Yet another Live (almost) from the Maasdam Thread (Jun 9 thru 16)

[mijello]

Love reading your detailed report. Can't wait for the next entry.

[superoma]

"enjoyed a Canadian Coke which contains either sugar and high-fructose or one or the other"

 

Just read the label on a can of Canadian coke and it contains both glucose and fructose. Probably means regular sugar and high fructose corn syrup.

 

Your iced tea problem in Canada reminds me of my hot tea problem in the US. It seems the farther south I travel, the less likely I am to be able to get a cup of hot tea. Sometimes it truely is available but the servers don't know because everybody drinks iced tea.

 

Loving your reviews and no worries, they are very different from TomC and the two complement each other nicely.

[disfanatiks]

Enjoying your live reports! Have a wonderful day in Quebec City.

[bob brown]

Very nicely done! Enjoying the fine detail....:)

We were on the Veendam last month, and also missed the 'Yum Yum Man' dispensing mints outside the dining room, as well as announcing dinner with the chimes....guess it's another casualty of 'the bottom line'....:(

[Labmom3]

Thank you for writing this review. We are on this cruise at the end of the month and you are adding to my pre-cruise excitement!

[mamaofami]

The Yum Yum man hasn't announced dinner with the chimes for at least two years now. Sometimes he's there dispensing mints and ginger and sometimes not. ON Maasdam this past January, he was there.Hoping he will be there on Veendam next week.

[cruisin crazy in Michigan]

Thanks for taking the time to write a review! It's always fun to read and I just love the Maasdam.

[cruz chic]

.Hoping he will be there on Veendam next week.

He was in April:).

 

OP, I'm enjoying this thread.

[Mer turquoise]

Sharon,

 

Nice to read your "live from the Maasdam thread". Hope you enjoyed your day in Quebec city ! I was in port when the Maasdam left this afternoon...

 

Here is your ship turning around in the St-Lawrence river...

 

 

A closer look ...

 

With the city of Lévis in the background

 

 

 

On your way to PEI....

 

 

 

Have a nice trip !

[RuthC]

What pretty photos, Nathalie. Thank you for posting them. It was such a pretty day there, too! Hope it keeps that way for the rest of the cruise.

[tomc]

Sharon -- So you and I were at Mass together. That's one thing we have in common. I was in the back row. Meet me in the Lido some time, day or night, by the window. I'll have my binoculars with me, plus some reading material and a mug of tea. If I have fallen asleep, just wake me up. I have longish hair and glasses. Some people think my hair is long now, but you should have seen me two weeks ago.

 

This post has come to you Live From The Maasdam where even tomc goes to Mass.

[erewhon]

Nathalie,

Thank you for sharing your lovely photos of the Maasdam.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for your report.

On our 25 day Maasdam cruise it was hit or miss as to the Yum Yum Man -- mostly miss. We had the 5:45 dinner time and most of the time he was helping to seat people in the Open Seating.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Sharon,

 

Nice to read your "live from the Maasdam thread". Hope you enjoyed your day in Quebec city ! I was in port when the Maasdam left this afternoon...

 

Here is your ship turning around in the St-Lawrence river...

 

 

A closer look ...

 

With the city of Lévis in the background

 

 

 

On your way to PEI....

 

 

 

Have a nice trip !

 

Great pictures!!

[SharonN]

With an 8 AM assembly time on the pier for our first tour of this cruise, we had little choice but to grab a quick breakfast in the Lido… A mozzarella omelet for me with a glass of HAL’s fresh squeezed orange juice, and pancakes for Sharon with country potatoes and of course her chocolate croissant (which one of the waiters went to the other section of the line to get for her). Surprisingly there was not a crowd at the Lido as we expected so we were done and off the ship in plenty of time.

