OUR ASIAN/AUSTRALIAN/NEW ZEALAND ODYESSY

We left home at 4:45AM on 21 November 2008 to fly to Dallas to Tokyo to Bangkok. With all the time changes and crossing the International Date Line (we'll cross the Equator on the ship), we got to bed about 3AM on 22 November. Yes, we were pooped and fell asleep right away…even after taking several catnaps on the planes. It was a long, tedious day(s?), but all flights were uneventful and our luggage arrived in Bangkok with us. Wonders never cease. The best flight was on Japan Airlines from Tokyo to Bangkok. Excellent service—like US airlines provided many years ago—including a free small bottle of wine with din-din. The best part was watching ourselves land on the many screens throughout the cabin and the pilot's unbelievably soft landing. Yes, it felt like we missed parts of some day, but we were safe and that's all that matters.

After about five hours of sleep, we got up Sunday morning and went for a walk 'around the block' after breakfast. On the later bus to the pier, it was apparent that Bangkok is a huge sprawling city that seems to never end. We got checked in, found our cabin, and explored the ship. By the time we got back to the stateroom, the luggage had been delivered so we unpacked and took it easy. We're glad our first day out is a day at sea so we can sleep in and rest up to face the world as the trip progresses.

After one day at sea, we arrived in Phu My (FOO my) Vietnam on 25 November. Our scheduled tour was to Ho Chi Minh City (a/k/a/ Saigon until 1975). It was more of a long bus ride than a sightseeing tour. Run down buildings and shacks, all selling something, line the road from the pier into the city. Motor scooters zip around and dare bigger vehicles to hit them. In Saigon proper, the traffic is wall-to-wall and street vendors pester everyone…very annoying. The city is dirty and crowded. Bob wasn't impressed with it 40 years ago and didn't feel it had changed much since then. I would have preferred a tour to the countryside to see the beauty of the country Bob has told me about. Actually I had the silly idea that the trip from the pier to the city might have been through some of the countryside. Bob had tried his best to talk me out of this excursion, but I thought I might get to see something interesting…and I did—a zillion motor scooters and a dirty city. We stopped at a lacquer factory, drove by the Rex Hotel, Notre Dame, the old US Embassy (now a library), the Reunification Hall and met in front of the Post Office…which is not like any PO in the US. The Ben Thanh Market was supposed to be a highlight, but it reminded me of a Mexican market with tons of fake stuff and sellers literally hanging on Bob to buy something. So we went across the street to the Pho (foe) 2000 restaurant which the guide had said was a safe place to eat…after all, Bill Clinton ate there, too. The weather was hot and humid; the tour overrated as usual.

Thoughts about this ship thus far: Hotspots in every room! Every ship should be so well equipped. However, had we not brought the laptop, the Internet Café on this ship is very large and complete with a self-serve coffee bar. This ship is much larger than the smaller ship we were on earlier this year (2900+ passengers vs. 650 or so). This larger ship has a small library, locked bookcases, and just a few games on two shelves in one of the bookcases. The smaller ship had a much larger library with open bookshelves plus a separate large game room with tons of games. Go figure.

NEWS FLASH – 26 November 2008 – Bangkok Thailand:  The rebels took over the control tower at the international airport and many airlines cancelled all flights into Bangkok. We have no clue what would have happened to us if this had occurred just a few days earlier. We're very grateful to have made it into and out of Bangkok safely.

After another leisurely day at sea, we docked in Singapore on Thanksgiving Day, 27 November. It's overcast but warm. We're at the commercial dock where all we can see is miles of cargo containers and the big cranes that load them. We had a half day excursion to see the city highlights stopping at Mt. Faber, a highpoint in the city to see the city on one side the seaport on the other side; the Botanical Center which is mainly a giant orchid garden; then a stop to go through a Buddhist Temple and shop if we wanted to in Chinatown. Facts learned from the tour guide: There is no agriculture in Singapore; everything is imported. Water is imported from Malaysia and then purified. There are four nationalities in Singapore—Chinese, Malay, Indian and a minority group. The airport has been one of the best in the world for 25 years. This was the first country to run the Gran Prix at night so Europeans could watch it on TV live during the day. There is one-party government control. English is the communication language, Malay is the national language, and you have the mother tongue of your nationality. You'd never know buying a car was such an ordeal and so expensive with all the cars on the road, but there are no rust buckets or beaters here. You pay big bucks for a certificate of entitlement to get a car; take that to the dealer to pay big bucks to buy your car plus a 200% tax; have it inspected every three years and keep it for only ten years or be taxed to death to keep it longer. Singapore is an island and city; it's extremely clean and modern. The traffic is orderly; the streets and medians filled with blooming trees, shrubs and plants. What a contrast to Saigon. We had hoped for a somewhat traditional turkey dinner, but got OK turkey, awful dressing, cranberry chutney; but the pumpkin pie was super.

On Friday, the 28^th, we decided to do something different on this day at sea and made a reservation at the Sterling Steakhouse restaurant. Even though there's a modest cover charge, jumbo shrimp cocktail were huge, the filet mignon was outstanding, the wine very good, and the dessert tasty. A nice treat to us after the disappointing turkey dinner yesterday.

