Sunday, April 12, 2009 Easter The next Journey of Discovery begins – a uniquely British experience. While it isn’t directly tied to Daddy’s trip around the world, the blog has become a way to capture Bob’s and my experiences, and to keep a running account of our adventures. (Not to mention that people can only seem to keep one blog address in their heads). This trip is a pure excuse to sail both ways on the liner Queen Mary 2 with twelve days in the British Isles sandwiched in between. We plan to scout out sites for my trip in June with grandson William, visit with friends from a prior crossing on the QM2 and explore some new cities as well. What is making this crossing so delightful is that we’ve convinced five other friends to join us: Marj and Gary Swenson, Marj’s mother Ruth Graeff, and Bonnie and Ken Norris. We seven have been planning and chatting and thinking about this trip since last fall. The men have acquired tuxedos with all the appropriate ties and studs; the women have shopped endlessly for the perfect formal outfits, and each of us is bringing a different perspective of what we want to do on the crossing. While we all started south from Vermont on different days, we’re all meeting today at the Marriott Hotel in Brooklyn to share a last dinner on shore with another Peacham friend, Marsha Garrison. And it’s not just any dining experience: it’s the River Café, a famous gustatory destination which is tucked right under the Brooklyn Bridge and has a reputation for breath taking views of the New York skyline, as well as great food.
Monday, April 13, 2009 Bob and I took a car service from Darien to the Marriott, checked in and relaxed. At 5:30 Ruth, Bob and I started a leisurely walk to the restaurant, down Remsen Street to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, which runs along the East River water front. What an absolutely delightful walk (except for that moment when I made a face plant and scraped my knee having tripped over a tree root). The promenade was a picture of calm spring. Children being pushed in carriages, couples relaxing and staring out at the skyline, joggers enjoying a good run, and everywhere the flowers of spring, budding fruit trees and the background hush of car and ship traffic moving below us. The restaurant is an institution. It’s been around for over 25 years as Brooklyn Heights became the trendy new place to live. The restaurant has weathered its age well and when we walked in, it was a little oasis of calm. The lobby had the most amazing floral arrangements which consumed you almost like a green house. It being spring, the colors were shades and shapes of pink. The restaurant is actually on a barge, permanently docked and as boats went by their wake could be felt under our feet. Our table of eight was in a high mood of festivity as we are finally beginning our journey. Marsha joined us after her classes at Brooklyn Law, and we had a fabulous leisurely meal, well served, well presented and delightful to the taste buds. The pleasure of the restaurant is that it was prix fixe; so that once you swallowed deeply at the prix, you were free to sample your way through a divine menu, sipping wines, and enjoying every morsel. The signature desert was the Brooklyn Bridge chocolate desert which I had. Lots of chatter and photographs and staring at the skyline as the sky darkened and the lights of the City took over the view. What a romantic and wonderful place from which to start the next adventure. A group of us wanting to walk off our meal decided to head back to the hotel via Peter Pane’s house. He and his wife having just returned hours ago from a trip to northern New York were a wee bit surprised as we barged in on them, but as always they were gracious and welcoming. While some continued on to Marsha’s ‘digs’, others headed back to the hotel for a much needed rest.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009 At noon we and our tons of luggage gathered in the lobby of the hotel for our ride to the ship. Our collection of luggage was so great that a second limousine was called in. We drove past Watchtower Headquarters, past doggy parks and over to the Red Hook area where our grand ship awaited us. Not a great day for weather, (overcast with threatening rain) but you couldn’t have it be too perfect. After allowing longshoremen to haul away our luggage which we would see next in our stateroom, we stared at the lines of people who had just disembarked earlier and who were standing in long taxi lines….what a letdown after being pampered on board for a week to stand like any other mundane citizen waiting… but for us, our adventure was just beginning. Check in is fairly mundane: security, health certificate, check in, card issuance, credit card registered…and voila, we were ready to board. First we had to get through the barricades of photographers who wanted to snap that first picture – the passenger (s) and a life saver were framed against a drab background with luggage strapped around shoulders and that slightly harried look which comes from having just gone through a gauntlet of anxiety-driven tasks. We took a number of photographs hoping there would be one good one to keep as a memento. We all found our staterooms on the 5th deck (we are #5049) where most of our gang is in a row on the starboard side: Ring – Norris – Graeff , with Marj and Gary on the port side. We checked the quarters out and then met for a Bob-led tour of the ship to give everyone a sense of what was available. We made reservations at the Canyon Ranch Spa – some for manicures, others for exercise programs, massages or pedicures. Then on to lunch, a quick look at the theaters, Connextions, and sites in between. The pleasure for Bob and myself was to be able to see the ship through different eyes and listen to first impressions: Gary having last been on the high seas on a Coast guard Cutter; Marj and her mother never having been on any ship; and Bonnie and Ken having taken a Carnival tour of Alaska. The ship cannot help but impress ; if it’s the fabulous floral arrangements in the main entry, the volume and variety of foods in the Kings Court, the opulence of the