 

We grabbed one of HAL’s hand bags and camera, bought a Coke and large bottle of water, and were directed to bus number three. Evidently there were two busses covering our tour today, as some who had boarded our bus decided to search for better seats on the other bus. Our native guide wearing a green shirt was Danny, and had attended St. Patrick’s High School, and asked us to guess his heritage. If you go on enough HAL tours you learn that most guides are pretty good, some are not, well, Danny is among the best. He began with “Bonjour”, said something else in French, then something to the effect “Parlez vous Francais? No?” and then in English with a slight accent “They told me this was the tour in French.” He started with an explanation about the origin of “Quebec”, not pronounced “kwee-bek”, rather “kay-bek”, from the native Iroquois for their word for the place where the river narrowed. The French explorers mistook this word describing the river as the name for the place. Although many native words were unintelligible, “Quebec” sounded French enough to suit them. The city was founded by Champlain who founded the first permanent colonial community in 1608. Champlain saw the military advantage of the original site due to its imposing height above the Saint Lawrence River below.

 

On the way through the city Danny pointed out a gift to the city from Paris. He said it had been created by a famous artist and asked us what we thought. It appeared to be a cube composed of sixty-four smaller white cubes (arranged in four layers of sixteen cubes each) with black edges, and centered on top with a cube composed of eight cubes (2 x 2 x 2). Danny continued to note that Paris had given New York City the Statue of Liberty, but Quebec City got this, but as it was a gift it couldn’t be refused.

 

We visited the old lower part of town first, walking up cobble-stoned streets and quaint buildings, now made out of stone. The earlier wooden structures have long since succumbed to fire as so many historic buildings in the region have, due to chimney fires or other fire accidents. Quebec City gets 12 feet of snow per year and fires often heat non-stop during the cold months. Walking into a central courtyard we could see a 1999 mural covering many stories of the side of one building that was eerily 3-dimensional looking, appearing to be two stone buildings on either side with windows and characters from the province’s history. The top of the buildings showed icy roofs representing winter. Then with colorful tree foliage above the street between the buildings meandering into a courtyard was fall. Lilacs below were for spring. And people out and about and children playing street hockey showed summer. A cat in the top window was painted to honor a cat that had watched the twelve artists from a perch in the window of a neighboring building.

 

After a drive thru part of the country to some of the small (1 kneeler) chapels the farmers used to use and the old root cellars built into the hills we made it to the Shrine of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre. As with many historic buildings, it was destroyed by fire and replaced by today’s imposing stone structure. From the original structure, the wooden gold-leaf over lead statue of Sainte Anne was one of the few artifacts to survive the fire… although gold-leaf needed to be re-applied. A mass was in process on this Sunday morning, so no photography was allowed inside of the service. Sharon had some trouble following what we heard of the service in French. Near the rear of the church there is a wall with many crutches and walkers left by people that were healed after praying to Sainte Anne (who was the mother of Mary and Grandmother of Jesus). We then found our way to the Chapel below where it appeared a mass was in process for an English speaking tourist group. The building was every bit as remarkable as any cathedral in Europe. The doors of the shrine were created by a local copper-artisan, whose family today is the only maker of pushed copper artifacts. Multiple copper panels on both sides of the door are worked in impressive detail to show scenes from the Bible and the Virgin Mary.

 

Our tour segued to the family business of the copper-artisan that provides individuals and groups with a brief history of copper art and the process pioneered by Gilles. Our host was his daughter, who proudly noted the ten remaining copper-artisans are female descendants of her father. She demonstrated the process using a small thin sheet of copper. A pointed tool is used to impart the outlines of a design. On the other side the tool is used again to shadow the initial outline with a slight separation. Then, on that same side a tool is used to push up the copper until the final shape is realized. Care must be taken not to puncture the copper sheet, or you must through it away and start over. Many items are for sale, from simple ash trays to very ornate and impressive works of art. There are also about fifty silver panels on display showing the life of Jesus in the family’s museum that took her father 15 years to make.

