Montreal, Day 2

Monday, May 18, 2015

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We had to get up and hustle this morning because breakfast stopped serving at 8am.  Otherwise we wouldn’t have been in a real hurry. The only other kink in planning was the notice that we had to be onboard for a mandatory muster drill at 5:15pm. We don’t sail until 1am tomorrow and all aboard is at 12:30am. We have a reservation at Jacques at 7:30pm. So anyway until we got the muster notice we thought we really had all day to be ashore. But, in fact we don’t. The good news is that it probably didn’t matter that much to us.

The skies were only a little cloudier than yesterday. It was a little breezier today, mercifully. It was probably around 80F both days.

We went up to Terrace for breakfast and it was packed! Not only with people but with all their luggage. We hustled up and got on out of there. We came back to the room since per announcements disembarking passengers had to be out of their cabins by 8am, but we didn’t and we didn’t need to be taking their public space. Unfortunately, when we came by the room it was being cleaned. We went up to Baristas where I had a 2^nd breakfast! Every time we have been there the service bar has been jammed with French-speaking chefs! We sat at the window bar and I had another cappuccino and we ate canneles. We don’t usually make a habit of filling out comment cards but Clay said that the next time he got a comment card he was going to point out that they should be able to bake a cannele without charring it! I burst out laughing. He was startled. I pointed out that if all we had to complain about was charred canneles then we were really nitpicking.

We waited a while and then headed back to the cabin again. We decided to just gear up for the day and get on out of here and get back sooner. We waited in a line to disembark (not the longest we’ve waited in on Marina!) but it moved quickly. There was a crowd in the terminal and a long line for taxis. We were glad it wasn’t us. Then the long slog and stairs to leave the Alexandra Pier of the Iberville Cruise Terminal.

We had a plan today to do a modified Fodor’s Food Lovers Tour. We were only skipping Chinatown for dim sum. We had asked a tourism rep in the terminal building yesterday and she had marked a map for us to find a #55 bus to Schwartz’s. Unfortunately, #55 bus doesn’t come down to Rue de la Commune where she told us to wait for it in front of McDonald’s. The good news is that we had decided to start North and work our way back. According to Fodor’s that meant a Metro ride and according to the Metro website that meant we could buy a $10 pp day pass instead of $3.25 exact change for bus fare each time. We walked up hill a couple of blocks past Notre Dame Basilica ($5 to enter) and entered the Metro at Place D’Armes. We took the orange line toward Montmorency. It was pretty easy all day to take the Metro or buses and all the employees spoke English and were helpful. In fact, in Quebec City and Montreal if anyone ever saw us studying a map they would stop and offer to help with directions.

So, first stop was Mont-Royal were we got off and walked about 4 blocks to St-Viateur Bagel. Montreal bagels are known as softer and sweeter. That may be true. We both had one. I had strawberry cream cheese and Clay had sun-dried tomato cream cheese. Both were good and we shared. It was interesting that they cut the toasted bagels in half and then in half again and gave us each 5 pieces. That is a bonus piece of bagel for everyone! We liked them and we weren’t even hungry yet!

We walked back to the Metro and got back on the same Metro train heading North still. We were heading to Marche Jean-Talon and that was our next stop. It was very big and very busy. Today is Victoria Day and a national holiday in Canada. We had planned to shop for cheese curds here, but we had made 2 earlier impromptu stops and had bought some in a grocery store. That was the good news because while we saw several cheese shops in the Marche, they did not have curds. The first thing Clay saw was La Boite aux Huitres. That’s oysters! He wanted to stop for a dozen, but there were no seats and he was full already. I convinced him that we could wander the Marche and come back and it would be better. We did. I bought a bouquet of roses, baby’s breath and orchids. We bought some little cones of maple butter that we kept seeing everywhere. They were good, but man are they sweet! I was glad we waited to find them individually instead of buying one of the 6-packs we had been seeing. We found a stall selling tourtiere (but they didn’t have any) and tarte au l’erable. We bought a tiny maple tart to go and we still haven’t eaten it yet. We walked out and took the Metro Orange line towards Cote-Vertu to get back to Mont-Royal. We could see the green hill of Mont-Royal in the distance from there and I felt too full and that it was too early to go to Schwartz’s for smoked meat sandwiches. Clay didn’t want to walk up there and I agreed that even if we walked there then the park was too big and uphill. We found a transit route map and found bus #11 looped back and forth on Ave. du Mont-Royal across the park and in front of the Mont-Royal Metro station. That decided it. We came out of the station and crossed the street and down the block found a sign for the bus stop and didn’t wait long. We got off the bus at the Belvedere which turned out to be the only viewpoint on the road through the park. That was the good news. The bad news is that when Clay had finished taking photos and there was a #11 bus sitting right there heading back downhill that I insisted we go back across the street and take the next #11 to come by and finishing going across the park before going back down.  This turned out to be a 20 minute wait and we didn’t see anything else except the massive cemeteries on the North side of the park road. My mistake. It would have been better to get on the bus back that was sitting right there waiting. Oh well, now you know, there is only one viewing point and then you might just as well go back. We rode the route to the end and looped back and got off at Blvd. St-Laurent. We walked downhill about 6 blocks before we saw the line on the sidewalk outside Schwartz’s. At 2pm, we had about 15 minutes and felt happy we hadn’t been there at noon. Once we got inside and seated at the bar, we had ordered, eaten, used the restrooms and paid by 2:30pm. Now we needed to figure out how to get back down to the port. Bus #55 was supposed to be a straight shot up but we hadn’t asked the tourism woman about getting back and she hadn’t pointed out that St-Laurent was one-way going north. We couldn’t even see a south bound street from any intersection and couldn’t find a bus stop with the route information sign still on it. Finally, we got on a northbound bus figuring worst case that we’d just ride it and see if it went back downhill. Clay asked the driver and she advised us to go over 2 blocks and get #55 on Rue St-Urbain. We did and even found a bus shelter with a route map which was when we saw it turned at Notre Dame and did not go all the way to Rue de la Commune. I asked the driver when we got on and he said no, you get off at Notre Dame. He called us up when he got to our closest stop. So, well done! It was about another 15 minute walk to the ship.

We have the muster drill and then the Cruise Critic Meet & Greet, then dinner in Jacques. Back later!

We’re back. The muster drill this time lasted slightly longer than the 45 minutes of 12 days ago in NYC. We were therefore after 6pm getting up to Horizons for the appointed Cruise Critic gathering. When we got up there, 2 signs announced the starboard side was set off for Go Next. They weren’t there either. Since there was another CC gathering planned, we just came back to the cabin and sat on our balcony with wine, cheese curds and a maple tart.

Jacques was not as bad this time as 12 days ago. They told us the amuse bouche today was eggplant tartlet and cheese croquette. Clay ate one of the tartlets and tried to get me to have one. I reminded him they exactly like that last time and were anchovy and olive. He almost choked on a bite as he admitted this tasted a little fishy to be eggplant, maybe I better skip it. We skipped soup this time. Clay had escargot and rack of veal with crepes Suzette. He loved his meal except for the crepes. He also did not like that the caneles were charred again. I had goat cheese soufflé which I liked. I had pork which was okay. I had gratineed potatoes which were infinitely preferable to the pureed potatoes they called mashed onboard. Clay also had green beans. The last times we ordered side vegetables in any restaurant onboard, they brought them in small serving dishes so you could share but tonight they were already on our plates and we couldn’t easily share. I had Charlotte Cecile which was described as a chocolate cake in ladyfingers or something. We still have no idea what it actually was. It had a top white layer that was partially frozen or not fully thawed on top of a chocolate mousse layer that was not even really very cold. It was just freaky. Clay said he loved his meal, that he loved everything he'd eaten all day... I said, says the man who ate Montreal in a day!