theaters, or the grandeur of the long passageways….it is a spectacular ship. We all wanted to watch the sail away, so we gathered everyone on our side of the ship, looking out through the falling rain to the Statue of Liberty. As the ship finally let off the lines we headed to the viewing area below the bridge, keeping ourselves protected from the very soggy, cold weather. We had so hoped for a lovely spring late afternoon sail away, but it was not to be. The unique event on this sail away was a bag-pipe-playing passenger from Canada, who played a few numbers in the rain while his wife and sister smiled benignly. Our sail away was slowed down when the captain came on the PA system to announce that a passenger on board had become ill, and needed to be taken off the ship. So while we waited for a boat to come along side and carry him off, we all took cover inside and got ready for dinner….all except Marj who was in the hot tub in the rain as we went under the Verrazano Bridge. She had the best view of all. After a drink at the Chart Room, where I chatted with a fairly narrow minded couple from the UK, we proceeded to our newly assigned table (Bob having earlier negotiated a better table for our little gang). Our waiter, Bausram, from Mauritius , will probably become a favorite. He is charming, solicitous and quite funny. He picked up on Bob’s request for ‘real coffee’, and I have a feeling that this phrase will ring with every meal. After dinner we all crashed, being both physically and mentally y exhausted from new impressions and accumulated anxieties which could now all be put to rest as we sailed out into the Atlantic. We are promised “boisterous seas” by the captain, and we were told by many that the crossing from the UK to the USA was more than a bit boisterous. With Bonine for safety we crashed and slept.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009 Bonnie’s birthday complete with a morning announcement from Ray the cruise director. We each took on our own activities, but the ladies met for a lady’s lunch in the Britannia Restaurant. We were ushered upstairs to an almost private area where another waiter a man named Wendy, also from Mauritius, served us most graciously as we all had our little requests and requirements. We each separated again after lunch and planned to meet in the newly decorated Chart Room for cocktails. Ken, the bravest of us ran three miles around the deck being buffeted madly by the winds…he said at one point it was strong enough that he seemed to be running in place. Marj and Gary joined a very rigorous yoga-Pilates class which stretched their skills as well….and the rest of us napped or read. Our dinner was fabulous and, as expected, a group of waiters came to sing Happy Birthday to Bonnie, and to provide a lovely piece of cake which we all enjoyed. We all stopped at the Black and White ball and peeled off from there to our separate cabins. Today was a quieter more restful day as we began to acclimatize ourselves to the tempo of life on board where time and purpose lose significance as you stare out at waves and contemplate the next meal … and every night the clock is turned ahead another hour so that when we arrive, we’ll be on accurate British time.
Thursday, April 16 A day lost in memory. I know we attended the galley tour which as always astounds those on the tour with the pure volume of foodstuffs brought on board. The same statistics were expressed last year, and I won’t chose to re-write them into the blog since I did it already, but there are always new things to learn based on questions raised by others on the tour. This time I learned that all meat used on the QM2 is picked up at the New York port where it has been USDA approved and is therefore less likely to have mad cow or other problems. I also learned that each cooler in the lower decks holds a 40 foot sea container’s worth of food, and that each cooler is used for separate items: poultry, meat, vegetables etc. The amazing statistics of 32,000 eggs, and 12 tons of meat & 7 tons of poultry, used on a six day crossing is just plain alarming. As Bonnie said, imagine the person who is responsible for delivering all those eggs – fresh every six days! The pure factory/manufacturing aspect of producing vast volumes of food in an attractive, culinary fashion cannot help but give one pause. While there may be at least eight unique galleys assigned to each specific dining area it is hard to imagine how one can create all those meals in a timely fashion. And this isn’t exactly like the navy. Here the guests expect each plate to look and be attractive… both to the eye and to the palate. I guess that having 165 chef and sous chef is part of the solution, but that every meal gets to the right table and to the right person with the food at the right temperature…is astounding. Just cleaning and sanitizing all the china and cutlery, not to mention the ironing of a zillion napkins and table clothes….now that’s a job for a mangle if ever there was one. In the afternoon I went to a lecture, by the conductor of the Royal Symphony, on the complexity of being a conductor. I know that after dinner we went to the Queens Room,and watched a bit of the formal dancing at the “Black and White Ball”. I know that Marj and Gary exercised in the gym, and at special classes in their spa fitness package; and I know that we all lost track of time, space, date, and anything else requiring specificity. I know that I visited the ship doctor at some point to see about my injured leg, which was looking quite ugly; and I know that some lady fell down the stairs, and that it took too long for someone to come and help out; and I know that the ship’s clinic can take care of everything but surgery. But, you could put a gun to my head and ask what day and at what time, and I’d have to do a pretty evasive dance. The pleasure of sea travel where there are absolutely no clocks visible is that you float in an anonymous time, where the only clue to reality is if you happen to read the daily program which tells you what day it is, or if you happen to catch some television. It is a wonderfully freeing sense not to be tied to some regimen.
