Cruising Down the St Lawrence and the East Coast--and then DC

 

Tuesday. Rita and I were thinking about a Viking river cruise in Europe for our third trip together but were too late to get a good spot, so we decided on a Quebec City to New York cruise on Norwegian instead. This was mid-September, cool but just a bit too early for lots of beautiful color. But I was looking forward to seeing some new places, both in Canada and the US. 

We flew to Quebec City a day early, partly so that we weren’t rushed or perhaps missed our sailing but also because Rita had not been there yet. We picked a place to stay that was not too far from where we had to board the ship. It turned out to be inside the historic main train station and to have three bedrooms, bath, kitchen and substantial sitting area. We weren’t expecting that. And I wondered who needed all that. This was one of those places where there is no front desk and you never see anyone; you are texted a code to get into your room. Glenna and I experienced that in Iceland a couple of years ago.

The main room of our huge space

Gare du Palais train station

We were soon off to see the town. We were in the lower town (this part of which I hadn’t seen before), and it was a really steep climb to the upper town. That about did me in. 

Our first stop was to the principal Catholic church, Notre Dame de Quebec. It had lots and lots of gold—too much really—but also many beautiful stained glass windows.

Notre Dame de Quebec

Nave of the cathedral

The very gold apse

One of the very nice stained glass windows

Another of the stained glass windows

We were hungry and so sat down to the perfect small lunch—grilled romaine.

Next we walked through Place d’Armes with its Fountain Monument of Faith and the first of many pink blow-up characters which we found out later were part of an art installation. The characters are called Monsieur Rose (Mr Pink). I thought they were really cute.

Monument of Faith and Chateau Frontenac behind

Now isn't he cute?

We stopped in to Le Chateau Frontenac, the Fairmont in Quebec City. It is elegant and old style. We passed by Rue de Tresor, an alley of artists exhibiting their watercolors and paintings where last time I had gotten a print of Chateau de Frontenac.

Rita in the lobby of Chateau Frontenac

Another part of the lobby

The side view of the chateau

We strolled along the Terasse Dufferin along with all the tourists and locals This is the boardwalk at the edge of the Upper Town which looks down onto the Lower Town and the St Lawrence River (together these areas comprise Vieux-Quebec--Old Quebec--which is a World Heritage Site). Several places along the boardwalk there are cutouts so you can see the foundations and fortifications of the original city below. Off and on we sat and rested and people-watched and talked. It was a lovely day—actually pretty warm. 

Terasse Dufferin

Flower display on the Terasse Dufferin

Statue of Samuel de Champlain 
who founded Quebec City in 1608

We took the funicular down to the Lower Town (Basse-Ville). That part I remembered from the first trip. I just didn't think about the fact that the train station (from which Diane and I did leave) was also on that level and that there was no funicular to get back up to the Upper Town (Haute-Ville) in that area. I guess we probably took a taxi and I just didn’t notice the steepness of the descent.

Looking down the funicular to the Old Town

Anyway we heard a guide say that the Upper Town was for the wealthy and the Lower Town obviously not. But it is interesting as well as very well kept and picturesque with overflowing window boxes everywhere. There is also an absolutely wonderful mural painted on the side of a large building depicting a moment in time that is gone. I remembered a great chocolate shop; we visited the branch in the Old Town.

View of the Old Town

Pretty window box

Another Mr Pink climbing a building

Mural on the side of a building in the Old Town

Mural detail

And another detail

Mr Pink again

My favorite Mr Pink

Looking up the funicular

Mr Pink on top of a building

Back in the Upper Town we decided to get dinner. I wanted Rita to experience the uniquely Quebec dish poutine (fries topped with cheese curds and gravy—ours also had bacon and coleslaw). It sounds a bit disgusting, but it really is good. Too much, of course, especially with the fried shrimp appetizer we also ordered. We ate at Les Trois Garcons where Diane and I had also eaten.

Poutine and fried shrimp--yum

I always like to look at house prices wherever I go

Then it was back down the hill to our ‘hotel’. I tried editing scripts for Glenna but was just too sleepy. I was in bed at 8:30! 9137 steps

Wednesday. We awoke early to another beautiful day and tried to figure out what to do with our luggage, given that there was no live person where we were staying and the train station didn’t have lockers for non-passengers. We were lucky; there was a bike store just across the street where we could leave it. Then it was off to see more of Quebec City. Instead of climbing that miserable hill again, we walked through the Old City to the funicular (now that I understood the city better) and took it up to the Upper City. Along the way we saw our ship at Pier 30.

One last Mr Pink

We visited the Anglican cathedral, Cathedral of the Holy Trinity—much plainer but very pleasing. It is modeled on London’s St Martin’s in the Fields. 

Front view of the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity

Nave of the cathedral--much simpler than Notre Dame

Closer view of the interior

We had a wonderful breakfast at La Buchete—scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, red sauce, and melted cheese. Again too much; we could have shared. We walked through a little market along the side of the Anglican church.

Down in the Lower Town we had met a 1-year old but huge bulldog (Rita is partial to that breed, having had them) named Georgia. While sitting in Place d’Armes we came across Georgia again. Rita was happy.

Georgia in her stroller

Then it was back down the hill to retrieve our luggage and walk out to the pier which looked quite close. But the path that we had to traverse made it much longer. I was struggling. A shuttle driver must have taken pity on me because he stopped and took us the still considerable rest of the way to the ship—the Norwegian Sky. 

Getting on and finding our room was easy. We were on Deck 10 and as far forward as cabins go. They must have added our room at some point because we were the only cabin that had an A at the end of the number. It was small but adequate, and we had a balcony which makes it less claustrophobic. 

