The past month and a half has gone by pretty fast. The third week in May had us beginning our vacation by flying to Montreal, Quebec in order to take our Canada / New England cruise. The flight was quick, only 45 minutes, but we had to wait about 3 hours at the airport before we could take our shuttle to the cruise ship. We boarded the Volendam around noon; took a tour of the ship; settled into our stateroom; and relaxed at the back of the ship near the pool before setting sail down the St. Lawrence River around 7pm. The Volendam is the smallest and oldest ship in the Holland America fleet, but as it turned out, one of the best cruise ships that we have been on. Volendam is 25 years old and only carries 1400 passengers but she is very well laid out; with comfortable lounges, bars, restaurants, and pool areas – and the staff and crew were amazing!! We had an ocean view stateroom at the very back of the ship on the Main Deck – usually we get a stateroom with a balcony – and it was probably the biggest cabin we have ever been in!! 😊 The first port that we visited was Quebec City, being the second oldest walled city in North America after St. Augustine, Florida. We docked in the old lower part of the city and made our way through charming Old European streets up 250 feet of stairs and pathways to the Chateau Frontenac and the Dufferin Terrace. Absolutely beautiful, with stunning views across the St. Lawrence. We took the Funicular Railway back down to the lower town and spent a couple of hours going through the stores and the streets before returning to the ship. The next day was a ‘sea day’ – we spent most of the day in the Gulf of St. Lawrence off the coast of the Gaspe Peninsula. It was sunny, but very cold, so we spent most of the day exploring the ship or just sitting back and relaxing and meeting new friends. The next day saw us in our next port – Charlottetown, P.E.I. . We had booked an excursion to go see where the fictional literary character ‘Anne of Green Gables’ supposedly grew up. The author, Lucy Maud Montgomery, had seen a house near where she grew up, and had based her later novel on how that house had been. The house is now a National Historic Site and many tourists go to visit it. It’s up by the north end of the province and is about a 45 minute drive from Charlottetown so we were able to see a large part of the country side and the small towns and ports along the route. When we returned to Charlottetown we strolled around the historic streets and downtown area. It’s quite a pretty little town. We had dinner in the Pinnacle Restaurant – one of the specialty restaurants onboard – and it was amazing!! The next day we docked in Sydney, Nova Scotia on Cape Breton Island. The weather was cold, wet and miserable so we just strolled around the town and then back to the cruise terminal where they had about 30 or so vendors and craft stalls. Not a lot to do in Sydney itself but it is the starting point for several great excursions: The Cabot trail (which is absolutely stunning and runs for about 172 miles; the Fortress of Louisberg – the French stronghold in North America until the British defeated the French at the Plains of Abraham in Quebec in 1754 – all the staff are wearing costumes from the 17th and 18th century and re-enact daily life there; Baddeck – where Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone and launched ‘The Silver Dart’ (the first flight in Canada); and many more local excursions. The next day the weather was much nicer as we docked in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I hadn’t been back to Halifax in about 23 years so it was interesting to see all the changes that had happened since then. And as I had been in the Canadian Navy for almost 20 years I was very familiar with the area. As Kelly had never been there before a friend of mine arranged to pick us up at the cruise terminal and drive us all around the city and the surrounding area. We first went down to Point Pleasant Park and then down South Street to the Public Gardens. We went by the Commons (where they play cricket every Sunday) and then across the Angus MacDonald bridge over to Dartmouth and then to Lawrencetown Beach – a great place to swim or even go surfing!! We came back to Halifax across the Mackay Bridge – with a great view of Bedford Basin – and spent about 40 minutes looking for a parking space close to the Halifax Boardwalk and Historic Properties. We finally parked back near the cruise terminal – Pier 21 where a lot of new immigrants to Canada first landed in the 1940’s – and walked along the waterfront. The last time I was here the boardwalk only extended about a quarter of a mile; now it’s about 2 miles long 😊. There were lots of new buildings – condominiums, restaurants, and stores – and it was a very pleasant way to spend the afternoon. We went to the Split Crow Pub for a couple of beers and then made our way back along the boardwalk to the cruise terminal and the Volendam. The next day we anchored in Frenchman Bay, just off of Bar Harbor, Maine – close to Acadia National Park – and took a tender into town. Bar Harbor is on Mount Desert Island which was discovered by Samuel De Champlain back in 1604. Early industries there included fishing, lumber mills, and shipbuilding. It became a popular tourist destination in the 1880’s and soon attracted the attention of the rich and famous who built large hotels and estates there. Many famous families called Bar Harbor home for at least part of the year – the Rockefellers, the Vanderbilts, J.P. Morgan, the Astors, and many more. It’s still a small town – population about 5,200 – but has many historic houses, many of which have been converted to hotels, shops, and restaurants. We spent about 3 hours walking around the town before taking the tender back to the ship. The next day we reached our final destination, Boston Massachusetts. Disembarkation was fast and painless and we spent about 4 hours at Logan International Airport before our flight back to Toronto and the next day we drove back home to Sparta Line 😊. It was a very enjoyable experience on the Volendam and the ports that we visited. We would definitely do it again 😊.