 

We next crossed the expansion bridge to the Isle de Orleans and visited an old flour mill for lunch. Danny informed us that we would be ordering in French and had two choices: poulet or samo. Our three course meal started with light creamy carrot soup which was very tasty. Sharon had the chicken glazed with maple syrup, and I had the poached salmon. Those who had the chicken were amazed at the subtle and definitely not over-powering sensation the maple syrup imparted to the chicken. My salmon was done very nicely with a lemon-dill spice and the summer vegetables were not over-cooked. Ron, the best man at our wedding, would approve. My mom told me before the cruise that Ron felt I needed to add more details about the food on this cruise. Dessert was a thin slice of layered white cake with a fresh local strawberry and strawberry preserve drizzle on top. But this wasn’t the dessert we were most looking forward to, because our after-lunch stop was at the Sugar Shack, or Cabana a Sucre. It is the only Sugar Shack in the area that is open all year round. We got a brief introduction to the process of making maple syrup from a young woman whose family has been producing maple syrup on this farm for seven generations. Trees need to grow to 24 inches diameter before they can be tapped. Very large trees may have as many, but not more than three taps. Starting around the beginning of March the sap flows well into April. The collected sap, or more properly called “maple water”, must be evaporated. It takes 40 gallons of maple water to produce 1 gallon of maple syrup. Reducing it further at a slightly higher temperature produces maple toffee. More reduction yields maple butter, maple sugar and hard maple sugar where there is no more water to remove. We then got our treat as the hot maple toffee was poured in thin lines onto snow in a trough. Yes, I know this is June, and I did say snow! After 30 seconds of cooling we each took a Popsicle stick, touched it to a line of maple toffee, and spun it onto the stick. It was delicious, and I guess that’s why they let us have seconds. We also had to buy some Maple Syrup and maple candy to take home. And the one small piece of maple fudge we bought and shared on the bus was really good.

 

We next visited the Parc de la Chute-Montmorency, a waterfall that is half again as high as Niagra. We took a leisurely walk through a park around to the head of a foot bridge above the falls, and went about half-way across, taking pictures. The falls may be higher than Niagra; but, they are not nearly as wide. We walked back on the boardwalk, choosing our route through the park first so that our boardwalk facing the water had us walking down the stairs (Sharon counted 56, but Danny had said there were only 44). In our check of guides throwing out the number of steps you will need to navigate we’ve found they often just throw out arbitrary numbers, which are inevitably lower than they really are, perhaps not to scare people off from seeing what they’re there to see anyway.

 

It was time to make our way back to town, stopping off in the new part of the city at the top of the Funicular (slanted elevator) that we had seen earlier in the old-town. We were given about 30 minutes to mill around, take pictures, and of course, have some ice cream (caramel for me, chocolate and espresso for Sharon). Due to local events, we had to find an alternate route back to the ship to avoid excessive traffic. Danny told us about the twenty minute battle on the Plains of Abraham, when New France came under British rule. He talked about the British redcoats and the reason they wore them. For one, the blur of red from a distance made it impossible to count the number of troops on a field, and secondly, the red would obscure blood so one couldn’t gage if a soldier was injured. He then asked us to speculate why the French troops wore brown pants.

 

It was a very good tour with enough stops to see everything and just enough time at each one for us. The group of people on the bus was probably the best ever since everyone was back on time if not early and we never had to wait for anyone. There were also no complaints and everyone really seemed to enjoy it.

 

