Iceberg Alley

25 May 2017

We are entering the area they call Iceberg Alley, having departed Halifax some twenty hours ago and traveling due east. The North Atlantic is rather calm, but cold and windy; the days of shorts and tees are well behind us and we’ll not see them again on this cruise. We’ll be at sea another three days; soon we shall head due north towards Greenland and the western tip of Iceland. No icebergs yet, but we are told that the next forty-eight hours will be prime spotting time. Having visited the Titanic Museum in Halifax I hope we need binoculars to see any bergs.

We are halfway into our trip and it has been grand. Leaving New York was a treat as usual since I’ll never stop being moved and impressed with the Statue of Liberty. We spent the time en route to Newport getting more familiar with the ship, the Crystal Symphony. It is a larger ship than we are used to and it is completely filled with a wide variety of travelers from lots of countries. There is a certain elegance to this ship, little touches which makes it seem like a true luxury liner. The public bathrooms are always immaculate and have actual fluffy hand towels instead of paper, as well as fragrant French hand soap and hand cream. Lots of highly polished wood and gleaming brass trim give the ship an old world charm. 

This being an all-inclusive cruise, the bars - and there are seven of them - always seem to have a cheerful gaggle of cruisers, mostly sipping Champagne in the late morning and early afternoon and switching to all manner of mixed drinks in the evening. Sitting at the bar is a lesson in mixology and the young bartenders are really pros.  They work as a team and sometimes it appears that one of them has four hands, since they assist one another in churning out the drinks.  It is lively and friendly with lots of bar chatter as guests settle in and get to know one another and the crew.

Thus far the meals have been excellent and served in a flawless continental manner. We have opted, as we always do, for a table for two at eight pm and they always have it ready for us. We have been on some cruises where the food was prepared way in advance of service, but not here, or at least we don’t notice. It always comes piping hot and the courses are well-paced.  Best of all, for Cindy, they have a magnificent selection of mostly French cheeses that are rotated daily and served at room temperature with the proper garnishes. The wine steward is attentive and anticipates our needs even though having known us for only a few days. The wine selection is extensive and changes daily, although you can always ask for whatever you want. We have not been disappointed.

Newport required a tender to get ashore which was okay with me since we got to see all the sailboats in the harbor, and there were lots of them on Sunday given that the weather was just perfect. As the home to the America’s Cup for so many years, there are lots of really large ocean-going sailboats as well as those designed for quieter waters. Walking around Newport was fun since it was still early spring there with lots of flowers and budding trees. The town was jumping since it was the last day of their Oyster Festival, so there were lots of sights, sounds and smells associated with this grand fête. After a nice two-hour walk it was time to head back to the ship for lunch. We were all seated in the tender ready to head to the ship but going nowhere fast. I could hear the transmission slip every time they tried to engage reverse and finally we were told to exit the tender and get into another one for the ride back to the ship. Of course with anything mechanical there can be problems, but remember these tenders are also our LIFE BOATS!!

The evening en route to Boston they served fresh oysters in the dining room; not sure if they picked them up in Newport, but they were delicious, especially with the crisp Pouilly Fumé that was on offer. After dinner, as we do every night, we hit the dance floor and worked off the day’s calories that weren’t burned on our long walks. Cruising is dancing to us, which is why we cruise so often. If there were a decent dance venue in Charles Town, we would save thousands of dollars.  Boston was wet and cold but we only had a short walk from the pier to Legal Seafood where we met my sister Cathy and her husband Frank for a lovely long lunch and a chance to catch up. It was then back to the ship to prepare for the first Formal Night.

One of the things we have noticed over our years of cruising is that formal nights are becoming a thing of the past. Perhaps it is the changing lifestyle, perhaps just a question of packing, but you don’t see many men in tuxedos anymore.  The women for the most part dress to the nines; the men, perhaps to the fours. Only Cunard still enforces formal wear on formal nights but even then, the formal nights are fewer and fewer. Dinner reflects the formal night theme and the dishes are a bit more elaborate with the choices more varied, and the wines are higher-end pours. Formal nights to us are a lovely way to pass a delightful evening. 

The next morning we were in Bar Harbor Maine and very excited to go ashore since Cindy had never been in Maine and we are hoping to make 2017 the year that we have finally visited all fifty states. This is the quintessential New England fishing village replete with everything you think about fishing villages:  large dock areas, lobster processing facilities, grand hotels and restaurants perched on the cliffs overlooking the harbor.  The town is built around a village green with a church at one end and a bandshell in the middle. Some of the cutesy shops had names that were a play on Bar Harbor. The lingerie shop was Bra Harbor and the pet store was Bark Harbor; well you get the point. There is a scenic walkway along the cliffs and lots of historical markers, all in all a lovely spot and we are happy to have seen it before the summer crowds. 

Our last port of call in North America was Halifax which is a glorious maritime city, steeped in history and charm. We walked along the refurbished dock area - filled with shops, farmers’ markets, craft markets, and seafood restaurants - to the Halifax Maritime Museum. This spot is huge with lots of ships and models of ships that have made Halifax famous. The two most striking exhibits are the tributes to the Titanic and the great explosion of 1917.  The brave sailors of Halifax were charged with recovering the bodies of those who lost their lives on the Titanic. Those 650+ that were rescued were taken to New York and the dead (360+) were recovered and brought back to Halifax where they were processed and buried.  Halifax is justifiably proud of the extraordinary feats accomplished by the seamen, and those on land charged with the respectful burial of those who died.

