Thursday August 31, 2023 A Night in El Paso:
Since the El Paso to Montreal trip is an all-day affair and our flight to Montreal is at 6 AM, we opted to drive to El Paso the night before and stay in a hotel. We stopped in Las Cruces on the way, had lunch at Dion's (our favorite pizza place) and then did some shopping at Home Depot. We arrived in El Paso and checked in and then later went to dinner with our neighbors from NMAV, who coincidentally were going on a cruise overlapping ours but from the opposite direction. Dinner was at the Great American Steakhouse by the El Paso airport and the food was wonderful!
Friday September 1, 2023 El Paso to Montreal:
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Our flight took us to Altanta where we had a 4.5 hour layover. Here is a view of the control tower from Terminal E.
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Barry waiting at our Atlanta gate for our flight to Montreal and for Kevin to show up. He is joining us on this cruise.
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We arrived in Montreal, took an Uber from the airport and then went to eat dinner. A few blocks from our hotel we found Rue Saint Paul which is a street which is closed to traffic that is lined with shops, restaurants and outdoor cafes. We ate at the Vieux-Port steakhouse and then walked along Rue Saint Paul. It was bustling. This was one of the many interesting buildings along this street.
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Saturday September 2, 2023 Montreal:
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We slept in and then went to breakfast at this bakery / coffee shop - Le Petite Dep which sat in the shadow of the Notre Dame Basilica. It was a very pleasant shop with wonderful baked goods.
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After we ate breakfast we went around to the entrance of Notre Dame Basilica and decided to take the tour. Here is a view of the two bell towers and the front of the church. The tower on the right is being cleaned and repaired.
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The Notre Dame Basilica is a beautiful work of Gothic Revival Architecture, buit in the 1800s. This is a view of the eloborate and breathtaking altar. The blue and gold colors are very serene and comforting and the intricately carved woodwork is magnificent.
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Around the periphery of the sanctuary are a number of large stained glass windows, which do not depict classical biblical scenes but the religious history of Montreal.
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Here is a raised pulpit located near the center of the church. Again the wood work and carvings are exquisite.
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Looking to the rear of the church you get a glimpse of the Casavantes Freres pipe organ from 1891 with its 7000 individual pipes. Concerts are held on Thursday nights and also around Christmas when they play Handel's Messiah.
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In front of the Notre Dame Basilica is Place d'Armes. This is the second oldest public space in Montreal. It was called Place de la Fabrique when it was developed in 1693. It was renamed in 1791 and became the stage of various Military events. In the center is the Maisonneuve Monument to the memory of Paul de Chomedy commmorating the defense of the settlement against the Iroquois.
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The Place d'Armes is surrounded by some beautiful buildings. Here are the New York Life Building (red brick) and the Alred Building, a fine example of Art Deco architecture.
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Barry and I had a romantic lunch at Chez Suzette a creperie along Rue Saint Paul. After that we took a walk along this pedestrian corridor. Barry saw two dogs enjoying the sun in an outdoor cafe. It was a gorgeous day and the temperature was a very pleasant 75 degrees.
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Another look at Rue Saint Paul as we wandered around Old Montreal.
Later in the evening we all went to L'Original a moose-themed restaurant a few blocks from the hotel. They has a pretty eclectic menu and we had Pork Schnitzel and Poutin. Poutin, al local delicacy, is french fries covered with brown gravy and cheese curds. They added real truffles on top and the dish (at least at this restaurant) contained more salt than allowed by law. It was tasty, but in small quantities! The pork schnitzel was also very good.
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Sunday September 3, 2023 Embarkation Day:
We had breakfast in the hotel, got cleaned up and then checked out, checked our bags at the hotel, and went to Chez Suzette for lunch. It was very pleasant. then we walked back to the hotel to wait until we could board the ship.
At 1 PM we summoned an Uber and got our bags together. We headed for the dock and found the port building. We then handed off our luggage and went inside to see what embarkation would be like. We were very pleasantly surprised when there was no line, we sped through and was in our cabin 15 minutes later. Wow what a change from the horrible experience in San Diego.
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We went to dinner at 5 and enjoyed the food and meeting our waiters. Then we went up on deck for the sail away. Here is a view of the Port of Montreal Building from the ship.
