I am very very lucky. DH eats most anything. He does not like cottage cheese (unless I disguise it in something) and he's not a big cheese lover except for on pizza. He will eat leftovers day after day, if I only serve them once a day. A scant serving of veggies left over is always saved because he will look for them and eat them up!
Lucylee, I read your post 3 times before determining the baby to come had to be your cousin's! At first reading I was ready to jump all over you, "why didn't you ever tell us about this?"!
It's warmer today. Am surprised there are some places getting snow. Chilly in the house, though, I am back to sweat pants today.
Odd day at church. Sat in courtyard with DH to sign up people for small groups. We still have our original group and a couple new ones. I'm not a fan of the series our pastor is preaching, so I went in for the music, and then I left.
Stopped at store on the way home to get laundry detergent, powder and liquid and softener. I'd run out. Once home I transferred it all to the containers that are easier to use. Don't have to cook today, we have food from yesterday.
Is everybody watching the superbowl tonight? I'll probably watch some but I want to watch PBS tonight too.
{Kathryn} hope your cold and homesickness eases. Maybe once you're with your dson you won't feel so homesick.
Got the garbage and recycle out early. I'm going to go read my book.
Happy Groundhog Day!
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Harmony
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- Location: Florida
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blessedw2
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Kathryn-in-Canada
- Administrator
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- Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2008 5:15 pm
- Location: 60 minutes north of Ogdensburg NY
Re: Happy Groundhog Day!
Today is Superbowl Monday at Sea!
By 11:30 a.m. the Venetian lounge was filling up quickly with US Football sports fan who had a great way to enjoy the day at sea.
Three big screens, popcorn, drinks, hamburgs, hotdogs, french fries and apple pie (talk about an American menu!) were offered up.
Originally the feed was the Fox internet feed but moments into the game it was obvious that the bandwidth would not be enough. No plays were interrupted but it was switched over to the ESPN feed for a brighter picture and no delay but no Superbowl Commercials.
Not a football fan (one of the Artists of Silver Sea had to tell me who to cheer for) and so now that the commercials aren't part of the package and I've had my lunch, I should head out but there's a great energy here and I've found an electrical outlet so I'll stick around.
The staff have done a fabulous job.
By 11:30 a.m. the Venetian lounge was filling up quickly with US Football sports fan who had a great way to enjoy the day at sea.
Three big screens, popcorn, drinks, hamburgs, hotdogs, french fries and apple pie (talk about an American menu!) were offered up.
Originally the feed was the Fox internet feed but moments into the game it was obvious that the bandwidth would not be enough. No plays were interrupted but it was switched over to the ESPN feed for a brighter picture and no delay but no Superbowl Commercials.
Not a football fan (one of the Artists of Silver Sea had to tell me who to cheer for) and so now that the commercials aren't part of the package and I've had my lunch, I should head out but there's a great energy here and I've found an electrical outlet so I'll stick around.
The staff have done a fabulous job.
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Kathryn-in-Canada
- Administrator
- Posts: 21734
- Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2008 5:15 pm
- Location: 60 minutes north of Ogdensburg NY
Re: Happy Groundhog Day!
I'm feeling completely out of place as far as date and time goes. We went through another time change last night so are now on Fiji time (according to my tablet computer.) I keep my computer on Ottawa time so I know the date and time at home. My phone is on ship's time so I can use its alarm to get me to shipboard things on time. My mp3 player is also on ship's time and I use it to tell the time when I wake in the middle of the night. My tablet shows both - home time and ship time, on its clock program. Our cameras are set to GMT so they never need changing but I do need to remember this when looking for photos from a certain date since GMT date is often a day behind my calendar day. Thus, some photos I took on Wednesday Jan 29 have a Jan 28 date on the file.
According to the chart on the wall in cabin, we were in Christchurch/Akoroa on Jan 31, which my pocket calendar tells me was a Friday. That sounds about right, it was a business day there.
