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Holly Doyne

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Bratislava

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-05-27 by Holly2022-05-27

Located on the Danube – Slovakia is otherwise a landlocked country in Central Europe. (and if I had figured out that there was a map on wall in the main lounge, well, it wold have been the starting photo each day. Sorry about that. Sort of.

The history of the country and the capital is long and involved – the “young” economist who first provided a lecture then escorted us on a walking tour had a sense of humor while communicating the often challenging and tragic history of the country. When you are small and less populated that the countries around you – well let us just say that you can wake up one morning and find that rulers in far distant lands made decisions about your future without ever stepping foot in the county. As always – here is the Wiki link for Slovakia and also one for Bratislava.

The city in early morning.

 

and one of three major bridges. The “oldest bridge” which has under gone rebuilding and renaming now multiple times over the centuries is now actually the newest bridge. I am sparing you the picture of steel architecture covered with green paint.

then there is what we are all calling the UFO bridge.

which should be obvious.

All the rest of my photos are on my camera. The one with the older connector (mini not micro) so downloading photos will have to wait.

I added a few more stitches to Leo Rising.

 

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Wien (or Vienna if you prefer)

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-05-26 by Holly2022-05-26  

We docked early – and I do mean early, even by my reckoning. Unless you don’t consider 0400 prior to sunrise early. If you that is normal for you, then you are part of a very small group of people that likes early and quiet.

and then the sun rose -making it even more glorious.

We caught the bus into the city but had not planned on being involved in any of the tours. As it turned out, today was a Catholic religious day (variable date depending on that year’s celebration of Easter) and just about everything was closed. Allegedly the museums were open. Except that we found a number were actually not open on Thursday…like the Wiesenthal for example. What was open? Obviously tourist shops and purveyors of food.

From our drop off point next to the Danube Canal (which is not the river) we walked toward ?St Stephan’s Platz”

where the cathedral roof was tiled in the most interesting geometric patterns.

Other bits of interest included the “Kuscheltier” Chair in one of the interior design store windows

which was priced at a mere 3500 EUROS

From there we walked to the MAK (Museum of Applied Kunst [Art]) whose interior doesn’t feel all that modern

 

Where George grabbed a lot of photos – but really appreciated this particular piece of furniture.

lunch was outside in their small cafe – a lovely veg pastry augmented with pesto, mustard seeds and onion chutney. Now, when I read this combination – it sounds weird. Let me assure you it was most excellent.

 

Dinner back on the ship was meh, except apparently for the Sacher torte desert,

and finally – this morning I made a bit of progress on the LongDog. Those are birds perched on flags at both sides, and I have started the top of the circus tent in the middle. (yes, cat and mouse, I think)

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Melk & Dürnstein

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-05-25 by Holly2022-05-25

Today was a two-fer, if you don’t mind the expression.

I was really brave (yeh, right) and headed out with all the others this morning to board the bus. 

First up was the Stift Melk, complete with tour guide.

(blog hint -if you click on the picture – you will get a larger pix and see both the Stift and the docking location for the river ships)

Practically speaking, the bus, because it is restricted to roads, took 15+ minutes to toodle up and around before arriving at the designated parking lot. We were dropped off with the announcement that the way back to the ship was our choice: come back here after the tour and board any shuttle with the correct sign in the windshield or head down through town and walk back.

After a significant wait, we were escorted through the Monastery/Museum. All the exhibit rooms were dark to protect the paintings and objects d’art. Along with really clear signs banning cameras, movie cameras, and phones taking photos. I think they were serious which means that the only internal photos I have are of the long, long corridors –

Our guide was good, clear, and knowledgeable. I certainly will give him that. But the rooms were crowded. Perhaps a quarter of our tour kept their masks on in spite of being told it was a good idea. Certainly no one in any other group was bothering. Of note – yesterday’s Austrian numbers were 40k active cases. The trend is down, but still…

Ok…. I don’t remember being here before. , but George has clear memories of herding kids along the foot path. Same as we took back to the ship. 

Lunch was meh – pretty but..

the two rolled pastry shells were stuffed with spinach. Service was a bit slow and it would have been nice to have had a hot lunch. 

