At Sea Again

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Monday

First off, I added a couple of pictures and some commentary to the end of yesterday’s post. You can scroll down and read (if you want).

Monday is a day at sea en route to Norfolk, Virginia, our next stop. There won’t be anything exciting to report other than drinks, food, and maybe some ship pictures.

I didn’t like the book I was reading – Fake History – so i reshelved it and am now reading: Slow Trains Around Spain. I love reading travel books. By the way, the first of the ten great lies from Fake History was how Churchill, in addition to being a wartime hero, was also a bigoted jerk. The story was good, but I hated the author’s style.

Lunch in the World Cafe. Here’s a look at some of the stations in the Cafe. There is (unpictured) also a sushi station and a Grill station for steaks and lobster. I had carvings of dark meat off a big turkey. And (amazingly) just Coke Zero to drink. Yesterday we watched them putting a huge whole pig in the oven at breakfast. By lunch the pig’s head was staring out at as where the turkey was today.

We read for awhile in one of the lounges. Some people just slept. This is NOT us.

Cocktails in the Living Room. Dinner in Manfredi’s

That’s not the exact menu we had, but it’s close. Pasta e Fagioli for me followed by that Bistecca Florentina on the menu and gelato for dessert. Elaine had the calamari and a delicious pork chop. The wine from Burgandy was wonderful.

Then it was to the Explorer’s Lounge for after dinner drinks, music, and camaraderie. And, finally, bed. We’re glad it was a sea day because it rained, heavily at times, all day. There were tornado warnings in SC and NC, but we saw no sign of any as we passed by. The forecast for Norfolk tomorrow looks good. It was 81º there today but only 63º predicted tomorrow under sunny skies.

Charleston, South Carolina

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Sunday

A little bumpy during the night, but we sailed safely into Charleston, SC at about 7 am Sunday morning. It rained a bit during the night, but the weather was promising at least as the sun was visible when we got up. It turned out to be a very nice day with temperatures in the mid 70’s. We had breakfast in the World Cafe and then headed ashore for our tour of Charleston. It’s the first time either of us has been here.

The history of Charleston, South Carolina, is one of the longest and most diverse of any community in the United States, spanning hundreds of years of physical settlement beginning in 1670. Charleston was one of leading cities in the South from the colonial era to the Civil War in the 1860s. The city grew wealthy through the export of rice and, later, sea island cotton and it was the base for many wealthy merchants and landowners. Charleston was the capital of American slavery. Sea island cotton still exits but is no longer in commercial production.

Charleston, located on a peninsula into the Atlantic, was originally Charlestown and was a walled city. The name was changed to Charleston in 1783. Why? No one seems to know. Some people have advanced the hypothesis that the spelling was altered to conform to the customary local pronunciation. The “w” in “town” was practically silent in the local dialect, and the act of incorporation provided a convenient opportunity to change the spelling officially to reflect the local pronunciation. Thus “CharlesTOWN” became “CHARLESton,” or perhaps even “CHAHLston.” Good enough for me.

We bussed downtown and did a walking tour with a delightful guide (pictured below with Elaine) Who has heard of Henroy Timrod?. Maybe we’ll go back for the time capsule opening in 2061.

A little history lesson:

There are lots of delightful houses in Charleston. They are seemingly built sideways and are either singles or doubles. Why? And porches are called piazzas. That brought back memories because when we lived in Chelsea, MA back in 1946-1951 (I was nine when we moved to Melrose), we called the porch the piazza. (And we ate supper at night, not dinner – dinner was a Sunday or holiday thing and served earlier). See Elaine in the gallery below?

See the Spanish Moss in the trees below? It’s everywhere. And it’s not Spanish and it’s not moss. What is it then? See here.

The highlight of the walking tour was a visit to the Heyward-Washington House. Yes, George slept here for a week. We walked up the stairs inside holding the same bannister that George Washington used back in 1791. The owner, Thomas Heyward, was a signer of the Declaration on Independence.

And we stopped to see the Charleston Hat Man. How many hats can you find in his picture? Note that one ear is a confederate soldier cap and the other a Union soldier cap.

After our walking tour, we were back to the bus for a drive other parts of Charleston including the beautiful campus of the College of Charleston. It’s tough taking pictures while riding a bus, so I took only one. It’s the back of the Joseph Manigualt House. Why the bricked up windows? I don’t know. In the UK many ears ago windows were bricked up to avoid paying the window tax, but that doesn’t seem to have been a reason in SC. By the way, the house looks better from the front, but we drove by the back.

And finally it was back to the ship in time for reading and naps before happy hour and dinner. Dinner was in the World Cafe and was good as always. No pictures and no details. You’ve read enough for today. See you tomorrow, a sea day on the way to Norfolk, VA.

