Korbel Travel Adventures

Introducing...

2009-12-13T17:58:00.000-08:00

I know it's been a while since this blog was updated but we've been very busy in our personal lives and haven't had the time to work on posts.

We'd also like to share the news that Matthew Alexander Korbel was born on October 2nd, weighing 6lbs 14.5oz and was 19 inches long. We look forward to him sharing our travels with us!

We'll try and update when we can, but right now sleep has been a little more of a priority! To see more pictures of the little one, visit our family photo albums!

Aventura Spa Palace, Mexico

2009-02-28T12:24:00.000-08:00

People kept suggesting to us that we try an all inclusive resort, so this year we thought we'd go to one instead of taking a cruise. We did a little research, and chose Aventura Spa Palace, in the Mayan Riviera of Mexico. We picked this resort because it got great reviews, had seven a la carte restaurants and no maximum number of reservations (at many resorts, you are only permitted to dine at an a la carte restaurant once or twice and must eat at the buffet the rest of the time), and most importantly, was adults only. We wanted to start a family (and were excited to discover that I was pregnant right before we left!) and figured that this would be one of our last childfree vacations. Aventura also had several little perks like free included excursions, including swimming with the dolphins, exchange privileges with other Palace resorts in the area if we wanted to take day trips, free room service, and free internet and long distance calls to Canada and the USA.

The resort was beautiful, and huge! There was actually a shuttle bus to take you from the North side of the resort to the South side. The North side was quieter and more relaxed, while there were always activities and music playing at the South side. The pools were awesome and there was always a waiter around to take your drink order.

We spent most of our time just relaxing by the pool or on our veranda. This was definitely a more laid back vacation that cruising.

We did take advantage of some of the free excursions, though. I was suffering from the typical exhaustion and morning sickness of early pregnancy, so we tried to avoid the ones that would take all day.

Our favourite excursion was swimming with the dolphins. It was such a neat experience! I wasn't allowed to swim with them because of my pregnancy, but Dan got to be towed by them and lots of neat things. It was a lot of fun! They did allow me to get a kiss from a dolphin, though.

We did take one all day trip to Chichen Itza because we couldn't miss that! I had been on a field trip in middle school, but Dan had never seen the ruins. It always takes my breath away to see the massive pyramids in person.

We thought the acoustics on this playing field were absolutely incredible. How could the Mayans have known how to make sound carry so well that despite the distance and all the noise of the gameplayers, that people sitting at the opposite goal ends of the field could actually hear each other speaking? We tried it out ourselves and it was amazing!

We had a nice relaxing vacation, and it was definitely nice not to get a bill shoved under your door on the last night! Whatever price you paid for the trip, that was all you had to pay. We will probably stick to cruising in the future, though. The food, although plentiful, was not as good as Celebrity's, and Dan missed the wine list. He tried a glass of Mexican wine and it was unbelievably bad. We also missed being able to go to the casino after dinner, which is one of our favourite activities onboard a ship. Unfortunately, casinos are illegal in Mexico.

If you're just looking for a place to relax and decompress without kids running around, and enjoy having a few drinks without reaching into your pocket every time, then I'd definitely recommend Aventura Spa Palace. To view the rest of our photos, visit our photo album.

Christmas in Kansas

2009-01-02T18:05:00.000-08:00

We left on Christmas Day to go to the bridge tournament in Overland Park, Kansas. We have been to the tournament before but the location was new this year. I must confess that we greatly preferred the Westin Crowne Center since there was shopping and food in the complex which made things very convenient for the players. At this tournament, if you didn't rent a car, you were pretty much out of luck as far as finding dinner!

Before we went, I went on Restaurant.com to find some local restaurants to try. We bought gift certificates to a few different places, and were pleasantly surprised at some of them.

Dan always enjoys trying different beers when we travel. Here he is with a beer flight at Barley's Brewhaus:

Our favourite restaurant by far was Tatsu's. The food and service were wonderful and if we return to Overland Park it will be number one on my list. I had salmon in champagne sauce in puff pastry and not only was it delicious but it looked like this:

Dan had veal which was also delicious. For dessert, we had their signature Grand Marnier souffle which we both enjoyed.

Prices were reasonable and with our gift certificate the meal was a bargain. I would highly recommend this restaurant if you enjoy French cuisine and you're in the area and looking for a good meal.

For New Year's, we went to J. Gilbert's steakhouse, which was fairly good but nothing special. Then we rang in the New Year playing the Party Pairs bridge game, which was a lot of fun. There was free champagne, silly hats, and noisemakers. Here we are with our teammates, Martin Hunter and Jonathan Steinberg.

Happy 2009!

Red Rock Canyon / Hoover Dam

2008-08-04T15:33:00.000-07:00

I travelled to Las Vegas for two weeks in July 2008 because a major bridge tournament was being held at the Las Vegas Hilton. Unfortunately, Susie was otherwise occupied and was unable to join me. My first bridge game was with Robert Lebi, a superstar player from Toronto. Unfortunately, our game was canceled because one of the players on our team couldn't make it at the last minute.

After our bridge game was canceled, Robert and his recent bride, Judith, invited me to join them sightseeing in Nevada. I was happy to join them on what promised to be an eventful day; unfortunately, we picked a real scorcher.

Red Rock Canyon was quite spectacular; each scenic stopping area offered a unique view of the rock and land formations, often different enough from each other that you wouldn't be sure you were in the same canyon!

Red Rock Canyon is just west of Las Vegas, perhaps 30 minutes from the strip. You may have heard of the Red Rock Casino (or seen it on TV as it hosts a primetime poker show) which is reputed to have a splendid buffet.

Here is a picture of some of the rock:

Here is a picture of me and Judith:

Then it was on to Hoover Dam. I must say this place was spectacular, as much for the view as for being a reminder of what the human race can accomplish. Similar to when we were at the Panama Canal, it is easy to be awestruck by the scale of the dam. Enough concrete was used in the construction of the dam to create a freeway across the USA!

Elmira Pancake Festival

2008-04-05T16:42:00.001-07:00

Although it's not as far afield as we usually go, today was the Elmira Pancake Festival, the world's largest one day maple syrup festival. We had a great time and the weather was beautiful.

Maybe TOO beautiful... the crowds swelled far past the anticipated count, and the pancakes which were supposed to be served until 3pm sold out not long after noon, with lines over 30 minutes long still waiting just to buy tickets to get in line for pancakes!

There were so many people there that it was difficult to walk. But it was a fun day. There was everything possible there that you could think of to eat at a fair, and some things that you couldn't! Choices ranged from Turkish food to Greek to maple sausages on buns to dill pickles on a stick to cotton candy, funnel cakes, and apple fritters with maple syrup. There were also lots of stalls selling lovely handmade crafts.

I bought some delicious homemade bread and cheese rolls from the Mennonites, and a hand woven door decoration that is supposed to bring us love and happiness. And of course, you can't resist that sweet maple syrup! Now I'll have to make some pancakes at home for dinner instead.

A good time was had by all who attended!

Constellation Cruise, Day Thirteen- Fort Lauderdale

2008-02-08T23:24:00.000-08:00

Since we had an evening flight with Air Canada, we had a leisurely disembarkation. We were able to stay in our room until 9am, sleeping in and enjoying a last few minutes on our balcony.

Since we didn't have to go to the Celebrity Theater until 10am, we decided to go to the Cova Cafe for cappuccino. Unfortunately they don't serve pastries on the last morning but their drinks are still delicious.

Disembarkation was very smooth. They called our colour, Light Blue 2, right at 10am when they said they would. We proceeded down the gangway and found our luggage right where it should be. We had no difficulty getting a porter to assist us through Customs and to the rental car area, so we could spend the day exploring Fort Lauderdale.

We decided to go to the Galleria Mall to have lunch and do some shopping. This mall was full of designer stores so it wasn't very appealing to us, but it did have a Macy's. I have to comment that I've never had customer service in a department store that was as good as the service we received at Macy's. Any time we were carrying items, a store associate offered to take our items and hold them at the register so we didn't have to carry them with us. When I was looking at the store directory to see what departments they had, an associate offered to help direct me. Now that's service! Macy's also offers an 11% discount for visitors from out of town, which is nice!

After some shopping, we just drove around for a while until we passed an ice cream parlour. We decided to stop and realized we'd accidentally landed at a Florida landmark!

Jaxson's is Zagat rated and it definitely deserves it! The inside of the restaurant is covered with old license plates and memorabilia. It is famous for the Kitchen Sink, an enormous dessert designed to be shared by four or more people, and served in an actual kitchen sink!

However, their regular desserts are still huge and delicious! Dan and I shared the Monster Chocolate Chip Cookie Sundae, and couldn't finish it.

They had some fun plywood cutouts in front of the restaurant.

After our ice cream, it was unfortunately time to get to the airport and go back to reality. Our flight was delayed 30 minutes, but we had a fairly smooth trip home and all our luggage made it with us.

The biggest irritant about the return flight is the way that Fort Lauderdale airport is set up. The rental car drop off point is in a completely different area of the airport than the shuttle to the Air Canada terminal. Since we had a lot of luggage, we rented a little cart for $3 US to take us to the shuttle. When we arrived, we were not permitted to take the cart on the shuttle, and had to pay another rental fee when we arrived at the terminal. I know it's only three dollars, but it's the principle. Most airports actually let people use the carts for free- very few actually charge and when they do, it's usually only $2.

We came home to piles of snow and freezing cold. Oh well... it was wonderful while it lasted!

If you're interested in seeing the rest of our photos, please visit our photo album.

Constellation Cruise, Day Twelve- At Sea

2008-02-07T19:04:00.000-08:00

All good things must come to an end! Today was our last day at sea, and we were determined to make the most of it.

We had one last lunch on our balcony.

One last game of basketball on the Sports Deck.

One last game of bingo. They hadn't been able to give away the jackpot during the cruise, so the final game was worth over $2000! Unfortunately, we didn't win.

We also attending the ice carving demonstration. The staff who create these sculptures are very talented! He turned this 300lb lump of ice:

... into this!

Before dinner, we met Annie and Ian up at the Bar at the Edge of the Earth for drinks and Billy Joel hour. Annie had her first frozen drink on the last day of the trip!

We were looking forward to our dinner at Ocean Liners tonight. The restaurant was not very busy since most people prefer to eat in the dining room on the last evening. Again, the dress code was casual, but we preferred to dress semi formally to suit the ambiance of the dining room.

Our dinner was excellent, and Katharina ordered a special dessert for us to be prepared tableside- Crepes Suzette.

They were absolutely delicious when served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I am really going to miss the food and service at Ocean Liners!

Constellation Cruise, Day Eleven- Cozumel

2008-02-06T23:30:00.000-08:00

Today, we visited Cozumel. We had originally booked a tour through the ship to visit the ruins of Tulum, but when we realized that this involved more than three hours of transportation on a bus and a ferry, we decided we'd just go and explore Cozumel on our own.

We slept in and had lunch onboard (the pizza in the Seaview Cafe is excellent, and so are the hamburgers at the Seaside Grill) before disembarking in Cozumel. Like in Grand Cayman, there were lots of ships in port today.

The casino staff had told us about a mini golf course in Cozumel and they told us it was a lot of fun. We decided to visit it since we enjoy mini golf. We took a short taxi ride from the pier for $6. In Cozumel, taxi rates are preset and not metered.

The course was a lot of fun, with everything from real roughs to water hazards to lizards!

I won by eleven strokes after scoring a hole in one! It was a fun course and it was nice to be able to order drinks on the course. Their sangria was very good and drinks were cheap at $2 each.

After mini golf, we decided just to walk around Cozumel a little. We found a churro stand where the vendors were selling them freshly made- the aroma was irresistible and they were delicious!

The city was packed with all the ships in port and most prices were sky high. Dan bought a bottle of tequila from a shop that had over 200 varieties in stock, and he bought me a beautiful set of silver and fire opal jewelry.

Of course, we had to stop at a McDonalds when we saw one!

Tonight's dress code was casual, so we were able to get back to the ship a little later before going to dinner. We had a reservation for Ocean Liners tomorrow for the last night of the cruise, so tonight was our last night in the dining room. The maitre d' brought me a special pasta dish with four cheese sauce for dinner, and it was delicious.

Gratuities are normally given on the final night, but even though ours were prepaid on this cruise, we gave thank you cards to our dining room staff this evening to let them know we'd appreciated their service. Here is our waiter, Marshall.

After dinner, we went to the casino. It was very disappointing that we were never able to get a cash game going at any point in this cruise. We aren't sure if this is attributable to the guests on this cruise or if they simply didn't like the electronic table. We think it was probably the table, since a friendly dealer can always get players to their table. We did have some fun with blackjack and craps, but it would have been more enjoyable to have a live poker game like we did on Galaxy.

Constellation Cruise, Day Ten- At Sea

2008-02-05T23:10:00.000-08:00

Today we relaxed and enjoyed another day at sea. Or tried to- the ship was rocking all night and when we woke up, they announced a storm warning.

It didn't really look all that bad, and the waves settled down within a few hours.

This afternoon, Dan and I were invited to a food and wine pairing seminar by Emilia, our sommelier. We decided to attend and found it an enjoyable experience. It was really interesting to see how the flavours of the food changed when we tried different wines with each bite.

Tonight was the final formal night, where we met all the kitchen staff, and the dining room staff performed the Baked Alaska parade. I always regret this night a little because it signals that the end of the cruise is approaching. Thankfully, due to our itinerary, we still had two more nights onboard!

It was also lobster night, my favourite meal in the main dining room.

After the Baked Alaska parade, the dining room musicians played the traditional Auld Lang Syne while dessert was being served.

Tonight was also Le Grande Buffet, where the chefs spend days preparing food and ice sculptures for our culinary delight.

For more photos, visit our photo albums.

Constellation Cruise, Day Nine- Panama

2008-02-04T23:04:00.000-08:00

Today we got our first look at the Panama Canal. It was very exciting!

Again, we booked our tour through Celebrity- CO 11- "Eco Cruises on the Gatun Lake". The tour guide was very knowledgeable and taught us a great deal about the history of Panama and the local ecology.

Our first stop was the Gatun Locks, where we were able to see a ship moving through the locks. It was pretty cool to see them filling the locks to raise the level of the water. Our tour guide explained that they had to raise the ships over 80 feet to pass through the canal.

Since the canal is very narrow considering the sides of the ship (there are only two feet of space on each side!), the ship is towed through the lock by canal staff.

When it reached the front of the lock, they started to raise the water level so that the ship could proceed to the next lock.

After that interesting experience, we proceeded to Gatun Lake, a manmade freshwater lake. Unfortunately, due to the upcoming expansion of the Panama Canal, the new drainage will eventually turn Gatun Lake into saltwater.

We saw several species of birds, monkeys, and a sloth while on the cruise. This was our favourite excursion of the trip and we definitely recommend it.

Tonight was another casual night back on the ship, and we decided to have another series of Lifestyles photos taken. The photographers are very talented!

After dinner, we went to the Cova Cafe to listen to the a capella group Oceans Four. They were very good and easy to listen to.

Constellation Cruise, Day Eight- Colombia

2008-02-03T23:14:00.000-08:00

We woke up this morning in Cartagena, Colombia.

We were both a little sleepy because the tour began so early, but it looked like a great excursion so we booked it anyway.

We were glad that we did! It was excellent. We booked excursion CA-08: "Deluxe Cartagena and Fortress" through the cruiseline. Our tourguide's name was Tous, and he was very knowledgeable about the area and answered all our questions.

Our first stop was at the Fort of San Felipe de Barajas, which was built in the 17th century.

It was very interesting to explore the different areas of the fort- and to try and escape from all the vendors trying to sell us things! They sold everything from hats to seashells to drawings.

Our next stop was the Inquisition Palace, which was really cool but a little scary when you saw all the torture devices that were still preserved there.

After about forty minutes of visiting the Inquisition Palace, we walked through the streets of Cartagena on our way to San Pedro Claver church.

We met some interesting natives along the way! These were men, not statues!

The church was very ornate and beautiful.

I was finally getting over the shock of the torture implements when I ran into a skeleton! The bones of their saint were preserved in the church! It was a little creepy to see them exhibited like that.

We returned to the ship after the tour and decided to make another reservation at Ocean Liners for the evening. Tonight was the Super Bowl so we wanted to schedule dinner early to be able to watch the end of the game. Dinner was fabulous, as usual.

Celebrity really did a great job with their Super Bowl coverage. It was available to watch in-cabin, in the casino, or you could join the huge party in the theatre where they served football-type food and sold team memorabilia. And the game was so exciting- what an upset!

Tonight was informal night, and instead of taking the usual posed photos, we decided to try the Lifestyles photography that was being offered. You have to be willing to take off your shoes and have fun, but the photos are wonderful. I would definitely recommend that everyone do a Lifestyles photo shoot.

Constellation Cruise, Day Seven- At Sea

2008-02-02T23:28:00.000-08:00

Today we had another relaxing day at sea. We slept in and then went to the dining room for lunch. The meal was very good, I had ravioli and Dan had a chicken salad.

After lunch, I decided to try my luck in the blackjack tournament. Unfortunately I didn't find out the rules before I signed up, which made the event a total crapshoot. They run it in heats, with each group of players playing exactly seven hands. Then they write down all the scores, and at the end of the heats, the top six players become the final table for another seven hand round.

We thought it was more like a sit n go tournament, where at the end of each round, one player would be eliminated, so there would be more of a strategy. The way it was run, it was much more random. Dan and I figured the optimal strategy was to put in half my stack on the first hand and half on the second, to try and double up and become a big stack. Even in only seven hands, with several heats, someone was bound to go on a big tear and triple or quadruple up. Unfortunately, although I was dealt made hands on both my first two (an 18 and a 19), dealer drew out to make 20 and 21, so I was eliminated. Oh well, it was fun to try!

Tonight was the second formal night, so I decided to get my hair done with Letitia again since she did such a nice job the first night.

At dinner, I didn't care for anything on the menu, so I asked the maitre d' if it would be possible to get something simple like fettuccine alfredo. They have a pasta station with lots of sauces upstairs on the 10th deck so I thought it would be an easy request. That turned out to be one of the best meals I had in the main dining room. There were little chunks of smoked salmon and the sauce was rich, creamy, and delicious.

The Captain's Club cocktail party was held at 7:45pm, between the two dinner seatings. They had a menu of complimentary drinks and served yummy little canapes. Unfortunately since we had just come from dinner, we couldn't eat very much!

Captain Manetas gave a short speech and then honoured the people onboard who had cruised the most with Celebrity- 33 cruises! Maybe one day...

After the cocktail party, we stayed in the Celebrity Theater to see tonight's show, a comedian named Don Sherman. He was hilarious- we nearly split our sides laughing when he mentioned that he'd heard someone ask about whale watching, and his first reaction was "On or off the ship?"

It's too bad that he only performed once, we would have loved to see him again!

Constellation Cruise, Day Six- Aruba

2008-02-01T22:06:00.000-08:00

When we woke up this morning, we were in sunny Aruba! We visited Aruba last year on the Galaxy and did an island tour, and saw that Aruba is basically a desert with some beautiful beaches. We didn't have much time last year to take advantage of them, so we knew exactly how to spend our time this cruise!

We went to Palm Beach, the same beach we'd seen last year on our way out for the glass bottomed boat ride. It was just as beautiful as we remembered.

I decided to do some watersports, and since I'd gone tubing as a child at my parents' cottage, I thought it looked like fun. If I'd remembered that lakes are very calm and that the ocean is wavy, I think I might have thought twice! I had a death grip on that tube because I thought that the vendor was intentionally trying to dump me!

Enough was enough! We decided to spend the rest of the day relaxing on the beach with some good books.

