Sort Live from the Infinity around the horn and back

[abbydancer2003]

Infinity trip day  -2 Intro

 

Here I go again.  In April of 2022, we were supposed to go from Tokyo to Vancouver on the Solstice.  They, of course, cancelled the entire season, so my friends (Sam & Kathleen, henceforth known as S&K) decided that 12 day cruises on the Infinity b2b were in order. Glen (DH) has never been on an M class ship, so we decided to with them.  After almost a year of planning, it’s time.

 

Our trip has several parts.  We’re starting tomorrow (now today) night with a redeye to Toronto, followed by a day there (which will be my first day report), and another redeye to Sao Paulo Brazil.  (Both new airports for us - many years ago, when we both had travel jobs, we made a goal to see how many world airports we could kiss in.  We’ve lost count, but these are both new ones).  From there, we finally go to Buenos Aires.  

 

Why this?  Air Canada was the best price, and this routing gave us lay flat seats all the way.  I’ll let you know how it goes, as we go.

 

As far as numbering, this intro is day -2.  Day 0 will be arrival in BA.  

 

We arrive on Wednesday, and the cruises start Saturday - we are going BA to Valparisso and back.  Before the cruise (day1-3) we have things planned in BA, and after we disembark, we’ll spend a night in BA, then two nights in Iguazu Falls, then one more night in BA, and then home.

 

For those of you who have read my previous threads, and know about some ongoing stuff in my personal life this  paragraph is for you.  If you happened to follow my Xmas Princess cruise, you know my digital cable was gone when we got back and we spent a lot of time trying unsuccessfully to fix that.  Two months later, and we got it fixed on Tuesday.  I’ve been watching CNN a lot, simply because I can.  In other news that you might know about if you followed my February cruise - my mom is still in rehab.  She feels OK, but her ankle hurts so she’s still not walking a lot. (She broke her hip in January)

 

Anyway, that’s it from Mountain View California.  Bags are mostly packed.  Tomorrow - finish packing, bring Mom dinner (she hates the food there), park a car at the airport for my sister to pick up, and finish the odds and ends I forgot about.  

 

Thanks for following along.  My hope is to be more current, and have better pictures.

 

 

[vickykay]

Looking forward to following along with you.  We were also on the cancelled Tokyo cruises ( doing Hawaii islands and TP in May instead).  Your itinerary sounds wonderful and can’t wait to read your reports. 

[abbydancer2003]

Infinity Day -4  First flight day (renumbering to put the cruises starting day one)

 

Good evening from the United Club in Terminal 3 SFO.  Today is the start of our great adventure, so before I get to where I am now (enjoying some refreshing ice water and pseudo-nachos, I’ll give the detailed rundown of the trip, since our flight is delayed, and we are very early anyway.

 

As I mentioned yesterday, we booked this (guaranteed S2 Sky Suite) in April.  Once we got home, we started booking things.  First up was air, and Air Canada had the best price, but the routing is goofy for us.  In order to have lay flat all the way, we have a red eye to Toronto tonight, a 16 hour layover tomorrow (we’ll leave the airport for a while), and then a 2 hour layover in Sao Paulo and then Buenos Aires Wednesday afternoon.

 

We’ll be at the Sheraton Hotel for 3 nights.  On Thursday, we have a private Jewish tour and on Friday a food tour with others from the roll call.  Both of those are tours by locals.  On Thursday night, we’re trying a company called Eat With, where chefs offer dinners or classes in their homes.

 

Friday night we’re doing the steak house thing with some Cruise Critic people, and on Saturday we board the Infinity for two 12 day cruises.  There is significant port overlap, but each has a unique port, and the return cruise has the Chilean Fjords, which the first doesn’t.  The first cruise goes to Puentes de Estes Uruguay, and the second to Post Motte Chile.  All go to Montevideo, Puerto Madryn, Puento Arenas Chile, and Ushuaia.  

 

What I’ve noticed on Cruise Critic is that many are doing b2b, but usually with our first as their back and our second as their first.  Plus a few doing B2B2B and B2B2B2B.  

 

Onto the the referent part of today.  It was spent mostly packing and taking care of things that had to be done such as running the dishwasher, doing paperwork etc.  Since our flight is a red eye, we didn’t need to leave particularly early.  

 

At around 3:30, we headed over to my mom’s to switch out our car.  Glen likes to leave his car there when we travel because otherwise it’s outside at our condo complex (my car is in the garage).  We also brought some perishables over.  

 

After that home for an hour to finish packing and get my mom some dinner.  She wanted Wonton soup and Mongolian beef from a local Burmese restaurant, but they’re closed on Monday, so we went to the most famous local Chinese restaurant Chef Chu’s (used to be famous for just supposedly inventing the Chinese Chicken salad, now also famous for financing the the move Crazy Rich Asians - John Chu, the director is one of the son’s, the other very nice looking one runs the restaurant.  The food has always been quite good.