Due to some technical difficulty, they announced the evening popcorn movie has been moved back to 10pm. The movie tonight is The Wedding Ringer which we saw recently, so we’ll pass on it.

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Montreal, Quebec

Sunday, May 17, 2015

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It was very calm quiet sailing last night. I love river cruising! We were both up early for some reason on a Sunday when it would have been better to sleep in. I don’t know why. Meanwhile, breakfast began late since we won’t get to Montreal until 12:30pm. Since we were early, we held out for Terrace at 7:30am but couldn’t wait until 8am for GDR for Sunday morning. It was pretty quiet in Terrace this morning. Clay had pretty much his normal breakfast. He had fried potatoes instead of the hash brown cake today. I found something new this morning that I hadn’t seen yet, not even on the GDR menu as far as I recall. It was blintzes. They were like Swedish pancakes wrapped around cream cheese and topped with red berry compote. I had a pair on the recommendation of the Indian chef I met last night (who is usually in La Reserve. He came by as a pair of servers was assuring me the blintz had fruit inside and out. I was worried about cottage cheese, but he assured me it was cream cheese and it was. I had some muesli and a yogurt parfait after along with my half cappuccino/half coffee.

Since we had a letter last night about specialty dinner reservations, we went past the 5^th floor desk after 8am to reconfirm the reservations Clay made online. It was all set and confirmed. While there I learned something new. They have a crossword/Sudoku sheet and a trivia sheet there every day! Now if I can just find a jigsaw puzzle somewhere I’ll feel more like I’m having a full cruise experience. I have run out of places to look though. I’m thinking there may be some in the game room but it is too busy in there for the gamers/card players to ever allow a table to be used for a puzzle.

Since we had not been out of the cabin an hour yet, we went up to Horizons and sat in the front window for a while so we could see both sides as we sail on up river on the St. Lawrence. We were back in the cabin by 9am and Clay soon announced he had seen a large canid of some kind, either a wolf or a coyote. I don’t think he got a photo. It was gone by the time he told me. We did pass a small island covered with gulls and in one tree there were 4 eagles’ nests and at least a half dozen bald eagles.

We sat out on our balcony after that and watch our approach to Montreal. I worked on my cross-stitch too. We saw a big leaning tower that Clay said was a cruise ship smokestack. I thought it might suspend a cable bridge or just be a towering building as it seemed too large for a bridge suspension. As we sat there sailing past a public park along the river, with the mystery tower in the background, our neighbor came out and called to his wife about the great golf course. His wife came out and immediately asked him what that leaning tower was. He told her it was probably for the Marine Corps. Clay and I looked more closely at the park for any evidence of golf or golfing activity and could find none. Eventually we came around a giant grain silo building and could see that the leaning tower was both a building and a cable support system for a puffy white roof to a round building that we assume was a stadium. But, it made me think about why we travel and how we do it. I want to see new things. I want to see old things in a new way or with new eyes. But, sometimes when we travel what we see is what we bring with us. I try not to do that, but perhaps on some level it is inevitable.

We arrived in Montreal well before 12:30pm. But it took us a long time to dock. I think this protected waterway with a man-made island protecting it from the strong river current may be about as far as a ship can go before having to use locks. I guess we’ll find out when we come back in August for the Great Lakes cruise. Anyway, we were docked and cleared well before 12:30pm. It is a convenient location, but the facility is rustic and I would think it would be inconvenient as a cruise turnaround location. We had to walk on steep narrow ramps, through a building across a parking lot and down a long steep flight of outdoor stairs. To return was the reverse. If you were traveling independently here with even a small amount of carry-on luggage, it would be impossible. To be sure there must be an elevator somewhere. We have a lot of disabled people onboard and I have no idea how they got around today.

We went up to Terrace and got a shady table for 2 overlooking Montreal. We are docked on the port side today. We have a view of a rusty old abandoned silo facility with a view to the front of Habitat 67. Clay thinks it is the ugliest thing he’s ever seen, but I like it. We learned today that it was built as temporary residences during Expo ’67. It was built on a design submitted in a contest by a local college student. It is amazing that it has stood the test of time. It is not clear that the people on the port side have a better view unless they are on decks higher than the cruise terminal building. Anyway, we had a light lunch in case we failed to get a beavertail this afternoon.

We walked down the waterfront to 2 rue de la Commune which is where Google Maps placed the Beavertail shop. Nothing! I should point out that the name in French is Queue de Castor. We don’t recognize that usually, so we missed it on the front of a food court type building attached to the Science Center and IMAX Theater. (Just as well since it was jam-packed with a long line.) Clay searched for it again on his GPS phone app that was tracking our place and there was one at 123 rue de la Commune. We got our 2^nd beavertail each there. It was not quiet but it was not busy and it was an indoor place to sit out of the sun. The temperature was projected to be 78F today, but with clear blue skies with nary a cloud in sight, it felt hotter. We walked down to Marche Bonsecours and back towards the ship on Rue Saint-Paul. We walked up and down Place Jacques Cartier and saw the town hall. We crossed back to the waterfront and walked up and down the outdoor stalls. We had passed a place rented little pedaled carts and Clay asked to do it. I didn’t want to pedal around and then walk back to the ship. I suggest a Segway tour since they had one out with a sign that said 30-minute guided tours for $45. We walked up and asked and the guide was there putting Segways away. She said she could take us in about 20 minutes if we wanted to come back. We did. She went and ate her lunch and I got in line for the ladies restroom. We met again about 3:30pm. We watched the training video, signed our waivers and then took a Segway out from the crowds and had a lesson. Since we weren’t first timers, she proclaimed us her best students of the day and off we went. These went much faster than the ones in Raleigh. It was exciting. It was a great way to see the entire waterfront area and she gave us a lot of history. It was a great tour.  The company is Ecorecreo on Vieux Montreal pier.

I looked at a whale watching brochure today and evidently there are 7 kinds of whales living in the St. Lawrence. They have a whales guarantee on their cruises, if you don’t see a whale they’ll keep giving you a free cruise until you do. I guess that works great if you are Quebecois, but not much help for short term visitors. The weird thing is if they have whale watching tours up and down this river, why shouldn’t we expect to see them from Marina? We did think we saw one as we sailed from Saguenay. We sat out past sunset looking for that giant Madonna statue. As it was getting dark, we saw a big white thing in the water between us and shore. I handed the binoculars to Clay and it the time of the handoff and him looking the white thing had submerged and vanished. We still think it must have been a beluga whale.

We got back to the ship about 4:30pm. We have all day here tomorrow. It is disembark/embark cruise turnaround day and we want to be off the ship for lunch and most of the afternoon. We have all day to do a modified food-lover’s tour that I copied out of Fodor’s. We leave Montreal at 1am on the 19^th.