Saturday morning, the 29^th, finds us slowly approaching the port at Kota Kinabalu (KO ta kin a BA lu). Surprisingly, we see no fish or shore birds although there are shrimp boats everywhere. It's a sunny warm day. Kota Kinabalu is on Borneo Island which is made up of Malaysia, Sabah and Brunei. Malaysia is Muslim, but Sabah is 50/50 Christianity and Muslim. The nationalities are Malay, Chinese, Indian and natives. Mt. Kinabalu is the highest in Asia at over 4,000 meters. Palm oil plantations are the biggest industry, followed by rubber and tourism. There are still neighborhoods of homes (shacks) on stilts. The government is gradually moving people out of these places into better homes for free. All of the above was compliments of the tour guide on our short tour of the city highlights (or lowlights). Stopped for a photo at the Tun Mustapha Tower which is a cylinder of glass polygon of 72 sides supported by high tensile steel rods…allegedly this is the only column-free structure in Asia. Next photo stop was at the State Mosque with its tall minaret and big gold dome…allegedly the world's largest to use the honeycomb design. The third stop was at the Sabah Museum where outside there is a replica of bygone longhouses on stilts where several families lived at one time. In the main building, there were several displays of the history of the island and the people. The last stop was like all other tours…at the local crappy marketplace with fruits (no thank you) in one area and the other area cheap trinkets in crowded stalls. Why do fine cruise lines have to include this kind of stop at every port? To make matters worse, the marketplace is by a fishing dock that an open sewer empties into. This was a disappointing stop…we had expected a smallish fishing village and got a barely semi-clean big city.

Sunday, the 30^th, begins our four days at sea. This morning we took in a lecture on oceanic life and learned that we won't see much marine wildlife here because this is not on the migratory route of any birds. The birds fish for the little fish and the big fish feed on the little fish. We left Kota Kinabalu and went around the north end of Borneo, then headed southeast (?) zigzagging through large (the Philippines) and little islands all day. Earlier this morning, I watched a flower demonstration. One guy put together two huge beautiful arrangements in about 20 minutes. This afternoon we did see something off in the distance flop or breach out of the water, but too far away to know what it was. The day is warm and the seas are very calm. The only problem is all the debris in the sea…unbelievable.

Tuesday, December 2^nd, is our third day at sea. Yesterday and today the seas continue to be calm and we're passing islands all the time…New Guinea? Indonesia? What other islands? This morning I watched a chocolate and marzipan demonstration. One guy for each medium and behold—edible creations in no time at all! We crossed the equator about 6AM…no speed bumps, rumble strips or stop sign to note it. However, this afternoon was the crossing-the-equator ceremony. King Neptune, Queen Nephritite, their guards, nymphs, and evil barbers and surgeons did nasty stuff to those found guilty of whatever. Kiss the real dead fish (yuck), be subjected to chocolate, honey, eggs, whipped cream, spaghetti and/or tomato sauce and then be thrown in the pool.  Yes, that pool was closed for a while after the ceremony. On the 3^rd, there was an ice carving demo at the same pool as yesterday's mess. The two guys each carved a 200-pound block of ice in ten minutes or less with just two tools.

Thursday, 4 December, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia -- We had a half day tour planned and things were looking good 'til we got on the bus and the mike didn't work. Long story short, turned out the guide was a dud and the driver did his very best to make it a good tour. Darwin was named after Charles Darwin and is the capital of the Northern Territory. In 1974 a cyclone pretty much leveled the city, as well as many Japanese raids in WWII. Our first stop was in Cullen Bay to board a harbor cruise boat. Darwin Harbor is huge and almost a circle. The gentle two-hour cruise took in several points of interest such as Doctors Gully where medical personnel came to relax by the sea during the war. There are many pretty beaches here and we're told the water is warm, but no swimming is allowed because of saltwater crocs, box jellyfish, sharks; but then there's friendly dolphins and edible snapper, just to name a few of the critters in the sea here. So the citizens built a lake to swim in across from the beach. The city is clean; tropical plants, shrubs and trees are everywhere in the city of about 250,000 people. There are many nice homes; and not many cars to congest traffic or pollute the air. This is the hottest day of the cruise so far and we chose not to stay in town to shop and take a shuttle back. Good thing we didn't stay…about 2:30 the black sky opened up and drenched everything.

Just a few facts about the country we're currently visiting:  Australia is the world's smallest and oldest continent, but its sixth largest country…it's just a tad smaller than our 48 contiguous states. Captain Cook did a lot of exploring and running aground in Australia so there are monuments to him or stuff named after him all over. It became a country in 1901. The country produces 95% of the world's precious opal. Did you know Australia is much younger than the US? Route1 goes all the way around the country – 26,500 kilometers total. Australia's population total population is about 21 million; 80-85% of the population lives within 100 miles of a beach. A cheery fact is the two-thirds of the country is arid and unlivable. Koala (aboriginal for animal that does not drink water) only eats 13 of the 36 types of eucalyptus trees; all they do is eat, sleep, eat, sleep. Unfortunately, man is the koala's main predator. Allegedly, kangaroo is aboriginal for I don't know…not sure I believe that one. Do you know why the kangaroo and emu are on the country emblem? Because neither can move backwards; and like these animals, Australia will only move forward as well, not backwards.

It's Saturday, the 6^th, and this is our second day at sea between Darwin and Port Douglas. The Princess Patter tells us we began our transit of the Great Barrier Reef early this morning and have local pilots on board to assist the entire way through the reef. There are small, medium and large islands all around us. We thought that going through the reef we'd see marine life, but no such luck. Well, Bob did spot a soft-shelled turtle.

