while you are free floating into space.  All in all though, pretty fun!

We break for lunch, which we are figuring will be bad, expensive crap – but we are pleasantly surprised by the Rocket Garden café which has a huge Santa Fe chicken salad with garlic lime vinaigrette for only $8.95.  Heck my water cost almost that much! 

After lunch we head to the Early Space Exploration display, which is again, just fascinating to think these guys did all this in the 60’s and 70’s.  Trusting their lives to these 3 stage fuel burning rockets and little more than a simple computer processor to get them there and back. 

On our way out, we wandered through the Rocket Garden and walked across an actual walkway that was attached to the space shuttle – you know that red iron walkway that the astronauts walk across while they wave at you for the last time? Neat!

Then our last visit was to the Imax theatre for the 3D International Space Station movie.  45 minutes of captivating video – the launch, once they are there, how they train, the work they do.  It was all great – and the tour commentary was well worth putting up with being on that bus!  Actually, it wasn’t really that bad at all. We’ve had way, way worse!

Back to the ship we go for our last evening aboard. We hit the lounge as usual, have our last dinner with Lazaro and Elena, say goodbye to Gabriella, our fabulous dining room hostess, and then go to the lounge again to sadly say goodbye to our boys.  We turn in early so we can be up bright and bushy tailed and ready to tackle the madhouse known as the carry off (take your own bags off the ship)disembarkation.

11/21–The Hot Glass Show on Eclipse

Two sea days, not much to report, same schedule – except it’s warm enough now to go see the Hot Glass show on Deck 15. We went to the night show right after Madeira when it was nice and warm – really cool watching Ryan, Bob and Brandon create their art at night. You really see the glass glow and move so much more at night.  We keep trying to go see other shows, but its been too windy or cold or we’re doing something else.

We’ve sailed with Ryan and Bob on the Eclipse coming across in April, so we feel like we know them.  And while Brandon is new (to us), he is a great addition with an easy-going personality too.

So, anyway, on the last sea day we go to the auction in the Grand Foyer.  Here the team auctions off some of their bigger pieces to get money for the Corning Glass Blowing school scholarships. This allows people to go to Corning for 2 weeks to learn glass blowing techniques – pays for tuition, room and board.  They also always do one piece that supports breast cancer research (a Celebrity charitable focus).  This cruise is a special cruise because the godmother of the ship, Emma Pontin (yeah, we’ll not forget that name, from Amazing Race, will we??) is onboard and sailing with us.  She is a Yacht captain (who knew) who has had breast cancer and while traveling along with us, is also teaching a sailing course with the proceeds going to charity. 

The auction gets off to a great start with a glass turtle going for $1,000.  Too rich for our blood! On the last cruise, a few pieces went very cheaply and I thought if there was something we liked, we might bid. But fortunately, we’re not excited about any of the pieces so we just watch the fun for a while ($600 and $400 for other pieces) and then we go back upstairs to pack.  We’ll probably end up with an extra empty suitcase, the way its looking. 

But before we finish packing, it is time for the show.  This is Bob’s last cruise until May, so he goes first and makes a really great tea kettle goblet (he loves tea kettles and have made 2 or 3 this trip – not usable, just art!).  Brandon goes next with a fabulous vase that is technical and difficult and turns out perfect.  Then at the end of  the show, they hand out raffle tickets to give away some of the pieces they have made.  Well cool.  We’ll hang for this.

It takes almost 10 minutes to give out the tickets – there are so many people there – maybe 300 Ed estimated.  We’re the last few to get ours, but whatever, we never win anything.  But of course we dream, so we’ve already discussed which one of the 5 pieces on display we would like.  You want to talk about surprised when the very first ticket number they call is mine!!!  Cannot believe it – so exciting!  I go up and claim this lovely purple vase – and still cannot believe that we won!

We stayed a bit longer, and then they decided that they would give away more pieces – “makes more room on the ship”!  Ok.  So the first number for the new batch is Ed’s number! No way!  We are NEVER this lucky.  So we add a bowl to the collection.  How cool is that???

Guess we don’t need to worry about that empty suitcase now, do we?  We’re ecstatic as we go down to rearrange the clothes and the packing to fit our new hand blown glassware!