 

Sometime in the middle all this preparation I got both a text and an email from Air Canada that our flight is delayed 40 minutes.  I wasn’t surprised, since the inbound had delays earlier.  What I now don’t understand is that the inbound is due in at 9:30, 20 minutes late.  First, I can’t see why 9:30 - 10:40 isn’t a reasonable turnaround, and second, why we’re now delayed 40 minutes rather than 20.  It’s not a big deal, since it means our layover is 14:45 hours instead of 15:13, but I wonder.

 

After dropping dinner off and chatting for a bit, we bid her a fond farewell, and headed to the airport.  Originally I wanted to leave at 6, but with the flight delay we pushed it to 6:45.  We got to the parking at 7:19 (my original goal was 7pm).  There was no one else waiting to check with valet, so we were helped quickly.  We had put the ticket and keys into an envelope with my sisters name on it, which took a couple of minutes.  We waited about 5 minutes for the shuttle and arrived at the terminal around 7:35. 

 

Our checkin with Air Canada worked well.  They are in terminal 2, not the international terminal.  The only issue was that our KTNs (for TSA precheck) were not in the reservation so it took the very nice lady a few minutes to to get that added.  They also have no lounge, so once we quickly cleared security we had to hike over to terminal 3 and the United lounge.   I believe I get breakfast only on the flight, so the above items are lunch and dinner.  I don’t think either United or Air Canada considers these international flights.  That also means no Polaris lounge for us.  I learned that for both AC and UA, you can only use the swanky international lounges if your long haul flight starts or ends at that airport.  Last time we went to South America we flew through Houston, but the Polaris lounge wasn’t open that early, so I didn’t have the question.  

 

So here I sit, now eating Jelly Bellys and writing this.  Our flight now boards at the original take off time, and 10 minutes after this lounge closes (they’ve done the first announcement).  So we’ll stay here for about another 35 minutes, and then hike back to the gate.  I’m sure my Fitbit will be happy.  Next post from Toronto, unless something interesting happens, which I hope it doesn’t.

 

 

 

 

[wrk2cruise]

We'll be joining you on your second leg back to BA and will also be going to Iguazu for 2 days and back to BA for 1 more.

[aring75]

Thank you for taking the time to do this. Been looking at a similar itinerary for a little while now, so really looking forward to following along!

[Jim_Iain]

Bon Voyage -   Have a great cruise.  Your getting out of town at the right time as an Atmospheric River is suppose to hit Friday.

 

Looking forward to following along.

[Beachlover1989]

We're also excited to follow along on your trip.  We just returned from the Antarctica cruise, but interested in your other stops.

[mahdnc]

We took this cruise (eastbound) in 2016 and it remains one of the family favorites.  I hope you enjoy it.

[sykimball1498]

We are on the March 11 cruise.  Leaving for BA this evening for 3 day pre-cruise exploration.  Definitely looking forward to this one.

[mahdnc]

6 minutes ago, sykimball1498 said:

We are on the March 11 cruise.  Leaving for BA this evening for 3 day pre-cruise exploration.  Definitely looking forward to this one.

 

Samantha, I hope you and Pierre have a safe & awesome cruise, too!!

[sykimball1498]

12 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

Samantha, I hope you and Pierre have a safe & awesome cruise, too!!

Thank you!

[AC Stew]

Do NOT miss Celia Garland (on board naturalist/speaker's) lectures. She's remarkable! Get to the theater early. On our recent Feb.11 Argentina/Antarctic sailing, there was always a packed house.

 

Bon Voyage!

[abbydancer2003]

Infinity - Day -3 Toronto to Sao Paulo

 

First, to finish yesterday.  The flight was delayed to 11:20, at 10:15, the United Club, in between announcing the lounge was closing at 10:30 (my plan was to go then), announced that the flight to Toronto was in final boarding.  Huh?  Not leaving for an hour.  However, we decided to head back to to Terminal 2.  Turns out D12 was rather in the back of the airport.  We got there and they were doing preboards.  I also noticed that the flight had been moved up about 10 minutes to 11:10.  

 

It’s a 787 so lots of people to board, but we did get out about 11:10.  There was no dinner service on this, but the flight attendant did ask if I wanted to be awakened for breakfast.  I figured that since I’d be awake anyway, sure.  

 

After takeoff they did a drink service with nuts, and choice of snacks from a basket (two chocolate pars and potato chips),  and I decided to watch Mama Mia.  I’ve seen it lots of times, but sometimes on a plane I want to watch what I’ve seen before, because that way I don’t mind sleeping through part of it.  (And I probably did).  At the end of the movie, it was getting pretty close to breakfast, so I looked at assorted tv shows.  

 

I found the Amazing Race Canada.  I’m a big fan of the US version, so I thought I’d watch that.  The first episode got me through breakfast, which was OK, but no choice - a parsley omelette with some sausage and potatoes plus cottage cheese and red pepper relish.  There was also, fruit, yogurt and a croissant wrapped in plastic fresh out of the refrigerator. (Doesn’t that sound yummy?  NOT)

 

I watched the Amazing Race until landing, which ended up being pretty much on time.