We explored the ship a little, but I wasn’t feeling great. My heart rate stayed elevated the rest of the day, and I was a bit worried. I didn’t eat much dinner which wasn’t great anyway—onion soup, dryish tilapia, broccoli, wine and crème Brulee which I love but which was subpar. That wasn’t a great start. I was in bed by 8:30 again. 8394 steps for me.

Thursday. Luckily I felt fine in the morning when we had to be up early for our excursion (Discover the Fjord Secrets) by coach and boat. We drove through Saguenay town (still in Quebec province) and then north along the fjord in Saguenay National Park and eventually boarded a pontoon boat and cruised down the Saguenay and St Lawrence Rivers back to the ship. The guides on both the coach and the boat were very good. 

We learned all kinds of unrelated things—Saguenay thrives on the strength of its aluminum smelter; they are very proud of their short track speed skating Olympian Mark Gagnon; the rocks in the area are granite; there are lots of moose in the area though we didn’t see any nor anything other than a few horses; moose are very dangerous because they are huge and black and their eyes don’t reflect light and so are hard to see at night—many are killed; the snow gets 25 feet deep in the winter; they heat with electricity but keep wood in the house just in case; the area was settled in the 1840’s; a bungalow in Saguenay costs about C$285,000 whereas in Montreal the average is C$500,000; 70% of the world’s maple syrup is produced in Quebec though we really didn’t see very many maple trees (and they were virtually the only ones where the leaves had turned red). They are really into ice fishing. The ice is so thick in the winter that they spend days in little huts that are right on the ice and use an augur to make a hole in the ice and put in a line. In the spring they move the huts to an area along the river. Our guide, a retired 32-year veteran of the Mounted Police, and his son, who had his first job serving us food, did this every winter. From the coach we saw large white tubes in several places. These hold grain used to feed the livestock in the winter. Just a few of the things we learned along the way!

Our view of La Baie des Ha Ha in Saguenay as we drove by

Saguenay harbor

 Beautiful sky along the way

Riding along the Saguenay River

 Rivere St-Jean 

Pretty house in L'Anse-St-Jean

One of the few red trees we saw

Tunnels filled with livestock feed for the winter

At one point we climbed a mountain for the view from up there. Unfortunately it was quite a hazy day. But it gave us a chance for a little walk. There were numerous villages and resorts along the way. We saw a nice old covered bridge in one town. Nearby was a cemetery with a mixture of gravestones and iron crosses, the latter of which were used by those who couldn’t afford the former. We spent so much time on the mountain waiting for everyone to use the facilities (two for a whole bus-full) that we didn’t have time to stop at L’Anse St-Jean to do a little exploring as the literature had indicated.

Riviere St-Jean from Saguenay Fjord National Park

Old covered bridge in l'Anse-St-Jean

L'Anse-St-Jean cemetery with iron crosses

Our pontoon boat

After coming down the mountain, we drove up to our pontoon boat. On the boat we saw a famous rock climbing wall which takes two days to climb. And farther along was a famous statue of the Virgin Mary, erected by a grateful man who had survived a capsizing. And nearer the ship was a lighthouse and a large cross on top of a mountain. It was a good trip.

The vertical climbing wall

Statue of the Virgin Mary on the rocks

Lighthouse along Riviere Saguenay

Cross on hill top in La Baie des Ha Ha

The Norwegian Sky awaiting us

Back on the ship we had a salad to tide us over until dinner since we’d only had cheese curds and a muffin so far. We wandered the ship trying to find a multi-plug since we had only one outlet in our room! Dinner was again just okay—artichoke/spinach dip, chicken, sweet potato, corn and apple cobbler. After dinner we saw a show—a female comic/hypnotist—which was mildly interesting. 6441 steps

Friday. We settled into a routine in the morning. Rita showered in the evening and went out to get coffee first thing in the morning when I did my getting ready. This morning she met a single man with whom she had coffee; later she saw him with another woman. Probably goes on cruises just for this. On the first day it was nice and warm, and the chairs in the pool area (which we walked through to go most anywhere) were full. But today was downright chilly as well as windy as it remained pretty much for the rest of the trip. After breakfast we played trivia in one of the lounges (only got 6 out of 40—some pretty ridiculous obscure questions). We stayed for a comical cake decorating session. 

This was our only day “at sea” (though we were on the St Lawrence). I sat outside for awhile while Rita walked. I got a vodka and tonic and Rita a Miami Vice—heresy before lunch which was only salad and cauliflower. We were very conscious of not eating outrageously as is so easy to do on a ship. In the room we watched a very strange tennis tournament which I had never heard of—Europe vs The World. 

The cruise package we picked allowed us 150 free Internet minutes. That day I got a message from Verizon that I could get a $30 per day package for unlimited use. An AT&T user I talked to got the same message. I suspect that is a deal Norwegian makes with the major phone companies. I declined as did Rita. My minutes ran out before we got to the US, but I survived. I thought I could use my $6 per day Verizon TravelPass, but I guess there were no satellites to hook to when we were on the water. 

This night was the only time we ate with others—a couple from Florida and two single Australians. That was fun. I had French onion soup, a good crusty flounder, beans and no dessert. We had to hurry off because we wanted to catch a show—a violinist who did classical and pop pieces with recorded background music and fancy lighting. Afterward we went to a lounge and saw a performer doing Elton John numbers—good pianist and a pretty good voice. On other nights he did other singers’ songs. Only 3724 steps for me. 

Saturday. We got into Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island early. After breakfast omelette, we decided to go ashore and do some exploring before our excursion. I was worried about this 3.5 mile walk, but I was fine. These days I tend to worry too much about little things as I have indicated in some recent trip blogs. We explored various shops on the dock and found a place we intended to go back to for lobster rolls. 