Sunday, 7 December, Port Arthur, Queensland, Australia – Tendering was a long, royal pain this morning. But the cute beagle sniffing bags as we got off the ship made things a little better. Port Douglas, where the tenders docked, is a resorty, modern little town complete with mini-mall right at the dock. We started our half-day tour 35 minutes late and went downhill from there. It was about an hour's drive on a windy, hilly road to the Skyrail Rainforest where most of our time was spent. Three separate gondola rides to the top of the mountain. First stop was a short boardwalk through the treetops. The second had another boardwalk to Barron Falls viewing sites. Since this is the end of the dry season here, the waterfall wasn't much to see. The bus was at the top to greet us and take us back down the mountain. Kuranda is an aboriginal town just outside the park that would have been great to investigate…artsy, homey, just all sorts of different shops. Poinciana trees are in full bloom everywhere. Our guide picked up two who got lost from another group and took them back to the Skyrail which lessened our time sightseeing in Cairns (CANS). Cairns has a population of 150,000 and another 40,000 tourists on any given day. It's a small city, but clean and modern. The city was named after Sr. William Wellington Cairns, the Irish governor when the city was established in late 1870's. In 1891 the first railroad was built from the coast to the gold mines and still runs today. Cairns population was one-third Chinese in the late 1800's; they were here to help build the railroad. They were eventually forced back to China, but opium dens remained in Cairns until the 1970's. After gold fever died, the settlers tried farming—rice and tobacco didn't do well, but sugar cane and bananas are still a livelihood today. Another early industry was sea cucumbers that the locals smoked in mango wood and sold in Asia. The Botanical Garden was started by some guy with a vision shortly after the early settlers arrived. In 1941 everyone was told to move south of the Brisbane Line since the Aussies were willing to give anything north to the Japanese but would keep everything in the south. The Japanese were defeated in the Battle of the Coral Sea and people eventually returned to Cairns. There are lots of natural sandy beaches, but locals must swim in the netted areas that allegedly keep out the jellyfish and saltwater crocs. The coral reef reproduces just once a year. The rainy season is approaching and it's nothing for this area to get a meter of rain in one day. There are no koalas or kangaroos in this area, but they have wallabies, cassowaries, frogs and poisonous snakes…plus the nasty critters in the water. All of the tidbits above are complements of the guide. We made it back to the ship by 3:30 or later and, since we hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast, headed for the buffet for an early supper…no dining room tonight. Seas have continued to be calm and weather continues to be warm and wonderful…and all the debris we saw in the water in Asia is nowhere to be seen now.

Monday, 8 December, Airlie (AIR lee) Beach, Queensland, Australia – Fortunately, no shore excursion planned for today. We took a late morning tender to shore, got on a shuttle bus to the center of town, and just walked and nosed around the shops. Couldn't even spend the $20AUD I've been carrying. Saw a pair of unset opals I probably would have bought if the guy had taken a credit card…his loss, not mine. After covering most of the commercial territory, we took the beach walk back to the pier and tendered back to the ship shortly before 1PM. It was hot and sunny; too hot to sit on the balcony and read since the sun had been beating on our balcony all day. We've pretty much decided that we won't pre-book any shore excursions on our next cruise…whenever that might be. We'll take our chances on shuttles or our feet and do our own thing which is usually much cheaper and much more fun. Took in the so-so show tonight; sure glad it was free.

It's the 9^th and another day on calm seas, but a bit cooler than it's been. This morning I went to a culinary demo in the theater. The Executive Chef and Maitre d'Hotel bantered back and forth while making farfalle with smoked salmon, sea scallops with ratatouille, and tiramisu. I have the recipes for all of these if anyone wants to spend time at the specialty grocery store and hours in your kitchen. Bob has lost a few hundred in the casino on sea days, but doesn't seem to care. I guess if you're going to gamble, that's the way to be. I've lost a few dollars on Keno; played a few scratch cards and seemed to win enough to get more cards, but lost on those. 

Wednesday, 10 December, Brisbane (BRIZ bin), Queensland, Australia – Brisbane is the capital of Queensland with a population of 1.6 million souls. The Brisbane River divides the city in two. It was originally founded as a penal colony. It now is the most livable city in Australia, with an average temp of 25C, and the fastest growing city in this country. What little we actually Brisbane seemed to be rather sprawling but clean. We road about 1 ½ hours to the Gold Coast area where we boarded a scenic cruiser on the Narang (aboriginal for place of the little shark) River for a hot two-hour cruise past all the fancy homes out to where the ocean enters the channel. It sure reminded be of the New River boat ride in Ft. Lauderdale without the stop at the alligator farm. Our next stop was to be Mt. Tamborine (another aboriginal word) and the Cedar Creek Vineyard for lunch, wine tasting and a look in the glow-worm cave. Unfortunately, the bus overheated four times on the way up the mountain. We finally made it a bit late, went through the ridiculous glow-worm cave, inhaled lunch, and gulped a sample of wine. Then another brief stop at an alleged artsy, crafty, pottery area that was nothing special in my humble opinion. The AC on the bus didn't work on the long ride back to the pier. More money down the drain on a shore excursion when we could have taken the shuttle bus to town. Once again, we've promised ourselves no shore excursions on the next cruise.

It's Thursday, the 11^th, and the last cruise day for some. Tomorrow is Sydney and many passengers will be disembarking for good. Today there were thick clouds all around, the roughest seas we've had this trip, and cool temps. Christmas trees and decorations are going up all over the three atrium floors. Took in another so-so show tonight…comedian wasn't funny; vocalist was OK.