 

Thus started today.

 

We had a plan to leave the airport for a while and go to a historic site for a class I’m taking.  I read that the Signature suite of AC will store your bags, so I thought we could leave our backpack s there and take public transit there.  So following all the signs we couldn’t figure out what to do.  First door guard we asked sent us to arrivals, and gates D connections.  Asked the person there, and she said first to go back to E and go there  first.  So we made a U turn and walked back the long hallway between  D and E.  The airport layout for incoming international flights reminded us a little of Vancouver, but not as pretty.  

 

We went to the signature suite (lounge for paid business class) but turns out it doesn’t open until 10:30 (don’t most international flights arrive early AM - Newark Polaris lounge was open that early), so we went to the Maple Leaf, which was busy, but fine.

 

However, it meant we couldn’t drop the backpacks until 10:30, That created a bit of a problem, because it turned out the site for my visit was not open on Tuesday, but the manager offered to let us in for a short amount of time, as long as we called before 11:30.  So, dropping bags at 10:30, getting out of the airport and onto a subway with an hour ride wasn’t going to work.  So, we decided to just take Lyft.

 

In talking to the agents about getting back into the airport early (Glen was remembering that last time in BA we had to wait hours, but that was because the airline counters weren’t open that early). He said that the storage was only for when you were in the lounge. He did say there was a storage area in the arrivals area for a fee.

 

I talked to Glen and we decided to just take the backpacks with us. And to take Lyft, since the train was an hour and one of my friends here told me that there are currently issues.  So we decided to go around 9:30.  

 

At about 9:40 we left the lounge. They said we had to go to customer service to get out.  Turns out they have to take us up an elevator, and through a door into the arrival area.  We walked back down the hallway and followed the signs to arrivals.  

 

There was no waiting there, and once it scanned our passports all we had to do was accept our declaration.  How did that happen?  Those of you who have cruised in Canada in 2021 or 2022 may remember having to enter covid info into the ArriveCan app.  Turns out you could also (and still can) do your customs declaration there.  Makes it so much easier in the airports.

 

We were quickly out and on our way to Fort York in a Lyft.  I connected with Ewan, the manager, and he told me to ring the doorbell of the visitors center.  We were dropped off under a highway, which didn’t exactly look like a park.  However, there was a stylish building there, and there was a sign with the correct address.  

 

We did connect with Ewan, and he graciously took us up some stairs, and we found ourselves at the entrance to the fort.  Here’s a picture to give you the idea:

 

We learned that the fort was attacked by the Americans during the War of 1812.  We also learned that  the fort was originally on the water, but now it’s next to a freeway.  I guess a lot of Toronto is built on landfill.

 

He also took us into a couple of the buildings, one that was a barracks and a weapons room.  

 

After about 20 minutes he was out of time.  We asked about places nearby for lunch or coffee, but the area was now mostly condos.  It was very cold, so walking along the lake or something, so we called another Lyft.  Ewan invited us to wait in the lobby of the visitors center, but we went out when the car got close.

 

After about 5 minutes we got a text that the driver was here.  There was no car anywhere near us!  I haven’t used Lyft enough to know what to do if we don’t see the driver.  Fortunately he called us, and we connected.  

 

At about noon, we arrived back at the airport.  Security was easy, but the Air Canada checkin (which we didn’t need) and the E gates are pretty far apart, so we walked the long hallway one more time.  This time, we went to the Signature Suite, Air Canada’s International Long Haul lounge.  

 

It was nice, but it’s really a food and drink venue.  I’d say it’s about 70% tables and chairs, and a very small area with couches and lunge type chairs.  That area was pretty full so we found some seats next to a couple.  They ordered food, and the staff sets up a placemat on the side and coffee tables.  The staff is very attentive.   I think United’s Polaris Lounge is a better lounge, but the service here is more attentive.  They bring your drinks to you, etc.  I started by ordering the Hemingway daiquiri. It’s very pretty

 

By about 1:00 pm, the lounge had emptied so we moved to a couch area, where we stayed until we left.  I did have a burger for lunch. Here’s a picture:

 

It was very good, although hard to eat on a coffee table.  

 

I was following the inbound flights for our flight, and noticed the first flight of the day was running slightly late.  Then the next flight was late. And at around 6pm, or flight became 40 minutes late..  That was a problem for me for two reason, 1.  We have a connection, and 2, I’m very tired of sitting in the lounge all day (if the day had been warmer, we would have spent more time in town).  I spoke to one of the agents, and they said it would be fine.  

 

They told Glen that boarding would be about 9:10, so at about 9, we left the lounge.  The gate was nearby, and we joined the zone 1 line.  Boarding started at 9:15 and by 10, we were ready to go, 5 minutes earlier than the late time.  