The day wasn't a complete success. The port for Christchurch used to be Lyttelton but that was damaged too badly in the earthquake of February 2011 to be used, so cruise ships use Akoroa, a lovely seaside village which is now invaded daily by thousands of people. There is no large pier so all ships must tender into the local pier. And those wishing to visit Christchurch must then board buses and take the winding 90+ minute, drive across the mountains of the Banks Peninsula, with the pass at 400m high. You know it is a tough drive when the driver keeps asking if people are feeling OK and there are car sick bags at each seat.
The roads over the mountains to the coast were closed due to landslides and boulders blocking the roads after the earthquakes, cutting people off from their homes. They literally drove as far as they could and then walked over the mountains to home, using hiking trails. Two people were killed in separate incidents by boulders loosened by an aftershock, hitting them on the hiking tracks.
We anchored a little late, once again behind the Dawn Princess. Because we were tendering, our 9:30 tour had to meet at 9:20 in the lounge and from there we were taken to the tender. There was a confusion of some sort, with people from a later tour getting on the first tender, which meant 7 of the 49 people on the tour didn't have spots on the first tender. For some reason, the second tender wasn't ready so it was a 20+ minute wait for the tender and then boarding and crossing. We got onto the bus and then couldn't move because our bus was blocked in by others. We eventually got off 45 minutes late.
The drive across was uneventful and somewhat interesting although the clouds were low so the views not as stunning as they might have been. There were lots and lots of houses for sale and when questioned the driver said it was mostly due to the bus traffic from the port. People are tired of dozens and dozens of buses holding up traffic on the road each day. There are some who are tired of the earthquake risk as well but I could really see how the bus traffic would make life difficult for the locals.
We skipped the scenic viewing spot that overlooks Christchurch on the way in because we were late, and arrived at 12:15 at a bus drop off point across from a museum. We were given 35 minutes to find washrooms and a place to grab some food before our 12:50 double decker bus tour of the former core of Christchurch. There were only 22 on our bus (the second bus had left on time and those passengers were off exploring the city) but we were all being sent to the same set of washrooms and the same cafe which didn't sound like a great idea since we short on time so Ken and I headed off in the opposite direction without thinking.
This is where the enormity of what happened started to sink in. While there were lots of office buildings in the direction we headed, when we got to them, they were all closed off. Sure, I could see restaurants on the ground floor but the buildings were unsafe and nothing was open. Thankfully, we were moving fast (little to no traffic!) and got to the ReStart Mall where we found washrooms and lots of places to grab a bite, so we shared a panini before rushing back to the meeting point. Our rushing at least gave us a taste of the resilience, hope and recovery the city is beginning to feel.
The ReStart open pedestrian mall is made up shipping containers arranged as a shopping mall, each with stores and services. In total there are 16 containers, holding 27 shops. It is a bright, hopeful, and happy place, part of the recovery now that the 'Red zone' has been reopened to tourists. There were street buskers and tables selling crafts as well as the stores. I just wish we had had time to properly enjoy the place by eating at one of the second story patio restaurants with an overview of the area.
We rushed back for the overview tour, taking a spot on the top of the double decker despite the heavy mist. I had a rain jacket and Ken's hiking clothes are warm even when wet so we put the rain poncho over us as a blanket as we drove around.
The devastation is total. Before the earthquake the area had 2500 buildings. Of those only 800 will remain standing, only a few of those above 2 storeys. Everywhere we saw a vacant lot, there would have been a building before. And vacant lots were almost everywhere. The shaking caused liquefaction, the ground under the buildings liquifirf so even those built to earthquake standards and undamaged by the quake are now on unstable foundations and must be brought down. And demolition is slow because blasting can't be used. Outside of the central area, 10,000 homes had to be demolished. There is a shortage of demolition experts and construction people as well as restoration experts so the recovery is slow.
The people are very afraid of going into tall buildings and so even the remaining tall buildings are not fully utilized. The new building code will limit buildings to 7 storeys high.