I stayed on the ship for the afternoon, stitching and listening to a book. It just seemed like a better idea than chancing the rain. 

Tomorrow is Vienna.

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Amadeus Star

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-05-24 by Holly2022-05-24 2

Ok! We left Prague at 0830 this morning, boarding a bus headed toward the Danube on the German/Czech border. We had one rest stop along the way and arrived at the ship prior to 1300 just in time for lunch.

The plan for the afternoon was a walking tour of Passau. [Please note – I am providing the Wiki links because some of you enjoy finding out a bit more about some of the locations rather than me blathering on, potentially inaccurately.] George happily went  on the tour – I stayed on the ship, enjoying the almost total peace and quiet. I am thinking that we have visited her at least three times before, maybe four. The first time would have been our first tour in Germany when just about all our relations came through. The second would have been a cruise down the Donau when the youngest three were in Elementary grades. Third was I think in 2013 when George and I took a cruise by ourselves over the winter holidays.

So that does make it the fourth time, right? It is a lovely town with a nice yarn shop. But it is not like I need anymore yarn. Instead, I wandered the ship. All of the cruise boats sailing on the rivers are purpose built. They are long, not so wide, very flat with a maximum of three decks above the water line. It is not that the companies wouldn’t want to haul more passengers/make more money, it is that the ships have to be able to navigate the waterways and pass under the bridges. 

So Deck 1 is the lowest with cabins and dining room. Deck two has cabins to both ends of the ships center. Deck three has cabins, the lounge

 

and a forward outside sitting area.

Like every where else, smoking is not permitted inside the ship. Above the third deck is an open seating area with rails from where you can enjoy the scenery passing by on both sides of the ship. 

When sailing from the German border all the way to Bulgaria, there are locks.

About 14 of them as a matter of fact, most of which we will be passing through at night. Since we are headed downstream, it is sink as you go.

This particular ship was built in 2019 – so it is really new and shiny

with one main corridor and everything off of it. Our cabin is on Deck 2 – 

Not large, but adequate with bed, tiny sitting area, closet, bathroom and a huge porthole (which you can see). 

Dinner was most excellent. Did I mention that this particular tour is a combined Alumni/Smithsonian group? Total of 31 people (+ two tour guides – one from Ireland and one from Bulgaria). So the dining room had people well spread out. Just as an example – presentation is obviously important …

I am skipping the live (and too loud) music/dancing in favor of some stitching and early bedtime.

 

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The Old Jewish Town

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-05-23 by Holly2022-05-23 1

Here in Prague apparently one calls them “towns” rather than quarters – so that there is Old Town, New Town (1400s), Jewish Town etc. At some point the latter became a classical Ghetto complete with walls, a gate, and a large key to lock the populous in at night.

Starting at 0900 this morning, there were seven of us (split between the Alumni groups and the Smithsonian group) who accompanied the local Czech Historian who served as our guide. Up front, his knowledge about European history, Czech history, and Church history was excellent. His knowledge of Judaism obviously came from books and some of his reference material wasn’t completely accurate. Just saying.

I have few photos – my camera is choosing at the moment not to communicate with my computer and I am too tired to deal with it. Something about running out of energy at the end of the day followed by waking at 0300.

Where was I? Oh, yes – four synagogues, ?or was it five? plus the cemetery. I will send you links once I sort out the photos.

What I can offer is also the most well known of clocks – the Prague Astronomical Clock (dating from 1410) which we saw right at 1700. The skeleton rings a bell and apparently those are apostles who rotate behind the upper closed windows. It really is most fascinating. I have the Nautilus Puzzle which actually provides an amazingly detailed look at the upper face.  The writing is obviously not visible from partway across the square.

The city- what I will call – logo –

Of three towers can be found on just about every large lamp post and a lot of other city property.

 

A bit more progress on Leshy

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Prague

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-05-22 by Holly2022-05-22

This is actually our first full day in Prague. Not the first time we have ever been here, mind you but …. never mind, all I am doing is increasing the confusion. It does seem like most on this adventure arrived in Europe yesterday straight from the US. As we gathered in the lobby this morning for an included 3 hour walking tour of the city there were more than a few yawns gracing faces. 