Friday, 12 December, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia – This was a good and bad day. It was cool and drizzly when we got up about 4:30AM as we were approaching the city. What a spectacular sight with all the lights. And to be docked literally right across from the Opera House is a real treat. Sydney was founded in 1788 as a penal colony; today there's over 4 million people in this the country's largest city. Then came our shore excursion which was really a harbor cruise. We followed a guy off the ship and were told we could just walk over to the harbor cruise boat and someone would be there. No one was there; we asked at the ticket counter for the cruise boats and the woman told us which boat; we went to that boat and asked a guy who said he didn't know where we were supposed to go. All this was in the drizzle. After getting no straight answer from anyone and considering returning to the ship for a refund, a guy from the ship showed up. Long story short, we eventually got on the boat and had a decent cruise…complete with the rain stopping for a while. Got way too many pictures of the Opera House and Sydney Harbor Bridge, but that's what's great about digital cameras. There are sharks in the harbor; kayakers and lots of sail boats out there in the rain. There's an island in the middle of the harbor that was originally for convicts who couldn't behave; later it was a fort to defend the city. There are no private beaches here; your private property ends at the high water line. South Gap Bay, where ships enter the harbor, was the site many years ago of a ship running aground. 122 people died, but one guy clung to the rocks for 36 hours before he was found. After the harbor tour, we bought a bus ticket for the Sydney Explorer bus which plowed through the city traffic and narrow streets and gave us a tour of the downtown and immediate surrounding area. We got off that bus, grabbed a bite to eat, and got on the Bondi (BON die) Explorer bus that took us in a different direction. Saw the street side of some of the mansions we saw from the harbor cruise this morning and, of course, the famous Bondi Beach. Bondi is aboriginal for breaking water. All this time, the drizzle has become a downpour. We walked back to the ship after getting off the bus and were wet by the time we got back here. Sydney is a huge, sprawling city, the streets are narrow and clogged with traffic, but it's a clean city. We wouldn't mind spending a week here to see more of the sights. We had a good time on our own for a rainy day; in fact, this was our best stop so far. 

It's Saturday, the 13^th, and another day on choppy seas. We had the sun on our balcony; when it passed to the north, it got cooler, foggier and it started raining again. The good news items for the day: Bob won back all he had lost at Keno and more! The other good news is that we cancelled all our future shore excursions except for tomorrow's which couldn't be cancelled. We seem to have more fun on our own, so we shall see what we shall see. Since it is summer here and the kids are out of school, a lot of the new passengers that got on in Sydney are kids…strollers to teens. This entire trip has been ship of varied homelands and ethnicities…more than on previous cruises. The ship is rockin' and rollin' again tonight.

Sunday, 14 December, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia – We both took a seasick pill last night; that's why we're a bit groggy this morning and really don't care about the shore excursion. For being summer here, it's raining and only 56. They've had 2 1/2" of rain in the past two days, so guess we shouldn't complain too much. Another cruise on another river, the Yarra, but it wasn't very scenic and no pictures were taken. Back on land, a tour of the city and a few of the sites in the downtown and suburban areas. Quite a varied architecture in this city. John Batman, a Tasmanian, travelled here in 1835 and thought he found the perfect place. He named it in honor of Lord Melbourne, the Prime Minister at that time. Today, Melbourne has a population of 3.3 million; it hosted the 1956 Olympics (many of the venues are still in use today); and it's the busiest container port in Australia. Gold was discovered here in 1851 and the gold rush lasted for ten years. There are many ethnicities in this city and it's allegedly the largest Greek community outside of Greece. We didn't really care too much for Melbourne. 

The only thing momentous about the 15^th was that I went to a sushi demo…yucky with all the raw fish but the finished product was picturesque.

Tuesday, 16 December, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia – This is the smallest and only island state in Australia. It's known as the apple isle because of its shape and a major export. Tasmania was originally part of the mainland, but it broke off in the last ice age, leaving the aborigines here stranded; so they developed different cultures and habits from those on the mainland. Hobart was established as a city in 1804 as the second city in Australia. The first convicts came to Tasmania from Sydney in 1803; in 1812 the first convicts came from England. At one time, convicts outnumbered settlers for more than ten years. In 1822, the worst convicts were sent to Sarah Island on the rugged west coast. Port Arthur opened in 1830 on an isthmus near Hobart. Today Hobart, the capital of Tasmania, has a bustling downtown area; then the residential areas spread up the mountains. The homes range from small to large, old to new; but all are well-kept. We took no shore excursion today, but had an $8 (for two) bus ride to various areas, including Mt. Nelson with its views of the harbor. The city is very clean and there are parks and green spaces around. There are blooming plants, shrubs and trees everywhere. The weather wasn't the greatest today, but we had another good time on our own. As we were heading back to sea, it started raining again but we were treated to a full double rainbow. 

Wednesday, the 17^th, was our first of two days crossing the Tasman Sea. I watched a turkey carving demo, so now I'll have to get a turkey breast when we get home and see if I can carve it properly. You're supposed to make the first cut lengthwise on one side of the breastbone; then, starting at the narrow end, cut slices at an angle. Repeat for the other side. I was also given a cold by someone, so today, the 18^th, I'm staying in our stateroom most of the time so as not to infect too many others. 

Australia is very security conscious…a face-to-face meeting with immigration officials on board before we even got to Australia. When disembarking, a dog, human or X-ray machine checked all bags leaving the ship. Some people didn't understand that 'no food from the ship goes ashore' means nothing but bottled water goes ashore. The trash cans were, of course, full. New Zealand may be the same way since we've already done the face-to-face with its immigration officials. 

More ship facts: The executive chef has 211 other chefs working for him; they use over 360 recipes; they serve 16,000 meals a day (and I have trouble with one or two meals a day). There are lots of stairs on this ship and we take the stairs 99% of the time; have to stay in shape somehow. Four diesel engines produce 65 megawatts of power. 1,000 tons of purified and heated marine fuel oil is used every week. 220 tons of sea water is treated and sterilized to safe standards every day. The maximum cruising speed of this ship is 22 knots.

