THANKSGIVING 2016 in CANCUN

Thanksgiving 2016..... a long weekend in the Sun!

Ray and I had never been to Cancun, so we decided to give it a try. Ray selected the Excellence Hotel at Playa Mujeres just north of the town of Cancun. It's at the tip of the Yucatan Peninsula, really the Eastern most point in Mexico. We are both very happy Ray picked this hotel. It has about 7 pools and 10 restaurants. Food, entertainment, and drinks
are all included! Oh, and ADULTS only!!! We arrived on Wednesday afternoon, November 23rd. The first thing we did after checking in was head to the bar for Mexican Margaritas !

Really pretty hotel, right???

So we went for dinner Wednesday night at "Agave", the Mexican Restaurant at the Hotel.

Afterwards there was a Jersey Boy Show in the bar area. Only 3 guys singing, but good songs and harmonies. Then the deal is you go to a big open air theater for a stage show. 

That night it was an Elvis Presley impersonator. He was good at it. Mom would have loved that show. We didn't stay long. We enjoyed the warm night air on our private ( sort of) patio.....

Thursday , Thanksgiving Day, We took the local Ferry to the nearby Island, Isla Mujeres.

This Island was first populated but the Mayans ( more on them later) and when the Spanish Explorers discovered it, the Mayan people had abandoned the island, but there were lots of female statues , hence the name "Island of the Women."

The place is very touristy now, with a flea market lining the streets. We headed straight to a quieter street with a comfortable looking restaurant. Lunch was yummy! Cervesas and real Mexican dishes. Then we walked down the block to the Playa Norte, one of the most beautiful beaches in all of Mexico, which is saying a lot! And it was a fabulous beach!!

Isla Mujeres Playa Norte...... a perfect beach.  We rented chairs and an umbrella and hung out happily for a couple hours that afternoon.

Thursday evening was dinner at Chez Isabelle, The French place in the Hotel. With another show in the evening. There are a lot of young couples here, many of them on their Honeymoon. Some are in groups. There is a LOT of drinking and partying going on as you can imagine.....

Friday Morning after our buffet breakfast, we headed to the nearby golf course , Playa Mujeres, to play our 9 holes. 

We got on the course and saw a sign about crocodiles on the course, so we kept an eye out.  We saw our first one floating in a little lagoon just watching us. Later on hole 9, there was a very BIG guy lying on the side of the fairway near a pond. He was basking in the sun and didn't seem interested in us. But he was SCARY!!! Ray did not seem too excited, but I was Very happy to leave that course. 

Here's Ray's photo of that crock. His tail goes all they way to that green sign behind him that probably says "Beware of Crocks". We didn't stick around long enough to read it..

Crocodiles have been known to attack golfers in the area. We were lucky.

Friday afternoon, we relaxed at the resort and enjoyed our patio and the "lazy River" pool in back of us. Dinner Friday was a special reservation for a table in the sand by the shore. 

There is a beach here with nice warm water, but a lot of seaweed and debris that rolls in to shore. But it was nighttime so we couldn't see any of that. Dinner was good, not great. We shared Rays entree, as I didn't want to eat mine. It was a very breezy evening by the water too.

After dinner was a great show. A singer who I loved. Ray didn't go with me, but I rocked out!

Her name was Claudia Trevino. She is from Cancun, but sings like an American. You can see her on You Tube.

Saturday we rose early to meet our driver and guide. His name was Wenceslau.... a local guy and father of 3.  His mission was to take us to visit the old Mayan town of 

Chichen Itza.

On our 2 1/2 hour drive to Chichen Itza, we stopped in this small town populated with descendants of the original Mayans. This is the 16th century church there.. It's no longer in use, just a relic of the past and a reason for tourists to stop.

Here we are at the base of the famous pyramid. Chichén Itzá is a world-famous complex of Mayan ruins on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. A massive step pyramid known as El Castillo dominates the 6.5-sq.-km. ancient city, which thrived from around 600 A.D. to the 1200s. Graphic stone carvings survive at structures like the ball court, Temple of the Warriors and the Wall of the Skulls. Nightly sound-and-light shows illuminate the buildings' sophisticated geometry.

This whole complex is dedicated to Mayan religious ceremonies and celebration of the 

Solar equinox, and the sacrificing of people to the God of Rain whenever the weather was too dry..... which was often.

Lots of Crafts for sale at these historic sites......and everywhere else ...

