Surprise and some Saints

Day 1 of our cruise started with room service delivering a late breakfast and then the ‘phone rang. “Hello Gavin this is Steve, I am in the Bursars office”!.... That was a surprise for all of us as Steve had told me point blank 18 months ago that they could not come (GFC etc). It turned out Steve had found a heavily discounted package 2 weeks before departure. So much for a trip to Connecticut to see friends. I am not sure any of us are going to be able to believe one another again! Here are the culprits a day or so later as we headed into Saint Thomas (they don’t look guilty do they?). After two days at sea we found ourselves in the warm Caribbean. The cruise is all about extremes of dressing and here we are suitably attired for our first shore excursion, a tour of St. Thomas and some shopping,

and here are the girls ready for dinner!

Although the QM2 master obviously knows these waters well we gained a pilot at each port.

At all the islands we had views of QM2. Compared to some of the other liners which were largely “party” vessels QM2 is very good looking. Our cabin was on the third row down and three from the front on the starboard side (OK the side in this photograph).

The islands we visited all had interesting history and gained independence over the last 50 years or so. Nonetheless they largely reflected their heritage. Our first island St Thomas is strongly tied to the USA. In keeping with all the other islands we visited traffic drove on the left. However as they imported their vehicles from the US all cars were left hand drive. On narrow streets these large vehicles required careful maneuvering. A strange experience. We had an enjoyable tour and did some shopping in the main town of Charlotte Amalie.

The following day found us at Saint Lucia. We had to take the tender into town as water depths were not sufficient for QM2. Our shore excursion was a trip down to hot springs near Soufriére (sulphur in the air) in the SW of the island. We travelled through some beautiful villages and coastline such as Marigot Bay which has been home to a few film sets (eg Blue Lagoon and Doctor Doolittle).

The trip included a visit to a garden where some local produce was on display including Nutmeg (essential for the local rum punch).

The island had been hit with a severe cyclone earlier in the year and one of the biggest slips had killed a family of four, two of whom had still not been found. The force of some of these slips can be gauged from the following picture. Add to this many house being de-roofed by the high winds and some appreciation of the devastation of a 24 hour event can be gained.

Most on this island were very religious (largely Catholic). Our visit to St Lucia was on Sunday and it was apparent that churches were well attended and the participants beautifully turned out in their best clothes despite largely being quite poor.

We then arrived at the wonderfully smelly (sulphur) springs and had a very hot bath. The water temperature was in the high 30ºC which was a challenge even for the bath loving Helen.

but eventually she persevered and took the plunge.

With all our aches and pains miraculously cured (but unfortunately not weight loss) we returned to the ship for a little more indulgence. The food on board was excellent and included in the ticket price. If you had the capacity you could have breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner and just in case supper was available all night. We tended to stick with the main 3 meals and did not always have all of the 4 courses that were available.

On our return we stopped for a snack and punch at a local restaurant. This had spectacular views of the Pitons, Soufriére and the Caribbean Sea.
Our third island was Granada which again required a tender trip to get into town.

The main part of this visit was a hike through some gardens (over quite slippery ground) with a wonderful waterfall swim as the main highlight.

The water was fantastic albeit a little cold. It was very hard to swim right up to the fall due to the amount of water flowing. We could have spent a lot longer here but many of our group were all ready well up the return path by the time we had got in!
One of the locals appeared at the top of the fall, waived and then proceeded to do a backward flip down the fall. He repeated the trick in case we missed filming the first version. On the way out he had a mobile tipping box – and we gladly contributed to his living.

The town of St George's was a wonderful contrast of colours and full of activity.On the way back to the ship I again found it difficult not to photograph QM2 from a new angle.

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!

