Carinval Glory - NYC to New England... A Memoir

[Pee-ah]

[still walking down the street]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Tall Ship is the Silva

[Blondie008]

Love this, best "review" ever!

I am self employed, so choose when to start work on a Monday, guess I am working late tonight as I have had more than ONE coffee this morning, just couldn't leave it :)

Next episode???

[starfish216]

Can't wait to read more...........your review is informative and entertaining.

[Crusin Karen]

Sorry to be OT here, but I am no longer getting e-mail notifications when the new entries are posted on this thread. Does anyone else have this problem and/or know how to remedy? TIA.

[balcony bound]

I hope that you get an extra day off or at least deprive yourself of sleep in order to continue this journey. Love it - thanks for taking the time to write this!

[Delta Hotel]

Thank you for your compliments, everyone. I have to actually drag myself to work today... my clients are starting to notice that I've been unreachable for almost a week now =(

 

Karen, I also don't get reliable notifications. I now get one notification for every 5-6 posts that go up... very unreliable, yet I still get instant notifications for other threads like my roll-call. Not sure what that is...

 

Like I said, I have to hop in the car and go justify my salary again, so I'll see what I can do about continuing my memoir. Maybe I'll type it as I'm driving down the road and drinking my Red Bull with the other hand!

 

That was a joke, by the way - I don't want to start one of THOSE threads here...

 

I hope you all have a WONDERFUL day!

 

DH

[Rock_Dr]

I now get one notification for every 5-6 posts that go up... very unreliable, yet I still get instant notifications for other threads like my roll-call. Not sure what that is...

 

 

Most message boards will only send one notification until you log in again. That is, as soon as there is a post, you are emailed. If there are more posts after that it will not email you because you already know there is at least one post. Once you log in, it resets.

 

This thread is just getting tooooo much action.

 

Dave

[SnowWhiteNYC]

withdrawal....

 

and why such a short cruise? I mean, if it were a seven or eight day cruise we'd have that much more memoir to look forward to....!

...just saying...

[ShakyBeef]

withdrawal....

 

and why such a short cruise? I mean, if it were a seven or eight day cruise we'd have that much more memoir to look forward to....!

...just saying...

 

 

If he had attempted this for one of our longer cruises, he'd never finish it!:eek:

 

The poor guy had to go to work today:rolleyes:. But he will be posting at least one more installment today (maybe more like tonight). Hang in there, y'all.:)

[agavin]

DH - this is a brilliant rambling... love it! I am from Saint John, so I would never even consider this cruise, but I'm reading along all the same and can't wait for the rest.

 

Down with socks!

[Ilive2cruise]

If he had attempted this for one of our longer cruises, he'd never finish it!:eek:

 

The poor guy had to go to work today:rolleyes:. But he will be posting at least one more installment today (maybe more like tonight). Hang in there, y'all.:)

 

can't wait! I think I will create a countdown clock!

[hunniebee724]

I love this review! I'll be on the Glory next week!

[simbalion]

enjoying this review

[Delta Hotel]

Once we’re back out on the street, we decide to get something to drink. Near the end of the waterfront area, there are some vendors with semi-permanent wooden sheds. We stop at one to get a couple of drinks. The street vendor that we stopped at had fruit smoothies, so we got a peach-mango smoothie for the girls and a Sprite for me. I could’ve shared the smoothie with the girls if I wanted to, but I wasn’t really thirsty (not that a smoothie is really designed for thirst). And getting a drink wasn’t my goal. My goal was to get an aluminum can, glass bottle, or plastic bottle. MmwwwaaahaaaaaaHAAAA!

 

Wifey snapped a photo of me drinking my Canadian Sprite in a foreign country! I would ask you to guess the foreign country, but the flag above my Sprite gives it away. I suppose that’s not really sporting, is it?

 

 

 

I didn’t feel like “chugging” my Sprite, so we start walking into town. At the end of the waterfront area, we turn to the left, and head up George Street toward the Citadel at the top of the hill. I don’t know if Halifax really qualifies as a “hilly” city. It seems to have only one hill. It’s a large hill, but it seems to be just one. Would that make it “hill” instead of “hilly”? Then again, I’m not sure that adding the letter “y” to the end of a noun implies that it’s plural. Anyhow, we walk up the hill.