The well known ChristChurch Cathedral has been in a state of limbo right now because the Church of England would like to pull it down and rebuild but a group of engineers are trying to save it so the matter is before the courts. Apparently, the Supreme Court has recently ruled in favour of the Church.
In the meantime, the Diocese has just built a temporary Cathedral a few blocks away. It seats about 700, is built of cardboard tubes, wood and steel and was opened in August 2013 at a cost of NX $5 million.
The Catholic Cathedral also suffered major damage but it is going to be rebuilt.
At the top center is an alcove that had a statue of the Virgin Mary. Originally she was standing, looking over the church but by the end of the quake she had rotated 180 degrees. Some say she was turning her back on the church. The statue has been removed during the restoration.
Empty lots are being filled with spontaneous art installations called gap fillers. This is where our lack of free time was a shame, I would have loved to walk around and photograph may of them. Among the gap fillers is this one, a set of 185 unique chairs, all painted white, one for each person killed. It is across the street from the former site of the Canterbury Television building. It completely collapsed, killing 115 people in that one location.
Our local bus tour ended after 55 minutes and we were then given another 35 minutes of free time - not enough to really explore the red zone which was a 10 minute walk away. So we went off looking for ice cream - no luck, and then back to a souvenir 'shop' near the bus meeting point where I spent a bit of money buying a bracelet, cross, and Christmas ornament. There was a wonderful art installation about dyslexia which I would have loved to explore but we had run out of time so we headed back to the bus.
We left on time, which was ridiculous since we'd be back with hours to spare until the last tender and had only received half of the itinerary in Christchurch. The mood on the bus was angry and the driver was taking the brunt of this.
The drive back was in almost complete silence. Here are a few more shots of the views:
We were dropped back in the 'shopping district' of Akoroa by 4:15 and went and bought fresh milk and search for ice cream. No luck, the shop was closed. So we took the 4:30 tender back to the ship. We made it just before they stopped serving tea!
It was galley dinner on the ship that night. Casual dress (yay!) and the food is all laid out in the galley and we all go in to pick out what we want to eat. It was a chance to eat more lightly although I still had two deserts.
According to the chart on the wall in cabin, we were in Christchurch/Akoroa on Jan 31, which my pocket calendar tells me was a Friday. That sounds about right, it was a business day there.
The day wasn't a complete success. The port for Christchurch used to be Lyttelton but that was damaged too badly in the earthquake of February 2011 to be used, so cruise ships use Akoroa, a lovely seaside village which is now invaded daily by thousands of people. There is no large pier so all ships must tender into the local pier. And those wishing to visit Christchurch must then board buses and take the winding 90+ minute, drive across the mountains of the Banks Peninsula, with the pass at 400m high. You know it is a tough drive when the driver keeps asking if people are feeling OK and there are car sick bags at each seat.
The roads over the mountains to the coast were closed due to landslides and boulders blocking the roads after the earthquakes, cutting people off from their homes. They literally drove as far as they could and then walked over the mountains to home, using hiking trails. Two people were killed in separate incidents by boulders loosened by an aftershock, hitting them on the hiking tracks.
We anchored a little late, once again behind the Dawn Princess. Because we were tendering, our 9:30 tour had to meet at 9:20 in the lounge and from there we were taken to the tender. There was a confusion of some sort, with people from a later tour getting on the first tender, which meant 7 of the 49 people on the tour didn't have spots on the first tender. For some reason, the second tender wasn't ready so it was a 20+ minute wait for the tender and then boarding and crossing. We got onto the bus and then couldn't move because our bus was blocked in by others. We eventually got off 45 minutes late.
The drive across was uneventful and somewhat interesting although the clouds were low so the views not as stunning as they might have been. There were lots and lots of houses for sale and when questioned the driver said it was mostly due to the bus traffic from the port. People are tired of dozens and dozens of buses holding up traffic on the road each day. There are some who are tired of the earthquake risk as well but I could really see how the bus traffic would make life difficult for the locals.