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As we were sailing down the St. Lawrence River, leaving Montreal, we saw the Montreal Biosphere. This Biosphere was built as U.S. Pavilion for Expo '67. It was designed by Buckminster Fuller. It is currently operated as an interactive museum on the environment.
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Further downriver we saw the stadium built for the 1976 Summer Olympics. It is currently a multipurpose facility used for sports and concerts but has no contracted home team after the departure of the Montreal Expo's to Washington.
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Monday September 4, 2023 Quebec City:
We explored town of Quebec City on our own today. The city is very hilly and predominantly French speaking. Many signs are French-only. It is a lovely town.
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Barry and I got up at 5 A.M. to go up on deck and see the old Quebec bridge which crosses the St. Lawrence river. This picture shows the new Quebec Bridge in the foreground and the old Quebec Bridge in the background.
This old Quebec bridge catastrophically failed and fell into the St. Lawrence twice during the construction - in 1907 and 1916 resulting into years-long inquiries. It was finally successfully completed in 1919.
It is a cantilevered truss design and is still holds the record as the longest cantilever span. It is also the eastern-most bridge crossing the St. Lawrence river.
The original failures were caused by joint failure of the too-thin riveted splice place which highlighted a new structural failure mode related to the thickenss-of-plate-to-fastener-diameter ratio and local out-of-plane failure of the splice plate at the edge of the hole.
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Looking back at the entire old Quebec Bridge in the foreground. It is a beautiful iron truss bridge.
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A former branch of the Canadian Bank of Commerce near the port with the lovely statue of La Viviere in the foreground. This is a bronze statue of a woman bearing fruit and vegetables from around the world. It is located in Place de FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). In warm weather water flows from the waves below the statue.
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Walking through Old Quebec City.
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Our ship from the parapets of Old Quebec City.
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We took the funnicular up to the top of the promnotory of Old Quebec City. Kevin and Barry aboard the funnicular.
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At the top of city there is the a large courtyard and boardwalk that runs along the front of the Chateau Frontenac which has a conmmanding view of the port. It is built on the remains of the fort and there are windows into the foundation of the fort along the boardwalk.
This is a statue of Samual du Champlain, French explorer, navigator, cartographer, draftsman, soldier, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler. And, oh yes, founder of Quebec City!
The Chateau Frontenac opened in 1893 and built by the Canadian Pacific Railway is an impressive 18 story stone edifice still in operation today.
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A view of Quebec City from our ship. The Chateau Frontenac is the large building on the left sitting on the promnotory.
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A view of the port facilities in Quebec City from our ship.
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After dinner we went to watercolor class. The very nice docent instructed us in some basic watercolor techniques. This is a horse that I did.
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Here is the whale and sailboat that Kevin did.
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Tuesday September 5, 2023 Baie Comeau:
Today we arrived in the small town of Baie Comeau. Its big industries were a large paper mill and an aluminum manufacturing plant. We have a shore excursion to Parc Nature Pointe-aux-Outardes, a nature preserve on the Outardes River.
We board the school bus for a 45 minute drive to the park. It is a beautiful day with temperature around 75 degrees. We wind our way through a couple of small touwns as our guide tells us some of the local history. It was a refreshingly quaint tour as we got to see their new golf course, some of the abandoned paper mill structures and the hydroelectric dam. When we arrived at our destination, we broke into small groups for our walk through the park with some of the park's rangers.
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The first leg of our journey was through the boreal forest. We found out that a boreal forest is a forest that grows in northern (cold) regions of the northern hemisphere. The species of trees are typically cold tolerant coniferous species suce as spruce and fir. Our guide also showed us several plants which are edible and medicinal.
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There were many types of red berries present - this is an American Mountain Ash tree. The dangerous thing is that some red berries were edible and others were poisonous. Probably best to avoid them all!
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The next ecosystem we passed through was a salt marsh. It is very popular with many bird species, but none seemed to be in residence today.
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Then we came to the sand dunes. When the preserve was founded in the mid-1980s, much of the dunes had been stripped of vegetation and eroded away. They replanted many of the native grasses and vegetation and slowly the dunes have been revitalized.
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The sand dunes transtitioned in to beach. They also said this area is very rich in krill and other small sea plants which are a huge benefit to the environment.