We had our beer and wine out on the balcony before dinner again. We ate all our cheese curds by now and shared a bag of peanuts instead. I am still drinking the Petit Frog Languedoc white. We think it is causing a flushing red face reaction every evening. It is either that or the sunscreen or the facial cloths I am using to scrub off the sunscreen. We don’t know. The good news is that it is temporary every evening right before dinner. Clay is still working on the beers he bought in Portland, ME. I don’t know if I have mentioned that Canada has state controlled alcohol sales and it is difficult to find a state store and it is heavily taxed. So, Canada has some of the most expensive and hard to locate alcoholic beverages. We are glad that we don’t have to worry about that. We passed a giant Molson facility sailing in. Our Segway guide Andreanne told us that the Hudson Bay Trading Company was the oldest business in Canada and the 2^nd oldest was Molson. You know what Clay needs now… We’ll see if we find some tomorrow.

We went up to Terrace at 6:30pm. We thought to eat on the back deck again, but the sun was low in the sky and blinding back there so we went back in. They had a Canadian beef and bacon stew that we both had and liked. I had a slice of prosciutto pizza and I found 3 types of Manchego cheese that we shared and we both liked all 3. I had a warm chocolate cake that I think was the same Canyon Ranch Guilt Free one I had the other night in GDR. I had a scoop of sugar free cinnamon ice cream with it. Clay a bowl of anchovies with lettuce. Then he had mushy calamari and beef stew with German potato salad. For dessert he had some pistachio goo in a small cup, ice cream and a cookie. He liked the green goo and thinks it was the same stuff from the cake filling the other night. After dinner, we wandered around the top of the ship to see the views. We played 18 holes of putting and self-scored. Clay was either much better than me or he couldn’t keep count. I can’t say which. I think we’ll have an early night. The evening entertainment is a popcorn movie at 9pm in the theater. I wonder if they actually give out popcorn? We haven’t been to one of the theater movies yet. Tonight is The Theory of Everything and we saw it before.

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Quebec City

Saturday, May 16, 2015

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I’ve just realized that I didn’t even write about dinner last night! I don’t like to write about things I’m not excited about. So, here are things I omitted from yesterday. As we re-entered the port security area in Saguenay to board the ship for the last time, they were handing out blueberry dark chocolate candies. I did not have one, but Clay took one. He didn’t eat it until we got to the cabin and that took long enough that he had time to think I should have taken one for him. I wondered if it was like a cherry cordial as it had that shape and he wondered if it might be like a Raisinet. It was a blueberry cordial and he said it was very good. Something else to look for on our return!

After the captain’s (actually he wasn’t there, so the General Manager’s) cocktail party I convince Clay to have our first dinner in the GDR since we were dressed up more or less. I argued that because the Terrace menu show the night’s wok was duck I would just as soon stay at the GDR and have steak frites that is always on the menu there. In truth, there was nothing on the menu that excited either of us, but I couldn’t face the pizza or pasta station in Terrace as a backup. So, in we went. We were seated in the center of the room next to the largest table in the room which had a hosted dinner so we felt quite insignificant. Clay had me order scallops for him and steak frites for me. He ordered foie gras and sea bass. When he had sea bass in Red Ginger the other night he said it was mushy and not nice so he was hesitant but didn’t see anything else of interest. Tonight he said it was good and he got 2 pieces instead of the one he had in Red Ginger. He really like the scallops which were a beautiful presentation and he thought the foie gras was not Perigord quality. I did not like the steak or the frites. The steak was cooked well done to my order so that was good, but even Clay said it was not a tasty piece of beef. It is the cut he prefers but I never ordered it. The fries were the big thick kind and I like matchsticks. So, not too good for me. I ate some and Clay finished it. He had pistachio tart but it came with bitter citrus fruits on it and he didn’t like it. I ordered the Canyon Ranch guilt free warm chocolate cake and it was not as good as it sounded but it was a nice chocolate flavor and warm so I ate it. I got a decaf cappuccino so I could stay up for the 9:30pm show and it came while some record-setting compliment begging. Whenever someone isn’t selling you something on Marina, they are fishing/begging for compliments. The only exceptions I have noticed have been Henrietta, our cabin stewardess, and Cesar, the guy who cooks at the wok in Terrace in the evenings. He chats me up every time with no purpose or goal other than his interest it seems. That is different and refreshing here.

So, now I get to today. It was early when we arrived and early when the ship cleared. It was a clear and crisp morning. I think it was about 50F and I don’t think it got much above the 65F predicted in the Currents. It finally rained on us after 4pm as it got cloudier but warmer all day. So, it was a pretty nice day here. The visibility was great as were the views. We docked on the starboard side so we got to watch gangway activity as well as a million dollar view of the Chateau Frontenac. After seeing the train station in Halifax and the Frontenac, I am trying to convince Clay that next year we should see if Rail Canada does a trans-continental train trip staying at all their monumental hotels at night. I don’t know if such a trip exists and if it did it would probably be crazy expensive, but I’ll set it as a goal! Stay posted to Road Trips with Bob since that is probably where I’d write about it if we do it.