This is a sinkhole near Chichen Itza....... The water is 40 feet deep and the Mayans used to throw people in for sacrifice.

LONDON THEATER TRIP , NOVEMBER 2016

Let's all Go to London and see a few plays!! NOV 8th to the 17th, 2016.

This trip is organized by Weston Playhouse in Weston, VT. My friend , Janet, and I signed up to
join a group of 19 theater lovers to gather at the Montague Hotel in Bloomsbury. We are just next to the British museum and a short walk to Covent Garden.

I arrived in London on the morning of Nov. 9th, just as we were learning the results of the US election between Trump and Hilary Clinton. Trumps victory was stunning and unexpected, so
we all saw our first play in a state of shock.

Wednesday afternoon matinee was The Wyndam's Theater to see NO MAN'S LAND,  by Harold Pinter, starring Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Patrick Stewart.  In the evening we took our private coach to
Chelsea for a "Welcome Dinner" at a wonderful restaurant called BLUEBIRD. A duck salad and amazing Daube de Boeuf. Excellent meal. I was the only Republican in the whole group and my fellow travelers didn't know how or what to say to me since I represented the "rednecks" who voted for Trump ( an actual quote).  It was very awkward for a while, but things did settle down in time.


Thursday Morning, we had a conversation with the other 2 actors from "No Man's Land". Owen Teale and Damien Malony  are also great actors. The show was very well cast. The session was moderated by our theater tour leader, Giles Ramsay. Giles has been leading this tour for many years. He is a London theater professional who is very knowledgeable about all things thespian, and also great at managing a group of Americans.

Thursday afternoon, Janet and I bought Oyster Cards and rode the Underground to Harrods to shop.
Then lunch in the amazing food Court. We went to the fish area and had Bouillabaisse and Fish Pie, and some lovely wines.

Thursday evening was The Garrick Theater to see "The Entertainer" starring Kenneth Branagh and Greta Sacchi. This one didn't really do it for me. After No Mans Land, it was a real disappointment.
But hey, you can't love it all, right?

Friday morning, we rode our coach to Sands Films. they make movies and they make all the costumes for their movies, plus design and make period costumes for others, but film and live theater.
It was fascinating. Lunch after was Fish and Chips at the Mayflower Pub. It dates back to the 1600s.
A must do!

Friday evening was a Great play at the Young Vic Theater called "THE NEST".....By Xaver Kroetz,
and translated from German to English by Conor McPherson. I'll tell you about this and any other play if you ask, but I'm not going into the synopsis here. I loved this 2 actor play.

The big event on Saturday was the matinee performance at the OLD VIC Theater of Shakespeare's KING LEAR.  In a stark and modern world reality, Lear is played by a stunning female British actor,
Glenda Jackson. She is now about 80 years old , and a formidable actor . She was amazing in this supremely challenging tragic role.  Saturday evening Janet and I took a walk to an Indian restaurant
called THE RED FORT. We had the tasting menu and loved the food.

Sunday was a concert at Wigmore Hall. It's a former piano showroom which is now a concert hall.
I skipped this event and took a long walk around the neighborhood instead. In the afternoon, Janet and I took a walk to Covent Garden. It isn't far from the Hotel. Looking up at the spectacle that is Covent Garden, Janet missed a stone step,   and fell down onto a solid stone floor. She picked herself up and brushed off, saying she thought no damage was done. Very relieved, the two of us kept going. We shopped and walked on to St Martins Church for the 5pm Evensong service there. As we approached, the bells were ringing in the church's tower to welcome all coming for the service.
It's a lovely place and we both enjoyed the service and the music. Next off to a nice Thai Restaurant to meet Giles, our guide, for a glass of wine and a chat, then dinner. It was called Patara at #7 Maddox Street. Yummy!

Monday morning, Janet woke up with a swollen and sore knee. She decided to get it checked by a doctor, and spent that day and the next resting that knee and dealing with general bruising and soreness everywhere after that fall. Such a shame, and not too surprising that she was hurting after that jarring fall.

I went to the British Museum on Monday to see the exhibit on Sunken Cities in Egypt. A coastal city near Alexandria was abandoned in the 8th Century ( 700s) as it slowly but surely sank into the Mediterranean Sea. It was discovered in the 20th Century and excavated. Statues of Kings and gods
were cleaned off after centuries buried in sand and silt. Lots of good Egyptian history there.