11/19–NYC day 2

We are up and out early today.  We managed to exchange our Statue of Liberty tickets for today – we couldn’t get Crown access, just Pedestal, but quite frankly, that may be better. That Crown is pretty claustrophobic and we all know how well I deal with tight spaces. Not!

It’s cold again today, but not as windy, which helps immensely. Especially since we’ll be on the ferry to the islands and then out in the bay.  A 25 minute walk to the subway today – a block farther than yesterday for the #1 line. The train comes in 2 minutes and we load onto one of the first 5 cars – the only cars that allow access to the platform at the South Ferry station.

30 minute uneventful ride to South Ferry.  Typical morning NYC subway commute.  Mom’s with kids going to school, University students packed on until the Lafayette Street stop. The homeless woman asking for food or money.  Typical morning! We hop out at South Ferry and make our way around Battery Park to the Statue ticket booth. We’ve reserved the 10:00 ferry, but we’re early. We just head into the security line anyway and they don’t check the times so we boarded the 9:30 ferry and were off.  The earlier the better for the crowds really.

Quick little ferry ride – that we spend inside the entire time – everyone else is running outside to take photos of the Statue – but we’ve already done that and we’re not standing out in that wind.  On the island we grab our audio guides which we end up not using at all (oh well), stow our back pack, go through yet another round of security and finally get to the elevator to go up into the Pedestal. 

There are rangers everywhere giving us great info – talking about the renovations, and how virtually everything inside the structure is new since 1986.  They had to redo a lot of the internal metal structure work and then the pedestal was closed and only reopened in 2004, the Crown in 2009.  Nice to know the thing won’t come crashing down on us!

It’s really neat in the Pedestal – you can look up and see the infrastructure and stairs. And there are also original beams in the Pedestal ante-room that are stamped “Carnegie”.  That’s way cool!  After chatting with the Rangers a bit, we stroll outside for the view.  So great – the skyline of NYC and then the close up of the statue itself.  Well worth the trip – even if its so cold that Sunny is hibernating and refuses to come out for any photo opps!

Next we head to the museum located in the base of the statue. One of the Rangers told us it was a shame to miss it – and he was so right.  A fascinating history of the statue, how she came to be, the design, how she was made, shipped and pieced together.  The original amber glass torch is on display – they replaced this  torch in 1984 with 24-carat gold leaf covered torch because the original glass frame allowed rain to seep inside, corroding the torch and arm support structure.  There are displays inside explaining the everything – and they have the original wooden molds for her toes which are huge and fascinating!

They’ve also got memorabilia and great kitschy stuff like this Statue of Liberty Menorah.

 

We collect our belongings and head out to the dock to catch the next ferry to Ellis Island.  Capturing more great Statue shots – even from inside the ferry!

We’re lucky in that the museum has just re-opened after repairs from Hurricane Sandy.  Otherwise it would be a drive by, or sail by!  Good thing it is not, because it is an interesting visit. Maybe because we’ve just watched No God No Master, or because we so recently visited Poland and the camps, but walking into the actual building where all the immigrants were registered was amazing. The first floor is the baggage room, and it strikes such a harsh difference from the baggage rooms at Auschwitz.  Here, all their belongings are left while they go upstairs for the examination. Where in Poland they are pillaged, here the bags are lined up in an orderly fashion waiting for their owners to return and claim them. 

Upstairs, the Registry Room is huge and grand and you can just imagine the rows and rows of people sitting here waiting for their examination and registration.  Great original photos help visualize the scene and give you a feel for how it must have been in the early 1900’s, when for 20 years the room was filled every day with new arrivals – they say on many days over 5,000 people would fill this great hall.  

There is also a wonderful display downstairs called Journeys: The Peopling of America 1550 – 1890.  I’m not much for museums and history and displays, but this one was really informative – and kept even my interest.  A very complete and fact filled history of how America came to be the great melting pot that it is today (well, at least until the early 1900s – and we will refrain from making any political comments about the current situation).

After about an hour, we decide to head back and manage to hop on the ferry right before it leaves.  Great timing! 