And, oh, by the way – we had our first Viking passenger casualty today. A woman from our tour fell, hit her head, and was eventually carted off in an ambulance. Word is that she is OK and hopefully will be back on board when we sail at 6 PM. Casualties seemed to be an everyday occurance on our Viking sail from Vancouver through Alaska to Japan last year.

Oops, another oh by the way. I was sitting on our balcony with binoculars in hand and noticed an island (or more like a sandbar) with the French flag flying. Turns out that it’s Castle Pinckney, a small masonry fortification constructed by the United States government in 1810. It was used very briefly as a prisoner-of-war camp (six weeks) and artillery position during the American Civil War. Why the French flag? See here.

OK, one last OBTW. Also looking out from our balcony while docked in Charleston, you can see off in the distance what looked like an aircraft carrier. Turns out it the USS Yorktown, a US Navy aircraft carrier that served in WWII, in the Korean War, and in Vietnam as well being used to pluck returning Apollo 8 astronauts out of the ocean.

Sea Day

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Saturday

Great night’s sleep. Woke up a couple of times and felt the choppy Atlantic. It’s already been more oceany (is that a word?) than our previous two ocean trips that were like being on lakes. Breakfast in the World Cafe (which is phenominal) was grand (as usual). No food pictures this morning. After breakfast we read for a bit in one of the lounges and then did a walking tour of the ship. The Hide is a great speakeasy type bar that only serves drinks from 9 pm onwards. It’s a great place to sit, read, and hide all day. We also walked by the Restaurant (where we will eat tonight) and Manfredi’s, the Italian restuarant with great steaks (where we will eat three other nights). We also watched part of a kayak briefing in the Aula, the ship’s beautiful theater/auditorium/lecture hall. We didn’t need to stay for it because we won’t be kayaking. We will be doing one Zodiak tour and one Special Operations Boat tour – more about those when they happen.

There are library areas located all around the ship, but we have our own library in the suite. Some great books. I am now reading Fake History by Otto English. Here’s the library (with the television screen in the middle tuned to the live bow camera).

Weather is still nice and we sat on our balcony for awhile. As an expediation ship, the Polaris in general doesn’t have outdoor balconies in its staterooms. Instead, they have Nordic balconies. There is a floor-to-ceiling picture window that open downwards from the top to the halfway point, thereby creating an indoor “Nordic” balcony. The four Explorer Suites (and the single Owner’s Suite) have that but also have outdoor balconies. The pictures below show our Nordic picture window and our small balcony. (The wet look is not from rain – they just passed by with a hose washing things down.)

We met John and Donna at lunch in the World Cafe and then again at Happy Hour (5:00 pm) in the Living Room lounge. The bartender there is also named John, and he makes the best vodka gimlet (Grey Goose, of course). Nice music.

DInner tonight was in The Restaurant (reservations-required). My lobster and scallops highlighted the meal. Wine was excellent.

After dinner drinks were in the Explorer’s Lounge. And then off to bed.

On Board the Viking Polaris

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THURSDAY NIGHT

Had dinner again at the hotel and listened to some cool music. We chatted a bit with the musician since it wasn’t crowded at all.

FRIDAY

Had breakfast, repacked, and checked out. Drove to Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale and turned our car into Budget. There were a slew of people with tons of luggage waiting for the shuttle bus, so we grabbed a cab with another couple and shuttled to the ship that way. Checked the bags in with the ship porters. Then we had to wait about 90 minutes to board as the Coast Guard and the Health Authorities had not completed their inpection of the ship. (Staff reductions and budget cuts!) There were five cruise ships in port today.

Finally boarded and immediately accessed our Explorer Suite. We got upgraded from the junior suite we had booked to the Explorer Suite. Wow, is it nice.

Then it was time to explore, eat lunch, meet up with John and Donna from our last cruise, nap, unpack, and get ready for drinks and dinner. More about all that tomorrow (Saturday) when we we will be at sea headed to Charleston, South Carolina. We sailed at 8:00 pm. Before that we watched three other way bigger ships depart: Celebrity Beyond, Holland America Rotterdam, and Celebrity Something-or-Other. (Our ship is 390 pasengers.)

Very tired after dinner and drinks. Food is grand! More tomorrow.

Off Again . . .

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Wednesday

Up at 5:00 am. 6:00 am ride to the Airport. 8:30 flight on American Airlines to Miami. All good and uneventful.

