Sadly we had to leave Orlando on Sunday morning. Our flights were easy, with beautiful weather. Only problem was we had to wait in line at Newark for 17 planes to take off. Andrea and Dave met us at the airport at 9:30 pm and we spent the night in Halifax.
Home today at 2 pm. Nice to be home and we are looking forward to the mad dash to Christmas. I don't have any Christmas cards or Christmas shopping done yet ...... but ..... life is good!
Stay tuned for our adventure next November when we cruise up the Amazon River.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Florida ... the sunshine State
We awoke on my birthday, December 4, to a gorgeous view of the Ft. Lauderdale port. There were 2 more cruise ships getting ready to dock. We had to vacate our suite by 8 am, so we found a couple of comfortable chairs near the departure area and read our Kindles. When we left the ship, we counted 6 more ships in dock.
Fortunately, we were the first group to disembark and for the first time in 7 days, felt our feet on dry ground. We took the free shuttle to the car rental at the airport and by 10 am, were heading north on I 95 to meet up with Bob and Francine in Orlando.
Our timeshare is outside of Orlando (Summer Bay Resort) and is perfect for a nice relaxing time away from the large populated areas. We have a pond with all the appropriate birds and water fowl, as well as a pool. It still takes me awhile to realize that it is less than three weeks to Christmas, but the lovely Christmas decorations bring me back to reality.
On Tuesday Eric and Bob went golfing and Francine and I sat out by the pool. When the boys returned from golfing about 3 pm, we went over to the larger pool for "Happy Hour". The boys wanted to swim, after a hot round of golf. When we got to the pool there was caution tape around the pool. They had a "hazardous object" alert! There was a small turd on the bottom of the pool. Apparently, they had to close the pool and wait for a special team to arrive to remove the "foreign object". Then they had to drain the pool and they expected the pool to be closed for 24 hours!! We had a good laugh when we took a peek at the foreign object. It was about the size of a Timbit and probaly rolled out of a baby's bathing suit.
Yesterday we travelled East to the Kennedy Space Center and had a wonderful day! We did the full tour and even went in the Space Shuttle simulator.
As I am writing this, we are watching a Great Egret sitting on the raiing of our balcony.
We are off to Lakeland today to visit our friends Bruce and Jane Walker. Bruce is taking Eric and Bob golfing and Francine and I will spend the day with Jane.
Fortunately, we were the first group to disembark and for the first time in 7 days, felt our feet on dry ground. We took the free shuttle to the car rental at the airport and by 10 am, were heading north on I 95 to meet up with Bob and Francine in Orlando.
Our timeshare is outside of Orlando (Summer Bay Resort) and is perfect for a nice relaxing time away from the large populated areas. We have a pond with all the appropriate birds and water fowl, as well as a pool. It still takes me awhile to realize that it is less than three weeks to Christmas, but the lovely Christmas decorations bring me back to reality.
On Tuesday Eric and Bob went golfing and Francine and I sat out by the pool. When the boys returned from golfing about 3 pm, we went over to the larger pool for "Happy Hour". The boys wanted to swim, after a hot round of golf. When we got to the pool there was caution tape around the pool. They had a "hazardous object" alert! There was a small turd on the bottom of the pool. Apparently, they had to close the pool and wait for a special team to arrive to remove the "foreign object". Then they had to drain the pool and they expected the pool to be closed for 24 hours!! We had a good laugh when we took a peek at the foreign object. It was about the size of a Timbit and probaly rolled out of a baby's bathing suit.
Yesterday we travelled East to the Kennedy Space Center and had a wonderful day! We did the full tour and even went in the Space Shuttle simulator.
As I am writing this, we are watching a Great Egret sitting on the raiing of our balcony.
We are off to Lakeland today to visit our friends Bruce and Jane Walker. Bruce is taking Eric and Bob golfing and Francine and I will spend the day with Jane.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Bobbing Around in the Atlantic
Just finished our fourth day at sea. According to the captain, we are over the half-way point in crossing the Atlantic. We saw a freighter today, going west ... nice to know we are not alone out here! Very unfortunate for whoever they had the emergency call for tonight while we were at supper. It was on deck 11 and they put the all throughout the ship. First one of those since we departed.
A further bit of information concerning the man who broke his hip on our tour to the winery .... he was from Ottawa (I might have written Toronto in error) and had set out for the cruise with another couple from Ottawa. Apparently, on the flight from Ottawa to Rome, the gentleman from the other couple died on the flight! His wife returned to Ottawa with the body and the other couple went on to the cruise.
On a much brighter note, we are so much enjoying our bridge cruise. Larry Cohen is a wonderful teacher and is a great host on the cruise. He and his wife have made it a point to have dinner each night with people on the bridge cruise. We are due to dine with them on Friday night ... all our friends at the Friday bridge club can think of us on Friday night while you are playing bridge. Today he gave each of us a "gift" .. his teaching CD's. Very nice of him as they are each valued at $20.
Got to love the trans Atlantic travel. When we left Rome, we had 6 time zones to recover and tonight is our fourth time change. We are still one hour ahead of Nova Scotia, but getting close!
It is now Thursday and tomorrow we will be back on Atlantic Standard Time. We had rough seas last night and things settled down by noon. Now it is clear sailing and Eric plans on watching the stars tonight.
We have developed a nice daily routine. Bridge occupies the morning and afternoon until 4:30 when we go to our suite and have a drink on the balcony. We face south, so we have the sun all day. After watching thr sun set, we get dressed up for dinner, but go the lounge before dinner. They have lovely music; in fact it is a young French girl from Montreal who is accompanied on the piano by a cute young British fellow. Then we go to dinner at one of the 3 restaurants. We always choose to share a table and meet some very interesting people. I don't think we have eaten with anyone who is on their first Regent cruise .... they cruise all the time!!
All for now .... love to all
A further bit of information concerning the man who broke his hip on our tour to the winery .... he was from Ottawa (I might have written Toronto in error) and had set out for the cruise with another couple from Ottawa. Apparently, on the flight from Ottawa to Rome, the gentleman from the other couple died on the flight! His wife returned to Ottawa with the body and the other couple went on to the cruise.
On a much brighter note, we are so much enjoying our bridge cruise. Larry Cohen is a wonderful teacher and is a great host on the cruise. He and his wife have made it a point to have dinner each night with people on the bridge cruise. We are due to dine with them on Friday night ... all our friends at the Friday bridge club can think of us on Friday night while you are playing bridge. Today he gave each of us a "gift" .. his teaching CD's. Very nice of him as they are each valued at $20.
Got to love the trans Atlantic travel. When we left Rome, we had 6 time zones to recover and tonight is our fourth time change. We are still one hour ahead of Nova Scotia, but getting close!
It is now Thursday and tomorrow we will be back on Atlantic Standard Time. We had rough seas last night and things settled down by noon. Now it is clear sailing and Eric plans on watching the stars tonight.
We have developed a nice daily routine. Bridge occupies the morning and afternoon until 4:30 when we go to our suite and have a drink on the balcony. We face south, so we have the sun all day. After watching thr sun set, we get dressed up for dinner, but go the lounge before dinner. They have lovely music; in fact it is a young French girl from Montreal who is accompanied on the piano by a cute young British fellow. Then we go to dinner at one of the 3 restaurants. We always choose to share a table and meet some very interesting people. I don't think we have eaten with anyone who is on their first Regent cruise .... they cruise all the time!!
All for now .... love to all
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