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Wednesday September 6, 2023 Havre St. Pierre:
We decided to not go ashore today and take it easy on the ship.
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The small town of Havre Saint Pierre from the ship. There were a few shore excursions here and it looks like a few shops and restaurants.
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A cute little shop right on the dock...Chez Julie!
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Kevin and I went to Origami class. The lady that had taught the watercolor class was teaching it. We did penguins and whales!
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In the afternoon, Barry and I wandered around the ship for a while and enjoyed the beautiful weather and sunshine. There was a light breeze and it was around 70 degrees F.
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I also got a picture of our room today (Cabin 2680) just after the room stewards had visited. We got an inside cabin this time. We were fine on space but I didn't realize how important having the sun come in the room in the morning is. We are sleeping later and later. I almost feel like I am hibernating!
A few other notes about our room. We have one electrical outlet (and no usb outlets) that we share for charging all devices. The room has a safe, but no refrigerator. There is a bed in the ceiling that we have not seen drop down. The sofa also turns into a single bed (left, in photo). It is a little short for an adult and is pretty firm. And the room is apparently located over/near the aft thrusters because every morning when we come into port we get awakened by the ship maneuvering using the thrusters. They are pretty loud. There is no nightlight in the bathroom nor a plug to plug in one of your own. There is an electrical plug which appears to be marker for an electric razor but the recepticle is sprung and a plug will not stay engaged. On the positive side, the temperature is very consistent and the air conditioner/heater is very quiet. There is also floor lighting that is motion activated so if you get up in the night, it turns on at floor level for a few minutes (but not in the bathroom).
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And our elephant towel animal morphed into a cow! We feel very special because on our previous cruise we only got towel animals on formal night and we have gotten them pretty much every day on this cruise!
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After dinner we saw a beautiful sunset over the St Lawrence River on our way the Crow's Nest for Team Trivia. Science was the theme. We got 15/18 - not bad since it wasn't science it was actually mostly physics.
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Thursday September 7, 2023 Corner Brook, Newfoundland:
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When we went out on the back deck of the ship to get a look at the Corner Brook port area, we saw the Zaandam cows sunning themselves by the aft pool!
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We took a cab to see the Captain Cook Monument. Master Cook was assigned to survey the area in 1763, before he took his more famous voyages around the world. He spent 5 years charting and mapping Newfoundland, learning valuable skills that would later be put to use in charting New Zealand and Australia.
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Here is one of the very accurate charts Captain Cook made in his surveys, immortalized in bronze. Many of his maps and charts were used into the 20th century.
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The Cook monument is located on a high overlook over the Humber Arm of Bay of Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The mountains across at the northern teminus of the Appalachain Mountains.
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Here is another view of the bay with Barry and Lori in the foreground and our ship, the Zaandam in the background.
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After leaving the Cook Monument we had our cab driver drop us in the center of Corner Brook so we could walk around a bit and then take the shuttle back to the ship. This is the central area which had a town square, the library, city hall and a small museum. There is also a memorial to the soldiers that fought in World War I, World War II and the Afghanistan Brittish Expeditionary Force.
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At the top of the War Memorial is a caribou which was chosen by the Newfoundland government in 1914 to represent the Royal Newfoundland Regiment for the Brittish Empire. The image of the caribou crying for her gallant sons from its rocky outcrop has come to symbolize Newfoundland's pride in her people and her land.
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We caught the shuttle back to the ship and as we were walking back from the bus stop, we noticed the crane situated for moving shipping containers. Our dock today is in a very industrialized port area.
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Friday September 8, 2023 St. Anthony, Newfoundland (cancelled)...Day at Sea:
We awakend to rolling seas and bad weather today. We were really looking forward to our shore excursion today to the viking village, L'Ans aux Meadows, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1968. This has been excavated and found to be a Norse village from around 1000 AD.
Unfortunately, this is also a tender port. When we arrived in St. Anthouny's harbor, the Captain announced that the waves and wind were too high to safely tender and the port was cancelled. We proceeded to St. John (our next port of call) and would arrive early.
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I went to Origami class and then Kevin joined. In the first portion, we did a crane and then sea horses. The crane was pretty complex.