Only five years after the ordeal with the Titanic, an ordnance vessel filled with munitions to be transported to Europe for the war lost control in the harbor, slammed into a pier loaded with coal and exploded.  In a matter of moments there were nearly 2,000 killed, 10,000 wounded and many missing.  The explosion destroyed all of the buildings in a 1.5 mile square area, and the resultant fires destroyed most of the buildings for miles along the harbor. Rescue teams came from as far as Europe and from all of the neighboring cities and provinces and also from Massachusetts.  Quite an exhibit and I must say, I didn’t know anything about it before yesterday.  Cindy only knew about it from a novel she had read several years ago; we Americans don’t learn much Canadian history in school!

Best to all, Cindy and William

New York, New York

20 May 2017

We'll be departing today from New York City on a two week cruise up the New England coast and on to Iceland. We decided to come to New York a few days early to do a few things that we have been wanting to do for years. Of course, being The Embees, the weather has been just awful, the hottest days of May in years.  Each day thus far has been in the 90's with humidity and wind. You wouldn't think there were enough trees in NYC to have pollen all over the place, but there must be since our eyes have been weepy, itchy and red. None of this has hampered our enthusiasm or delight in getting reacquainted with this grand city. 

We stayed at a Hyatt on West 36th just up from 6th Avenue - a short walk from Macy's on Herald Square, Penn Station and the Empire State Building - so now you have your bearings. After checking in we immediately walked over to the High Line, a 1.45 mile stretch of elevated walkways reclaimed from an old stretch of train tracks. It is a really beautiful walk, even in 90 degree weather, and it is filled with art, flowers and tons of people. Can't imagine what it is like trying to walk it in summer with all the tourists, but for us, it was a special treat and very much enjoyed especially after having been cooped up in planes and limos for hours.  It really shouldn't take as long to get to NYC from DC, but living in West Virginia we have few options.

After a pleasant few hours walking the High Line, we repaired to an Irish pub next to our hotel. It was dark and cool and had great beers on tap which we needed to replenish our fluid levels. Very pleasant staff, all from Ireland, and we decided to make this our go-to spot for drinks before and after dinners, which we did but only for that night, too many other options in NYC. Dinner on our first night was at a French-Moroccan restaurant which had really lovely food and great service. We finally collapsed at about midnight after a lovely first half day.

Yesterday was spent using the subway system to get to a few places we have wanted to visit. I don't want to suggest that I've been out of touch with the subway system of New York, but there were strange looks when I asked where to purchase the subway tokens! I think the last time I used the subway you could still cast your vote for Miss Rheingold and Miss Subway, things that haven't been around since the sixties.  

First stop was the World Trade Center Memorial. The Cortland subway stop is really quite beautiful with a soaring white Oculus and just huge. Walking through this area truly is inspiring and sets the tone for the two Memorials that sit in the park outside the subway stop. There is a museum, which we did not want to visit, so we focused our attention on the two large square fountains that have the names of each of the people who died when the two towers came down.  A white rose is placed in the engraved name on their birthday and just looking at these two memorials we could see several of these roses, a stark reminder of what really happened on 9/11.  (Note from Cindy:  As we gazed sadly at all the names, Wm said, “It’s amazing what a handful of stupids from Saudi could do.”)

After an hour at the memorial we headed back to the subway and uptown to Grand Central Station. I never tire of walking around this magnificent building but this time I was on a mission to show Cindy the Campbell Apartment, which is one of the classist old-time bars in all of New York. It is a little tricky to find, but oh how very worth the effort.  It is small with an old oak bar with perhaps twenty stools and perhaps twenty tables for dining.  It was only about noon and we were hot and sweaty and not looking very elegant so I just walked Cindy to the entrance and we looked at the almost empty room for awhile, promising ourselves that we would come back (but not on this trip).

As we exited Grand Central on Vanderbilt Avenue near 42nd Street, we started to hear all manner of sirens and horns, and saw a sea of flashing lights heading towards us. This parade of police, fire, bomb squad and ambulances went on for twenty minutes and we knew that something big had happened but didn't know what until we stopped for lunch and they had a big TV on explaining that some drunk had plowed through pedestrians killing one and injuring 20 before crashing into a light at Times Square. Obviously, at the beginning of the event no one knew if it was an act of terrorism or just a lone nut job so they responded as if it were terrorism, thus explaining the huge reaction. This being New York, Times Square is now up and running as usual and filled with tourists. 

Speaking of tourists, we did march ourselves over to Rockefeller Center to see Seated Ballerina, a 45-foot Mylar inflatable by Jeff Koons, which is perched in the middle of 30 Rock overlooking the area that is used for outdoor dining in the summer and ice skating in winter. It really was fun to just hang out and look at the ballerina and see all of the people gathered in front of NBC studios hoping to get their faces on The Today Show.

That night we walked and walked and walked, more or less in circles, trying to find a restaurant to our liking.  In some cases the prices were just plain too high, but in most cases the determining factor was the noise.  My goodness, NYC bars have always been on the noisy side but the Millennials love noise and the levels are astounding.  We stopped for a drink and couldn’t hear ourselves think, although we did our best to chat with a German man seated next to us and bought him a beer before we left.  We finally found a lovely and quiet Cuban restaurant called Havana that delighted us - “old world” charm and service, fine linens, a wonderful waiter and delicious food.  We’ll go back if we’re ever in the area again!

Best wishes, Cindy and William