Back on the island, we head toward Bridge street and a great little dive bar we’ve read about called the White Horse Tavern.  All the reviews say this is a gem in the middle of the financial district.  Cheap, local, cozy, if not divey, atmosphere.  That’s us!  We arrive a little before noon and capture 2 seats at the bar.  Good timing there too – because shortly after we arrive, the place is packed, every seat at the bar taken by local, blue collar workers.  It is a blast listening to them all, the accents, the cussing, the bantering.  Oh geez!  Everyone there is drinking beer, and they all put their money on the bar, then the bartender just makes change from whatever is left there.  At one point we looked both ways down the long bar and we are the only people that don’t have money in front of us!

There is a little teeny almost cafeteria style kitchen and counter on the opposite wall – where we guess you can get to go food. But people are also going up there, ordering then sitting at tables.  Who knows?  The bartender does give us menus so we order from her – a Battery sandwich for me (Brisket and Coleslaw on rye) and a Pastrami on Rye for Ed – finally his real NY deli sandwich. Because this is about as real as it gets!

It’s so real, that I won’t even pull out the Purell to clean our hands because I know they’ll either make fun of me or do something that will embarrass me – it’s bad enough I’m drinking wine!  Say it ain’t so!  I so badly want to take pictures, but I’m not really comfortable doing that either – so I surreptitiously snap a few with the phone.

Yeah, well, you can get the feel for it, I hope!  A total blast! And cheap as dirt.  Since everyone is using cash, we decide we’ll go with the flow and pay with cash too – don’t want to stand out too too much as the tourists (but heck, since everyone in the place seems local and seems to know each other, it’s a good bet we stick out like sore thumbs!).

Back on the street, we take a great shot of the old architecture and the new, navigate our way to the subway station, then head back uptown.  It’s still early, so we decide to brave the cold and jump out at Times Square.  You just have to see the madness!  The pictures don’t do it justice, but it is truly madness!  The billboards, the traffic, the people, the construction, the stores.  Geez!

Good to see and say we were there, and good to head back to the ship. 

Relaxing rest of the afternoon, nice dinner at our window table while we sail away and watch the city lights fade into the background.  Goodbye NYC.  Hello Florida.

11/18–The Big Apple

At last – we arrive – to a frigid, freezing cold New York City.  Ugh!

We are set to dock at 9:00, and the captain, who is not loquacious in the least, has said he will tell us 1/2 hour before we will be passing the Statue of Liberty.  We’ll see! He never tells us anything – just the basic weather report at 10AM and nothing else.  Oh well.  We are up really early, so we can see the sail in, but also because we couldn’t sleep for some reason.

So, we have time to go to the gym, shower and have breakfast – all before the Statue passing – which we will be able to watch from our balcony.  We wander down to get our Immigration tickets and Bruce, as usual, takes care of us (one of the best Captain’s Club hosts in the fleet – soon to be a future cruise consultant – at which we have no doubt he will exceed). They’re operating this similar to tenders – you get a ticket with a number and leave the ship when it is called.  We have been warned that the whole immigration process could take up to 5 hours – the ship has to have everyone off – zero out as it were – before anyone can reboard.  We figure we should be good – we now have #3 tickets so we’ll leave quickly, wander, then come back mid-afternoon. 

We go back to the room to get our winter gear and then head upstairs to try to get some good cityscape shots but the forward decks are all closed due to the winds.  It’s crazy windy, freezing cold out there.  The whole ship is in the Sky Lounge, so you can’t really see much. Even the gym windows are crowded – I tried to sneak out the gym door but it was locked as well.  We manage to snap off a few shots – some great ones of the WTC 1 building which just opened – and the Empire State building - before the captain says in 20 minutes time we will pass the Statue. 

We march down to the cabin – to get out of the wind – and hang out on the balcony snapping shots of the Liberty Lady. It’s a perfectly clear day – wonderful for photos – just not for uncovered extremities!

We’re about 10 minutes late docking – no biggie – the later, the warmer (ha!). We’re bundled and packed and congregating in Bistro on 5 waiting for our ticket to be called.  As it turns out, it takes a little while for the process to start, but we are in the first group called and one of the first in line to go through immigration port side.  Think we were off the ship by a little after 10:00.  The immigration line isn’t too bad, CBP is just setting up, so it’s a little slow at the start – but we spend the time joking with one of the port gals who’s herding everyone into the lines. She’s got a great sense of humor and what little time we spent in line goes pretty quickly.

Out on the streets, oh, that wind!, we head toward the subway. It’s a 20 minute walk to the E line, but we finally make it without too much frostbite.  Our plans today are to go to Chelsea Market, wander a bit, have lunch, then head back to the ship.  We’d do more, but it is just too darn cold!