We did not have any plans here and all day to do it, though once again O shaved an hour off the published port time this evening. Since it is officially the weekend (I cheated and had Swedish pancakes yesterday at Terrace since they had them again!) I requested GDR for breakfast. The ship had cleared before we went down and we hoped for a light crowd. Wish granted. We got a 2-top table by the center aft windows, which would have been fantastic except the windows were so dirty that you couldn’t see the Bunge (a huge row of concrete grain silos).  Clay had his usual breakfast but with baby lamb chops today. I had a yogurt parfait without blueberries and a ham and cheese omelet with bacon and a toasted English Muffin. Our cabin was cleaned when we finished breakfast. We got geared up and headed out. We had no idea what we would do but as we made the long zig-zagging ramp walk, I suggested that we ask tourist info inside the cruise terminal about a HOHO bus tour so we could get some narration as well as an overview. While it has looked like a walkable and architecturally beautiful city, it is on a big hill and I don’t think either of us felt up to the day long urban hike. Of course, there was the usual problem that unless you have a fixed timetable to follow it is impossible to get good use out of a HOHO bus. And they don’t usually hand out time tables because then they’d never sell any tickets! So, she told us that the 1^st bus of the day was a double decker open-top red bus that had left from up at the Chateau Frontenac at 9am. But, it would be across the street in front of the Museum of Civilization at 9:50am and if we had a phone we could call and book it to catch it there. She was right. They took our credit card (you cannot board and pay cash or credit card on the bus). We had a confirmation number and we went and waited for him. We wound up getting the 2^nd row on top so it wasn’t a bad view but it was chilly up there. We hadn’t dressed for an outdoor bus ride. It was fine though as we’d both rather be too cold than too hot.  When the driver stopped, he checked our confirmation number and gave us each a red wrist band to wear and he gave us an Old Quebec Tours brochure which had a list of our stops and a route map along with descriptions of all their other tours. The cost was $35.95pp +tax. So, it was not an inexpensive day for what we got. We rode for 1.5 hours from stop 3 back to stop 1 at Chateau Frontenac. Clay wanted to go in and there was a 20 minute stop there. We had hoped the 2 couple in the front were leaving as this was where they began. They did, but then so did we. We looked at the views, went through the lobby of the Frontenac, toured the archaeological exhibit below the Terrace Dufferin for $3.90 each. We went into Petit Chateau adjoining Frontenac and next to the oldest house in Quebec City.  It was a creperie. We shared a Frontenac (ham, cheese and béchamel) crepe. Clay had a local red amber beer that he liked. Then we shared a maple butter crepe, that is beurre erable. Doesn’t that sound terrible in French! It cost $32C. It was good and hit the spot and kept us going. While we sat in there we discussed that we just weren’t feeling QC and I said I just couldn’t find anything to get excited about. While Clay was in the restroom, I got excited. I looked through the big map, the tourism lady had given us to show us how to find the red bus and on the legend I found #16 was translated as Maple Interpretation Center and Museum. It was named Les Delices de l”Erable. Clay googled it on his phone and it was a chain of maple products stores. We decided to try to find and visit it anyway because we didn’t have anything else to do but walk or ride back to the ship. We found it and it was a store that was overstaffed with a number of salespeople who did their best to ignore everyone who stopped in but I asked one of them where is the museum and he pointed upstairs and told us to go on up. It was interesting with as many artifacts as the Terrace run by the Canadian Parks had and it was free. They showed a film on a TV on a running loop, but it was only in French and had no subtitles so we gave it up. We walked to the closest red bus stop #11 and waited. We waited for 2:10pm to 2:45 and then Clay called them to ask when we might expect the next bus. They made sure we were in the right place (we weren’t, we were where we had stopped at #11 this morning which was about a block away). We walked to where the sign was located by the Subway shop and could see the bus coming as promised just after 2:45pm. There are 12 stops. When we got back to stop 1, we planned to stay on and finish our round trip circuit back to stop #3 across from the cruise terminal. No sorry, the last bus of the day doesn’t depart for 1 hour at 4pm. Geez! We could have already walked all the way back to the ship! We asked where their tour desk is located since this is their base stop and we were directed to the Tourist Information building across the square. We went over to find out about booking their Countryside Tour when we come back on 5/20. They charged us $114.90 and made a note to the driver to pick us up at 10am in front of the Museum of Civilization. The tour will last 4.5 hours and we’ll see new things. Neither of us could find a way to love Quebec City and we both feel bad about it. So, next time we’ll just avoid it and hope for the best! I used the restrooms in there and by 3:30pm we were back to the bus asking to just wait onboard. We were allowed and finally got front row seats. Since it finally started raining after our 4pm departure, it was an empty victory since now the windshield was spotted with raindrops and you couldn’t photograph through it anyway. It was still a better view and a more protected ride. We only wanted to ride from 1 to 3 since that was the part we had missed. At this rate it had taken us from 2 to nearly 5pm to travel 1000 meters! We could have crawled on our hands and knees faster, but we were trying to justify the $80 we had spent for the HOHO bus.

We had wine/beer and cheese curds on the balcony when we got back and decompressed and watched the busy gangway as well as the amazing view. It is time for dinner now. I’ll be back to finish up and post. We had a letter on our wall number hook that serves as our cabin mail box. It advised that since we are staying onboard for the next cruise that we better visit the restaurant reservations desk to get our specialty restaurant reservations. Since Clay did this months ago, we are a little concerned and will try to go by tomorrow and confirm we have the reservations that were confirmed by email months ago. It also reminds us again that GDR will be closed for lunch but that we may RSVP to have lunch in Jacques that day since we are staying onboard. We were also invited to order room service breakfast (ordinarily we are not in a high enough level cabin to have hot breakfast delivered!). We are passing on all special offers for turnaround day.

Back from dinner. We were at Terrace shortly after 6:30pm and scored a 2-top at the back near a window. They had Tourtière! This a Quebec specialty. Joseph Simard played a song about the tourtiere on the ride back to Saguenay the other day. I got a small piece after making sure it wasn’t made with game as is traditional. She told me it was made with pork. It also had rosemary which I have to wonder is traditional. We both also thought we tasted cinnamon and it reminded us of a Greek moussaka or pastitsio in flavor. We both really liked it and it was beautiful in the pan with its shiny crust. I also had my usual wok since tonight was beef filet. It was delicious, flavorful and tender and no bell peppers since you get it cooked to order in front of you. I got broccoli added to mine. I had a weird cake with a candied violet and a profiterole on it. I asked twice and I think she said St. Honore cake. It was tasty enough even if I didn’t recognize any particular flavors. Clay ate sushi, roast beef and key lime pie with peanut butter ice cream that had peanuts in it. We still don’t like the ice cream on O.

We are getting all this information about the cruise ending and we just feel we are finding our way around. Even if we don’t think we love Oceania, it would be sad to just start to find a comfort level and then have to pack up and leave. I think I might have mentioned that we have a final invoice saying we got complimentary laundry service on this 41 day cruise. But we have yet to get anything onboard verifying this in writing. Clay has been to reception and requested a bill and argued about the 2 small loads we sent out that equaled $110 in charges. Today we got a preliminary bill and the only thing on there is that they gave out the pre-paid gratuities that we were offered on all segments of this 41 day cruise. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how the laundry billing plays out though neither of us are happy about having to continue to submit laundry while thinking we would never pay those prices for something we’d just as soon do ourselves for $2 per load. Oh well, stay tuned to see how it turns out.

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Saguenay, Quebec

Friday, May 15, 2015

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Last night was smooth sailing and sometime in the dark I suppose we turned right into the Saguenay Fjord from the St. Lawrence River. That confluence is known for its concentration of Beluga whales, but I guess each of the 4 times we are scheduled to sail by there it is at night. Oh well. All day yesterday, you could barely see land from the ship except when we spent the first half of the morning with a big island on the starboard side. The rest of the day, it seemed like the St. Lawrence must be as wide as the lower Amazon. The similarities end there though.

When we woke up the land was quite close on either side and we knew we were in the fjord. You almost expected to see bears on the shore like Alaska. They tell us that in a couple of weeks the bears will be leaving their dens and be everywhere. We’ll be sorry to miss that. Today we saw a lot of moose warning signs on the roads, but alas no moose.

This morning we received an envelope that contained a letter and 2 new key cards. The only difference we could see was that the cards had our full passport names instead of just first and last. Anyway, it thanked us for staying on for the next cruise and told us to start using these new key cards today onwards. It said the original key cards we were issued were no longer valid. The new ones work!

Today was sunny and warm and the water was glassy calm. There were hardly any clouds in the sky until mid-day. A big difference from the past 3 days! Saguenay pulls out all the stops when a cruise ship comes in evidently. There loads of costumed people out there with music and dancing and First Nations representatives. They were handing out their local flags, and blueberry pie slices and maple taffy. Maple taffy! They were pouring boiled maple syrup over crushed ice and letting it set up, then they were rolling it up onto Popsicle sticks. A delicious little treat! They had a lot of café, internet and craft stalls as well as info desks set up inside the terminal building.

