Eurodam

Great that we chose to have our own two days in Boston, as the day dawned when the ship was in Port - absolutely pouring, and continued to do so all day. Pity the poor buggers who had only that day to do their sightseeing!
There were actually two "Dam" ships in port that day, and our taxi delivered us to the wrong one - Arch was concerned about not finding our name on the passenger list when the light dawned on me.... Had to get a nice fella to take our luggage down to the correct ship - this necessitated a tip of course!!!
Had to fight our way on board, some charity had organised a "viewing of the ship and lunch" to raise funds, and our arrival coincided with theirs.... Finally got to our cabin - nice room, but we had been upgraded to a larger room which was nice, but sadly, this time on Starboard, nor the Port side. Not to worry - we'll just spend less time in our room..
This ship is H U G E.... After getting off our little Arctic ship (100 guests) onto this (2,000 guests) - we are a bit in awe..
Got our good clobber on for dinner, and were posted to share an intimate dinner with 8 other strangers - okay, meal okay as well. Arthur dying to head to the Casino, so did just that for a couple of hours.
Went sightseeing at Bar Harbour, Maine the next day. The National Park about which I had heard much positive stuff, was the place to go. So we did. The view from the top of the highest peak in the Acadia National Park was apparently to die for - alas and alak - covered in pea soup fog when we got there. Imagination is a wonderful thing! The casino is keeping Arch amused..


Next stop was Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Once again did a full day excursion to see "stuff". Much interesting, but much also not so flash. On this part of the island, there is actually a Gaelic School - really!! They teach the gaelic language, piping, and everything a respectable Canadian would need to know to pass as Scottish!! VERY bizarre. They have tartan everywhere, play Scottish music everywhere, and you drive past cemeteries dedicated totally to one of the "Mc" Clans. It is like being in a time warp..

Halifax, Nova Scotia is supposed to be inserted here....... see below..

Next stop was Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island - known as P.E.I. See, we're locals already!
Lovely warm, sunny day, about 24 degrees C. Were greeted by some sort of Corroboree by the local natives, doing an endless repetition of "singing" and drumming. We were happy to get on our bus for yet another outing - this time to a town about 30 minutes away, where we went on a cruise up the estuary, to see how they grow and harvest millions of mussels. We also made the acquaintance of a few fat seals, lolling about on their little mussel shell island.

Dressed for dinner tonight, and forced ourselves upon a nice little foursome - some kind of family relations, Canadians/Americans. Now, that was an interesting dinner. Arch and I had attended the "sail away" party on deck for a short while, and had had one or two glasses of something... We landed up with this group, none of whom apparently drank - anything - and proceeded to shock them to the core! It is SO much fun, and SO easy to do.... 99% of the passengers are American, they are all so bloody pious, SO religious, and SO delightfully shockable!! We love to tell them that nobody in Australia goes to church any more, we never have our kids Christened, much less have our deceased buried by a Man of the Cloth - it's absolutely fantastic to see their faces whilst they pretend not to care!!! I had breakfast this morning with a woman who couldn't wait to tell me that she was a devout Catholic who went to Mass every day - even on the ship, and I couldn't wait to tell her my version of life!! I'm loving it, I can tell you.

The Nationalised Health Care issue is big in the US at the moment, and it has been funny to watch their faces as ALL the Canadian tour guides tell them what a fantastic thing their health system is (very similar to Australia's), and that they wouldn't have it any other way. Hopefully it has given the Americans something to think about when they go home.

Today has been totally at sea as we are travelling between P.E.I. and Saguenay Fjord in Quebec. - arriving tomorrow morning.
The weather has been a bit average today, so haven't done much. Did do a 5km walk around the Promenade to raise for Breast Cancer research. Good fun, and very easy to walk without hindrance!! Formal Dress for dinner tonight, so Arch and I went to the ultra casual dining room and ate in great comfort - no boring conversations either..

Somehow, this next bit has been juxtaposed, and I can't find a way to cut and paste....... Bear with me....

Next day, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Whatever you've heard about Nova Scotia being in a time warp, and still wearing the tartan, and bearing their "Scottishness" with pride is true, and somewhat hilarious!! We visited an amazing place called "Peggy's Cove" which consists almost entirely of absolutely humungous rocks, left behind when the last glaciers receded about 200 thousand years ago - under ice was which was about 1 mile thick... Must be something to do with Global Warming!! We were greeted at Peggy's Cove by an extremely talented female Piper, piping her way to College she hoped, and her case was indeed full of money. Good on her.
The ship sailed at about 5pm so it was nice to be up on deck watching the town disappear from view. Dinner was again at a table with 8 other strangers - really tedious having to talk to a heap of total strangers, so mostly didn't bother - just conversed with one woman near us!!

You really cannot imagine the variety of people on this cruise - all a big eye-opener to us. I reckon we are really the only passengers who have not been cruising for years - when listening to snippets of conversation, you hear that they have all been everywhere!! Aussies obviously came late to cruising, and we feel totally unable to converse with them about their Cruise experiences. There are SO many zimmer frames, wheel chairs, and the lame and infirm making their way about the ship, one has to proceed with caution! Happily there are more physically capable, and some even young passengers to balance this out..

The facilities are amazing - those who have cruised will know, but it's very revealing to us "cruise virgins".

The main Recreation room is on the Observation Deck, and it's really lovely. Picture windows about 180 degrees, leather recliner chairs facing the ocean (the front of the ship), heaps of other chairs, leather lounges, wine tables, etc.. A lending library, a book exchange, CD and Video library, any game you can imagine, card and board games - two huge jig-saw puzzles on an equally huge table, just there for anyone to spend a minute or ten. When the puzzles are completed, magically a new one appears. Very good indeed. There is also a coffee shop and a bar on this section of the ship, and indeed I am there now, using the internet...

All in all, a very relaxing holiday, and we're really only using our fellow-travellers for our entertainment and amusement - if you don't feel like talking to anyone, you just don't....

If you can be bothered "Googling" (on Google Earth) the Coastline around between Boston and Quebec City, you will find it is fantastic, and we're really enjoying the scenery.

Okay, that's it I think. I'm off to have another glass of wine, and watch the sun set.

Cheers,
Ann and Arch

We arrive in Quebec City in a couple of days, and that will be interesting - considering our French is non-existent!!!