Subway is easy – as always! Takes us right into Chelsea – 2 blocks to the market.  The market itself was a disappointment.  I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was just a series of food shops and little cafes without seating and a couple of restaurants. Nothing that really struck our fancy.  The design – all brick and old tile – was lovely – and I was interviewed by 3 college kids about a fountain in the middle of the market (project management – how did I interact with the fountain, did I know it was representative of a water charity, etc.) – otherwise – it was not so interesting. But it did keep us out of the cold.  It served its purpose.

By the time we were done aimlessly wandering through the market, it was about 11:30 so we went in search of lunch.  The wifi in the market was awful, so huddled over our phones outside in the wind looking at Yelp and TripAdvisor for suggestions.  We wanted a deli where we could have a true NY deli sandwich.  There was one listed by the subway stop, so we headed there but it turned out to be a deli-deli, not a deli-restaurant. Plus – they were selling Boars Head!  Come on Man!!!  We’re not eating Boars Head in NYC!

Fortunately 8th Avenue was filled with restaurants, so we perused. Ended up at this great dive bar called Flight 151.  It’s got an aeronautic theme with airplane art and propellers and different stuff – and it sort of reminds us vaguely of the Big Bamboo on HHI.  Great nightly specials (in which we of course will not be able to partake) – like flip for your drink – flip a coin, if you guess right your drink is free.  Pretty good atmosphere for us!  And cheap! In the land of overpriced everything – this place has our name on it.

The specials are great – Ed gets a cheese burger and salad for $8.95 and I get the daily special of chili and salad for $7.95.  You can’t eat at Wendy’s for that!  And they are both really, really good to boot.  Very happy lunchtime.  While we are there I scour the web and Yelp for good places to buy Black and White cookies. They are my obsession – I had one almost every morning on my way to work when I lived here, way back in ancient history. I’m going to be really sad if we can’t find one close – because – not to beat a dead horse – but we aren’t wandering around in this weather!!! 

We’re in luck – Empire Cake is a block away and they are ranked really high on the B/W cookie list! YAY. Cookies!  Great little bakery tucked in a teeny little space.  Don’t know where they bake – but they bake really well!  We get a large cookie for me and 3 for our boys and girl (Alex) in the Sky Lounge to try. Ok, we can go back to the ship now! 

And we do – with a quick stop at a corner Dunkin’ Donuts for “real” coffee (the stuff onboard is motor oil – I’ve been drinking instant since we boarded).  We make our coffee last as long as possible to warm us up – then head back to the port.  And….they are still disembarking!  No kidding.  It’s about 2:30 at this point. What the heck?

We take a seat, chat with other passengers, watch people stroll off the ship…sigh.  We get in good with the port gals – and find out that the door near our seats is the door they will use to re-board.  This is important because we want to be FIRS T ON so we can run up to the hot tub and get some space before the hordes re-board.  Yes, we are that cold!

Half an hour, 45 minutes go by, more passengers are coming back. We’re all sitting around chatting, staring into space, waiting patiently.  Then 4 passengers walk in, none speaking English I might add.  They look at all of us, and proceed to walk right past us to a door farther down the pier, try to open it, gee – it’s locked. Really?  What did they think the other 300 or 400 of us are doing?  Sitting here for our health?  So, they continue on exploring all the doors, and then a couple of staff folks walk by, going back to the ship.  Well of course, they can – we can’t yet.  But these 4 follow them like they are boarding and almost the whole boarding area gets up and forms a line behind them.  Oh geez!

We know they are wrong, but we decide to hedge our bets and stand in line. Of course the port gal I’d been chatting up comes over and asks what’s going on?  I tell her – and she just laughs and says – no one has said a word about using that far door.  So then the gal from the morning with the good sense of humor comes upstairs, looks at the line, and says “What fool did you all follow to stand in this line?” The 4 non-English speaking fools – that is who!  We get to chatting with her, and laughing with her about the situation and she says stick with me, come over here – we’re using this (the original) door.  Cool – we’re with ya!