At Miami Airport we had a Budget Car reserved. Usually we use Alamo where we can go directly to the car without interacting with the counter. Budget doesn’t have that option. The counter was a mob scene. But Budget does have Express Check where you can go to a secondary counter in the garage. We found.another some lesser mob scene. So there was a thirty minute wait to get the car. We had reserved an intermediate size SUV (like a Ford Edge). We got a HUGE Chevrolet Suburban. Too big but acceptable. The we hit I-95 for the 29 mile ride from Miami Airport to our hotel in Fort Lauderdale. Yikes. 90 minutes! Bumper-to-bumper the whole way. And I couldn’t figure out how to use the navigation system in the Suburban. So I used Google Maps on my phone, but that app wouldn’t speak out the directions like it should. (I figured out later why.) So we did finally get to the Residence Inn Intracoastal in North Fort Lauderdale, but not without stress. We had a few drinks and a nice simple dinner in the hotel restaurant before hitting the sack. (Why is it called the sack?) Great views from our balcony.

THURSDAY

Our hotel is the Residence Inn Intracoastal Il Lugano located right on the Intracoastal just south of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea. That’s where we used to spend a couple of weeks every year as our winter break from Boston. We had breakfast at the hotel and then decided to go for a ride. We drove down A1A all the way to where to meets US1 near the Cruise Port that we will depart from tomorrow. Lots of new high rises along the beach. Then we backtracked the same route, passed by our hotel, and drove north as far as Pompano Beach before doing another U-turn.

On the way back we stopped and parked in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea ($8.00 for two hours). Our main stop was the Village Pump, a local joint filled with Bostonians. We had Cape Codders and decided to stay for lunch. Elaine had a patty melt while I had a bowl of clam chowder and six delicious Blue Point oysters. We had a short walk around the beach area before heading back to the hotel for balcony time, nap time, and blog time. Tonight it will be a quick meal in the the hotel bistro and then bed. Gotta rest up for the gruelling cruise starting tomorrow.

Waikiki Tuesday

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No car today. Sunny morning. Nice breakfast again at the hotel restaurant. Then we settled in to our reserved lounge chairs and umbrella on the beach. The beach is actually public and anyone can and does go there, but our little area is just for Royal Hawaiian guests. We both went in swimming. (Can’t remember the last time we did that.) Nice surf. Shifting sands underneath and tough to walk. I actually had to be helped up out of the water. (No video of that. Sorry. Sigh, getting old sucks.) We sat under our umbrella for a few hours including during a brief passing shower. Then we had a drink at the Mai Tai bar before venturing off hotel property looking for lunch. Recognize that shadow? Recognize those legs?

For lunch we chose the Maui Brewing Company. It’s upstairs in a shopping mall but it’s open air. We both had delicious fish tacos with a side of guacamole & chips and local amber ale. I suspect that there will be no dinner tonight as we were both stuffed. So do you think “do not feed the birds for health reasons” is for the health of the customers or health of the birds? The two pigeons look very comfortable at their table.

There is nothing else to report. As expected, no dinner tonight. We are finishing a bottle of wine on our balcony before retiring for the night. Tomorrow morning it’s off to the airport for our 2:20 pm flight to Phoenix on Hawaiian Airlines that arrives at PHX at 11:05 pm.

It’s been a great trip in almost every respect. Calm seas. Good weather. Great food. Meeting new people. But it will be good to get home and start to lose weight and rest up.

Thanks for reading and for all the comments. See you next trip!

Monday on Oahu

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In answer to comments, no, no Spam for breakfast (or any other meals). I actually love Spam whereas Elaine despises it. I used to eat fried Spam all the time as a kid. And I loved raw Spam right out of the can, sliced up with mayonnaise and onions. Yum. No Poco Moco either. Sounds good though.

Monday broke bright and sunny and stayed that way all day. We enjoyed a lovely breakfast at the Royal Hawaiian right at beachside. Scrambled eggs with sausage and potatoes for Elaine. Everything omelet with bacon and potatoes for me.

Then we were off on a drive to Oahu’s lesser seen North Coast. We made several stops.

At Beautiful Kualoa Regional Park we stopped and enjoyed the views and the quiet. The beach is as beautiful as Waikiki without the crowds. Birds and chickens everywhere.

We stopped briefly at Turtle Bay but quickly backtracked to Romy’s Shrimp Food Truck for lunch. GIAGANTIC steamed prawns for lunch. They looked more like lobsters. Peel them yourself. Four each with rice and dipping sauces. Delicious!

Then we doubled back again to Turtle Bay and Kawela Bay for some pictures. Turtle Bay Resort, once an independent resort, is now a Ritz Carlton. We didn’t see any turtles although they actually do nest and live here..

Then we started back towards Waikiki, about an hour and a half away. We stopped briefly at Dole Plantation, an outrageous tourist trap. You can take train rides through the pineapple fields at a ridiculous price. We didn’t. There is a huge gift shop. Blah. There was nothing worth photographing. We did enjoy excellent pineapple ice cream waffle cones (that were more expensive than our gold leaf ice cream in Tokyo).