The ship was staying in port until 8pm tonight, so we decided to make a reservation at Ocean Liners, the specialty restaurant, so that we wouldn't have to rush back to make our dinner seating at 6pm. The dress code tonight was casual, but I personally don't think I would feel comfortable eating in this restaurant in casual attire. The service and food are at least that of a four star restaurant, so we chose to dress formally and feel that this better suited the ambiance of the restaurant.

Since it was our second time there, Katharina, the head chef de rang, offered Dan a special entree- chateaubriand. He of course accepted, and we began our second evening of gastronomic delights. After a delicious amuse bouche, I enjoyed a bowl of lobster bisque while Dan had the tomato, red pepper, and mozzarella soup. For our appetizers, I had the goat cheese souffle again while he had a delicious Caesar salad which was prepared tableside. The entrees were fabulous- the chateaubriand for Dan, and scallop and lobster pasta with white wine sauce for me. We topped off our meal with a bottle of Perrier Jouet Fleur de Champagne '96, our favourite vintage.

After our cheese course, it was time for dessert! I ordered the Lemon and Lime Mascarpone Cheese Cake, and Dan chose the Marsala Zabaglione.

It was a wonderful meal- they had to roll us out of the restaurant and back to our cabin!

Constellation Cruise, Day Five- At Sea

2008-01-31T23:40:00.000-08:00

Today we were at sea, so Dan and I just decided to relax and enjoy being on vacation. We slept in and then went up to the Seaview Cafe to get an early lunch and bring it back to eat on our balcony. We stopped at the library to get some books so we could lounge in the sun and read.

Later in the afternoon, I went to play bingo with Annie. It was a lot of fun, especially when she won!

Tonight was our second informal night, and it was nice to see everyone dressed up. After dinner, Dan and I decided to try our luck in the casino. They were offering $3 blackjack! Twice I got lucky and was able to split four deuces, and even got some double downs. How often does that happen?

Constellation Cruise, Day Four- Grand Cayman

2008-01-30T23:57:00.000-08:00

Today was out first port stop, Grand Cayman. We'd never been there before and were looking forward to it from the great reviews we'd heard on Cruise Critic. The only worry was that there were seven other ships in port with us, so we were concerned that the island would be packed.

We could see several other ships from our balcony.

Since ships aren't allowed to dock in Grand Cayman, you have to take a little boat called a tender to get to shore. We had booked a private tour with Captain Marvin, so we got on the first tender to ensure we wouldn't be late.

Unfortunately it seemed that the staff was still working the kinks out of attaching the tender to Constellation, because even though the seas were calm, the tender kept slamming into the side of the ship. It was very uncomfortable and we remained docked there for nearly ten minutes before finally pulling away for Grand Cayman.

When we arrived, we walked around for a little while before joining our tour group for the first segment of the tour- snorkeling and swimming with the stingrays. We joined Captain Jimmy and boarded the boat to head out to the coral reef.

It was fun to feed the stingrays pieces of squid. They don't have any teeth and their suction grip to get the food is very powerful- at first I thought I had been bitten! I wasn't too scared to pass up my chance to hold one, though. Unfortunately we didn't bring a water safe camera so Dan had to take the photograph from the boat.

After our snorkeling excursion, we joined a different tour guide for our trip to Hell. Well, the excursion wasn't that bad :)

The islanders named this area Hell because of an interesting rock formation that certainly looks like it belongs in the netherworld.

After Hell and back, it was time to finish off with a visit to the local turtle farm, where they breed endangered turtles to try and repopulate the species. The tanks were very crowded and at times it seemed like the turtles had no room to swim.

By the time we were finished at the turtle farm, it was nearly 3pm and we hadn't eaten since breakfast. Since it is not allowed to bring food off the ship, it would have been nice if the tour included sandwiches or some kind of snack- we were all starving! I saw a sign advertising the local specialty, conch fritters, so Dan and I decided to share an order. Note to self: always ask about the price when you order something exotic! I couldn't imagine that a little order of fritters could possibly be $10 USD! They were very tasty, however, especially with the tartar sauce.

Tendering back to the ship was very smooth, so they must have solved the earlier difficulty. We spent the remainder of the afternoon on the veranda before getting ready for dinner.

Tonight's dress code was informal, which really means semi formal- sports jacket and slacks for the men (tie optional), and nice dress or pantsuit for the women.

Tonight, our sommelier was waiting at our table to take our order first. It was nice to be treated with respect and given the opportunity to order wine before dinner was over! We had a nice meal although we both feel that the food is not quite as good this year as it was last year on Galaxy.

After dinner, we went to the Rendez-Vous for drinks and to listen to the jazz group who were very good. It was a nice, relaxing evening.

Constellation Cruise, Day Three- At Sea

2008-01-29T23:02:00.000-08:00

Today was our first sea day, but there was no sleeping in! The Cruise Critic party was at 10:30am, so we ordered room service so that we could enjoy breakfast on our veranda.

After breakfast, we went over to Michaels' Club to meet the other members of Cruise Critic. We had chatted online prior to the cruise, so it was nice to be able to put faces to internet handles! Then we were addressed by John Howell, the current cruise director of Constellation. In an interesting coincidence, John has been the cruise director on every one of our Celebrity cruises!

John told us that some major changes are in progress onboard Celebrity ships and that many of them were being tested out on Constellation. Coffee onboard, for example, has always been terrible; John said they had found a new supplier and were trying to improve the flavour. They are also trying out new stations and items at the breakfast buffet and at the poolside grill which we are looking forward to trying.

After chatting a bit with the other Cruise Critics, it was time to go upstairs to the party for those guests celebrating an anniversary or honeymoon. They gave prizes out for the couples who had been married the shortest time (four days) and the longest time (sixty one years). It was really inspirational to see how many people had been married for such a long time without killing each other!

After a yummy lunch in the dining room, it was time for our Rasul spa treatment. We had one on Galaxy and loved it. It's a couples' skin treatment in a private sauna area, and it's very relaxing and refreshing.

We went back to our room to relax on the balcony with a good book for the rest of the afternoon, before I went back to the spa to get my hair done for the Captain's Welcome Party, the first formal night. The dress code is black tie- tuxedo or dark suit for men, evening gown or cocktail dress for women.

We didn't see anything on tonight's dinner menu in the main dining room that appealed to us, so we decided to dine at Ocean Liners. The meal and service were fantastic. We chose to do the chef's tasting menu and wine pairings and enjoyed every bite. There is a $30 surcharge per person in addition to whatever alcohol you order, but the cost is a real bargain for the meal and service you receive.

We began with an amuse bouche; melon and prosciutto on an endive leaf, followed by tomato and basil soup for Dan and lobster bisque for me, followed by the goat cheese souffle for both of us, which was surprisingly delicious and not goat cheesy at all. It was so tasty that Dan couldn't resist taking a bite before he photographed it!

We had an intermezzo of passionfruit sorbet to cleanse our palates, followed by the main course. For our entrees, I chose the lobster and scallop pasta and Dan had the rack of lamb.

Before dessert, they wheeled out the cheese cart so we could enjoy some cheese, crackers, and fruit before dessert.

Dessert was delicious, and disappeared before we could take photographs of it! I had the chocolate souffle, and Dan had the chef's choice of four tasting desserts.

After the wonderful meal, we headed over to the casino in hopes of a poker game. To our disappointment, the poker table was electronic and no one seemed interested in playing. We had such a great time (and good fortune!) on the Galaxy so we decided to play a little blackjack tonight and hope that there would be more interest later in the cruise.

Constellation Cruise, Day Two- Fort Lauderdale

2008-01-28T23:34:00.000-08:00

If in the future you ever stay at the Rodeway Inn in Fort Lauderdale, go somewhere else for breakfast! It was a total comedy of errors. We went to the dining room at 9am, where the employees told us to seat ourselves and they'd be along shortly with menus. After a reasonable wait, a waitress came with menus and told us to help ourselves to the free juice, coffee, and tea machines in the corner.

After about fifteen minutes, she came back and took our order. Then we waited, and waited, and waited. Other customers had come in, been seated, and received their food while we were waiting. One couple had actually finished and paid the bill and we still hadn't received our meal!

Finally, forty five minutes later, the server came out with food. She tried to put them on our table, but they were nothing like what we'd ordered! We explained again what we'd asked for, and she apologized. Twenty minutes after that, we were wishing we had just taken those meals!

Eventually the manager came out, apologized, and told us breakfast was on the house. That would have been nice if there had been breakfast! When it finally came, the orders were still wrong but we were starving and tired of waiting so we just ate them. It was comical, but I still wouldn't recommend eating there!

We got to the pier around 11:30am, and left our luggage with the porters. Although in Fort Lauderdale there are signs up not to tip the porters, we wanted to see our luggage again!

After a short period of waiting, we got in line to get our Seapasses and soon were boarding the beautiful Constellation! We went to look at our stateroom and were so excited to see it! We were lucky enough to have a Family Veranda stateroom on the aft of the ship, and it was huge! It had a main bedroom area, a sitting area separated by a sliding door, and an enormous balcony!

We love to have a veranda because it's so nice to have your own little private deck area. No fighting for a chair by the pool on sea days- there's always one reserved for you. It's a nice quiet place to relax, have lunch, read, or just watch the waves go by.

We dropped our things in the room and headed upstairs to the buffet for lunch. After lunch, it was time to explore the ship. Constellation has an identical layout to Summit, the ship we sailed in 2005 for our honeymoon, so it didn't take us long to get reacquainted with her.

At 3:45, we attended the mandatory muster drill which told us all what to do in case of emergency. The drill was fairly brief and finished with about a half hour before sailaway. We went back to our room to put away the life jackets, and were delighted to see that our luggage was already waiting for us. We decided to unpack right away. The Family Veranda staterooms are intended for a whole family, so there was plenty of storage space. Dan and I each had our own closet and there were drawers and cabinets everywhere.

When we finished unpacking, it was time to head out on the balcony and wave goodbye to Fort Lauderdale!

Dinner was a little disappointing. Dan and I enjoy our wine, but it seems that if you are young and have a table for two, the wine sommelier won't bother with you because she thinks that you aren't worth her while. After repeated requests, we finally were able to order wine with our entree, halfway through dinner!

The food on Celebrity, while still good, didn't have the same WOW effect that we remembered from the Galaxy and the Summit. We enjoyed our meal but looked forward to the opportunity to visit Ocean Liners later in the cruise, the specialty restaurant with a small surcharge.

In the evening, we had to turn around and go back to Fort Lauderdale to evacuate an injured passenger. A boat pulled up to Constellation and the passenger was transferred while we were still at sea.

Fortunately we were told the next day that the passenger was in stable condition and receiving good care, and also that turning around would not affect our schedule to reach our first port.

After dinner, we decided to check out the Thallassotherapy pool area. It was open until 11pm and it was deserted by 9pm. It was so nice to relax in the pool area without all the crowds!

We were tired from all the travelling, so we turned in a little early for the day.

Constellation Cruise, Day One- Fort Lauderdale

2008-01-27T23:20:00.000-08:00

It's always nice to escape the snow in the winter, and Dan and I were really looking forward to our anniversary cruise this year. Because of the timing of the Detroit Nationals being over our actual anniversary (March 8th), we decided to take the cruise a little early.

We flew out at 2:30pm and we landed in Fort Lauderdale a few hours later. All our baggage arrived, fortunately, so by 6pm we were ready to go. I called our hotel and they sent a van to pick us up.

We were staying at the Rodeway Inn, a Choice Hotels chain. Hotels in Fort Lauderdale are very expensive in the winter and this location was reasonably priced and offered free transportation from the airport and to the cruise ship the following morning. It is by no means a luxurious hotel but the accommodation was acceptable for a one night stay.

For dinner, we decided to visit the Cheesecake Factory. We don't have this chain in Canada and enjoy visiting it when we have the opportunity. The meal was excellent and the dessert, of course, was fabulous!

After dinner, we went back to the hotel and watched some TV before turning in for the night, since we'd be up early the next day for breakfast before taking the shuttle to the pier.

Kansas City, Day Seven

2007-12-31T23:56:00.000-08:00

There hasn't been much to report on this week other than bridge. We've dined at a few different restaurants but nothing really special. If you're interested in the bridge side of things, visit our bridge blog, Korbel Bridge Adventures, which will be updated over the next few days.

For New Year's Eve, we went to Pierpont's for dinner. It is a lovely restaurant at Union Station, connected to the Westin by an enclosed walkway. They had a set menu for the evening; for $70, you chose an appetizer, salad, entree, and dessert. The food was delicious. They also had an extensive wine list.

After dinner, we went back to the Westin and kibitzed the rest of the Champagne pairs game, the last event of the bridge tournament. Following the game, there was a party upstairs in the Presidential Suite.

We rang in the New Year with a kiss. Welcome to 2008!

Kansas City, Day Two

2007-12-26T22:49:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately flight delays strike again; the fourth member of our team was stranded in Detroit for 12 hours and didn't make it to Kansas City until the evening. Instead of a team event, Dan and Jonathan played pairs in the bridge game and I relaxed and explored the Westin Crown Center.

The hotel is connected to a complex of restaurants and stores through a little walkway, as well as Union Station and other hotels through other walkways. I did a little shopping at some stores that we don't have in Canada and got some neat stuff.

We decided to go to the Peppercorn Duck Club at the Hyatt for dinner. It is a fabulous restaurant. We ate there in 2005 on our last visit to Kansas City and had been looking forward to it.

As it was last time, the food was excellent. Jonathan ordered the house specialty, the duck, Dan had a pepper encrusted filet, and I had lobster tail. Then of course, we all partook of the restaurant's famous chocolate buffet, included with every entree.

I would definitely recommend dining at this restaurant if you're in the area. It's a little on the pricey side (appetizers are about $10, entrees in the $35 range, wines at the regular restaurant markup), but if your wallet can handle it, enjoy!

Kansas City, Day One

2007-12-25T22:07:00.000-08:00

We left for Kansas City early this afternoon, connecting through Minneapolis. We were a little concerned because of the weather forecast, and justifiably so. Both legs of our flight were delayed, although for different reasons.

Leaving Toronto, we flew on a very small plane. After we got onboard, the pilot announced that we were overweight and needed passengers to volunteer to take a later flight. The pilot said we were not leaving until enough passengers volunteered to leave. They had to increase the compensation to free first class tickets anywhere in Canada or the USA before they finally took off the FOUR passengers they needed. Considering the plane could only hold maybe 50 people, it was surprising that the flight was that much overweight! I wonder if this is a common occurrence with smaller planes?

Our second leg was a weather delay. Only one runway was open in Minneapolis and the plane had to be de-iced. We spent over two hours sitting on the tarmac waiting to take off before we finally made it out. When we arrived, we found that both pieces of our luggage had stayed in Minneapolis, although our traveling companion's suitcase had made it. We were assured that it would be on the next flight to Kansas City later that night.

So a note to all of you, especially those who take cruises: NEVER fly the same day as your trip, especially in the winter. You never know when weather or something else will delay you, especially on a connecting flight. And even if you make it, your luggage may not. While this is a minor inconvenience at a hotel (most give you free toiletries), it can be a nightmare if you're taking a cruise and they can't reach you with your suitcases even if they find them!

Fortunately, we didn't need to find out about Northwest's lost luggage compensation policy as our bags arrived early the next morning, with a note of apology and a $25 discount certificate for a future flight. I thought that was very classy.

After all the hassle, we finally grabbed a quick Christmas dinner in the Brasserie, one of the restaurants at the Westin Crown Center, and checked into our room to see this beautiful view.

The rooms are spacious and Westin's Heavenly Bath linens and bath products are very nice. They have a catalog in each room should you desire to purchase some for yourself. I loved the bathrobes (you have to request them) and seriously considered it!

There wasn't much time for sightseeing on this trip since we were playing bridge every day, but we ate at a few spectacular restaurants that I'll review here.

Happy Holidays!

2007-12-19T16:00:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Korbel family!

All the best in the New Year!

San Francisco, Day Thirteen

2007-12-02T23:50:00.000-08:00

Today was our last day in San Francisco- our flight was scheduled to depart at noon on December 3rd. I decided today was a good day to get some last minute shopping done and to walk around the city a little bit more.

I walked down Market toward 9th street, and found myself at UN Plaza. I don't know if this occurs on Sundays only or if it's every day, but there is kind of a farmer's market there with everything from fresh fish to fruits and vegetables. It was interesting to walk through.

Here's the view through the plaza:

I walked down to the Nordstrom's Rack and had some fun shopping there before I decided to walk back to the hotel and see how the bridge was going. I had dinner in the Concierge lounge and relaxed in the hotel until the bridge game was over. Dan's team came in 9th in the North American Swiss, congrats! We all went across the street to the bar for some appetizers and drinks to celebrate a fun and successful tournament.

If you're interested in seeing pictures from the rest of our trip, please visit our San Francisco photo album.

San Francisco, Day Twelve

2007-12-01T17:37:00.000-08:00

Today I set out on foot to visit Chinatown. It's about a 20 minute walk from the Marriott and it's easy to get there. I wasn't sure if I wanted to visit Chinatown since we'd just gotten back from Shanghai a couple of months ago, but I decided to check it out since it's so popular.

I crossed through the gates and you could certainly tell you weren't in Kansas anymore!

I would recommend if you visit here, not to do much of your souvenir shopping close to the gate. Prices are higher there than they are inside, and ridiculously more expensive than the same items were in China. The further into Chinatown you go, the more reasonable prices become.

Unfortunately, although I was led to believe that you could bargain in Chinatown, I found out that you could not. I tried in several places and every time the salesperson told me that the prices were as marked. That was a little disappointing.

The sellers were nowhere near as grabby and in your face as they are in China. Here, it was often difficult to get a vendor's attention if you wanted to buy something!

The architecture is definitely Asian, and the hanging lanterns in the streets were pretty cool.

After my walk through Chinatown, I decided to visit the Cable Car Museum since it was in the same area of the city.

It was pretty interesting to see all the wheels and pulleys that made the cars run! Originally, horses were used to pull carts up and down the steep hills of San Francisco, but after one too many horrible accidents, someone decided there must be a better way, and the cable car was invented. These wheels pull the cable cars along:

After visiting the museum, I was getting hungry so I decided to check my Fodor's guidebook on San Francisco to see where was recommended to eat locally. They suggested Great Eastern, just off the main drag in Chinatown. I went there and the food was excellent. It's a little pricey but if you like good Chinese food I definitely recommend it. The restaurant is very visually appealing too, with jade decorations on the walls and tanks on the back wall full of fresh seafood.

After dinner, I decided to hop a cable car back to the hotel.

San Francisco, Day Eleven

2007-11-30T17:29:00.000-08:00

Today I went with Janet Dunbar to visit Monterey and Carmel. She rented a car and we drove along the coast. It was really beautiful.

It's about 2 hours from San Francisco to Monterey, so we arrived there just about lunchtime. We did some sightseeing on Monterey's Fisherman's Wharf and explored the little shops there.

As we were walking down the main street, lots of restaurants were serving samples of clam chowder. We took one each and were tasting them when another restauranteur stopped us and said that his was better, and he could prove it if we tried it. It was pretty darn good chowder, so we decided to stop there for lunch.

After lunch, we did some more sightseeing on the Wharf before taking Seventeen Mile Drive to Carmel. The scenery was so beautiful. It was also awesome to drive through Pebble Beach! There are many golf courses in that area but of course this is the most famous.

We didn't stay long in Carmel except to see the beaches because the shops there were all very expensive- mostly designer stuff. And there was still quite a drive back to San Francisco! We were both pretty tired by the end of the day.

San Francisco, Day Seven

2007-11-26T23:16:00.000-08:00

Dan and I bought tickets through the Bridge Tour desk to do a Bay cruise this morning. Everything sounded fun, except waking up to be at the pier by 9:45am!

We got up and had breakfast in the concierge lounge and then caught the F line trolley to pier 43 1/2 (don't ask me how you can have half a pier!) on Fisherman's Wharf. The trolley is inexpensive at $1.50pp and historic- the cars are from all over the world and have been restored. The one we rode in was from Milan, Italy.

