Tucson

We broke a heat record for the day today . . . 107°.

Tuesday, 28 May 2013 
New York City to Cobbs Creek, Virginia

We start the last leg of our trip today as we leave Penn Station on Amtrak at 7:05 and reach Fredericksburg, Va, at 11:55am.  We are met at FBG Station by a Budget Rental Car employee who drives us to their office at Spotsylvania Towne Center Shopping Mall in the very nice 2013 VW Passat we will be renting.  The rental office is most conveniently located, since we have a date at Bravo Restaurant (located in that very same shopping mall) with our dear friend Meta who lives in Richmond but works at The University of Mary Washington right nearby.

After lunch we drive southeast on US 17 and several other state and county roads—helpfully guided by Google Maps on my iphone—toward the Chesapeake Bay to spend an overnight with our friends John and Gail and their dog Casey in their wonderful house on the Piankatank River.

 

Wednesday, 29 May 2013 
Cobbs Creek to Richmond, Virginia

This afternoon we take the 90-minute drive from Cobbs Creek to Richmond, VA, where we lived and worked for over 30 years before retiring to the good life in Tucson in 2005.  After a brief stop for iced coffee in Carytown—one of Richmond’s most characterful shopping areas that has managed to avoid the onslaught of chain stores and national restaurants—we head to The Fan for three nights with our friend Richard. 

The Fan, for my readers unfamiliar with Richmond, is a triangular area of streets that “fan out” from a central point at the edge of Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), where I taught English Literature for 33 years.  The Fan is home to distinctive two- and three-story brick townhouses built beginning in the late 19^th century.  Most of these homes have been beautifully restored and painted bright colors.  The residential streets are shaded by large, old trees, and the streets that define the limits of the area are filled with a wonderful selection of bars and restaurants.  VCU, which has expanded exponentially in the past ten years, has not invaded the Fan, but thankfully built north, south, and east of the original campus (although former residents of those areas are not very happy with that expansion).

We visit one of these Fan restaurants—Acacia—with Richard, who is a regular customer and the recipient of extra special service.  Will’s crab cakes and my flank steak are prepared perfectly, but the highlight of the dinner for me was an appetizer of asparagus baked in the oven with a topping of prosciutto and cheese.

Thursday-Saturday, 31 May-1 June 2013 
Richmond, Virginia

Out next two brief days in Richmond are well spent connecting with old friends and visiting old haunts. We stop by our former home in Woodland Heights, just across the “nickel” bridge (now 35 cents) from the Fan, and lament about the fallen state of Will’s beautiful gardens and the once-magnificent (and expensively-tended) lawn that has fallen to weeds. We spend an afternoon at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and admire the interior design of the new wing that opened after we left Richmond. The exterior of the addition is not as impressive as the interior, but that may be because the original architect died before completing the project. The gardens and water elements built atop and totally disguising the large parking deck are the most impressive part of the museum’s redesign. We return to the museum for dinner with friends Elizabeth and Pat at the Amuse Restaurant on the top floor for an evening of fine food, strong drink (we understand the importance of “hydration”since moving to Arizona), and high-spirited conversation (we do miss our friends).

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We visit several other of our favorite restaurants for lunches and dinners, but there just isn’t time to cover them all. Just before heading to the airport on Saturday we meet our friend Bud for one more breakfast at Aunt Sarah’s Pancake House, the site of many early-morning (and late night) meals when we lived in Richmond.

 

And so this journey, like all those before, comes to an end with our flights back to Tuscon, through Atlanta. There is a scary 90-minute delay in Atlanta when we think our 8pm flight, which is the last one of the day to Tucson, will be canceled when we have to return to the gate after having taxied out to the runway. But the minor mechanical problems are fixed, the paperwork completed, and we off for an otherwise uneventful flight home.

This will be the last entry for this current trip, but I hope to be back soon with news about my the next adventure for LFLatSea

Tucson

It’s nice to be back home, but I am already thinking about the next cruise (or two) . . .

Sunday, 26 May 2013 
New York City

My cousin Helen claims that I always bring good weather when I visit New York City—and today is bright and beautiful with the clouds and rain of last night only a dim memory.

