Sunday

Last full day of vacation. Beautiful sunny day. So, this will be the last post of this trip. We will be back on the blog when we leave for Dingle on Thursday, May 1st.

Click on the galleries below to bring up scrollable windows with full size pictures – the gallery previews may show just thumbnails of the pictures. By the way, the pictures look much better on a tablet or a computer than they do on your phone. Just saying.

Here are a couple of night shots from our hotel window (45th floor) last night.

We were up early and had a nice (free) breakfast in the Marriott Club. Then we had to decide what to do with the day.
Hockey Hall of Fame – Been there, done that
Distillery Historic District – Been there, done that
CN Tower – Been there, done that
St. Lawrence Market – Been there, done that
Woodbine Race Track – Been there, done that
A museum – Meh

So we decided on the aquarium which is practically next door to the hotel. Remember Ripley’s Believe It or Not? Well, the Ripley brand is still in business with all kinds of attractions around the world. In Toronto it is Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada. Now, if you don’t want to look at pictures of fish, stop reading now or scroll down past all the galleries I am about to post.

OK, we’re done in the Aquarium. Very well done. And you only saw about half the pictures I took. Next door is the CN Tower. A few pics of it.

OK, some of you knew Gordie Howe. How many remember this guy? I saw him play a long time ago when I first started going to Boston Bruin games. Rocket Richard. His younger brother Henri played too. He was the Pocket Rocket. And his other brother was Claude, the Vest Pocket Rocket. Poor Claude wasn’t very good. They all played, of course, for the Montreal Canadians.

Then it was a 25 minute walk back to Rodney’s for more oysters! Ah, lunch. Elaine had the “best shrimp cocktail ever”. Wild shrimp, no less. I had twelve more oysters (three eel lakes, three Bigelow bights, three Maine flats, and three sand dunes). We both had New England clam chowder for the main, and we both sipped Musoka lager. I can say with confidence that if you come to Toronto and do not go to Rodney’s, you have not really been to Toronto.

That’s all folks. See you in May. Thanks for reading. And thanks for all the comments.

Saturday

Well, we made it to Toronto with no more delays. Our bags were outside our door on the ship on schedule at 10 PM last night. When we woke this morning, we were just docking. You have to be out of your stateroom by 8 AM so the room attendants (Girlie and Mark for us – they were great and got a nice tip.) could ready them for the new passengers boarding starting at 11 AM. We had breakfast and settled down to await the announcement that our baggage group was ready for pickup in the terminal. They were ready by 8:30. Disembarking can sometimes be a logistical nightmare. Today it was a piece of cake. We grabbed a cab and were at the Marriott Delta in our room by 9:15.

The Delta is nice hotel. We have stayed here before. We reserved and paid for Friday night as well as Saturday and Sunday nights so we could have our room ready early this morning. We are on the 45th Floor (maybe the highest hotel room ever?). The Marriott Club, which we are eligible to use, is on the top floor – the 46th. Views from the room including a look at the railroad station right below us forty-five floors down and the historic Fairmont Royal York Hotel:

After a short rest, we headed out for a walk with the goal of having a fairly big lunch and then just appetizers in the Club in lieu of dinner. Here are pictures from the walk. The CN Tower is right across the street from us. And its just a few steps to go through the Lower Simcoe Street Underpass, famous for its murals.

Then we headed to King Street for lunch. Scenes along the way:

We walked along the Canadian Walk of Fame. Who knows who Gordie Howe is? One demerit if you don’t.

I got some exercise on a bicycle built for four along the way. Streetcars are everywhere. Toronto has a subway system, but I’ve never been on it. The public transportation system seems very good.

Lunch was grand! At Rodney’s Oyster House (Barb and Kris know it) is one of our all time favorites. I had a dozen oysters – three Eel Lakes, three Wellfleets, three Maine flats, and three Mere Points. OMG Good! I tried all the hot sauces too – all good but one was deadly. Then I had a bowl of Clam Chowder. While I slurped the oysters, Elaine had a cup of clam chowder and then a delicious Bronwen Special – grilled fish with fries and salad. We both had Musoka Beer. It will be hard not to come back tomorrow.

Then we walked back to the hotel for a nice nap, passing once again through the Simcoe Street Underpass (on the other side of the street). We also passed by Rogers Center, Toronto’s sports arena.

As planned, we had appetizers and drinks in the Marriott Club before retiring to our room for TV and sleep. The views from the club are a little different than the ones from our room.