Unfortunately those doors are now locked and she can’t get them open. Pooh.  No matter, come with me she says – and she walks us to the front of the line. As she’s discussing the situation with another port guy – Alana the head of guest relations walks by outside. Our gal flags her down and Alana says, sure we can come aboard – we can use this door if we’d like. So – the 4 non-English speaking folks are chomping at the bit – but our pal wiggles her fingers at us and says come along – and pow – right at the front of the line – first on the ship!  Pays to be nice and friendly to the people you meet!

We’re in the hot tub within 5 minutes – fastest change and elevator ride in history.  We thaw out as we watch the sun set over the city and the traffic on 12th Avenue build into gridlock.  We’re happy to be spending a quiet evening aboard – no city night life tonight for us!

11/13-17–Five days at sea

A very surprising crossing.  We went south to avoid a huge storm, but we never expected to be so far south that we’d have nice weather!  Especially with the cold weather pushing its way across the States. We thought for sure it would be a chilly, rocky crossing. But not to be.  We are able to sit on the balcony in the sun virtually every day and the temperatures are in the 70’s most day.  The seas are a bit churned up, but nothing really rough until the day and night before NYC.

We spend our time alternating between the Cappuccino bar, the travel lectures (first one on North Korea, then most on Africa – no where we’ll go, but at least the speaker is entertaining), the balcony and the gym.  Night times we spend in the Sky lounge with our bartender trio of Mircea, Alex and Aleksandra(yes, Alex and Alex).  They are a blast – by far the best team we’ve ever had up there – Mircea and Alex are at the end of their contracts, and both are still so cheerful and happy and funny and sweet.

One night, for some reason, who knows – its me remember - I was obsessing over chocolate – and I thought a pink box of Evian water looked like it should have chocolate in it.  Just me being goofy – Ed’s laughing at me, Mircea just looks at me like I’m a nut – ok – I am.  So – about 1/2 an hour later, Mircea comes out of the back and hands me a Twix bar for my chocolate fix.I almost cried.  How sweet was that!!!!  

Then there were the magic tricks with Alex – the rope trick and the disappearing lime under the drink shakers.  And the paper napkin flower and cigarette wrapper flower from Mircea.  I think we’ve adopted the boys – or at least become – as they put one night – their psychologists!

So…that’s how our week at sea went – quite pleasant!

11/12–Madeira, the surprise port

We’re late into Madeira.  So that sort of blows our plans of going out for lunch to have some Espada – the ugly, but oh so great tasting, specialty here in Funchal.  The rough seas have slowed us down, so we will arrive at 1:30 and still leave at 7:00. Oh well.  Up to the buffet for lunch we go.

We arrive at 1:30 and are off the ship by 2:00. The town has provided shuttles to the downtown area for us – a first here in Funchal. We hop on the first shuttle and arrive at the pedestrian street by the theater in a flash. Now it is wandering time. 

It’s a gorgeous day – sunny and warm, so wandering is perfect!  We head down to the main market area, window shopping and watching the people.  The Thompson Majesty is also in port and the town is hopping busy! CPS is working properly and we get to the market perfectly, unfortunately the fish market is finished and there isn’t much there to see.  We do manage to stumble on a butcher shop and buy some of the Portuguese sausages we love for the room.  Great snacks for our crossing!

We hit a couple of shoe stores – this is where I got my great boots last time – but no luck this trip. Motorcycle style is obvious in vogue here.  Ick – not to my liking. Will just search when we get home since I really don’t know exactly what I want anyhow.

Next stop the grocery store, where we stock up on more sausages and Coke Zero.  At a little less than 1 Euro each, a much better buy than on board.  By now, we’re sort of done, so we just slowly head back toward the ship, stopping at the Café Teatro for a beverage and wifi.  Wifi is suspect, too many people on it and it takes forever to log on – but eventually we do and I download a book on the kindle (since I tried on the ship and almost couldn’t log out – horrors!!).

After our little break, we choose to walk back to the ship. It’s just too pretty to get back on a bus and ride – plus it’s a nice walk along the harbor.

Back aboard – we get prepared for our long – and possibly rocky journey to New York City!

11/9–Celebrity Eclipse

Well, we didn’t see her sail in, of course that would have meant we were up at 5:30AM, so, we were a little too optimistic about that! But when we awoke, there she was and the current passengers were streaming off in droves.  We went to the gym, re-packed our bags and left the hotel a little before 11 to board our new home for the next 14 days.

