Map of First Part of the Cruise
Click on the maps to enlarge and see route.
I am hoping to post photos here as we go along but may have to wait until we return home.
Map of Second Part of the Cruise
Map of First Part of the Cruise |
On Sunday Sept 8th we are leaving for
Montreal where we will spend 3 days exploring the city
before embarking on Oceania's ship Insignia
for a 17-day cruise around the Northeast coast of
Canada, down the Eastern Seaboard of the USA, across to
Bermuda and down to Miami. Ports of call are:
Trois-Rivieres, Quebec City, Saguenay (Quebec), Corner
Brook (Newfoundland), Sydney, Halifax
(Nova Scotia), Bar Harbor (Maine), Boston
(Massachusetts), New York (2 nights), Bermuda (2
nights). Click on the maps to enlarge and see route. I am hoping to post photos here as we go along but may have to wait until we return home. |
Map of Second Part of the Cruise |
Sept 17th
Well, here we are, all at sea on our 42nd
anniversary, cruising the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the way to
Halifax, Nova Scotia. We should have been in Sydney (the one
in Nova Scotia, not Australia) but it is too rough to get into
port, apparently. This is the second port we have missed for
the same reason. Instead of going into Saguenay we stayed a
second night in Quebec City. However, I checked the shipping
forecast and there were 6 mph winds and light seas in Saguenay
on the day we were supposed to be there, so we were fed fake
news by the Captain. More cruise elements later, but first to
catch up with the photos of Montreal ...
 The Hotel Bonaparte where we stayed. A fine hotel with one of the best restaurants in Montreal. |
 Old Montreal Street opposite the hotel. |
 The Basilica of Notre Dame |
 Canada's First Bank, now converted into a cafe and workspace. These are the old Teller Desks |
 |
In opposite
corners of the square outside the Basilica stand two
statues wearing false noses. One is of an
English-speaking Canadian man (left) holding a pug and
sneering disparagingly at the Basilica - an emblem of
Catholicism and France. On the right is a French
Canadian lady holding a poodle and looking disdainfully
at the Bank of Montreal, an edifice representing
commerce and Britain. While these two snobs refuse to look at each other, their dogs are trying to leap from their arms and get together to play, never mind the language barrier. A nice little allegory representing the tensions between the two dominant cultures in Quebec which is francophone but also has a huge British influence. The original Nelson's column stands just down the road. French Canadians, who were Royalists, loved Nelson because he defeated Napoleon three times - decisively at the battle of Trafalgar. So the Quebecoise erected a column topped by a statue of Nelson, years before the one in Trafalgar Square, London. The guide on our 'free' walking tour asked who we thought was atop the column and I blurted out "Napoleon", inviting guffaws from Barb and other members of the tour. Duh! |
 CLICK on any IMAGE to ENLARGE (Except Statues) |
Huge Murals adorn many
buildings  |
 More Murals
 At first, we found
Montreal to be dingy, dirty and decrepit but it's a
city that grows on you. The people are great and the
French culture is very seductive.
|
 Leonard Cohen Mural   Inside the 'Bar Suzanne' |
While in
Montreal we embarked on a sort of ghoulish groupie tour
of the district where Leonard Cohen grew up and hung
out. Two huge murals of the Great Poet and Lady's Man
adorn the walls of tall buildings, his house is nearby,
and the stairs in Bar Suzanne are decorated with a
snatch of the lyric from the song of the same title. We tried to get into his favorite Jewish Deli but the line was long and a local Jewish lady said "it is only for the tourists now and not very good" and advised us to go to another one which was definitely not touristy and not good either! The citizens of Montreal are incredibly polite and helpful. Stop in the street for a moment and unfurl a map and one will rush up to you and ask if you need help. By the time we left we were big fans not just of Leonard, but of the atmosphere and people of Montreal as a whole. I don't think I'd want to be here in the winter, though, even though a girl we met said it is "magical". |
  |
 Barb Enjoying a Romantic Dinner in a Portugese Restaurant |
 At the Cruise Ship Terminal |
 Leaving Montreal aboard Insignia CLICK on any IMAGE to ENLARGE |
 First Stop - the Ship's Library |
Sept 26th
 Stained Glass Window by Guido Nincheri in the Cathedral of the Assumption, Trois-Rivières. Click for detail. |
 Docked at Trois-Rivières  In the French Cafe After the tiny town of
Trois Rivieres we docked in the huge harbor of Quebec
City. This is a big bustling city of over half a
million and is the Capital of Quebec. We had booked a
tour of the surrounding countryside but it was a mess
because the bicycle Grand Prix was in progress so the
town center was largely closed. We had to hang around,
take a small coach to meet our main coach at the
Hilton Hotel and we departed half an hour late. The
tour was disappointing as most of the stops were
commercial and one of the remaining two was a church.