It's Friday, the 19^th, and our cruise is almost over. But today was a super day in spite of the fog, low clouds and cold temps. We cruised the Fjordland National Park today. What a spectacular sight to enjoy bundled up on our balcony! Milford Sound was the first Sound we went into. After seeing so many islands up 'til now that were low and sometimes barren, the mountains shooting straight up out of the water to over 4000 feet high covered with lush green vegetation was a truly awesome sight. Milford has many waterfalls, although they weren't the Niagara type; nonetheless, quite a sight. And we saw lots of small noses sticking up out of the water…fur seals. Back to the Tasman Sea and into Thompson Sound to Doubtful Sound. It had started drizzling by then, and there weren't as many waterfalls, but beautiful anyway. Dusky Sound was the last one and it was just too cold and rainy to get any pictures. Not a port of call, but a good place to cruise; therefore, a good day. However, if this is summer here, I'd hate to see what winter is like.

We'll soon be in the Pacific Ocean, named El Pacifico by Magellan in 1520 when he found sailing in this sea so placid after weather extremes in the Atlantic. Little did he know this ocean covered one third of the earth's surface and produced nastier storms than any other body of water.

Saturday, 20 December, Port Chalmers, New Zealand – We're docked in this small town to take in whatever Dunedin (da NE din), NZ's fourth largest city (population about 105,000), has to offer. Even saw some more seals as we made our way to the dock. The hillsides are lush shades of green dotted with white sheep. NZ is even fussier about security than Australia was--another cute beagle sniffed bags going off the ship, but Security personnel got on the returning shuttle bus to check for cruise cards and photo IDs. We took the shuttle from the pier to the city, walked around, got on the double-deck bus for a tour of the city and surrounding area. Back to town and a little more walking. Dunedin became a city in 1865 and was settled by Scottish pioneers. It's a clean city built up the hills from the water. Guinness Book of World Records has proclaimed a street here as the steepest street in the world. Cadbury Candy is the largest manufacturer here in NZ. Dunedin is home to the University of Otago, NZ's oldest university; the southern-most Gothic church; and the Otago Boys School, founded in 1848 and today has 700 boys enrolled. It was the first primary school in 1848. In 1881 the first cable car route outside the US was built on High Street; it stopped running in 1957. Another cold, cloudy summer day, but no wind or rain. We're glad we each got a vest on sale in one of the ship's shops since this is definitely not summer weather. We did see a seal fairly close to the ship as we were leaving Port Chalmers.

Another news flash: Although it's been two weeks since we were there, Darwin is having nasty lightning storms as well as tropical storms nearing cyclone proportions. Sure glad we missed that.

Sunday, 21 December, Lyttelton (LITTLE ton), New Zealand – We're docked at this little village to view the sites in Christchurch which is about 8 miles inland. Again we took the shuttle bus into the center of town and tried to understand what the bus driving was telling us as he drove. The pines that grow in Monterrey CA grow well here, too, and faster, so lumber is a big business here. Of course, Captain Cook stopped here in his travels. Christchurch is built on a swamp; it was settled in 1840--the plan for the city was mapped out in Britain and laid out here; and currently it has a population of 350,000. Again, it's always nice to visit clean cities. Once in town, we started walking the tram route because $15 each seemed too pricey for the short hop on-hop off route. We stopped at the magnificent old University of Canterbury which is now the city's Art Centre. They have preserved a portion of the old interior as it was when Ernest Rutherford attended. He's NZ's most famous scientist; he's often described as the man who split the atom. His accomplishments include explaining radioactivity; working out the structure of the atom; identifying and naming alpha beta and gamma rays; developing a method of electrically detecting nuclear particles. He won the 1908 Nobel prize for Chemistry. The old lecture room still has the original desks, complete with students names from many years carved in them. Unfortunately not all of the old U has been as well preserved but turned into shops and artists' workplaces. Then we stopped at the Canterbury Museum which was rather interesting. A walk through the Botanical Gardens would have been more pleasant if it had been another cold, cloudy day. In Cathedral Square there's a huge metal sculpture simply entitled 2000 Sculpture. Thank you, Sun, for coming out after we're back on the ship. But it's good to see you and hope you'll be with us for a few more days. Some seals even popped their heads above water as we left the harbor. 

Tuesday, 23 December, Tauranga, New Zealand – We docked here early this morning. It's in the Bay of Plenty and there's certainly plenty of jellyfish in the water…the first marine life we’ve seen up close and personal. The weather has warmed up as we've headed north and it's finally a nice day to be out and about. We headed to Mt. Maunganui (mang an NEW e), walked around it (partly on the beach), walked the beach on the Pacific side, then walked a bit through the village. Nice residential areas and not many tourist trap shops. It was a good place for our last stop, especially since we saw the sun for a change.

By 6AM on Christmas Eve we were docked in Auckland, New Zealand. Since we were staying in Auckland, we were among the last to disembark. We could have walked to the hotel with just the carryon, but didn’t. Got to the hotel and just walked through the downtown and took it easy. New Zealanders sure don’t make the same big deal out of Christmas as Americans do. No street or store decorations; a few decorations in the hotel.