So, we were a little early arriving here in Saguenay today and the ship was cleared 10 minutes after our published arrival time. We were in no hurry to get ashore because we had a tour booked at 1:30pm (arrive at 1pm) with Tours Aventure Fjord et Monde. It cost $79pp + VAT. We had originally booked this tour online for noon, but Joseph Simard the 4^th generation native here and owner had emailed to change our time. There had been some confusion and missed emails and we wanted to verify this. So about 9am we walked down the dock to his kiosk to confirm. It turned out that we weren’t the only ones with communication issues and 4 people on his morning tour had not arrived. They asked us if we would go now to help them accommodate the 4 in the afternoon should they turn up. We hadn’t brought water, binoculars or a jacket as suggested because we thought we were staying close all morning. But Clay ran back to the ship for mostly my stuff and we went. Of course, there were lots of glares as they had been sitting on the min-bus for at least 15 minutes waiting by then. I told them they weren’t waiting for us because we had arrived about 4 hours early! The guide came on after me and heard it and announced to everyone again that they hadn’t waited for us that we had agreed to move from the afternoon tour for the missing people. As the bus left the port area, the guide answered his phone and told someone, no we just left because you never showed up. Then he told them they had been emailed a time change. He told them their seats were taken and they could go at 1:30, but be there at 1pm. Joseph Simard was our driver, he is a Francophone and I think that may explain some of the scheduling communication difficulties he had with Marina’s passengers. In any event, he was booked solid before the ship arrived. The tour lasted 4 hours and we drove from La Baie of Saguenay all the way down to Petit Saguenay (I think that was about where we turned around and came back). It was about an hour drive straight back. On the way outbound we stopped near the Pyramide des Ha! Ha! A memorial site made up of traffic yield signs. We walked up to a statue of Joseph Simard’s great-great grandfather and heard about the Societie of 21, the original settlers. Back on the bus the next stop was at Riviere-Eternite to walk through a municipal park of nativity scenes, creches. There was a restroom stop there too. Next stop was L’anse Saint Jean for the Saguenay Fjord National Park. We spent about 20-30 minutes there on trails going to fjord overlooks. The trails were covered in elk poops, but sadly we saw no elk. Next was a surprise quick stop at Patisserie Louise where we each got to try a warm fresh “nun’s fart”. I don’t remember how he said it in French. They were made of leftover pie crust with butter and brown sugar. Mom, does that sound a little familiar to yours? Now they have a name Mom’s farts! Last stop was at a Marine Park wharf where the boats aren’t back yet for the season. There was a Café Du Quai there though and Clay found a Tremblay beer there. Tremblay and Simard were 2 of the 21 original settlers. Oh, I guess I have the order messed up because I am missing the stop at a stone church were we walked through a cemetery of iron crosses and then down the street to see ice fishing houses parked for the summer, a wood house shared by the houses on the street to store their winter firewood and across a covered bridge. The bridge was filled with paintings. It was a very scenic little river valley. One of the paintings in the bridge was of a vat of squeaky cheese curds. I asked about it and they told us to go to Fromagerie Boivin for curds and poutine after the tour. (We did! Highly recommend.)

We returned from the tour at 1:15pm. The 1:20pm tour group was lined up waiting for us to get off the mini-bus. We decided to go back onboard Marina and drop our raincoats, binoculars, etc. That was just about a mistake because once again today there is a single gangway and it was seriously backed up with afternoon tour groups trying to get out and morning tour groups returning. We finally got back in and out through the zigzag of steep ramps and made our way to Fromagerie Boivin for our poutine lunch and to pick up some curds. We stopped on the walk back at O’Gelato & Cacao for dessert. It is a sad day when you have to go ashore to buy a decent ice cream. I don’t know what O’s source is for the impressive daily selection of what appears to be gelato and sorbet, but it is not good. Mostly, it is just sweet and flavorless and not a great mouth-feel either. How do you screw up ice cream? We walked the rest of the port area and picked up an expensive small box of Smarties. We visited the church and the public market. We sat across from the aluminum plant on a bench along the waterfront bike/walk paths. This area is one of the world’s largest aluminum producers.

We came back to the cabin long before 6:30pm all aboard. Since we had done the morning fjord drive tour we could attend the captain and gm’s cocktail party at 5:45pm. It was part 2, part 1 was last night. 700+ people is too many for one night. We still aren’t sure how we got invited since we are not past O cruisers. There was one couple from Canada seated 2 groupings over from us that had been onboard Marina since February and was staying to Southampton and had made another 20 onboard cruise bookings. I am assuming it is like their version of being snowbirds. The people that love this cruise line must really love it. I think we feel better about O than we did in the first 5 days, but I don’t know that we will ever love it.

Tonight we had an invitation to lunch in Jacques on the Montreal turnaround day. Since that is our only full day in Montreal, we declined.

Tonight is another JAR show. It is Malibu Waves and features a special crew salute from the crew so we plan to attend.

Here is a question, how is it that we were told over several visits to Canada (which we love by the way!) that English/French bilingualism is the law. But, here is Quebec that is either not the law or it is not enforced.. We found little in English here today on our 1st day in Quebec. I realize that while in Halifax they said 5% are Francophones at least everything had to be provided in French for them as well. While here in Quebec it may be reversed percentages, but English speakers are shut out. How is that right? Just askin'.

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Cruising the St. Lawrence River

Thursday, May 14, 2015

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It was a little rough last night. Clay said we must have run over about 14 whales. We have been having a night light issue in the cabin that we still haven’t worked out. There is a nice flat nightlight the ship provides in the bathroom’s razor outlet by the way. It won’t move to the other 110 outlets by the desk. The 2 by the lamp and mirror are too narrow with the mirror’s light switch. In order to put our own travel night light there would mean unplugging the power strip at night and Clay’s devices wouldn’t be able to charge overnight. The 110 outlet at the other end of the desk is higher on the wall under the TV. It is where the TV is plugged in with a blank space and then another 100 outlet, but it is just about eye level on me and when we plug our nightlight in there it shines too brightly at the foot of the bed into our eyes. We tried the mirror’s light since they seemed dim in daylight, but they are too much at night. Historically we have used a clock app on Clay’s tablet as a clock at night and a nightlight but he got a new tablet before this trip and it doesn’t work on the new tablet. So, last night I cracked the curtains about 6 inches because there is light on deck six where the gangplank hangs below our cabin. Perfect. Until 4:15am this morning, when sunshine like high noon woke us both! I thought I must have overslept and it was after 7am, but Clay was in bed looking hard at me. I asked what was going on and he said it’s 4:30am and you left the curtains opened! I did it on purpose, oops! I don’t know what to try tonight I want to move the power strip into the outlet under the TV but Clay hasn’t seen that it would work or approved the change yet. We’ll see…

So, we went back to sleep since today is basically a sea day. We are cruising the St. Lawrence River all day today. Finally, a sea day! That is what this cruise needs more of for our long term cruising comfort level.

