At Sea, Day 8

The Atlantic Ocean has been kicking up a fuss since very early this morning. 

 Our 2nd formal night, before the winds started up

 Winds have ranged from gale force 7 to 10 and the waves have gotten bigger and bigger.

 Waves at lunchtime

 Tea-time waves

 After-dinner waves were huge

Fortunately, it hasn’t bothered us much.

 Author talk in the Royal Theatre 

The restaurants and shows 

 planetarium entrance

- including the always sold out planetarium - 

 Chart Room, a great place to read

were mostly empty all day and walking anywhere has been an adventure. 

This is our last night onboard QM2. Tomorrow we’re up early for check-out, then headed home via Newark airport. 

 An after-dinner treat - Godiva hot chocolate

Usually by this point in a trip, I’m ready to be home. Not this time though. We both wish we had another couple of days onboard.

 Hanging over our balcony, taking pictures of waves

Halifax, Day 7

It rained yesterday, and will rain again tomorrow, but today was beautiful - sunny and warm - in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

 Bus, boat, train, and in the distance, the entrance to our ship terminal

Our hop on/off bus was a pink double-decker with an enclosed(!) upper deck. (We learned our lesson in Quebec.)

 The Citadel

We rode the 90-minute tour loop, 

planning to get off at a few places on the second trip around 

 Samuel Cunard, QM2’s founder, was a Haligonian. Who knew??

but when we got back to our starting point 

 Halifax boardwalk

we voted to walk along the harbor’s boardwalk instead.

We were just in time to watch this ship maneuver into her parking spot along the walkway.

Such a beautiful day. 

At Sea, Day 6

Today was a sea day, on our way to Halifax.

It’s been gray and drizzly all day, with winds approaching gale force at times,

which put a kabosh on my plans for a photo-taking trip around the deck.

Instead, we spent the afternoon in the Commodore Room, 

a quiet bar on Deck 9 with big windows overlooking the ship’s bow. 

It’s one of my favorite places on the ship.

Dinner was in the Britannia dining room, 

which has been totally remodeled like everything else on QM2.

The ship tapestry is lovely but I really miss the gorgeous wood marquetry version from our transatlantic voyage.

 After dinner photo in the Grand Lobby
It was glorious.

 Dining room carpet

Tomorrow is Halifax, Nova Scotia, and another hop on, hop off bus, this time with an enclosed upper deck. Hopefully, we’ll be a bit warmer than in Quebec. 

Saguenay, Day 4- Part 1

We were up bright and early today - ok, it was 8:00 am; that’s early to me! - for our 6-hour boat/bus trip to Saguenay Fjord National Park. (Note: Covered bridge photos at bottom of post!)

The fjord is the 4th largest in the world and is the most southerly of the Northern Hemisphere’s fjords.

The skies and water were uniformly gray and cold all morning. 

Because the fjord is a mix of salt- and fresh water - fresh for the first 10 feet or so, then salt h2o for the remainder which can be over 100 meters deep - there were no birds or aquatic creatures to be seen.

We saw a couple of very small, pretty villages 

and lots of golden aspen and birch trees,

interspersed with evergreens, growing from what appeared to be solid rock. 

Not much red since maples don’t do well this far north.

 Statue is the white dot on the hillside  

We also saw the statue of the Virgin Mary high on a hill.

Despite having a naturalist onboard who did her best, 

the trip was pretty boring, cold and uncomfortable. 

We were very glad when we saw the dock, 

and our lunch site rapidly approaching.

Continued in Part 2 . . .

Saguenay, Day 4 - Part 2

Fortunately, the afternoon bus ride was much, much better. 

The guide was well informed and very funny, 

and the bus was warm and comfortable.

We visited a fjord overlook, 

hiking past towering power lines (pretty clouds!)

for some great views.

Even the sun cooperated 

 Mountain Ash. Birds get drunk eating the berries!

and shone for us all afternoon. 

But the very, very,

absolute best part of the trip for me

was the covered bridge.

It was built in the 1800’s 

and restored in 1929 after being washed away in a flood.

It was also featured on the Canadian $1000 pound note, until those stopped being produced. 

The bridge is still in use today - 

our guide had to don her yellow safety vest and try to herd us out of the way when traffic  approached.

Paintings by local artists are hung along the interior walls.

I could have spent all afternoon here

but the guide 

(and probably everyone else on the bus) 

had other plans.  

Ah well, c’est la vie.

 Tomorrow, Sept-Îles!