We arrived back on the ship too late to play Team Trivia, and got ready for dinner. We were directed to the upper level for seating at a table for eight (with others from the open seating section). I had the Cod and Crab Cake appetizer, while Sharon had the chicken broth based vegetable soup. The spinach sort of turned her off, but I can tell you that her soup was very good. I had the Boston Clam Chowder, which was very nice, but seemed to be a bit light on clams. For Ron, I’m afraid this would be two thumbs down. My entrée was the Bay Shrimp and Bay Scallops with pasta, and Sharon was forced to retreat to the “every-day” menu and choose the sirloin steak and baked potato. I guess I will have to substitute the word “Tiny” in the future when I see “Bay” describing sea food. My dish was very satisfying on taste, but my expectations weren’t quite met on quantity or size. I probably would have preferred the curried short beef ribs, but I’m trying to stick to seafood if I can, at least on this trip. Sharon went with the chocolate soufflé while I chose the lavender infused almond flan (how could I not with a name like that). I enjoyed mine very much, as of course, did Sharon love hers. And tonight when we left the Dining Room the Yum Yum man was there and even had the butter mints that Sharon loves. Not sure if he’s just on the upper level but will check it out tomorrow night since we eat at the Pinacle tonight.

 

Sharon went to the Piano bar after dinner to listen to Barry from Boston do a tribute to women singers, and in retrospect, I should have joined her and avoided the casino. I did get to play one-on-one with the dealer, but things didn’t go well. I should have it as a hint when I lost a double down on the third hand (after losing the first two hands). All I can say is it got worse and I gave back over half my winnings from the previous night.

 

I joined Sharon at the Show where the “Roadhouse” was featuring a combination of country and rock. We both enjoyed the show, and I even recognized a tune or two.

 

All in all a wonderful day in Quebec and it’s easy to see why so many people love this city.

[SharonN]

Sharon,

 

Nice to read your "live from the Maasdam thread". Hope you enjoyed your day in Quebec city ! I was in port when the Maasdam left this afternoon...

 

Here is your ship turning around in the St-Lawrence river...

 

 

 

 

Have a nice trip !

 

Thanks for the pictures! They're really nice. We had a great day in Quebec.

[SharonN]

Sharon -- So you and I were at Mass together. That's one thing we have in common. I was in the back row. Meet me in the Lido some time, day or night, by the window. I'll have my binoculars with me, plus some reading material and a mug of tea. If I have fallen asleep, just wake me up. I have longish hair and glasses. Some people think my hair is long now, but you should have seen me two weeks ago.

 

This post has come to you Live From The Maasdam where even tomc goes to Mass.

 

Sounds like you may have been sitting right behind us (we were in the 2nd to last row). We'll try to find you in the Lido this afternoon.

[SharonN]

Monday found us awakening having lost an hour overnight due to the time change for our one and only sea-day on this cruise. We are navigating the Saint Lawrence River on our way the Prince Edward Island. Viewing the vastness of the water it is easy to see why explorer’s would be determined to find a Northwest Passage to reach India… which is of course why Native Americans have become to be known as Indians. Visibility varied, but for much of the day fog was present and often the shoreline was not in view. Sharon readied herself for the morning mass, while I finished up yesterday’s blog. Sharon’s deepest suspicions were confirmed that Father Pierce was a former teacher, as he revealed having taught for 35 years, and he obviously used the Socratic Method because his sermons are riddled with questions (that he expects parishioners to answer). At breakfast that morning another couple who had attended the mass confirmed that you had to pay attention when he was speaking.

 

Today is one of two opportunities we will have to eat breakfast in the Rotterdam Dining Room. Again they routed us upstairs to the fixed seating section. Someone postulated that they were preparing for the Captain’s Mariner’s Luncheon below. I had the Eggs Benedict with a side of sausage and another side of Miso Soup (which is offered for the Japanese breakfast). Sharon had the scrambled eggs with bacon and white toast, only when the toast came, it was wheat. Sharon said it was fine, it’s understandable… “white”, “wheat” really are very similar, and with the accents the servers must try to decipher it’s perfectly understandable why they might confuse these two words from someone with no accent. Okay, so maybe accent might depend on one’s perspective, let’s just say Sharon speaks Walter Cronkite English.