[Side note – even in this well educated group there seems to be a bit of obliviousness about virus transmission and its lack of respect for “people on vacation” in spite of the warning from both guides about people on previous trips not getting past the first stop or getting stuck in a hotel for 10-14 days at the end of the trip before being allowed into the US. People take vacations, viruses don’t]

Our hotel is within 3 blocks of the division between old town and older town. I hesitate to say “new” as the implication of new begs the reality of new = 1400s…

So there we are, a gaggle of primarily western dressed adults following a behind one of those ubiquitous tour signs on a stick. I guess it is better than following an umbrella on a sunny day. I lasted about 90 minutes, which is actually pretty good for my tolerance of groups before heading back to the hotel. I just might have also been influenced by increasing crowds and my camera battery deciding to die. I tolerate crowds better if I wield a camera. A phone just doesn’t provide the same security. Also, the further we walked into the main pedestrian zones, the more crowded the area. Let me just say that there are those who believe that being outside, no matter how crowded negates needing masks… All though on the decrease, the daily number of new COVID cases here is neither negligible or insignificant. 

My plan is to head out fairly early in the morning to capture the few pictures that I really wanted.

Meanwhile – updates on stitching…

Pattern, fabric 18ct aida and specialty floss all from Forbidden Fiber Co

Next – what looks like a small start but is actually over 800 stitches 

The fabric is a 16ct Aida from Fortnight Fabrics, the floss is 10247 – dark blue jeans from Threadworx and the pattern is Leo Rising from LongDog Samplers. (about 160 wide by 295 if I am remembering correctly. 29k total stitches….

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Smart Decisions

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-05-21 by Holly2022-05-21 1

There are times when what seems like a more expensive alternative proves to be the most cost effective. Let me explain – George had booked an early flight to Prague this morning. Early meaning 0825. Now, that doesn’t seem all that early to someone who has flown out of OAK at 0630 or SFO at a similar time. But both of those trips involved being dropped at the airport by a family member or being able to take a Lyft to the airport as BART doesn’t run early enough to safely make those flights.

Heidelberg is an hour south of the Frankfurt Airport on a good day whether traveling via train or car. If we had attempted to take the 0530 shuttle bus (and nothing had gone wrong) it would have left us with less than two hours to navigate a particularly large and complex airport in order to catch our flight. If anything had gone wrong? Well, cheap flights can only be re-booked so many times…. And based on our extremely recent train experience, I wasn’t willing to attempt that either. Having to be up and about at 0330 in the morning sort of takes away any advantage to the cheaper hotel now doesn’t it?

Anyway, there we were, staying at the Hilton Garden Inn. Lovely, clean and shiny and part of the long distance train complex. It was a matter of just a few minutes to head down to the main concourse, across the overpass to Terminal A and get checked in. Cheap flights don’t include checked bags, even with significant airline status – so lesson learned on that one. In most circumstances, gate-check is fine but when they contain sharp & pointy objects? Not so much.

The security lines were horrible, worse than any US airport I have had the misfortune to experience in the last decade or so. It wasn’t that the lines didn’t move; this is Germany – they are organized, efficient and have serious upgraded technology. But when you have incredible levels of passenger flow, even the best system deliver enough bins to waiting passengers. Funny to think of bins as slowing everything down – but when you want everything placed in a bin – and electronics separate from suitcases, purses, carry-ons, and clothing it means that the average person uses at least three….

So, even staying within a 15 minutes walk and leaving the hotel early, there was still less than an hour before boarding time when we managed to find each other after security and head into the lounge for some much needed coffee.

The flight itself was only 45 minutes once we finally took off. It was interesting that, inspire of being a full flight, there was less in the overhead bins than on the average Southwest Airlines flight. Germans and Czechs actually take advantage of “check bags for free” offers. Go figure!

Bags picked up, we headed out of the terminal, picked up a taxi and headed to the hotel. Also discovered that the Czech Republic doesn’t use the Euro… which is something that I should have known/checked/figured out… We are staying at the Hotel Cosmopolitan right near the river. (Here is the link just in case you were interested. It is lovely and they were able to let us check in early which was much appreciated. Apparently not needing a room with two beds made the difference (? reservations made by the travel agency based on us having different last names?).

