QUEEN VICTORIA – 001

We like cruises!

There is not much to write because we are way too busy doing nothing. Actually that’s not true; we are way too busy roaming and eating, drinking and eating, watching shows and eating and of course we are eating.

The food is beautiful and plentiful with restaurants ranging from 5 star dining to general buffet dining.

We boarded the ship and sorted our luggage before having lunch in the buffet area. Then we roamed before setting sail from New York at 9.00 pm.

It was a bitterly cold night but we were determined to be on deck to say farewell to the ‘Big Apple’. It was a glorious sight, seeing the city pass into the distance and to sail past the Statue of Liberty all lit up.

Our cabin (sorry, ‘Stateroom’) is certainly big enough and the storage space is very well thought out. We love it, which is just as well since it is home for the next 5 weeks.

Life on board is terrific, 5 star luxury all the way. It’s quite shocking really; the attitude seems to be one of “You are the customer so of course we will help”!

Dining options are great and we are eating like pigs. What the heck, we can always lose weight when we get home.

Each evening there is a show on in the theatre here on board. It is so hard to believe that we are on a ship in the middle of the ocean. The entertainment standards are very high indeed and the next few weeks are going to be enlightening to say the least.

Our first stop is Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Monday. We have already booked a tour of Miami Beach and a visit to the Everglades. Tonight, well, we’ll just take in a show and eat!

Internet access is crap so this may not get posted until later when we get some access.

I'll just keep trying.

QUEEN VICTORIA

Just a very quick post to say we are still around. Internet connections are almost impossible on the Queen and keep dropping out. It also costs 75 cents/minute!!!!!

Will post as soon as I get the chance. For now ...........

We have checked in for the trip of a lifetime. Queen Victoria is the ride and we are waiting to board. This is the start and I’m unsure when I’ll be able to post.

For now I just thought I’d share our arrival experience at the port.

A nice quartet playing music to entertain the arriving guests. GULP!

Is this a portent of things to come? The Titanic comes to mind!

SIDE TRIP

Our last day in The Big Apple. The weather is cold and threatening rain; unfortunately there is no snow for Julie to experience.

We decided to take a side trip to visit the capital today so we set off early for Pennsylvania Station and the train to Washington DC. It is Obamas presidential inauguration on Monday so it was a good time to check the preparations and make sure they are doing it right!

It’s a three and a half hour ride on Amtrak so we thought, “What the heck, let’s do it”!

We arrived at 11.30 am and booked ourselves a ‘Hop-on, Hop-off’ tour to take us round the main sights. We only had 7 hours in DC so were well aware that it would be a flying visit.

Most of the views on this tour were external, mainly due to time constraints. However, it was interesting to see these places and get a feel for the city.

Capital Building was the first stop. Lady Freedom stands majestic on top. She represents Freedom and as such no building in DC rises above 15 storeys since nothing is higher than freedom.

We saw the Lincoln Memorial set in its marvellous grounds.

The Washington Memorial is currently closed to the public whilst undergoing repairs to damage sustained in the August 2011 earthquake.

Next stop was the Martin Luther King statue.

Our drive took us past the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. This place even has its’ own police department! According to our guide they print $900,000,000 every day. No wonder the country is going broke!

Lunch was had in a fancy French Restaurant around the corner from the White house. Of course, everywhere is decked with the Stars and Stripes in preparation for Monday.

Our view of the White House was severely restricted due to the viewing platforms etc. but at least we got a glimpse of the joint.

Our final stop was the Arlington cemetery.

This is a beautiful place of peace and of course the resting place of JFK.

His memorial is central and has an eternal flame at its’ core.

An interesting snippet of information here; Kennedy said just 1 week before his assassination that “This place is so beautiful I could live here forever”! Hmmm! 

Had we had more time I would have loved to have visited the Air and Space Museum but that was not to be. Who knows maybe one day in the future we will be fortunate enough to return and spend more time in the capital.

There are so many Smithsonian Museums here that one would need a month just to take in Washington and all its’ splendour.

But for us it was sadly only a flying visit. We returned to Union Station ready for our ride back to New York.

Tomorrow we check out of the Waldorf and embark on our 5 week cruise back to Sydney aboard the Queen Victoria.

NEW YORK CITY - WOW!

I always wanted to visit NYC and we are so pleased we did! Sure, the hotel is great and that alone is making this leg of our trip fantastic. But everything else is incredible.

This morning we took a trip to the World Trade Center Memorial. This was a very moving and emotional experience; both Julie and I cried as we walked around.

The construction of the new Freedom Tower is well underway and a testament to the resilience of New Yorkers. The building is graceful and elegant and fitting for the site.

The tours of the site are NOT money making projects, all that is asked is for a voluntary donation and the organisation co-ordinating the tours is a not for profit enterprise.

On the old site of the Twin Towers there is a pair of man-made waterfalls, each of them in the footprint of the actual towers.

The surrounds are of bronze and carry the names of the fallen carved into the bronze.

The names are grouped into the respective areas of their demise, i.e. ‘World Trade Center’; ‘Flight 93’; and ‘First Responders’ to name but a few.

Perhaps the most poignant of them all were the several names which included the persons’ name and “and unborn child”. The poor souls never had a chance.

From there we went for lunch before taking a visit to the Empire State Building.

The view from atop of this building is awesome.

Even though the weather was misty it was still possible to capture the amazing architecture of the city from above.

Even Julie got in on the act; no mean feat for her considering her fear of heights.

The next couple of days we were happy to spend journeying on the ‘Hop-on, Hop-off’ tour bus, interspersed with trips on the subway.

New York is so easy to get round and not as expensive as feared.

The SoHo area of New York is fascinating with many of the building built of cast iron.

There are many high end stores here and it was lovely being able to wander freely.

We spent most of one of our days on the harbour with a cruise.

It was b*^%@y cold on the water and the weather has certainly taken a turn for the worse.

We sailed out past the Statue of Liberty but were not able to land on Staten Island because of the damage caused by the severe storm Sandy in late November.

Liberty is a magnificent sight never the less as she stands majestic at the harbour entrance.

There is so much to do here that there is no way we can do all we want. Likewise, there is no way I can portray New York in this blog. I’ll close this one for now and hopefully get another one off before we move on.

Bear with us if we don’t blog for a few days but we will have even less chance to get net access when we move onto the ship.