This is it!

FT. Lauderdale..........7:00am......80degrees F.

It will be 66 or so in Toronto, so we'll be feeling the different temps today, we're sure.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to share in what was such an absolutely wonderful journey. There will be more pictures to see once we connect live and many stories to tell over the coming weeks. The memories won't be leaving quickly.

We look forward to sharing our next few months as we train for the half marathon in Las Vegas in December. Stay tuned and prepare to feel the pain with us................bye for now.

K & R
See you in our travels.

Send good thoughts for Bingo

Folks,

The Snowball Bingo has been mounting the entire cruise. Today if you completed your bingo card in 54 numbers, you won 4,750 dollars.....no one won again today.

tomorrow is the finale and the price of 5000 is going to go to one lucky person..........pray it comes our way.

Thanks for your happy Bingo thoughts......

K & R

Largest Celtic Cross

A picture of the largest Celtic Cross in the world. It was erected on the side of St. Annes' Basilica in Belfast. Interesting things happening here. At 4:30 on this particular day, all the choirs from Ireland were going to join here for a concert.........the organist was practicing when we were there. Would have loved to stay for that one......the elder in the church told us we were welcome to stay but we had to get back to the boat. The chairs were very hard and very small, but each section of chairs was reserved for the "tenors", the baritones, etc.   Can you believe what that would have sounded like? Gigantic church.....a cathedral.

When we signed the guest book, the lady before us was also from Canada. She mentioned that Quebec also has a St. Annes Cathedral and I also have seen that church..........can you imagine? both of us in the church at the same time? Small world and getting smaller........

Glendalough......(pronounced "Glen da Lock")

 St. Kevin started this Monastery in "glendalough......two lakes in a valley......although it rained for a bit while we were there, it was still wonderful to see and be there.

 The Bell Tower was built to let people know that safety was in the Monastery. They came from many miles for refuge and solitude with the Monks. Look how far someone had to walk up the center of the tower to ring the bell. The opening at near the bottom was placed strategically so it could face St. Kevin's church.

 There are still 8 families today who are still allowed to bury their dead here in the Monastery. They are only allowed to bury one person from each generation. This will keep the cemetary going and no one can excavate the land until these families have no more family members die.

St Patrick and St. Kevin created the Celtic Cross. St. Kevin brought Chrisianity to Ireland and
St. Patrick brought Christianty to the Pagans (the people who worshipped the sun). You will notice the celtic cross has a circle in it.......that is to honor those who worship the sun and the cross is for the christians. Both were honored and the Celtic Cross remains everywhere in Ireland today.

Great Hunger, Potato Famine 1840

 The Jeannie Johnston is one of the original boats that travelled to America, Australia and other places. Apparently there was a doctor on board so everyone that travelled on this boat survivedNot all were so lucky.................

 These statues are replicated in Boston's harbor representing the many Irish emigrants who survived the voyage. The child replicated here on the man's back, did not make it to the boat. These statues are amazing to see for real.

The famine of the 1840s will never be forgotten. However, potatoes are not the money maker now. In Scotland and Ireland, there are twice as many sheep as there are people.

More Dublin Pics

 Harmony overlooks the Liffey River which flows through Dublin.
Daniel O'Connell's name is everywhere. There is a bridge named after him, a restaurant and pub and I'm sure there were many children named after him.

Dublin Ireland

The Harp Bridge is on the Liffey River. When a large boat comes down the river, the entire bridge swings sideways. We didn't get to see that happen, but they said it looks amazing when it happens.

Disembarkment Error!!!

Sorry folks,

Thought we were going to be home on Wednesday but it turns out we have 3 fun filled days on the ship and won't be home until Thursday. Oh well, more reading, casino time, playing bingo and eating......did I mention eating? Having a good time with new friends and I guess the days are blending in to one big holiday time.

Having a hard time getting the Ireland pics on today but will keep trying before we land. Still have internet mintues to use............

Stay posted...not finished with the fun yet.

*Rob made it to the top 10 in a slot tournament today...............

k.

Almost to Halifax

Hello everyone,
Spent most of yesterday afternoon Whale watching.....saw small ones, large ones, hump backed ones, etc. The water is smooth so they are much easier to see.

Looking at St. John's Nfld from afar this morning, the weather is warm and the waters are calm.

Will be on shore from noon until about 4pm. The RCMP are going to be on board at 4:30pm for a Pipes and Drums show. Will try to get back on board to take that in.

Going to take the "Hop On--Hop Off" bus tour with Rob this afternoon as he has never been here before. Everyone else of the ship will be heading to Peggy's Cove. There are 3500 people on this ship so Halifax is ready to be taken over................won't be going on the Peggy's Cove trip today.....wouldn't even be able to see the lighthouse today for people.....