 

We pushed at 10, and soon the arrival time was showing on time.  

 

The flight was uneventful, and similar to a United flight.  One thing that was curious - the announcements at the beginning said we were going to Sao Paulo and then onto Buenos Aires.  I didn’t understand that, because this flight doesn’t.  It connects to the flight from Montreal, which goes to BA.  During the flight I asked a flight attendant about it, and he said that it is a connecting, but the BA waits for this one because lots of people on it go on to BA.  So, no need for me to worry.

 

[mahdnc]

20 minutes ago, abbydancer said:

Infinity - Day -3 Toronto to Sao Paulo

 

First, to finish yesterday.  The flight was delayed to 11:20, at 10:15, the United Club, in between announcing the lounge was closing at 10:30 (my plan was to go then), announced that the flight to Toronto was in final boarding.  Huh?  Not leaving for an hour.  However, we decided to head back to to Terminal 2.  Turns out D12 was rather in the back of the airport.  We got there and they were doing preboards.  I also noticed that the flight had been moved up about 10 minutes to 11:10.  

 

It’s a 787 so lots of people to board, but we did get out about 11:10.  There was no dinner service on this, but the flight attendant did ask if I wanted to be awakened for breakfast.  I figured that since I’d be awake anyway, sure.  

 

After takeoff they did a drink service with nuts, and choice of snacks from a basket (two chocolate pars and potato chips),  and I decided to watch Mama Mia.  I’ve seen it lots of times, but sometimes on a plane I want to watch what I’ve seen before, because that way I don’t mind sleeping through part of it.  (And I probably did).  At the end of the movie, it was getting pretty close to breakfast, so I looked at assorted tv shows.  

 

I found the Amazing Race Canada.  I’m a big fan of the US version, so I thought I’d watch that.  The first episode got me through breakfast, which was OK, but no choice - a parsley omelette with some sausage and potatoes plus cottage cheese and red pepper relish.  There was also, fruit, yogurt and a croissant wrapped in plastic fresh out of the refrigerator. (Doesn’t that sound yummy?  NOT)

 

I watched the Amazing Race until landing, which ended up being pretty much on time.

 

Thus started today.

 

We had a plan to leave the airport for a while and go to a historic site for a class I’m taking.  I read that the Signature suite of AC will store your bags, so I thought we could leave our backpack s there and take public transit there.  So following all the signs we couldn’t figure out what to do.  First door guard we asked sent us to arrivals, and gates D connections.  Asked the person there, and she said first to go back to E and go there  first.  So we made a U turn and walked back the long hallway between  D and E.  The airport layout for incoming international flights reminded us a little of Vancouver, but not as pretty.  

 

We went to the signature suite (lounge for paid business class) but turns out it doesn’t open until 10:30 (don’t most international flights arrive early AM - Newark Polaris lounge was open that early), so we went to the Maple Leaf, which was busy, but fine.

 

However, it meant we couldn’t drop the backpacks until 10:30, That created a bit of a problem, because it turned out the site for my visit was not open on Tuesday, but the manager offered to let us in for a short amount of time, as long as we called before 11:30.  So, dropping bags at 10:30, getting out of the airport and onto a subway with an hour ride wasn’t going to work.  So, we decided to just take Lyft.

 

In talking to the agents about getting back into the airport early (Glen was remembering that last time in BA we had to wait hours, but that was because the airline counters weren’t open that early). He said that the storage was only for when you were in the lounge. He did say there was a storage area in the arrivals area for a fee.

 

I talked to Glen and we decided to just take the backpacks with us. And to take Lyft, since the train was an hour and one of my friends here told me that there are currently issues.  So we decided to go around 9:30.  

 

At about 9:40 we left the lounge. They said we had to go to customer service to get out.  Turns out they have to take us up an elevator, and through a door into the arrival area.  We walked back down the hallway and followed the signs to arrivals.  

 

There was no waiting there, and once it scanned our passports all we had to do was accept our declaration.  How did that happen?  Those of you who have cruised in Canada in 2021 or 2022 may remember having to enter covid info into the ArriveCan app.  Turns out you could also (and still can) do your customs declaration there.  Makes it so much easier in the airports.

 

We were quickly out and on our way to Fort York in a Lyft.  I connected with Ewan, the manager, and he told me to ring the doorbell of the visitors center.  We were dropped off under a highway, which didn’t exactly look like a park.  However, there was a stylish building there, and there was a sign with the correct address.  

 

We did connect with Ewan, and he graciously took us up some stairs, and we found ourselves at the entrance to the fort.  Here’s a picture to give you the idea:

 

We learned that the fort was attacked by the Americans during the War of 1812.  We also learned that  the fort was originally on the water, but now it’s next to a freeway.  I guess a lot of Toronto is built on landfill.

 

He also took us into a couple of the buildings, one that was a barracks and a weapons room.  