George went for a walk in the afternoon, I took a walk and stitched for a while. There are only 31 people total in the travel group including the river cruise (on a ship which probably accommodates ~ 150 if our past experiences are any indication). The travelers are from several alumni organizations and a Smithsonian tour. There are only two others, from the LA area, who booked through CAL).

So at the end of the day, we are in Prague. The hotel is great; there might just be some interesting people in the group. The lecturer furnished through the Smithsonian is actually from The Economist currently working out of Italy and the two “tour guides” are from Ireland and Bulgaria respectively.

 

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so many errands, so little time

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-05-20 by Holly2022-05-20

When we started out this morning, I hadn’t realized just what all was on our list of tasks for the day. Not just packing up and heading to Frankfurt for our flight tomorrow morning, but all in-between.

Now, none of us with any sense are going to place getting coffee and pastries on that list – breakfast being one of those necessities of life for many. Me? Coffee. Beyond that, eating something early in the morning was pretty optional. So, we packed up everything, just to be on the safe side. From where we were staying, it wasn’t going to be more than a few blocks over to the Post where I had two packages to send.

George remembered a small bakery near the new Synagogue which supplied the challah on Fridays. It was still open, had coffee to go and pastries. It also had a wobbly table which seemed to delight in tipping with minimal touch and spilling coffee…  From there, it was only ½ a block back to the Post where I sent off the two boxes to a fellow stitcher in the Netherlands. It should have been one box, but as I was packing the fabric forward to me from Idaho, I couldn’t resist adding a few items. You might just say that I t got a bit carried away and added some floss, fiber, patterns, a bit more fabric along with a few stitching toys. Mailing from Germany was by far cheaper than from the US and also completely avoided the whole issue of customs. Never let it be said that there aren’t a lot of good things about the EU…

From there we hiked to the main pedestrian zone. George had ordered a book or so the other day which were due in today. Plus, they had a nice children’s book section. I made a detour into Karstadt – one can never have too many knitting needles or embroidery hoops…

Did I mention that George packs books for trips like I pack stitching supplies? I think he just might be out of room. And his hobbies weigh a lot more than mine….

Then it was lunch with business associates of George’s.

And dropping off a book requested from a member of our Friday night Minyan from ten years ago.

And heading all the way down the other end of the pedestrian zone to have coffee and cake with another family we have known since the kindergarten days of our three youngest.

By this time, it was almost 1600 and I was wiped. After hiking back to the hotel to claim our luggage, it became obvious that we were facing yet another challenge. When you don’t have a phone, you can’t call a taxi. It wasn’t that eight blocks was all that far to walk to the train station – it was more that we were both tired and a bit cranky. But the rain had stopped. I will say that much positive.

Stomped to the train station with backpacks and rolling cases. fought the ticket machine to a draw, caught the regional train to Mannheim where we had yet another packed ICE to Frankfurter Flughafen.

I think there was chocolate for supper…..

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A day in Heidelberg

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-05-19 by Holly2022-05-20  

Today was our chance to walk around the Aldstädt, visit a few friends, and otherwise relax. Completely ignoring how wiped out I was from the time zone changes, it was a lovely day.

We had lunch with a friend who had children in the same kindergarten as ours back in the 1993-1995 time frame. I met with a long standing friend from my knitting group (10+ years ago) and passed along some spinning fiber along with a couple of skeins of yarn. Walked around the city, occasionally looking up.

(sorry, for whatever reason photos are not loading to the server at the present).

George had a lovely evening with his Stamtisch – a group of mostly dads who started meeting when the kids were in kindergarten. A few have been lost over the years (we are all getting older) and there have been additions.

I packed up those things which need to go out in DHL in the morning, watched the UCSF Medicine Grand Rounds and crashed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A rather short night

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-05-18 by Holly2022-05-18

The main challenge with flying east (at least from any time zone of GMT – ) is the loss of time. In our case, it was nine hours that effectively vanished in the blink of an eye. Or not, as the plane flight takes the same length of time regardless of what the clock might be telling me.