 

On our way up the hill toward the Citadel, I notice a man with a motorcycle parked in front of a bank. On the back of his motorcycle is a little dog in a box. The box looks to be a permanent fixture on the bike, and the dog is wearing goggles and a bandana. This is actually noteworthy, so I take a picture. I’ve taken pictures of much less entertaining things.

 

 

 

 

We continue up the hill and reach a flat area where we decide to rest. It’s a memorial park about halfway between the docks and the Citadel at the top of the hill. While we rest, take a drink, and look around, I take some pictures of the park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After some refreshments and a brief respite, we keep moving up the hill. The stroller with the 5-year-old is now getting heavier and heavier. The actual weight isn’t changing, but the person pushing it seems to think so (that would be me).

 

As we near the top of the hill, we stop at a crosswalk. I notice that the cars on the road that we’re about to cross have stopped for us… but their light is still green, and they have the right of way. I was perfectly willing to wait for the light to change, but the drivers stared at me. I looked at the light (still green) and looked back at them as if to say “you go, and I’ll wait for the light.” I don’t need to cause an international incident by crossing against the light and getting hit by a car because some guy led me to believe that I had the right of way, when I didn’t. Anyway… they insisted on waiting, and there were no other cars coming, so we crossed.

 

We’re now at the base of the hill where the Citadel starts. I look around, and there’s a set of steps up to a sidewalk, which then leads you to the top of the hill. The hill is large, gentle, and covered in well-maintained grass. The 5-year-old gets out and walks while I carry the stroller up the stairs. At the top of the short stairs, the kids ask if they can walk the rest of the way up. What they really mean is “May we go play in the grass on the hill?” We allow them to go play on the hill. I had noticed several other people that appeared to be locals sitting on the hill having lunch, reading a book, or just lying on it, so it seemed harmless to let the girls run around. They take off up the hill like little squishy-legged rockets. I’m also a little tired and winded from the walk, so I take a few pictures before moving up the hill again.

 

 

 

It’s not really necessary, but I feel a slight urge to mention that I have Lyme Disease. This little problem causes me to tire easily and creates arthritis-like joint pain when I do certain types of activities like walking for long periods, running, dancing, going up and down stairs too much, and most repetitive joint-related tasks. I’m only saying this because it may seem odd that an otherwise healthy thirty-one-year-old would get winded from pushing a stroller and need a break.

Edited July 19, 2011 by Delta Hotel

[Delta Hotel]

Yes, I wear sweater vests. Please, no jokes about sweater vests... unless they're really funny.

[SnowWhiteNYC]

have been waiting all day for this...and you didn't disappoint!

 

Thanks!

[Kerryman50]

Yes, I wear sweater vests. Please, no jokes about sweater vests... unless they're really funny.

 

Delta I don't know if this is really funny, but I thought I'd try.;)

 

[Delta Hotel]

Delta I don't know if this is really funny, but I thought I'd try.;)

 

 

That couldn've been funny if I didn't have that exact same sweater vest.

[VickiD59]

Sweater vests and green socks.. you must be very easy to shop for.

[Delta Hotel]

Sweater vests and green socks.. you must be very easy to shop for.

 

I can't speak for other people, but I think that I'm very easy to shop for - I always know what I want, and I'm rarely disappointed when I buy something for myself.

[ShakyBeef]

Sweater vests and green socks.. you must be very easy to shop for.

 

 

You have no idea.;):rolleyes:

 

He gets really excited about white tube socks, too. And since he insists on hiking them up to his chin, they get holes in the toes and need to be replaced frequently. A pack of good ole Wal-Mart white tube socks, a pack of undershirts, and a sexy new sweater vest and my Christmas (or Birthday) shopping for DH is DONE!:cool:

[Delta Hotel]

The walk from the ship to the end of the waterfront was pleasant and easy, and the walk to the Citadel wasn’t bad either. Wifey and the almost-9-year-old had no problems making this walk to and from the Citadel. The 5-year-old also had no problem making this walk to the Citadel because she was riding in the stroller the entire time.