 

After about 20 minutes he was out of time.  We asked about places nearby for lunch or coffee, but the area was now mostly condos.  It was very cold, so walking along the lake or something, so we called another Lyft.  Ewan invited us to wait in the lobby of the visitors center, but we went out when the car got close.

 

After about 5 minutes we got a text that the driver was here.  There was no car anywhere near us!  I haven’t used Lyft enough to know what to do if we don’t see the driver.  Fortunately he called us, and we connected.  

 

At about noon, we arrived back at the airport.  Security was easy, but the Air Canada checkin (which we didn’t need) and the E gates are pretty far apart, so we walked the long hallway one more time.  This time, we went to the Signature Suite, Air Canada’s International Long Haul lounge.  

 

It was nice, but it’s really a food and drink venue.  I’d say it’s about 70% tables and chairs, and a very small area with couches and lunge type chairs.  That area was pretty full so we found some seats next to a couple.  They ordered food, and the staff sets up a placemat on the side and coffee tables.  The staff is very attentive.   I think United’s Polaris Lounge is a better lounge, but the service here is more attentive.  They bring your drinks to you, etc.  I started by ordering the Hemingway daiquiri. It’s very pretty

 

By about 1:00 pm, the lounge had emptied so we moved to a couch area, where we stayed until we left.  I did have a burger for lunch. Here’s a picture:

 

It was very good, although hard to eat on a coffee table.  

 

I was following the inbound flights for our flight, and noticed the first flight of the day was running slightly late.  Then the next flight was late. And at around 6pm, or flight became 40 minutes late..  That was a problem for me for two reason, 1.  We have a connection, and 2, I’m very tired of sitting in the lounge all day (if the day had been warmer, we would have spent more time in town).  I spoke to one of the agents, and they said it would be fine.  

 

They told Glen that boarding would be about 9:10, so at about 9, we left the lounge.  The gate was nearby, and we joined the zone 1 line.  Boarding started at 9:15 and by 10, we were ready to go, 5 minutes earlier than the late time.  

 

We pushed at 10, and soon the arrival time was showing on time.  

 

The flight was uneventful, and similar to a United flight.  One thing that was curious - the announcements at the beginning said we were going to Sao Paulo and then onto Buenos Aires.  I didn’t understand that, because this flight doesn’t.  It connects to the flight from Montreal, which goes to BA.  During the flight I asked a flight attendant about it, and he said that it is a connecting, but the BA waits for this one because lots of people on it go on to BA.  So, no need for me to worry.

 

 

The mighty United States has suffered military defeat every time an armed conflict has occurred with Canada.  I think there were two "invasions" of Canada that were unsuccessful. One occurred during the American Revolutionary War.  Another occurred during the War of 1812 which you referred to. 

 

Although it was technically a USA vs British skirmish occurring on modern day USA + Canada soil, I remember learning during a trip to the Puget Sound area that there was a post War of 1812 armed dispute over a pig and the San Juan Islands boundaries that went nowhere as well.

 

Today the USA and Canada proudly share the world's longest undefended border.  The best I think that we can do is hope to beat Canada in ice hockey.

Edited March 8, 2023 by mahdnc

[abbydancer2003]

 

oops, duplicate

 

 

Edited March 9, 2023 by abbydancer

[abbydancer2003]

On 3/8/2023 at 1:04 PM, mahdnc said:

 

The mighty United States has suffered military defeat every time an armed conflict has occurred with Canada.  I think there were two "invasions" of Canada that were unsuccessful. One occurred during the American Revolutionary War.  Another occurred during the War of 1812 which you referred to. 

 

Although it was technically a USA vs British skirmish occurring on modern day USA + Canada soil, I remember learning during a trip to the Puget Sound area that there was a post War of 1812 armed dispute over a pig and the San Juan Islands boundaries that went nowhere as well.

 

Today the USA and Canada proudly share the world's longest undefended border.  The best I think that we can do is hope to beat Canada in ice hockey.

Great info, thanks.

[abbydancer2003]

Infinity - Day -2 Sao Paulo to Buenos Aires

 

Moving on, there were was no need to worry as the flight only arrived about 2-3 minutes late.

 

We exited the plane, and wound around, following all the workers saying “Buenos Aires - this way”.  It led us to a security line which had about 30-40 people ahead of us, but it moved quickly and by 10am we were done.

 

On our way up the escalator to the international gates, the power went completely out. We walked up the stairs and found the gate, after a fairly long walk along the terminal.  Nothing seemed to be happening, so I went to the UA app to see if there was a lounge we could go to.  There was one, and it said it was above the duty free shops.  We thought we’d seen them, so back we went in the very hot airport.  We wandered around and no sign of a lounge above the shops.  We asked someone who pointed us to a corridor of the. Shops 90 degrees from our gate corridor.

 

We wandered there, and saw the lounge above us, but saw no way to get there.  We asked at another lounge, and she told us where the stairs were.  We arrived there, and it was still hot, and the bathrooms were closed.  So I grabbed some water, and headed to the gate.  As we were leaving, there was an announcement that the flight was boarding, 10 minutes before the boarding pass said.