Helen had a major birthday on the 8th November. Over the last several years she has had a hankering to go to New York and also wanted to see the Caribbean. On “the day” we stayed at a hotel in Darling Harbour as we had tickets that night to Leonard Cohen playing in Sydney. Birthday presents were opened in bed and the surprise of opening a box to see a personalised brochure of a trip on Queen Mary 2 (QM2) leaving Ney York bound for the Caribbean rendered someone speechless (no mean feat). Further reading resulted in the realisation that sister Jo was also booked. An immediate overseas call was made to said sister who was quickly abused when she announced that she had most of her wardrobe organised but had hidden it in boxes when we were over in July as Helen had a habit of exploring her wardrobe!

As there was only a little over 3 weeks to our flight to New York (returning 22 December) there were some quick arrangements to be made for Christmas which we are hosting for over 20 people. However, we managed to make the flight, were upgraded to Business Class which was great and arrived at a very cold New York on the 3rd December. We stayed at the Hilton Millennium with a good view from the 40th floor of the World Trade Centre development.

On a crystal clear but cold Saturday we headed off to Central Park. Our first stop was a hot dog stand before we set off. Despite bare trees the colour and low light gave the whole park a wonderful ambience. We walked through Strawberry fields and a memorial called Imagine for John Lennon. Shortly after we came across this look out on the lake with Bow bridge in the background. Towards the South side of the park there was a constant stream of horse and carts for those not up to too much exercise. (We felt it was too cold to sit.)

At an underpass near the South of the park was a family singing some wonderful harmony with songs such as Avé Maria and the Hallelujah chorus.
And a little further on was the busy Wollman rink.

As we wandered South of Central Park down Broadway we ended up at Times Square – it was all lights and people.

In the evening Jo arrived and we all had an early night so as to try and overcome jet lag.

Sunday was another brilliant day and after a lazy start we went off to the Rockefeller Centre. The views were spectacular albeit extremely cold thanks to the wind chill factor. Central Park in the background cuts a great swathe through the city.

On the South side was downtown Manhatten, the Empire state building and to the East and South the Hudson river (where it is possible to land a jet plane).

We also managed some Christmas shopping during the rest of the day.

In the evening I had arranged for dinner at a special restaurant. This had Helen guessing quite unsuccessfully at all sorts of ideas which might constitute special. When we arrived we were asked to leave our coats at the cloakroom and after a brief wait were shown to a large table at the end of the restaurants internal balcony. Helen had a jaw dropping surprise as her mind slowly comprehended that the table was occupied by a range of family and friends from all over the world.

Guests were Pam & Robin (Canada), Nancy and Sasha (France), Sue and Martin (England) and Steve & Jilly (USA). Helen was speechless (well for a small period) and her expression was something to behold. A special thanks to all who made the trip as well as keeping the secret which made this such a special occasion.

As an added bonus Helen also found out that Sue and Martin had tickets for QM2. More surprise and speechlessness!!

The meal was at the Messa Grill on 5th Avenue and the food and service were just brilliant – so if you are in NY looking for somewhere then….

Needless to say we all slept pretty well that night and the following day caught up with Steve and Jilly for brunch as we had not seen them since 2009. They had to leave shortly thereafter as they were driving to Connecticut to stay with some friends for a couple of nights.

In the afternoon we set off for more exploring which included Central railway station – a wonderful space….

and the Guggenheim museum which was spectacular but the architecture did not have quite the same impact as the Bilbao version.

Although we were in the middle of winter and it was very cold, the desire by some for colourful plants is strong even if it is cabbages.

The day prior to boarding we decided to spend visiting the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island where, up to recently, most ship bound New York immigrants found themselves. (Excluding first class passengers who were normally processed on board their ship.)

The first thing that struck me when we were alongside the Statue of Liberty was the view of Manhattan. You could see the gap where the Twin towers used to be. (The building with the two cranes and blue protective sheeting is on the West side of the WTC site.)

They used to dominate the skyline...

As for the Statue of Liberty it is spectacular from any angle.

We then caught the boat over to Ellis island. The main building includes a vast arched hall which many new immigrants would have been overawed by as they would not have seen anything similar in their home countries as such structures were normally limited to palaces.