 

After breakfast we made our way to the library for today’s Sudoku puzzles. It was close, but again no cigar for Sharon, who invariably beat John (by a lot) when they used to compete using Sharon’s semi-online game (albeit doing different puzzles at the same time) while Skyping during our engagement period. Afterwards we headed to the casino, where I was eager to avenge the card-gods for last evening’s fiasco. Sharon had her budgeted $20 play money and found a video poker machine. The machines that loved so much enticing her on previous cruises were not to be found, so she was falling back on these old standbys. So she stepped up from the 1c machines to the big-time 25c machines ( she doesn’t like the 1c machines but that seems to be most of what they have here). Meanwhile I was resuming the poor cards from the evening before, losing some initial hands including a double-down, it was déjà vu all over again, only this time not being able to even win two hands in a row. I reverted to the minimum bet of $5 per hand (from my initial $10 bet) and things did seem to start to turn around after a few hands, but I was already down about $50. My cards did improve and I started to get a bit more aggressive. I hit a couple of Blackjacks in a row, and at the end I even won 7 hands in a row before finally losing. I hadn’t quite recouped last night’s loss, but I made a pretty good dent in it (about 75%). Sharon had gone back to the cabin awaiting me for lunch, with $5 of winnings burning a hole on her room key and charge balance card, so I decided this was a good time to break.

 

We passed on the Captain’s Mariner’s Luncheon and had lunch in the Lido. Sharon got a burger and fries and returned really quickly from the pool-side grill. I had ordered two Coke’s but they had not yet arrived. When they did (these being our first onboard Cokes of the trip) we confirmed that the cans were of U.S. high-fructose origin without any sugar. I had a salad-bar salad with ranch, a chick-pea and vegetable soup in beef broth (I believe Pischau Soup) and a baked chicken thigh and a tasty veal dish with some fried sliced potatoes. Sharon had some chocolate ice cream for dessert.

 

We played team trivia in the Crow’s Nest. We didn’t do a very good job of picking team members, of course that’s probably what they’re saying about us. We both liked the way the Crow’s Nest is laid out on the Maasdam with very cozy seating, and very well suited to events like the trivia challenges. Just not sure how it would be for scenic cruising in Alaska or Antarctica (if the Veendam is the same for next year).

 

We stopped by the Lido again, to search for Tom C, who wrote a live blog on the previous cruise of the Maasdam, and is writing one on this cruise as well. We found him, with his binoculars, as he had said he would be in a comment to one of our blogs. He takes these two cruises every year and visits with his brother in Quebec City. We had a nice chat and then headed off to Bingo.

 

We dropped by the Rotterdam Dining Room to check out the things we would be missing at dinner tonight, and it looked like we picked a good night to dine at the Pinnacle, as nothing jumped out as a must-try for either of us. Of course, you never know when they will offer a burger plain well-done, no cheese, no bacon and especially no mayo, with French fries. Then it was off to the $25,000 Jackpot Bingo. We purchased our normal three chances per game for each of us for $25. Afterwards we noticed that many of the players seated around the Showroom had 6-chance cards, which we discovered are offered for $35. This is new since the last time we sailed with HAL last summer in Alaska. Sharon had an abysmal first card, and lamented that she should be playing Stinky Bingo as two of her chances still had no numbers when someone called bingo (and the other only had 1 number). It looked like my Alaskan Luck at Bingo might be continuing, when I got to stand during the Orange B-O game. The DJ caller however coaxed a bingo out of an elderly Asian woman who had meekly called “Bingo”. Well, he did manage to get her to announce “Bingo” before he called the next number. Things started to look good for Sharon during the final Blackout game, but she then suffered through a really bad batch of calling, and we both fell short on that $600 game.