View of Stratford Prince Edward Island

The two of us in Charlottetown

The Norwegian Sky against a sky full of clouds in Charlottetown

An old trading building in the harbor

Typical Charlottetown houses

Our guide was good. We really explored the town. The tour was called Charlottetown Churches Walking Tour. We walked past many landmarks, but we went into three of the churches. We learned that there are 400 churches on PEI serving a population of 200,000.  I wondered how that compares to the Greenville area which has a lot of churches also (just looked it up—1403 religious institutions for a population of 928,000 in 2020. Wow—a church for every 300 people in PEI and a church for every135 people in the Greenville area). PEI has three main industries—agriculture (particularly potatoes), fishing (lots of mussels which they export) and, of course, tourism—surely true of every stop on a cruise. 

Charlottetown, significantly, is the birth place of Canada. In 1864 delegates from PEI, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and North and South Canada marched down Great George Street to Province House and formed a compact to declare freedom from Great Britain (which was accomplished in 1867).

A pretty lousy view of Province House

Province flags on the grounds of Province House

An 1866 fire burned most of the town since most of the buildings were wood. As a result most of the structures are late 19th century—very pretty and well kept. Businesses compete each summer for prettiest corner—they plant flower beds. Fun for us to see as we walked.

One of the flower beds in the competition

And another one

And another

There were lots of nice houses in Charlottetown

Another nice example

Charlottetown City Hall

A pro-Palestinian demonstration...

...and one for Ukraine

The first church we saw was St Paul’s Anglican which we couldn’t go in because of 2022 hurricane damage. In early days they sold pews as was common in the UK also. Only that family could sit in the pew even though they may not have attended a particular week. They eventually ran out of pews and needed a second church which they built on donated land and named St Peter's Cathedral. They had a big debate on whether it would be high church or low church; high church won out. It is a cathedral because it has the bishop’s chair though his seat is in Nova Scotia.

St Peter's Cathedral

St Peter's Cathedral nave

Altar of St Peter's

Nice stained glass window

St Peter's pulpit

There was an adjacent chapel—All Souls--built in 1888 to commemorate those who had died. It was designed and decorated by William Critchlow Harris—whose name we heard again and again—in high Victorian Gothic Revival style with rough local sandstone walls and deep set windows. It contains 18 paintings by his brother Robert Harris.

All Soul's Chapel next to St Peter's

Interior of All Souls Chapel

Altar of All Souls Chapel with Robert Harris painting above

Figures in the niches of the choir

The next church we visited was The Kerk as it is known by all--St James Presbyterian—begun by Scots, of course. The ceiling was designed and built by a musician who had perfect pitch, so the acoustics are wonderful and there are lots of concerts there.

Steeple of St James Presbyterian (The Kerk)

Exterior of The Kerk

Choir of The Kerk

Organ pipes of The Kerk

Looking up to the arches and pipes

View of the rear of The Kerk

The fourth church was St Dunstan’s Catholic Basilica. There was a service going on, so we couldn’t stay long. Rita, being a good Catholic, didn’t go in. I did for a few discrete minutes (there was a sign out front saying visitation was allowed, in my defense).

Front of St Dunstan's Basilica

Maze of arches and ribs in St Dunstan's

Choir and apse of St Dunstan's

Choir of St Dunstans's 

I love all the verticals of Gothic architecture

Last Supper in St Dunstan's

That was the end of the tour, and we were back at the dock. Next stop was lobster roll. We both chose a half and half—warm and cold—along with coleslaw. Very good and something we had wanted to be sure to do. Then we got a sundae from the famous Cow’s Ice Cream.

Our lunch of hot and cold lobster rolls--so good

One of the many Cows ice cream shops

Then it was back to the ship for a 5:00 muster. After a bit of time in our room, we got a drink (vodka and tonic for me) and then attended a performance by Aaron Shaw, a quite good singer. After a bit of food—grillled veg and cake for me—we called it a night. We could hear the wind whistling outside our room. 9849 steps.

Sunday. Up early when it wasn’t necessary so I guessed I had caught up on sleep. After breakfast and trivia (8 out of 20—dreadful), we had some time before our excursion. Rita walked; I guess I was conserving my energy. 

We were met for our excursion (called Historic Sydney Walking Tour) in Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia by a costumed guide—young man with long thick curls. 

Our costumed guide in Sydney

We only walked along two blocks—up one and down the other. In that short distance we saw lots of historic properties from 1785 and onward. After St Patrick’s church we walked by a flophouse, common, I’m sure, in coastal towns. This one had a widow’s walk and was named for a lady of the night who was so enamored of one of her clients that she waited for him to return for the rest of her life.

St Patrick's Church in Sydney

The flophouse...

...and its widow's walk

What do you know? Our guide
was running for office.

Farther along was a tall barn where we heard a story about cows mysteriously getting out night after night which normally incurred a fine. It turned out that the deputy sheriff was letting them out; he was hanged.

7 Charlotte St in Sydney, a very typical house

Charlotte Street with sunflowers

Bright Charlotte St house

Another house was set back from the road farther than the others because it had been moved piece by piece to cover dead bodies in the basement. These were sailors who had been dropped overboard and were supposed to be kept and fed by the owner of the house. He didn’t fulfill his obligation. At the fire station we heard the story of the horse who was retired from pulling the fire wagon and put out to pasture in a fenced field. When he heard the fire bell, he jumped the fence and reported for duty so they let him stay until he died.

 

We went inside the Jost House which was part store, part home. We saw the 18th century kitchen in the basement with its beehive oven, the main bedroom, parlor (the only times a man was allowed in were when he was hatched, matched and dispatched) and store on the first floor and more bedrooms containing nautical, pharmaceutical and clothing exhibits on the second floor. Our last stop was at the Anglican Church of St George.