We went to breakfast between 7:30 and 8 am. This morning there were no carts out in the hallway so I guess they were getting a late start assuming everyone would sleep in today. We went to Terrace and Clay had the huevos rancheros today. I think he like them okay, though he objected to the soft tortilla base in favor of his preference for the crisp corn tortilla base. I had a repeat of yesterday but with plain Dannon yogurt. We sat together in the Horizons Lounge and watched snow patched mountains come and go on the port side as we sailed upriver. Clay went to Dr. Paula Smith’s lecture “The Story of the Magnificent St. Lawrence River and an overview of the Beautiful City of Quebec” while I went to Needlepoint in Horizons. Both were at 9:30am, so I couldn’t do both. Needlepoint and scarf tying are provided by Lisa, our social hostess. She taught me how to do needlepoint and I wanted her to critique my technique to see if I was doing it right. She thought I was doing fine and I got a coin purse to work on next.

At 11am, we both went to the cooking demonstration in the theater by the Culinary Director Franck Garanger and Senior Executive Chef Alexi Quaretti. They were both French and fortunately spent most of the hour making jokes at the expense of being French. They also managed to cook 4 dishes. Before they began, I went to return one of the 2 recipe handouts we had received and saw a whole stack of chefs sitting behind us in tall white toques. The ship was rocking them back and forth in unison and I almost laughed out loud it was so funny and unexpected. I turned back and tapped Clay and told him to turn around. He told me he took their picture. He took pictures of both the demo chefs as they posed displaying their dishes. It was fun. They did not charge for this though they do have extra charge cooking classes onboard. The bar wait staff though was passing through offering trays of drinks (bloody mary, mimosa and white wine) that they were charging for. Always Be Closing. Oh, I should say that I guess technically there is no theater aboard Marina, they named it the Marina Lounge. It has a raked floor and a stage and a control room in the back for all the lights, cameras, special effects, sound etc. but it is not called a theater. Just to be correct. I, though, will continue to refer to it to the theater because that is its function whereas there are several lounges onboard whose sole function is as a bar while Marina Lounge’s is not.

We have a lunch date today in the GDR with a couple from 2 segments of Cruise Critic roll call. He is the organizer of the puffin viewing catamaran tour we are taking at St. John’s. I’m not sure we had realized the overlap of the 2 cruises with him until Clay saw an email he sent to let everyone know that they were changing cabins between this segment and next. Clay replied to him that we were also onboard now and voila, lunch date. According to the Currents, today is seafood buffet up in Terrace and we haven’t yet had lunch in GDR so we’ll see how that works. Pizza has been saving me in Terrace so far, but I don’t know how it will work in GDR. So, it turns out lunch in Terrace and GDR are unrelated unlike dinner which carries from GDR to Terrace. Today’s lunch in GDR was Italian themed. I had fried cheese stuffed with broccoli and prosciutto followed by Tuscan bean soup. The other 3 had chilled Tangerine soup and sandwiches. Everyone had dessert. It was very busy and loud in GDR today. Our dinner companions who are on their 18^th Oceania cruise and usually dine in GDR said it was unusual for it to be that busy or noisy at lunch. We all assumed the cold weather and sailing day were to blame.

 It has been sunny and windy all day with temperatures in the 40Fs rather than yesterdays’ 30Fs. When we woke up twice this AM, the seas were smooth, practically glassy. Ever since we made the turn into the Gulf of St. Lawrence and up the river the waves have increased in size. I guess the current combined with a stiff wind out of the west are buffeting both the water and the ship. This inland sailing has been rougher than expected.

After lunch, we watch our first TV movie onboard. They were playing The Grand Budapest Hotel on channel 26 at 2:30pm and we had somehow missed it at the theater. Clay mostly slept but I laughed out loud and it had been years since I had seen F. Murray Abraham in years. It was a tough choice for Clay because today was also the first time we had an afternoon popcorn movie in the theater. The movie was The Imitation Game which Clay acknowledged he had slept through at the theater. I am sure he’d have slept through it again today, but it was decided for him by our lunch meeting at 1pm.

We went downstairs around 6pm to check the menus at GDR and Terrace. I voted once again for Terrace. We didn’t have to change clothes and we went up at 6:30pm. Clay had the 72 hour short rib from the carving station though they were very stingy even though he requested a double serving. I offered to go and get some more meat for him since I couldn’t get any broccoli and he had a lot and gave it to me, but he declined. I got an arancini de riso, which neither of us would eat after I cut it open to find very little rice and we each took a taste and didn’t taste rice. Weird. I went back to the wok station where my new friend from Indonesia took care of my special requests and cooking instructions with good cheer. Clay had his best dessert of, I think, Russian pistachio cake. It was a crispy top and bottom with billows of green crème in the center. I had a raspberry topped tapioca and then we both had some salted caramel gelato.

We might watch another movie after sunset which looks like it will be on our side and our first chance at a good one.

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Sydney, Nova Scotia

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

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We enjoyed the One for the Road JAR show, but not as much I think as Backstage Pass. It was a very similarly formatted show, just different songs and costumes obviously. It was good. The boutiques were open to 11pm last night and it was the first time we had seen them open. They said they had 50% off selected clothing. We only went in the shop with the clothes since it looked like the other 2 were jewelry or perfume. The selection was abysmal unless you had lost your luggage. I didn’t see any undergarments, but you could buy all the rest of what you needed to cruise from sport coats to dresses, trousers to shorts and very little of a souvenir or Oceania Marina logo nature. It was what you might see for sale in a boutique clothier in Naples, FL for example. There didn’t seem to be much interest last night. The shop was full of people browsing, especially the sale racks, after the show but I didn’t see anyone really shopping and no one buying and the 2 sales people completely ignored all of us and carried on a loud personal conversation between themselves as they folded and rearranged things around us. Strange.

The fog horn stopped blowing sometime during the night, though I couldn’t say when. I woke up to lights through the curtain gap around 6:30am. I saw us approaching land, but didn’t watch it and neither did Clay. A local man ashore told us when we are in sight of land around here at this time we should watch closely for puffins because they are nesting now and stay close to shore. We’ll be watching on the way out I guess. Except that we sail at 6pm and we have a Red Ginger reservation at 6:30pm so it is not clear how much time we’ll have to see shore with binoculars. Oh well. At one of these Canadian ports at some point we have a bird watching catamaran tour scheduled so I’ll hope to definitely spot a puffin then.

Today the captain spun the ship around and backed into our berth in Sydney. As far as we can remember that was a first. We have been just pulling up and then backing out later to leave, or pushing straight off sideways and the pivoting around to head out forward when we leave. Something new. We were docked on our starboard side again. So we could watch everything.

We had an email from our travel agent today offering us a discount to extend our cruise back from Stockholm to London. I don’t know how much of a discount it was as it would still be a very expensive cruise and it sounded like we would mostly eat our lost deviated airfare if we did it. But since we have the Great Lakes cruise the 1^st of August we can’t book any O cruises adjoining those we already booked.

Clay walked on the treadmill again today. We went to Terrace for breakfast again. Clay had his usual and I had vanilla Greek yogurt with raspberries and remarkable blackberries. Today I also tried the muesli. I liked it and might get it again if it is still there by the yogurt and fruit. I had seen it before but it was by some stuff I didn’t want so I didn’t ask for it then. We’ll see.

Marina was cleared on time as scheduled as we had docked about 40 minutes early. They finally put out 2 gangways this morning and said that we could exit from deck 4 or deck 5. When we came back, the deck 4 gangway had a crew gangway sign on it. I don’t suppose I need to explain how that cleared up all the delays and congestion of disembarkation from the 8^th through the 12^th. It can’t be the first time anyone running Marina’s onboard/shore operations has done this before! Anyway… Today was a vast improvement.