We arrived at the pier a little early so decided to do some souvenir shopping. We got some great gifts for friends and a few things for ourselves. Then we went to check in for the cruise.

Like Alcatraz, this boat offered individual audio tours in many languages. The cruise lasted for an hour and we learned a lot about the Bay area. We also sailed right under the Golden Gate bridge!

After our cruise, we decided to explore Fisherman's Wharf and have lunch before heading back to the playing site since we were both playing this afternoon.

Dan saw a restaurant selling garlic pizza, so he couldn't resist! I think he may have won a few extra matchpoints from eating it since his opponents stayed away! ;)

I decided to opt for clam chowder in a sourdough bowl from a chowder stand. It looked neat so I decided to try it.

Not only was it touristy, but it was pretty good! And the birds enjoyed the rest of the bowl.

On our walk back to the trolley stop, we passed pier 39, where wild sea lions like to relax on the barges. It was neat- you could hear them well before you could see them!

Unfortunately we were out of time at that point and had to go back to make the afternoon session, but it was a fun morning at Fisherman's Wharf!

San Francisco, Day Six

2007-11-25T23:10:00.000-08:00

Well, today was my 25th birthday. I'm lucky enough to celebrate my Champagne birthday (25 on the 25th, same age as the day you were born on) at a time where I am old enough to enjoy it!

Dan played bridge today, so I had the afternoon to myself. I decided to sleep in and then go for a 2 hour aromatherapy massage. Marriott spas are usually excellent.

The massage was very relaxing and I went down to kibitz a few hands of bridge before dinner. Dan took me to Le Charm, a little French restaurant with excellent food. They served the best salmon either of us had had in a long time. We also ordered a bottle of champagne to celebrate.

Happy birthday, me!

San Francisco, Day Five

2007-11-24T23:00:00.000-08:00

We didn't do any sightseeing over the next few days because we were both playing bridge. If you're interested in reading about that, visit our other blog.

I just wanted to comment on our hotel and its services- if you're not a Marriott Gold member or higher, I definitely recommend paying for the upgrade to concierge services. Not only is the concierge knowledgeable and very helpful, but the lounge is fabulous. Every morning there is a continental breakfast with cold cereals, fresh fruits, and pastries served and they also add some hot items. In the afternoon they serve fruit, cheese, crackers, and hot hors d'oeuvres. In the evenings, they serve desserts. All the food is complimentary and tasty. Not to mention that the view out the window is fantastic!

On the other hand, there are some issues with staying in this hotel. I don't know if it was located near a church, but every morning after 6am, bells would go off on the hour. It was frustrating to go to bed late after a bridge session and then be awakened early when you didn't have to play until 1pm. Also, there seemed to be police sirens at least once every night and you could hear them like you were sitting in the car. This hotel definitely needs to work on soundproofing.

San Francisco, Day Four

2007-11-23T23:00:00.000-08:00

I'd been hearing stories for years about the infamous Black Friday. Being from Canada, we don't have anything like that. The closest we have is Boxing Day on December 26th and you certainly never hear about Canadians getting up in the middle of the night to go shopping!

I decided to brave the mobs and was up and out at 4:30am to go shopping! Some of the prices were "doorbusters" and either quantity limited or else only for a few hours in the morning. I went to Old Navy and Macy's and got some unbelievable prices (to the point that I don't know how the stores made any money). I didn't see anyone being rude or shoving or anything I had heard might have been a problem- I just had fun and got some bargains.

Not sure if I'd get up for Black Friday again... but it was fun to do!

San Francisco, Day Three

2007-11-22T16:43:00.000-08:00

Today started off a little slowly. We had planned to do some winery tours but since today was American Thanksgiving, a lot of wineries were closed and it was very difficult to rent a car!

We finally got on the road after noon with some other bridge players to take the drive to Napa Valley. There was beautiful scenery along the way and it was fun driving over the Golden Gate Bridge.

We decided to visit the V. Sattui winery since it was open and had great picnic grounds. We bought cheeses and deli meat and other picnic food at the store and opened a bottle of wine for our lunch. It was fabulous! They had a great selection of food to choose from and it was all good.

After lunch, we went inside to do some shopping and wine tasting. Their prices were reasonable, $10 per tasting. For a winery we'd never heard of, some of their wines were pretty good. We bought two bottles of sauvignon blanc.

By the time we left the winery, it was getting late and Dan had to play bridge in the evening, so we decided just to head back to San Francisco and ordered pizza for dinner.

San Francisco, Day Two

2007-11-21T13:52:00.000-08:00

The next day, we decided to visit The Rock. It's about a 30 minute walk from the Marriott to the pier, and it's pretty straightforward. The hotel will give you an easy to follow map of the area if you ask for one.

I highly recommend pre-ordering your Alcatraz tickets, either through your hotel concierge or over the internet. Even though we visited in the off season (although there were lots of families there, probably because of American Thanksigving), we had a hard time getting tickets at the last minute. We paid $24.50 per person for the regular tour.

We boarded the ferry to the island just before noon, and here was our first view of The Rock:

When you disembark the ferry, a staff member explains to everyone the various tours and attractions available that day. We decided to watch the short video about the history of Alcatraz (very interesting and worth the ten minutes) and then visit the cellblocks. We were a little pressed for time since the earlier ferries were sold out, so we didn't have time to visit the gardens and explore the rest of the island.

We walked up the hill to the cellblocks- a 13 story climb! They do offer a people mover for visitors who are unable to walk that far, and there are also benches if you need to stop and rest along the way. When we arrived, they gave us headsets and a prerecorded cassette so that we could take the audio tour at our own pace.

The prisoners spent 23 hours a day in these tiny cells:

During their one hour of time in the recreation yard, prisoners often played bridge. We were told there were often fights over the AutoBridge!

We also saw the cells where prisoners took guards hostage and sadly two guards lost their lives, as well as the pitted area on the floor where hand grenades were thrown to stifle a riot.

San Francisco tantalized the inmates- so close and yet so far away. On festive occasions, the happy sounds of music and laughter could be heard on the island from the prisoners' cells.

Only three people were ever said to have cleanly escaped from Alcatraz, and there is speculation as to whether they drowned, became shark bait, or managed to start a new life and were never seen again.

After taking the ferry back to the dock, it was time to return to the hotel and get ready for the volunteer dinner at the San Francisco Yacht Club. We were the guests of a Board member, so we were invited as well. The views from the club at sunset were amazing!

San Francisco is definitely a beautiful city.

San Francisco, Day One

2007-11-20T23:43:00.000-08:00

We had an 8am flight to San Francisco, and it all went pretty smoothly. Well, at least Dan says it did because I slept through most of it!

We arrived at the airport at 11am, and by the time we claimed our baggage and figured out where to go, it was nearly noon. Our hotel recommended that we take the SuperShuttle at $16pp instead of a taxi which would be in the $45ish range. Since we were last to be dropped off, we finally got to the hotel around 1pm. I grabbed a sausage from a street vendor and Dan and I both had an afternoon nap, since the previous few days had not had much sleep in them!

Here is our hotel:

For the first night, we were sharing a hotel room with another bridge player. He arrived around 5pm and woke us up to get ready for dinner. We went to Plouf, a neat little restaurant where much of the seating was actually outside under heat lamps! I'd never seen that kind of setup before. The meals were quite good- I had bouillabaisse, Dan had ravioli, and our friend had tuna tartare.

After dinner we walked around a little before heading back to the hotel. We then had the opportunity to visit the Presidential Suite, which was reserved for members of the ACBL Board of Directors. Since we were guests of a Board member, we were able to visit this room, enjoy the snacks and good company, and partake in the fantastic view!

Shanghai, Day Sixteen

2007-10-13T23:40:00.000-07:00

Today was our last full day in China, so we decided to try and make the most of it. We went to our favourite restaurant at the Super Brand Mall, Saizeriya. If you're in the area, we definitely recommend it. Their service is a little slower for Caucasians, but the food is amazing, and you can stuff yourself for about four dollars per person including drinks and dessert. That's right- eight dollars for a fabulous dinner for two. It's located on the 8th level of the mall.

After lunch we decided to do a walking tour that was recommended in our guidebook. We took a taxi to Yu Gardens, which was the starting point for the tour. We saw a lot of parts of Shanghai where I think white people don’t often go. We even saw the freshest seafood- live crabs crawling over each other in a tank.

It was funny, there was a real Rolex store there. They had my identical watch for 55900RMB, something like $7500. Cheaper than I thought but still… mine looks almost identical to that, and I only paid twenty bucks.

After our walking tour, we came back to the hotel and I had a nap before we had to get ready for the closing ceremony.

The ceremony was boring as expected and the food was not great, also as expected, but we got some great photos of the entertainment (music, an acrobat, child dancers, fan dancers) and enjoyed the conversation.

After the ceremony, we went to the Hyatt with Arno and Boris. The Hyatt is currently the tallest hotel in the world, until the one in Dubai is completed.

We went up to the Cloud Nine bar for drinks on the 87th floor. It was fabulous, and we had a lot of fun just relaxing and listening to Boris tell jokes. There was also a magician who had such quick hands it was unbelievable- he did some really great tricks.

Tomorrow we return to Toronto via Vancouver. It'll be a long day, but we'll get home technically only 5 hours after we leave Shanghai thanks to the wonders of the International Date Line!

If you're interested in the rest of our photos, visit our Shanghai photo album.

Shanghai, Day Fourteen

2007-10-11T23:31:00.000-07:00

Today’s been just awesome, one of our favourite vacation days ever.

After lunch we went to the Shanghai Aquarium, which is really the most awesome aquarium I have ever been to.

They had everything from sharks to sea turtles to manta rays to jellyfish to giant grouper. They also had a tunnel that goes through the shark tank! You can walk through and see divers feeding sharks fish. It’s like being right inside the tank and seeing fish swim around and above you. It was amazing.

For more of our photos, visit our Shanghai photo album.

After the aquarium, we walked over to the playing site to pick up the tickets to the closing ceremonies and ran into Boris buying watches. They actually had a fake Rolex that was almost identical to my German Omax watch. I had to buy it, it was three bucks!

Then we came back to the hotel and relaxed for a while so I could upload my photos. We had 7pm dinner reservations at Jean Georges, a five star French restaurant on the other side of the Bund.

It was reviewed in the New York Times under the category “Restaurants Worth The Plane Ticket”. I must admit, dinner was absolutely amazing. We had a bottle of Dom Perignon, I had lobster as my main course and Dan had the chef’s tasting menu.

I just about died when I saw the bill… but I knew it was coming. And really, dining at a five star restaurant is something that everyone should experience at least once in their lives. I don’t think I’ve ever had food that delicious and flavourful.

The restaurant was hidden away, you really had to know where it was to get there. There are no signs so the cabbie got lost. The view was incredible, too. I wish we’d been able to get a window table but we only made our reservation this morning and all the window tables were gone already.

It really was exquisite. If you're in Shanghai, I highly recommend this restaurant. Just keep in mind that the pricing is off the scales for China- it's priced like a typical five star restaurant, not a typical Chinese restaurant.

Shanghai, Day Thirteen

2007-10-10T23:20:00.000-07:00

I'm skipping a few days as not much went on other than bridge and shopping. Unfortunately our team did not make it out of the quarterfinal round and was defeated by Brazil. During our days off, we did a lot of shopping. It was much more fun and easier when there were two of us, because you can do a good cop/bad cop on the vendors.

Here are a few of our thoughts on bargaining in China:

We have gotten a lot better at bargaining. I think we’re pretty good in general but it’s hard to get that first idea of how much things are worth. Just because it’s a reasonable price back home doesn’t mean it is here. And not wanting things truly is key. If they see you are truly disinterested in something, the price keeps going down until it’s ridiculous not to buy it if you even slightly want it.

Or you can be a sucker like this one I saw today at a Juicy Couture knockoff stand who tried on a sweatsuit, liked it, and approached the vendor still wearing the suit and said “I want to buy this” before even inquiring about price. She might as well hand him her wallet. Here they show you the price on a calculator so there’s no language confusion and I saw him hesitate before entering the FIRST number… that’s always a dead giveaway that they’re trying to figure out how much they can soak you for. She ended up paying nearly $40 for a cheap knockoff sweatsuit that I bet will fall apart in the wash fairly quickly. I’m sure I could have got it for less than half the price if I had wanted one.

The funniest thing that happened today was when I bought myself a Prada belt. I got a really nice Gucci one on the first day but it’s patterned and I wanted a plain leather one with a designer buckle. I complained that the leather was cheap (it was) while I inspected the belt, and to prove it was leather he held a flame to it. It was leather, just garbage leather. He showed me another belt to compare (a really cheap piece of crap) and told us “this isn’t leather”. The funny part was, that second belt was stamped in gold “100% genuine leather”. When the guy got the idea that I really wasn’t going to buy it because it was low quality, the price got so low ($5) that I bought it anyway. I guess we were both happy.

I’ve learned that it’s more important to know how much things are actually worth, because you just can’t key your counteroffer to the amount that the seller is asking, even if you start low; it may not be low enough. The same watches that we bought at 140RMB each were being sold at a shop across the street from the mall. Identical. The man's first price was 2250RMB! Then when Boris pulled THE SAME WATCH out of his pocket and told him what he’d paid, the man tried to convince him that his is better quality and Boris bought a cheap fake. Boris wound up buying the watch for 127RMB- 5% of what the man’s first offer was. You just couldn’t make a reasonable counteroffer on that starting price without paying more than the item was worth (since of course they never accept your first price either, even if it’s ridiculously good for them), so you really needed to know its value. Unfortunately, it’s a paradox- you never really learn the value without actually buying something, since they make it nearly impossible for you to bargain and walk away. Basically you have to make a mistake to learn what you really should have paid.

You can get some really great deals on shopping in China, but make sure you know what you want and start your first offer ridiculously low. And always have a maximum price in mind, because these sellers make it easy to keep raising your own bid beyond what you actually want to pay.

It's also very easy to go overboard and buy way too much stuff! Fortunately we have lots of friends and family who are looking forward to Chinese gifts!

Shanghai, Day Seven

2007-10-04T23:15:00.000-07:00

I was dejected this afternoon when I found out that the increased security at the playing site over the past two days meant that Arnold Schwartzenegger had actually been in the bridge building on Special Olympics business. I would have loved to get his autograph! Although realistically, I'm sure I would never have been able to get close to him.

We spent the afternoon at the playing site watching the team play. They are doing well and we are hoping to win the round robin phase of the event!

After the match, Joey and Muriel suggested another team dinner- they said they knew a great Thai restaurant. I was not feeling well but everyone else wanted to go so I decided to give it a shot. I am so glad I did! We ordered tons of food, all family style, wine, beer, and drank and ate as much as we wanted and the entire bill was $225 for 9 people! Not bad for the kind of meal we had. Here's just a little of the delicious food:

Plus, the waiters and waitresses were singing and dancing along with a guitarist who was playing old 80’s music, it was awesome! They kept pulling our guys out to dance and I got some great photos.

After dinner, Joey started pinning Canadian flag pins onto our servers, and there was soon a line forming! We are going to make sure we get pins to bring on all our future international trips, since people really seem to appreciate getting them.

I had a really nice night, even as lousy as I felt.

Shanghai, Day Six

2007-10-03T23:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we spent all our time at the playing site so there isn't much news to share. If you're interested in reading about the bridge, visit our bridge blog at http://korbelbridge.blogspot.com

Today was fun. Some of the other women who came with team members (Sheila, Julia, and Muriel) and I went on a day trip with Paula, the tour guide that our friend Weiwei recommended to us. Last year when we were in China, Weiwei took us around Tianjin and Beijing, so we asked her to recommend someone in Shanghai for us.

Our first stop was the Shanghai museum, via Metro. The Chinese subway system is pretty cool and easy to use. We got off at the People’s Square and went to the museum. The exhibits were really cool! I especially liked the one about Chinese money over the years. The coins were very interesting, especially the ones that were very, very old. They were so well preserved they looked newly minted! I took a lot of photos.

For more of our photos, visit our Shanghai photo album.

After the museum, we had lunch at a nice dim sum restaurant. Well, it was nice until I found a large cockroach attached to my dumpling! Thankfully, I hadn’t taken a bite. I felt a little sick afterwards but I was okay. The other ladies were right, it’s a good story, but then again they weren’t the ones who almost ate a cockroach! The restaurant gave us a reduced bill as an apology and a plate of fruit.

Then we took the Metro over to an area that I forget the name, where we saw a house where rich people lived in the 1900s that was restored exactly as it was during that period. It was very interesting.

Then everyone wanted to go shopping! We headed over to Yu Gardens. Unfortunately since there were five of us, we had to split up into two taxis and even though we arranged for the taxis to drop us off in the same spot we still got separated and were unable to find each other. Sheila decided to head back to the hotel since the heat was bothering her, so I stayed and shopped with Paula's help.

I got tons of stuff for me and gifts for friends. I had a blast and I think I got some pretty good deals. Paula was really nice, she helped me bargain and helped carry my many shopping bags! She said she felt like she was a poor guide but she really was excellent I think. She took us to some great sites that we wouldn't have seen on our own.

I got back just in time to kibitz the final match of the day, versus the Chinese team. Wish us luck, we are sitting #1 in the standings right now!

Shanghai, Day Four

2007-10-01T21:47:00.000-07:00

I should probably introduce our team since I’m sure I’ll be referring to them a few times during this event. From left to right, Boris Baran, Arno Hobart, Joey Silver, Dan (crouching), Don Piafsky, Fred Hoffer, and John Carruthers.

So today I felt a little better but still sniffly. The team played fairly well today. Boris and Arno had the second match off so we went to the Bund sightseeing tunnel and they wanted to visit the Chinese sex history exhibit. Funny, I would never have expected the staid Chinese to have such an exhibit! They had a lot of interesting things there, to say the least.

After that it was back to the playing site for one final match, versus Thailand. The team won solidly.

Dan suggested a team dinner so that we could all get together and get into the team spirit. Don suggested we go to the French restaurant next door at the Oriental Riverside Hotel, so Dan ran over and made a reservation for ten people. We needn’t have bothered, because it was the worst service ever. We ordered well before 8pm and dinner finally arrived at 9:40! The waitress also knocked over Arno’s wineglass (full of an expensive wine) and it shattered, making a mess with glass everywhere. He actually had to tell the waitress to replace the wine since she’d spilled probably $25 worth! And at the end of the night, they tried to charge him for that replacement bottle! I would definitely recommend against eating at this restaurant.

We thought it was all over to destress and go back to the room, but today’s a national holiday in China and we couldn’t get a taxi! They refused to take us. Finally, one agreed to take us for 60 RMB. Talk about highway robbery- the normal fare is 14 RMB! We were furious but tired so we paid.

The national holiday lasts for a week in China, but the hotel assured us that taxis would only be hard to find today and not during the rest of the week. I certainly hope the concierge is right!

Shanghai, Day Three

2007-09-30T21:40:00.000-07:00

When I woke up today I knew that I was definitely getting sick. It always seems to happen at the worst times. Well, I wasn’t going to let it spoil my trip! So I got up with Dan and went over to the playing area for 11am. One of the other wives wanted to go sightseeing so we went across the Bund for the morning.

The sightseeing train was pretty cool, it goes right under the river and is full of neat flashing lights and stuff. When we got to the other side, we really got to see real Shanghai. Crowded, busy, poor, and strung everywhere with power lines. We’re staying in the rich district and there are no power lines anywhere to see- they are all underground. So it was a real sign we were in a poorer area.

My mission was to buy Dan a new wallet. It was convenient that the first shop we saw in the poor district had wallets and purses. The knockoffs were excellent; I’ve shown several people the wallet I bought Dan and some think it may be real. I doubt it, but it’s a darn good fake. The man opened a secret compartment in the back of his store to show me some of his nicer wallets. I got Dan a lovely leather Hugo Boss for $10.