Jost House

Basement fireplace of Jost House

No men in the parlor

St George's Anglican Church

Interior of St George's

Our room was that last balcony, the only room
on the ship whose number had an A at the end of it

Back at the ship for a little food and a This and That game (which category does an item belong to) and salsa lesson. We had some kahlua and cream as we watched. After some room time, we went to a theatre production which was high energy and pretty interesting—though I think the contest angle of it was probably a set-up. After we had some dinner in the buffet—as always mediocre and forgettable. 7211 steps.

Monday. Today we were still in Nova Scotia, this time in Halifax. After breakfast and trivia (11 out of 20) we did a bean bag toss. We left the ship early to see something of the town but there wasn’t anything very interesting around the terminal. We heard later that there was a boardwalk. Oh well.

Halifax Nova Scotia harbor

Sculpture of Ruth Goldbloom
outside the immigration museum

A bit of Canadian philosophy at the museum 

The tour (Peggy's Cove and Titanic Cemetery) left a little late but was a good one—probably our favorite. Our guide was terrific (really, the guides make the tour), and we were in the upper level of the double decker bus where we had a good view. 

First was a long drive to Peggy’s Cove, a protected area with its wonderful rocky shore (from the Arctic, formed from the movement of the continents when Pangea broke up). The highlight is the pretty lighthouse out on the rocks, but there were also cute houses and shops. We only had 40 minutes there so no time for the shops. The drive there and back was a pretty one with numerous coves and bays.

Pretty sky and river on the way to Peggy's Cove

Peggy's Cove lighthouse, the main tourist attraction
though I found the rocks really interesting too

Some of the rocks

Rita for the typical tourist photo

And here I am doing the same thing

The two of us with the lighthouse in the background

A man and his alphorn--beautiful mellow sound

View of houses in Peggy's Cove

Looking out into the Atlantic Ocean

Another view of the ocean--or maybe
it's St Margaret's Bay

Tom Selleck's house (the white one) and yacht

We rode through Halifax for a long time—it's a big town and growing faster than any other Canadian town. Our second stop was at Fairview Lawn Cemetery, the place where many of the Titanic victims are buried. There were three rows of headstones, some with names and some anonymous but all with the same date of death—April 12, 1915. Some of the unidentified bodies were later identified by DNA testing of the bags they were put in. One grave name was J Dawson, the name of the Leo DiCaprio fictional character in Titanic though the first names were different. This one was only 14 years old. One monument was to an Ernest Edward Samuel put up by J. Bruce Ismay, the designer of the Titanic who was on board and threw two kids off a lifeboat so he could get on. Great guy. It was very well done. Our guide said she was uncomfortable making a tourist attraction of such a tragedy, but I thought it was very moving.

Entrance to Fairview Lawn Cemetery--
the flowers everywhere were so pretty, a testament 
to the temperate climate (as opposed to the very hot
South Carolina where everything wilts in the summer)

One of the more elaborate headstones...

...as opposed to many with only a name or perhaps
only a date--all eerily April 15, 1912

The rows of headstones for the victims

We heard lots of stories from our guide’s life and from history, one in particular about the 1917 Halifax Explosion where a munitions ship and another with an impatient captain collided at 8:30 am, causing a huge explosion in which 2000 people died including 85% of a nearby elementary school. Halifax is forever grateful to Boston for helping them in their hour of need and afterward.

  

Several of our guides mentioned the indigenous peoples who lived in these areas. Often mentioned were the Mi’gmaw (one spelling) who lived in eastern Canada as far as Quebec. Our guide today said that there was a recent movement to rename places that were named for conquerors to something bland which annoyed everyone. 

Halifax is a huge military town with the largest naval installation in North America. It has a port which doesn’t freeze and plenty of boats which is why the Titanic bodies were brought here rather than to Newfoundland which was closer.

View of industrial Halifax on our drive

We were late getting back to the ship but it didn’t seem to matter. We had a good dinner of meatball appetizer, paella, roll and butter (which I had been avoiding), pound cake and two glasses of wine (unusual). I was stuffed. After we watched an annoying trivia contest where the audience shouted to the contestants which color bell to ring to indicate the answer. I like contests to be fair. 6916 steps.

Tuesday. Back to the US today--to Portland ME and Kennbunkport. First was breakfast and trivia with particularly ridiculous questions. One woman kept getting high scores; she obviously had been on other Norwegian cruises which I find really annoying. We left the ship early to get customs over with. The line was pretty slow. This day we had lunch on the ship—caprese salad and fish tacos. We did another trivia game and started a British one but had to leave for our afternoon excursion (Kennebunkport).

The line for US Customs

The  residential areas along our route looked very New England-ish with lots of wood, plain but well kept. We passed through Kennebunk before we got to Kennebunkport; I hadn’t even known there was a Kennebunk. We passed many gorgeous old homes and lawns. It’s obviously a prosperous area. There was more color on the trees than in Canada.

Pretty Kennebunk church

Kennebunk home

And another

And another--all very well kept in this
upscale community

We were let out in the cute and very neat upscale downtown of Kennebunkport. We had quite a time finding a place just to sit for awhile because we were so late getting there and the stores were closing. We got some fudge at a chocolate shop and then finally found a recently-opened cute little cafe where we sat down for a hot chocolate.

Atlantic waves in Kennebunkport

Another view of the ocean

Cute Kennebunkport shop

Kennebunkport main street

Such pretty healthy flowers

The chocolate shop where we finally sat down--
you can see Rita just barely

Back on the bus we got a good look at Walker Point, the Bush compound. We saw Secret Service cars there, so perhaps one of them was there but not one of the principals because the Texas flag was not flying. They have a whole spit of land; it really is a point. The guide obviously thought well of the family; she said Bush Sr was seen as just a regular guy which the locals liked. We also saw the church they attend when in residence and the summer home of Patrick Dempsey.