We stayed busy. Kevin and Barry worked out. I worked on the vacation blog to get caught up. We went and listened to some classical music. Barry and I ate in the dining room. Kevin ate in the Lido.
The show in the evening were the Holland America dancers and we didn't go to that. Instead we went back to the room and worked on a murder mystery by Deadbolt Mysteries - A Dark and Stormy night. It was the first of this company's games we have done and it was a bit frustrating at first. But it had some interesting cypers which we worked out. But then we kind of hit a brick wall. We turned to the facebook group which provided a few hints and we stopped for the night. We will take ut up again on our upcoming day at sea.
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Saturday September 9, 2023 St. John, Newfoundland :
The weather was overcast with light wind and rains, but we docked safely in St. John and after breakfast met in the World Stage to join our tour. Today we were going to the Cape Spear Lighthouse, for a drive around historic St John and then up to Signal Point.
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After a short drive through part of St. John we arrived at the Cape Spear lighthouse. Although lighthouses in Cape Spear have been at this location since 1836 this is the 'new' Cape Spear lighthouse, built in 1955. It retains the dioptric lens system (moved from the previous lighthouse) that was originally lit by oil, then acytelene and finally, in 1930, electricity.
This lighthouse is located on the Avalon Peninsula. Our guide told us the name Cape Spear was an anglicized version of the original Portugese name Cabo du Esparanc'a (Cape of Hope) and not the because the shape of the spit of land looks like a spear.
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We walked down to lands end to look at the Atlanic Ocean crashing on the shore. This location is the easternmost point of North America.
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During World War II, there was a British military site located at Cape Spear. Here is one of the hidden long guns which were used to protect the port of St. John from German attack. St. John was an important port used in the transport of goods and supplies to England.
Newfoundland was an English colony until after World War II, then became an independent country and finally joined Canada in 1949.
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The bunker, formerly the ammunition magazine, displayed a large mural of the gun in action. They would pop up out of their cradles for firing. The berms located in front of them hid them from view by ships at sea.
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Walking back to the bus, we had this lovely view of both the new and previous (far right) Cape Spear lighthouses.
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After we finished up at Cape Spear, we wound our way through the vary picturesque contryside, back through a different area of town and up to signal hill. Barry loved the name of this establishment as we often joke that our drink of choice...Diet Coke, are "brewskis".
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Here are Kevin and Lori at the top of Signal Hill with the bay and the Zaandam in the background.
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This is Cabot Tower which crowns the top of Signal Hill. It is named for its strategic location overlooking the bay.
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The view of St. John, the bay and a view of the strategic location of the Queen's Guns from Signal Hill. Yes our ship had to go in and out of that very narrow passage!
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Here is a closer view of the Queen's (Victoria) Guns on Signal Hill.
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This is a pond with some birds on the way up to Signal Hill.
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This is Sable. She is only 6 months old and is a Newfoundland. She has webbed paws and will gain about another hundred pounds before reaching adulthood. Her fur was the thick and extremely soft, her lower legs looked like black velvet and she loved on everyone who had their picture taken with her. Unbelievably calm and super sweet disposition!
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While Lori sat and watched Sable get her picture taken, Barry and Kevin went into the museum in Cabot tower and saw this exhibit on Guglielmo Marconi. On December 12, 1901, he received the first transatlantic wireless signal sent from the southwest coast of England, 2100 miles away to Signal Hill.
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An unusual map was on display at Cabot Tower with Newfoundland as the center of the world. The concentric circles show equidistant locations from Newfoundland.
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After the tour returned us to the port area we split up with Kevin and Barry and Lori went in search of a pizza place Barry had seen. It was called Boston Pizza and the pizza was pretty good. Here is Barry enjoying himself.
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Here was a really interesting building on Water Street. It appeared to have an Octopus erupting from the building!
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On the way to the pizza parlor, we passed by East Coast Quilt Store. After lunch we popped in and Lori found some wonderful alien fabric and a cute Row by Row of Puffins. It will make a lovely table runner. They were all cute (they had 4 different styles in all) but Barry and I liked the top one best so that's the one Barry got for me!
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As we walked back to the ship we had ice cream at a little sidewalk cafe. We also saw this seascape mural on the side of one of the buildings on Water Street.