 

It was formal night and we had 6:00pm reservations at the Pinnacle. Sharon wasn’t impressed with the tuna tartar that came with the chef’s compliments, but combined with the wasabi and soy sauce seasoning I was reminded of the yellowtail sashimi I used to enjoy in California. I ordered the jumbo shrimp cocktail and Sharon ordered the crab cakes (for me of course). The Pinnacle offers a fixed price meal and you basically order what you want. I got four very plump and succulent shrimp and the cocktail sauce with cognac and horseradish was quite good, but for my taste I would have preferred a bit more horseradish. I was happy that the two crab cakes were small because I still had a lot of food I planned to eat, and they were very good as well. I also had the lobster bisque, and they added cognac at the table if you wished. Normally I would have gotten their French Onion Soup, which I’ve had before, but I thought that would be too filling. I had the boneless rib-eye steak and Sharon had the petite filet mignon, and both were superb. They are known for their grilled steaks for a reason. For dessert we ordered and shared the chocolate lava cake and the chocolate soufflé. They were delicious as well, although Sharon thought the cake was a bit runny.

 

We went to the early show at 8:00pm after dinner, featuring Bob Mackie’s Broadway. We arrived just as the Captain was introducing his executive staff (Hotel Manager, Chief Engineer, Executive Officer, Safety Officer, Cruise Director, Future Sales Rep and the ship’s employee of the month). After the toast the show began. All costumes featured sequined designs by Bob Mackie. Many of the performers have previously appeared on Broadway, which is clearly their passion. They were very good and gave a great performance including the medley of many Broadway tunes, from Phantom of the Opera and Man from La Mancha to Flashdance and Jesus Christ Superstar.

 

After the show we went to the casino. I waited a bit for a seat at the $5 table, and Sharon found another game to play… she says it was Monkey something. She had won $10 when she came by and I had just started to play. She went to the piano bar, and I began getting some lousy cards. Sharon went back to the room and I continued to play and was doing a bit better. I must have played about two and one-half hours, and I hope I’m not in too much trouble, especially as in the end I only won about $20. She came up from the cabin to check on me about 11:00pm but things weren’t going well for me then. We’re both looking forward to Prince Edward Island and the Land of Anne of Green Gables. We recently watched a series of three DVDs. When Sharon was here before she wasn’t familiar with the story.

[erewhon]

Enjoying reading the reports of your cruise.

Thank you.

[kazu]

glad you found TomC. Enjoying following your live thread. Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences with us:)

[kobecat]

Awesome blog - thank you. We are on the Maasdam for the first time next February. How are you enjoying your lanaii cabin? Have you had one before?

 

Beryl

[Linda VH]

We dined at Pinnacle every other night on our ten day cruise. I would always tell them to bring me horseradish on the side as I ordered my shrimp. The first time I think they had to hunt in the MDR but after that it was no problem. Same with horseradish "sauce" (the creamy stuff) for the side of my filet mignon. Love the Pinnacle!!! Thanks for your review - we are on Maasdam for 14 days in December.

[Himself]

Is TOMC as humerous in person as he is when he writes on this board? When Father Pierce asks a question at the Homily time, does he expect the people to answer?

[Responder]

We dined at Pinnacle every other night on our ten day cruise. I would always tell them to bring me horseradish on the side as I ordered my shrimp. The first time I think they had to hunt in the MDR but after that it was no problem. Same with horseradish "sauce" (the creamy stuff) for the side of my filet mignon. Love the Pinnacle!!! Thanks for your review - we are on Maasdam for 14 days in December.

 

Save up your dollars if you can and try to continue to dine in the Pinnacle every night.

 

After one night in the MDR we bailed out. We also walked by the Canaletto and went right in without a reservation. Now I know why. After the first bite, we left and went to the Pinnacle where we dined every night thereafter. In our opinion, the only civilized dining venue on the Maasdam.

You will find the Pinnacle manager, Colin, to be a pro and he will oversee and take care of all your dining needs. There is only one wine steward in there and he takes care of the entire room with no effort at all...and he knows his wines.

Yes, I know this sounds opinionated, but different strokes for different folks....

 

As you saw, the ship was recently refurbed and it is quite beautiful and functional in every respect. Too bad they didn't refurb the food and service.