 

We shlepped back to the gate, and found the zone one boarding, and got held.  At the lounge they told Glen that the power would be back on by 11am.  And at 11 the various systems came back up.  

 

Funny thing - I asked the gate person how they would get the plane boarded for an on time departure (not that I care at this point) and she said it was a smaller plane.  Huh, I still had my seat number on the app for wide body.  And sure enough, when they let us through, it was still the 787.  On the way to my seat I saw so said hello and talked to him for a few minutes.

 

We got in roughly on time.  We waited a short while for customs, and then headed out to baggage claim.  The baggage started coming quickly, but there was a lot of it, and it took our luggage about 15 minutes to come.  We chatted with S&K until it did.  

 

From there we had to go to an X-ray machine, and then out to the meeting area.

 

Our ride wasn’t there.  We wandered around for about 10 minutes, and then tried to figure out how to call the company.  While Glen was figuring that out, I found our driver.  We quickly loaded into his car, and it was easy from there.  

 

We got to the hotel around 4, and quickly got checked in.  We had been upgraded to a club room.  We came in got settled, rested and then around 6 went to the lounge to meet a couple from the roll call.  We spent a very nice couple of hours with them, and then around 8:00, I went back to the room, did some email and then went to bed around 10:30.  We have a couple of busy days here before the cruise.

 

[mahdnc]

Getting there is half the fun.

[Jim_Iain]

Glad you made it Abbey --   pleasant dreams.

[abbydancer2003]

Infinity - Day 1 - Buenos Aires 1

 

Today, we have a Jewish Tour planned, followed by a dinner booked with a company called Eat With.

 

We get breakfast, and we were meeting Rosty, our guide, at 10.  After breakfast, we went upstairs to get our stuff and headed down at about 9:45.  Just before 10:00 he arrived.   Before we started, he asked if we had our passports, because we would need them to get into the synagogue museum.  Glen went to get them and I chatted with Rosty.  He’s from Ukraine, but grew up in Buenos Aires.  He was not raised Jewish, but is by ancestry.  Glen soon joined us with both passports, although we did have a brief discussion of whether or not a passport card would suffice.  Rosty decided to ask them when we get there.

 

He asked where we’d been, and we said the basic city tour.  He did say that among other places we’d be going to the Cathedral, because there’s something there related to our tour that we’d likely not been shown before.

 

We went out to car, and met our driver, Ceasar.  We hopped in and away we went.

 

Here are some highlights of the day.

 

Our first stop was at the original location of the Israeli embassy.  In 1992, a suicide bombing occurred when a truck loaded with explosive smashed in to the building.  29 people were killed, including a priest in a nearby building  and the building totaled.  It has never been rebuilt.  Instead, it’s been made into a memorial park, with trees, and a small display with rocks, menorahs, a cross and a teddy bear.  Unfortunately, two weeks ago, that display was broken into and the items removed, probably for the silver.  Some of the original framework of the embassy was left in place.  Here’s a picture.

 

Another early stop was the Cathedral.  Before we went in though, we went to the museum of Argentine Independence to look out of the balcony, which gives the best view of the Plaza De Mayo, from across from the Casa Rosada.  Following that, we went into the cathedral itself.  We stopped by a chapel on the side.  It took a few minutes to get to a display on the wall that Rosty wanted to show us, because there was a group there.  They finally moved out of the way,

 

On the wall was a memorial to the holocaust.  There were torah pages from some of the camps, and some other documents.

 

 

 

Another stop was at a former jewish neighborhood.  We first saw some very cool building graffiti

 

We then walked the neighborhood. Rosty pointed out some of the few kosher grocery stores, and we did see a couple of synagogues that weren’t in use anymore.  This one is gorgeous, and we don’t remember if it’s being used.

 

Next highlight was a market in San Telmo, where a longtime Jewish artisan family made ceramic items.  They were mostly colorful little buildings, because, as Rosty explained, that’s what the tourists like. In some open area areas they’ve decorated the  top with umbrellas/. While most of the aisles are colorful, they put this up in December after the World Cup:

 

Notice it’s the flag.  The yellow umbrella  is the sun in the middle of the flag.

 

 

We had lunch at a very nice restaurant in San Telmo called Ideal, I think.  It was closed for a very long time and then just reopened.  The chef is a baker, so we had sandwiches followed by a dulce de leech cheesecake.  Very yummy.

 

After lunch we headed to the mail synagogue of Buenos Aires.  Rosty took GLen’s passport card and tried to see if they would take it.  They didn’t.  

 

The synagogue has a museum and we looked at some of that, and eventually made our to the main area.  It’s gorgeous.  

 

As we left the synagogue there was a scroll with pens.  Visitors are asked to sign the scroll with the next number.  The goal is to get to 6 million, the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust.  