Merry Christmas from Auckland, New Zealand. We actually get two December 25s this year. Too bad we didn’t get much sleep last night. It was thanks to the Singapore Airlines crew in their lounge across the hall from us. Loud and noisy doesn’t come close to describing their behavior. Bob called Security and two guys came to tell them they had to be quiet. They did, but made up for it when leaving by slamming the door a lot. We wanted some compensation from the hotel; all we got was a free breakfast. We rode the bus most of the day…city buses to anywhere were free that day. By this time we knew the downtown area sort of, so we went north, south along the water, and inland a bit. Auckland is really just another big city, but it’s pretty clean and well kept. Killed enough time until it was time to get the bus to the airport which wasn’t too crowded and check-in was a breeze. About two hours after leaving Auckland we crossed the International Date Line and it’s very early December 25 again. We got to LAX after some sleep on the plane. LAX is really old and dirty these days. Left LA an hour late so we missed our scheduled flight out of Houston, but did make it home on the last flight to Ft. Lauderdale. We got home about 1:15AM and were in bed by 1:30. 

Overall, we definitely like larger ships better than smaller ships. There are more self-service laundromats with better equipment. Anytime dining can't be beat. Food was always varied; we enjoyed cold soups almost every night and most were very tasty. Desserts were sinfully good...especially the chocolate ones I had. The open closets are super; it's nice to not fight the doors that never want to stay open. Bob rates this cruise a 5; I give it a 6.5; the ship was fine; buffet meals nothing special; tours poor. We’ve made a list of stuff to do differently on any next cruise. We had a good time, but we’re happy to be home. --December 2008

OUR ATLANTIC ADVENTURE

On 28 April 2008, we boarded the Royal Princess in Port Everglades for a repositioning cruise to northern Europe. The Royal is a small ship, only 592’ long (compared to newer ships up to 965’ long), and old. It was bought whenever from whomever, refurbished, and put into the Princess line in 2007. It’s not our favorite ship, but our stateroom was clean, comfortable and our home for the next 23 days. The balcony was smaller, of course, but had just rails and not plexiglas under the railing so we could get an unobstructed view of the water and aquatic critters.

The total of nine or ten days at sea passed fairly well. With games, movies in the lounge, and CNN, BBC, SkyNews and five movie channels on TV, it was hard to get too bored. Bob even taught me how to play chess. Weather was good for the most part and we enjoyed the sun when it was on our side of the ship. But our first day at sea was a tad rough, so we each took a little pill and slept the day away. We always took the steps on the ship, never setting foot in an elevator the whole time. There was a small circular track on deck 10, but we never used it…too many times around to make even one mile.

By 5 May, we had made it to Horta, Faial in the Azores, a volcanic island chain that’s part of Portugal. Our shore excursion was nothing to write home about. Foggy and windy at top of the island and we had absolutely no view of the caldera. It was interesting to see the volcano at the sea and how it has changed the landscape there. The local tour guide who’s lived there since 1980 did give some interesting facts, such as: 16,000 is the island population; beef, dairy, agriculture and fishing are the main industries; cows are out all year long and many farmers go the fields twice a day to milk them; there’s no central heat in the houses. Japanese cedar trees are abundant on the island, and it was great to see NO franchise of any kind on the island.

On 8 May, the ship docked in Lisbon, Portugal, just east of the 25^th of April Bridge (yes, that’s really the name of the bridge) on the Tagus River. The bridge was designed by the same guy who designed the Golden Gate Bridge (but this one is longer) and was named that in 1976 when Portugal’s dictatorship ended. First stops on our afternoon excursion were at the Belem Tower, an old fort, and Monument to Discoveries, honoring many from the country for their discoveries. Then it was on to the Gulbenkian Art Museum. Not quite my cup of tea, but Bob enjoyed it. And the tour guide explained everything we were looking at…and I do mean everything. Gulbenkian, an Armenian, made his fortune in oil; had four homes around the world, and collected Chinese and Egyptian art, the masters, and Lelique. Supposedly, he only bought the real thing and especially if it had a story behind it. The guide also mentioned that there’s not a lot of crime, gangs, etc. as in larger older countries, but it’s all on an increase because the legislators and the people don’t learn from other’s mistakes and just let it happen. Sad.

A few more days at sea and we arrived at Cobh (Cove in Irish) Ireland. An early morning tour took us to Cork; the drive through the countryside was lush and green, but the city is a mix of old and new and not very clean. Cork’s main industries are computers (Apple has a big plant here) and pharmaceuticals (Viagra is made here). Then on to the Blarney Castle. Big oops by someone since we got there at 8:45 and it didn’t open ‘til 9:30. We killed some time with $8 cups of lousy coffee and went through the woolen mill just when it opened and there weren’t any others around. Then we walked to the castle and I walked up to the top, but wasn’t about to kiss the grungy Blarney stone that millions have touched.

We left Cobh at full speed ahead and were still doing that speed at 5:30 the next morning. We went up the Dart River as far as possible, turned around, then moored in the river and were tendered to shore in Dartmouth, England. This is a clean, small, picturesque town with the Britannia Royal Naval College proudly set at the top of the hill for all to see. No scheduled tour here; we just got off and walked through the town. Then we got a cab to take us for an hour’s ride to see whatever. We saw some of the countryside, the Normandy practice beach, and two-lane roads that really are only one lane. Had we known, we would have gotten off the ship sooner and taken a bus to Plymouth.

It’s a good thing we had a tour planned in LeHarve, France, since we were docked in a very industrial area. This port was a deep water port as early at the 1500’s, and today is used mainly for freighters; Marseilles in the south is used for crude oil. Most of Le Harve was bombed out in 1944. Reconstruction was done by a French architect big on concrete, so many buildings in the main part of town are gray and blah. The city and highway to Rouen, as well as Rouen, were all remarkably clean. In Rouen, a street sweeper was cleaning the cobblestone streets. In Rouen, we were supposed to be awed by the miniature Norte Dame Cathedral (actually grossly big) and the alleged site of Joan of Arc’s burning. Bob made his usual endearing comments about the church.