Our show on Monday night was called ( get ready)...... AN INTELLIGENT HOMOSEXUAL'S GUIDE TO CAPITALISM AND SOCIALISM WITH A KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES
by Tony Kushner ( he's the author of Angels in America). This is a challenging and very engaging piece about a union organizer who feels he sold out and that his life was a waste. He hosts an outrageous family reunion with his 3 adult kids who try hard to dissuade him from committing suicide.

Tuesday started with a discussion with Edward Snape, a London producer. I missed that talk as I overslept.

At 3pm I met with Piper, another trip leader, to see Lin Manuel Miranda's ( Hamilton creator) first musical, IN THE HEIGHTS. It was fantastic, and a musical was a great antidote to the selection of straight plays , all dramas, that were on the tour.

Piper and I took the underground "Tube" to Our final show. Love the tube..... it's clean orderly, not too noisy, and very civilized public transport.  The NATIONAL THEATER is an amazing State funded arts institution.  We saw THE RED BARN, a psychological thriller by David Hare, at the Lyttleton Theater. The sets and technical effects are great, not so much the play. The group returned to the hotel, and like most evenings, we spent an hour or so in the bar hanging out, munching on bar sandwiches and having a drink.. or two.

We met Wednesday morning to discuss with Piper the last 3 shows that we saw together, then we were joined by Giles and Matt Wolf. He's an American who has worked in London as a Theater Critic
for over 25 years. Good session.
I had lunch with Janet, who is feeling better, in the hotel restaurant. A London afternoon walk around and through Russell Square, some reading and a nap, and I'm ready for our final  "Farewell" dinner
at the YORK AND ALBANY restaurant, located near Regent's Park. It is a Gordon Ramsey owned
eatery in a former 1820's coaching inn.

October 2016 Trip #1.... SAN FRANCISCO!

We're off to visit Julie and see her new school for the Weekend of October 6 through 10

SEPTEMBER 2016....LINDBLAD / NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CRUISE ON THE "EXPLORER" TO NEWFOUNDLAND AND THE CANADIAN MARITIMES

MERRY CHRISTMAS RAY!! This trip was Ray's Christmas 2015 gift request. It is a part of his native country that neither of us have ever seen. We arrived in ST JOHNS , NEWFOUNDLAND on the afternoon of September 14th, just in time for a late lunch. We checked in at the Sheraton Hotel and struck out to see the town on a glorious, sunny afternoon. We found a Gastropub and feasted on the best Fish and Chips EVER! Amazingly Crispy and light washed down with a good local beer.
Then we strolled all over the central part of town and down by the harbor where a huge cruise ship was docked.

A view of St John's from our hotel Room at the Sheraton

A Residential street in St John's.... we did a bit of walking around town and saw many colorful houses.

These are the hard working supply boats in St John's Harbor.....

This was our first glimpse of the ship we will be cruising on. It looks very small compared to the monster sized cruise ship that was here on the night we hit town.

Dinner that evening was at a local Chef owned place called "CHINCHED". This is slang for
"stuffed" as in overly fed. The hostess is co owner with her chef husband, and she was very friendly. Told us all about their career paths and their years in the restaurant biz on Nantucket.

Thursday the 15th was rainy. Luckily there was a bus tour of the town available to us as a pre cruise event. WE did that, and then were escorted to the ship. Our boat looked very small compared to the huge thing of the day before. We boarded around 5pm and settled in our cabin. Quite spacious for a boat like this and even has a nice veranda. YEAH!! This ship has 80 cabins and a capacity of 140 passengers. On this trip, we have about 120. The crew is very organized and several naturalists, historians and photo experts on board to inform and mentor us all. WE WILL HAVE TO POST OUR PHOTOS WHEN THE TRIP IS OVER..... THE INTERNET SERVICE IS WAY TOO SLOW ON THE SHIP.

WE cruised all night, and docked the morning of the 16th at the French Islands of ST PIERRE AND MIQUELON...... These two small Islands are almost 100% French, but the place does not look like France at all. Just a simple small Canadian town. Population 6,000 on St Pierre, which is the island we visited. Miquelon is much smaller. The history goes back to 1500 when the French and Basque Fisherman used the island as a stopover. The highlight of the visit was a scenic lookout high on a hill with Miquelon and the vast sea beyond.  Dinner that night  on the ship was local lobster, and nice wines. They have a pretty good list on board.

As we departed the ship at St Pierre, Ray shot this image of "Ile Aux Marins". Its a tiny island just next to St Pierre.