Toronto is a fun city to visit. Not sure what we’ll do tomorrow. (Maybe the Ripley Aquarium?) We are vacationed out and will need the two-week rest at home (with minimal meals!) before we head out for Dingle.

I’ll be back tomorrow. (Usually I publish the blog in the morning for the previous day. Today I am doing it before I go to bed on Saturday.)

Friday

Brief post today. Finally left Montreal, sailed through seven locks to get to the lower St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario. As we went along, it was often New York State on the starboard side and Ontario on the port. Overcast rainy day. Passed through the beautiful 1000 Islands area (Todd Weiler, the sailor’s old stomping grounds) and saw some beautiful homes, some of them on tiny little islands. And saw Boldt Castle – pretty impressive and quite a story. Because of the weather, some pictures are from inside through rain spattered windows. I did get outside for a few.

Boldt Castle

Our bags had to be out for pickup by 10 PM last night, and we have be out of the stateroom by 8 AM tomorrow. Then we have an early check in at the Marriott Delta where we will spend Saturday and Sunday night. So more posts to come.

Thursday

The best laid plans of mice and men . . .
A day late and a (Canadian) dollar short.
Better late than never.
Patience is a virtue.

Know the derivation of those phrases? Click on each to learn more. Which apply to what comes next here on the blog? Maybe all?

So, today we’re supposed be transversing the canals of the St Lawrence Seaway System to go from the lower St Lawrence River near Montreal into Lake Ontario and then chugging across the lake into Toronto, arriving very early Friday morning. Well, not happening. (It also seems transverse is not a verb, so transversing is not a word. Tough. It says what I mean.)

At 3 PM on Thursday we are still sitting docked in Montreal. We could have got off the ship this morning and walked around. We didn’t. We are delayed because the section of the Welland Canal that we need to use is heavily used and we lost our slot. The current plan is to leave Montreal at 7 PM. That means we are delayed almost 24 hours and now will arrive in Toronto at 6 AM Saturday morning, a full day late.

We have adjusted our plans accordingly. I cancelled our two-night (Fri/Sat) stay at the Marriott on the Falls in Niagara Falls and our one-night (Sun) stay at the Sheraton at Toronto Airport. I have cancelled our Alamo rental car that we would have picked up Friday morning. Now we are booked at the Marriott Delta Hotel in downtown Toronto for Saturday and Sunday night and we have a Welcome Pickups car scheduled to take us to the airport at 5:30 AM on Monday. The flight home remains the same, and we’ll be home before noon on Monday.

I feel bad for John and Donna as their oldest daughter was meeting them in Toronto for two days. Now they’ll only have one day together. Cruisers who had their air arrangements made by Viking to fly home on Friday are awaiting new reservation information from Viking. People who did their own arrangements are on their own. We have seen at least ten couples disembarking here in Montreal with their luggage. Most, I think, are planning to take the train to Toronto and will arrive there later today.

These things happen on cruises. It’s not a big deal to us. I do all our own flights and hotels, and I had no problem making the necessary adjustments. The people who are really going to be upset are the people who were scheduled to board the Polaris on Friday after we disembarked. They will all lose a day of their cruise. And Viking will have to put them all up at hotels. (For this ship that only involves 370 odd people – imagine when this happens with one of those 5,000+ passenger behemoths.)

So, anyway we booked another cruise. It will again be on this ship – Viking Polaris – in June 2026. We will tour all five Great Lakes for 15 days/14 nights. Here’s the map of the cruise:

Lunch was in the World C afe.

So, while we sit here in Montreal, look out our cabin window. See that big crane over there? Well, you can bungee jump off of it. Should we have given it a go? We didn’t. And wouldn’t.

We finally sailed at about 7:00 pm. Some pictures as we left Montreal, sailing under the Jacques Cartier Bridge.

We went through the locks to get to Lake Ontario at 9:30. No pictures, sorry. And we had fun in the Hide, a specialty bar in the bowels of the ship. You saw pictures early in the trip when the bar itself wasn’t open – it only opens from 9:00 pm to 11:30 pm. Late for us, but we finally made it down. And our favorite server, Belle, was in charge along with our favorite bartender, John. Belle, by the way, who looks about 20 is 35 years old and has a two-year old daughter.

And we went to bed. A night shot along the locks as we headed back to the room.

Wednesday Winter Wonderland

We woke up this morning to brilliant sunshine in Trois-Rivieres. The temperature was 22º. Coldest day yet but gloriously sunny. And Trois-Rivieres had snow yesterday and during the night. The view from the ship when we got up was a Winter Wonderland. Pictures from the ship.