We skipped the scenic viewing spot that overlooks Christchurch on the way in because we were late, and arrived at 12:15 at a bus drop off point across from a museum. We were given 35 minutes to find washrooms and a place to grab some food before our 12:50 double decker bus tour of the former core of Christchurch. There were only 22 on our bus (the second bus had left on time and those passengers were off exploring the city) but we were all being sent to the same set of washrooms and the same cafe which didn't sound like a great idea since we short on time so Ken and I headed off in the opposite direction without thinking.
This is where the enormity of what happened started to sink in. While there were lots of office buildings in the direction we headed, when we got to them, they were all closed off. Sure, I could see restaurants on the ground floor but the buildings were unsafe and nothing was open. Thankfully, we were moving fast (little to no traffic!) and got to the ReStart Mall where we found washrooms and lots of places to grab a bite, so we shared a panini before rushing back to the meeting point. Our rushing at least gave us a taste of the resilience, hope and recovery the city is beginning to feel.
The ReStart open pedestrian mall is made up shipping containers arranged as a shopping mall, each with stores and services. In total there are 16 containers, holding 27 shops. It is a bright, hopeful, and happy place, part of the recovery now that the 'Red zone' has been reopened to tourists. There were street buskers and tables selling crafts as well as the stores. I just wish we had had time to properly enjoy the place by eating at one of the second story patio restaurants with an overview of the area.
We rushed back for the overview tour, taking a spot on the top of the double decker despite the heavy mist. I had a rain jacket and Ken's hiking clothes are warm even when wet so we put the rain poncho over us as a blanket as we drove around.
The devastation is total. Before the earthquake the area had 2500 buildings. Of those only 800 will remain standing, only a few of those above 2 storeys. Everywhere we saw a vacant lot, there would have been a building before. And vacant lots were almost everywhere. The shaking caused liquefaction, the ground under the buildings liquifirf so even those built to earthquake standards and undamaged by the quake are now on unstable foundations and must be brought down. And demolition is slow because blasting can't be used. Outside of the central area, 10,000 homes had to be demolished. There is a shortage of demolition experts and construction people as well as restoration experts so the recovery is slow.
The people are very afraid of going into tall buildings and so even the remaining tall buildings are not fully utilized. The new building code will limit buildings to 7 storeys high.
The well known ChristChurch Cathedral has been in a state of limbo right now because the Church of England would like to pull it down and rebuild but a group of engineers are trying to save it so the matter is before the courts. Apparently, the Supreme Court has recently ruled in favour of the Church.
In the meantime, the Diocese has just built a temporary Cathedral a few blocks away. It seats about 700, is built of cardboard tubes, wood and steel and was opened in August 2013 at a cost of NX $5 million.
The Catholic Cathedral also suffered major damage but it is going to be rebuilt.
At the top center is an alcove that had a statue of the Virgin Mary. Originally she was standing, looking over the church but by the end of the quake she had rotated 180 degrees. Some say she was turning her back on the church. The statue has been removed during the restoration.
Empty lots are being filled with spontaneous art installations called gap fillers. This is where our lack of free time was a shame, I would have loved to walk around and photograph may of them. Among the gap fillers is this one, a set of 185 unique chairs, all painted white, one for each person killed. It is across the street from the former site of the Canterbury Television building. It completely collapsed, killing 115 people in that one location.
Our local bus tour ended after 55 minutes and we were then given another 35 minutes of free time - not enough to really explore the red zone which was a 10 minute walk away. So we went off looking for ice cream - no luck, and then back to a souvenir 'shop' near the bus meeting point where I spent a bit of money buying a bracelet, cross, and Christmas ornament. There was a wonderful art installation about dyslexia which I would have loved to explore but we had run out of time so we headed back to the bus.
We left on time, which was ridiculous since we'd be back with hours to spare until the last tender and had only received half of the itinerary in Christchurch. The mood on the bus was angry and the driver was taking the brunt of this.
The drive back was in almost complete silence. Here are a few more shots of the views:
We were dropped back in the 'shopping district' of Akoroa by 4:15 and went and bought fresh milk and search for ice cream. No luck, the shop was closed. So we took the 4:30 tender back to the ship. We made it just before they stopped serving tea!
