OKOKOK - here goes!

Here we are ... stuffed like Strasborg geese from dinner ... and the reason there were no blog entries is that today was our first day off the ship. So let me bring you up to date ...


Friday AM ... up at 5:30 AM to get ourselves over to the United terminal to fly to San Fran ... for those of yo who are folowing this from Boston here is a tral tip. DO NOT fly United .. no curbside check in ... so when you realize we were the only people on the shutte from the Harborside Hyatt to the airport with 5 pieces of luggage imagine how much fun it was for us to drag all 5 pieces through the airport until we got to the United check in counter. Having paid an extra $39 each for priority check in we waited on line .. until we tipped a United check in guy to get us to a check in counter ... so much for priority ... I guess it gave us priority over everyone else to give the guy a tip. Then, off to the gate which of course was the furthest gate in the terminal ... by the time we got there people were boarding and while we were waitng on line, someoe was kind eough to tell up that prioity people were boarding with first class .. too bad United employees never told us that. Long story short we are not fans oof United. Enough about that. We boarded, we flew, we went to sleep and then woke up (more or less) in San Fran We were immedughly greeted by Crystal employees and mvoed through baggage claim, onto another shuttle, over to the pier. through security, through immigation having just migrated from Mssachusetts and security there!, photographed for our Crystal ID cards (don't leave your room wtiout it), thru more lines and then .. guess what .. I lost my Crystal ID card ... we were less than 300 feet from where the picture had been taken. All right, I finally found it in my bag bu it was not an auspicious beginning when we had already been up for close to 12 hours and the day was far from over.

Finally maade it onto the boat and were ushered into the dining room .. seated with a random group of people who were discussing their Bentleys, Porsches .. one guy from TX had bought his Porsche on line a couple of days earlier so he drove over to the dealership in SanFran to look at it before he boarded the ship! One woman told me that she had a cousin who lives in Cape Cod and she flies out to see her cosuin because her cousin can't afford to visit her and since she can afford to go to Cape Cod she flies out to spend time wit the cousin and take her to dinner etc. That was the total of our bonding over New Engalnd. Got through with that torturous meal and found our stateroom ... in an absolute state of panic ... what are we going to do with these people for 12 days!

Stateroom is lovely ... 2 hair drers ... what more can I ask for! Wenr down and had my laptop set to use on board and then we had a really good time with our life boat drill. Donned the oh so fashionable orange life vest, schlepped down to our muster station ... I am so nautical in my lingo ... and then after that good time back to our state room where we tried to jam 12 days of clothong into the closet and minidrawers. Friday night dinner .. awesome food ... and then we went to the movies.. No free diet coke like we get in the Framingham premium but Jerry liked the popcorn. Off to bed ... 22 hours afte we ahd gotten up!

Sunday ... unbelievable breakfast ... you name it .. it was there ... omelet, bagels, smoked salmon, french toast , belgian waffle, blueberry pancakes, even the maple syrup is heated. Best orange juice ever! Rolled away from the table .. and then had to go to the medial center because I forgot to bring one of my Rxs ... stop laughing Marvin. Made an appointment to see the MD later that day .. he only has hours 9-10 AM and 5 to 6 PM .. . tough gig.

Joined a trivia game with a group from Australia ... only got 9 out of 15 correct .. not one of our best matches. They left to go for lunch but we were waiting around to hear a poli sci prof from Perdue give a lecture on the Post Obama Era and the Mid East ... very interesting presentation. Now we were eady for lunch so up to another deck and had a great lunch ... I then went off to take a computer course on downloading an organizing digital pictures in Windows 7 ... back to see the MD ...Jerry went off for a massage ...Marvin and Brian stop laughing!I hung out on deck ... Then we got ready for the first formal night. Went to the Captain's party ... people were so rude ...talked through his little speech which was boring but nevertheess they could have let poor man speak without drowning him out. Funny little story .. when I saw the MD whom I haad jsut seen two hour earlier he had no idea who I was .. when I introduced myself he said he didnt recognize me ... what a difference makeup makes(the latter are my words, not his.)
Went to a show after dinner .. a very good singer who had been with the Fifth Dimension ... quite entertaining ... off to bed ...

Today was our first shore trip ... went to Victoria .. we wandered around the city for a couple of hours ... saw a Gay Pride parade .. have some great pictures remininscent of Fantasy Fest ... then high tea at the Empress Hotel. There was a couple sitting across from us who are leaving on the Oceana tomorrow for Alaska and will be one day behind us on activities and towns. Had a lot of fun with them .. and begged them to switch to our ship. Sadly they refeused.

Our guide then picked us uo to tour Victoria and go to Butchart Garadens. Spectaclar doesn't begin to cover the beauty of the flowers . Mrs. Butcahrt, whose husband founded Portland cement, started this garden proejct in the quarry which formed the basis of her husband's fortune. When the quarry was exhausted the plantings went in and in and in. Even I,who typcially say one red leaf, one orange leaf, one green leaf .. done with foliage ... was amazed and enchanted by the beauty. Our tour guide who was definitley operating in a different universe than we (did we really have to see the apratment hoe across from her high school?), finally got us back to our boat around 7 PM where we collapsed over a couple of vodka and tonics. Thus fortified we went into dinner ... haven't missed a meal and one is better than the next. Two members of the wait staff are vying fo our attentjon every night ... wish the travelers were as nice as the wait staff.

About 40 percent of the passegers are European and Asian.. whole families with 3 generations ... including their walkers, canes, wheelchairs ... are represented. It is amazing .. a babble of languages. A league of nations heading north to Alaska. However, despite the diversity, there is a distinct lack of friendliness and manners.

Tomorrow is Vancouver and our guide is meeting us at 10:30 AM. So this is the first installment ... if I can figure out how to attach photos to this I will try to include them Tuesday I am taking a course in photo editing so maybe I will ask the instructor how to attach photos to a
blog. Until then, lights out.