 

When we reached the top of the hill, I took another rest. Wifey wanted to go to the gate and see as much of the Citadel as she could from the gate without going inside, but I told her to take the girls and go over there without me. At the top of the sidewalk, just across from the main entrance to the Citadel, there’s a wooden deck with a railing that overlooks the city and the harbor. The weather was nice, the sky was clear, and I needed to rest my weary bones for a while, so Wifey took the girls to the Citadel gate.

 

While standing at the top of the hill across the street from the Citadel gate, I took some pictures and made a 360 degree panoramic. Here’s 180 degrees from that photo. You can’t see it, but the ship is at the bottom of the hill, directly behind the tall building on the right.

 

 

A minute later, Daughter #1 comes running over toward me, stopping on the other side of the little street and yells the remainder of the distance. The exclamation-points are to indicate volume, not tone.

Daughter: “Daddy, Mommy wants you to come over!”

Me: [i roll my eyes a little and sigh] “Tell her to go on without me! I’ll be right here when you get back!”

Daughter: “Mommy really wants you to come over!”

Me: “Why?”

Daughter: “There’s something she wants you to see, and bring your camera!”

Me: [talking to myself] “I hope there’s something really good over there. And like I wouldn’t bring my camera…”

Daughter: “Daddy! Come on!”

Me: “Fine! I’m coming! I’m coming.”

 

I pick up my Sprite sitting by my foot and hobble over to the crosswalk, then across the street. I make my way around the “BIG Pink” that was blocking my view, and over to the little admission booth. When I come around the bus, I see Wifey and the kids standing among a small crowd near the entrance. There’s a sentry standing there in traditional uniform. There’s a small woman standing at the front, facing the crowd, leading me to believe that she’s the tour guide.

 

Me: “Yes, dear?”

Wifey: “Quick, get a picture of the guards. They’re about to do the changing of the guard and this is our only chance to see it.”

Me: “Ugh. Fine.” I bring up my camera, and take a few shots of the guard standing still. I look at the admission rates posted on the side of the little ticket booth. “That seems expensive.”

Wifey: “Yeah, I saw that… do you want to go in?”

Me: “No, I didn’t even want to come over here.”

Wifey: “It was your idea to walk a mile uphill to get here, remember?”

Me: “It was my idea to walk to that deck over there [gesturing to a spot 50 feet away]... not over here. No, I don’t want to go in.”

 

The tour guide begins talking about the tradition of changing guards at the Citadel, and giving us a “play by play” of their movements and actions. It was mildly interesting, but from a purely choreographic point of view, the changing of the guard was very sloppy. The movements weren’t sharp and deliberate. If you’ve seen many military maneuvers, you’re aware of how deliberate every movement is. These guards gave me the impression that they were new at this, and each time they did it, it was more “on the job training”. It’s very possible that these particular guards were in training, or new to the living history group, but for a choreographed maneuver, it was a bit disappointing… especially because I had just walked to the top of a large hill to see it.

 

We didn’t go in, so I don’t know what’s inside those gates, but I do know that the admission was about $12 per adult, and a little less for kids. I probably would’ve gone in if I were in a better mood; we had heard and read good things about it.

 

 

 

After I decide that we’re not going into the Citadel, we slowly walk back to the platform overlooking the hill. The deck is wooden, about 12ft x 24ft, and has a metal railing all the way around. The railing around the deck is a wonderfully bright stainless steel. I’d bet $5 that it has a high nickel content. The railing is also welded together very well… I give it a 10 (on a scale of 1 to 10).

 

At one end of the deck, are a few steps that take you down to the hill and the sidewalk that we had come from just 10-15 minutes before. We take a few steps down the stairs, and have a seat on the grassy hill just beyond the stairs while trying to stay out of the way.

 

 

Edited July 19, 2011 by Delta Hotel

[Prairie_Gal]

DH, I am really enjoying your memoirs of the trip. You have a great writing style.

[Delta Hotel]

DH, I am really enjoying your memoirs of the trip. You have a great writing style.

