jpalbny

I would have killed to have the luxury of either of these hay bales. On the farm where I grew up, we eschewed such conveniences and did it the old-fashioned way, with regular hay bales. About 12-14,000 per year, 50-60# each. Every freakin' year! And I had to handle each one at least twice. At least once while going into the haymow. And once more, taking it out to feed it to the cows. I guess it was a good core workout, before that kind of thing got popular? *** Well we got home from Finland Thursday night after a really great trip. Flights worked well and no major delays. Schipol was a cakewalk; we went from gate to gate in 20 minutes, even though we had to go through passport control in between. Very smooth. Unfortunately there were some "cat"astrophes awaiting us at home. One of the fish bit it and that made a bit of a mess in the aquarium. Nothing more fun than digging a rotten dead fish carcass out of the aquarium after a few days' worth of decomposition... While being utterly exhausted after traveling for 18+ hours! But the worst part is that the cat almost didn't survive our absence. She had a surgical procedure while we were away and that had gone well, and she came back home seemingly doing very well. But inexplicably, she stopped eating a few days before we got home and the pet sitter didn't find her until Wednesday, after probably 3 days with no intake at all. Sounded like she was on her last legs at that point and we are very lucky that our emergency contact is a vet tech. So she pulled out all the stops, on Thanksgiving Eve no less, and nursed the ill kitty back to health over the next 36 hours. Miraculous that this 21-year-old cat seems to be out of the woods now but I don't think she would have made it without our friend's help. We owe her big time. *** Today we put up a few Christmas lights outside, and bought a really nice tree to decorate tomorrow! Funny, after being up in the far north of Finland, it seems really light here! Sunset at 4:30? Wow - that's a lot of daylight! 😄

In Antarctica? No. You simply don't walk far enough to need them. And you don't want to get your nice hiking boots mucked up with penguin poop.

Leftover pizza for breakfast. That's a blast from the past! I have some vague "memories" of such a thing from my college days...

Sounds like a great trip! Looking forward to seeing where you go and what you do around the peninsula. We are starting to think about our next Antarctica trip and Le Commandant Charcot looks amazing, but Le Lyrial sure looks nice too.

Yes, Happy Thanksgiving all! We're celebrating in the Atlanta Airport now. Almost home from a very fun trip to Finland. We very much enjoyed our time in Helsinki, and got to see an amazing Northern Lights display way up north in Saariselkä. But the Delta Sky Club had turkey with the fixings. So we did get to partake in that. So, it was a great holiday.

Have an amazing trip!

Just saw this sad news. Expedition travel is not without risk, even when conditions look good. Hoping that the remaining injured staff and passengers make a full recovery. https://www.travelresearchonline.com/blog/index.php/2022/11/two-dead-in-rare-zodiac-accident-in-antarctica/

Here are a few aurora shots. It's after midnight here so time for bed soon. We were gettting set for our snowshoeing trek around 8:15 when the lights put in an appearance! We got some cell phone shots from the resort. The display seemed to be intensifying so we hurried to the viewpoint in the taiga forest. An occasional quick snapshot as we trekked. Of course they became much less intense once we got to the viewpoint. Still, Chris was happy to pose with them. We waited for a while but eventually came home and shed our heavy clothes. On cue, as we were walking back to our cabin, the display surged even stronger than before! What luck! So a very successful first day here in Saariselkä. Now, it's after midnight, so it's time to catch a few winks. Hopefully more sightings to follow!

Hello from Saariselkä! 68.4 degrees north. We landed at 1:15 as the sun was setting. Barren snow-covered landscapes looked nice in the golden light. We arrived at Northern Lights Village at 2:00 and checked in. Nice cabin with a glass roof facing north, for aurora views, we hope! Late lunch at 2:30, and the twilight was deepening significantly by 3:00. It's pretty much dark now at 4PM. Tonight, a photography briefing and then dinner. Later on, aurora chasing on snowshoes at 10:30PM. Sounds like work!