The weather has been very strange since we have been back home – warm and humid one week, and cold and wet the next. Two weeks ago the average temperature was 42C (with the humidex) and this past week the average temperature was about 13C ☹. This weekend was the Canada Day long weekend – it poured rain all day Saturday and had a high of maybe 14C; Sunday it was overcast, windy, and cold – about 12C, we had to turn the furnace on the evening!; and today is supposed to be sunny and reach a high around 24C!! The rest of the week is supposed to be nice, so maybe the weather will finally stabilize 😊.
The war between Hamas and Israel is still going on – about 37,765 Palestinians have been killed and about 86,000 wounded, The death toll from the October 7 attack stands at 1139 with dozens still held captive. There doesn’t appear to be any end in sight for this war either ☹.
The war in Ukraine is still ongoing – and probably will be for at least another year. Once the Ukrainians started receiving the ammunition and weapons provided by the U.S. $95 billion dollar bill they have been able to halt the Russian advances in the East for the most part. They should be receiving their first shipment of F-16s soon but it will take time to train the pilots and mechanics to bring the squadrons up to active duty. Most of the F16s initially be based in other countries – Poland and Romania – but the Russians have said that that will make those airfields legitimate targets. The Russians have announced that they are building a base in Tobruk, Libya – that will bring several European nations into range of their missiles – primarily Germany, France, and Spain.
The food on the Volendam was amazing. We only had one meal that wasn’t outstanding, but it was still pretty good 😊. A lot of cooking has been going on since we returned – we have had many different pasta dishes; Ham Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing; Beef and Pork Roasts with Roasted Veggies; Pork Lo Mein with Noodles; Chicken and Pork Pad Thais; Scandinavian Meatballs with Fresh Pasta; Fresh Pasta with Bolognese Sauce; Chicken Stuffed Pineapple; Yucatan Pork Verde; lots of different type Paninis; Steaks; BBQ hamburgers and Sausages on a bun; and many other dishes .
On the Netflix and Prime front: We have had a hard time finding a new series to watch, although we have found an excellent police drama on Britbox – ‘Blue Lights’ – set in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Unfortunately it only adds new episodes on one at a time every week so it’s going to take a while to watch both seasons. We have taken to watching ‘The 1% Club’ a game show featuring Patton Oswalt – it’s kind of ‘Jeopardy’ on steroids, very enjoyable to watch. I’ve rewatched the excellent Spanish series ‘Money Heist’ for the fifth time. It gets better every time I watch it 😊. I am now re-watching ‘Dead Wind’, a Finnish mystery police thriller. I didn’t really care for it the first time, but it’s starting to grow on me and I do love to see the Finnish scenery and landscape 😊 .
On the NHL front – the Edmonton Oilers faced off against the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final Series. The Panthers went up 3 – 0 against the Oilers, but the Oilers fought back to even up the series 3 – 3 and force a game 7. Game 7 was a close and well fought match, but the Panthers prevailed and won 2 – 1 for their first ever Stanley Cup.
On to baseball –MLB is about half-way through the regular season and Toronto is still at the bottom of their division but only 14 ½ games behind the leader, Baltimore ☹ . Seattle is in first place in their division and 3 ½ games ahead of Houston in second place 😊.
On to golf … The RBC Canadian Open was held the last week of May – 8 Canadians made the cut – Corey Connors came in 6th and Mackenzie Hughes tied for 9th, not a bad showing for Canadians. The Memorial Tournament in Ohio – no cut as it was a premier event with only 70 golfers – 5 Canadians – Adam Hadwin came in 3rd ($1.4M U.S.), Corey Connors tied for 20th ($260K U.S.). The U.S. Open – 3 Canadians made the cut – Corey Connors tied for 9th, Taylor Pendrith tied for 16th, and Adam Svensson tied for 56th. The Travellers Championship – another signature event with 70 golfers – was last week with 6 Canadians qualifying – Adam Svensson tied for 16th, and Taylor Pendrith tied for 23rd. This week was the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit – 4 Canadians played, 3 made the cut – Ben Silverman tied for 17th, Roger Sloan tied for 31st , and Taylor Pendrith tied for 72nd .
NFL news – Not a lot going on at this time of year except training. Geno Smith has been confirmed as the starter for Seattle – but you never know what will happen in football
Have a great and safe month … pray for Ukraine … we will see you in a bit!! 😊