 

The next major site was another terrorist site.  We drove through a neighborhood of fabric stores to a bombed out building - the site was the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association, a Jewish community Center.   In 1994, two years after the embassy bombing another suicide van drove into it and exploded, killing 85 people and injuring 300.  The site is preserved and across the street there’s a plaque on the ground by a tree with a QR code.  It opens to information about a victim.

 

It was getting close to our finish time of 5, but Rosty didn’t want to finish with a sad thing so we went to the Rose Garden park.  There are lots of statues there, including one of George Washington as a statesman.  Also in the garden is  a series of statues of poets.  One is Shalem Aleichem, who is mostly known for writing “Tevya and his Daughters", the basis for Fiddler on the Roof.

 

 

We walked through the garden with lots of roses.

 

 

After that we went back to the hotel, arriving around 5:30.  It was a very nice day.

 

Tonight, I’d booked a dinner through a company called Eat With, that connects people to eating experiences with people who like to cook.

 

I’d picked out an experience with a local young woman named Josafina, who offered a cooking class for empanadas.  A few years ago, we had a Blue Apron empanada dish.  There was extra filling, so Glen decided to make dough.  It didn’t go great.  So I thought we’d learn.

 

We were supposed to be there at 7, and Rosty told us 20 minutes.  So at 6:35ish we went downstairs to get an Uber.  Glen then realized he didn’t have it set up.  So he went in to add a credit card.  Then we tried calling the Uber.  It took a couple of minutes to get a driver, and it said he was 9 minutes away.  For a long time, he didn’t move.  It really took about 20.  I let Josefina know we were running late.  At about 7:15 the driver dropped on a street.  We didn’t see the address, so we wandered for a few minutes and found it.  We let her know we were downstairs, and she came down.

 

We went up to their third floor apartment where we her boyfriend Natcho.   The dining room table was set for 4 but we went into the kitchen where 2 stools had been set up with a work table.

 

We started with making dessert, which was Flan.  She made the caramel but we mixed the dough.  

 

Next was the empanadas.  We were having beef with olives, eggs, parsley, onions and pepper.  Glen  cooked up the meat and then Josefina showed him how to make the dough.

 

While this was going on, Nacho brought out some picked eggplant, cheese, bread and olives for us to snack on, as well as an aperitif, and wine.  One wine was called orange wine.  No, it’s not made from oranges, but rather it’s white made with red processing techniques.  It was quite good.

 

We enjoyed good conversation, while we waited for the dough and meat to be ready.

 

Next, we assembled the empanadas.  In addition to the meet, we had cheese and onion.  Those got folded into a u (you can see them in the picture0

 

The last thing we made was a jar of our own pickled eggplant.  She gave us a bowl of sliced and dried eggplant, and some spices and olive oil and we filled the jars.

 

Then it was time for dinner.  Here we are:

 

 

The moon was beautiful rising over the building across the way.

 

We had good conversation and enjoyed both types of empanadas.  

 

We finished with the flan, and it was amazing..

 

After enjoying our dessert, it was time to go.  Josefina walked us down and we waited about 3 minutes for an Uber.  This was easier, and we were soon back at the hotel with our jars of eggplant.  Overall, a very nice day.

 

 

 

 

 

[abbydancer2003]

Infinity Day 0 - Buenos Aires Day 2

 

 

Today was our food tour.  Two ladies from our roll call were joining us, Michelle and Debbie.  They both arrived yesterday, although Debbie missed a connection, so was rerouted to Copa,  We met them in the lobby, and learned that while Debbie arrived, her luggage didn’t.  

 

Right around 10:30 Fabian, our guide arrived. The tour is a walking food tour in San Telmo. Fabian agreed to meet at our hotel, and we can cab over.  Because there are 4 of us, it will take two cabs.

 

We went outside, and within about 10 minutes had the two cabs.  Fabian told the driver of the first cab where to go - we sent Glen and Michelle in that one, and Fabian took Debbie and me.  

 

We arrived at the corner specified, the cabs were paid and we went into our fist of 3 stops - a bar/coffee shop, where we learned all about mate tea, the Argentine drink.  We also had several pastries.  

 

On the pastries, Fabian showed us a report on instagram of the best cookies in the world.  The first was an Algerian cookie, and the Argentine Aljajores (Dulce de Leche sandwich cookie) was second.  Incidentally, form the US there were 3 in the top 100.  Chocolate chip at 13, and further down, snickerdoodles and then peanut butter cookies.

 

 

 

We also had croissants, and some Dulce de Leche, which I spread on the croissant. 

 

Most of the time was spent learning about mate.  First we drank some from tea bags, and then we learned about the gourd, where loose tea is put in, water is added, and you drink it out of a a filtered straw.  We learned about some of the sharing traditions, although there’s less of that since Covid.  He also told us about the plastic kits, which have a small tub of loose tea and a plastic filter.  

 

 

You add water, and we drank it and then more water and drink again.  Each drink gets smoother.