Health and legal checks were carried out with the first test being to climb the stairs from the baggage hall to the processing hall (shown in the photo). (Fortunately for us this test no longer applies.) The audio tour was illuminating and at then end I found that there were four Hallings (with first name John) who had been processed here. More research needed.

When we were waiting for the ferry back, a ship was being welcomed into the port by the fire boats. The low sun light made for quite a spectacle.

On the day of our departure the girls had concluded they did not have enough clothes for the voyage and I (foolishly?) volunteered to look after the bags and get them on board while they went shopping. This however did give me the opportunity to take a range of photos from the Statue of Liberty….

to the New York skyline at sunset

to our wonderful 43 m² stateroom.

The voyage was clearly going to be hard to take…

In the evening we set sail …..

Ferries and Royal treatment

The return ferry timing from Bilbao to Portsmouth was a bit more civilised (13:00 Dep and 17:00 arrival with only one night at sea) which meant more opportunity to take some photos of each port. Bilbao has a remarkable river crossing which makes the journey every 10 minutes and hence appears to be pretty popular. Its design enables pedestrians to be at river level while tall ships can pass under.
As mentioned in the blog of the first crossing, whale and dolphin spotting was a major activity on the ferry. This time I saw several whales (OK spouts) with 2 blowing at the same time. Portsmouth is festooned with ships and with low tide and a mooring right at the back of the harbour we were close to the quay and had some great views. The Warrior was one of 3 tall ships at the port and was commissioned in 1860 by Queen Victoria. She was iron clad and steam driven which was a first in her day.

While just upstream is HMS Ark Royal with her upturned deck to assist take offs (initially developed to assist Harrier Jets). She was commissioned in 1985 and is the fifth vessel to carry the name.

HMS Victory was also visible in the background in a dry dock. She was commissioned by the Admiralty in 1778 (by King George III era), served until 1812 and is the oldest commissioned ship in the world. These would make a good day visit as the Mary Rose commissioned in 1545 by Henry VIII is also here.

All these warships need protection and the port has several large defences. The initial round fort which is tied to the shore was built in 1420 while there are several more modern forts (this one is called Horse Sands) which protect the channel into the port.

We decided to break our drive back to Solihull and overnighted at Winchester where Sue and Martin spent the night with us and helped finish the last of our alcohol supplies. It is nice to have such thoughtful friends!

On our return Jo surprised us with tickets to travel to London and tour Buckingham Palace followed by afternoon tea at Claridges. The day was cold but the palace was awesome. Each state room has its own theme and colour scheme but gold features in each if the decors. The palace is without doubt the best presented and maintained of any heritage building we have visited. It is open over the summer months and is used by the Queen as her home, office and of course many state functions throughout the year.

The trip was a present to celebrate both Helen and my 60th birthdays. (Helen wanted it emphasised that hers is ahead of time!)

Despite the cold we opted to walk to Claridges and work up an appetite. The route took us through Hyde Park corner with its familiar Wellington Arch and statue of Wellington.

What was not familiar were two new memorials. The first recognised the part that Australia has played in supporting Britain through numerous wars. It is an imaginative design made from West Australian granite and opened in 2002. It has 24,000 place names of where Australians were enlisted. Several of the sections have a surface water fall over them.

At the other end of the square is a memorial for New Zealand. Each of the columns have some background to NZ. The tidbit that caught our eye was that the 1905 NZ rugby team departed as the Colonials and after a successful tour returned as the All Blacks.

Also enroute was a living wall on a hotel on Piccadilly. It was designed by Patrick Blanc who has similar flower arrangements in cities world wide and appears to use similar techniques as that used for the Bilbao puppy.

Tea at Claridges was terrific (apart from eating too much). The choice of teas ran to 3 menu pages so that was a bit of a challenge! This wonderful day was a terrific way of ending what has been a great holiday. The SIPS venture has taken some 2 months but like all good trips does not appear to have been anything like that long. Now about next year…..