Hilltop on St Pierre. Old boat pullys in the foreground

After Dinner that evening, our professional actor performed an edited version of the one man play he co wrote with Jim Lehrer on the Life of Alexander Graham Bell and his inventions. This was to  get us in the mood to visit the Bell Museum.

Saturday , The 17th we docked at CAPE BRETON ISLAND, on the North end of Nova Scotia. Morning stop was the historic town of LOUISBOURG. Ray and I had been here 36 years ago on our Honeymoon. It was very nostalgic to go back again. Founded by the French Military in 1713, Louisbourg served as a fortress ( fortified town) until its final capture by the English in 1758. The Brits demolished it in 1760 and there was nothing there for a long time. Then in the 1960s , guided by massive amounts of maps and drawings, the Parks Canada folks reconstructed about 25% of the town. It then became a National Historic Site of Canada. It now attracts thousands of visitors annually.  If you ever travel to Nova Scotia, this stop is well worth it.

The town of Louisbourg today. We landed here and took a bus to the historic fortress.

This guide at Louisbourg is giving us a presentation about like in the town in the 18th Century, when the place was
a well inhabited French Fortress town. She's holding a ball of sugar .  We also got a tour of the vegetable gardens and the sheep pen.

One of the reconstructed buildings

Louisbourg rooftops

This is a woman acting the part of a French soldier and telling us what life was like  for them.
She even shot off her rifle for us.

A domestic scene in the Governers home.

They were ever so French..... And Ray is a wonderful photographer.

The light was perfect that day to capture these images of a great historic place.

Our afternoon stop was the town of Baddeck, also on Cape Breton. Its a charming town with a good harbor and a very nice museum devoted entirely to Alexander Graham Bell, His wife, and his inventions. He's famous for the telephone, but was also into flying machines and hydrofoil water travel. They had a home in Baddeck. Our afternoon ended with a fun fide on a schooner, a sailing ship of about 100 feet. Big enough to hold about 30 people, and a very entertaining guide. We were lucky to see several bald eagles. A couple came right up to the boat to pull fish out of the water that our guide tossed in..... wow. Beautiful Birds!

Our Schooner in Baddeck. It was a glorious afternoon and a beautiful sail.

Our talk that evening after Dinner was by our guest speaker, Robert MacNeil, the writer and TV Journalist.

Sunday, Sept. 18th we landed on the Quebec Islands of the ILES DE LA MADELINE, a group of small islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence which are Part of the province of Quebec.  Population about 12,000, and many more in Summertime. Sadly, we got a rainy day for this visit, and the visibility was poor. But we had a lively local named Sylvie as our guide and she brightened our day. We visited a herring smokehouse and learned a bit about the fishing culture in this region. Shopping was at the Sand museum in an area called La Grave.   Most stores were closed on this Sunday morning in the rain. Ray and I bought 2 shell shaped bowls of glazed ceramic as a souvenir.  The Church we visited was all in wood and one of the very oldest around.....  Lunch was in a dining hall at an old convent.  The ones we felt sorry for were the biking group, but they seemed to have a good time... soaked to the bone.

These figures are moulded from sand. Everything in this shop was a sand creation. It was like a museum. Perfect stop on a rainy day.

Inside the French Catholic church. This must require a lot of maintenance. It looks beautiful!

In the old days before GPS , people found addresses by describing house colors. It also perks up the landscape when its dreary, right?

With it's steep cliffs, Belle Anse is one of the most beautiful sightseeing points on the red sandstone cliffs. Situated on the North side of the islands, it shows us the effects of erosion on the archipelago over the years.

Sylvie, our local guide, in her raingear. She was a lot of fun.

Monday the 19th was a stop back on Newfoundland on the West side at the UNESCO World Heritage Site called Gros Morne. Newfoundland's geological history comes alive as we wander the 3 km path
along the Western Brook Pond on our way to the raised inland FJORD that was carved by the sea and filled by the ocean about 15,000 years ago. Part of the scenery is the GROS MORNE mountain . The wind was blowing awfully hard, and I only made the walk halfway, then turned back to cower in the warmth of the bus. Ray and the rest of the group returned an hour later, hardier than I was.... We had  the afternoon to rest and do NY Times Crosswords.

Western Brook at Gros Morne.

This path goes on for a long time. Until you approach the Fjord. It was a windy day and pretty chilly.