That left only an impressive waterfall as the sole
rural stop.
|
 Château Frontenac, Quebec City  House in Sainte-Pétronille, Island of Orléans  Montmorency Falls |
 Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré  Basilca Copper Door, locally crafted CLICK on any IMAGE to ENLARGE |
 Lower Old Town Street with Funicular |
 Princess Lines Cruise Ship in Dock taken from the top of the Funicular. The diminutive Insignia can be seen moored just behind it. |
 Art Alley in Upper Old Town |
 Wedding Party outside the Hôtel de Ville |
 Elevator Selfie - Dressed Up for the Captain's Reception. |
The clientele,
guests (Oceania term), passengers - call them what you
will - on this cruise are predominately old overweight
loudmouths, mostly from the East and Midwest of
America. Some are very obnoxious and a few are
borderline nuts. We were regaled by Maureen from
Melbourne with stories of her insignificant life
achievements for about half an hour while her husband
dozed beside her. "He's lucky he's deaf", said Barb,
noting the hearing aids. She reminded us of Hyacinth
Bucket in Keeping Up Appearances. I wanted to tell her
that but she would not let us get a word in. Another
lady from California was practically foaming at the
mouth about the dreadful British National Health
Service versus the wonderful American system. I was
quoting WHO stats at her but she would not be
persuaded even though she had no direct experience of
the NHS and both of us have. She kept insisting that
you 'have to have supplementary insurance there' even
though hardly anyone does, and it only buys you a
better hospital room, maybe. The same docs are in the
NHS and in private care. Other cruises we have been on, including Oceania, have had a much broader range of ages, nationalities and cultures than this one. Why is that? I don't know, maybe it's the itinerary. It's called the "Awe of America" cruise and I am certainly in awe of the bulk of the passengers. |
 We did make a few friends among the motley crew of fellow travelers. Here are Leslie and Mike from London, now living in Portugal CLICK on any IMAGE to ENLARGE |
 |
 Forest Pixie |
 Lake |
 The Glynmill Inn |
 Salmon Stream |
 Me and my Hero, Captain Cook |
 Captain Cook surveyed
Newfoundland from
1763 with such accuracy that his charts were still in use hundreds of years later. He was so admired in England that he was next sent to chart Tahiti and the Pacific Islands for the first time. |
 Corner Brook from the Cook Monument CLICK on any IMAGE to ENLARGE |
 Samuel Cunard, founder of the Cunard Line, was born in Halifax and the company has long been associated with the town  'Drunken Lampposts' on the Quay (Not a result of the recent hurricane but an objet d'art) |
 We tried Poutine, Canada's fast-food delight. It consists of french fries slathered in gravy and topped with melted cheese. Deluxe versions have bacon or shrimp added. It was as disgusting as it looks. CLICK on any IMAGE to ENLARGE |
 A Lifeboat of the type fitted to the Titanic in the Maritime Museum. Titanic had only enough for First and Second Class passengers in contravention of International Maritime Law. Many of them were launched half full. HMCS Sackville, one of the last
Corvettes of
123 built in Canada. They hunted U-Boats and helped to win the Battle of the Atlantic in WWII. >> |
 Typical Early Radio Room  |
 The Margaret Tod, a Tall Ship trip boat  Red Sails in the Sunset |
 Two of the Fine Houses in Town  |
 The Trees were just beginning to turn to Autumn Colors CLICK on any IMAGE to ENLARGE (Except panoramas above and below) |
 Barb enjoying a cup of Lobster Bisque in the Bar Harbor Lobster Co. She followed up with a lobster roll. I had clam chowder and a crab roll. |
 |
 The Resolute Desk (reproduction) The Resolute Desk has a
fascinating history. HMS Resolute
was abandoned in 1852, found by a US ship,
restored and presented to Queen Victoria as
a gift. When the ship was broken up, the
Queen had the desk made from the timbers and
presented it to the White House in 1878.
Jackie Kennedy discovered it in storage and
installed it in the Oval Office.
|
 Historic Words on TV - from the Inaugural CLICK on any IMAGE to ENLARGE |
 The Victura, JFK's favorite boat, a 25 ft sloop which the family bought when he was 15. It is one of only 200 Wianno Seniors that the Crosby Boat Yard built in Cape Cod. It escaped two near-disasters, a lightning strike in 1936 and a hurricane in 1944. Kennedy dragged it ashore. He sailed it all his life and frequently doodled it in White House Meetings. |
 Cruising Past the Statue of Liberty |
 Staten Island |
 One World Trade Center |
 Cruising Past Manhattan |
 Empire State Building (rear center) |
 We were moored next to an incongruous Concorde at the Intrepid Museum, Pier 86 |
 Just Glance out of a Taxi and you KNOW you're in New York. |
 CLICK on any IMAGE to ENLARGE |
 Manhattan by Night, from our balcony. |
 Verrazano Narrows Bridge |
 Central Park Lake CLICK on any IMAGE
to ENLARGE
|
 Lady Liberty Waving Immigrants Goodbye - by order of the President |
On day 2
in New York, Barb went into Manhattan to
meet Matt and Jake (left), her great
nephews, her sister Linda's grand-kids.
She said that they are delightful
company. They are musicians who moved to
New York, like Bob Dylan before them, to
seek fame and fortune. I
recorded them in 2018 jamming with
their dad in his attic in Texas. One
day, maybe, some music historian will
dig up this video after they become
famous. They are shortly to tour as "The Venus Twins".
Anyway, I admire their pluck and they
seem to be having a great time.