As I mentioned, we were a bit late in taking off. As it turned out, the plane was a 747 that had obviously been recently upgraded. Our seat were on the upper deck When I thought about it, it was obvious why first class is not the upper deck. There is a rather narrow stair case that connects the upper deck with the main passenger area. It is not even remotely accessible to anyone with mobility challenges. But it was quiet and the food was good. 

But that nine hours, just gone. My body was telling me in no uncertain terms that it was 0200 in the morning when we landed. Not that anyone around me would have agreed. I voted for the lounge, coffee and maybe a snack before we headed to baggage claim. Taking that break was followed by one of the longest terminal walks it has been my misfortune to experience. before we finally arrived to a completely empty Passport Control. I got my stamp, George pulled out his visa and was waived through. From there it was just a short jaunt to baggage claim. 

In spite of my delay, our baggage wasn’t yet on the carousel. From there, it was out the door, across the street, up an elevator and another walk before getting to the long distance train station. Not sure why I was surprised at the markedly increase in train prices. Perhaps I am just used to the relatively low price of BART as a senior. Anyway – jammed ICE to Mannheim, local train to Heidelberg. Taxi to the hotel. 

I crashed, George went to Aldi….

And tomorrow we will visit with friends, hand over yarn and fiber, find some DHL boxes to mail off fabric to the Netherlands and pass along a book to a friend. 

Sounds like a fun day. 

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Polaris Lounge

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-05-17 by Holly2022-05-17 2

Why United Airlines uses this particular name for its Business Class lounge is beyond me. Have I commented on this before? It would have been a long time ago, perhaps several years given COVID and all of that.

Anyway – Polaris is a snowmobile, or the company that makes them, along with motorcycles, ATVs, and
“neighborhood electric vehicles,” Do you suppose that last one means garden mobiles and golf carts? The name was first tacked on to a particular star in the northern hemisphere constellation of Ursa Minor (bear here) and can be referred to as the North Star or Northern Pole Star.

What this has to do with United Airlines which isn’t base North, has nothing to do with being a shining star and doesn’t run extremely strong A/C is beyond me. But anyway – the Lounge here at SFO is the Polaris Lounge.

It has power points, reasonably comfortable chairs, food, drink, restrooms, and the other amenities one would expect. Besides United, it serves the other members of the Star Alliance (perhaps a source of the name) here at SFO.  We (George & I) are hanging out here because we arrived at the airport a reasonable amount of time prior to our flight’s scheduled departure. Said departure being delayed almost two hours which we think is related to a delayed arrival time from Frankfurt. Guess is based on George getting an SMS at 0300 or so in the morning which would line up with 9 hours time change and a delayed take off.

In any case, the plane looks to be a 747 and we are seated in the upper deck. Ought to be interesting. I figured out what to pack, finished organizing this morning and need to download a couple more audiobooks for the flight, just so I have a choice….

Today California – tomorrow Germany….

Posted in Travel | 2 Replies

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-05-16 by Holly2022-05-17  

in the morning. Or early afternoon as the case may be. SFO to Frankfurt on Lufthansa. This is a rebooked, rebooked trip from last August which became Sept/Oct which was put off till this spring. I think that we might have been able to continue to slide the flight, but there doesn’t seem to be much point. 

The original trip was to cruise the Danube River again plus spend time in Prague and Sofia. I am not holding my breath as to the quality of the cruise but the scenery will be stunning as always. I am not sure how many (if any) of the included excursions I am going to bother with in favor of wandering around towns on my own. It is not like I haven’t been to a few of these locations before. 

But first – we will spend Wed (arrival day) in Heidelberg to Friday night. We fly again early Sat morning from Frankfurt  to catch the ship. On the far end, we fly back to Frankfurt and have a couple of days before heading back to SFO on the 7th. It was just today that George informed me that he was spending those couple of days visiting relatives. Okay…. and now I have a couple of days in which I have nothing planned. I could go back to Heidelberg. I could go to München. I could find cheap digs in Frankfurt. I could just wander around….

Decisions, decisions. 