 Main house on the Bush compound at Walker's Point

Secret Service cars at the entrance

Back on the ship we had salad and vegetables before attending a Bliss Lounge game of Friend and Foe and later another performance by the violinist. We enjoyed this one also. Too much food today. 8795 steps.

Wednesday. Today was back up north to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. I surmised that going back north was because the distances were so small that it wouldn’t take an overnight to get between them. Overnight the ship was really rocking; I almost felt sick the night before. First was breakfast and trivia (11 of 20) and three games of Yahtzee in the library. 

We had to tender to shore, so the harbor must be shallow. We drove through Bar Harbor but were soon in Acadia (tour name was Acadia National Park).

Rita in front of a pretty tree in Bar Harbor

And then here I am in the same place

The two of us overlooking the ocean--
or maybe it's Frenchman Bay,
according to Google Maps

It was a scenic drive, and we learned a lot from our very good guide who was an avid outdoorsman and who told us about some of the crazy chances he has taken.

The Norwegian Sky at anchor in the distance

View along the way to Acadia NP

We were on an island—Mt Desert Island (which the guide pronounced as dessert—maybe that mimics the French pronunciation of desert since it was named by Samuel de Champlain who came many times). The land for the park is almost 100% donated (not bought by the U S government), 17,000 acres of which by J.D. Rockefeller Jr.

Sign on Mount Desert Island about Acadia NP

Seventy-seven years ago there was a freak fire which burned almost everything including many summer cottages. Nothing was replanted; nature eventually regenerated. We learned on a trip that included Yellowstone years ago that that is the practice there also. Maybe in all the national parks? Nature is amazing. 

Acadia is one of the smallest national parks. Its population is 5200, but they get 3.9 million visitors per year. There are many bears, some moose, lots of white-tailed deer, beavers (there were several beaver ponds) and assorted other animals. One big house along the way was built for a second wife who died on the Titanic before she ever got to the US (odd for an upper class female; she panicked and ran up the ship as it sank).

Thomas Cole painted here. He is a famous American landscape painter whom I was first acquainted with when Glenna did a paper on him. Martha Stewart and Dick Wolff have homes in the park.

The island was formed from glaciers from the northwest. We passed Jordan Pond against the Penobscot Mountain and Bubble Rock which people try to climb. After making the loop around the park, we climbed Cadillac Mountain, the tallest coastal mountain in the eastern US, coastal because its feet are in the ocean. It is also volcanic; its caldera is 10 miles across. We got out for a few minutes to enjoy the views. Nice tour.

Looking down toward the ocean--the rocks
were very much like those at Polly's Cove

Another pretty tree

A picturesque view of Acadia

View of a cove

People down on the rocks

View from atop Cadillac Mountain

Acadia hillside

At the end of the trip we drove through the town of Bar Harbor—very pretty.

Bar Harbor home from the bus

And a half-timbered one

Church near downtown Bar Harbor

Bar Harbor's main street

Downtown shops

Back on the ship we went to Cities Trivia (only got 8—disappointing). This was the night for our first specialty dinner (our package included two). This was Cagney’s Steakhouse where we had a fine meal—Caeser salad, NY strip steak, barley risotto, roll and butter, wine and chocolate mousse cake. Way too much. No show tonight. We stayed in our room to try to keep warm. It is cold! 4833 steps.

Rita having salad at Cagney's

And now it's the main course--my steak
and Rita's shrimp

And a ridiculous chocolate cake--for the people
next to us, not for us

Thursday. Last night I was troubled by dreams. I don't usually remember them, but these I did. In one someone was giving me drugs to keep me quiet, and in the other I couldn’t find anyone to eat with either in some outside setting or in some place with all older people. Weird. Rita later told me that I shouted out in my sleep; it must have been then. 

Breakfast and trivia (terrible!) and Yahtzee (1 out of 6 for me so far) and then on our excursion on the Boston Duck through Boston and into the Charles River (called Exclusive Boston Duck Tour Experience). For those who don’t know, a duck is a World War II-era amphibious vehicle. Our guide was over-the-top and eventually annoying. He gave us a good bit of Boston history, told some bad jokes and played the ukelele okay. He colored my view of the tour. Thank goodness I have been to Boston before.

Our duck

This tour reminded me that a land tour or, in particular, a cruise is no way to see a country in my opinion. Glenna and I plan our own trips and go about on our own so far as it is possible. I know that not everyone can do that or wants to do that; it is just our bias. On this tour we stayed on the duck the entire time, never getting out to go in any place or explore any area. The pictures are forgettable as they are taken from the window of the vehicle. The best you get are some stories from the guide. Hard to say you have visited such a place or country. But after all that negativity, it is sometimes nice to be on a cruise where you unpack once and have the run of the ship. 

Some random facts we learned: William Blackston founded Boston, having come from a previous settlement of two years. At the time it was called Shawmut; when the Puritans came they renamed it Boston after the Yorkshire coastal city from which they had sailed. The first school (Boston Latin) and first hotel were in Boston. Before Dickens came here and introduced a Christmas celebration, it had not been a holiday in the New World. Interestingly much of Boston (and all of Back Bay) is landfill. In Back Bay they sank spruce trees into the mud as a base. The Boston Marathon did not allow women until 1972 though it started in 1897. We heard about the Battle of Bunker Hill which actually took place on Breed’s Hill. Its significance was that, though the colonials lost the battle, they realized that they could fight. They just needed more ammunition. Paul Revere was only one of 40 who rode out on that fateful might, but Longfellow said he could rhyme better with that name than with others. Alexander Graham Bell made that first phone call from a site that now has a Verizon office.