Then it was time to head back to the playing area and see how the team was doing. They tied their first match which was a little disappointing.

There was a short break, so Dan and I popped across the street to McDonalds for lunch. We always make a point to eat there at least once during a foreign trip since Dan works there. It makes a nice photo for our scrapbook, plus it’s interesting to compare the food served in different countries. Each country has a different take on McDonalds. In China, burgers are served with cucumber slices as a regular topping! Prices are much cheaper than in North America, as well.

After lunch, we went back to the playing area to watch the two afternoon matches. The team continued to play well and we had a solid win in the third round.

When the bridge was over, we relaxed with the team members for a while but I was still feeling under the weather so we went back to the room fairly early.

Shanghai, Day Two

2007-09-29T21:34:00.000-07:00

Today started out well and then turned into a nightmare. We woke up around 7:45 (darn jet lag) and went to the breakfast buffet. It was good but wasn’t worth the cost, I thought. Breakfast in China is a little different from what we're used to back in Canada. There are a few North American breakfast items like fried potatoes, bacon (although generally soggy instead of crisp), and scrambled eggs, but places of prominence are given to congee (some kind of rice breakfast porridge), fried noodles, and dishes like cashew chicken.

After breakfast we just relaxed for a little while. Two of Dan’s teammates came over around lunchtime and we decided to do a little sightseeing before Dan had to return for the captain’s meeting at 2:30. We went to Yu Gardens, a pretty famous tourist area and great for shopping. When it was time for Dan to go, he headed off to grab a taxi to the convention centre and the other guys and I stayed to shop. What a surprise when Dan appeared in front of us, sweaty faced from running, telling me that his wallet had been stolen! Poor guy. He felt terrible because he had to ask the other players to go to the captain’s meeting while we found a police officer. Thank goodness for the phrasebook we had because we couldn’t make people understand what happened and that we needed a police officer. It really is terrible to need help in a foreign country and have no one around who understands you.

Not that the police helped anyway. They laughed at us. And I mean, we’re the rich white people, right? We can afford to lose a bunch of money. Thankfully, when we called to cancel our credit cards, they hadn’t been used. I guess the driver grabbed the money (unfortunately a lot since we were shopping) and threw away the wallet. Too bad all his stuff was in there (credit cards, debit cards, SIN, university ID, health insurance, etc).

Dan felt just awful, poor guy. It gets better though. We had the opening ceremonies at 6pm, so by the time we got back from the police station I basically went straight to the room and hopped in the shower to get ready while Dan called the credit card companies. Well, he went to the business centre and explained he needed to make collect calls, and the business centre woman obviously made some kind of mistake because she misdialed and called direct! So by the time Dan had gotten off the phone with three companies, he’d run up an $80 phone bill! Well, since he asked for collect calls he refused to pay it. Then get this, the manager conceded they’d made a mistake so she offered us a discount- 50% off the fees. Um, no. It should have cost less than a dollar and Dan insisted on paying the correct rate. Here we are with maybe ten minutes to the ceremony and we had to argue with them about the phone rates, plus they confiscated our passports since the credit card our room was reserved with was one of the cancelled cards. It was just a lovely day, really.

The ceremony was okay, though, not super long and boring as usual, and then there was a dinner in the formal ballroom upstairs. It was nice to mingle a little with the other bridge players and then it was time to head home for bed- we’re still both a little jetlagged.

I started getting chills when I got back to the room which is a really bad sign. I think I’m coming down with something. Perfect timing as usual.

Shanghai, Day One

2007-09-28T22:52:00.000-07:00

Since we lost a day crossing the International Date Line, today is our first day in China despite leaving on the morning of September 27. The flight was pretty uneventful, and actually went by quickly for a 14 hour flight.

When we arrived in China, there seemed to be a problem with our transportation. For those of you who don't know the background, we are travelling to Shanghai for the Bermuda Bowl of bridge, which is basically the Olympics for bridge. My husband, Dan, is the captain of one of the Canadian teams.

We found the World Bridge Federation table at the airport pretty quickly but they didn’t have our names on the list for some reason. They did manage to track down a van for us but then they didn’t know where our hotel was. It was a good thing we printed out an email with the address on it!

When we got to the hotel (Marriott Courtyard Pudong Shanghai), I was pleasantly surprised. We generally stay at Marriotts when we travel because we find the rooms and service excellent, as well as a good loyalty program. Generally a Marriott Courtyard is smaller and less posh than a regular Marriott. If that is true here, I’d love to see the regular Marriott! This hotel is everything you’d expect a five star hotel to be- 40 stories tall, marble and glass everywhere, 24 hour door opening service, a spa, a gym, and just about every amenity you’re looking for. And if they don’t have it (I requested an appointment for a hairstyle since the opening ceremonies for the bridge are tonight), they’ll arrange it for you.

The service really is excellent. When we arrived, our room wasn’t yet ready so we sat and had a drink in the lobby lounge. A bellhop brought us tour information, asked about where we were from, was generally friendly and chatty, and suggested some good places to go.

Our room is luxurious but small, in the style of Asian hotel rooms. Beds seem to be very hard everywhere in China, even at nice hotels. In Beijing last year our beds felt like rocks but I attributed that to it being a university dorm. However, I spoke to other people at the bridge event and they all said they had hard beds. I think it's just a feature of Chinese hotels, so bring a mattress pad if you don't like to sleep on rocks.

We’re both jet lagged so just going to relax and try to sleep it off!

Galaxy Cruise, Day Twelve- Tortola

2007-02-22T22:45:00.000-08:00

Sadly, today was the last day for us. We were really enjoying the trip and I certainly didn't want to go home! Today we visited Tortola, British Virgin Islands. We got up fairly early and planned to be back aboard the ship for a late lunch, since the ship sailed at 2pm anyway. We decided to go do some shopping and then maybe get a one hour tour of the island. Well, we had just gotten off the ship to do some shopping in the local market (where almost no one would bargain, strangely enough) when a taxi driver approached us and offered us a one hour tour for $10 each! Can't beat that. So he got a few more people to fill his large open air taxi and off we went.

Wow. It was breathtaking- we were so glad that we did it! Aside from Dominica, this was easily the best tour and the most beautiful island. Pictures just can't reproduce the beautiful views.

After going up to 1000 feet above sea level, we took some pictures at the Sky Restaurant lookout. You could see everywhere!

Then I found the find of the cruise; a turtle carved out of coral! It was cheap and gorgeous- pink and white. Dan loved it too. It was fragile but they packed it well and it survived the trip home.

Then we drove past Cane Garden Bay, one of the most gorgeous beaches I've ever seen. Dan and I agreed we'd love to go back to Tortola again someday.

We finished the day with a little shopping- Dan bought a T shirt and I bought a pretty carved stone parrot.

After we got back on the ship, we had lunch at the Oasis Grill and then headed down to the casino. Dan played in the poker tournaments while I went up to the spa. I had a 50% off voucher so I decided to go for a hot stone massage. Thankfully, the coupon brought it from ridiculously insane prices to normal land spa prices! It was so relaxing, though.

Then we bought a duffel bag in the shops- we had so much more stuff that we needed a new bag to bring it home! Although there wasn't a lot of extra room in our suitcases when we left- we definitely overpacked. It's tough to pack for 12 nights when you need a wide variety of clothing, though!

At dinner that night, we sadly enjoyed our final six course meal and the last of our delicious wines. I was really impressed with the selections we'd tried and the recommendations of our sommelier. I was even more impressed with the maitre d' arranged for us to have our favourite dessert on the last night of the trip, when it wasn't on the menu! It is Fraisier, a strawberry cream cake topped with marzipan- amazing.

We thanked our dining room staff and said goodnight.

Then it was off to the casino for the final night!

Lady Luck was with me yet again when I picked up pocket aces and got called in six places after my raise. The flop was QQT, and when I bet, I got raised. Shit. That lady had a queen as sure as I'm getting off the cruise tomorrow morning! I called, and was gratified to see an ace on the turn! Even better, the ace created a flush draw that hopefully one of the remaining players was chasing. Four of us still in to the turn, I checked to the lady who bet, and with two players behind me I decided just to call, and they both called. It was truly a dream hand. The river didn't complete the flush but gave the lady a full house. I checked to her again, and she made the expected bet. Even better, she reraised me! When I popped it again, she finally just called, and it was pleasant to toss my aces on the table. That was The Hand of The Cruise, for me.

Yes, I know I two outed her, but not only does it happen to me ALL THE FREAKING TIME, AA should beat Q3 anyway :P and I was planning to fold the turn if I didn't hit. I just always call a single raise on a street I bet because I feel that my image is worth more than the bet. I mean, if people think they can push me off hands by raising, it will cost me more in the long run when I incorrectly fold. I don't want them to change their play styles against me.

I won $300 that night to finish the cruise at plus $1400. I was still in a state of shock that I nearly paid for the cruise fare in poker winnings! I've never played a game that soft and I wish like crazy that I could get into it again! I doubt I'll ever see one like that again but you bet your ass that I'll be sitting down at the poker table on the next cruise I go to! Who would have thought that a 10% rake is beatable at $5-$10 limit?

Oh, and to top up the night, Robin gave me and Dan each a nice T shirt :)

We had to pack at 2am but it was totally worth it! Sad to think that in a few short hours, our trip would be over...

Galaxy Cruise, Day Eleven- St Kitts

2007-02-21T22:45:00.000-08:00

We'd already been to St Kitts on our honeymoon and didn't find it to be anything special, so we decided not to book a tour. Instead, we slept in and then visited the crafts market. It was probably just as well because it rained sporadically all afternoon, but when it did, it was a real downpour!

I bought a cute hat in the craft market... I'm such a sucker for hats. I think I bought four or five this trip!

We also stopped at a linens store where they had one heck of a sale going on- hand embroidered Christmas napkins and placemats, 12 for $8! Dan couldn't understand why they just didn't store them for next year and frankly, neither did I. But that wasn't going to stop us! We also bought another nice set of blue flower embroidered napkins to go with our china pattern. They are simple and elegant, and the quality feels decent.

At this point I was up about $1000 at the poker tables so I decided to case some jewelry stores. I really wanted a nice diamond pendant and I figured that I'd won enough money to buy one if I found what I was looking for. Instead I found a lovely pink topaz bracelet and earrings that I really liked... but it was a little too much for something I wasn't even looking for. It would have been an impulse buy. At $500 I would have taken it, but they wanted $600 so I decided not to get it. I'm kind of glad I didn't. I want Dan to have lots of options of jewelry to buy for me one day :)

Tonight was the final formal night, and we got some great photos at the ship's photographer. I'll have to get them scanned in, we bought a few (at $20 a picture!).

We also had a free bottle of champagne tonight. I think someone made a mistake with our Bon Voyage order because the package Dan chose for us (champagne, chocolates, and flutes) came with EITHER Perrier Jouet Fleur or Michel Roux. Obviously the PJ was more expensive and higher quality. Instead, we got delivered both! When no one came to fix the error, we decided to drink and enjoy. I dropped the bottle of Michel Roux (Celebrity's house champagne) at the casino before dinner, and when we came in later in the night our bar waiter had chilled glasses ready for us. It was a nice way to relax, and the champagne was surprisingly good for a house brand, even compared to the Perrier Jouet.

Today was also nice because in the casino, they were running a promotion where if you got 3 sevens at a slot machine or a table game, you won a T shirt. Those of you who know me well know I am ridiculously stupid about winning things. Let me win something small, even if I spend a ton of money, and I'm happy. I'd been waiting all cruise to win something, even those the pit boss Robin promised to give me a T shirt at the end of the trip if I didn't win one.

Well, much to my delight, I flopped a set of sevens at the poker table! It's hilarious, because I didn't even get that adrenaline rush when I made quad queens. I was so happy because I knew I was winning this stupid T shirt :P Even better, I did win the pot... The flop was A72 and I called the flop and raised the turn, a 9. The river was a K and my opponent checkraised me. I was thrilled because I figured he had AK, so I reraised. He called and I was happy to toss my sevens on the table and whistle for my T shirt and a $200 pot!

Galaxy Cruise, Day Ten- Dominica

2007-02-20T22:44:00.000-08:00

Dominica was amazing- we had a fabulous time. I had arranged a private tour for the four of us with Reyno Tours, and it was the best all day tour for the whole cruise. Not to mention that Dominica was celebrating Carnivale today (think Caribana) which would be so cool to experience.

It was raining when we got off the ship so I was concerned about a repeat of yesterday. We got into the van and started driving, and the rain stopped. In fact, we were greeted by this not long after we got started:

Our tour guide, Neal, was very knowledgeable and taught us all about the plants in Dominica. Because Dan had been listening to Mandoo's spice tour in Grenada he was very good at recognizing the plants and trees in Dominica. I was impressed.

Our first stop was the Emerald Pool, which was totally amazing. I couldn't believe that we had this amazing landmark to ourselves! The walk through the rainforest was really interesting, too. Here is my favourite picture from the Emerald Pool:

Our next stop was funny, the Mr Nice Fruit Stand. It was a few men who ran a little fruit stand where they sliced and served a wide variety of snacks and served them for free to all the tourists. There was a little tip jar but they didn't charge. The fruit was so fresh and delicious, and so was the coconut! It was a great stop.

Our next stop was Trafalgar Falls, really lovely twin falls. Unfortunately there was a ship's excursion there at the same time so it was packed. On the other hand, if one was going to be busy and one empty, I'm glad it was the way it was. I loved the Emerald Pool. Trafalgar Falls was nice, though. There was lots of fun shopping there and I bought another little turtle and some souvenirs for friends.

After the Falls, we stopped at the sulphur springs, where the water was over 100 degrees! It reeked, but watching it spit and bubble was really interesting.

After the sulphur springs we drove through the botanical gardens and saw a school bus crushed by a tree in the last hurricane, which was pretty neat. Then we drove up to the overlook point and got some gorgeous photos overlooking the Galaxy.

Our last stop was to pull through town and experience Carnivale! That was a lot of fun. Huge trucks with loud blaring speakers were rolling slowly through the streets with costumed locals dancing before and after the trucks.

Everyone was so friendly and having such a great time! A local grabbed Dan and started trying to pull him into the dance. It was funny.

Dan had so much fun and the music was so infectious, that he said he wished we were staying late into the night to celebrate with the Dominicans.

And to top off a wonderful day, our day began and ended with beautiful rainbows.

Everyone laughed at poker tonight when I brought all three of my turtles to the game! I joked it brought me good karma because things started going my way again. It's a nice feeling, especially when you're playing for stakes you're not totally comfortable with.

The day got even better when tonight was Le Grande Buffet. We sat out a few orbits at the poker table and went upstairs to take photographs. The food was just amazing! The chefs took 3 days to get everything ready. Here's an overview, you'll have to go through the album and see for yourself!

Galaxy Cruise, Day Nine- St Lucia

2007-02-19T22:42:00.000-08:00

Well, St Lucia was a total washout- literally. We had booked a ship's excursion that looked amazing- tour of the Pitons, the volcanic mountains St Lucia is famous for, then a visit to a coconut plantation, a cocoa plantation, and a visit to a waterfall. The only catch was that it left at 8:15am :P We decided to do it anyway but were disappointed when the day was a downpour. It's not the rainy season in the Caribbean so it was a little surprising.

The fog was so heavy you couldn't really see much of anything.

What was a further disappointment was that we didn't do the tour as planned. We had a thirty minute stop at the cocoa plantation, ten minutes at the waterfall, and we didn't do the coconut plantation at all! I complained to the shore excursion desk and they gave us half our money back but it still felt like such a waste. We could have slept in or else just walked around the city. Instead, we lost half the day driving around seeing absolutely nothing.

It was raining too hard to do much of anything else that day so we just relaxed on the ship, enjoyed a delicious meal, and played a little poker.

Galaxy Cruise, Day Eight- Barbados

2007-02-18T22:42:00.000-08:00

It was sunny and warm on our do-over anniversary. We had booked a private tour with Glory Tours to do sightseeing in Barbados, and I was really looking forward to it. Unfortunately we had to deal yet again with people being late. After a half hour of waiting, we just left. Glory Tours requests that excursions be guaranteed with a credit card so they got paid anyway.

It was nice to have a whole minibus to ourselves! Plus, with no others on the tour we could customize it however we wanted.

Our first stop was Orchid World, which was really amazing. There must have been hundreds of different species of flowers in there! Dan took some beautiful photographs.

After doing some exploring, we stopped at St John's Church. It was a very historic and picturesque church but we couldn't go inside because it's Sunday and there were services. We took some pictures, though.

The view from the church was beautiful. I might not even mind going if I could look out on that! I bought a snack in the souvenir shop, a slice of homemade coconut bread. It was delicious and refreshing.

Dan was interested in the cemetery behind the church. In the Caribbean, people are buried in above ground crypts. What really creeped me out was that when they run out of room, they take the oldest dead person out of the crypt and put their remains in a much smaller box instead of the full sized casket! That bothered me on a fundamental level but the last thing I want to do is criticize someone else's customs. It made me uncomfortable though.

Our next stop was lunch at a local restaurant. It was delicious! Dan and I both had flying fish, which was served with macaroni pie, salad, and rice with beans. The best part was that after lunch, we were visited by green monkeys!

Our next stop was the Wildlife Reserve, which was super cool. There were so many different animals! They weren't tame but were used to people, and you could get so close to them! It was really amazing. There were turtles everywhere! Apparently there are more turtles inside the reserve than on the rest of the whole island of Barbados. It's hard to choose just one photo to put in here! You'll definitely have to check out the album. I thought this picture was hilarious! The monkey was trying to open the faucet for a drink :)

Our last stop was the beach to relax. It was rocky but we had fun. Dan wanted to go waterskiing but the man's boat was broken so he didn't get to go. We still enjoyed ourselves, though.

We did a little shopping before we got back on the ship, and I bought another little stone turtle. I was starting to build my collection!

Tonight was our do-over anniversary, and it was much nicer. We were shocked when we tasted the champagne, though! We had ordered a second bottle of Perrier Jouet Fleur and didn't realize that the 1996 was so different from the 1998! The '98 was the epitome of a crisp, dry champagne. The '96 had a heavy honey nose and was very rich and fruity. It was delicious and enjoyable, because the complexity was interesting, but it was such a shock to the palate at first!

Next stop, the casino! Tonight was raffle night so the place was packed with people who aren't normally there. The crowd let up after the raffles were over (we didn't know anyone who won) and we relaxed and had a good time with the rest of the poker crew. Hank was back with his little turtle but this time everyone seemed to have a little good luck charm! Even the loudmouth Butch who spent ALL his free time in the casino (and was mounting respectable losses at games other than poker) had bought a cute little turtle. Of course, when it wasn't working for him he tried to drown it in his Scotch :P He wound up selling it to me for three dollars when I threatened to call Turtle Protective Services!

The do-over got even nicer when I won $300 that night... I made quads twice and actually bet out on them, go figure. But no sense in slowplaying in this game- bet for value. I also picked up aces and raised, and the board was KJ5 rainbow. Six players to the flop, five called my flop bet. The turn was a 3 and I bet, and two players called. The river was another 3, much to my delight when I saw another player had KJ! But hey, it's nice to do the drawing out sometimes, since it happens to me all the freaking time!

Galaxy Cruise, Day Seven- Grenada

2007-02-17T22:41:00.000-08:00

Today was the sixth anniversary of the day we met. I know it's a little silly to celebrate stuff like that after you get married, but it's still nice to acknowledge it anyway. What made it even cooler was that Grenada was celebrating their 33rd anniversary, too!