A real highlight to this tour was on the 20th, Tuesday.... we cruised overnight to the Northernmost tip of the Island to a place called L'ANSE AUX MEADOWS, ( Another UNESCO Heritage Site).....and the recreated Viking village of Norstead. This was a fascinating look at the world of the rough and Ready Norsemen who traveled from Greenland to Newfoundland in search of supplies for their settlement in Greenland. They built a temporary camp of timber and sod buildings there over 1,000 years ago.
They were discovered in the 1960s by a team of archeologists and later reconstructed by the Parks Canada crews to be a pretty accurate representation of what the Norse Explorers build and lived in. WE learned that all Vikings were Norsemen ( from Scandinavia), but not all Norsemen were Vikings. You were only a Viking if you fought and killed and destroyed the towns and farms of those whose land you wanted to take over. Many Norsemen were peaceful , and traveled to discover the world and fortify themselves.

A closeup of the sod exterior of the reconstructed Norseman shelters.

HE looks pretty authentic......

We weren't sure about the cross. They were on this land in 1,000 AD so they could have been Christians.

This was at Norstead, a smaller site than at L'anse aux Meadows

The interior . And it shows the timber frame construction that is under the sod.

I went back to the ship after this, but Ray stayed on for a Viking Feast, and a visit to  a place called St Anthony. They visited the home of a famous Dr Grenfell.

Our final stop on the cruise, Wednesday the 21st, was a town called TWILLINGATE on the North East Shore of Newfoundland. WE hiked around Long Island Lighthouse Lookout point, A fishing village, where the local dude took us to his staging house where he cleaned his catch and prepared his cod for salting. We learned that in 1992, the island was advised that the Cod Stock was so depleted that they could no longer fish in these waters. This was a big blow to the food supply and the economy. But they recovered by turning to the shrimp and the crab populations for sustenance. They later depleted those as well. Then in about 2006, they were allowed to catch 5 cod per person per day, and they are seeing the cod populations beginning to grow again. So the fishing industry is not at all what it used to be
on these Islands...... We also went to AUK Island, a  local winery to taste and buy wines made from local berries and fruits. Some of them were quite OK, if you remember that these are not made from grapes and really bear no resemblance to anything we know as wine.

A Chilly Morning at Lighthouse Point

Isn't He CUTE? The Local wine store sold this stuff.....

Tourist trap fishing spot

HE's fished these waters for many decades and his dad before him. He talked about the state of Cod fishing today, and also how it was prepared for salting in the old days. He claims that cod tongues are a real delicacy.

Most afternoons on the ship we had "recap" sessions with the expedition team. The naturalists, geologists, and photo experts all took turns giving us insights related to our journey. My favorite was Paul, the divemaster, and his sidekick, James. Every day we were in a good marine environment, they went down in that icy cold water and took photos of the marine life below the ship. Then they gave us all a slideshow. Oh, and there was also a videographer named Russ who filmed our trip and edited
everything. Of Course his DVD was for sale on the last day. I have one if you would like a peek.
Just let me know.

Rays photo of St John's houses as we entered the harbor and approached town on Thursday morning.

This is a good cruise line if you are into the Exploration side of travel. All onboard entertainment is informative....

We departed the ship on Thursday morning, the 22nd, and rented a car to drive up to the North end of Newfoundland, and take a FERRY to FOGO ISLAND. WE had a room reserved there at the Fogo Island Inn for three nights.  The drive took a good 4 hours with a stop for lunch, and we traveled a lot of empty landscape with lots of pine forest.

We checked into the Inn on Thursday late afternoon and tucked in to a lovely dinner with fun cocktails at the bar first, and a little local music after.

The next couple of days we drove around and explored the island, took a hike,  and shot lots of photos. It's a charming place with little villages quaintly named things like Seldom, Deep Bay,
Tilting, Joe Batt's Arm, and Stag Harbor. the landscape is stunning in a barren, rocky, almost desolate way. The people are warm and friendly. And they have created a world for themselves that is full of arts and food and festivals.... all the simple pleasures.

The Fogo Island Inn Towers above the homes in the village of Joe Batt's Arm. The website shows a number of shots of the interior as well.

Fogo Island fishing village 

This photo of a little cove gives more perspective on the Inn, in the background.

The town of Fogo with a huge rock formation called "Brimstone Head" reaching out to sea.

Fishing shacks in Fogo

From Fogo Island, we drove Back to the town of Gander to catch a flight to MONTREAL.
We met our kids there, and joined in a big family reunion of the Barrette side of the family. We were all celebrating the 95th birthday of Ray's mom, Angele. It was a perfect way to top off a wonderful trip.