Back at the hotel we walked next store and had pina coladas at the Sheraton Waikiki. Here are some random shots taken on the grounds of the adjoining Sheraton Waikiki and Royal Hawaiian both before, during, and after our pina coladas.

Good day! One more full day before we leave on Wednesday. Oh, when we driving back from the North Coast we saw a horrendous traffic jam on H-2 (a Hawaiian Interstate that of course doesn’t go interstate) caused by a bad accident. Fortunately we were going in the other direction and it didn’t affect us. Traffic was backed up, conservatively, eight miles. Not much on the agenda for tomorrow. Rest and relaxation and packing up.

One more post to go. Bye for now.

Longest Sunday in History

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Woke up Sunday morning in Tokyo and had a nice breakfast. Then we checked out at 11:00 am. Now we had to kill time until 5:00 pm when our driver to the airport arrived. We walked around a bit. Right outside the hotel is the Ark Hills office complex, Suntory Music Hall and a host of restaurants. In the Ark Hills Plaza, there was a Music Fest of Japanese children performing, mostly for their parents, but today also for us. And we had lunch at the City Bakery, a Japanese chain based on the City Bakery in NYC. Good lunch. We walked a bit and cooled heels in the hotel lobby for awhile.

Finally our driver arrived and we were off to Haneda Airport. Tokyo also has the larger (and further out) Narita Airport. We were at the airport at 5:45 for our 9:45 flight. Check-in, customs, and immigration were a breeze. We spent the rest of the time in the Delta One Club, a very nice facility. We took off roughly on time at 9:55 and began the flight to Honolulu. Shortly after takeoff, we crossed the international dateline and it was Sunday morning all over again.

Aloha!

We landed on schedule in Honolulu at 11:00 am Sunday morning. Yes, still Sunday. We arrived before we left. We picked up our rental car (Kia Sportage SUV) and now had to kill time until we could check in at the Royal Hawaiian at 4:00 pm. We searched out a laundromat and did a load of wash. We had lunch at McDonald’s. (Yes, Micky D’s.) We visited a Whole Foods to pick up some wine. And finally we were able to check in.

We have a great room at the historic Royal Hawaiian overlooking Waikiki Beach and Diamond Head. The first picture is from our balcony and that’s most of Diamond Head on the left. See Elaine with her hotel provided lei? We had pina coladas at the hotel’s Mai Tai Bar (with a nice sunset) followed by a glass of wine on the balcony in the room. Alas, Hawaii has cockroaches and they enjoy the balcony too. So, exhausted we headed inside to bed.

See you tomorrow which, thank God, will be Monday!

Saturday – Rainy Tokyo

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First we had a delightful complementary buffet breakfast at ANA Intercontinental. Great view from our table. After breakfast we took a short walk outside in the vicinity of the hotel. It wasn’t raining yet. Unique window cleaning method!

Forecast called for clouds. What we got was a steady light rain. We had a walking tour scheduled with Kyoko Kitagawa of Chris Rowthorn Tours. Rain be damned, we went ahead as scheduled. Kyoko met us at our hotel. We set off for a subway ride on Tokyo’s Metro which has 14 different lines. Riding the Metro was fun. Our first stop was at Ueno Park where we had a nice walkabout. See the famous moon pine?

The highlight in Ueno Park is the Ueno Toshogu, which is the Tokugawas Shogunate‘s Golden Mausoleum, a Shinto shrine. The Sacred Tree is over 600 years old.

After another Metro ride, we stopped for lunch at a very small family run restaurant. Maybe eight tables. We all had some sort of ramen or noodles accompanied by draft Asahi beer. Yummy. Here’s mine:

Next we visited the Asakura Museum in the Yanaka District, an area of Tokyo undamaged during WWII. Fumio Asakura was famous for his sculptures of cats. From the museum there was a view of the Sky Tree tower through the rain and fog. You could barely see it. The museum is where he used to live. No shoes allowed in the museum. And there were only certain round blue mats from which you were allowed to take photographs. There was an excellent (long) video that showed the tedious process of how the cat sculptures were created. The one created in the video is the actual one in the next to last photo in the gallery below.

Then we had a walkabout in the traditional Yanaka District with its small food markets and shops. By now it was raining pretty steadily. Time to call it a day.

Then it was back on the Metro to return to the hotel to say goodbye to Kyoko (who was delightful). Uncharacteristically, we decided to stay in tonight and skip dinner. We did share a bottle of wine and a loaf of bread.

Tomorrow will be a long day. Checkout at 11:00 am. Then we have to kill time until our ride to Haneda Airport and our 9:55 pm Delta One flight to Honolulu. Then we have the red eye night flight – business class with lay flat seat, thank God (or maybe Buddha) – that arrives in Honolulu around 10 am the same day that we leave (the dreaded International Date Line again). So the next post will not be until we are comfortably checked in at the Royal Hawaiian.