Beth's 70th Birthday Cruise to New England and Canada
June 20, 2024
My sister Beth decided she wanted to do a New England/Canada cruise for her 70th birthday. We (Beth, Jim, Ina, Mike, Gloria, Alison, Rob, JJ and Seth) all gathered in Boston prior to the cruise to start our journey. Jim and I nonreved direct to Boston, Alison, Rob and JJ flew AA to Boston with an unscheduled stop in Providence, RI. Crew ran out of duty time, so they took an Uber to Boston! They arrive 10 minutes after us at the Westin Boston Seaport about midnight.
June 21, 2024 Friday
Mike and Gloria scheduled to arrive at 10am and Beth and Seth at 11am into Boston. Mike texted me to tell me his birthdate was wrong on his ticket. I have a real problem with his birthdate! I was the one who entered it incorrectly again!!
Just our luck! Today is the Boston Celtics championship celebration and parade! Insult to injury for us Miami Heat fans.
JJ loved seeing and spending time with Bobbie!
JJ challenged Jim "Grumpy" to a chess game.
Checkmate in 4 moves! No competition for JJ!
We walked to the USS Constitution. The ship was built in Boston out of white oak and launched in 1797. It is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world today. During the War of 1812 the ship gained fame and its name “Old Ironsides” when it resisted British cannon fire. It remains both a training and ceremonial ship for the Navy, as well as an educational experience for visitors.
We all enjoyed the ship and JJ was so sweet to pose for all of us to take pictures.
Rob, Mike, Jim and Ina walked to Bunker Hill. The rest headed back to hotel via Uber. The 221-foot tall obelisk built entirely from quarried granite took over 17 years to complete and is located on top of Breed's Hill.
On June 17, 1775, New England soldiers faced the British army in a pitched battle. Known as "The Battle of Bunker Hill." The bloody fighting took place throughout a hilly landscape of fenced pastures across the Charles River from Boston. The British forces claimed the field, but the casualties inflicted by the solders from MA, CT, and NH were staggering (of the ~2,400 British soldiers ~1,000 were wounded or killed.)
June 22, 2024 Saturday
We all boarded the Holland America Volendam today.
You know you are on a ship that caters to the old folk when the elevators tell you what day of the week it is!
We shot some basketball and hit some practice pickleball with JJ.
June 23, 2024 Sunday
We sailed from Boston to Bar Harbor, Maine overnight. We arrived to "white out" thick fog conditions. This is a tender port so going ashore is a bit tricky. This picture was taken off our balcony at 8am.
Ali, Rob and JJ had a tour of Arcadia National Park. They drove an electric car around the island and park. The rest of us finally bailed on going ashore due to the cold, rainy weather.
Lobster Roll for lunch!
Apparently, JJ picked up more "gems" on the beach.
Ali, Rob and JJ at Arcadia National Park!
Dinner is sometimes a challenge with wrangling 9 people with a 7 year-old!
June 24, 2024 Monday
Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada:
Arriving to Halifax we spotted a lighthouse. Nova Scotia has a minimum of 74 lighthouses.
We took a tour to Peggy's Cove and Lighthouse. Peggys Cove was built in 1868. It was a wood house with a beacon on the roof. At sundown, the keeper lit a kerosene oil lamp magnified by a silver-plated mirror creating a red beacon light marking the eastern entrance to St. Margarets Bay. That lighthouse was replaced with this octagonal lighthouse in 1914. It is 49 feet high. The old wooden lighthouse became the keeper's dwelling and remained near to the current lighthouse until it was damaged by Hurrican Edna in 1954 and was removed. The lighthouse was automated in 1958.
Our obligatory selfie. On the way there, we were warned about all the different ways we could die by falling into the ocean while walking about the lighthouse.
Ali and JJ!
Returning to the ship, we couldn't resist some cornhole! It was really windy and Mike and Jim struggled to get them on the board.
Beth won all 4 games with Mike. She scored more points than anyone.
PANTHERS WIN THE STANLEY CUP! First time in franchise history beating the Edmonton Oilers! Had to watch in on game cast as our ESPN was blocked that night.