A cargo ship that I saw from our ship

The famous kettle at Starbucks

Granary Burying Grounds

View of Boston Commons

Nancy Schon's sculpture from the book Make Way For Ducklings--
one of my favorites that we read to Glenna

Terrible picture of the sculpture The Embrace

Boston's Trinity Church

Another view of Trinity Church

The new State House

And the Old State House which came later in the tour

Col Robert Gould Shaw sculpture

From the Charles River we could see some of the Harvard buildings and Fenway Park (though I couldn’t spot it). It was rather hard to find the places he was talking about. A rather disappointing tour even though we got some good history.

Our duck going down into the Charles River

View from the Charles River

Another so-so view from the Charles

At least this was interesting--the bridge supports

Bridges are very often quite beautiful

And back out of the water

On the ship we went to airline trivia at which we did terribly. Dinner that night was pretty good—asparagus risotto, white fish, potatoes, squash and creamed spinach. By now we had concluded that the food in the dining rooms was pretty good but the food in the buffet was to be avoided. We decided not to go to a Rock and Roll show. 4387 steps.

An art auction on the ship which we happened across--and
didn't understand. Nothing seemed to be sold even though
the auctioneer went through his routine; they were all
just set aside to be viewed later. 

Friday. Last full day of the trip was spent in Newport. After breakfast and trivia we started packing before our excursion (called Newport Cliff Walk and Breakers). We lived in Newport for a year when Denny was at the Naval War College (That was our astounding year of all of us being in school—Denny at NWC, me at the University of Rhode Island finishing my MBA which I had started at Georgia Tech, Joce at Purdue, Josh and Jared at the University of Georgia, and 3-year old Glenna at a Newport daycare. How we made it on one salary is hard to fathom.) The year we were there I made it a point to visit almost all of the Newport “cottages”, the incredible summer homes of the Gilded Age’s rich and famous. But I was happy to be back after so many years.

Yachts in Newport harbor

And a closer view of a few of them

After tendering to shore again, we got on a coach and first drove through downtown Newport which is again very New England-ish. The local Preservation group has restored more than 400 pre-Revolutionary War properties. Appealing by my way of thinking. We drove past many fine homes rivaling those of Kennebunk and Kennebunkport.

Pretty Newport colonial house

More colorful downtown Newport buildings

Now we get to a mansion

Newport historic building

One of the mansions purchased by 
Salve Regina Univeristy--what a campus

We got out and took the Cliff Walk for about a mile to the Breakers. Along the way we saw the backs of some of the mansions and surfers in the water. When we lived there, we took the Cliff Walk. If the part we walked is any indication, today the walker is protected from falling down the cliff by a barrier. Back then there was no barrier, and I constantly worried that Glenna would get away from us as 3-year olds can do and fall down the cliff. Actually a couple of years ago a portion of it fell into the sea and is now closed.

View of Newport harbor from the Cliff Walk

Ochre Court, one of the mansions along the walk

A map showing the Cliff Walk route

View of a pretty flower and the ocean

Those dots are surfers waiting for the next wave

View of the Breakers from the Cliff Walk

The next-door Fairholme

And the Breakers--front side

We were on our own at the Breakers, the spectacular Vanderbilt mansion which is considered the finest and grandest of all the mansions in Newport. There was a brochure which explained the principal features of each of the rooms we could visit which I took. And I downloaded an app which I listened to in each room. The mansion was designed by Richard Morris Hunt for Cornelius II, the man who also architected the Biltmore Estate house. The Breakers is an Italian Renaissance palace which was built in three years, finished in 1892 at a cost of $11,000,000 (equivalent to $200,000,000 today). There are 70 rooms but only bedrooms for the family and one for a guest. The commentary said that Cornelius Jr was very unassuming and even taught Sunday School.

The spectacular Great Hall at the Breakers

The ceiling of the Great Hall

Breakers Breakfast Room

Marble walls of the Billiard Room

The Morning Room

The Music Room

The Great Hall from the second floor

Mrs Vanderbilt's bedroom

Their shared bathroom

The Upper Loggia looking out onto the ocean

Staircase at the Breakers

View of the basement kitchen

Just a pretty hibiscus at the back entrance

That evening was our second dinner at a specialty restaurant, this time at Le Bistro. We started with French onion soup which was divine, so much better than the pretty decent ones we had had in the ordinary dining rooms. I had sole and potatoes, roll and butter (more cheating), wine and Baileys. We saw what looked like a delicious and enormous piece of cake but were too stuffed even to think about ordering it or any other dessert. Our server was excellent.

Then it was back to the room to finish packing and get our suitcases into the hall by 10 pm. It was a nice day and finally warm. 6655 steps

Saturday. Departure day. We were in our berth in Manhattan early on a drizzly, ugly day. We were in a line to get off the ship and another to get the bus to LaGuardia, but it was a nice ride through Manhattan. 

Sailing into New York harbor in the dark

View of Manhattan from the ship

The maze of luggage in the terminal, but actually
it was quite well organized

We had loads of time at LGA since we had taken a later flight, not knowing how long the whole experience would take. I had bought a bottle of maple syrup and put it in my carry-on so that it wouldn’t get damaged in my checked bag. I totally didn’t think about the fact that it was a liquid. Needless to say, I came home without any maple syrup. 

Rick and Doris met us at GSP. On the way home we saw the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene the day before along Highway 14. Two months later, many streets (including an important one like Hwy 14) still have the cut-up trees sitting on the side of the  road. The cleanup effort has been massive but nothing like western North Carolina. 

This was another good trip with Rita—not the kind I would always like to take but nice every now and then. We’re already talking about the next one. 

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After the grueling early election 12 days and election day I spent 5 days in Washington DC, so I thought I would just add some commentary and photos at the end of this blog. Glenna was going to be in DC from Nov 12-15 and I had really wanted to attend an event on the 12th, so I went up on the 11th and Glenna followed on the 12th. We stayed at a hotel right on Dupont Circle, a great location and a pretty good place. 

