The Bistro- Off topic and fun posts!

[Jayayeff]

Dug deep into my cruising photo archives for this one....

 

 

Anne....

 

[rafinmd]

The penultimate sunrise from my 2010 Blount Atlantic cruise.  This was taken July 29 near the confluence of the Saguenay and St. Lawrence Rivers.  I have a couple of busy days today and tomorrow so the where am I will be on a bit of a pause.

 

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

Question for wearesiamese.  In your rules for where are we you said places we have been on Crystal.  Does that include river?

 

Roy

[wearesiamese]

yes and even shore excursions if we want to make this even a bit more difficult LOL

 

Speaking of River cruises, I am seriously considering taking one here in the USA once they are allowed to resume as we are not likely going to be able to travel overseas for quite some time.. but also it gives us all an opportunity to see parts of our own country that are just as wonderful/beautiful as many places around the world 🙂

Edited July 30, 2020 by wearesiamese

[wearesiamese]

5 hours ago, rafinmd said:

The penultimate sunrise from my 2010 Blount Atlantic cruise.  This was taken July 29 near the confluence of the Saguenay and St. Lawrence Rivers.  I have a couple of busy days today and tomorrow so the where am I will be on a bit of a pause.

 

 

Roy

Thanks for sharing.Ihave no idea what that area looks like and would love to see more pictures from  that trip

[rafinmd]

I disembarked the Grand Caribe in Quebec July 31, 2010.  About 5:25 that morning I saw the sun come up from the top deck:

 

Roy

[Jim9310]

US Coast Guard Academy’s Eagle meets Mayflower II near Block Island, RI on July 30, 2020.

[mskatiemae]

This weekend - starting in 2 hours with Florida Keys -  NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, if you are not from USA) has their virtual marine sanctuary visits again. See 

https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/visit/2020-giys-activities.html#jul31-fknms

 

All will be posted for later viewing also.

 

Something maybe to "tide" us over while we are stuck (most of us) on land?

[wearesiamese]

8 hours ago, rafinmd said:

I disembarked the Grand Caribe in Quebec July 31, 2010.  About 5:25 that morning I saw the sun come up from the top deck:

 

Roy

Wow that was not long after our infamous #0205 crossing LOL 🙂

[rafinmd]

2 hours ago, wearesiamese said:

Wow that was not long after our infamous #0205 crossing LOL 🙂

I have now been home about 130 days which is the longest in ages.  I returned from my second half of that trip April 5 and left for Rhode Island July 15, about the same difference as my return from Fremantle.  However, in those 4 months I spent 2 different weeks camping with the scouts and another 13-day Blount cruise.  I've rarely been home a full 2 months at any time since retiring.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

On 7/30/2020 at 1:42 PM, wearesiamese said:

Thanks for sharing.I have no idea what that area looks like and would love to see more pictures from  that trip

I couldn't find much in the way of photos of the area from that trip but I did return over a year later.  The Saguenay itself is an interesting destination, there is a port on the river near Chicoutimi that I have not visited.  It's a fjord with a couple of traditions.  One is a statue looking our on the river:

 

 

Ships traditionally pause in front of the statue and play Ave Maria over the PA system.  Next to the statue is a side fjord called Baie Eternite.  Ships nose into the head of the bay and blow the horn to some awesome echoes.  I've done that with both Blount and Symphony; they're both spectacular but Symphony was better.  I thought I had taken some video but can't find it.

 

In 2011 I did a combination, starting in New York with Blount and passing through the Erie Canal and St. Lawrence Seaway to Montreal, and then boarding the Symphony to return via the ocean to New York.  It was one of my first wordpress blogs and will have additional photos of both ships (actually 3 since there was a break in the canal and I had a land bridge between their 2 ships. 

 

https://yulcircle.wordpress.com/

 

Roy

 

 

Edited August 1, 2020 by rafinmd

[rafinmd]

Today's where am I was taken from a tour about an hour or so inland from the port:

 

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

Today's sunrise photo was taken August 1, 2018.  I was on the Westerdam approaching Haines Alaska, heading down to Vancouver and Amtrak to SF for a Symphony Panama Canal cruise.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

I don't have a sunrise photo for August 2 so I'm moving ahead a few days.  In 2014 my brother and his SO joined me for an Alaska cruise on the Radiance of the Seas.  We embarked August 8 in Vancouver and I took an early morning walk to Canada Place to watch the ships come in and the sunrise.

 

 

Roy

[wearesiamese]

On 8/1/2020 at 4:48 AM, rafinmd said:

Today's where am I was taken from a tour about an hour or so inland from the port:

 

 

Roy

I would really like to know where this is?:)

 

[rafinmd]

1 hour ago, wearesiamese said:

I would really like to know where this is?:)

 

I'll give it one more day.

 

Roy

[wearesiamese]

1 hour ago, rafinmd said:

I'll give it one more day.

 

Roy

tease LOL

[Jayayeff]

3 hours ago, wearesiamese said:

I would really like to know where this is?:)

 

 

I believe you'll find this is in Christchurch, New Zealand.....

 

Anne..

[rafinmd]

Today's sunrise comes from my Northwest Passage trip.  It was on my train trip to the west coast from Amtrak's Empire Builder.  The sun came up August 3 soon after we crossed from Minnesota into North Dakota.

 

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

On 8/1/2020 at 7:48 AM, rafinmd said:

Today's where am I was taken from a tour about an hour or so inland from the port:

 

 

Roy

 

As Anne has said this is Christchurch and I took it in 2018.  I remember the place more for the story behind it than anything special about the way it looks.  The Cathedral in Christchurch was extremely seriously damaged in the earthquake.  It is considered repairable but as far as I know the diocese still has not approved restoration to begin.  This is dubbed "The Cardboard Cathedral".  The ingenious brainchild of a Japanese architect, the beams are all or at least mostly cardboard.  Despite the method of construction I thought it was a very attractive building.

 

Roy

[Jim9310]

 

 

Supplementing Roy's photo---

The Cardboard Cathedral, Christchurch, NZ - interior photos on tour in Feb 2015

 

I had previously visited Christchurch one day prior to the Feb 2011 earthquake, while cruising on the Volendam.

 

Edited August 3, 2020 by Jim9310
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[rafinmd]

Thank you for that Jim.  My Christchurch tour was to the Antarctic station so all I actually saw of the city was from the bus windows so only briefly saw the exterior.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

On August 4, 2018 I was on the Westerdam passing through the Inland Passage.  The day started out nice but there was a nice sunset a little before 9.  This was the trip where I continued south to San Francisco and boarded the Symphony:

 

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

I hope this where am I is not too easy.  It is a place I have visited on both Holland America and Crystal.

 

 

Roy

[Texas Tillie]

1 hour ago, rafinmd said:

I hope this where am I is not too easy.  It is a place I have visited on both Holland America and Crystal.

 

 

Roy

 

My immediate thought was the Falklands. Then I had doubts. But they say to always go with your first thought! 🤩

 

Patty