Click on the galleries below to bring up scrollable windows with full size pictures – the gallery previews may show just thumbnails of the pictures. By the way, the pictures look much better on a tablet or a computer than they do on your phone. Just saying.

A little about Viking Expedition ships. There are two – Octantis and Polaris. In addition to normal crew (250) and passengers (378), the ships also carry an expedition discovery team of scientists. It has a 380-square-foot wet and dry lab, developed in partnership with the University of Cambridge, that allows the scientists to conduct meaningful research and encourages guest interaction. They give lectures but also carry out scientific research. Today the team was releasing a weather balloon in conjunction with hundreds of other teams around the world releasing similar balloons at the same time. Shivering more than a little, we watched the balloon launch at 8:00 am.

After breakfast we departed on an excursion that drove through Trois-Rivieres on the way to two stops. Here are some scenes shot from the bus:

The first stop was at the Notre-Dame-du-Cap Basilica where two miracles have supposedly occurred. We did have to get inside a church on this trip, didn’t we? It’s quite an impressive building (despite some scaffolding) and is especially beautiful inside. Worth the stop. Elaine lit a candle.

The second stop was at a Cabane a Sucre (Sugar Shack). Maple syrup at its best! Great tasting of maple syrup and maple syrup taffy. Not great pictures, but we heard all about maple syrup production. Québec produces 75% of the world’s maple syrup. There was even a maple syrup heist and scandal. The story is here. The photo of the race track painting was taken in the Sugar Shack. I thought it was weird that it was there.

Finally some scenes from our walkabout once we got back to the ship. Elaine didn’t want one of the dresses. Icicles are self explanatory. And me and my ship.

Back on board, we sailed at 2:00 pm. The plan is a sea day tomorrow with the only remaining stop in Toronto where we disembark. This involves sailing right through Montreal on the St. Lawrence River, then through a series of locks to take us onto Lake Ontario, The locks are busy and you have to get a slot. So we ended up docking in Montreal for the night and will head for the locks in the morning. It was possible to go ashore in Montreal at 9:30 pm. Maybe back in the day we might have as Montreal is a favorite old haunt – we used to drive up every Columbus Day weekend when we lived in Melrose. But we stayed on board. A few pics of a beautiful sunset and some shots of Montreal and its Ferris wheel, La Grande Roue de Montreal. The first picture is the King Fish that was the specialty in the World Cafe for dinner. It was delicious.

Final big news of the day. We booked another cruise for next year! More on that tomorrow. There may be a day’s delay on the next posting as we have to pack, disembark, pick up a rental car, and drive from Toronto to Niagara Falls. So don’t be surprised if there is a delay before the next post.

Tuesday

It’s good to be back in Québec City again. We always liked it. And we lucked out. Cold, yes. Snow, no. It was dry for all the time we were off the ship. The most recognizable site in Québec is of the Chateau Frontenac Hotel. Elaine and I stayed there one year on a road trip vacation to Montreal, Québec, and the Gaspé Peninsula. Here’s a view of it from this morning.

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Our tour wasn’t until 9:15, so I took a few snaps of artwork around the ship as well

Having already done Québec several times, we wanted a tour that did something different. So we were off on a bus to the Musée Huron-Wendat, the local First Nation people. They have a very nice presentation on the history of the Huron-Wendat.

Then you get to visit an authentic tribal Long House and see what life was like in them. Fires burned 24 hours a day in the long houses and they were burning when we entered. The fires were the only light, a fact which explains the reddish color in the photos. They used long poles to open vents in the top a few times at night to let out the smoke which made breathing in the house difficult and greatly shortened life spans. They could not vent them more often because the smoke would alert enemies to their location. The long houses were completely surrounded by fences for protection. And they rarely stayed for long periods in one long house, moving about frequently.

Very nearby is the Kabir Kouba Waterfall. It’s nothing as dramatic and magnificent as Montmorency Falls which are higher than Niagara and within easy driving distance, but it’s a nice site just the same. We’ve been to Montmorency Falls before. Here is Kabir Kouba:

Then it was back to the ship which is docked very close to old Québec, so instead of reboarding, we set out on foot to Place Royale in the heart of old Quebec. We had a nice walkabout around old town.

We had lunch in the Pub La Borgia, a nifty bar right at the foot of the funicular. I had wicked good Soupe à l’Oignon and some tasty Ailes de Volaille (chicken wings) Elaine had a delicious Croque Monsieur with a salad. And we both had local bières (beer).