Our next port of call was Harwich (pronounced hair-itch) England. Again, no tour scheduled so we took the train to Harwich Town…what a bummer place. We walked to Dovercourt which was certainly livelier. Then another train to Colchester, along with another couple from the ship who didn’t know quite what to do either. Then we found out we have to take another train to the actual town. We split up and walked the town, had more expensive, but super, coffee and treat and met the other couple to go back to the ship. But we got on the wrong train which was the only train a conductor came for the tickets. Good thing he was there; he told us how to get where we wanted to go, but we missed the train to ship by 2 minutes. So we sat on wooden benches for an hour chit-chatting. Had we known there was a train to London at the port, we would have made a point to get the 8AM train and have a few hours in London. But we had a pretty good adventure as it was.

The next day we were in Amsterdam, Netherlands where we were docked in a commercial area. There was a Nissan factory close by and an acre of cars to be shipped out. Here we took a walking tour and canal cruise. The walking tour was mostly on former waterways as 60% of the city is below sea level. A few hundred years ago, someone came up with the idea of building dikes; good thing since now the North Sea is kept out of Amsterdam and the Rhine River flows into the country. There are zillions of bikes everywhere…and they have precedence over pedestrians and cars…making for quite a walking tour. The bikes are old and battered, but the multi-level bike garage was full. Unfortunately, some canals were full of trash as well as the streets. After leaving the North Sea Canal, we spotted quite a windmill farm on the starboard side, and then the oil rigs came into view.

On 16 May, we slowly cruised through the Kiel Canal in Germany. Who knew more ships pass through this canal than the Panama or Suez canals? At the lock at the west end, a German brass band was on the shore to welcome us. They boarded the ship and played occasionally as we went through the canal; then disembarked at the eastern lock and played ‘til we left. The cruise was slow and pleasant since it was a sunny, warm day. On both sides of the canal there’s a walking/bike path used by many cyclists and walkers. Modern windmills were everywhere. Foliage was lush and green; many flowering trees in bloom; colorful agricultural fields; ferry crossings here and there.

What a contrast the next day…dense fog in the Baltic Sea. Lots of ships were blowing their horns all day…no crashes. We tried our hand at Keno, but didn’t come away big winners.

It was still foggy in the Bay of Finland, but we could see land as we neared Helsinki, a city of a half million people. We were docked at the Olympic terminal that was built for the 1952 Olympics. It’s a cold (in the 40’s) and overcast day. The city highlights tour was OK since we got to see the landmarks important to the Finns. Senate Square (home to the huge Lutheran St. Nicholas Cathedral and the University of Helsinki); the Market Square (where only Finnish products are allowed to be sold}; the Temppeliaukio Rock Church (carved into the bedrock); and the Sibelius Monument (an unusual sculpture).

The St. Petersburg, Russia port on the Neva River is huge and ugly…cranes dot the scene in every direction. We had a morning tour to the Hermitage Museum. The good news was that it was closed to the public that day, so it was just our busload in there. The bad news was that it was two hours+ of shuffling through the winter palace, small, old and new Hermitage filled with picture after picture, artist after artist. Much of the place was destroyed in the war, so most is not even real. We felt they should have left the palace furnished as it was when it was Elizabeth’s ‘home’. There was still plenty of space for all the artwork. It was a bummer tour, and we sure have no desire to ever return to the depressing city.

Estonia has been ruled by several countries over the years and is once again independent since 1991. Tallin was bigger than I expected, has a population of 400,000, and is the capital of the country. Tourism, forestry and textiles are the main industries. We had a walking tour of the upper town  and then on to Rocca Al Mare, an open air museum that exhibits traditional Estonian buildings from the 18^th and 19^th centuries. I wouldn’t have made it there in the olden days…too cold and too uncomfortable.

It was a beautiful, scenic cruise  through the 28,000 island archipelago to the clean dock in Stockholm, Sweden. A 40-minute drive to the airport; then total chaos. Two busloads of oldsters HAD to get boarding passes from a kiosk of six or eight computers. Then stand in line to get baggage tags. I did the computer thing while Bob stood in line with the bags, and we found each other when Bob was at the front of the line. European security is a lax compared to the hoops we jump through in the US. We had been sitting near the gate for over an hour when shipmates were just getting to the gate. No one missed the flight. Three flights and twenty-eight hours later we were safely home…with our luggage!

We had a good, relaxing time, and don’t regret taking the trip. We even got our choice of two complimentary photos. But as usual, shore excursions are over-rated. The two English ports where we did stuff on our own were better and we didn’t even make the best of those stops. We didn’t care too much for the small ship…everything is smaller or less than on a larger ship; and service was not more personal or better. We only went to one show since the entertainment wasn’t great anyway and the venue small. But the oatmeal was good; pineapple plentiful and tasty; chocolate éclairs wonderful; and the coffee hot and strong. We had good weather the whole trip and seemed to miss all the bad weather as we went along. We’re home now for the hurricane season and to plan our next trip to ?.  -- May 2008

 THE CHRISTMAS TRAIN

For Christmas 2007, we decided we’d take a train ride around the country and enjoy the snow from the train. On December 18^th, we flew to Chicago and boarded the California Zephyr to California.