Ok, more as promised. We did Antarctica in 2009, and Svalbard in 2011, both on SS's smallest expedition ship, PAII/Silver Explorer. These were our first and third SS cruises. The expedition aspect was great. Zodiac landings on the continent, great wildlife sightings, excellent history and scientific lectures, and luxurious accommodations. Food and wine were very nice as well. I did a text-only live report from Svalbard too, before I got the hang of posting pix, but you'd have to search for it. There are pictures from both expedition cruises in my SmugMug galleries; link also in my signature. In the last few years, SS has retrofitted two of their older classic ships into expedition-type vessels. We loved Silver Cloud and Wind as classic ships and have been equally happy with Cloud as an expedition ship (trying Wind expedition in June). The ship is about 50% bigger than Explorer, and has 4 restaurants so the combo of expedition and luxury is a big plus for us. We have also done 3 other non-polar expedition trips so it's obvious that we really like this type of cruise. The larger ships are a bit more "expedition lite" and you have to land in 3 groups not two, so that may be a negative thing. We didn't notice any big issue with this. You'll see all sorts of complaining on the SS boards about a perceived drop in quality since Covid. We didn't notice it much when we were back on SS for a classic cruise last November, but obvious some people feel differently. Can't tell you how you're going to perceive it, but if you've never done an ocean cruise you'll very likely have a great time on SS. The new Silver Endeavor looks amazing but it's much more expensive. You may get what you pay for. Have no experience with that. We are considering a third Antarctica trip in a few years and will give it a look then, along with Ponant's new ship, Le Commandant Charcot. Any other specific questions? LMK. Have fun planning!

Have done 3 Polar expeditions with SS. Each was great. Did a blog for the third one, link in my signature. Will come back with more later...after midnight here in Helsinki and need to get some sleep.

Got a dusting of snow here in Helsinki so we went to the beach... But first, the rest of yesterday's visit to Tallinn. We climbed to the Upper Town and walked the City Walls. Underground tunnels. Used as bomb shelters in WWII. Chris found a friend in the tower. We finished up with the City Walls around 4PM. It was already getting dark. A quick run by the Parliament Building. And across from it, the Alekander Nevsky Cathedral. Beautiful from the outside. This beautiful building is a café. A scenic viewpoint. With a great view of St. Mary's Cathedral. Now it was getting quite dark and the wind was picking up. Time for dinner! We jad chosen a Ukrainian restaurant named Odessa. No Ukrainian wines, as I assume they can't export any now. An Italian Pinot Nero stood in. Chicken Kyiv An Odessa schnitzel. And sour cherry varenyky for dessert. And yes, every dish was served with heaping portions of sour cream... Back to the ferry and we settled in with a G&T with Finnish gin. The 2 hours went by quickly, and we got out ahead of the crowds. The tram was waiting and there was room, so not a bad journey home. We were exhausted after a long day being outside in the cold, and slept like logs.

Tallinn was a lot of fun. We were lazy and took the 10:30 ferry instead of getting up early to catch the 7:30. Good call. We had time for breakfast at the hotel then a leisurely tram to the ferry terminal. The ferry was way better than I thought it would be. The ship is 49000 tons, making it bigger than the biggest SS ships (40000 tons according to my quick web search). There's a buffet, restaurant, bar, large duty-free shop, cabins, and several decks for cars. A great way to spend 2 hours. And they have Wi-Fi included in the fare. So we looked at prices for what we wanted to do in Tallinn, and bought Tallinn Cards online, downloaded the QR code to our phones, and were ready for business. After a bit on the back deck we got chilly and came inside to the sitting lounge. We lined up to disembark as we approached Tallinn, and were among the first off. Hightailed it to the main gate of the lower town. Nearby, the Maritime Museum, at Fat Margaret tower. They had the ruins of a cog ship from the early days of the Hanseatic League. The craftsmanship was great. Lots of the outer planking was still intact. Apparently they plugged the gaps with moss, held in place with metal rods hammered into the gap. Other less impressive relics. Sailors carried these kits to treat themselves for gonorrhea. This is a model of our ferry, the Megastar. On the top floor, a viewing platform. Freezing with plenty of wind. Our coats were safely down on floor -1, in the wardrobe... Further up the street, the three sisters. Now a hotel. We love Estonia! Enough said. Only a small part of this art, which covered most of a city block. The Estonian History Museum. I had a laptop just like this about 20 years ago. Ouch. The museum is in the great guild hall. It's decorated for the season. Further up the street, near the Town Hall, a pharmacy museum. I did not learn about this ingredient in Medical School... Now, off to the upper town. We didn't leave ourselves time for lunch but we have a 5:00 dinner reservation so we should be able to go a little longer.