Friday, April 17 Everyone went their separate ways today: some to play bingo, some to the spa for a massage, some back to their rooms to watch movies on television. The sun pretended to be coming out briefly, and the seas were definitely calm, but it was not exactly conducive to sitting in deck chairs and relaxing. Though the hot tub topside did get a good workout from Marj and Ken. One of the guest lecturers gave a fine presentation on “poop” (or since he was British, ‘poo’). It actually was an interesting lecture with statistics on excrement; the importance of dung beetles (of which there are a vast variety); the danger of chemicals in cows whose ‘poo’ no longer serves the purpose it was originally able to do; the usage of poo in art, as house plaster and as fuel etc. The lecturer, from Oxford, was very amusing and the audience was larger than had been at the classical conductor’s lecture….which may say something about people’s interest in the topic! Our days have some type of pattern which is mainly evident at the end of the day when we meet for cocktails. Otherwise it is catch as catch can as we run into each other at some event or another. And we did get in a brief round of Wizard, teaching Ken this fairly addictive game. The game corridors on either side of the Illumination Theater were packed. Never have I seen so many game players – one had to fight for space. This was probably because there are many more families with young people on board… it being school break in the UK. It does make a difference to have a contingent of the young on board; it is far more pleasant to see kids having fun aboard ship,than seeing the elderly with walkers and wheel chairs.
Saturday, April 18 A very busy day, starting with the morning acquisition of bingo tickets…followed by another lecture on the role of great conductors through history. The men went to the planetarium and to the lecture on the mechanics of the ship, and afterwards there was a rousing game of Wizard with Ken as the newest convert to the fine qualities of the game. The gaming area was once more jam packed, and while we had set ourselves up at a jig-saw puzzle table, those advocates of the puzzle asked us to move so they could work on it. We did this twice and finally found a fine green-felt top covered table with no puzzles, and Marj proceeded to have a perfect game: she made every contract for all 15 hands. We all applauded her and saved the score sheet for future adulation from her fellow Wizard lovers. Tonight was our last formal meal in the dining room – the famous lobster and baked Alaska dinner where they pull out all the stops – obviously those who don’t like either of these traditional ship meals could opt for things such as roast beef or tiramisu. We have all enjoyed our evening ritual of meeting in the bar for a pre-prandial followed by a fine dining event. But I think, given his druthers, that Ken would burn his tuxedo upon returning to Peacham. The ladies have sartorially out-done themselves with their ‘Cunard Collection’, purchased over the last months, and the effects were much admired by their fellow female travelers (I’m not sure the men actually noticed). This being our penultimate dinner together it all seemed a bit sad that we would soon go our separate ways, but I believe that Gary & Ken are definitely looking forward to getting out and about for some serious walks not confined to a narrow deck area.
Sunday April 19 – Birthday As promised, when I awoke, Ray the cruise director, was reading off the names of those who had birthdays – and there I was – Beatrice Ring of the 11th deck. Only problem was, I’m on the 5th deck… I think they were anticipating our return sail when we will be on the 11th. We all did our separate activities (exercise, bingo, spa treatments, reading) but met for formal tea in the Queen’s Room in the afternoon. This is a wonderful tradition left over from the early days of sailing where people would gather for scones, finger sandwiches and good tea. It was all quite lovely even if you do wonder what happened to all those bread crusts. Were there some very happy sea gulls? Or is there more bread pudding the next day? After tea, we card fanatics had one last round of Wizard before I tucked the cards away for awhile. Dinner was a less elaborate meal with the waiters receiving their gratuities from the guests, and most people having already packed their bags for the next morning’s disembarkation. We celebrated the birthday with the ship’s special cake, and white chocolate sign, but asked the waiters to forego the off-key singing. And so, after a last walk around the deck, the trip comes to an end. Our bags are tagged and put outside the door so that we’ll see them next when we’ve disembarked, our bills our paid, our library books returned, and our finery packed away for the return visit. The seas have calmed, we’ve spotted other ships, and a variety of dolphins and sea gulls, so land is not too far away with promises of sunshine and warm weather and plenty of spring flowers – hurray! I will be interested to chat with our fellow sailors sometime after we’re all back in Peacham, to get their lasting impressions. I think that from this introductory trip perhaps we’ll get some repeat customers. But for others it was a one-time event. For Bob and me it will continue to be the ‘only way to cross’. Why cope with the hassle of planes, airports, security and jet lag when for a wee bit more you can have six luxurious days of being pampered and feeling just a little spoiled? It was nice to end our journey on my birthday. It was delightful to find my email filled with notes of congratulations and to acknowledge with friends that I am now officially ‘old’. And, so to bed.
April 20 – Monday We all got up early – the men earlier than the ladies. After all, how could the ship be correctly piloted to the pier or docked successfully without the attention of the peanut gallery? Bob was up at 5:00 a.m. to ‘help’ with the whole docking maneuver, though we were not to disembark before 10:00 a.m. Carrying our last minute overnight objects, we gathered in the Winter Garden for breakfast and to await the moment when they would announce that “all those with Orange Tags from the 5th deck” were allowed to disembark. There in the shed next to the pier we picked up our luggage and after hastily thrown kisses and hugs we separated – Bob and I off to our limousine, the others off to the taxi stand which would take them to the car rental offices.
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