 

"You have a great writing style." Is that anything like saying, "She's got a nice personality"?

 

Just kidding. Thank you, really. Glad you're enjoying it.

 

DH

[Delta Hotel]

The girls begin playing on the hillside. Daughter #1 runs down the hill with arms flailing through the air as she runs down the hill. I see this and immediately think – photo opportunity!

 

When she reaches the middle of the large hill, there’s a flat part with thousands of buttercups. The buttercups are all along the hillside, but they seem to be more concentrated on the flat parts. I call her to come back up the hill. She runs up the hill with her skinny little legs. She’s panting when she gets to me, but in a good “kid” kind of way. I tell her that I want her to do the same thing again so that I can take pictures of her running down the hill.

 

She agrees and thinks it sounds fun – mostly to run down the hill again with her parent’s permission. Wifey protests, “She could twist her ankle or something.” I quickly reply with, “She’s already done it once, I just want to take pictures of it this time.” Wifey rolls her eyes at this plan of mine. Taking her lack of further protest as a form of approval, and the eye-roll as confirmation that she’s aware of the plan, we’re all set to go. I tell Daughter #1 to stand next to me and to be prepared to run down the hill. I point to the path I want her to take (which was pretty much identical to the one she had just run), and tell her to stop running when she gets to the buttercup patch. She agrees, and she’s excited.

 

She stands next to me in her “ready to run” pose, and Daughter #2 runs up beside her and gets ready to run, as well. I tell Daughter #2 that I only want Daughter #1 to run this time, and that she can run next time, but I only want one girl running at a time. Daughter #2 understands and moves aside… a little pouty that she doesn’t get to run first, but still excited at the idea of running next.

 

This next paragraph is all camera stuff, so if you’re not interested, skip to the word <DINGLEHOPPER>

 

I ready my camera, put it in high-speed mode (7 frames per second), place the ISO on 200, and make sure my manual exposure adjustment is at zero. Since she’s going to be running away from me, and I’ll be shooting at 7 pictures per second, I don’t want to have to fight with the auto-focus motor during the running, so I click it onto manual focus and quickly set my “start position” and turn my focus ring until I get to the buttercup patch. This is so that I know how far and fast my fingers have to move as she’s running down the hill. I also have to work the variable zoom manually, too. She’s going to start running when I’m at 18mm, and I’ll finish at 200mm.

 

<DINGLEHOPPER>

 

Ok, I’m all set, and she is too! Here we go!

 

With my eye behind the camera and zoomed back to 18mm, I yell, “GO!” She takes off running in front of me and I start clicking, zooming, and focusing furiously to keep up with her. Wifey yells a nugget of time-proven useless advice down the hill, “BE CAREFUL!” Shortly after she starts running down the hill, I can already tell that she’s running too fast; but there’s nothing I can do about it except keep taking pictures. On her way down the hill, her right foot lands in a muddy depression in the hill and she goes down… hard. Well, it wasn’t that hard because the ground was soft and moist.

 

It was a sad moment to see your daughter fall and get hurt, but she only cried a little (no blood or broken bones) and I got the whole thing on camera!

 

 

I quickly bring my camera down, turn it off, place it lovingly in the empty stroller, make sure that the wheel brakes are on, and then rush down the hill to help my injured daughter. I get there, and she’s crying softly, but appears to be mostly concerned about her very-muddy jeans. She’s sitting on the grass holding one knee, with the other leg straight in front of her.

 

I get to her and stand next to her, bent over with my hands on my knees.

 

Me: “Are you bleeding?” [my standard question]

Daughter: [sad, whimpering voice] “I don’t know.”

Me: “Is your leg broken?”

Daughter: “I don’t think so.”

Me: “Do you think you can walk?”

Daughter: “Yes. I think I can.”

Me: “Would you like me to carry you?”

Daughter: [nods head and murmurs something]

 

I wasn’t terribly concerned by Daughter #1’s fall on the hill. I’ve fallen MANY times in my life, and I know exactly what it feels like to fall while running on a hill. It’s more bruising to your ego than it is to your leg. Not only that, I was watching the entire fall intently through my camera, so I could tell that it wasn’t that bad of a fall.