Hi Coolers! Flights were like clockwork. All 3 legs were early, and we got to Helsinki on Wednesday evening in time for dinner at a wine bar. Lots of yummy small plates and delicious unusual wines. Just a sampling. Spent yesterday wandering the city and we were charmed by the ambience. Lots of Christmas lights so the early darkness isn't too oppressive. Chilly, around 2C/35F for the high, but we have plenty of warm clothes. Those Silversea parkas are handy! Amazing architecture. Old, classical, and new. The gorgeous Church in the Rock. Visited a few markets then stopped for lunch in the old town, at a German restaurant! Flammkuche and Brats hit the spot. More Cathedrals And Christmas displays. Had a superb 8 course tasting menu for dinner, at a restaurant which was recommended to us by Chef Ian. You may recall Mysty's favourite restaurant, the Black Tartan Kitchen. The owner worked in Helsinki for a time and gave us two recommendations. We will try the other tomorrow. Just a few samples. Donuts stuffed with duck meat. Perch pike in a delicious horseradish cream. Now we are on the ferry to Tallinn. The ship is huge! I seriously think it's bigger than Sliver Spirit. We found a covered spot on the back deck to hang out and watch the scenery. More to follow...

Nice pix of Arica! We saw nothing of it, as our tour to Lauca took up the entire time that we were in port.

About 30 minutes to Amsterdam. Much too early for breakfast! Still full from dinner. Flights smooth so far. Long layover until our flight to Helsinki. If we weren't worried about the lines to get back into Schipol, we'd think about a quick jaunt to Amsterdam this morning. But probably not... We'll most likely just hang out at the airport and chill. There's a nice lounge.

Tonight's low in the Albany area is 22F so I'm expecting a killing frost. So I picked all of the full-sized tomatoes from the garden yesterday. What to do with a bunch of green tomatoes? I could have made a batch of chutney but we don't really eat that very much so it would probably be a wasted effort. Green tomato ketchup sounded very interesting but no time to fuss with canning it. So I found a recipe for pasta with green tomato sauce. Interesting idea! To prepare, I chopped a bunch of unripe tomatoes and cooked them in olive oil and garlic, with what was left of the fresh herbs from the garden. It reduced very well after a half hour on the stove, and even the green tomatoes softened nicely. The olive oil and garlic tempered the tartness of the unripe tomatoes. And a fresh chili pepper added some heat. Nice dish! With rigatoni and grated Parmesan to finish. Now some last-minute preparation for tomorrow's flight to Helsinki! After a year, and a cancelation, looks like it will finally happen. I don't think that I can fit my tripod in the carryon so I'll have to come up with another way to hold the camera still... Or maybe I'll just enjoy the aurora and not worry about pictures... (that's so likely).

It's anatomically unlikely that he's handling what you think he's handling. Unless his name is Hank?

That's a really nice museum! Visited there in 2017. Did you go to the X-rated wing?

Have a great trip and looking forward to your updates from on board! Have been to Antarctica twice now but would go again in a heartbeat. And we have been looking at Le Commandant Charcot ever since it came out.

Maybe. That's what I was going to say!

I knew that farm upbringing would come in handy some day!

And the best part is, if you don't want to do it, you don't have to!

I am also tripolar (Antarctica 2x, Svalbard once). Wes's description is spot on for how they do it nowadays. My first was on Deception Island but they can't do it that way any more... Except Wes left out the fact that the rope harness is absolutely freezing cold because it's been attached to everyone who has jumped prior to you, and it's soaking wet. So the shock of having that icicle strapped around you while you're standing out in the freezing cold in your bathing suit is almost as bad as jumping in the water. In Deception Island, the Explorer anchored in the caldera and we took a zodiac ashore. We wore our suits under all of our clothes. When the time came we stripped down on the beach, ran into the freezing water, dove under, then ran out as fast as humanly possible to soak in the natural hot tub that the expedition staff had dug out in the volcanic beach (this is the part that supposedly they can't do any more). Then we had to get dressed and zodiac back to the ship before frostbite set in. That part wasn't fun! In Svalbard, we jumped off a zodiac tied up to the launching dock. Since we were at about 80 degrees N, just south of the Arctic pack ice in the open ocean, we were tethered with that freezing harness. Note the guy with a GoPro on the end of his stick, taking underwater pictures of us. The one from January 2020 was off the dock of Silver Cloud. It's a bit higher up from the water compared to jumping off the zodiac. And it was a frigid day. I don't have good pictures since Chris only shot video of that plunge. Here is one from the ship's photographer though. But yeah, I'd do it again. Just to entertain my friend Stumblefoot! Chris is the smart one in the family; she stays on board and takes photos.

VA Upper Class is definitely a nice way to fly to LHR. Last time we took them out of EWR, which was convenient for us. Coming home, make sure you get to the Upper Class wing at LHR. The experience was unparalleled.