It was a 5 minute walk to the port – dropped our bags right as we walked in and got checked in and aboard in no time.  We settled in the buffet, had our salad (we are on a diet now – no more heavy food, no more waffles – boo hoo – but still chocolate that we’ve hoarded for little sweet snacks!), and then wandered the ship.  Not like we needed to, we know it like the back of our hand, but we were just exploring.

Actually,  we had learned from Cruise Critic earlier in the morning that there may be an itinerary change. There was some big storm and allegedly Bermuda had been cancelled and we would be sailing for an as of yet unnamed port in Portugal.  Hmmm….really??? 

Well, we figured if this were true there would be mass revolt, so we were actually wandering around to see if anyone was complaining yet!  We went to the shore excursion desk where it was confirmed:  Bermuda is out, Madeira is in!  Yay!  We love Madeira so it was a good exchange for us since we’d just been in Bermuda in April.  Arrival in New York was now Tuesday 11/18 as opposed to Sunday 11/16, and while that put a kink in our plans (we’d already booked a Statue of Liberty tour on Monday and a theater matinee on Sunday),  we still weren’t losing any time in NYC.  We were pleased, but we were betting there would be lots of teeth gnashing and grumbling.

We headed to our cabin, and then went down  to the Reception desk to see what was happening.  The daily program was out with the schedule change and there was a line a mile long, but not too vocal.  We sat for a while people watching, then went to the Internet café get our minutes (it’s all automatic now so we just sign in), and hung out in our cabin waiting for our bags.

It poured on and off all afternoon, no sailaway party on deck for sure!  Muster drill was the muster drill.  It was there however, that the captain announced the itinerary change and said he filmed a video for us to watch in our staterooms.  We went back to watch – and sure enough there is some huge weather system coming across the North Atlantic with 30 to 40 foot seas and strong gusting winds.  So in the name of safety, we’re heading south – not due West!  We’ll still get into rough weather on Tuesday before we arrive in Madeira – and it may well be rainy and windy while we are at port, but it is sure better than what that weather chart looked like!  Been there, done that – we’ll take Madeira any day!

Our bags finally appear – we had already sailed and I was getting a bit antsy.  This is the first time it has ever taken so long to get the bags and all I could imagine was that they hadn’t made it aboard.  But I think they were so early on, they got stuck at the end of the line (bottom of the pile) and were just some of the last to be delivered.

So – unpacked, organized, exercised, and showered, we head out into the night to find the lounge bartender and start our 2 weeks at sea!

11/8– On to Southampton we go

Up and at ’em early in Brussels, out the door at 7:30 for our taxi to the airport. Right on time, and no traffic whatsoever, so we are at the airport before 8:00.  Check in is crazy – you do your own bags at the express bag drop.  We had mobile boarding passes so we just scanned our phones, affixed our luggage tags to the bags, and watched them go off down the luggage carousel.  Yikes!

Immigration easy – except for I was trying to use the boarding pass scanner as a fingerprint scanner.  Hey, at least I made the Immigration guy smile – first smile we saw from him while we were waiting in line watching.

Security fine, in the terminal with plenty of time to spare and at the gate (which wasn’t so easy to find) waiting to board at our appointed time.  Flight was smooth – a little under an hour – no service unless you pay – needless to say we didn’t buy anything for such a short flight.  Landing not so smooth, very windy, and as I said “tippy” – the wings kept tipping from side to side and I was extremely relieved when we finally touched down.

Immigration here took FOREVER!  We didn’t have our entry forms (they didn’t give us any on the plane – guess we had to pay for that too! LOL), so we had to fill them out at Immigration, which could have been a huge problem if we didn’t rush. We just made it into the line before a couple of huge planes dumped non-EU passengers off into the line.  Took us at least 1/2 hour to get through, and the people at the end of the line behind us were for sure going to be there an hour.  Phew!

But, luggage was waiting (one benefit of the long line) and our driver was waiting and we sped off to Southampton.  There was a wreck on the highway, so the driver took us the scenic route, behind Windsor castle and through some of the exclusive areas that Roger and Natalie had shown us when we were here in May.  Funny that he’s taken us the same route!

We re-joined the highway and made good time to Southampton, but boy, once in the town, the traffic was stop and go.  Crazy – our driver (who’s name we never got) said every Saturday is busy in Southampton because everyone comes to shop – and to add to it, a big football game was going on there as well.  The number of people were amazing.