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Last Day at Sea

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-05-01 by Holly2022-05-08  

Today was my usual last day of sea for a cruise. I packed early so that I would have the rest of the day free. After thinking about it for oh, about five seconds, I ignored the whole issue of luggage tags in favor of just walking off with my suitcase. Somehow, checking a bag on a plane flight doesn’t bother me, but having my luggage disappear into the maws of the ship perhaps never to emerge again (or to be crushed under other people’s stuff) really bothers me.

I spent a quiet day stitching, then had dinner again at Cagney’s with one of my new cruise friends (her last coupon)  before planning on early to bed.

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and back to Ketchikan

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-04-30 by Holly2022-04-30 3

I felt like it was another one of those announcements that is phrased as helpful but totally trashes your plans. Like the Pennsylvania Turnpikes “improvements for your safety and connivence” follow by the “no guard rails” sign. In this case NCL gleefully informed us we would be docking at the new WONDERFUL terminal. It is only 7 miles out of town. And, the courtesy bus is free. Right O. Add in riding on a crowded bus, possibly losing 20 minutes each way, what is not to like? Right?  

Part of it is because I have no clue how many of the 800 people on this ship are going to want to take the shuttle bus. We are in town for only about five hours. I am hoping that most folks are either on tour or staying on ship. I also haven’t a clue how the shuttle bus handles scooters, chairs, and walkers. And there are a lot of individuals on this ship with mobility assisting devices.

Now, in case you are wondering why I am grumpy, there is a perfectly fine dock right in the center of the old town which lets us off about 100 meters from a great coffee shop. There is a quilt shop down the street, bookstore two streets over and…. Never mind, you get the whine.  And if I didn’t want to look for some quilt fabric featuring sea otters for a friend, I probably wouldn’t be bothering to head to town at all.

——->-8———–

Well, made it to town. Found fudge, found magnets still on sale for a couple of the crew. Quilt store was open – but found only one panel of fabric that had anything that looked like an otter on it. Picked up two spools of thread I like. As it turns out made in Canada means that it is not easy to find in the US.

Stopped at the bookstore, then headed back to the ship. As it turns out, the bus ride was fine both ways. The drivers were entertaining (and long standing Ketchikan residents). The drive was interesting in terms of seeing something outside the tourist portion of town. And no one is happy about Walmart moving in and putting a number of  mom&pop stores out of business. Interesting perspectives about living somewhere that salmon is a cheap food….

off to relax – tomorrow is a sea day and we dock in Vancouver on Monday. No internet till then…

Posted in Cruising | 3 Replies

Rivers of Ice

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-04-29 by Holly2022-04-30 1

(Wiki information here)

We sailed all the way to the Marjorie Glacier which is 21 miles long and comes into the fjord at right angles to the Grand Pacific Glacier which clocks in at 35 miles long. As rivers go, that isn’t all that impressive. But as massive sheets of ice grinding slowly and unstoppably forward with a depth at one time that was over 4000 ft … (All this is in Imperials measurements due to them being provided by the park rangers on the tannoy. The park rangers are not shy, pushing a clear message of environmental change and responsibility. I am just not up for converting to real numbers).

My cabin is on the Port side and far forward for which I am more than grateful today. As we slowly drift toward the mountain wall, Majorie Glacier appears more clear. I can see follow her backwards into the mountains as she travels downwards and curves around the peaks. The Grand Pacific Glacier doesn’t have that wonderful blue crystalline front appearance being covered with all the dirt and rocks which it has picked up on its journey toward the fjord.

Mostly what I have are pictures.

On the way up Glacier Bay




.Marjorie Glacier



 



and then the Grand Pacific coming into the end of the bay


which doesn’t look all that exciting.

There were the usual tiny bits of ice floating…

and then we traveled back out on our way to Ketchikan – which included dozens more of small glaciers, some melting snow and amazing scenery.




and, then there is the LongDog Sampler – You Belong to Me which is now ABB – all but Backstitch. Stitched on 16 ct Scroll by BeStitchMe with 4067 Sulky bendable.