After a quiet morning Will and I head out next door to help celebrate the 100^th anniversary year of Grand Central Station.   There are no special festivities today, but the magnificent Central Hall has been spiffed up with a new coat of paint and the food court downstairs and fresh food market on the main floor are open for inspection and drooling (too bad we are on our way to lunch).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch is typical New York fare at Junior’s Deli on Shubert Alley.  Rather than join the long line of tourists waiting for a table, we head for some empty seats at the counter and enjoy fast service, good food (pastrami for me and hamburger for Will), and friendly New York conversation from Daniel, our waiter, who hails from Brooklyn.  Daniel and I reminisce about growing up in the city and in return for our conversation Will and I get the prize of extra pickles and coleslaw.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This afternoon we join Helen for a matinee performance of the new musical, Far from Heaven, at Playwrights Horizons, the prestigious off-Broadway company on West 42^nd Street.  The production is still in previews and hoping to reach Broadway in the future.  The pedigree is certainly strong, with music and lyrics by the men who created the prize-winning Grey Gardens musical, and lead performances by two of the top actors of the younger theater generation, Kelli O’Hara and Steve Pasquale.  It is based on the film of the same name in which Julianne Moore and Dennis Quaid play a 1950s Connecticut couple whose “ideal” suburban life is shattered by the reality of his suppressed homosexuality and her choice of turning to a Black gardener for comfort and support.  Some of the music is quite lovely, but the play itself suffers from too much dignity and taste.  The character of the husband is made particularly unpleasant and we don’t care much about the struggle he goes through and the choices he makes.  O’Hara is a spectacular singer but has to repress her natural high spirits to fit the authors’ conception of the character.  There is very little to like about the characters and the worlds they try to negotiate.  The end effect is of much honest effort but very little spirit or energy.  I’ll have to check the review in the NY Times next week to see what the experts have to say.     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The after-theatre plan is ride two NYC buses across 42^nd Street and down 5^th Avenue to a small Italian restaurant near Helen’s apartment.  But this is a holiday weekend and we discover the restaurant is closed and instead head to Chat and Chew (that really is its name), owned by the same folks who own Steak Frites, a popular French Steak and Fries restaurant across the street that I have enjoyed on a previous visit to the city.

Monday, 27 May 2013 
New York City

It’s another beautiful morning in New York, so Will and I start on a walk up Madison Avenue from 42^nd to 57^th Street, admiring the expensive clothes in all the fancy boutiques on the way.  I am especially enamored of a pair of blue suede shoes in a store window (they would match perfectly my new eyeglass frames and Bulova watch).  But instead of buying, we head for Bloomingdale’s at Lexington and 49^th Street, which hasn’t changed at all since the decade or two ago when I used to haunt its precincts on all my New York visits.

 

For lunch meet Will’s nephew and his wife, Scott and Michelle, at Sarabeth’s on Park Avenue South.  Sarabeth began making strawberry jam from her mother’s old recipe in her Brooklyn apartment and then selling it at street and craft fairs.  She now has four very popular restaurants in Manhattan (including one inside Lord & Taylor’s Department Store), as well as a wide selection of home-made jams and preserves.  Dinner is a traditional New York pizza delivered to Helen’s apartment, along with salad and then chocolate babka for dessert.

It’s a good thing we took some time earlier in the day to pack up our stuff at the hotel since we have to leave at 6am to make our train to Virginia from Penn Station.

   

 

Tucson

Although this is technically no longer “LFL at Sea,” I will continue blogging this trip until it reaches its end in Tucson next Saturday, 1 June.

Saturday, 25 May 2013 
Boston to New York City

After a final room service breakfast in our suite, just before 8am we drag our luggage down to the gangway on Deck 5, thinking there would be only a few folks foolish enough to want to carry their own stuff.  In reality, there is a large crowd straining toward the exit with even more luggage than we have.  Some of these people are, like us, taking Amtrak to points south, while others must have early flights from Logan Airport.