Sydney, like the rest of our ports since Portland, was glad to see us. Everyone we’ve met ashore since Portland was very friendly and welcoming and helpful and happy to see us. It is very cold and windy here today, so were not in a hurry to get out. The high was predicted to be 55F, but it would feel much colder with the wind. I can’t believe it actually got anywhere near that warm.  After it finally got sunny this afternoon, I checked weather.com about 4:30pm and it was 39F and felt like 29F. We swore we felt some sleet around 9am this morning!

Anyway, the cruise port is right at the down town and historic areas. I had gone online and printed a couple of maps and had some things I wanted to do here. We did all that plus some by midafternoon! Oh! Except the first thing! The world’s tallest fiddle at 60 feet is supposed to be at the cruise terminal. There was a large plastic-encased scaffolding and when I asked all the people at the port if that was the fiddle, they said it was being refurbished and they had all expected it to be uncovered by now. They all predicted it would be uncovered when we return on May 24. I hope so because seeing the giant fiddle was the first thing on my list of things to do in Sydney. I had the Cosset House Museum and walking Old Sydney and the Cape Breton Center for Heritage and Science. We did all of that plus the Jost House Museum, and St. Patrick’s Church Museum. We sat in a Tim Hortons by the casino between Old Sydney and walking the commercial district. We got Clay a t-shirt on Charlotte St. I am building a collection of patches for this trip. We bought a Cape Breton lap blanket for $10C at the cruise terminal’s Big Fiddle Market as well as got our passports stamped. (I had intended to pack Clay’s American Cruise Line souvenir blanket since O does not provide a lap blanket in cabins as low as ours! I forget to pack it and we both felt the need for a lap blanket, though I have yet to get a nap.) Since Oceania did not take our passports when we checked in for this cruise and we were only required to carry them ashore in Portland, ME so thus far we had no new passport stamps. Today a passport was not required, but we each got one next to 2012’s Peggy’s Cove.

At the Cape Breton Center for Heritage which was a bit of a disappointment with its Abbass Photography exhibit, we picked up some brochures for other things to do and got warm and used the restrooms. There we met a very nice and helpful young woman, whose name I am sorry to say we never got. We met her again in the afternoon at the St. Patrick’s Church Museum. Anyway, we asked her advice about what to do on our return visit since we would have fully covered Sydney today. I had been interested since seeing a ship’s tour for it early on (that by the way later vanished, there were only 4 ship’s tours run today) in the Coal Miner’s Museum. It is 20 miles or so from here and includes an actual former coal miner guiding you in an underground mine. She thought it was most worthwhile since we had done most of the other highlights around here in 2012. She called a cab company and learned that the fare should be about $25 out and the same back and gave us 2 local cab company phone numbers to call. She said the cabs from inside the port would charge more and charge us to wait for us on return. She advised having the museum desk personnel call us a cab when we are ready to come back. The entry fee is about $12. That sounds reasonable because the Visitor’s desk in the cruise terminal was selling this trip to the Coal Mine Museum for I think $150 or $138 or something with 3 digits. It struck me as O tour prices when I saw their tour menu as we picked up a map. So we are set with a plan on our return and looking for to seeing the big fiddle!

We were back onboard for good by about 3pm. I guess all the restaurants except outdoor Waves had closed by 2pm and we ran into a bunch of crabby upset people about then. We were skipping lunch because of our Tim Hortons stop at noon. Anyway, Clay reminded me that we had still never been to Baristas when it was open so we went there. It turns out they have a small buffet area so they were very busy since people didn’t want to eat out in the cold wind at Waves. Clay had some little cold sandwiches, madeleines, and juices. I had a really piping hot and excellent cappuccino and a plate of excellent canneles. There were still some burned ones but nothing like the scorched ones from Jacques the other night.

We were looking for Red Ginger’s menu since we have reservations there tonight. Finally I asked a guy changing the one posted outside Terrace and he told me to ask at the Dining Reservations desk on deck 5. We went down and found out that she had a giveaway paper copy of the menus for all 4 specialty restaurants. Bonus!

We change the clocks back an hour tonight, so that will be good to get an extra hour of sleep. But tomorrow is a sea day anway! Or rather a St. Lawrence River sailing day. Tonight our CD, Julie James is singing classic jazz, so I expect we’ll skip that anyway and that means early to bed on an hour-longer night with nowhere to go all day tomorrow anyway! It is like the relaxation trifecta.

The day after tomorrow we are in Saguenay. We booked a tour with Tours Aventure Fjord et Monde. I can’t recommend them already. They require prepayment by PayPal and I am pretty sure they had a no money back cancellation policy. I just looked and that is true unless the boat cannot come to the port area. But the real kicker is that they keep emailing with changes to the time of the tour. I don’t know if anyone else on this cruise booked a tour with them, but our next cruise’s roll call is going nuts with the time changes they keep emailing. So, there is a lack of confidence in the tour company combined with the prepay/no refund policy! We’ll see how it goes day after tomorrow and report back here!

It is after 5pm and we are awaiting all aboard and sail away. We are having the cheese curds we bought in Halifax yesterday. They don’t squeak either but are tastier than the ones we bought at Cabot in the US which also didn’t squeak. I am very much enjoying my Petit Frog boxed French white wine. I think it is better because of the tap system with the bag inside that keeps air from the wine. It doesn’t change after being opened. If only the refrigerator actually got it cold! I am using ice.

About 4:30pm or so we noticed that the cruise terminal had begun piping loud music out. We had not noticed that at any point earlier today and can’t say if it is canned or there is a live performer somewhere that we can’t see. It has been the same woman singing for about an hour now. She just finished up the US National anthem.

We departed right on time, but it was touch and go. There was a single man from deck 10 missing and they kept paging him in English and in Spanish. He showed up about 5 minutes before sailing and they finished closing the crew gangway. He did at least act concerned and ran to the crew gangway after clearing security. I mean someone always has to be last, but no has to be late. I don’t know what happened to make him late.

So, we’re back from Red Ginger. It was a mess like Jacques was but as it was Asian Fusion we didn’t love it. Clay had the duck & watermelon salad and really liked it. Neither of us liked the seaweed salad I ordered. We both liked the amuse bouche of edamame. We both liked the expanding washcloth when he poured boiling water on it. We both liked the tea menu and little iron pots. We both liked the selection of chopsticks. Clay had sea bass and didn’t love it. I don’t know if he really liked the side of Udon noodles he had. I had teriyaki beef with a side of jasmine rice. It would have been okay if it had been cooked well done as I ordered it, but it came medium rare and I have a policy of never sending anything back to the kitchen. Clay ordered caramel tapioca pudding with mango and we both hated it as well he had a tongue swelling sulfite reaction. I ordered steamed ginger cake with apple cardamom ice cream and we both really liked it. So far, we loved Polo, liked Toscana, disliked Jacques and are equivocal about Red Ginger. That is the end of our allowed specialty reservations for this cruise segment. We won’t be able to go again until after Montreal. So, it will be Terrace or Grand Dining Room for us.

