Saint John and the Bay of Fundy

Almighty God began the day with a beautiful painting of the sunrise!

5 minutes later, notice how the light has changed!  When you see color, take the shot.

Good morning to you all!!   We're in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada which sits on the Bay of Fundy.  The Bay of Fundy's tides are the largest and most powerful in the world.  At high tide it actually forces the St. John River to flow backward.  This port city is famous for seafood, specifically lobster but also oysters, scallops, clams, crabs and mussels.

The tide is rushing in and pushing the river backward. Note the fishermen....

Mary Alice and I were on the Bay of Fundy Coastal Photography Tour led by a professional photographer.  It's a smaller group on a smaller bus.  There were about 23 of us from the ship.  After a confusing and crowded beginning before we even left the ship we met up with our guide outside the port gate and began the tour.

Lepreau Falls

We were treated to a scenic drive around Saint John and on to Fallsview Park. This is where we witnessed the rushing incoming tide which pushed the river backward.  We were then on to Lepreau Falls where the Lepreau River spills over a rocky ledge.  From there we were on to Dipper Harbour, a working wharf and fishing village on the Bay of Fundy coast.

Inside a lobster fishing boat

Dipper Harbour fishing boats

Portland and Three Lighthouses

We arrived in Portland, Maine this morning, got up early, had breakfast in the cabin and met our tour group in the Princess Theater at 8:00.  We were off on our tour of the "Lighthouses of Maine" with Judy as our local guide.  There were about 50 of us on the bus.  We learned that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow lived here in Portland.  The proof was I actually saw his house which is still standing and the citizens of Portland have erected a statue of him.

Our first lighthouse of the day was the Portland Breakwater known locally as the "Bug".  It was built in 1875. At 27 feet in height it is much shorter than most lighthouses.   There is also a memorial to the Liberty ships of WWII which were built right here in Portland.  I remember we had a mothballed fleet of Liberty ships anchored in Beaumont at one time.  I think they have all been sold for scrap metal.

The next lighthouse of the day was the Spring Point Ledge lighthouse.  It was built in 1876.  It is 54 feet in height.  I spotted Mary Alice, taking some pictures with her Sony.  I was pleased about that!

MA's photo of the Portland Head Light lighthouse...not bad honey!

Our last stop was the Portland Head lighthouse in old Fort Williams. This is the area's most recognized landmark and the most photographed lighthouse in the USA.  It sits on a a great rocky coast that provided a great backdrop to the photograph.

We returned to the ship, had lunch and enjoyed the rest of the day.

Beautiful Day in Boston

Boston

We arrived in Boston this morning and after breakfast Mary Alice and I got our act together and headed down the gangplank to the shuttle bus to town.  We were here a few years ago and did the historic walking tour of Revolutionary sites. 

Faneuil Hall & Samuel Adams

Our first stop was the Quincy Market which is the 4th most visited tourist attraction in all of the the US, ahead even of Disney World in Orlando.   Imagine a building about 300 feet long with take out eating shops every twenty feet.  It was a real smorgasbord of great stuff, from pizzas to fudge stands and it was crowded.  From there we went into Fanueil Hall, an establishment that goes back to the Revolutionary War.  It was the meeting place for the Sons of Liberty who kept the fires of revolution lit in the 1770's.

We then got day tickets on the CityView Trolley Car instead of walking around, although her Fitbit later said she did 6,000 steps. The $36 dollar ticket included a harbor cruise which we had just enough time to make.  That was interesting because the tour guide on the boat was British and he was telling all about how the colonists revolted against the king.  After  touring around Boston harbor we got on one of the trolleys and rode it all around.  The narrator was hilarious, had comments about everyone except us Texans.   Did have to tell him that the word "hoss" has an "r" in it! Back to the ship, lunch, and quiet time!

Inside Quincy Market

Cheers!

Original Harbor House

Harbor Cruise

Our Trolley Car

British Government House, note the Lion and Unicorn on the building

Site of the Boston Massacre 

Departure and 1st Port of Call: Newport, Rhode Island

Our 10-day cruise from New York to Quebec started out with a 3am wakeup call departure day Monday morning.  We had packed everything and put the suitcases in the car the night before. Tanner is spending the two weeks with his buddies at his rescue mom's.  He’ll have so many playmates he'll hardly miss us.  

We got to the airport in plenty of time to get a coffee and bagel at the United Club.  The flight left at 6:30am.  MA had spotted some kind of real deal for first class so we flew away in style! I could get used to that! A short two and a half hours later we arrived in New Jersey where we caught our prearranged transportation to the the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal and the Caribbean Princess ship was there waiting.

The New York bus ride  took us through the Holland Tunnel.  The driver said that people who break down or change lanes in the tunnel are fined a cool $1500.   From the tunnel we made our way through an area known as Soho and then Chinatown.  It wasn't a pretty drive by any stretch, lots of abandoned buildings and grafitti and choked with traffic. But we arrived safely, boarded the ship, had lunch and took a much needed nap!