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In the evening we went to the specialty Italian restaurant - the Canaletto for the second time this cruise. Kevin took this photo of Lori and Barry.
After dinner we made it to Trivia in the Crow's Nest. Tonight was 'History' and we all three contributed to the answers and we won! We got Holland Amrica pins for Northern Europe. Pretty exciting!
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When we got back to the room after going to the second performance of Steven Scott, Bribbit was waiting for us. This is one of the few towel animals that got named, but when Barry ask him his name, he replied "Bribbit".
This time Steven Scott did Catskill jokes in a nod to the great commedians of the Borscht Belt. We also listened to music in the Ocean Bar and watched Alabama lose to Texas in the Mix.
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Sunday September 10, 2023 Day at Sea :
This was our only scheduled day at sea and it was cool, damp and foggy. The ship was blowing the foghorn avery two minutes throughout the day. You could really only hear it on Deck 9: in the Lido, the Crow's Nest and by the pool.
We decided to indulge in breakfast in the main dining room. That was very luxurious and a completely different vibe than breakfast on the Lido.
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We attended the HAL presentation "A City on the Sea" on the Main Stage. It was very good behind the scenes look at HAL ships which had some customization for the Zaandam. At the end they had many of the officers and dining room stewards come into the theater.
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It was another foggy day with almost whiteout conditions. We went up on deck to check it out and the gleaming white of the ship against the white glare of the sky with the background completely obscured by the fog made for a pretty amazing sight. Unfortunately, the phone toned it down a bit in this photo.
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We hung out in the Crow's Nest for a while, reading and talking.
Barry and Kevin worked out, we napped and then went to dinner. After dinner, we started a murder mystery game - A Dark and Stormy Night. It was an interesting game with a lot of puzzles and cyphers to solve. We didn't quite finish but we made some significant progress.
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Monday September 11, 2023 Halifax, Nova Scotia :
Today was one of the big excursions we had been looking forward to - across the Nova Scotia peninsula to see the Bay of Fundy. This was going to be a long excursion (6 hours) but we hoped it would be worth it.
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The first stop on our tour was the Fundy Tidal Interpretive Center which is located Schubencanadie River. It has an observation deck which was an old train trestle and you can watch the tidal bore (the leading edge of the tide) come screaming up the river. This is a view of the automobile bridge from the observation point. It was another foggy day and the bridge materialized from the mist.
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The white foamy material marks the leading edge of the tidal bore of the incoming tide. We missed the very beginning but what we did see was pretty impressive. We saw a number of Zodiac boats riding the tidal bore up river. It looked like a pretty wild ride.
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This is the bank along the Schubenacadie River. When we first arrived the arm of water you see was dry sand. Then Barry snapped this picture.
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This is the same location, three minutes later. And the water continued to rise.
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The Bay of Fundy experiences the highest tidal change on earth. Tidal ranges around the world average about 3 feet. The Bay of Fundy has experienced a 54 foot change. This happens because of the shape and depth of the bay and the amount of water in the bay. The bay itself, once excited, oscillates every 12-13 hours, that is, the water in the bay sloshes back and forth like in a bathtub. This is perfectly synchronized with the Atlantic Ocean tides. So the tides coming in add the push to excite the Bay of Fundy as well as bringing in additional water to add to the massive amount already in the bay. The bay also narrows at the closed end, causing the sloshing water to go higher up the land.
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There were many lovely flowers in the wetlands near the observation point.
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These were growing along the edge of the river. Presumably the water doesn't get this high.
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Here is a train car from the rail line that used to extend along this area. Our guide indicated most of the rail has been pulled up and the old trackbed turned into bike, walking and running trails.
We left the interpretive center and headed to our next stop - Burntcoat Head Park, the home of the worlds highest recorded tides. Highest recorded there was 53.4 feet. Todays estimate was a mere 39 feet.
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This building was the visitor and gift ship for Burntcoat Head Park with a replica of the old lighthouse.
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There is an observation area in this small inlet at the park which allows you to gage how much the water level changes. It has some stairs that lead down to the ocean floor whcih you can use when the tide is out.
When we arrived the group walked down to this area to see high tide for today. This was a picture Barry took of the bank. Then we all wandered around and went back to the picnic area for lunch.