 

Another reason that Wifey and I aren’t terribly concerned is that we know that Daughter #1 cries easily, and her reaction to any pain is 3 to 10 times louder than justified. Any example of this might be her blood-curdling shriek (as if her foot were being cut off with a rusty saw) when she steps on a Lego block that she’s left laying out. So, when she only cried a little bit from falling, we knew that she wasn’t really hurt.

 

I pick her up and carry her to the top of the hill where the stroller is. By the time I get there, Wifey has put the camera around her neck and cleared the stroller. She tells me to put her in the stroller, so I carefully do. Wifey rushes to lift Daughter #1’s pant leg and check the damage, evaluating the condition of the jeans, and looking over her body and arms for… well, whatever mothers look for when fathers do something stupid. Big girl is OK.

 

From beside me, I hear Daughter #2 say in a low voice out of the side of her mouth, not really directed at anyone, “I don’t think I really want my turn.”

 

The freshly “injured” daughter still has a few tears in her eyes and on her face, but she’s not crying anymore. When Wifey asks her if she is OK enough to keep going through Halifax, she says that she just wants to go back to the ship.

 

We pack up our items, and I place my now-empty Sprite bottle into the saddle-bag of the stroller and secure it with the Velcro pouch cover. I’ve put a lot of forethought into this bottle thing and don’t want to lose it now.

 

We start down the sidewalk, back to the bottom of the Citadel hill. Daughter #2 gives up her stroller to her big sister, and walks down the Citadel hill. At the bottom of the hill and sidewalk, there’s a flight of stairs that takes you to the street-level sidewalk. For the flight of stairs, the big kid gets out and hobbles down the stairs while I carry the stroller. At the bottom of the stairs, she gets back into the stroller. We turn right and begin walking along the Citadel wall.

 

We decided that we didn’t want to take the exact same path down the hill as coming up… you know, just to add some sight-seeing to the trip. I look around as I push the stroller along the flat sidewalk. I noticed that we were now walking along Brunswick Street. We see Prince Street up ahead, and Wifey suggests that we head down that street, so we do.

 

Again, we get to the corner and wait to cross, but the cars with the right-of-way and the green light stop for us to cross. Since this had already happened, I take comfort in believing that this may be a regional courtesy, and I proceed across the street with my family, trusting that they won’t floor the gas and run us down. As we cross, I keep an eye on the cars so that I’m ready to quickly push the stroller with Daughter #1 out of the way of traffic. Luckily, I don’t have to do this. It’s always a good thing when you can restore a little piece of faith in humanity.

 

When we reach the other side of the street, I stop and check on the kid in the stroller. She’s still OK. I look back and Wifey’s talking to Daughter #2. Wifey asks Daughter #1 if it’s ok for Daughter #2 to sit on her lap in the stroller. Daughter #1 says that it’s OK and she’ll let us know if it hurts too much.

 

Daughter #2 walks around to the front of the stroller, and gently climbs up on big-sister’s lap. Wifey tells the girls, “Sit still and hold onto each other tightly.” Daughter #1 wraps her arms around Daughter #2 like a seat-belt and I begin down the hill with the stroller. You can’t really call this part “pushing the stroller” because it’s not. It’s more accurately described as “holding onto the stroller handles in order to prevent the stroller from running away down the hill while leaning backwards and trying not to trip on your own feet”. That’s what I was doing.

 

Being considerate of my Lyme Disease, and noticing that I’m limping a little, Wifey offers to take the stroller from me so I can have a more leisurely walk. I refuse. She keeps trying to distract me so she can take the stroller away from me, but I refuse. She tempts me with photo opportunities while walking down-hill and I briefly consider some of them, but still refuse to let go of the stroller. Why so stubborn, you ask? Why didn’t I just let her take the stroller from me? The same reason I lightly smack her hands when she tries to open a door when I’m right next to her… some kind of primitive man-thing, I suppose. I’ve never claimed to be highly-evolved or anything, but I do have a bath-bag now for my bath-stuff. I refuse to use the proper word for it, but at least I have one.