That was a lot of fun and then we were off to our next stop, the Empanada stop.

 

We ended up at a empanada specialty restaurant.   We could pick beef lamb or pork.  I had pork and Glen had lamb and we traded tastes.  That’s where we learned that the dough was decorated differently depending on the filling.  For example, as we saw yesterday, the veggie ones are folded and the beef are braided.

 

They were all good, but we were sitting outside, and it was very hot.  Fabian promised the meat stop would be air conditioned.

 

From there we walked to a local Parrilla.  Steak is, of course, what Argentina is famous for.  We had a popular French Fry preparation - with garlic and parsley.  The garlic wasn’t overpowering so it was good.  We also had grilled Provolone cheese, also good.  For steaks, we had flank, tenderloin and sirloin.  For sauce you usually get chimichurri and a mix of onion, tomato, and red peppers.  It was accompanied by a very nice red wine.  There were leftovers, but he had another tour, and we were in a hotel so they stayed there. 

 

After the tasting we said goodbye to Fabian.  Debbie and Michelle wanted to buy some wine and needed a pharmacy for some face cream.  Fabian had given us directions and we found a very nice wine shop.  They bought some wine.  We have a day in BA after the cruises so we might go back.  

 

Across the street was a pharmacy, so we headed there.  It was small with everything behind the counter, which was similar to the pharmacy I went into in Curacao last year (contact solution).  They got what we needed, so Glen called an Uber for us.

 

The Uber guy came reasonably quickly, and we headed back to the hotel.  After a break, we were going to change money for dinner.  Michelle indicated she wanted to go, so asked me to text when we were were leaving.

 

About 30 minutes later, I texted, but she said she’d rather rest, which was fine.  We didn’t know exactly how to get to Florida street, so we decided to ask the concierge.  As we headed to the elevators, I decided to go back to the room to get some cold water.  Alas, my key stopped working for the second time.  So I went back without water.

 

One of the Concierges told Glen to go to the Howard Johnson, and there’s a guy there that will give you the Blue Rate. 

 

So we found it on a map on Florida street and walked over.  We entered the lobby and wandered around for a bit, and finally asked the bell guys.  They said it was the office across from them.  We thought maybe it was a gift shop because there were things displayed.  But walking in it was an office and a guy there.  We gave him a US 100.00 add got back around 33000 thousand.  Enough for dinner and maybe the rest of our incidentals.

 

We headed back to the hotel for a while.

 

Around 6:15 I got an email from one of the people we are going to the port with that they’d arrived, and were heading to the lounge.   I said I’d stop by and say hello.  I went up and we spent a while chatting.  I’d made a reservation for 6 people for dinner, but that assumed S&K were coming, but apparently they’re not hanging with other people.  So I invited the couple, Bob & Melissa to join us and Brenda and Bill, the other couple.  They said yes, so I said to meet in the lobby at about 7:45.

 

In the meantime, Brenda & Bill arrived.  We were meeting them for a drink in our hotel at 7 and then going to dinner.  

 

We had a nice drink, Bob and Melissa joined us and we decided to get two Ubers.  Bill had no trouble, but both Glen and Bob did.  We sent Bill and Brenda off and told them to check us in.  Eventually we did get an Uber, and arrived only about 10 minutes late.  The restaurant was called Fervor, and it was very nice.  We decided to split a 500 g rib-eye, and have creamed spinach and baked potato.  Bob ordered the provolone appetizer and we split it.  We also ordered dessert and coffee.  For dessert, I ordered a pancake with dulce de leche, which turned out to be a slightly bruleed crepe filled with dulce de leche.  It was fantastic.  

 

At the end, and about 10:45, we decided it was easiest to split the bill 3 ways, since nobody had a whole lot more than anyone else.  It ended up, with tip, to be about 19000 Argentine, around 50.00 total for us.  That was a great meal for that.  

 

We then Ubered back to the hotel and said good night.  Before bed I put on my luggage tags, because tomorrow we board.

 

 

 

[asnaleah]

We also did a Jewish heritage tour in BA, but with a different tour company. It was excellent! We did a walking food tour with Sherpa tours. Very, very good. Loved BA!

Edited March 13, 2023 by asnaleah

[MOcruisinggardener]

Hi Abby dancer,

I'll be on the March 23 cruise and was following but notice no posts from you since you boarded Infinity. Wondering if this is due to internet issues? 

[abbydancer2003]

39 minutes ago, MOcruisinggardener said:

Hi Abby dancer,

I'll be on the March 23 cruise and was following but notice no posts from you since you boarded Infinity. Wondering if this is due to internet issues? 

Actually, course work.  I should have updates starting tonight - I've got a couple of days ready, and should get caught up soon.

 

Internet is OK, Good on laptop, but the phone goes in and out.  No idea why.

[wrk2cruise]

5 minutes ago, abbydancer said:

phone goes in and out.  No idea why.

 

Under the wifi connection make sure "Auto Join" is enabled.