So we got up at the crack of dawn again for a private excursion that we booked with Mandoo Tours. He was very highly rated and we were looking forward to this excursion. Obviously one other couple wasn't as excited about the tour because we waited half an hour and they didn't show. Then we left, and they arrived about ten minutes after we left so we went back for them! I wasn't too happy about wasting all that time but I can understand why Mandoo waited. I mean, that's another hundred dollars out of his pocket if he leaves them behind.

Once we got going, though, we had a wonderful time. Mandoo was very personable, knowledgeable, and friendly. He was also very outspoken and wasn't shy about giving his opinion about island politics or the government, which I found a little surprising but I respected.

Our first stop was the Douglaston Spice Plantation, where we learned how chocolate was made and learned about a bunch of different spices. Would you believe this is chocolate in its raw form???

Next we visited the beautiful Grand Etang Crater Lake.

There were lots of people selling spices and other things there so we did a little shopping. I bought a spice necklace to hang in the kitchen- it carries every spice found in Grenada. I also bought a beautiful handpainted T shirt and some essence of orange massage oil.

Our last stop was Annandale Waterfall, where locals would jump off the top of the waterfall for a small donation. It was pretty neat to watch, and the waterfall was lovely. I also bought a CD of Caribbean music to remind me of the trip.

We went back to the room and relaxed and read for a little while before dinner. Unfortunately the dining room screwed up our request to have our second bottle of champagne served with dinner, so we didn't have anything that night. It was very disappointing especially since today had gone so well and we were looking forward to celebrating. We declared an official do-over and decided to try again tomorrow night :)

The casino went well that night. Our favourite poker dealer had remembered it was our anniversary, and had two glasses of champagne delivered to us. The whole poker table sang happy anniversary to us. It was a nice evening... especially when I won :)

Galaxy Cruise, Day Six- At Sea

2007-02-16T22:40:00.000-08:00

Dan got up early to use the golf simulator equipment with Ian while I slept in. I had meant to get up and do some activities... but the bed was so comfortable and I was tired. The poker has been great but it means that I am averaging 4-6 hours of sleep a night, and anyone who knows me understands what that does to me :P

Dan returned to wake me up for lunch, which we ate upstairs by the pool. Nothing sauces your food like looking out over the ocean!

While we ate, we watching the ice carving demonstration, where the staff brought out a giant hunk of ice and a chef, and we watched him carve a beautiful fish in ten minutes!

Then it turned into this:

Then we had one of the best parts of our trip- a Rasul spa treatment at the Aqua Spa. A friend gifted it to us in a package, which was really nice. A Rasul treatment is a private chamber with steam, showers, and sauna where you apply a variety of different spa products to your partner- there is no spa attendant. The best part? The attendant told us that there was no one booked for the room after us so we could take as much time as we needed! Wonderful!

I have to say, normally I figure products like that don't work, but Dan's eczema really seemed to go away afterwards, and my skin felt as soft as a baby's. I really think that treatment did something.

After the spa, we just relaxed until dnnertime. Tonight was the second formal night, and the maitre d' surprised us with a special cake to celebrate our anniversary! He was off by one day but that's okay :)

It was fun to head over to the casino in the evening and play poker in our formalwear! Some of the other guests didn't like to dress up so they skipped dinner in the dining room and went to casual dining but that's okay. It was still fun!

Galaxy Cruise, Day Five- Curacao

2007-02-15T22:35:00.000-08:00

Today I had booked a tour through Blue Angel Tours in Curacao for us and my mom and Ian. The private tours give an excellent rate and you can customize them however you like, not to mention you don't feel like cattle on a crammed bus!

Unfortunately we had to be up at the crack of dawn, which was painful after going to bed at 2:30am. Our tour left at nine so we ordered breakfast through room service so we wouldn't have to rush to the dining room or buffet.

Our tour guide, Mingo, was friendly and personable. He told us a funny story about the buildings in Curacao. One day the king had a headache, and the doctor told him that it must be from the glare on the white buildings. So the king ordered that all buildings must be painted in pastels, and no two buildings next to each other could be the same colour. The joke? The king's doctor owned the paint store!

The salt in the air also eats away at the buildings in Curacao so they need repainting every few years.

Our first stop was the Curacao liquor refinery, where we enjoyed some samples. Curacao is also a desert island and not much grows here. They had a few orange trees but the fruit was inedible, so they made liquor out of the peels instead. Mingo showed us how the liquor is made, by removing the peels with wooden knives so as not to affect the flavour with metal. Many companies now imitate Curacao liquor but this island is the only place in the world with these orange trees, so it's the only place to buy genuine Curacao liquor from Curacao.

We did a little more sightseeing and then visited an ostrich and emu farm, which was really cool! Ostriches remind me of dinosaurs with their long necks and unintelligent eyes. The tour guide at the farm told us that their brains are smaller than their eyes! They operate almost entirely on instinct.

This was a strange but cool experience!

We also got to see an ostrich being born. The guide explained that they do not help the babies out of the eggs, they have to do it themselves and it can take a while.

I also got to hold a baby ostrich which was so cool!

Of course, I had to forget all of it as we sat down to delicious ostrich burgers for lunch! Ostrich meat is red meat but has no cholesterol, which makes it very healthy. It was tasty, too!

After the tour we did a little browsing in the tourist area and I bought a spoon for my friend Ted who collects spoons, and a little stone turtle for me. I bought one in Barbados on our honeymoon so I thought it would be cute to pick one up on this trip, too.

Then it was time to go back to the ship. I decided I wanted to play Bingo, because I used to love it when I was a kid. Dan came with me and the Activities staff announced that royalty was participating today. It was funny. We didn't win but we had a good time.

Then we got ready for dinner... another fabulous meal. We were tired and had a nap after dinner before getting ready for the night's poker.

The poker nights are starting to blur in my mind now, so I'm just going to save my comments for the end of the cruise unless I remember something special.

What I do remember tonight is that Hank, one of the other poker regulars, brought his little stone turtle to the poker game and was winning like crazy! So everyone started cursing his turtle... I wished I had brought mine :)

Galaxy Cruise, Day Four- Valentine's Day in Aruba!

2007-02-14T22:33:00.000-08:00

We don't generally celebrate Valentine's Day but it was kind of neat to spend it in Aruba. We had an excursion booked through the ship but it didn't start until 1pm so we decided to sleep in and grab lunch at the buffet, since the dining room is closed on port days. I had a shrimp Caesar salad and a cheeseburger, delish!

To our surprise, my mom and Ian had booked the same excursion, so after lunch we went down to the pier and met up with our tour group. We made a few different stops- the first was at a natural stone bridge, which was pretty cool. They had previously had two but one collapsed, so this is the only one left. This one already had a giant crack running through it so who knows how long it will last.

After the bridge, we drove around the island for a little while. Aruba really is a desert- no one would ever go there if it wasn't for the beaches! Over 60% of the island is covered in cactus.

The beaches in Aruba are just amazing, though. The sand never gets hot no matter what the day's temperature is, and it's soft and comfortable on your feet. The beaches are a little crowded though which is a bit of a negative.

We sat on the beach for about ten minutes waiting for our glass bottomed boat to arrive for the last stop on our cruise.

This part was really cool. We visited a sunken vessel that had turned into a coral reef and was teeming with fish. Most of our photos didn't turn out very well but it was really amazing to sail by all those fish. Those little dark spots are about a billion sardines!

Then it was back to the ship to get ready for another delicious dinner and another evening of poker. They gave all the ladies a red rose in the dining room, which was a really nice touch.

I got creamed tonight. My good hands kept getting 2 outed- someone would call me down with an underpair and river trips. I knew I was toast when a "brick" hit on the river and I got bet into, but it's awfully hard to fold a $100ish pot for $10 :P I guess I should have but I didn't want them thinking that they could bluff me.

Although speaking of that, one lady I trusted NEVER to bluff. One time it was her, me, and one other player in the pot. We all checked the flop, and the turn was a 5. She bet, and we all folded. She actually showed me her hand and said "I didn't want you to think I was bluffing." And showed me A5! That's how solid she was as an opponent. When this lady bet, she had something.

By this time, it was getting fairly easy to read my opponents. The regulars were playing every night and occasionally there was a new face when someone got up but it was usually the same crew. I'm good at making friends with people and getting them to like me, so no one even suspected that I actually knew what I was doing at the poker table. In hindsight, I think if at the end of the cruise someone told them how much money I won at poker, they wouldn't believe it.

Despite all the mad drawings out, I still managed to win $30 in 4 hours. Small victory!

It was also nice, because we'd been in the casino every night and it was Valentine's Day, the pit boss, Robin, bought us each a glass of champagne.

We took a time out from poker at midnight to visit the chocolate buffet. WOW! The desserts and ice sculptures were amazing!

Galaxy Cruise, Day Three- At Sea

2007-02-13T22:31:00.000-08:00

We slept in today... there were only two sea days on our entire itinerary so we decided to make the most of them! We did have to be at the muster drill at 10am so we got up around 9:15 so we had time for breakfast in the dining room.

The muster drill is boring but I suppose it's necessary in case something happens. It sucked to have to sit and wait for the people who thought they could skip it, though.

Then we hung around on deck and enjoyed burgers and fries from the Ocean Grill for lunch. The next part was truly the highlight of the trip for me; the Activities Staff came around asking for volunteers. I asked the bartender what it was about and he said it was afternoon trivia. So I told Dan he should do it, he's good at trivia. So he gave them his name and they asked for mine too since they needed a woman too.

So a few minutes later they called Dan up front and said it was the King of the Galaxy contest! Six men were competing with each other to become King! Um, oops. Dan looked so awkward when he heard that because he's a quiet guy and this isn't his thing, but he was a good sport and played along. The first test was dancing down the dock and making three poses. It was hilarious. I was so sad that I had left my camera in my stateroom! The next was to make a Tarzan yell. The third was the part they needed me for- I got Mardi Gras beads and they named me Queen and said that all of the men had to sing to me!

Dan went first and it was so perfect I nearly cried. He told me he could see the tears in my eyes as he knelt in front of me and sang one of our favourite songs ("I Can't Help Falling In Love" by Elvis) to me in front of a thousand people. I'll never forget that moment.

I must admit, most of the remaining men were pretty good too! It was funny to have six men twice or three times my age singing me love songs :) One sang in Russian and it sounded lovely.

The final test was the really embarrassing one- we had to start a conga line down the pool deck and pick up followers! The Cruise Critic group helped us out but we didn't wind up with as many followers as the Russian. It was a lot of fun, though!

Then it was back to the room for a little quiet time before dinner. Tonight was formal night so we had to shower and dress up. Dan unfortunately couldn't find his bow tie and the shops were sold out, so he had to wear a regular black tie. He was a little disappointed.

At dinner, we met our regular waiter, assistant waiter, wine steward, and maitre d'. Since the first night was open seating, they just stuck people anywhere, but after the first night you get the same table and dining staff for the rest of the cruise. We really like assigned traditional dining because we prefer a table for two and we like to have the staff learn our preferences so we don't have to request them each night.

The food was, as usual, amazing! We love the dining on Celebrity- it's always excellent.

After dinner we went back to our room and relaxed a little, then we took our bottle of champagne from a Bon Voyage gift to a lounge to enjoy it with some chocolate covered strawberries.

Perrier Jouet Fleur is truly an amazing champagne; very crisp and elegant, and it went perfectly with the strawberries. This bottle was the 1998 and we enjoyed it very much.

After dinner it was time to head over to the casino for the evening's poker game.

I have never seen a game that leaked money the way this one did. The game was so incredibly loose and passive. No player ever raised before the flop except with AA, and not always with that. Dan and I were the only people who raised but no one ever seemed to notice that. It was normal for 7 or 8 players to go to the flop, and for all 7 or 8 to call the $5 on the flop whether they hit or not! The mindset just seemed to be that they were afraid to fold in case they caught a card. Even if you raised the flop, at least 4-5 would usually call two bets cold, most without anything.

The other neat thing about this game was the tells. Now, in most poker games, people are at least trying to mislead you. Here, every player told the truth. When they scowled at a flop, they had missed it. Even when you raised before the flop and bet the flop, if they say hit two pair on the turn, they would actually bet into you, not waiting to raise your bet! And if they did have position on you and raised, you would know it was because they hit that card- otherwise they would have raised the flop with something big like a set. No such thing as slowplaying here. Literally, these players could have played with their cards face up almost the entire time- it was THAT easy to read them.

Because of the differences in this game, it was no longer possible to raise to drive people out of the hand. Even if you raised UTG, at least six players would usually call two cold. Raises had to be for value because all you were doing was building a larger pot. The looseness and passivity of the game meant that slowplaying wasn't necessarily right either. When you had the nuts, you bet it for value- you didn't mess around.

Tonight, everything just seemed to go right for me. My first hand was 96 suited and since the game was so passive I decided to play it. The flop was Q66! There was another 6 out but I had him outkicked with my 9 :P

Then the very next hand, I had KQ and the flop came QQ8! I caught a K on the river to boat up but I didn't need it. Once again, another player had the Q and I had him outkicked, but he raised me all the way down. It was kind of funny. I bet the flop and he raised, then I bet into him again and the turn and river and he raised me back both times even though I reraised him on the turn! It was pretty funny, actually.

I finished up about $300 tonight in 4 hours.

Galaxy Cruise, Day Two- Sailaway From Puerto Rico!

2007-02-12T22:29:00.000-08:00

We checked out of our hotel at noon and took a taxi over to the pier. There were two ships in port today, our ship (Celebrity Galaxy) and Royal Caribbean's Empress of the Seas. It was so exciting driving up to the port and getting ready to begin our vacation!

Embarkation took about an hour. We were a little disappointed to find out that there were no balcony rooms available for upgrades, so we were stuck with our inside. After we boarded the ship with a glass of welcome champagne in hand, we decided to go and check out our cabin. It actually wasn't that bad, fairly spacious and roomy. We were happy to see our bed covered with Bon Voyage surprises! Two plush bathrobes, a bottle of wine, and a bottle of champagne, with slips for more things to come! I've officially decided that Bon Voyage gifts are my favourite, because it's so nice seeing them waiting for you onboard.

Then we went upstairs to the Oasis Grill for a yummy buffet lunch. Normally I don't care for buffets and I prefer the dining room whenever possible, but at least there is lots of choice on Celebrity. I had a turkey and cheese sandwich, a spinach salad, and of course a pina colada. I told Dan that my vacation wouldn't really start until I had a pina colada in hand, so he made sure to get me one right away!

We did a little exploring on the ship and just relaxed and enjoyed being on vacation. Our luggage arrived fairly quickly so we unpacked and got everything ready before it was time to meet our Cruise Critic friends before dinner at the martini bar. Tonight was sampler night- six 1oz martinis for $9.50. Dan and I got one tray to share since we are not really martini people but we decided to give it a try. I really enjoyed the lemon martini and the flirtini, but the others weren't really to my taste. The chocolatini was pretty good too.

Tonight, dinner was open seating, so we had dinner with my mom and her boyfriend and four other people from the Cruise Critic get together. We had a really nice time. One couple is from Scotland and the other is from the USA, and they've cruised together before. Very nice and friendly people- real characters!

After dinner we walked around the ship a little and then went up on deck for sailaway at ten. It was lovely watching the ship pull away from the dock and seeing the lights of San Juan recede behind us. Then we decided to go check out the shops and casino, which opened up since the ship was in international waters. I admit that I'd been interested in the poker but hesitant as to whether I'd play. I knew the stakes were $5-$10 limit, which is higher than I normally play, and that the rake was 10% with a $10 cap, which is ridiculous. I wasn't sure if the game was beatable with a rake that high, but I figured it didn't hurt to go and take a look.

As soon as I walked in and observed the people sitting at the poker table, I figured it was worth a shot. The dealer was actually teaching a Hold'Em lesson, and was just wrapping up as I came in. Then all the players from the lesson pulled out money to play! How could I resist? So I bought in and had a seat. The game was unbelievably loose and passive. I found myself wishing that the stakes were higher! I don't recall any specific hands from the first night but I won about $100 in 3 hours, so I was pretty happy, and looking forward to coming back tomorrow.

Galaxy Cruise, Day One- Off to Puerto Rico!

2007-02-11T22:19:00.000-08:00

Up at the crack of dawn to catch our 6:20am flight! We were both exhausted since the past two days haven't had much sleep in them.

Travel was uneventful except that we discovered Washington airport has really good food at a reasonable price, given that it's an airport. Dan and I had a delicious breakfast there with huge servings for $16.

We arrived in San Juan and picked up our luggage. Then there was a little hassle trying to find my mom and her boyfriend, who were also taking this cruise with us. Eventually we found them and took a taxi over to our hotel, the Marriott Courtyard Miramar San Juan.

We were all tired so Dan decided to take a nap, and I grabbed a book and went downstairs to relax by the pool before dinner. We were supposed to meet everyone from the Cruise Critic group we'd been talking to online for dinner at a restaurant in Old San Juan, but there was some kind of festival going on in the area and the taxi driver said that it would take over an hour to get there. Well, forget that! Dan and I went to Papa John's pizza for dinner instead, watched Simpsons (in English thankfully!) and got an early night.

Dan was happy to see when he checked online that his team did in fact qualify for the Canadian National Team Championship for his Zone. It was a two day event and Dan played on the Saturday but had to miss the Sunday because of our flight. Fortunately his team still made it so we are off to Winnipeg in May!

China, Day Eight

2006-10-27T14:12:00.000-07:00

Our last day in China, we decided to visit the Great Wall since we had missed our chance to go earlier in the week.

The Great Wall was several hours away from Tianjin and we didn't make it there until early afternoon. We stopped for lunch at a yummy noodle restaurant, then headed over to the wall.

It was one of the most amazing experiences of our lives, to climb the Great Wall of China. Just walking on it was like walking on history.

After we finished exploring, we did some shopping. Dan called the Great Wall "the Niagara Falls of China"! There were so many vendors, who all actually spoke enough English to try and rip off the tourists. They all asked for insanely high prices for items and you had to bargain hard, because they were trying to take you for every dime you could get. 10-20% of the price they asked was fair!

They did have some beautiful items though. One of Susie's favourites was the vendors who chipped designs into slate. They were so talented!

The shopping district at the Wall was full of almost anything touristy you wished!

By the time we left the Great Wall, we didn't have time to go to the market in Beijing, which was a little disappointing. Instead we went to the Korean BBQ restaurant for one last meal.

Visiting China was a wonderful experience, I hope to be able to return someday.

China, Day Seven

2006-10-26T14:11:00.000-07:00

The bridge tournament ended this evening, after the final three matches. The USA made a valiant comeback but could not catch the Chinese team. Poland B finished third.

After the ceremonies, we went back to the hotel for dinner, hoping that they'd at least have decent food for the closing event! Unfortunately not, so Dan and Susie slipped out with another team member to go out for dinner. We found a delicious Italian restaurant which was really enjoyable. Brian, the third guy, was a little surprised at what was on the pizza he ordered! Normal toppings in China are really weird!

China, Day Six

2006-10-26T14:06:00.000-07:00

Today our schedule was really nice- we had our bye match scheduled before lunch, so the team decided to go to the Chinese Cultural Center for food and shopping instead of sticking around and eating the reheated leftovers at the hotel.

After our matches, we grabbed taxis and went out. Johnson, one of our volunteers, came along with us to help with bargaining and translation. We ate at a local Chinese restaurant and then went to the shopping district. The buildings were very ornate and beautiful.

Prices here too were excellent, and there was lots of interesting things to buy.

After the bridge, for dinner that night the group of us went to a Korean barbecue restaurant. That was a really neat experience! We were seated at large tables with grills running off propane lines right in the middle of the table! They gave you marinated raw meat and vegetables and rice, and you cooked your own food right on the grill. It was cool!

China, Day Four

2006-10-23T14:05:00.000-07:00

Today was our excursion day- we were supposed to visit the Great Wall of China but for some reason they cancelled the excursion, citing bad weather.