Tonight we had an invitation to a Captain Bencina and GM Tholon hosted cocktail party for Oceania Club members on May 15 at 5:45pm in Horizons. Right now we won’t be able to attend because of our Aventure tour independently booked in Saguenay. Of course, they moved our noon tour back and hour which made it end that late. We didn’t get a choice of opting out. As Clay & I noted, it is unlikely this will be possible if Oceania keeps shortening port times. So, it remains to be seen what will happen there. If the Captain is hosting a 5:45pm cocktail party does that mean he thinks the ship will have already departed or does it mean he is doing it during the time passengers will still be ashore. We aren’t sure what to read into it as regards our eventual actual departure time from Saguenay. More later!

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Halifax, Nova Scotia

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

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Clay was up too early today. Marina had its outside decks closed because they were too wet. It was very foggy, but for some reason they didn’t start blowing the fog horn until we were at breakfast. Halifax is the world’s 2^nd largest port, so although we’ve spent 3 days and 2 nights here before we were really looking forward to the sail in or even the sail out. No luck. Halifax was completely socked in by fog. You couldn’t see the Citadel up on the hilltop or that there was a hill. You couldn’t see Dartmouth across the harbor, nothing. A block away and you couldn’t see the Marina. It would have been very sad if this was our only time in Halifax.

Clay had to kill a half hour or so waiting for the fitness center to open to get his walk on the treadmill. He says from here on out, he’ll just plan to arrive at the gym when it opens to walk on the treadmill and give up on track walking outdoors.

I was sound asleep and didn’t wake up until he came back in the room. That put us at Terrace for breakfast after 8am. Well there was nothing to see and nowhere to go, so why not. Clay had his usual. I had the raspberries and blackberries again with Greek yogurt. They haven’t had vanilla again for past 2 days so I had plain. I heard complaints today about the missing blueberries so I guess tomorrow by berries will be gone again. I have looked for Swedish pancakes every day since I saw them the first morning and didn’t have them, but they haven’t come back yet. Eggs Benedict has been available every single day though.

We docked on the port side today so we couldn’t watch the docking process. We had a card on our bed last night that our balcony would be cleaned and painted today so to plan to keep off it. (We don’t think anyone worked out there today though.) Today was also fuel bunkering and they were right outside our balcony (no smoking!) and we could smell fuel through the closed door when we were in the cabin briefly. We saw the bunkering barge or whatever the call it leaving as we came back from Terrace at lunchtime.

The weather here was predicted to be 65F and partly cloudy. Not even close. I don’t think it got above 50F all day while we were here. It was cold and rainy when the ship cleared about 10:15am. We had been waiting in Horizons for our cabin to be serviced when it was announced. Clay called in the rainy day backup plan which involved not leaving Pier 21 where we docked. Pier 21 is the home of the Immigration Museum. It has been voted one of the 7 wonders of Canada. I wonder what the other 6 are, cause it was interesting enough, but honestly it was just to stay out of the rain and cold and because there were no views with the fog. So, I cannot report how the complimentary shuttle to the Public Gardens went. The museum cost about $20 for the 2 of us to enter. Half our time there was spent watching a film of living immigrants talk about their experience and Clay slept through that. They had a family research center and we went in and asked about my father’s Friia cousins who had immigrated to Canada. They had pages of Friia and Frijia names that had come from Naples but not Sebastian or John Batiste. He could also search New York and did not even find Peter though we know he entered through Ellis Island. Oh well.

We came back onboard for a light lunch. I asked the customs guard that checked us back to the building if he thought the Beavertails kiosk down the waterfront would be open this afternoon and he acted like I was crazy to think it would not. He answered that there is a cruise ship in town, they are in business to make money, so of course they’re open. (You must already know they’re not! I was sure they weren’t and that is why I asked.) We had to go outside between the ship and the cruise terminal each time and it wasn’t rainy when we came back. We decided to eat something in case Beavertails was closed. Then walk down the waterfront this afternoon and have a poutine and Beavertails. Clay stopped again at Foxhill Cheese House and bought curds again. It was a long cold boring with no views walk all the way down there and every one of those kiosks was closed up tight. The good news was that I had my delicious hot Beavertail yesterday. The bad news is that now I was cold and miserable and a mile from my comfortable home! The fog dissipated enough on the walk back that I spotted Alexander Keith’s and Clay didn’t remember much about it and he wanted to stop and have a beer. I agreed to go in hoping they’d have poutine anyway. He got a Keith’s Red Amber Draught and I asked for a menu. There was no poutine on the menu and only sweet potato fries were listed. Clay asked the barkeep if they served poutine and he said yes we do. So, they made them up al a carte according to Clay. I don’t think that actually means off menu ordering. The bill said potato wedges were 3.99, cheese was .99 and gravy was 1.99. His beer was 6.52 so about the same price. It was more than we could eat. A little poutine goes a long way.

We got back onboard about 3pm. For some reason, we were heading against traffic as we left and thought we must have to be back onboard at 3:30pm instead of 4:30pm.

About 4:10pm the fog opened and there outside our balcony, maybe a football field away, was a lighthouse on an island with a fort on it! We hadn’t been able to see anything out there all day! We could see all the way to the other side of the harbor. As I type this, the land on the other side has disappeared again though the island and lighthouse are still dimly visible.

We have dinner reservations at 6:30 tonight at Polo Grill, the steakhouse. Clay is really looking forward to it. Tonight at 9:30pm is One More for the Road, a Jean Ann Ryan production of the Las Vegas Strip. I liked their last show, so I will try to go. I might take a nap this afternoon!

We’ve just received a message from Alla Tours that there is a bridge in Germany that has been found structurally unsound and deficient to support our tour bus northbound from Berlin. Because of the detour route our tour to Berlin has to be shortened by an hour. If we also deduct an hour from the departure time that O has been routinely doing so far, this tour will soon be a nonstarter. We’ll keep you posted.

Back from Polo Grill. This was by far our favorite restaurant so far. We have yet to try Red Ginger, that’s on for tomorrow though. That will complete all our allowance of specialty restaurant reservations. People say it may be possible to get extra reservations once onboard, but I don’t think we’ll be doing that. I had French Onion Soup that was 1000x better than that served in Jacques. How does a French restaurant screw up onion soup? Tonight I could taste sherry and butter as well as onions and beef broth. Jacques was just a huge pile of onions and a little beef broth with bread and cheese on top. I had a 7oz filet mignon that was butterflied and cooked well done as requested. I got potatoes au gratin and green beans, both good. I had 2 desserts after they brought out a little tray of apricot and black currant jellies which we also really liked. I had a trilogy of handmade vanilla marshmallows in caramel, strawberry & chocolate sauces. Nothing like the chocolate fountain marshmallows from Terrace. I also had 7 layer Belgian chocolate cake. It was cut in a triangle, so it had 3 points and no back! Magic! Very good. Clay had 3 oysters Rockefeller, the 32 oz. Porterhouse (he ate it all!) and the chocolate brownie with Tahitian vanilla ice cream and the brownie was a round cylinder enrobed in molten dark chocolate. He liked all of his as well. Now we just have to try to stay awake for another hour and a half to make it to the show tonight. Unfortunately, in addition to the now thick fog and foghorn, we have a rough ride. I’ll wait until tomorrow to report on the show if we go.

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