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Published: July 21st 2018
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On the road again, so to speak
On this beautiful day I am comfortably riding Amtrak to Boston to join the Rotterdam for The voyage of the Vikings. Love the entire idea of no airports, no planes, no stress, no mess. Joe dropped me off in New Haven where they have Redcap service. So pleasant. The conductor will call ahead to have a Red Cap meet me on the train in Boston.
While waiting for the train, I chatted with a woman traveling with her fifteen year old Chihuahua. They were going to Providence after traveling from Beirut by way of Jordan. They had spent the past six years working with refuges from the war, helping them cope with the disaster their lives have become.
As we pass the Ct Shoreline I saw an Osprey Nest with two chicks. An egret is wading in the shallows waiting for dinner to swim by.
Our first stop is New London and the station has a great view of The Themes and New London harbor. A schooler was boarding passengers and the Block Island Ferry was ready to sail.
The next stop was Mystic where a surprising number of people were waiting for the train. The harbor as chock full of boats. I’m glad my train is the local. It gave me time to enjoy the scenery instead of rushing by.
Next up Westerly RI. This area always brings back trips with Uncle Jim, Auntie Lou, Norma and Bobby.
Second Rhode Island stop, Kingston. Such a small state, so many stops. Weird. University of RI is nearby. Next up, Providence. I understand Providence; state capital, Brown university so that makes three stops.
There will be three more stops in MA before I leave the train at South Station.
The taxi from South Station to the ship took less than 15 minutes. Got off the train at 1pm, was on board and having lunch at 2. If only it was always this easy.
Bar Harbor
The sea was calm and the skies clear as we sailed along the Maine coast. Bar Harbor was a busy little tourist town filled with cafes, restaurants and bars featuring lobster and the usual souvenir shops. We
walked up to the Village Green, paid for a National Park pass and hopped on the shuttle to Arcadia National Park. It soon became apparent that this was a very popular Park on a Summers’s day. It seem that all the points of interest were hiking trails either to mountain tops to see the views or down to the shore to swim or sun. Either way, neither ML nor I wanted to hike in the summer sun. Cars were parked along each foot of roadway and the shuttle route did not provide any views and no narrative. We traveled the loop, walked back to the tender station and experienced a rocky rolling adventure when we reached the ship. Thank goodness for the strong armed crew who got us all off safely.
We said goodby to our table mates as we switched to open dining. The people were interesting and fun but the timing conflicted with other things we wanted to do. We just need some flexibility.
Sea Day
We woke to the sound of the ships horn and enveloped in thick fog. It lasted until mid afternoon before we had some visibility.
Lost in the poker tournament. Live dealer has been replaced by a computer. No player was happy about that but.......
Happy hour in the Crow’s Nest was fun. Tonight was formal and seems to be getting less formal with every sailing. Decided to eat at 6:30 and that was a mistake as we had about a 45 minute wait. Enjoyed escargot and rack of lamb while ML had a tenderloin of beef. Tomorrow is our first Canadian Port, Sydney. Nova Scotia.
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