So instead, team Canada decided to go shopping. Dan wasn't feeling well so he decided to stay at the hotel, but the rest of us went shopping at the markets in Tianjin. Johnson took us to lunch at a delicious Chinese restaurant famous for dumplings.

Then we did a little shopping and picked up some souvenirs, and headed back to the hotel after shopping in two different districts in Tianjin. Prices were so inexpensive!

When Susie got back to the hotel, Dan was still feeling pretty sick. He didn't want to go to the hotel for the awful food. Susie went out and got a taxi and went to KFC to bring back some dinner for the two of us. It tasted the same as it does back here, but things were a little different! Instead of a pasta salad, coleslaw, or potato salad, they have a mixed vegetable salad in mayonnaise, which is weird! For dessert there were some kind of funny custard tarts- delicious but unusual!

China, Day Two

2006-10-21T14:03:00.000-07:00

Today we learned how important this event was to the Chinese government. The buses carrying the participants received a police escort to the auditorium on the new campus of Tianjin Normal University, and traffic was stopped so the buses could proceed without delay.

Here is our team on the steps of the ceremonial auditorium with our Chinese volunteers, Johnson and Weiwei:

Here was our first view of the building, with balloons and important political officials.

Outside the auditorium, Chinese dragon dancers and drummers entertained us while we waited to go inside.

Once we were inside, the ceremonies were officially opened with boring speeches by Chinese politicians and bridge officials. One member from each country went on stage to carry their flag.

After the event were declared open, the students of Tianjin Normal University entertained us with drums, dancing, acrobatics, and music. It was amazing! They are very talented. I took so many photos of the entertainment... you'll have to look through the album to get a feel for how incredible the show was.

After the ceremonies, we went back to the hotel for lunch and rest, and then we had a few bridge matches in the afternoon and early evening. Canada managed to play about average, but our third pair already showed signs of imploding.

That evening we received gift bags from the Chinese organizers- the government actually created an issued a collectible set of Chinese stamps commemorating the event! Each participant received two decks of University Cup cards and a stamp set.

China, Day One

2006-10-20T13:59:00.000-07:00

As with the Thailand entries, many will be non consecutive and I'm removing the bridge content. For more of that, visit the entries on Korbel Bridge Adventures'.

We had a day before the bridge event started, so Team Canada decided to visit Beijing. We took the train, because it's over an hour quicker than it would be by car. We called taxis to go to the train station (taxis in China are so cheap! A 15 minute ride is maybe $1.50!) and arrived at 11am for the 11:11 train. The seven of us crowded to two windows and tried to order tickets. We had no translator with us so I'm still not sure how it happened, but for some reason our tickets cost ten yuan more than the other group's did! I don't know if we were in a higher class or whatever, but it was weird. The food on the train was yummy and cheap, though! Those cup a noodle things are so much more delicious in China than they are back here. I don't know what they do to them but they're delicious, and 50 cents for a giant cup with beef and everything.

When we arrived in Beijing, there was the instant impression that we felt like cattle. There were so many people! In the city of Beijing, there are over 1/3 as many people as there are in the entire country of Canada!

The crowds of people outside the train station:

Our first stop was Tiananmen Square, which was full of history... and vendors selling cheap junk. I bought 3 packages of postcards and Dan bought a Mao animated watch. That was pretty cool, I must say!

Beijing is hosting the 2008 Olympics and they had an official countdown clock in the square.

Our next stop was the Forbidden City, which was really, really cool. The buildings were ornate and beautiful and there was so much to see. Unfortunately, some of the guys got whiny and bored, so they didn't want to stay and look around, and the group ended up leaving. Dan and I were both pretty frustrated but there wasn't much we could do. So we bought a book on the way out about the Forbidden City so we could at least see and read about more.

After the Forbidden City, we went to a duck restaurant for lunch and then headed back to the hotel. It was a long day! We were too late for dinner, so Dan and I caught a taxi to McDonalds for dinner. It's traditional for us to go to McDonalds once in each country we visit, and take pictures. It was so cheap! Even including the taxi, the two of us ate for five dollars! The food tasted the same but there were a few unusual items, like cucumber as a burger topping and some different sauces and desserts.

Thailand, Day Seventeen

2006-08-14T13:52:00.000-07:00

Our flight was scheduled to leave at 6:55am, so we had to leave the Baiyoke at 4am to get to the airport with plenty of time. We checked out the night before and were ready to go. When we got to the airport, there was total chaos, because of the terrorist attacks. We hadn't heard a thing about them so we were pretty confused. We heard that there was a red alert on our flight from Bangkok to Tokyo (it continued to Los Angeles but we wouldn't be on that leg) and I was getting a little scared after the security was so tight. Even after we were cleared to check in (yes, there was PRE CHECK IN security), then did the X ray machine etc, we finally got to the gate and each passenger was physically patted down and each carry on was searched by hand. I was really nervous by now and wondering if we should get on this flight, but we both wanted to go home.

The flight was scheduled to be 5.5 hours. When we were finally near Narita airport in Tokyo, the pilot announced that we would be circling for about 30 minutes as we were not cleared to land. We had a 2 hour connection here but I wasn't too worried because Narita is a small airport- even 20 minutes would be plenty of time. After about 25 minutes, the pilot announced that we were still not cleared to land, he wasn't sure why, and we might be up here for a while.

Finally we diverted to a small airfield and I was never so relieved to feel the wheels touch down. But we had to stay on the plane to get back to Narita- finally we were told it was just heavy thunderstorms. Well gee, thanks for telling us that before :P We sat there on the tarmac for about another two hours before finally returning to Narita. Of course, by now we have missed our connection. When we disembark and find a United agent, we are told to clear customs and go for dinner at Royals restaurant (we are starving because we haven't eaten for hours) and we'd be bussed to a hotel and returned tomorrow. We were to call reservations at 9am tomorrow to be rebooked home.

It took forever to clear customs and get our bags, but we finally found Royals and had a decent meal- Caesar salad to start, spaghetti for Dan and a club sandwich for me. We both felt a little better with food in our stomachs at least! The next ordeal was finding the bus. We were told to go to the first floor, then sent back up to the fourth floor. It was a relief to finally climb on the bus and relax, even if it was nearly midnight Tokyo time. I didn't hav a clue what Bangkok time was but I was exhausted. We were bussed an hour away to the Keio Plaza Hotel, which I will say was very nice, if small. I've been told it is a serious luxury room for Japan, even if it's tiny by Western standards.

Waking up the next morning, we went downstairs for breakfast. The buffet was okay, nothing special, but at least they fed us. Time to bus back to the airport. Dan had argued with United on the phone because they had no way to get us home today without an eight hour layover when we wouldn't be able to leave the airport. Finally they agreed to give us a voucher to use on Northwest to get home, even if the route had two more connections.

When we got to the airport, I waited in an enormous line for nearly two hours while Dan sat with the bags. We had to get the voucher from United before we could check in at Northwest, and everything was backed up because of the new security rules plus two days' worth of passengers- other planes had been stranded, too. Then the agent wasn't even sure how to give us a voucher, so we had to wait longer. Finally, it's nearly 2pm and we have a 3:30 flight and we have to go to the other end of the terminal to get to the Northwest checkin! Dan and I are starting to panic as we race over. Then Northwest has no clue how to process the voucher, even though we are reserved on the flights.

We made it to the gate just long enough to grab some McDonalds before boarding. I have to say, Northwest does their long flights much better than United. Each passenger has their own TV screen and you can choose from a menu of movies and watch them whenever you want. Dan and I synchronized our screens and watched four movies together- RV, Over the Hedge, MI3, and Lucky Sleven. This was the longest leg of the flight (12 hours) and it still went very quickly.

We arrived very late, and had about 20 minutes to make our connection. We figured we were going to get stuck in Seattle. We were told we had to pick up our bags, clear US customs, recheck the bags, then board.

After waiting for our bags and clearing Homeland Security, we dropped our bags in the recheck chute and raced through security. Then we ran upstairs to our gate and they were happy to see us because they figured we were going to miss the flight, too. It felt so good to be on the plane! This was only a short flight to Minneapolis and we were both tired so we slept.

I woke up in Minneapolis as we were getting ready to land, and for once, we were on time. We found our new gate and it felt so good to see a sign that finally said Toronto! After a zillion hours and the longest "day" ever, we were finally going home. Nearly three days late and without luggage (it got stuck in Seattle), but it was good to be home.

Thailand, Day Sixteen

2006-08-11T13:50:00.000-07:00

On our last day of sightseeing, we decided to go to the Ancient City, which is kind of like a mini version of Thailand shaped like the country, with all the interesting sights in place and visible. It was a lot like a museum with a bunch of shops in it. I can't imagine that they get much custom and we weren't really interested in any of the wares, but it was fun to look.

The wood carvings were beautiful- we saw them all over.

The fish go nuts for some bread:

Really, I don't have much to say about the Ancient City. We drove around in our taxi and got out to see the different attractions and took some beautiful photographs, but not much happened. The pictures are captioned in our photo album.

After the Ancient City, we decided we had time to go back to the Siam Paragon and finish exploring. I bought some books for our return flight, and I decided to try the little snacks they sold in the gourmet market instead of having a whole meal. It was delicious. They cut them into pieces and put them in a plastic bag with sauce, and gave you a long stick to spear the chunks of meat and veggies. Rice was eaten with your fingers.

After dinner, we planned to go to the aquarium until we saw it was $15 a person, which is ridiculously overpriced for a third world aquarium so we decided not to go. We've both been to lots of aquariums before.

Our flight leaves early tomorrow morning, so it was time to go back to the hotel and pack and say goodbye to Bangkok. It's been a wonderful trip, but all good things must come to an end.

Thailand, Day Fifteen

2006-08-10T13:48:00.000-07:00

Today we hired a taxi driver for the day to take us to the elephant zoo and the Rose Garden cultural fair. If you book this tour through the hotel, it costs 2000 baht ($60) just for the car, plus admissions. The taxi driver was half that, plus he gave us a little tour.

First he asked us to stop at a jewelry factory for the ubiquitous gas stamp. We had time so we didn't worry too much. We saw a little video about how the jewelry was made and saw some lovely finished pieces.

We had a great time at the elephant zoo! When we first walked in, you could get your picture taken with real live tigers! I was so scared they were going to turn around and eat me, but I couldn't resist the photo op. Yes, we are actually holding their tails. We bought a souvenir plate with this photo on it.

Then we got to go for a ride on an elephant! They take you all around the zoo and even up to a waterfall. It was totally amazing even if I was terrified I was going to fall off.

After the ride, we watched the elephant show, which was a lot of fun. They showed how elephants were used for war and for work, and then did a funny elephant world cup of soccer. Spain got a yellow card for charging the goalie ;)

After the elephant show, we visited the Rose Garden cultural show where we had a delicious buffet lunch, then went over to the pavilion to watch demonstrations of Thai boxing, Thai dances, and a Thai wedding. Very unique and interesting.

After the show, we visited the Rose Garden's elephants for a little, then it was time for the long drive back to Bangkok and the hotel. We were both exhausted after our long day, and ordered room service and went to bed early.

Thailand, Day Fourteen

2006-08-09T13:47:00.000-07:00

Today after breakfast, we started to make plans for our few remaining days in Thailand so we could do as much sightseeing as possible. Today we decided to spend the morning at the Siam Paragon, a very fancy mall with an aquarium in it, and we booked a dinner cruise for the evening. We hailed a taxi over to the mall, and had lunch at Piri Piri, a chicken restaurant. Boy, do Thais like their food hot! Dan enjoys spicy food, but even he wouldn't risk the hot chicken, and I found the medium scorching. I ordered a chicken burger which wasn't even marked spicy, and I downed two diet Cokes with it!

After lunch, we had a yummy dessert at Swenson's. I've never heard of the franchise before, but they are delicious. There were more than five different ice cream parlours on this level, but the sundaes looked delicious so we couldn't resist.

The Siam Paragon truly is a paradox- wealth in the midst of poverty. This mall had a floor with a BMW dealership, Ferrari dealership, a floor with all designer clothing (Armani, Hugo Boss, Hermes,etc), a floor with accessories (I picked up a Ferragamo purse to pretend to be rich for a little while!), and a department store, which thankfully wasn't insanely expensive. I found a gorgeous Nine West handbag for $60, so I couldn't resist- Dan insisted on buying it for me and I love it.

We didn't have too long to explore because we had to be back at the hotel for six for the cruise, so we decided to come back to the mall if we had time. We went back to the hotel and changed into nice clothes, and headed downstairs for the ride to the river cruise.

This was our cruise boat:

Dinner was pretty good, but the wine was terrible- what a waste of $15. We couldn't even drink it, so we stuck to water instead. We sat with a nice couple from Australia who talked a lot.

After dinner, we went out on deck to see the sights. The buildings alongside the river are all lit up and look beautiful at night. It was a great way to see everything. The photos are never as good as actually being there. It was a really romantic evening.

After we returned from the cruise, we went out and explored the night market a little. I bought two pairs of very cheap but cute sandals for $1 per pair. There wasn't much we hadn't already seen, but it's always fun to look.

Thailand, Day Eight

2006-08-02T13:43:00.000-07:00

Today was a day off from bridge- they booked a tour bus for all the participants who wanted to see Bangkok. We were to visit a snake farm, a jewelry factory, the Grand Palace, and a crocodile farm. The bus was scheduled to depart at 10am.

We needed to pick up Dan's suit in the morning, so we got up early and had breakfast, and walked over to the tailor's shop to get Dan fitted. The mall was supposed to open at nine, but I think Thais have a similar notion to Caribbean time :P The owner finally showed up at 9:20, and told us the suit was at their showroom down the street. We're starting to get a little nervous about time, but we go with him to his other showroom and Dan tries on the suit. It fits perfectly, and he looks fantastic. Now we have ten minutes to run back to the hotel and catch the bus...

When we get there, we meet friends coming down from the hotel to get on the bus, and I go with them to try and hold the bus for poor Dan who had to go put the suit in our room. Thankfully, departure is delayed, and he makes it down just in time for us to leave.

Our first stop was the snake farm, which was pretty cool. They started with a slide show about all different kinds of snakes in Thailand, and explained how they milked snakes to create antivenin for hospitals, since there are a great deal of poisonous snakes! Some look very similar to regular snakes too, which is a little scary. There are also snakes that can sense body heat and strike at you, so standing still won't work with them. I decided never to walk in tall grass in a foreign country.

At the end of the demonstration, I got to hold a non venomous snake. It felt so strong and squishy at the same time.

After the snake farm, we visited the jewelry factory, which was basically just an excuse to get people to buy very, very beautiful, but very, very expensive jewelry. Lots of pieces I liked were thousands of dollars each. We weren't allowed to take pictures in the showroom but it was really amazing. They had some gorgeous necklaces that were a quarter million dollars! I would never wear something so large, but they were beautiful to look at.

We decided not to buy any jewelry, but as we went to the gift shop, a beautiful handbag caught my eye. It was made of a strange bumpy material. Turns out it was made of stingray skin- they farm them in Thailand for their skin, which has a very interesting but beautiful texture and appearance. I loved the purse but it was very expensive ($160) and it was a little too flashy for everyday usage, so I didn't buy it. Dan saw they had wallets, too, so he bought me a stingray wallet, which I love. We also picked up a few souvenir keychains for friends.

Then it was time for the Grand Palace. Beautiful architecture, and we saw the Emerald Buddha statue. Unfortunately you weren't allowed to take pictures of that, either. But there were lots of gorgeous buildings and temples in the courtyard.

Here is us with some of our teammates at the Grand Palace.

Finally, it was time for the highlight of the day for me- the crocodile farm. We saw a show where two handlers wrestled crocodiles and put on a great show. When the audience threw paper money down to them, they put it in a crocodile's mouth! And made a big show of trying to pull it out again later. I was so scared when the handlers stuck their heads in the crocodile's mouths- I mean, this is a third world country, not North America. I bet handlers have died doing this before, and I didn't want to see anything bad happen! I was also nervous because the handlers prayed before doing that, and it wasn't part of the show, which explains that they were worried, too. But it really was a fantastic show.

After the tour and the long, traffic filled drive back to Bangkok, we were all tired and hungry. We invited our friends Noble and Mike from USA 2 to join us in ordering some Pizza Hut (good old North American comfort food) and a game of barbu. It was a fun night. Pizza wasn't as cheap as most food in Thailand, but it was still reasonable. The weird thing was that the order came with two ziploc bags full of ketchup and seasonings! Who puts ketchup on pizza? But the taste was pretty close to home, and it was a fun way to end a long day.

Thailand, Day Five

2006-07-31T13:40:00.000-07:00

Today was a pretty busy day. Dan and I played all three matches, against Thailand, Italy, and France.

At lunch, we decided that we finally gave up on the food provided for the competitors. It was just gross and even though it was free, we'd rather pay for our own. We went to the hotel's coffee shop for lunch, which was delicious. They had the same menu that the hotel offered as room service, plus a tray of Japanese food.

I love the way menus are visual in Asia. We noticed it at Narita airport in Tokyo, too. They actually put out a serving of each item so you can see what you are going to get. I wish it would catch on back here in Canada!

Dan ordered the katsu curry and I had the tendon, which is tempura shrimp and veggies with rice. I managed to eat the whole meal with chopsticks and it was the first time I'd ever tried!

After dinner, we decided to go out and do a little more souvenir shopping at the street vendors.

Thailand, Day Four

2006-07-30T13:38:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of the event. We played matches against USA2, USA1, and Brazil.

After day one, we had neither beaten badly nor been beaten badly, so we had a fairly average score.

During the match we sat out, we decided to go over to the Indra Palace mall, which is right down the street from our hotel. We did some more browsing and decided to visit a tailor shop in the mall. After discussing fabrics and styles, we ordered Dan a custom made navy blue suit, which included the suit jacket, two pairs of matching pants, three cotton shirts in complementary colours, three silk ties, and a black bow tie (for his tux) for $180.

Here's a picture of Dan getting measured and fitted for his suit.

After days of eating the crappy food provided for competitors, we were starving. There was a McDonalds in the Indra Palace, and neither of us could resist some comfort food. It's becoming a bit of a custom for us to eat once at McDonalds in every country we visit, and to take photographs. It's amazing how different this franchise is all over the world!

It was so cheap, too! I had a Filet O Fish, for $1, and Dan had a Big Mac combo for $3. I found the fish sandwich much better in Bangkok than it is here in North America- less salty and fresher tasting. Surprisingly, the nutritional content is also better than it is here. I guess the fish is fresher and less processed.

They had some interesting menu items, though!

Thailand, Day Three

2006-07-29T13:35:00.000-07:00

Today was registration day- everyone had to go downstairs to the playing area and show their passports to prove they were playing on the correct team and were eligible for the age group they were entered in.

After lunch, Dan and I decided to get a little fresh air. Then we realized that in Bangkok, that isn't possible. The air is thick and muggy, and many people in the streets wear masks. You can almost taste the pollution. We decided not to go far since it was so humid outside, so we went next door to the Pratunam garment district and did a little shopping. Asian sizes are absolutely ridiculous- a size six is an XL here, and most stores only sell one size, which is the equivalent of a two, roughly.

Our hands were full of bags so it was time to go back to the hotel and relax before the opening ceremony at 7pm. The opening ceremonies involved a lot of speeches by bridge and Thai officials, followed by each team participating in the event getting their picture taken on stage.

Here is Team Canada at the opening ceremonies:

Thailand, Day One

2006-07-27T13:22:00.000-07:00

These entries are crossposted from Korbel Bridge Adventures but I'll leave out the bridge details. Also note that entries are non consecutive since some days were nothing but bridge minutiae.