[SharonN]

If it’s Tuesday, this must be Prince Edward Island I see passing by through the outside window of our Lanai Cabin. The deep reddish orange earth of the coast touching the water along the south coast of the island is unmistakable, from viewing “Anne of Green Gables” or watching DVDs from one of my favorite series “Road to Avonlea”. I spot one of the square towered lighthouses on a promontory and decide it’s time for some pictures as we make our way to port. A brisk breeze is blowing and the iron-rich soil makes colorful contrast to the many shades of green. We grab a quick bite in the Lido and make our way to Deck 3 to disembark and meet up with our tour group in the terminal at Charollottetown. Did I mention that we got to bed a little late last night due to my tardiness leaving the casino?

We’re ushered onto bus number 1 and have a tour guide named Donalda and a bus driver named Donald. Donalda has lived on the island her whole life, but in a moment you will discover why we feel she must have spent some time in the San Fernando Valley (as a Valley Girl, for sure). After starting on our way her commentary began something like this: “On the right you will see the post office, for sure. On the left is stone church that was constructed after the previous three churches burned down.” (Okay, we saw that one coming.) “On the right is the only Starbucks on Prince Edward Island; but, we have 42 Tim Horton’s, for sure. Coming up is an elementary school, for sure. Down this street notice one of our garbage trucks at work collecting the rubbish. We have most of the big stores that you have in the U.S., for sure, on the right this store becomes a Target next month. And down the street on the left is our WalMart. We’re very green here on PEI, and for sure recycling is a priority. Coming up on the left is Donald’s house, for sure. See his motorcycle out front, for sale, for sure.” Donalda was one of those tour guides that felt every moment of the drive needed to be filled with her commentary; so much of this consisted of such comments as we drove by the inconsequential.

When pressed, Donalda answered all questions, including the population of PEI of about 146,000 versus 38,000 in Charolottetown. We learned that PEI is the smallest province of Canada, with three counties, as symbolized on the province flag with three small oak trees next to one large oak tree representing Great Britain, and the relationship of the small being protected by the great. The regal lion of the realm appears on the top part of the flag. Agriculture is the main source of income for PEI, followed by tourism and followed by seafood. In fourth place and rising rapidly is the manufacture of airplane components.

We made a brief stop at a souvenir shop which featured fresh fudge and cold Coke. We decided to get three types of fudge: peanut butter and chocolate, Belgian chocolate and Maple. We had only gotten a small piece of maple fudge in Quebec City and were eager to see if this was as good. We tried some back on the bus, and believe it was almost as good, but not quite the best we’d had.

One of our stops was to see the longest bridge over frozen waters (okay, they’re not frozen in the summer). But the bridge is 18 miles long and there is a C$46 fee to leave the island (no charge to come). This compares to a C$66 ferry fee. The bridge took four years to build in the mid-1990’s and was the source of much controversy as to the negative impacts such a mainland connection would have on the island. None of the fears have come to pass, and residents take a great deal of pride in the beauty of their paradise. In the spring natives gather and clean up any rubbish, trash, debris, dead foliage that have been left by the winter so that visitors that begin to arrive in the Spring will see the full beauty of PEI.

Our lunch was at the Fisherman’s Wharf, a popular eatery that offers a lobster dinner plus all you can eat for everything else (sides, salads and desserts); but, we were here for lunch… and a lunch prepared for a tour group. While I must commend HAL for so many of the lunches I’ve enjoyed on previous tours I’ve taken through them, this is not one of them. I had been looking forward to what was a lobster roll. Now my only exposure to what a lobster roll is, is what I’ve seen on the Food Network where “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives” and what I saw there looked delicious. You know it’s never a good sign when the first thing you do when you get on the bus is poll passengers for their choice for lunch: Lobster Roll, Chicken Salad Wrap, or Vegetable Wrap. There were a few takers of the Chicken Salad wrap, but all other opted for the Lobster Roll. What we got was a hotdog bun with thin layer of very mayonnaise-intensive stuff that contained celery and maybe some imitation Krab (my guess). It may have contained lobster, but as for taste there was bun, there was mayonnaise, there was celery, and it all tasted like nothing. Sharon ordered the Chicken Salad wrap but was overwhelmed by the mayonnaise. I ate half of her small wrap and it was tasty, and the grilled chicken stood out, and it wasn’t bad, just as it wasn’t filling. Across the street is Annette’s, a local eatery with a small dine in section and offering a Lobster Club Sandwich for about $19. I should have tried it, but I just didn’t have an appetite.