Monday. After dropping my bags at the hotel, I set off for the Renwick Gallery which is a branch of the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum focusing on craft and decorative art. It is housed in a National Historic Landmark building just steps from the White House. When you walk in, you see the wide, beautiful stairs to the second floor carpeted in red. Very striking. 

Downstairs they had an exhibit entitled Subversive, Skilled, Sublime: Fiber Art by Women. I have to say here that both Glenna and I are really getting into fiber arts. For a long time it was considered only craft and done almost exclusively by women. It is coming into its own now as art. On our Venice-Albania trip this summer we spent a day in DC and visited the wonderful and huge Woven History exhibit at the National Gallery of Art. On this trip we saw textile exhibits at three more museums. I loved it.

The Renwick Gallery near the White House

The first piece you see. I loved it.

I loved the curves and folds of this piece

Amazingly this piece is made from envelopes

I loved the ephemeral-ness of 
this piece which was made of net

Since I was so close, I walked down to the White House. They are doing some construction on Pennsylvania Avenue out front so you can get only a glimpse through the fence.

The best view of the White House you can get

Tuesday. Today was the reason I came up before Glenna. I attended The Dispatch Summit at the National Press Club, and what a glorious day it was. I belong to the Dispatch which, as Wikipedia says, is “an American conservative subscription-based and advertisement-free online magazine founded by Jonah Goldberg, Stephen F. Hayes, and Toby Stock”. Center right is how they describe themselves and how I describe myself also. Having known and respected Jonah and Steve in their previous lives, I knew this was the place for me. I have been into politics and current affairs since I was a kid and stayed behind at the grown-ups table at family holiday dinners to listen to them talk politics long after all the cousins had scattered. So when Glenna told me she would be in DC to visit with museum people, I thought I should definitely shell out the $300 to attend the summit a day ahead, something that I have never done before. 

I felt so in my element and with people I was sympatico with. This was just after the election, so there was lots of talk about that. Some had voted for Trump, some for Biden and some for neither. But the talk about it was just so stimulating. And this was just at our table! 

There were six sessions throughout the day (and wonderful food—breakfast, lunch and cocktail hour)—a panel of Megan McArdle, Mike Warren and Jonathan Martin on the election and what’s next, Sarah Isgur interviewing Judge James Ho on the rule of law, another panel of Mike Gallagher and Ro Khanna on the world, Steve interviewing Mike Pence (who got a standing ovation when he came in—which I took as a measure of respect for how he handled Jan 6), Jonah interviewing Paul Ryan on the future of limited government, and Steve interviewing Steve Case, founder of AOL, on innovation in tech. Just seeing all these people whom I see on TV and hear on podcasts was thrilling. And then I got to talk to Jonah at the cocktail party. I told Glenna it was the most exhilarating day I had spent in I didn’t know how long. I hoped she wasn’t insulted that I was putting that above all our wonderful trips. 

Jonah kicking off the summit

It was hard to get decent pictures and mine are pretty bad.
This shows Declan Garvey, Mike Warren, Megan McArdle
and Jonathan Martin

Here is Sarah Isgur interviewing Judge Ho

And Steve interviewing Mike Pence

Jonah with Paul Ryan

And Jonah at the cocktail reception

She came to the Press Club to pick me up, and on the spur of the moment we decided to see if we could get tickets to the opening night (in DC) of The Six, a modern musical take on the six wives of Henry VIII. Full of energy and color. We had fish and chips at a British-style pub, Elephant and Castle, before the show. What a day.

Wednesday. Another reason I decided to go to DC was the opportunity it provided to visit a friend of mine and see her new digs. Diane and I worked together at the Department of Energy and have traveled together and remained friends since I left the area. I took Metro up to Silver Spring where she met me—first to see her new place which I loved and then to go to lunch. It was so good to see her.

My friend Diane on her patio

Back down in DC I met Glenna, and we went to the Textile Museum on the George Washington University campus. It was fun just to be around all that energy. The exhibit was called Irresistible: The Global Patterns of Ikat. Ikat is a dying and weaving technique which began in Central Asia and spread via the Silk Road. With other techniques dyes are applied after the weaving; with ikat the yarns are dyed before the weaving. The part of a yarn that isn’t to get a certain color is tightly tied off before dipping the rest in the dye bath. After drying, more parts are tied off to dye another area a second color. This continues until all the colors are applied. The dying can be applied to the warp (vertical yarns) or the weft (horizontal woven-in yarns) or to both. Imagine having the eventual design in mind at the beginning and figuring out exactly how much yarn to tie off to apply color to another part. It seems unbelievably complicated to me. But the effect is quite beautiful.

One of the pieces I liked in the Ikat exhibit

A closeup of another piece

The border of a another piece--the red
obviously appealed to me

Another closeup where you can see
the intricate detail that can be achieved

More beautiful detail and one which shows something often
seen with Ikat pieces--the slight blurring of the borders between
the colors, an effect of the dying process

An entire Ikat garment

And an exquisite leaf that we saw near the market

And another leaf on the same tree

After walking through a very good farmer’s market on the GW campus (and buying some goodies) Glenna suggested that we go to the Cathedral of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on the Catholic University campus. She had never been there, and I wasn’t sure whether I had or not. It is quite beautiful.

Front of the National Shrine of the
Immaculate Conception

Alcove above the entrance

It was late afternoon, and the sun shining through
the stained glass window on the west side 
produced this effect on the east side pillar. 
As is so often the case, I didn't spot this but
Glenna did. She just has a photographer's eye.