AmTrak has never been known for great service and we weren’t disappointed. No shampoo or lotion in the rooms now. The dining car was a real shock…plastic plates, cups, bowls; but real silverware and cloth tablecloths and napkins (quite a contrast). Firing the dishwasher on each train to save money to line executive pockets even more is apparently better than filling the landfill with all the plastic dinnerware. Definitely not the first class operation they’d like you to think it is. The only good thing was a slightly updated room with better sink faucet and better shower.

We slipped into Chicago between storms. Saw a few bald eagles as we crossed the Mississippi. Didn’t see much snow until we got to Colorado. We got off in Denver and Glenwood Springs for fresh air breaks. Then got into snowy areas where we saw a few deer and a herd of elk. By noon the second day we were in Reno, NV. What a depressing place! Lots of closed businesses and boarded up buildings. What are we going to do here for 2½ days? We walked around a bit and Bob played Keno in a few places. We could take a 10-hour tour the next day, but why? Early the next morning we went to the AmTrak station and a VERY kind man helped us change our plans…just takes a credit card. We hurried back to the hotel, packed up and were out of Reno 24 hours after we arrived.

By the first morning on the train, Bob announced no more train trips. Fine with me. The ‘beds’ are not that comfortable and the menu is the same on every train. Apparently another Einstein in the front office thinks the same menu on every train will save money and never thought that some passengers might actually be touring the country and don’t want to eat the same so-so food for two weeks.

Around the Truckee, CA area, there was a lot of snow…and great to see it from the train. It was a short day trip to Emeryville, just outside of San Francisco. We took a cab to a hotel that turned out to be a mini-suite and very nice. Since we were up early again, we got a load of laundry done and checked our email. Back on the Coast Starlight down to Santa Barbara…Bob wanted me to see some of the coast. Another short ride and an even more super hotel. But we deserved two nights in two super places. The next morning, we walked the wharf and around town a bit before getting on the northbound Coast Starlight to Seattle. It was good to see the same scenery in daylight and at night. The off-shore oil rigs that were big blocks of light at night were quite visible in daylight…looked like giant erector sets. The Coast Starlight offers free wine tasting and cheese in the afternoon and we indulged.

The next morning we woke to lots of snow in northern California and southern Oregon… a very pretty sight. We got a fresh air break in Klamath Falls. After that stop the snow got heavier…virgin snow all around, no animal tracks at all. With smooth tracks, we just glided through nature’s winter wonderland. Merry Christmas Eve.

Out of the Cascades and snow, we arrived in Seattle a few minutes early. Took a cab to the hotel and crashed. Between the very dry air on the trains and the cold weather, we are dried prunes. We’ve been using all the lotion we can get from hotels since we’re going through it very fast.

Merry Christmas! We had a good breakfast and went for a long walk…all along, we’ve tried to walk as much as we could to counter the effects of sitting on our butts a lot. We had arranged for a late checkout since the Empire Builder didn’t leave ‘til 4:45 Christmas afternoon. We walked 18 blocks to the train station in the falling snow! Used the restroom dryers a lot once we got to the station. Once on board, the car attendant brought us two little bottles of champagne…nice treat! Must be the first time for these dining car guys since none of them seem to know which end is up.

Today we’re going through Glacier; it’s snowing and the mountain tops are barely visible in the snow-filled clouds. Again, a smooth track as we glided through the mountainous winter wonderland. But once over the Continental Divide, flat land, no scenery, scant snow. Bright spots were deer in the fields and on frozen rivers and a few pheasants.

Lots of snow in the Minneapolis area and more eagles along the Mississippi. Lots of people got on at Minneapolis and the next few stops and by lunch, the kitchen was out of a lot of food. Another AmTrak fiasco. These people didn’t just decide to ride the train. AmTrak knew all these people would be on board and Minneapolis was a service stop…throw more food on the train! We finally made it to Chicago an hour late, but caught the next train to Washington DC with no problem.

Rough track and high speeds made for a really scary night of little sleep. But once we were showered, dressed and fed, we were following the scenic Youghiogheny River for quite awhile. We arrived in Washington DC early and walked two blocks to our hotel. DC’s Union Station is unreal. It was designed by Daniel Burnham, the same guy that laid out the city of Chicago. Union Station is huge and once inside, you’d think you were in a mall with all the stores, shops and restaurants. Quite a place.

Of course, the room wasn’t ready, so we left our bags and started walking. We were close to the Capital building and all of a sudden an officer is pointing a shotgun at us, sirens were blaring everywhere, and other cops with shotguns were all over a bus we had just passed. Turned out the bus driver was in an area he wasn’t supposed to be in, and the cops decided to go nuts over it. Never saw anything about it on the news.

We saw a good deal of Washington DC over the next 2½ days on foot and by tour bus and city bus. The first night we took a night tour to see the monuments lit up…our guide was Abdul!! Is that a sorry state of affairs to have an Arab leading tours of our nation’s capital? It was a good tour ‘til it started raining too hard to get out of the little bus. But got good pictures of the White House and Capital Christmas trees lit. The Engraving building was closed; long line at the Holocaust Museum; got into Air and Space OK; waited way too long in security and inside lines at the National Archives. We walked from beyond the Washington monument to the Lincoln and back. We hit the Natural History Museum and the east and west Art Galleries; but the American History building was closed. The Georgetown area seemed really nice. The Postal Museum was across the street from the hotel, so we hit that our last morning.

Security to get in everything was a nuisance and overrated. The weather in DC while we were there was good for the most part. We hit all the monuments and Smithsonian stuff we wanted to see…and learned the Smithsonian was founded by an Englishman, James Smithson.