It was galley dinner on the ship that night. Casual dress (yay!) and the food is all laid out in the galley and we all go in to pick out what we want to eat. It was a chance to eat more lightly although I still had two deserts.
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CathyS
- Member
- Posts: 8109
- Joined: Sat Aug 16, 2008 3:12 pm
Re: Happy Groundhog Day!
As a fellow cruiser. I am totally loving your info on everything Kathryn. Mike and I received our e docs for our 25 day Transatlantic going to Rome in March. It's on the Noordam, (Holland America) which we have been on 4 times before, and we have been to almost all of the same ports before. This is a cruise chosen and paid for by my in laws so we can help them from their taxi arrival at the Toronto airport until they get back into a taxi 26 days later. They will be on their own in their cabin, but we will be escorting them almost everywhere else.
Dishes never stop.
Laundry never stops.
Litter boxes never stop.
Paper never stops.
Laundry never stops.
Litter boxes never stop.
Paper never stops.
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Kathryn-in-Canada
- Administrator
- Posts: 21734
- Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2008 5:15 pm
- Location: 60 minutes north of Ogdensburg NY
Re: Happy Groundhog Day!
Dunedin was on Saturday, February 1st. Our tour for the day was to take the Taieri Gorge Railway from Port Chalmers to Pukerangi, about 64 km. We were only in port until 4:30 p.m. so this was an early morning start.
For once we beat the Dawn Princess into port and she was still docking while we came down the gang plank to get on the train. It was RIGHT THERE! So cool.
We headed through Dunedin, along fertile ground and then along the gorge, not too high up, so I wasn't too freaked out. But mainly because I had an aisle seat on the mountain side, vs the drop-off side. And they served a lovely morning juice break, then morning tea. Ken was out on the viewing platform for a lot of the ride so I left the picture taking to him.
We saw sheep (of course), horses (breeding race horses there) and llamas?!!!! (The llamas are used to guard the sheep.)
We crossed over many viaducts, including the largest steel structure in New Zealand.
The first stop where we got off for a stretch was Hindon and the views were fine there. Still not too high, just 71m.
We stopped at 248m at a spot called "The Reefs" and Ken got off the train to take photos. Someone called out to me as I stood up "Don't look at your husband!" which meant I looked. And squealed and quickly turned away. Then took a photo.
I did get off there and there's proof. Another guest took my picture and then a picture with Ken (once he discovered me - he didn't expect me to get off.)
A short way up the line was the turnaround point at 250m The top was plain, not craggy, scary mountain top as I had imagined so I had a good walk around at the top. There we waited for the train carrying the Dawn Princess tour (they had two engines, 11 passenger cars, compared to our 1 engine, 3 passenger cars) to get into the station. They missed our previous stop because the train was too long for that stop. Once they got fully into the Pukerangi 'station' (there's no platform or building) we slipped past and headed back to Dunedin.
The view at the top reminded me of Alberta's Badlands
On the way down we had a lovely box lunch. The trip was going a bit faster. As we got back into the flat land, we were given the choice of getting off at the Dunedin Train Station stop and walking around the town and taking the shuttle back to the ship, or just viewing the station and then heading back. We stopped once to wait for traffic on the line. Then we stopped again for a longer time. Turns out there was a cow and police and others had the line closed as the chased the cow away! That took over 30 minutes. While it was frustrating to watch our time at Dunedin slipping away, it beat the last time I was stuck on a tour because that time (in Manilla) we had not been fed and were on a bus with no washroom. Ken and I spent the time checking email on our phones since we have a data plan here in New Zealand. In the meantime, the SS rep on board contacted the ship to alert them to the problem and when we were moving again, we heard that an additional shuttle bus had been put on so that we still had the time to get off in Dunedin. That's how hiccups in tours are handled.
The stain glass and ceramic tiling in the station was gorgeous.
