New York Day 4

Our last day in NYC we walked to Grand Central Station, then to Macy's. They still use wooden escalators from the early 1900's. Pretty cool!
We then went to see an off-Broadway play, Avenue Q. Most of the audience was in their mid-20's and seemed to really enjoy it. We thought it was a waste of time and money. Before the play we went to Ted's Montana Grill near Rockefeller Center. Afterwards, although it was 11 p.m., we came across an ice cream truck and treated ourselves to a chocolate dipped vanilla cone before retiring for the evening.
On Saturday morning, we took a subway from Times Square to Brooklyn. A short taxi ride later, we arrived at the Caribbean Princess, docked at the Brooklyn Pier. We were pleasantly surprised at the size of our cabin. They gave us a handicapped balcony room adjoining our travel mates' room. Richard's mom and sister joined us on the ship to celebrate someone's 80th birthday! We had a late dinner, went to the standup comedian's show in the Princess Theatre and called it a day.

More New York

Yesterday was a busy day. We began by taking the subway to ABC to be part of the audience of Live with Regis and Kelly. Unfortunately Kelly wasn't there, but we did get to see Jennifer Anniston and Jordan Sparks, and of course, Regis. It was interesting to see the show from this perspective. There are a lot of people involved in producing a TV show. The studio is very small and it takes a lot of coordination to change out the sets during commercial breaks, keep Regis on track with cue cards, and of course to remind the audience to clap or laugh.

We hopped back on the Grayline bus to see upper Manhattan (Harlem, the Apollo Theatre, Grants Tomb). We then made our way to Yankee Stadium, where a game was to begin at 1 p.m. We determined that it was simply too hot to sit in the stadium all afternoon (and the added fact that the only tickets available were selling for $250 each and were in the grandstand), so after observing the crowds for awhile, we returned to our hotel to rest.

Grayline offers a 6 p.m. tour to Brooklyn, which after taking, we can't really recommend, but the cool breezes from the open air bus were nice. At sunset, we went to the top of the Rock (Rockefeller Center) to observe the Manhattan skyline, then took a friend up on a dinner recommendation and ate a late dinner at the Red Eye Grill at 56th and 7th. It turned out to be a great recommendation. We finished dinner at 11 p.m. (yes, this is still me writing...I haven't been kidnapped by aliens), and took a leisurely stroll back to our hotel on 41st street (Hotel 41). Fifteen blocks isn't a bad walk but it seemed that the streets were just as crowded then as they were at noon. It is indeed, the city that never sleeps.

New York, New York

New York City! Everyone we've ever met from another country either wants to go or has been to NYC. I always wondered why they saw NYC as an example of life in the USA. Now I understand. NYC is a little like every large city in the world. Whether you're from Europe, South America, or Asia, you can find something here that reminds you of home and makes you feel comfortable.... unless of course, you're from Alabama. :}

It is extremely multicultural. So much so, that at any time day or night, you can look around and not know what country you're actually in. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. Its just not the typical USA, there's simply nothing in this country that comes close to comparing to it.

We typically look for ways to avoid crowds. Here, one block from Times Square, the crowds are unending. Everyone has been very friendly.

We started today by buying a 2-day, Hop-on, Hop-off, Gray Line Tour. It's a good way to see a lot in a short time and decide places you want to return to and spend more time. We took the Staten Island Ferry to see the harbor, Statue of Liberty, etc. Took the next ferry back across and walked around from Battery Park to Chinatown, Little Italy where we hopped on again and continued the tour down 5th Avenue, to the Trump Tower, Wall Street, United Nations, and Central Park. The weather was great (80 degrees), especially after leaving 100 degree weather behind in Alabama.

After stopping for a late lunch, we took a break before heading back out to see "Wicked" tonight. Now we know the real Wizard of Oz story! It was absolutely fantastic, as was the Gershwin Theatre. More tomorrow...

At Sea to Ft. Lauderdale

We've calculated that this journey consisted of 7,260 miles sailed and 5,862 miles flown. The last two days are being spent at sea. We're currently about 50 miles from Cuba and the weather is getting cooler (mid-70s) and windier as we travel north.

All indications are that we're going to be in for a big change in weather when we get home. It'll begin to feel a lot like Christmas! Tomorrow morning, we'll leave the ship around 7 a.m., our flight to Muscle Shoals is at 10 a.m. We should be getting home around 2:30 p.m.!

Overall, its been a wonderful trip! Taking the laptop with us enabled us to stay in touch, organize our photos and videos into a slideshow, and post to our blog before we forgot everything we did. The only news we heard while we were gone were the many troubles of Tiger Woods! Surely, there is something else going on in the world. We'll have 28 newspapers to read when we get home, so we'll soon find out!

Dominica

Dominica! This was our first time on this island. We hired a taxi to take us to see the sulphur springs and the rain forest. Dominica is a very lush volcanic island and the locals welcome you with steel drum music and big smiles!

Our sail off this afternoon was very sad! This was our last port on this fantastic journey! Next stop....home!

Yesterday We Woke Up in Barbados!

We hired a taxi driver to take us to Payne Bay with a couple from another ship that was in port. Payne Bay is where the catamarans take tourist to swim with the turtles. We arrived at the beach, rented snorkels, masks, and flippers and swam with and actually touched several very large sea turtles. At one point, one came up for air right in front of us! After several hours, we had the taxi driver drop us off in town and enjoyed an appetizer of fish cakes and cold beer at one of the waterfront diners. We walked back to the ship, which was further than we’d anticipated. Hopefully, we swam and walked off at least one of the many desserts we’ve eaten while on this trip!

Fortaleza, Brazil

We arrived in Fortaleza on a Sunday and were surprised to find anything open. We took the shuttle into the city center and walked through a 3-story handicraft market and toured an old Church. This is a city of approximately 3 million people and I do believe that most of them were in town that day!

It was extremely hot and 100% humidity (just like any August day in Alabama). There were activities available (i.e., beach trip, dune buggy tours, etc.), but we returned to the ship early, although we'd been at sea for 4 days, and had 3 sea days ahead of us.