Fortunately it is a short walk through the Boston Cruise Terminal and a five-minute taxi ride to Amtrak’s South Station—so we needn’t have worried about missing our train—where a redcap comes out to the street to pick up our luggage and hold it while we have some coffee.  He then escorts us to our Business Class car ahead of other passengers, suggests which seats will give us the best views of the coastline as we head down through Connecticut, and calls ahead to Penn Station to arrange for a redcap to meet us on the platform when our train arrives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You are probably aware that during the previous week there was a crash on the Metro-North Commuter Lines in Connecticut that shut down all service from New Haven to Penn Station (Amtrak uses the same tracks).  For a short time we thought about reserving a rental car at Logan Airport in case the trains were still not running on the 25^th.  But the national news reported on Tuesday the 21^st that all trains would be running by the next day.  The train service is good, but we arrive in New York about 45 minutes late because of lower speeds on the last leg of the journey.  This is the first time I rode the train from Boston to New York and am very surprised (I should have been more prepared by reading the schedule) when, instead of heading through the South Bronx into the tunnels under Manhattan, we cross from the Bronx to Queens over the Hell’s Gate railroad bridge and then use the LIRR tracks into Penn Station.

From Penn Station it is a short taxi ride to the Grand Hyatt Hotel (adjacent to Grand Central Station), at 42^nd Street and Lexington Avenue.  The hotel has recently been remodeled and the huge lobby is a model of post-modern minimalism, with shiny black and white surfaces, and two strange Easter-Island-like sculptural heads that tower over the tiny guests.  We don’t have much time to unpack or relax, since we are due at my cousin Helen’s apartment on 15^th Street and 5^th Avenue at 5pm for wine and cheese.  We always enjoy spending time at Helen’s with its 20^th-floor wonderful wall of windows looking out over all of lower Manhattan and the new skyscrapers of New Jersey.  There is even a small slice of the Hudson River visible and we catch a glimpse of a cruise liner leaving New York for distant ports.  And the new, not-yet-finished Liberty Tower at the World Trade Center rises up over the city as the centerpiece of the view.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Helen’s friend Cathi joins us for the last glass of wine and then dinner at Sagaponack, a fish and seafood restaurant off 5^th Avenue just a short walk away (although it’s a blustery and cool evening as we walk).  If you like lobster, the Sagaponack is for you, offering lobster of some kind for every course (except dessert).  The four of us manage to consume lobster sliders, lobster salad, lobster mac-n-cheese, and lobster pot pie—as well as really delicious fries (not that we didn’t enjoy the lobster on the ship and in Canada).

   

 

Tucson

We’re going to break 100° again in Tucson, so the high of 45° in Halifax doesn’t sound half bad.

Friday, 24 May 2013 

Bar Harbor, Maine

There is a quick and perfunctory check of passports on board the Maasdam this morning as we sail into US territorial waters off Bar Harbor, Maine.  And it is off Bar Harbor that we remain.  The Captain has decided the water is too rough to release the tenders, and all shore excursions have been cancelled.  There is lots of moaning and groaning among the passengers, but I have learned not to second-guess the captain and navigator as they make decisions about course and weather.  We soon pick up anchor and head south on a slower journey to Boston.  Even though the weather is bad, the sailing is smooth and we are able to enjoy our breakfast privileges in the Pinnacle Grill. 

We spend a relaxing final day of the cruise visiting the shops, packing, attending the Disembarkation and Crew Farewell Session in the Theatre at Sea, and arranging our expedited disembarkation for tomorrow morning.  The pull-out handle on Will’s suitcase had been broken on the flights from Tucson to Montreal and our concierge had taken it to the ship’s mechanics to see if it could be repaired.  Alas, it could not be, but it is delivered back to our suite (Will is able to fix up a handle that will at least get the suitcase back to Tucson and then the trash bin).  Because we are somewhat concerned about making our 9:40am train from Boston to New York, we will be among the first passengers to leave the ship (scheduled for 8am).  My concern arises from my last cruise:  we docked in Ft Lauderdale on time at 7am, but the ship was not cleared by US Customs until 9:30 (90 minutes past scheduled time).  Early disembarking passengers have to carry their luggage off the ship themselves, but at least we won’t have to put it outside our suite door by midnight tonight.  More details about this in the next blog entry.