Checked into the hotel and got a high floor room (upgrade!) as well as free internet for being IHG members. Dumped our bags and headed to the grocery store for supplies – and of course it starts to pour down rain.  Ick. We dove into the mall parking garage and decided to detour through the mall. OMG!  The shopping, the people!  Craziness!  It was packed – and everyone had a bag or two or three.  Wow! We were amazed.

We popped out the other side of the mall and made our way to the grocery store. Picked up beer/wine/cabin snacks then made our way back to the hotel, fortunately in between downpours.

Today happens to be Guy Fawkes day, and there are lots of festivities going on – including a festival in the park right across from the hotel. This includes fireworks at 7:45.  We had planned to go to the Thai restaurant across the street – it gets great reviews and the menu was appealing. But then we realized the fireworks were right there behind the restaurant, so to be safe, we called.  Good thing – they were booked solid and we would have hated to walk down there in the pouring rain and find out we couldn’t eat!

So we ended up eating in the hotel restaurant which was surprisingly good.  Ed had mushroom soup and a Caesar salad with chicken, I had a hunter’s chicken with BBQ sauce, bacon and cheese on top. All very good and tasty. Plus, we could sit right there and watch the fireworks. All worked out beautifully!

Our room faced the port – so we escaped much of the festival noise (but we did enjoy the music when we had the window open!) – and we could watch for the Eclipse when she sailed in!

11/7 Last night in Brussels

After organizing the bags a bit, Ed and I head out to survey the area. There is a restaurant we want to try right up the street, Poivre & Sel,so we walk up there to make sure we know where we are going.  Only a block away, and it looks great.  Dinner done!

Then we head over to Place du Luxembourg to explore – and hopefully find the waffle vendor the girl at the desk told me about.  Lots of bars and restaurants here as well, but we’re good with our selection. We do however stumble upon my namesake or nemesis as the case may be…

…he’s back! And apparently back to Cat Stevens again.  Wonder how much trouble that will cause me at the airport…..let’s hope that episode won’t be repeated!

As we are leaving the square, and I am resigned to not having my last Belgian waffle – success!  The Waffle food truck – or VW van as it were.  Yummy!

Later, we meet at the lobby bar for drinks.  Big beers – and I mean BIG.  You can’t tell from this picture, but they were absolutely huge – 2-handers! As we have our pre-dinner drinks, we finally have the Swiss/Belgian chocolate taste test.  We have had a running discussion about which is better – Swiss or Belgian.  We don’t have an opinion, as we think both are pretty darn good.  Gaby and Sigis of course, don’t agree!  National pride and all.  So, I bring the chocolates from Dumon, a grocery store bar and the Swiss chocolates that match to taste test.  Chocolate, beer (and wine)! Two of the best Belgian delicacies.  Ends up a draw – or at least the acknowledgment that Belgian chocolate is pretty good, if not as good as Swiss. 

Off to dinner, where we find the most adorable little restaurant with an outgoing and personable chef who is from Calabria – and ends up sitting next to us (with his friend who is a girl – you can go from there) and talking to us most of the night.  It is a small, quaint (yes Gaby, quaint!) place, very enjoyable atmosphere and fabulous food. We are served pumpkin soup in a shot glass as an amuse bouche, a glass of sangria type wine and then onto our main courses.  Oh so good – Risotto with Tartufo for Gaby, Lamb steak in a sumptuous red wine sauce for me, Sole Meuniere for Ed and Linguine Vongole for Sigis.  So good.

Sigis has a sweet tooth still (the Belgian and Swiss chocolates were not enough apparently!) so he has chocolate mousse that we all share and it is delicious!  Then the grappa.  Sigh.  The Grappa boys!

After getting the bill and realizing the grappa was the chef’s special collection (i.e., expensive), the chef gave us two more glasses.  So nice. Great find!

Back to the hotel we wander to have last call in the bar.  Bitter sweet – this week has been so much fun and we are looking forward to planning more Rageth/Stevens adventures in the near future.  (Actually we are thinking about just following Matthias around the world – next stop Panama City – you never know when we might show up….).

We say a heartfelt goodbye to our traveling pals with promises to make plans to see each other again soon.