Live from the Zuiderdam - August 24 to August 31- Maine and Canada

[Rubyfisch]

Just now, daisy-mae said:

I'm a little late to this thread...just wondering if you noticed anyone playing pickleball onboard? I didn't see it mentioned in the dailies? Thanks.

The sports court was closed for the whole trip as they were resurfacing it. Apparently, they are trying to fit two pickleball courts instead of one up there.

[daisy-mae]

2 minutes ago, Rubyfisch said:

The sports court was closed for the whole trip as they were resurfacing it. Apparently, they are trying to fit two pickleball courts instead of one up there.

Great news! Thanks for the quick reply. 🙂

[Rubyfisch]

We had dinner at our favorite restaurant - Garage Beruit:

 

 

 

 

[atexsix]

15 hours ago, Rubyfisch said:

Back to the excursion - the stained glass is amazing. You don't need to be a church person or an art person to appreciate the beauty. I think the only place I've ever seen that was more beautiful was Sainte Chapelle in Paris:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I enjoy church tours, but did so many in France that they started to look the same after awhile.  This church is stunning though.  

 

You can almost hold a service in your hotel room, huge space!

[Rubyfisch]

13 minutes ago, atexsix said:

I enjoy church tours, but did so many in France that they started to look the same after awhile.  This church is stunning though.  

 

You can almost hold a service in your hotel room, huge space!

It's so unnecessarily large ... I feel we could play multiple games of volleyball in here at the same time.

[Rubyfisch]

We bought the five attraction Passport Montreal last time we were here, and had one of each class of attractions left to use. We went to the Science Center first. This gave us a chance to practice our French as the displays are mostly geared towards kids, so the French is very easy. They had this cook projected light display about meal, as part of a whole exhibit on the science of food:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

Then we went to the Montreal Tower - this was our last attraction and it seemed like the best of the options. It had really good views, but I don't think I would have paid full price for it. It is directly next to the cruiseport where we got off Volendam, so I think you could probably drop your luggage off and then do this before boarding if you were starting Montreal of you wanted to.

 

A little tiny cruise ship was docked - I think I saw her while we were on the Saint Lawrence on Friday. The ship is the MS Hamburg, on a Greenland to Montreal cruise.

 

 

 

View of Mont Royal behind the skyline:

 

 

You take an elevator up to the main viewing platform, and the stairs up another could of flights:

 

 

 

 

Biosphere in the distance.

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

We had lunch on La Belle & La Boeuf, a local burger bar chain. I forgot take pictures but it was pretty good - I had a fancy grilled cheese with tomato soup and sweet potato fries.

 

Now we are back at the hotel watching the rain roll in.

[Calgary3]

On 8/27/2024 at 7:20 PM, Rubyfisch said:

Northern lights!!!!

 

If you look at this picture through your phone camera, you can see the lights much better.

[Rubyfisch]

We went to see Aura, the light and music display at Notre Dame. You can't take pictures during it, but here are some from before it starts. It's quite dark before the show, so some of these are taken using my Pixel's night mood with a six second exposure. The show is music and lights, with no explanation or really any communication other than to not take pictures. But it is pretty cool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

[Rubyfisch]

Dinner at another favorite - Burger Bar Crescent. This pesto Mac and cheese is amazing ....

 

[oakridger]

13 minutes ago, Calgary3 said:

If you look at this picture through your phone camera, you can see the lights much better.

 

Oh, how interesting!  I didn't know it was possible to see even a picture of the aurora with the phone camera.  It really works!!  Thanks for this!

 

~Nancy

[Calgary3]

1 minute ago, oakridger said:

 

Oh, how interesting!  I didn't know it was possible to see even a picture of the aurora with the phone camera.  It really works!!  Thanks for this!

 

~Nancy

Nancy, if you live in an area where you might have a chance to see the northern lights - use your phone camera - so much better.  I forget where I learned this, but have taken some pretty amazing pictures with the camera and couldn't see them nearly as well without.

[Rubyfisch]

Well folks, we are almost at the end ... The bags are repacked, we are checked into our flight, and we'll be heading to the airport in a couple of hours.

 

But the surest cure for the post-cruise blues is another cruise, right? We have a couple booked, but this is my next one - a solo cruise at Christmas on Neiuw Amsterdam in the Caribbean. I spent the past to Christmases on Royal Caribbean solo, and had one booked for this year, but kind of got cold feet about it, so before final payment, I decided to switch it out for this one. I haven't done a solo on Holland or a Caribbean on Holland, so if anyone has advice, let me know.

 

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for sharing your cruise.

Safe home.

[akeka]

I sailed HAL solo to Hawaii and the key for me was assigned dining.  My table of 8 was all singles except for one couple and we had a great time together that crossed into other shipboard activities.

[Rubyfisch]

13 minutes ago, akeka said:

I sailed HAL solo to Hawaii and the key for me was assigned dining.  My table of 8 was all singles except for one couple and we had a great time together that crossed into other shipboard activities.

I am a big fan of set time dining, and when possible, at a big table with others.

[Rubyfisch]

We got coffee at Columbus & Co., which is a large French coffee chain. The coffee and pastries are great there:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

The Bell Centre plays the Canadiens fight song .... 

 

(Hopefully this video works ...)

 

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

We took the 747 bus to the airport - it's a quick and easy ride. Also, if you are taking the bus from the airport, there are two options 747-1 and 747-2, which used to have different names.

 

If you want to go downtown on the bus or to the main train station, take 1. If you want to get on the orange or green lines, take either.

 

[shiner6]

We stayed for another night in Quebec . It rained the entire time. It was still quite charming if not wet. We walked around in the rain and had lunch near our boutique hotel while waiting for our room to be ready. We stayed at Hotel Marie-Rollet. Fabulous location! Had a few Irish coffees to warm and dry out.

[Rubyfisch]

Just boarded our flight home ... I really hate CRJ900s ... I have so many bad memories of getting stuck in the regional terminal at Harts Field in Atlanta because of mechanical issues in whatever miserable CRJ was taking me to a smaller southern airport.

 

Seriously, a Dash-8 would be better ....

[maraena]

One of my favorite things about a HAL Caribbean cruise is a cabana up in the Retreat area, particularly on a cruise where I know there will be a lot of families also enjoying their cruise in their own way. If there's still availability (and I'd be surprised if there is), it would be one of my top recommendations. A nice quiet place to go when all the world has devolved into chaos.  

[Rubyfisch]

Landed back in Boston ... There is inexplicable traffic on the ground at Logan ... We circled for probably twenty to thirty minutes, landed almost 25 minutes ago, and are still stuck in ground congestion not able to reach our gate ... So, you know, like driving in Boston .... 😆

 

Route into Logan:

 

[Rubyfisch]

In an Uber home ... So I think we are all done but the laundry. If anyone has questions, happy to answer them.

 

And I'll be back for another live in December.