We went to see Green Gables, the house featured in many of the writings of Lucy Maude Montgomery. LM Montgomery had taken her book to four publishers before one in Boston published “Anne of Green Gables”, and it became an instant best seller. Lucy had lost her mother to TB when she was two, and her father was out in the western provinces working, and so she was raised by her grandparents. Although she did not live in Green Gables, a distant cousin did, and so she was very familiar with the house and the grounds, giving such names to parts of the property she frequented as “Lover’s Lane” and “The Haunted Woods”. From the parking area we strolled through a large barn. There were several out buildings, plus a prominent imposing view of Green Gables, with its bright white walls and green sloping roof and trim. The grounds are immaculately maintained in this National Park. The rooms have been furnished with replica pieces from the period. A map of the two floors shows rooms used by Marilla Cuthbert, Matthew Cuthbert (her brother), and of course Anne, fictional characters in the book that has the orphan Anne come to live them (they were expecting a boy).

On the return to the ship we stopped at single manufacturing facility for Cows Ice Cream, singled out by one tourist association as the best ice cream in the world, and by Reader’s Digest for its excellence. In the facility they manufacture cow themed T-Shirts with catchy designs and sayings, such as one commemorating the visit by William and Kate on their Honey-mooooo-n. We observed the manufacture of the T-Shirts. Designs continue for 1 to 3 years, before they are retired, and never available again once depleted from their stock. They also make cheese. All dairy material used in their products are produced locally on the island. They make ice cream just three days a week, producing 3 flavors per day. When we visited, they were cleaning up from today’s work. This one facility manufactures all of the ice cream available in their 10 outlet locations. Our tour group received free samples of cheese and their top selling ice cream of vanilla, caramel, and chocolate shavings. Sharon and I each bought a scoop. Mine was similar to the free sample, but included burnt sugar, while Sharon tried the Messy Bessy ( chocolate with carmel, toffee, etc).

Again, we missed Trivia, Bingo and Sudoku, and made our way to dinner. I had Sharon order me a crunchy crab roll while I had the buffalo mozzarella, tomato and balsamic vinegar appetizer. They were delicious. I also had the Bacon and Kale Soup, which as a tasty chicken bouillon based soup. It was another fixed menu choice of sirloin steak and baked potato for Sharon. I had the gnocchi which was very tasty. We both had the watermelon sorbet for dessert.

After dinner we went to the casino, and Sharon quickly won $10. My luck didn’t fare quite as well at blackjack, and I had to give back quite a bit of my profits. I was late getting to the theatre and had some trouble locating Sharon in a packed theatre. Dan Riley was the entertainer, featuring humorous lyrical modifications of popular tunes from the 1950’s, 1960’s and some of the 1970’s with impersonations of the artists that made the original tunes famous. (Blue Bayou became a song about going back some day to find his toupee that blew by you). His repertoire included tunes from Johnny Cash to Ritchie Valenz, and even a humorous bit of Elvis (whom he claimed he planned never to imitate because years ago he said there were already too many people trying to, and that there were estimates that by 2050 half of the people in America would be Elvis-impersonators). But someone from the audience asked, and ever since the bride at a wedding had asked him to do “Love Me Tender”, he hasn’t been able to say no. There was also a group in the audience from Buffalo that he apparently met at the Detroit airport where their flight was delayed so long they missed the ship and were bused to Quebec City. He called them the Buffalo Ship Skippers.

Well we’re coming into Sydney so time to get Breakfast before our tour here For sure.