We didn’t go up the funicular to the Chateau Frontenac. Been there, done that. We did stop and buy a “Canada Is Not For Sale” tee shirt. After our walkabout we headed back to the ship for rest. relaxation, reading, naps, cocktails, dinner, and after dinner drinks. And bed. We sailed at midnight as we slept. Back tomorrow.

Monday

After yesterday’s wind, ice, and snow, we awoke this morning to beautiful sunshine. But it is still COLD. It was 28º this morning. By later in the day the Captain had opened all the outside decks again. Not much to report today. And not many pictures. It was beautiful outside as we settled down to read in the same spot as yesterday.

My sister asked why the fireplace wasn’t turned on in yesterday’s picture. Not sure; maybe that one was malfunctioning. They have those “fireplaces” all around on the ship, like the one in the picture below. They are not gas fires. In fact they are not fires at all, but water vapor fireplaces. It’s all done with electricity and water vapor and LED lights. You can connect them to a water line or fill them with water manually.

Cocktails were in the Living Room at 5:00 pm.

Bel was our server. She’s great doing selfies so she did a few for us. Note her great facial expressions.

Dinner was in Manfredi’s. Elaine had Caprese Salad while I had my usual Pasta e Fagioli (it’s so good!). Elaine had a pork chop; I had the Bistecca Florentine. In the picture it may look burnt. It isn’t! It nicely charred and red on the inside – cooked perfectly rare. We skipped desserts.

Tonight we enter the St Lawrence River. This will be third (maybe fourth?) cruise on the St Lawrence. The previous ones were going up from Montreal towards Europe. This will be the first one down river. We’ll be stopping in Québec City tomorrow (snow predicted!) and then Trois-Rivieres on Wednesday. We’ve been to both cities on cruises and on driving vacations. (I actually skied at Mont-Sainte-Anne near Québec City way back in 1963 when I used to visit Québec for the Winter Carnival.) After Trois-Rivieres we will have a river/locks/lake day with no stops. We’ll go right through Montreal and then enter a series of five locks that will take us onto Lake Ontario. We disembark on Friday in Toronto.

Be back tomorrow with a snow report from Québec.

Sunday

First off, here’s a map of our cruise route except there is one correction – our cruise stopped in Halifax, not in Lunenburg:

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So today we are supposed to be anchored at Cap-Aux-Meules Island in L’Îles de la Madelaine, Quebec. Alas, it was not meant to be. We awoke to still fairly smooth seas but 25-35 knot winds and icy snow. Not good for anchoring. Definitely not good for tendering. So, port call cancelled. Today we will be comfortable at sea instead of freezing on a tour that was supposed to include a stop at a lighthouse, an oyster farm (with free samples), and a winery (again with free samples). Le Barbocheux Artisanal winery would have been interesting. It’s bagosse variety is often called the beer of the Islands, but it is really a traditional home-brewed wine.

This is what it looks like at our suite garden area, shared with three other explorer suites (click to enlarge to really see the snow):

So we spent the day on board eating, drinking, napping, reading, and watching the weather. The outside decks are closed because of the weather, but it’s comfy inside and the seas are not rough at all. I will finish my book today and start a new one. Here’s where we spent much of the day:

Someone asked in a comment how far out to see we cruised between ports. I can’t answer exactly, but we are far enough out to be in international waters and far enough out so that there is normally no land in sight. International waters is important for cruise ships selling booze and gifts on board. It’s also important on most ships for on-board casinos, but Viking has no casinos. When in Canada on the St. Lawrence River, a cruise ship is only allowed to have one bar open on each deck. That’s not a big deal for a small ship like Viking (with just 378 passengers).

We had burgers and fries for lunch at The Grill in the World Cafe. Dinner tonight was also in the World Cafe.

Back again tomorrow which will be a planned sea/river day as we enter the St. Lawrence River and head toward Quebec City.

Saturday

My sister made the 2,000.th comment! Thank you all for your comments and your interest in the blog. We anchored early this morning at Cape Breton Island in northern Nova Scotia. Once again, we are the first cruise ship of the season and the locals are happy to see us as we are a a sign that summer is coming. But it certainly isn’t summer today. It’s cold. 32º predicted high. And there is a scattering of snow on the ground. At least it’s dry. Mostly cloudy was the odd trace of sun.