Since we lost a day coming out (between time changes and 23h of travel), our first day in Bangkok was the 27th. We both woke up insanely early because of jet lag and could not get back to sleep. I think we finally gave up around six thirty and showered and got ready to go upstairs for breakfast. As part of the package, the World Bridge Federation gave us tickets to pay for our meals at the hotel. The breakfast coupons were for the Baiyoke's breakfast buffet, which is famous. There is something for everyone, from regular bacon and custom made eggs, to cereal and fruit, to Thai soup and delicacies, to Muslim food, to Chinese food, to Indian pancakes. It was really delicious! The hotel itself was fabulous- a five star luxury experience.

Dan enjoyed the Thai soup.

I preferred the roti, the sweet fried Indian pancakes, the Thai coconut/rice dumplings, fruit, and good ol' omelets.

Since we were both still feeling crummy and jet lagged, we decided just to relax. We met up with some good friends of from the USA who were playing on the second American team, and we played some bridge and barbu, and just spent the rest of the day hanging out.

My friends Noble and Mike on top of the revolving roof at the Baiyoke Sky Hotel.

Germany, Day Ten

2005-09-16T13:20:00.000-07:00

When we arrived at the airport, we had a bit of a wait before it was time to head to the Air Canada counter and wait for the 10:50am flight. When I saw the mobs of people waiting to fly standby, I was sure we'd be stuck on the 1pm Lufthansa flight, but we made it! Going home was a 9 hour flight, though, which was pretty awful. The food on Air Canada was much worse than on Lufthansa, though. We just picked at it. At least they gave German ice cream for dessert!

Have I mentioned how different European ice cream is from North American? It's so rich, creamy, and delicious- head and shoulders above what we get here. Or rather, we can get it here if we pay an arm and a leg for it. Packaged Movenpick ice cream comes pretty close, but it's very expensive.

It had been a wonderful experience to visit Germany, and with almost no English spoken, my German has certainly gotten better! I'd love to return someday.

Germany, Day Nine

2005-09-15T13:15:00.000-07:00

Today was our last day of vacation- because of packed flight schedules on the weekend we had to fly Friday instead of Saturday.

Richard drove us to the train station in Freilassing, and we caught the train to Salzburg, Austria. Surprisingly, that went without a hitch, but since it was only one stop it would be difficult to mess up!

Today we were on our own, since Salzburg is a difficult town to drive in and Richard wasn't up for lots of walking. It was the first day of our vacation where we had some time to ourselves. It was nice to spend time with family members we won't see again for years, if at all, but it was also nice just to relax with each other.

Our first view of Salzburg:

What a beautiful city. We walked through the shopping district and I saw a lovely tea set that I really wanted to buy (on sale, even!) but we didn't think we'd be able to get it home without it being damaged. We walked up and down the streets until we got to the old city.

We visited the main square and booked a walking tour for 1pm. That gave us just enough time to walk back to a cafe we'd seen and order lunch. Sausage for Dan; chili for me. Yum!

When we walked back to the square, our tour bus was late. Then they drove us to their other pickup point and realized we were the only English speakers who wanted a tour right then. They offered us the longer tour for the same price if we'd come back in an hour. So we went to a little dessert cafe that claimed to have been around for 150 years. Tea and rum cake was a good way to spend an hour. When we returned to the site, the tour guide took us through the beautiful Mirabel Gardens and on a short tour of the palace.

Then we went on a brief walking tour and saw the house where Mozart lived. It is now a tourist museum but we didn't have time to see it.

The tour bus picked us up, and we visited the place where the Sound of Music was filmed. There was a lovely pond with a family of swans there. We also visited another castle, still owned by the descendants of the family who lived there.

Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to really see Salzburg. I would love to go back and see more of it.

Time to catch the train to Teisendorf, and then a walk through the town back to Richard and Anita's. We only got lost once and turned a 20 min walk to a 40 min one!

Uncle Richard wanted to take us out for a farewell dinner, so we went to the gasthaus in Teisendorf. The food was really good- I had cordon bleu and Dan had pork and dumplings. We were both stuffed after the meal. We watched some other people playing Bavarian cards, and Richard told us that he often played. He bought us a deck of Bavarian cards, so now we will have to learn how to play!

After dinner, it was time to catch the overnight train to Frankfurt, so we'd arrive in time for our flight back to Toronto. Time to say some more sad goodbyes. I told Richard that I would miss Bavaria and I'd love to come back, and he said next time I'd have to stay longer so I could see more of it! Hanno and Inge picked us up and took us to Salzburg to catch our train, and then we had some more goodbyes.

Sleeper trains are interesting. In first class, you get an actual bed. In economy, you still get really, really good chairs that lean back as you move, not just as a rigid setting. Very comfortable for sleeping. The conductor has a list of who is sitting where and wakes you up in time for your stop. We left at 11pm and arrived in Frankfurt at 6:30am.

Germany, Day Eight

2005-09-14T13:14:00.000-07:00

Wow. Today was one of the most amazing days, ever. Richard picked us up early in the morning for breakfast, and we headed out to see one of the most beautiful national parks in the world- the Konigssee. It's a lovely calm lake surrounded by mountains. Unfortunately I could not understand the tour guide as he spoke German, but the beauty of the lake and mountains spoke for themselves.

We took a boat ride across the lake to listen to the tour and to visit the Obersee, the elevated lake on the other side. These are the small battery operated boats used on the lake:

After arriving at the other side, Richard sat at the local cafe for a beer while we hiked to visit Obersee. Here are Dan and I in front of it:

After enjoying a drink and relaxing with the natural beauty of the park, it was time to head out. Next stop- Salzbergwerk- the salt mines.

We were all quite hungry by this point so we stopped at the cafeteria in the mining complex before embarking on our tour. I had spaghetti Bolognese, and Dan and Richard had bratwurst, potato salad, and sauerkraut. Richard waited with a beer while Dan and I took the tour of the mines, thankfully in English!

To visit the mines, everyone must put mining protective clothing over their clothes. Then we hopped on a fast moving car that you straddled, with people behind and in front of you. Boy that car moved fast! We hurtled 750 feet below ground level to the first stop, a large cavern with mining equipment where the tour guide gave some background about the mine.

Then we had to slide down a tiny wooden "slide", another 150 feet below! I'm still not sure how it could be a slide since it was maybe 6 inches wide and had to be straddled, but it was hair raising and exciting! When we got to the bottom, the guide led us to a room where we watched a short video clip that explained about salt mining and the procedures. It can take 30 years to prepare a cavern for mining, and then the cavern can last hundreds of years! Here's Dan in his mining gear in front of some equipment:

When we exited, there was another slide down to the top of a cavern filled with brine. We sailed over it in a barge- the salt content of that water was over 18%! You couldn't sink in it if you tried; you'd just float on top.

By the end of the tour when we rode the cars back to the surface, Dan and I were both exhausted. It had been a fun day, but a busy one! We went back to Richard and Anita's house and had a short nap before dinner, delicious trout that Richard had caught himself. We really enjoyed it. Then off to Hanno and Inge's for a night's sleep.

Germany, Day Seven

2005-09-13T13:10:00.000-07:00

I officially hate the German train system. Our first trip to Ulm being a disaster since we nearly went to Hamburg, we were hoping that we could make it to Freilassing with no problems!

Butz picked us up and took us to the train station in Ulm. He bought us breakfast and gave us each a hug. Angi and Butz may be visiting Canada in a few years so hopefully we will see them again. Most of the relatives were saying they wanted us to hurry up and have children so they'd have an excuse to visit! We laughed and told them they'd have to wait a few years. I jokingly said to Dan that when he writes his thank you notes to his family for letting us visit with them, to tell Oma and Opa that we were trying to think of a gift to thank them with that was not great-grandchildren!

Our train was delayed for half an hour so we hung around the train station. This time, we made absolutely sure we were on the right train! It was a three hour bus ride to Freilassing, so we settled in and relaxed. When we arrived, the door of the car wouldn't open! There were about six of us that wanted to disembark that got stuck there! When we finally got a conductor's attention the train had already started moving and he told us it was too late, we'd have to get off at the next stop and go back. Lovely- so we'll be late again! Will we never be on time using German trains??? At the next stop, we switch trains and wait... and wait... and wait. Finally it heads back to Freilassing. We can't find Uncle Richard. We call, and find out that when he heard of the delay he went home. We waited outside for him to come and get us. Richard also speaks no English, and to compound the problem, Bavarians speak with a different accent that made it more difficult even for Dan.

Richard took us to a Bavarian gasthaus for lunch. The food was just fabulous! I had schnitzel, french fries, and salad. For dessert, Richard ordered us this amazing traditional Bavarian dessert- some kind of tall biscuity cake filled with ice cream, topped with whipped cream, and surrounded by blueberries in sauce soaked with rum. We just demolished it- the best dessert I've ever had, I think.

After lunch, we visited an 800 year old monastery. Richard told us that people actually live there now! Wow. Can you imagine living in a place with so much history? The views were just beautiful. Here's Dan in the courtyard next to the fountain.

Then we drove to Richard and his wife Anita's home in Teisendorf. They are Dan's father's aunt and uncle, so I guess that makes them his great-aunt and great-uncle. Anita was very nice too, although we had difficulty understanding her. She spoke no English. She brought out several photo albums belonging to a deceased relative, and told us to take them back to Canada. There were some really cute pictures of Dan as a little boy and we kept those, and some pictures of Dan's father as a little boy. They look a lot alike! What made me sad was the older pictures of people that Dan didn't even recognize. They weren't captioned so the memories are lost. I never want my memories to be lost that way- I'll either caption my photos or keep scrapbooks so people can read about my pictures. It's sad that these heirloom photos are now useless.

We weren't actually staying with Richard and Anita since they didn't have space, but they drove us over to Hanno and Inge's house. They are Dan's cousins but around his parents' age. They are very nice, friendly people.

Germany, Day Six

2005-09-12T13:08:00.000-07:00

Today was our last day in Southern Germany. Angi, Butz, and Oma took us to Ulm to see the sights. Our first stop was the market square with lots of vendors selling a variety of different things. Towering over the square was Muenster Cathedral, one of the highest churches in the world.

For a fee, you can climb near the top of Muenster. There are three stopping points. Dan and I started to climb and we got a good view at the first level, but the staircases were so narrow and winding with no handholds that I was afraid to climb any higher because going down was so nerve wracking! Here's the view from the first point at Muenster:

The cathedral is just beautiful. The stained glass windows are so large and detailed that each one is worth EUR 100,000.

After climbing Muenster, we met back up with Angi, Butz, and Oma in a little cafe overlooking the square. They had just finished their coffee so off we went to do a little souvenir shopping. Angi bought me a paper cup full of marzipan balls- delicious! I never realized how much I enjoyed marzipan until I tried a marzipan cake on our honeymoon cruise. I bought some gel pens for my scrapbook, and Dan's Oma bought him some socks. Grandmothers are the same everywhere!

We stopped in a gasthaus for lunch. A gasthaus seems to be the equivalent of a pub or a small family owned restaurant. Unfortunately, neither Dan nor I could read the menu, and no one spoke adequate enough English to translate! Dan just ordered what Butz was having, but since I wasn't a fan of sauerkraut, I passed. I ordered some ravioli type dish, which wasn't bad except it was served in oil instead of tomato sauce.

After lunch, we did a little more walking around Ulm and learned about the history of the city. Then we got back into the car and visited Der Blautopf, the Blue Lake. I've never seen water so blue... apparently it occurs that way naturally. The lake flows into the river that borders Ulm.

While we were there, there was an excellent souvenir shop and a yummy candy store. The owner of the candy store drove this!

On our way back to Setzingen, we stopped for coffee and cake in a little cafe. Dan and I ordered a slice of black forest cake and a slice of nut cake and shared. Yum!

We stopped at a shopping centre on the way home that had a huge chocolate store at very low prices. Boy did Dan go to town! We spent EUR 40 on chocolate but we filled a small suitcase! All good high quality stuff, too. I still can't believe we spent so much money on chocolate.

Back home for our last dinner with Oma and Opa. We were all a little sad because we know we'll probably never see them again. Opa is in poor health and on dialysis 3x a week, and Oma is 84 and unable to fly. I doubt we'll have the time or money to visit again soon. I hate goodbyes. We also had to say goodbye to Angi as she had to work tomorrow and so wouldn't be able to see us off on our way to Bavaria. Goodbyes are never easy.

Germany, Day Five

2005-09-11T13:07:00.000-07:00

After breakfast and lunch (not much seems to happen here in Southern Germany before lunch!) we said our goodbyes to Aunt Inge and piled back in the car to return to Oma and Opa's house.

I should have described some of the scenery. The rolling hills and countryside were just beautiful. We drove past several vineyards and saw the grapes growing. At one rest stop they even had a few grape plants there and we sampled a few grapes- nice and sweet. We took the Autobahn, where the minimum allowed speed was 130km/h, and there was no maximum as long as you kept control of your car and didn't disrupt the flow of traffic. I believe Butz stayed near the minimum because Angi kept teasing him about being nervous with him driving!

On the way home, Angi and Butz seemed to think it was funny to take us to McDonalds. Even in another country, we can't get away from it!

They had some different items on the menu. Dan had a pasta salad, and there was also a strange curry chicken dish. I stuck to a regular old Big Mac. I wanted a Filet O Fish but when I saw in the picture that they used more tartar sauce then they did fish, I said forget it!

We didn't do much for the rest of the day, just visited with Angi and Butz and Oma and Opa, relaxed, had dinner, and went to bed. I was feeling much better, thankfully.

Germany, Day Four

2005-09-10T13:04:00.000-07:00

This morning we got up early for breakfast, then went for a walk afterwards with Angi. We went to see the house where Dan's Oma and Opa used to live, and where their 9 children were born. I couldn't imagine sharing that house with ten other people!

The house where Dan's mother and her siblings grew up:

On the way back, we stopped and got ice cream despite my protests that it wasn't even 11am! Oh well, it still tasted yummy.

Lunch was pork roast and lima beans in sauce with bacon. Inge was kind enough to arrange a tour of the city where the tour guide spoke English so I wouldn't have the same difficulties I'd had in the cavern, with Dan constantly having to translate. Dan's cousin Nicole and her boyfriend picked us up and drove us to the square of Trier and dropped us off where our tour would meet. They would pick us up again afterwards.

The tour was a little pedantic, and everyone else was much older than we were; like closer to our parents' age. But the sights were amazing. I still can't get over the Porta Nigra, the Black Gate. It was a gate to the city that was there at that time, and it dates from 400 AD! It was so amazing to be able to see and touch something that had been around so long.

The Black Gate:

After the Porta Nigra, we walked around Trier visiting different old and prominent buildings (I don't want to flood with photos, so check our photo album for more stuff), including more Roman ruins that used to be a bathhouse. It was amazing to learn about their awareness of distance and perception, and how they managed in those old times to heat massive areas! Smart people, those Romans.

The tour ran overtime, so we were a little late getting back, but Nicole and her boyfriend were there waiting. On the way to their house, we stopped at a craft store to look for scrapbooking supplies for me. Unfortunately, Germany had very few to offer. I got a quality paper trimmer with 3 different rotary blades, and a half-sheet of paper that is perfect for the basilica we saw today. Then we headed to Nicole's apartment where Angi, Butz, and Inge joined us for coffee and cake.

After a little visiting, Angi, Butz, Inge, Dan and I said our goodbyes and got into the car. We were going to Luxembourg to do some minor shopping! It was such a strange idea to go to another country to gas up and buy coffee, but I guess it's normal there. There isn't even a border checkpoint. I have no pics of Luxembourg because all we visited was a minimall and a gas station, but I can still say I visited three countries while I was in Europe!

On the way home, we stopped to visit one of Inge's daughters. She was in her 40s! Inge is the oldest of the nine children. But the biggest difference between Europeans and North Americans was very visible- the smoke. It was murder to sit there for an hour chatting while 4 people smoked like chimneys. I got a headache and Dan was having trouble breathing, but of course since they were taking us around, and the others were smoking in their own home, we couldn't ask them not to.

When we finally got out into some fresh air and headed home, it was basically dinner and bed; Dan and I were both feeling a little ill.

Germany, Day Three

2005-09-09T13:01:00.000-07:00

Today when I woke up, I felt really sick. I must have slept close to 12 hours, but I felt lousy when I woke up. Thank goodness today was not going to be a strenuous day.

We got up at 7:30 and had breakfast (cold cuts, cheese, bread, and marmalade), and packed a small overnight bag. Angi and Uncle Butz were picking us up in the afternoon and we were going to go visit Aunt Inge in Trier.

After breakfast, I still felt crappy so I went back to bed. We weren't leaving until after lunch, so there was no rush. Oma made turkey schnitzel and potatoes for lunch- delicious!

We stopped at a Movenpick rest station for a break and a snack partway through. The afternoon coffee/tea and cake tradition is alive and well in Germany! Not sure if anyone else is familiar with Movenpick, but it's Swiss and fantastic. There's one in Toronto and it's amazing. I really wish I hadn't been ill that day because they had a famous ice cream stand with homemade cream and waffle cones- they're to die for. Angi told me I should have one anyway, but the last thing I wanted was to be sick in the car.

When we arrived at Inge's in the evening, she had dinner on the table waiting for us. The usual, cold cuts, cheese, liverwurst (which I discovered I love, much to my surprise!), and crusty rolls. I still couldn't keep my eyes open, so pretty much right after dinner we went to bed.

I'm glad I was sickest on a mostly uneventful day, because tomorrow would be busier!

Germany, Day Two

2005-09-08T13:00:00.000-07:00

Today was fun, but very busy! We woke up at six to shower and have breakfast with Oma and Opa, then Aunt Angi came to take us all out for the day. We started out visiting a really neat underground cavern full of stalactites and stalagmites. The tour guide pointed out a tiny one barely the size of my pinky finger and told us it was over 200 years old!

The inside of the cavern:

The cave was over 500m deep, and it took about an hour to listen to the guide and explore the cavern, then walk out. It was really interesting to see all the different rock formations and different types of stone. Dan bought a postcard of one to send to a friend.

After the cavern, we visited the Stief stuffed animal factory- the largest in the world. It's also famous because the exterior is entirely of glass. We took an interesting tour that told us how the factory began and when the first teddy bear was invented. We were able to see how the toys are made (all the noses and eyes are hand stitched!) and their quality control procedure. Each toy has to be hand inspected before it goes on the shelves, and as a seal of approval, each toy receives a gold tag in its ear with a ribbon saying Stief on it. They had a guinea pig toy but it was EUR 32 and I refused to pay that much money for a little stuffed animal, no matter how cute it was.

Dan and his family in the gift shop:

Stief also has the most expensive teddy bear in the world. Its fur is thread-of-gold, its eyes were diamond studded, and its nose was solid gold. The price tag? EUR 29,999. Who the heck would buy that???

The gold bear:

After a break for some coffee and cake, we visited the castle Hellenstein. Unfortunately the museum was closed, but the view of the city was just beautiful from the height of the walls.

There was a children's fair going on in the castle courtyard, so we listened to an accordian player and watched clowns on stilts make balloons for the kids.

The castle:

The family in the castle courtyard:

We were all a little tired by the end of the day- Dan and I are still jet lagged from the flight. Time to head back to Oma and Opa's for dinner and relaxation. In Southern Germany, hot meals for dinner are rare- the main meal is at lunchtime instead. Breakfast and dinner tend to be very similar- bread, cold cuts, and cheese. It was nice and light, then we watched some TV and chatted a little, and headed to bed.

Germany, Day One

2005-09-06T23:53:00.000-07:00

Most of my husband's family lives in Germany, so a few months after we got married, we decided to go there so that I could meet his family. We booked our flights, and got ready to travel in September.

As we waited at the airport to board our flight, I was so excited I could barely sit still. I've travelled a lot, for bridge and otherwise, but I had never been to Europe before.

When we boarded, we were delighted to see that Dan's mother had asked them to reserve exit row seats for us! What a nice surprise- on a 7 hour flight that extra bit of legroom makes all the difference in the world. She works for Lufthansa.