The Caribbean Princess departed at 7pm and we sailed away past the skyscrapers of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty.  Today (Tuesday) was our first stop at Newport, Rhode Island.  We went ashore in the morning, walked around for a couple of hours and caught a tender boat back to the ship for lunch.  So far so good including being blessed with some great weather.  MA's off to a presentation in French about our cruise.  I'm in the cabin waiting on the hors d'ouvres!  Here are some photos taken in Newport.

I am using my D750 and an old Nikon Nikkor 35mm f/2.0 AIS lens.  It is a manually focused lens and manually set exposure with the camera.  I'm also using a Nikon 50mm f/2.8 AIS pancake lens.  Both are very sharp but require the photographer to manually focus and set the exposure.

Going Cruising.....Again

Mary Alice and I are headed to New York City Monday morning where we will board the Caribbean Princess in the Brooklyn port for a ten day voyage up the New England coast ending in Quebec City.  We'll stay a couple of days in Quebec before coming home.  I'll write about the various ports of call as we sail north.  Bon voyage!

Barcelona: A Roll Down the Las Ramblas and a Quick Visit to Gaudi's Casa Botlló

Barcelona Skyline

Barcelona:  A Roll Down the Las Ramblas and a Quick Visit to Gaudi's Casa Botlló

The Emerald Princess docked in Barcelona, Spain about 11am this morning.  Mary Alice started her day with a hair appointment at the ship's salon, Lotus Spa.  She looks fabulous.  She says her hair never looked better. 

We returned to the room and started packing for the trip home.  We then decided to go into Barcelona for the afternoon, down the Las Ramblas (1km) pedestrian mall and I wanted to see  Gaudi's Casa Botlló.  We bought two shuttle bus tickets and headed off to Barcelona's World Trade Center.  From there I began pushing Mary Alice's wheelchair across the streets, down the sidewalks, past Columbus pointing to the New World and arriving at the Las Ramblas.

Las Ramblas

Right away we ran across a couple of human statues, people dressed up and representing someone or some fiction character.  We watched "Columbus" entertain three kids as they mimicked him.  Las Ramblas was packed with tourists and locals as they strolled the famous boulevard. 

We basically made our way north up the Las Ramblas and found a restaurant, La Poma, where I parked Mary Alice and ordered her a Sangria.  From there I continued on to the Gaudi house heading north down the Passage de Garcia about 6 blocks and found what I was looking for.

Casa Botlló is the strangest yet most beautiful buildings I have ever seen.  The hardest part about this little side journey was the wait to get a ticket and go inside. The entry fee was 21.50 E but I convinced the sales person I was entitled to a senior discount so I saved 5 Euros!  The most unusual part of the home is the roof, with what appears to be a huge dragon, also the most unusual chimney covers. 

Gaudi designed and built another apartment building down the street, La Pedrera.  It was the chimney caps that Lucas used as a design for the Star Wars troopers.

After photos I decided to get back to Mary Alice.  Instead of walking the six blocks back, (and they are long blocks) I took a chance on a Barcelona bus and rode back almost to the restaurant. 

Gaudi's other building:  La Pedrera

I found Mary Alice (who had sipped the Sangria for almost 2 hours) worried about me.  This is because I had the passports, ship's passenger cards, money, credit cards, etc. 

From there we got into the flow of people on Las Ramblas headed south this time and made our way back to the shuttle bus pickup point.  We bid our farewell to Barcelona tomorrow morning and arrive in Houston same day about 6pm.  All in all it's been a great cruise.  See ya! Thanks for checking out our blog. We love sharing with you.

A Las Ramblas Mime & Mary Alice

The Journey Home:  Saturday

Our journey home began at 5am Barcelona time.  Our checked luggage had been picked up by the ship's crew the night before and would be waiting for us after we walked off Sat morning.  We got off the ship about 7:30 with Mary Alice being assisted by a personal assistant with a wheelchair.  We found our bags, and found our bus to the airport. 

We arrived at the airport and got checked for the flight to Newark, NJ on United.  We boarded the big Boeing 787 and got comfortable for the flight home.  I normally can't sleep on these flights and prefer to watch movies, which is what I did.  We arrived in Newark and Mary Alice was met by a personal assistant with a wheel chair.  She absolutely could not walk the distances from our arrival point to the United gate for the flight to IAH.  We arrived in Houston with another personal assistant waiting for Mary Alice.  He carted us to the baggage claim area.  All four of our checked luggage arrived. (That's always good!) We found our van driver who loaded our bags and we made it home, both of us exhausted.

I feel very blessed to have the ability to travel like we do and for the Lord watching over us all the way.  We had a great cruise and great time together.  We'll go again, just not soon. Adios amigo.

Another Barcelona landmark

Huge statue of Columbus pointing to America (the New World)