The day passes quickly and it is soon time for our final dinner.  We had tried to make a reservation in the Pinnacle Grill early this morning for tonight’s dinner, but were told it was all pre-booked.  However, as we are sitting in the Explorer’s Lounge five minutes before dinner listening to classical music played by the resident pianist and violinist, Will has the bright idea of checking with the Pinnacle Grill again—and they have had some cancellations so we are able to get a table after a short five-minute wait.  I use the waiting time to thank our Dining Steward, Assistant Dining Steward, and Wine Steward who served us ably over the past six nights.  Tipping is now automatically added to each passenger’s bill and there is no need to give extra except for special service.  (I did give significant extra cash to the Stewards on the 18-day South America cruise, but did not feel the need on this shorter trip.)  The highlight of dinner in the Pinnacle Grill is the delightful presentation of triple crème brule:  chocolate, vanilla, and coffee.

 

 

   

 

Tucson

I’m still home in Tucson but already starting to think about the next cruise . . .

Thursday, 23 May 2013 
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Our second day in Nova Scotia begins with misty rain that stays with us all day.  The weather is far different from the beautiful sunshine of my visit in September 2012, when I spent a day and a half here as the ms Eurodam made its way from Amsterdam to New York (you can link back to that day through the archive on the right side of the web page).

But a little rain and mist won’t keep us from Peggy’s Cove, arguably the world’s most beautiful fishing village—certainly one of its smallest with only 390 permanent residents.  The chief things to do in Peggy’s Cover are to visit the lighthouse, walk around the village, and eat lobster rolls at the Sou’wester Café.  It may be only 9:30 in the morning, but it’s never too early for a second breakfast of lobster roll and coffee.  The forecast high temperature in Halifax today is 45°, so a brief walk through the village will have to do.  Today is the first day the weather has interfered with our plans so we really can’t complain.

 
















After we return to Halifax, we receive free passes to use the on the three routes of the Hop On/Hop Off Bus system, but after a short ride we decide just to walk along the renovated pier—Harbourwalk—and enjoy looking at the old ships moored in the fog.  Will has been unsuccessfully looking for shoelaces for the past several days, so we stop at a men’s store in one of the small shopping “malls” along the pier.  The salesman tells us that the shop doesn’t sell shoelaces, but since he is bored with nothing to do he rummages around in the back and comes up with two pairs (one brown and one black) that he cheerfully and freely bestows upon Will.

 
















Tonight is the second formal night in the dining room where we enjoy “surf and surf” (two fresh lobster tails) instead of “surf and turf.”  More champagne helps brighten the mood in spite of the day’s bad weather and the thought that tomorrow we have to start packing again!

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Tucson, Arizona

Home again in Tucson.  It was great visiting old friends and old haunts in Richmond, but I still have to report on the rest of the cruise and our visit to New York City.

Wednesday, 22 May 2013
Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada 

We have another shore excursion this morning, this time through the older parts of Sydney before heading about 30 miles across Cape Breton Island to the reconstructed site of the Fortress of Louisburg.  We learn the difference between a fortress and a fort (this cruise is so educational!)--the former is a garrisoned town with shops and residences for the famlies of soldiers, the latter is a smaller installation manned only by soldiers.

The Fortress of Louisburg, founded by the French and then attacked and taken over by the British, was leveled in the early part of the 18th century.  Like Williamsburg, Va, the foundations of most of the buildings remained intact and the original plans were found in an old library. Thus, major accurate reconstruction work could be done and today the Fortress stands as it did in 1744 when occupied by the British.  Like Williamsburg, too, the buildings are furnished with original objects and the guides are dressed in original costumes and play the part of soldiers, innkeepers, wives, and others.  The buildings cover extensive grounds and today's overcast and windy weather provides a perfect backdrop for the gray stone and red brick.

Back on board the Maasdam there is another cocktail party with the Captain and Officers before we head to dinner.  After dinner is Holland America's (in)famous Dessert Buffet at the Lido Swimming Pool.  Most cruise lines have tried to eliminate some of the waste in food service and have cut back on the nightly Midnight Buffets.  Holland America has a small "late night snack" every day at 11pm and the dessert extravaganza once per cruise.  But since we have just finished dinner Will and I take only pictures of the magnificent desserts.