The food on the plane was pretty good, though. We had beef with noodles for dinner, and the beef was tender, not burned or chewy. It came with a yummy bean salad, bread, a slice of cheddar cheese, and blueberry cheesecake for dessert. Wine and beer were complimentary even in economy.

The time change was really brutal, though. Our flight departed at 5pm Toronto time. Germany is six hours ahead, and after flight time we landed at 7am Germany time on the 7th. Neither one of us was really able to grab more than a little sleep on the flight, so we were already exhausted.

When we arrived at the airport, we called Dan's aunt Angi to let her know we were there, and what time our train would arrive. It's a two hour train ride to Ulm, and the next scheduled train would get there at 11am. So we went to our platform, got on the train, and started fighting with our luggage to get onto the racks. We had much more than most of the commuters! Then we found out (after the train had left the station) that we were on the wrong train! Apparently our train was to come two minutes after this one, and we were on the train to Hamburg instead of Ulm!

We got off at the next station and asked a conductor for help, and he told us the next train to Ulm would be coming in half an hour or so. We tried to call Angi again but there was no answer... uh oh.

When our train arrived, we confirmed it was going to Ulm, then sat back and tried for a short nap at least. We were both a little lightheaded by this point. We rolled into Ulm an hour late, and we were walking down the platform looking for Angi and Butz, and hoping they hadn't left without us, when we got flagged down by them, thankfully! They had been going nuts looking for us- calling the train we were supposed to be on, having us paged, etc.

They were so sweet- Angi brought me a beautiful pink rose. I thought it was really nice how they tried to make me feel so welcome. It was a 30 minute car ride to Setzingen, and then I found out that Angi and Butz speak no English at all. My German is a little better than rudimentary, but I can't keep up a conversation. Dan's was very good, though, and he had no trouble.

We met Dan's Oma and Opa on our arrival in Setzingen. Oma had made a delicious lunch of cabbage rolls and boiled potatoes. Water was a problem, though! I forgot that in Germany they don't drink real water.. next time I go I am bringing a case of it! They drink carbonated water. So I had orange juice for lunch, which was interesting! Oma and Opa had lots of pictures on the wall, many of them dating to when their 9 kids were younger than we are now. I saw near the top one of our wedding pictures, framed. That was a little touching for me.

After that, we could barely keep our eyes open... time for a nap! We got up for dinner then basically went back to bed again around 8pm after a little bit of chat. Tomorrow would be a more exciting day, but we were just happy to be there!

Summit Cruise, Day Ten

2005-03-20T15:02:00.000-08:00

We tried to make the most of our last day. We planned on lunch at the buffet since it was supposedly "All American" buffet day and I heard there were ribs, but we went up and it was terrible, so we hopped down to the dining room instead. I had delicious cheese and spinach stuffed ravioli in a rose sauce, and Dan had a Reuben sandwich as we watched the waves roll by.

We walked around the ship, visiting everything one last time. Yum, the Martini Bar... where I had my first martini, made specially for me by the bartender and he told me it wasn't even on the menu!

The casino, where we donated a few dollars but had a good time. The games area, where I somehow managed to beat Dan at scrabble! Then we played chess and he beat me even missing a queen.

Then we remembered that we had to leave our luggage outside the door tonight before midnight, and since we had plans to be out and about after dinner, we had to get it done beforehand. Back to the room to nap, pack, and shower for our last delicious meal on the Summit.

We went to see the final show in the Celebrity theatre, great as usual. The orchestra performed and we listened to the music of Samantha Jay, who played the oboe, the violin, and the saxophone. After dinner we stopped in the photo area on our way out and chose two formal photos to buy. Time to drop by the Emporium shopping area on level five for the free liquor tasting...mmm... delicious.

Back to our room, where we had a few minutes before we planned to go watch the Day After Tomorrow in the Celebrity Cinema. They had newish movies playing free of charge most of the day. We saw Spiderman 2 the night before. Anyway, we still had one bottle of champagne and it would have been a shame to waste it, so we ordered a pizza and some chocolate chip cookies from room service and headed to the theatre with our picnic. It was a lot of fun, even though we'd already seen the movie. We both enjoyed it the second time around as well.

It was a really relaxing evening and a nice way to wind down our honeymoon.

Summit Cruise, Day Nine

2005-03-19T14:59:00.000-08:00

Tonight is the final formal night, and it's lobster night!

At 3 we went to the Normandie restaurant for the wine and food blending seminar. It was very interesting, and challenged everyone's basic concept that you drink white wine with white meat and red wine with red meat. We each had a glass of a strong and weak white and red and we tried a number of foods with each. It's the texture and body of the wine that matters, not so much the colour. I didn't really enjoy the heavy red, though. I gave most of my glass to Dan. The light Pinot Noir was excellent, though, and I rather liked the heavy Chardonnay too. We wound up having a similar bottle for dinner that night!

After the seminar, it was pretty much time to head back to the room and shower and get all gussied up for dinner. Dan dressed up tonight in his cute bow tie and tuxedo and he looked fantastic!

After dinner there was the Baked Alaska parade which was really cool. All the waiters and assistant waiters marched around the dining room holding flaming Baked Alaska while the diners waved their white napkins in the air. The baked alaska was delicious, it was made with neopolitan icecream. We had a few petit fours to go with Dan's tea after the baked alaska. What a fabulous and enjoyable dinner.

We definitely saved some room, though! Tonight after the show was the Gala Grand Buffet, where the chefs spend two days preparing beautiful food to serve at midnight. I'm so glad we had early seating so we had room to eat! There's a photo period so everyone can see the beautiful food creations that look too good to eat, before they get demolished and everyone eats them anyway. It really was lovely. There were several ice sculptures and food that looked sculpted. A castle was made out of a watermelon and it looked really cool.

Summit Cruise, Day Eight

2005-03-18T14:55:00.000-08:00

We tried to get up early and enjoy St Thomas but it just didn't work. We got up and had breakfast at the buffet, but after we got back to our room we ended up falling asleep and waking up at lunchtime! Oh well, it's our honeymoon- it's okay to bend the rules a little.

Off to the dining room to enjoy a delicious lunch and some fresh fruit before disembarking the ship. We'll never make the same mistake we did in St Lucia where we allowed the maitre d' to seat us with other random guests, though. We just didn't enjoy eating with a bunch of people we didn't know. I can't understand how eating with strangers has become such a cruising tradition- we didn't have a good time so instead of staying to chat over tea, we left to see St Lucia. Today we were smart enough to request a table for two.

Since it was late, we knew we'd just get a bit of sightseeing in. We saw a sign for the Paradise Point skyride and Dan really wanted to take it, so we did. The view going up the mountain was lovely.

When we got to the top, I saw a sign for a bird show! Unfortunately the lady told me we had just missed it. You weren't allowed to take pictures of the birds unless you either paid $10 for a photo with them or bought something from the store, and we decided to pay the $10. We got one of the nicest photos we have of our honeymoon! Then we got to take lots of photos of all the birds. There was one that was so cute, he wanted to be petted. If you put your hand above the railing he'd run over and put himself under your hand to be pet, and he'd tuck his head down so you could scratch his neck. Adorable- we wanted to take him home with us! There were so many lovely birds, it was the highlight of our visit to this island, for me anyway.

We sat at the lovely bar overlooking the island, where I had a delicious pina colada that really tasted like the way they're supposed to make it, and Dan had a Red Stripe beer, the local Caribbean beer. He said beer is beer though.

Here we are in St Thomas:

After enjoying the view and looking through the gift shops, it was time to take the skyride down to street level, and look through some more stores. Then it was time to head back to the ship. It was a little sad that today was the last port and I could feel the cruise winding down but we had a great time so far and I know we'll enjoy the last two sea days.

Summit Cruise, Day Seven

2005-03-17T14:50:00.000-08:00

Boy, St Kitts was a port that we won't soon forget!

Dan wanted to go to the beach, so we decided to ask the tourism bureau to recommend a good beach. When we walked through the gate they asked if we wanted a taxi and we said yes, to South Beach. The driver said ok, we'll wait for more passengers. So then one woman off the other ship in port, Empress of the Seas, joined our group. She was sailing singly and just wanted to relax on the beach. Then a few more passengers came and the driver announced we were going to Turtle Beach instead. We figured, a beach is a beach so we didn't say anything. He told us monkeys would be there.

The driver was funny- his horn played a tune instead of being a blare. In the Caribbean, tooting a horn is like saying hello, not rude and angry like it is back here. We were treated to several renditions of his little song (can't remember the name, but I can hum it!) while we took the 25 minute drive to Turtle Beach.

We all agreed that the driver would pick us up at ten to four. The ship sailed at 5pm and the last thing we wanted was to be late! All passengers were requested to be onboard at 4:45, and the ship WOULD sail without you. St Kitts is lovely, but we didn't want an extended vacation here while our luggage sailed away without us!

So we grabbed two beach loungers, added some sunscreen, and flopped out with books. I took a few swims to get wet, but the beach was actually pretty bad. Apparently the one we wanted to go to was much nicer. This one had thick algae only a few feet out which was a disappointment. I saw a cute little sand crab which was nice though.

At 3:20, we heard the taxi driver's horn, so we figured he must have come early to have a drink and enjoy the beach himself. Might I add that drinks were more expensive on the beach then on the ship! We abstained from booze because $7 US for a pina colada is just crazy.

So we kept relaxing, were a little disappointed because we didn't see any monkeys, and kept an eye on the time and the single woman from the Empress because we knew she was going back with us. At 3:45, we started walking back towards the bar and taxi area. Then we saw the monkeys! I got a few photos of them- they were really cute.

I wish I'd had something to feed them. There was a lamb, too. Dan got to pet this little baby lamb. Then some kids came along and boy, you should have seen that poor lamb dive for cover! He didn't mind an adult being friendly, but rowdy kids are another matter I suppose!

So we were out in the taxi lot... and the driver didn't come. The other passenger was there and we were so confused. It's getting to 4pm and there are no taxis! I'm starting to worry that we're going to be late. Finally, Dan pays a woman who isn't even a taxi driver to take us back to the ship, and we get onboard right at 4:45, much to my relief. The woman from Empress wasn't worried because she didn't leave until 6pm.

But what a day! I was never so happy to step back on Summit. We were too late even for the chilled towels that are normally offered to returning passengers to beat the heat.

Barely enough time to shower and get ready for 6pm dinner!

Summit Cruise, Day Six

2005-03-16T14:44:00.000-08:00

Today's stop was Barbados, and it was just fantastic. We had to get up at the crack of dawn for the 8:45 tour, but it was worth it! We booked a day of kayaking and swimming in Turtle Bay.

Here's a view of Barbados from Summit:

First we took a bus to the pier, where we boarded a funny open air boat with a canopy to motor over to a beautiful sandy beach. The boat moored about 20 feet off shore so we got to splash around a little before getting to the beach.

We spent 45 minutes kayaking from one beautiful beach to another. It was a lot of fun learning how to maneuver at first!

Then we got back onto the boat and drove to Turtle Bay, where large turtles swim through the water to be fed fish pieces by tourists! Everyone got a life vest and some snorkel gear. The water was only 15 feet deep so I didn't think I needed to inflate my life vest since I'm a strong swimmer, but Dan told me it was much easier to watch the turtles when you didn't have to concentrate on swimming, and he was right! I could just relax and float and watch them eat. I think I kicked one by accident- I felt so badly for it. Dan says they must get kicked a lot. Here's a picture of one:

After that, it was time to climb back aboard and enjoy the free open bar including rum punch, the local beer, and water and soft drinks while we drove back to the pier.

On our way back, when we were out in deep water, a HUGE turtle stuck its head out to look at us! I was afraid the boat was going to tip over because everyone ran over to that side of the boat to look at it. It was really cool but I was on the other side so I couldn't get a picture.

The view of the cruise ship was really cool on our way back, it looked so huge next to our teeny little boat!

Then it was back to the ship for some yummy burgers and fries by the pool, and a nap in the room before dinner, which was fantastic as usual.

Summit Cruise, Day Five

2005-03-15T14:38:00.000-08:00

We had booked a submarine tour for St Lucia but we decided to cancel and just explore the island on our own. We hired a private taxi and the driver gave us a wonderful 3 hour tour of the island for $55. We drove through their college and university campus, built inside buildings from the slave era, and saw the prime minister's house. The driver told us feeling was running high against the prime minister because he was discouraging tourism, the lifeblood of a Caribbean island, especially since banana exports are doing so poorly. It seemed true- prices were very low and we were the only ship in port, very unusual. We visited several scenic points, and went to a woodcarving factory. The carvers there were so talented!

One man was working on a huge piece that was maybe half done- he'd already spent six months on it! We wanted to buy some smaller pieces but they were still very expensive. Instead we bought some banana ketchup (deliciously spicy) and a carved stone turtle for me, and a cute carved and painted wooden parrot keychain for Dan, and a fish one for his little sister.

After that we visited the Batik factory which was absolutely amazing. They demonstrated how it was made- fabric was stretched on a rack and women hand painted each design on the fabric freehand! Dan wanted to buy me a dress but we hadn't brought enough money for one. I can't imagine how much time and effort it took to make the beautiful clothes. They were a very light silky material too and looked very comfortable.

When we left, a native tried to show us how to play the steel drums- we were so bad it was funny!

Next we visited a poor fishing village where we saw old canoes carved out of a single tree. They were 200 years old. The government says the natives can't make canoes out of those trees anymore and they're trying to push fiberglass boats but the natives prefer the wooden canoes because they are sturdier and safer. We bought my dad a hat. There were several very nice carved items and T shirts but nothing that really struck our fancy. The people looked poor- lack of tourism is hurting.

Almost time to head back... we stopped at a scenic overview where we could see the Pitons, St Lucia's volcanic mountains. They haven't erupted in over 150 years and they are the world's only drive in volcano. Dead volcano or not I didn't want to go inside!

Time to head back... we realized after we forgot one of our bottles of banana ketchup in the taxi. Oh well- I hope the driver enjoyed it!

Back to our lovely stateroom for a shower and sailaway while we get ready for another fabulous meal at the Cosmopolitan restaurant.

Summit Cruise, Day Four

2005-03-14T14:31:00.000-08:00

Our first port! We docked in St Maarten at 7am, and Dan and I actually had to get out of bed early to be on time for our 9am shore excursion.

We had booked a tour through the cruiseline that taught us about the history of St Maarten as well as seeing some interesting places.

We visited the St Maarten zoo on the tour and got to see lots of interesting birds, monkeys, and lizards.

We walked past a cage of parrots who talked but they were ignoring everyone. We went over and watched them and said hi, and one flew over and landed on the cage wall right in front of us, about six inches from my nose, and said hi. He looked like he was studying us! It was really cool. He stayed for a few minutes then got bored of us and left.

Then on to the white faced monkeys. What little brats they were! They threw food and poop at the guide and the tourists. They were funny though- they just wanted attention. They would ham it up and be silly and playful until you watched them.

After the zoo tour we visited a few scenic points and took photos while the guide told us history facts about St Maarten. The island is only 37 square miles and it's shared by two countries- the Dutch and the French. There's an interesting tale that a Dutchman and a Frenchman started in the middle and agreed to walk around the island and where they met would be the border. The Frenchman sent a French whore with cognac to distract the Dutchman, who understandably walked more slowly! The final tally is 16 square miles to the Dutch and 21 square miles to the French. Probably not true but a very colourful story.

After our tour we headed back to the ship for lunch- Dan wanted to eat at the special curry buffet and I grabbed a cheeseburger and fries by the pool. Then we headed back out to do some shopping.

My mom asked me to bring her home a piece of nice jewelry and since she had lovely opal earrings from her mother, I decided to buy her an opal bracelet. In St Maarten jewelry is pretty cheap but you are expected to bargain since every shop sells roughly the same thing. I decided I wanted a 14k yellow gold bracelet with about 4 carats of opal. I got prices ranging from $185 to $700! I went back to the first store and eventually got it for $150- I am sure I got a great deal because she didn't look happy to sell it and wouldn't even give it to me for $145 until I stepped it to $150. But $700? Yeesh. I know they raise prices for cruise ship guests, but give me a break! Dan was happy because the street vendors sold Heineken for a buck. Can't beat those prices!

The ship sailed at 5pm- time to head back to the ship and watch sailaway from our veranda before showering and heading to another fabulous dinner. Meals on Celebrity include six courses: appetizer, soup, salad, entree, cheese (if you request it), and dessert. Every course is beautifully presented, and if you order something you don't enjoy, your waiter will be happy to bring you something else.

Summit Cruise, Day Three

2005-03-13T14:27:00.000-08:00

Today was our second sea day, and we really just wanted to relax after all that hectic wedding planning. Plus, we now have five port days in a row and those will be tiring.

We slept in and ordered breakfast on the veranda this morning- egg white cheese omelette for me, Denver omelette for Dan, iced tea, orange juice, and French pastries.

Once again we try to go swimming, and ascertain it's useless to try and sit by or use the pool on a sea day unless you plan to get up at 6am and grab a pool chair. Many are already reserved at that hour! People are crazy.

So instead, we head up to the library and borrow a few books, and go relax on our veranda. No noise, no splashing, no arguing; just a small quiet veranda with our own padded loungers and a glass of champagne. The water is so blue and beautiful, and it looks so calm. I bet it's a lot wavier when you're not on a giant boat!

Tonight we have dinner reservations at the specialty restaurant, the Normandie. We dressed up in our formalwear but were dumb enough to forget the camera! But it really was a night to remember... from the very beginning you can tell it's a five star restaurant with Cordon Bleu chefs. There is a harpist playing lovely background music while you peruse a menu of delights and are offered a welcome glass of champagne by a passing waiter. We chose the chef's tasting menu, a six course meal, each course paired with a wine that would perfectly complement the food. The food was delicious and beautifully presented, and the wines were excellent. It was worth every penny of the $60pp cover charge. After dinner Dan had a tea and we sat and munched on petit fours and listened to the harpist play the score of my favourite musical, Phantom of the Opera. Truly a magical night.

Summit Cruise, Day Two

2005-03-12T14:22:00.000-08:00

Today is the first sea day on our itinerary. There were lots of activities planned, like the Cruise Critic party and the honeymooners' party, but we overslept. Oh well- we were awake in time for a fabulous lunch in the dining room- French potato pie, salad, and mango cheesecake. Mmm! The food on Celebrity cruiselines is just amazing- we always enjoy it.

Off to do some more exploring. We want to go swimming but the pool is mobbed and crowds are no fun. We wander around the ship and enjoy ourselves until dinnertime. Tonight is formal night- we really enjoy getting dressed to the nines!

The food is exquisite, and it's wonderful looking around the room and seeing how wonderful everyone looks all dressed up. The waiters wear white dinner jackets tonight instead of the usual black tux.

After dinner, we watch the fabulous Broadway show in the Celebrity theater. They're doing clips of Broadway musicals and it's excellent!

Summit Cruise, Day One

2005-03-11T14:17:00.000-08:00

Here we are on the beautiful Summit! Our parents gave us this fabulous cruise as our wedding gift so we are celebrating our honeymoon! We have stateroom 6135, a Concierge Class balcony.

Embarkation was very quick and smooth and in less than an hour we had dropped our bags in our room and were having lunch with a couple I met on the Cruise Critic message boards, Sandy and Geoff. Those message boards are a great way to learn about your ship or to choose the best cruiseline for you. They also have Roll Calls for each cruise where you can meet other people who are booked on the same sailing as you!

Then we went to explore the ship. It's so big... we're going to have a hard time navigating I think. At least we got the dinner seating and table we wanted- a table for 2 at early seating.

We asked for two padded loungers to be put on our balcony so we could relax and enjoy sailaway with a book on our very own balcony... goodbye, Fort Lauderdale!