jpalbny

And Albany has fewer than 100,000. So I guess one part of the analogy holds!

Great pics, ural guy! Chris has had that region on her list for a while now. I will have to show her your pictures. We'll be on the Elbe next month, as our Silversea cruise ends at Hamburg. We have two nights there before we fly home. Looking forward to it!

The guide forgot to say, "in Italy," I believe. The first heart transplant in Italy was indeed in Padua, in 1985. Eighteen years after Dr. Barnard did the first ever in the world, in Cape Town, in 1967.

🤣🤣🤣 Good way to put it! Definitely worth a stop. Certainly unique. *** OP: Sometimes you get lucky and the ship is docked right in the middle of the city at the Old Harbor (Miðbakki) but it looks like the Moon is going to dock at the far terminal (Skarfabakki) every time it's there in 2023. Check your sailing here: https://www.faxafloahafnir.is/cruiseships/ As others have said that location is a bit out of town and there's not much to do close by. You can walk the waterfront all the way to the main part of town but it's a bit of a hike. A shame; Reykjavik is a great little city and worth a wander. The Blue Lagoon is an excellent way to recover from a short overnight flight. We've done that right after landing once. Worth a couple of hours detour there, and then you'd be ready to board.

Finally catching up! Lots to catch up with. That prime rib looked delicious to me! Trieste and Ravenna look like a couple of places to add to our list though. The loss of Trieste to Italy after WWII is still a sore subject in Slovenia. And one that I was unaware of, until our visit to Slovenia last year.

No, it's a cost-cutting measure by the bean counters. The more hours you lose, the less wine you can drink! So they save money.

Ooh! Pretty waterfall. Chris would definitely take that excursion.

Sounds like it was a great trip. We've been to pretty much all of these places (not on the same trips) so your pictures jogged some nice memories. Haven't looked at the videos yet - when I'm on a faster connection will check them out. Definitely a shame that you missed the Brazilian side of the Falls. From what we saw in Iguazu, the two sides complemented each other nicely. But that border crossing can be slow, so it could be hard to plan with a group. And did you say that the walkway to Devil's Throat was closed? Is that the one that you mean on the Argentine side? Glad you avoided further injury on the trip - your pre-trip fall sounded like enough to deal with. Thanks for sharing your journey with us.

Glad you could get ashore and visit - and thanks for the great snorkel pictures! Makes me want to get an anemone for our tank so the clown fish can enjoy its company.

Yes, we got the offer in AUD also. It was amusing. At least we've been there a few times!

Wow! Quel Richard....

Well, it's where there heads often seem to be, so close enough!

But type C is not the only European plug. If you have a European device (or adapter) with a type E or F plug, it's NOT going to fit into the Switzerland type J socket.

We have done a few weekends in Atlanta. It's an easy hop from Albany on DL, then grab the MARTA train from the airport to wherever we're staying. Lots of great food to be sampled. The City Winery is on Chris's list too but we haven't made it there yet. We'll be flying through in July but no time for any sightseeing, unless things go wrong. Loving all the dog pictures!

We're having fun with it. Lots of nice choices there.

I hope so! Send pictures of the festivities! This is us, almost 10 years ago, June 2013...

Sunday afternoon. Mid 70s, sunny, and not humid. Perfect weather for a leisurely stroll somewhere, so we went 15 minutes away to Peebles Island. This island sits in the Mohawk River, just before it converges with the the Hudson. A nice 2+ mile loop through the wilderness, but within sight of civilization. We walked the perimeter of the island. Here's Waterford on the other bank. This tree is somehow hanging on. Looks like it could walk away. A spillway in the Mohawk. Yes, that's a Great Blue Heron! Further along, a pair of geese with at least three little ones. They are on the river bank in this photo. On the other side of the island, the world-renowned Cohoes Falls. Not Victoria, but closer. Not all wilderness. This is some kind of six-cylinder engine. Rusting away. Back to the spillway for another view of the herons. There are two now. A nice afternoon. Hope everyone else is enjoying it too.

Bistecca alla Florentina. It's what (was) for dinner, last night. After doing lots of work around the house, we deserved a treat. Found a nice-looking Porterhouse at the local butcher shop. Sel gris and a bit of rosemary. Went out for a walk while it warmed up. Did about 90 seconds per side on the grill. Almost done. After the quick sear, I let it rest off the flame for a minute or two. It looks too pretty to eat. But we enjoyed every bit. This might even satisfy Dr. Ron's definition of appropriately cooked? I had a bottle of Carignane from Italy which went nicely. I even shared it with Chris! And just like that, it's Sunday already. Where do these weekends go?

Thanks for the memories. I often gazed at those plaques while wandering around Silver Explorer. Will not have time to have another cruise aboard her SS tenure, sadly. PS thanks for the many pictures that say PAII. We still have our parkas from December 2009 that say Prince Albert II, not Silver Explorer. I wonder if I could sell them on eBay for a profit? 😉

Definitely off the beaten path! We are eagerly anticipating a follow-up report - but enjoy that ice-cold G&T first. Then have another while you're writing your report. And tourists? Don't fall in!

And now you're back with your original screen name! BTW I am always logged in on multiple devices. At a minimum, on my laptop and my phone (both running chrome).

Yay! Welcome back - we have missed you. But did you change your name?

It's not essential but it does have some information - you can take it or leave it. The main advantage is that when you're on board and connected to the ship's WiFi you can access your daily newsletter and the dining menus from the app. In practice this works for me less than 50% of the time - the rest of the time the app says "you're not actually connected to the ship's WiFi" when I actually am!. SMH. IIRC it worked better in Corsica on Le Bellot, than it did for me in Indonesia on Le Laperouse. Question for you - when you're logged in to the Ponant site using your login credentials on a regular computer, does it show the details of your upcoming cruises? If so, this information should also show up on the app if you're using the same login credentials. The app frequently gets buggy and there will be days that you can't log in at all, or it displays incorrect information. As I said, not essential and you can take it or leave it.

If cats played hockey...

Cloud 9 is my favorite place to be! Non-traditional expedition cruises do have their challenges.