Most of the excursions from the ship are to the Fortress of Louisbourg. That’s as it should be since it is a major attraction. But Elaine and I have done that. Yes, it was back in like 1985 when we took our first ever vacation together to Nova Scotia via the overnight ferry from Portland to Halifax. We spent 10 days driving around and visited Cape Breton Island and the Fortress of Louisbourg. It was impressive, but I suspect it hasn’t changed much. So instead we did the excursion to Historic Sydney. The guide, a local and former school teacher, was wonderful with a great sense of humor.

Click on the galleries below to bring up scrollable windows with full size pictures – the gallery previews may show just thumbnails of the pictures. By the way, the pictures look much better on a tablet or a computer than they do on your phone. Just saying.

Our bus journeyed around the Sydney area and made two stops. First stop was at a delightful little museum, the Whitney Pier Historical Museum. It’s off season, so the museum isn’t open yet, but they opened just for us! Basically, it’s just two floors of artifacts donated by residents from their lives on Cape Breton Island. There are a bunch of volunteer docents who were incredibly knowledgeable and friendly. And there were (free) delicious home-baked Scottish oak biscuits. As you can see from the photos, they are proud of their multi-culturalism.

Another short drive and we were at the very small Historic Fort Petrie Military Museum. It too opened just for us, and the curator was welcoming and wonderful. We had a nice time chatting with him.

Then it was back to the ship. It cleared up a bit and I got a few pictures of the lighthouse and the area near where we were anchored. The lighthouse is the second oldest in North America. The oldest is on Brewster Island in Boston.

Dinner was in the Restaurant. We both had Indian Tomato Soup (very good!). I had Dover Sole. I forget what Elaine’s main was. She had cheeses for dessert while I had Chocolate Decadence. The sun came out brightly before dinner and I got some nice pictures as we set sail for Cap-Aux-Meules, Quebec.

Friday

So yesterday we’re checking the weather in Halifax and find out it’s snowing. Not a good sign. We arrived at 7:00 am. It was cloudy but dry and the inch or so of snow they got had melted. By the time we got off the ship, it remained mostly cloudy, but there was a fair amount of sun as well. It was nice in the sun. The temperature only got up to about 52º. We are docked right near the center of town, but our balcony looks out the other direction and we see this ligthhouse. Quiz question: What residents of Halifax known as? Halifaxers? Halifaxians? Or something else? Answer below somewhere.

After breakfast we donned warm clothing and our special expedition-ship life vests for an hour foray on one of the two “special operations boats” on board. It’s hard to describe the whole experience, but here a uTube video of one of the boats on the Viking Octanis, Viking’s first expedition ship. Polaris, our ship, is the second.

Click on the galleries below to bring up scrollable windows with full size pictures – the gallery previews may show just thumbnails of the pictures. By the way, the pictures look much better on a tablet or a computer than they do on your phone. Just saying.

It was cold out there, and for wildlife we only saw a lot of ducks and loons and geese, but it was fun. There are a lot of huge expensive homes along the shoreline. The stone tower you see is in Sir Sandford Fleming Park. It is also known as Dingle Park or simply The Dingle, named after the town of Dingle in southwestern Ireland How appropriate! We’ll be in Dingle in just five weeks. Here are my pictures:

After our short ride we reboarded Polaris, dumped our life vests, and headed out on foot. We just stayed along the Halifax Harbourwalk which is very nice, but lots of stuff wasn’t open yet as it is very early in the season. In fact, Polaris is the first cruise ship of the year to dock in Halifax. There was a TV news crew filming about that fact, and I got interviewed. So if you happened to be watching local Halifax news on TV on Friday, you might have seen me. Fact learned on the walk: Samuel Cunard who founded Cunard Lines was from Halifax. So, the quiz answer is that he was a Haligonian. Pictures from along the walk below. See the lighthouse in the gap of the stone statue? That’s Sammy Cunard in the last picture.

We had a great lunch at Sea Smoke, a nice restaurant right on the Harbourwalk. It was nice enough to sit outside where we had our own fire pit. The local beer we had was called Frig Off East Coast IPA by Nine Locks Brewing Company. I had six yummy oysters and then fried calamari and fries. Elaine had fish and chips. Good lunch!

Then it was back to the ship for rest and relaxation prior to the daily happy hour with John and Donna. Tonight it was in the Living Room Bar and we later adjourned to dinner in the World Cafe. At 7 pm we sail for Cape Breton, further north in Nova Scotia, where we will be tomorrow.

Until then! Oh, by the way, the next comment made will be the 2,000th comment on the blog. Who will it be?