I got off the train in Dunedin because my legs were longing for a walk around, and Ken continued back to the ship by train. I found the shuttle after picking up milk at a grocery store and caught the shuttle back to the ship. It was nice to approach Port Chalmers from a different angle and see the tracks from afar.
I was back in time for tea and trivia and we had a lovely dinner with friends and then caught the show by the Artists of Silver Sea, Motown music. It was very well done, the best ensemble show by them yet (although I've skipped the shows that don't interest me so can't comment on all of them.)
For once we beat the Dawn Princess into port and she was still docking while we came down the gang plank to get on the train. It was RIGHT THERE! So cool.
We headed through Dunedin, along fertile ground and then along the gorge, not too high up, so I wasn't too freaked out. But mainly because I had an aisle seat on the mountain side, vs the drop-off side. And they served a lovely morning juice break, then morning tea. Ken was out on the viewing platform for a lot of the ride so I left the picture taking to him.
We saw sheep (of course), horses (breeding race horses there) and llamas?!!!! (The llamas are used to guard the sheep.)
We crossed over many viaducts, including the largest steel structure in New Zealand.
The first stop where we got off for a stretch was Hindon and the views were fine there. Still not too high, just 71m.
We stopped at 248m at a spot called "The Reefs" and Ken got off the train to take photos. Someone called out to me as I stood up "Don't look at your husband!" which meant I looked. And squealed and quickly turned away. Then took a photo.
I did get off there and there's proof. Another guest took my picture and then a picture with Ken (once he discovered me - he didn't expect me to get off.)
A short way up the line was the turnaround point at 250m The top was plain, not craggy, scary mountain top as I had imagined so I had a good walk around at the top. There we waited for the train carrying the Dawn Princess tour (they had two engines, 11 passenger cars, compared to our 1 engine, 3 passenger cars) to get into the station. They missed our previous stop because the train was too long for that stop. Once they got fully into the Pukerangi 'station' (there's no platform or building) we slipped past and headed back to Dunedin.
The view at the top reminded me of Alberta's Badlands
On the way down we had a lovely box lunch. The trip was going a bit faster. As we got back into the flat land, we were given the choice of getting off at the Dunedin Train Station stop and walking around the town and taking the shuttle back to the ship, or just viewing the station and then heading back. We stopped once to wait for traffic on the line. Then we stopped again for a longer time. Turns out there was a cow and police and others had the line closed as the chased the cow away! That took over 30 minutes. While it was frustrating to watch our time at Dunedin slipping away, it beat the last time I was stuck on a tour because that time (in Manilla) we had not been fed and were on a bus with no washroom. Ken and I spent the time checking email on our phones since we have a data plan here in New Zealand. In the meantime, the SS rep on board contacted the ship to alert them to the problem and when we were moving again, we heard that an additional shuttle bus had been put on so that we still had the time to get off in Dunedin. That's how hiccups in tours are handled.
The stain glass and ceramic tiling in the station was gorgeous.
I got off the train in Dunedin because my legs were longing for a walk around, and Ken continued back to the ship by train. I found the shuttle after picking up milk at a grocery store and caught the shuttle back to the ship. It was nice to approach Port Chalmers from a different angle and see the tracks from afar.
I was back in time for tea and trivia and we had a lovely dinner with friends and then caught the show by the Artists of Silver Sea, Motown music. It was very well done, the best ensemble show by them yet (although I've skipped the shows that don't interest me so can't comment on all of them.)
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Nancy
- Member
- Posts: 26946
- Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:52 pm
- Location: Washington state in the Pacific Northwestern part of the USA.
- Contact:
Re: Happy Groundhog Day!
Yea! The sea hawks won!
I have finished the prayer shawl I have been working on.
Thinking if I will put a crocheted edge on it or not and what color if I do.
Trying to figure out how to join the eternity scarf in the pattern that I have chosen.
I have finished the prayer shawl I have been working on.
Thinking if I will put a crocheted edge on it or not and what color if I do.
Trying to figure out how to join the eternity scarf in the pattern that I have chosen.