 

Posted in Cross-Stitch, Cruising, Travel | 1 Reply

Icy Point Straight

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-04-28 by Holly2022-04-30  

The last time I was here was well before the pandemic. The ship docked in front of the old Cannery which had been turned into a small, pleasant and walk-through in 10 minutes museum. Today it appeared significantly different. The tribe, the state, and some grants had gone for upgrades including two gondola systems and upgrades to the Cannery. All was finished in fall 2019. And you can just guess how the following two years went. One of the young women proudly told me that she was glad to be able to be working at home this summer between semesters; that they were expecting 250 ships this summer.



I walked the nature trail over to the Cannery meeting only one other person on the ½ mile trail. He was having a wonderful time complete with fancy camera and tripod. We chatted for a few minutes; this trip had been delayed two years for him. But the trees, moss, and sunlight filtering through the canopy was well worth the wait.



The history portion of the Cannery hasn’t changed. But the clean up has been extensive, it now feels open and welcoming. There are obviously the usual number of shops with a variety of goods; cheap magnets and t-shirts through incredible paintings and carved stone art.

 

Underneath the gondola run (green, free, thank you very much!) was a fantastic cross between a par course and the type of jungle gym that would be the envy of any adult school yard. . It would delight any teenager in the world. For that matter, with ladders, elevated walks, short zip-lines, rings, ropes, and balance areas I would have been extremely tempted. If it hadn’t been raining and a bit slippery. And, if I had less brittle bones or a bit less common sense.

 



This evening I finished Death Before Decaf, pattern designed by the WitchyStitcher

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Capitals

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-04-27 by Holly2022-04-27  

It isn’t just the tree line is low, there was still snow clearly visible on the mountain peaks.

This is typical of  what I saw most off the port side for most of this morning’s cruise to Juneau.

 

Capitals

Often the capital of one of the US states is neither the largest nor the most impressive city in the state. Take, for example, Albany – the capital of New York. Closer to home is Sacramento, which is a reasonably sized sprawling city at the norther end of California’s Central Valley. It is not exciting and certainly not LA or San Francisco. Or, for that matter, as interesting as St Paul where I lived for six years. Being, besides the state capital, the poorer and more working class sibling of Minneapolis. No sports teams, no shiny, not fancy but with amazing river views.  Major industries included the St Paul stockyards where the major winter sport was broom-ball.  Back in the day when the county hospital was called Ramsey County Hospital more than one of us learned our suturing skills on the lacerated scalps of more than one totally drunk player. 

Juneau, as the capital of Alaska (Wiki article here) is one of the older cities but certainly not the largest (Fairbanks and Anchorage are both larger). Especially not when you consider that the town’s population can  increase by 6000 or more on a summer day’s when several cruise ship’s dock.  These past two years have been really rough on the economy as a large share of the population makes a living mostly in the summer and off the tourists. 

Douglas Island lies to the west and is bridge connected to Juneau on the mainland via bridge.

It certainly seemed true this afternoon as I wandered through a few stores in town on a very short run off ship. I stopped at the fudge store, the quilt store, the toy store, and a general store. The last had the feeling of a small town store where there were tourist goods, but also a hardware section (hammers, nails, screwdrivers etc), some knitting supplies, sewing supplies, toys.  It is early afternoon, mid-week,  and the shoppers were just about all tourists. And we are the only ship in port and with a  ship’s passenger count below 40%.

I managed to avoid being too much of a tourist as far as the few purchases I made


(except for the small stuffed sea otter)
and was back on the ship long before it stopped raining. I did mention the rain? No?  Well, it was raining which is extremely common except when it is a bit colder, then it snows. We were lucky today, the temperature stayed over 5*C… Talking to a few people who went to the Mendenhall Glacier – they didn’t see much due to low hanging clouds…

and then there is Death before Decaf…

which is now at 70%

 

 

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Crawling up the coast

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-04-26 by Holly2022-04-27

We sailed out of Seattle early last evening to lightly clouded skies and smooth seas. This time the Olympic National Park was on the Port Side and Vancouver Island on the Starboard. 

But mostly it was a lovely sunset

 

 Our first of three Alaskan ports will be on Wednesday. As it is the furthest point on the cruise, we are headed there first and then will work our way back along the coast. The distances are not all that far so it is sailing up the Inside Passage, staying in the middle of the challenge – and just far enough from the shore that there is no cell coverage.

