We rested and awoke when we awoke, there not being daylight to jump start us in our inside cabin. This cruise was a last minute get-away for us, and HAL was offering some enticing prices to fill up their ships. We took their cheapest offering and were very happy with the mid-ship inside cabin that we received. I had the steel-cut Scottish oatmeal and their Frittata Italiano for breakfast, and Sharon had the French Toast which she enjoyed very much, but plans to ask for just one slice the next time she orders this dish. My egg-white dish with sun dried tomato and fresh basil was excellent a first time choice I plan to try again. Since our last trip here we’d taken a full day tour our plan was just to walk around the old ... read more

Following a good night’s sleep, we awoke for our big excursion day at Niagara Falls. We had a leisurely breakfast at the Terrapin Grille on the Mezzanine Level of our hotel, at a window with a view of Horseshoe Falls, largely obscured by the morning mist. I enjoyed my oatmeal and banana; while, Sharon had the breakfast buffet, trying some waffles, French Toast (or should it be Canadian Toast), and some bacon that looked like it should be crispier. We didn’t need to meet our tour in the lobby until 10:30AM, so we had plenty of time to get ready. We had decided to take a tour since we only had one day and thought it would be easier to get it all in this way. We remembered to put on some sun screen. And I ... read more

Between the jetlag and recovering from whatever it was that had me under the weather my last day in Beijing, and whatever it was that followed Sharon back home to catch up with her here, we’ve been a bit tardy getting these last two postings posted; so, you have our apologies. Hopefully, Mao’s Revenge is behind us by now! We were grateful that we had a noon-time pickup for the airport, so we were able to take our time getting our stuff together for the trip home. We caught our shuttle and got to the airport on time; only, this time there were no Viking Cruise porters to get our bags there and we had to juggle things for ourselves. We got our bags checked, managed our way through the security checkpoint, and understood fully what ... read more

On the bus the day before, Arnold told us that we would be getting an early start for our trip to the Great Wall. When someone asked “How early?” Arnold told us that he’d let us know later. When we got back to the hotel he told us that breakfast was at 6am, and that we would be leaving at 7am sharp. There were groans of course; but, Sharon and I have been getting up by 4am almost every day this trip so far so no problem for us. Everyone was on the bus by 7am, and we were on our way. It was actually a bit chilly, and those dressed in just shorts and thin tops were cold. We were glad we wore our jeans and we both got our light jackets out of the ... read more

Without a doubt, one of the highlights that we anticipated for this trip, was the opportunity to visit the terracotta warriors near Xian. We shared a table at breakfast at the Sheraton where we’re staying for two nights in Xian, with the Canadian couple that organized the Easter Day meeting aboard the Viking Emerald. A favorite topic among fellow travelers is which the preferred direction of travel for this cruise is: From Beijing to Shanghai or the direction of our trip from Shanghai to Beijing. The way we do the trip, the true highlights build towards the end, culminating with the terracotta warriors and then the Great Wall on our final day in Beijing. Some feel it is better to do the major attractions up front, then get on the Viking Emerald, and then to relax ... read more