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An hour or so later, after lunch, we all went back down to the observation area as the tide was rolling out. Here is a picture of the same area showing the new water level.
160 billion tons of water flow in and out of the bay in one 12 hour tidal cycle.
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The overlook at the Bay of Fundy after the tide started receding. While the dense fog had lifted, the day was still pretty gray with the sky blending into the sea.
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We saw this most unusual tree near the overlook in Burntcoat Head Park.
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The park was very pretty and peaceful with an abundance of trees.
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It was interspersed with grassy areas and picnic tables. A very serene place.
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Here is our tour guide, Brian, on the ocean floor. He was very entertaining and full of information and anecdotes about Halifax, Nova Scotia and the Bay of Fundy.
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After leaving the Bay of Fundy, we drove back to Halifax and toured some of the old town. Then we returned to the ship.
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Barry and Lori went to the main dining room for dinner. Outside of our window was this most unusual ship. Everyone was speculating that it was a "Google Ship." I found out later from the internet that this is the GPO Grace (or sister ship Sapphire), a heavy lift transport ship (3 exist worldwide) carrying offshore wind turbine parts. And yes, it does sport a Google logo!
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Just as we sat down for dinner, the Captain came on the PA and announded that it was 5 PM and time for us to leave, BUT unfortunately they had to make some repairs while we were docked today and the divers weren't finished. And their new best estimate was 7 PM. Which meant we would arrive in Bar Harbor, Maine no earlier than 10 AM. Normally for us this wouldn't be a problem. But we had booked a non-cruiseline tour of Acadia National Park for 10 AM. This is complicated by the fact that this is a tender port, so you have to allow time to both get a tender and 30-45 minutes for the tender crossing. And, oh one more fly in the ointment - this is our first U.S. port so there's a little matter of going through Customs.
Kevin texted and asked what we should do. He called the tour operator and they were pretty calm and said they would move us to a later timeslot - no problem.
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While we were eating dinner, the fog rolled in and enveloped Georges Island (the small island in Halifax Harbor) and left this crane tower floating above it.
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After dinner we met up with Kevin and enjoyed one final show with the pianist Hyperion Knight. Just before it started (at 7 PM) the departure for Bar Harbor was moved back another 2 hours. After dinner we went back to the room and finished our mystery game. We decided we'd probably enjoy another one from this same company.
At midnight we heard the engines start up...and shut down. At 3 AM We felt the boat rocking so we had finally left Halifax.
Tuesday September 12, 2023 Day at Sea (Bar Harbor cancelled) :
We woke up to extremely dense fog. When we went up for breakfast, the foghorn was once again sounding every two minutes. And the ship was creeping along. Kevin brought up some navigation software on his iPad and we discovered we were still on the east side of the Nova Scotia peninsula going slightly above the speed of the current. We were all speculating that Bar Harbor was canceled. And sure enough, the Captain came on at 8:00 AM and apologized the repairs were not completed until 2 AM. He also said with the fog, the estimated arrival time to Bar Harbor was 3 PM and once the boat was cleared by customs it would be well after our scheduled departure time for Boston. So he and corporate made the decision to skip Bar Harbor. Also our cruise director was under quarantine, and although he didn't say it, everyone suspected Covid.
We emailed the excursion folks in Bar Harbor and explained our stop was cancelled. We also asked if they could issue at least a partial refund or a future credit (their website said no refunds for any reason). They very graciously refunded the entire amount.
The highlight of the day was dinner in the Pinncle restaurant to celebrate Kevin's upcoming birthday. The food was outstanding and the service excellent. Then we went to our room and packed, followed by one last visit to the Ocean Bar to listen to the Ocean Bar Quartet.
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And one last towel animal - Yoda
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Wednesday September 13, 2023 Disembarkation :
This was the most unusual customs and disembarkation we have experienced.
We got up and got dressed. Went down to go through customs on-board the ship with no baggage. The line was long and they hadn't started processing anyone yet. So we went to breakfast and hung out for a bit. After breakfast we went once again to go through customs and this time the line was pretty short and moved quickly. We showed our passports and got cleared. No declarations required. Then our keycards got hole punched and we went back to the room. Did final pack and walked off the ship. Wow!
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Back in the USA driving through Boston.
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