June 25, 2024 Tuesday
Sydney, Nova Scotia Canada. Another cold rainy day! This is the World’s Largest Fiddle on the Sydney waterfront. The fiddle and bow reach a height of 60 feet! It was designed and constructed by Cyril Hearn in 2005 as a tribute to the folk music and traditions of the province’s Celtic community.
our obligatory selfie in front of our ship, the Holland America Volendam.
The bagpipe was brought from Scotland and continue to maintain the Gaelic culture and tradition.
We played team trivia. Our Team Beth (since it is everything Beth this week), won the Team trivia! The Fletcher competitive spirit lives on! We won tulips for our first place prize!
Specialty Dinner tonight! I declined dessert so the waiter brought me this! JJ thought it was so funny he had to take a picture of it with his camera too.
June 26, 2024 Wednesday
We docked at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (PEI), which is Canada's smallest providence both in land and population. It is an island of 2190 square miles and a population of 177,000.
We enjoyed the Anne of Green Gables tour. We visited the home where the author, Lucy Maud Montgomery, grew up in Cavendish, PEI with her maternal grandparents. We toured the house where decedents have resided for many years. Our Host was Pam.
The lake in front of the house was called by Lucy in the book "The Lake of Shining Waters."
Jim went for a walk in the woods behind the house that Lucy named "The Whispering Woods" in her book. Beth, Seth, Mike and Gloria went with us on this adventure. We enjoyed a scone and a raspberry cordial on the porch.
We traveled to Lucy's relative's home of which was the inspirational setting for her book "Anne of Green Gables". The 'Haunted Woods" were to the left of the house and "Lovers Lane" to the right.
June 27, 2024 Thursday
Beth is officially 70 years-old today!!! We have a day at sea for her to enjoy the day. Pictures to celebrate the day!
June 28, 2024 Friday
Quebec City was packed with a full day of sightseeing on this tour.
We started out in the old city. Built in the 1600's it is the only walled city in N America.
Chateau Frontenac is the most photographed hotel in the world. The Dufferin Terrace (named after Lord Dufferin) provides a view of the St. Lawrence River and the hotel.
We drove through the Plains of Abraham is a park from 1759.This is the site of the famous Battle of Quebec. This confrontation decided the fate of Canada when the British defeated the French. The British built the Citadelle de Quebec 1820-1850 (Military Heritage Site). It is the largest British fortress in N America.
We stopped at a copper art gallery, Albert Gilles Cuivres D'Art. Albert Gilles was an artist born in France in 1895 who excelled in the making silver and copper art and items. Since his death in 1979, his wife, daughters and granddaughters have continued this disappearing art with the same tradition of excellence. We bought a plate that his wife hand painted. Albert created the doors to the St. Ann Cathedral seen below.
Basilica of Sainte Anne de-Beaupre' is credited by the Catholic Church with many miracles of curing the sick and disabled.
They have "relics" from St. Ann (mother of Mary and Grandmother of Jesus) at an alter to the left of the main alter. The relic is from the forearm of St. Ann. People come from all over the world to pray to the angels of St. Ann to heal them.
Lunch at Auberge Baker Restaurant was fantastic! This is an ancestral house from the 1840s that offers Quebec cuisine with locally sourced food. It was a beautiful day today! This was taken in the garden.
Montmorency Falls is 30 meters higher than Niagra Falls. Ali took the picture below.
June 29, 2024 Saturday
Montreal: The clock tower as we arrived into the Port of Montreal
Why must every major city have a Ferris Wheel?
Cirque du Soleil was started in Quebec City. This one is Kurios - Cabinet of Curiosities.
Beth, Seth, Ali, Rob and JJ all headed out on their city tour then staying overnight at the Airport In-Terminal Hotel. Mike, Glorida, Jim and Ina headed to the airport for our flights home. Jim and Ina found themselves with only 1 seat left on their flight...a quick kiss goodbye and Jim saying I will let you know when I get on a flight! Ina got the only seat available on the ATL to FLL flight also! Jim followed by jump seating on an Air Canada flight direct to FLL arriving about 1 1/2 hours after Ina.