The ceiling of the dome

And some nice stained glass windows

Lots of round arches

View of the nave from the back

Thursday. This day was Glenna’s day to visit museum professionals at the National Gallery of Art and elsewhere, so I was on my own. I first went to the National Museum of Women in the Arts housed in a former Masonic Temple to see a textile exhibit, Myth from Matter, featuring the works of Suchitra Mattai. She is Guyanese but her family came from India a few generations ago, and it is this culture that most influences her work. As an artist she wants to celebrate brown peoples who for so long were not valued by the Western world. Her works often involve taking some object (such as an old tapestry or a sculpture) and adding threads or objects to emphasize or cover aspects of the original. She also sometimes embroiders over the white faces to make them browner. She uses bold colors, often wrapped saris, as well as beads and embroidery floss. The effect is striking. I was fascinated by this exhibit and rated it as my favorite of the trip.

Large piece that opened the exhibit

Detail of that piece that shows the sewn-together 
wrapped sari lengths that compose it

An example of her technique of using an old tapestry and highlighting
aspects of it by embroidery floss and beads

Wrapped figures and rug, all made 
with sari lengths

Detail of another tapestry highlighted with beads and floss and chains

Another wrapped figure

Next stop was the National Building Museum where I saw several exhibits: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Southwestern Pennsylvania, Capital Brutalism, Building Stories, Brick City, Mini Memories and House and Home, each small but interesting.

Inner courtyard of the National Building Museum

Photo of Frank Lloyd Wright's plan
for a Pittsburgh arena and parking building
that was never realized

Closeup of the parking building

Lego model of London's St Pancras Station 

Lego model of a riad in Marrakesh Morocco.
Glenna and I stayed in a couple of places like
this--quite luxurious

Cutaway showing construction materials used in a green building

The blocked off Pennsylvania Avenue
and the Capitol beyond

The last museum of the day was the National Gallery of Art. I knew Glenna was there but didn’t attempt to see her because I knew she was busy. As it turns out she had a few minutes between appointments and stepped into the same exhibit I had just entered. She heard me cough and knew I was there. (I had had a cough for 3 weeks at that point, so she heard plenty of it.) 

The exhibit I was there to see was Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment, a celebration in honor of the 150th anniversary of its staging. All the pieces in the exhibit were exhibited at the legendary 1874 Paris Exposition, the first show of impressionistic works, or the long-running Salon which accepted only more traditional works of art. This show contrasted Salon works with what were labeled Societe Anonyme (anonymous society) works to show the abrupt change that was coming—subdued palette, dark tones, clear outlines, message pictures vs bright, luminous, color-filled images with blurred edges painted for the pure beauty of them. Impressionism has always appealed to me, perhaps because some degree of interpretation is left up to you. And, of course, I love the color.

Renoir's The Dancer in the Societe Anonyme exhibition

Manet's The Railway in the Salon exhibition.
Manet is considered to be an important transitional
figure from Realism to Impressionism

Renoir's Mixed Flowers in an Earthenware Pot
in the Societe Anonyme exhibition

Morisot's The Cradle (Societe Anonyme)

DeNittis' In the Wheat Field (clearly SA-type but
exhibited at The Salon)

Daubigny's The Fields in June (Salon)

Friday. This was going-home day but not until late afternoon. First thing was Glenna’s interview at the Reagan building for her global entry card. When we were almost there, she realized that she had left her passport in her luggage at the hotel. She ubered back to get it and actually was only a few minutes late for her appointment. She got asked more questions than Rita and I did when we got back from a trip last year and had our pictures taken for the card and that was about it. 

One of the newer museums in DC is the National Museum of African American History and Culture which opened in 2016 on a space at 14th and Constitution. Neither of us had been there, so Glenna got us tickets. It is well done and quite effective in its message. And I like the look of the museum also. 

It was a gloomy day and the building is dark, 
but you can see its shape anyway

A better look at the exterior with the Washington Monument behind

Here from the inside you can see the
beautiful lattice-work exterior

Glenna going down the escalator in the cavernous building

You begin at the bottom learning the history of the slave trade from Africa. It is definitely multi-media as most museums are today. You are bombarded with sensations, voices, images. Sometimes that can be too much and you feel as if you can’t take it all in; I didn’t have that feeling here. 

As you ascend, the years roll by through the Civil War and its aftermath, the Jim Crow era, the Civil Rights movement until you get to the top floor where there is exhibit after exhibit on 20th and 21st century black cultural influences. I was struck by the sheer number of people and groups who gained recognition and popularity, particularly in the field of music.

A panel on the importance of sugar in the slave trade,
something which I hadn't remembered

A diagram of a slave ship showing how
tightly they were packed in. Many died on the trip.

Panel about the voyage. The strength of the human spirit
was probably the main theme of the whole museum.

Interesting commentary on the evolving view of groups

Freedom, of course, is another theme of the museum

The Declaration of Independence is prominent
on a wall that can be seen on most levels. The
museum emphasizes the irony of its words.

Photograph of a march for rights

Exhibit showing artifacts of stereotyping

The two points of view about the best way forward

Rosa Parks, one of the icons of the struggle

Sign saying Whites Only Section on a train

The conundrum facing the civil rights movement

Changing images of blackness

Hard to read quote from Eleanor Holmes Norton so I will repeat it because I think it makes an important point, one that has come up in our society recently:
"I have not been animated in my life to fight against racism and sexism simply because of my own identity. That would mean that one must be South African
to fight apartheid, or a poor white in Appalachia to fight poverty, or Jewish
to fight anti-semitism."

Photo of Obama's inauguration. I was
way out by the Washington Monument 
on that frigid day.

One of the beautiful quotes from Martin Luther King Jr

There were extensive exhibits on the influence
of black culture on general American culture,
particularly in the field of music

I thought this quote from Frederick Douglas
on a tote bag in the gift shop was profound

That was the trip. We retrieved our luggage and metro-ed to Reagan. After lunch we went to our separate flights. It’s always hard to leave my child.