 

I relaxed in the library for most of today and stitched while ignoring all the regular announcements over the tannoy which were mostly by the Cruise Director’s staff attempting to get passengers to attend various events around the ship. As you probably guessed, most of those events, other than Trivia are all revenue generating.

 

Had a lovey chat at supper with the lovely, young HR director who is from Zimbabwe. She talked about the challenges of handling crew both while underway and while in dry dock (both the Jewel and a previous ship). She has been thinking about writing an article for the NCL internal newsletter. Obviously, I encouraged her with the thoughts that others could benefit and, as long as she phrased it in terms of what went right, what additional information would have been good to know ahead of time, and what she learned, others might really appreciate it. None of the other current HR managers on ship have handled more than one dry dock. With the young crews out there, it is rare for anyone headed Into the experience to have survived those 30-180 days before. Bragging doesn’t work, but humbleness and sense of humor does, I shared my experience as a passenger from Rotterdam immediately post the Chaos of the Seas dry dock in the Netherlands as an example of not well handled. She is also the lucky person who arranges for the all crew activities off ship in port. She is building up her database for the summer as the Jewel sails up to Alaska and back.

 

Otherwise, today’s project was “Death before Decaf” by the WitchyStitcher on 16ct whatever from Forbidden Fiber Co. This is a 4200+ stitch pattern (a lot more dense than the last) but I am making progress…. Also a new start on this cruise.

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Sailing into Seattle

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-04-25 by Holly2022-04-25  

It was earlier than I planned on rising, but the change in both ship movement and sound was obvious. From late in the evening to early this morning we made the slow, comfortable sail  up the inlet between Vancouver Island on the left and Olympia National Park on the right.  Not surprisingly as it became light this morning, the temperatures are cool and the sky overcast.

I had my last look at the skyline as we turned to dock at Pier 66.

Once docked, my balcony looks out over the harbor. At 0700, I don’t see any point in getting off the ship for a couple of hours.

At 1100, I had even less reason to get off the ship. The outside temp was 10*C (51*F in old money). Today is Monday. For anyone who is a crafter, knitter, spinner, stitcher the follow on is obvious. Seattle is not a small Alaskan town dependent on the tourist trade. All those lovely small stores are open on Saturday. And reopen on Tuesday. Which, obviously is not today. Instead, I stayed in the library, sitting at the table this time and chatted with various people who could actually identify cross-stitch (and that it wasn’t crochet…..).

No other photos today, this has to be posted prior to our 1600 sail out (! not bailout as auto correct would have it). Tomorrow is a sea day. Although we might be close enough to shore to use my phone, I don’t trust AT&T..

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A library!

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-04-24 by Holly2022-04-25  

I had thought they were all just about gone, except for Holland America which recognizes that people need books,

But the NCL Jewel came out of dry dock this past year and the library remains. Located on Deck 12, there is a card room with more than a half dozen tables next door. I am ignoring the poor ladies who work in the Spa trying desperately to drum up business every time anyone walks by.

But the library, it is a good size room with a dozen plus cozy seating areas. There is a table in the center which, as it appeared today, is the spontaneous morning get together location for any crafters or fiber folk on the ship.

There are three walls of book cabinets containing a variety of hardback books ranging from reference materials through various fiction genres and several languages. The cabinets are locked, glass fronts managed by a staffer who comes in to the desk twice a day to manage book checkouts. As you might suspect, the honor system just doesn’t work under cruise conditions. At least not on most of the ships I have sailed.

I spent the morning quietly stitching in the library, the afternoon enjoying the peace and quiet of my cabin. There are under 900 passengers on the ship. For those who normally travel on small ships, this is a huge number. For those used to the hustle and bustle of large ships, I can sit in one of the lounges and not see anyone for up to 30 minutes. Nice & quiet!

Since NCL gives me meal coupons for the fancy restaurants, I teamed up with another one of the solo travelers to use one last night. We had a pleasant evening; she just retired from the BC Provincial Paramedic service.

Otherwise – my true – new cruise new start…

Nightmare before Coffee from the WitchyStitcher. DMC floss on 16ct  Tumbleweed by ForbiddenFiberCo. Nice addition to my coffee wall? No?

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