Going to put the Ireland pictures on tomorrow or the next day. Haven't had time to put those on yet so stay tuned..................

Bye for now.........

K & R

Sea Schedule......

Hello everyone,
We are at sea today and tomorrow and will be in Halifax on Sunday arriving at noon. We will be leaving Halifax Sunday evening, arriving in Ft. Lauderdale Florida on Wednesday and then flying home Wednesday morning one be get off of the ship.

We have transportation from the ship to the airport and will be home on Wednesday at 3pm Toronto time.
Will have  a few days to post more pictures over the next few days............so stay with us bloggers.......

Talk to you soon and love to all.

Emerald Princess Pictures

Emerald Princess Pictures

More Greenland Pics

Random Greenland Pictures---what a great day!

Couldn't Help Myself!

Yes, here I am with the Grade 8s and 10s in Qaqortaq,Greenland. What a day.............the weather went up to 20degrees C. We don't know the last time they saw these temperatures as the last 2 cruises couldn't even make it into anchor. The water was VERY calm............

So much information to share and so many great pics.......will try and get some more on tomorrow but had to share this one.

Had lunch in the teacher's lounge........the teacher in the picture and the Principal (Lars from Denmark) provided lunch. I had rice and Greenlandic Lamb (YUM) and Rob had pickled herring on dark bread. DAD......Rob says there's is as good as yours.....
Everyone was so nice.......the kids are great, as always and they were so glad we came to visit. The kids speak English, Greenlandic and Danish. I spoke to them for about 45 minutes......giving them information about Canada and my school and other things. Wait until I send pictures of their playground and surrounding area.

After we left the school, we staying in town and visited with the people......everyone was out and because there was so much going on in town for the cruise people, they closed the school. They couldn't get the kids to come back to school after lunch anyway.

Am exhausted tonight........on our way to Halifax........back to Canada.

Today was definitely a highlight............

Qaqortoq (early morning)

 Wake up......you have to see these!!! We are here and it is unbelievable........

It is cold.........I may come home with seal boots and polar bear pants.............LOL......expecting an awesome day on land.......talk to you later.......and will put on more pics of the day.

ICEBERG SIGHTING

Hello everyone,
We have seen our first iceberg........way off in the distance but a biggie.......not by the local standards I'm sure but it looks like a small mountain..........if we see any tomorrow will be able to get pictures..........we saw this one at 8:30pm and the sun is just going down.....can see Greenland in the distance now..........7am, the entire boat will be on deck for the anchoring...............
talk to you soon

ps....you should see the sun setting here............

At Sea--Wednesday, September 21

Hi everyone,


*****Rob saw a whale while we were working out this morning........the water was calm so he saw the steam coming out of the whales blowhole.......the whale swam in front of the boat..............******

The excitment is mounting again. The temperature is now 54 degrees F and tomorrow dropping to 44degrees F. We are about the land tomorrow morning at the largest island in the world.....Greenland. Reykjavik was the most Northern Port we were in but this is going to be very special We can't go into port so we are going to be taken in by "tenders" the little boats that are the side of this boat. 20 minute boat ride and we'll be on Greenland. 45 minutes, we should be able to walk around the entire area of QaQortoq....there is one store, one post office, a museum, a church and one school......you know where I'm headed tomorrow. At grade 7, they are able to learn English......but the main languages are Danish and Greenlandic...
About 85% of Greenland is covered by an Ice Cap which is 2 miles in depth......but this is when Greenland has the least amount of bergs......however, to be extra careful we have one of the "Ice Patrol" workers on Board. He is a Dane who has been doing this job for a long time.....they watch for bergs by boat and by helicopter now.....should be interesting to watch..............this man will remain on our bridge throughout the stop.....h has made it 400 km away from the North Pole, so he has seen it all.
Will take lots of pictures and will load some on while on our way to Halifax.....this amazing journey is soon to come to an end.

Talk to you soon.........
See you in our travels.......
K & R

We went to the city after the Blue Lagoon

The Blue Lagoon....a Must See and Feel when in Iceland

 Picture taken from the pathway into the Blue Lagoon..........black substance is Volcanic Lava

 Rob and I have the exfoliating masks on........we stayed in there about 40 minutes...Rob had a beer, I had an ice cream and we walked the entire area......the temp. was about 98degrees F but it really didn't feel that hot........We LOVED it!!

 The locals tell us Indian Summer has arrived here......we were dressed too warm......

Have to show you Magni.....

Greenock Port.....Glascow Scotland

The top picture is of Greenock Scotland coming into Port. Taken from the Ship. If you look to the right, you can see the two cranes at the drydock where the Queen Mary 1, Queen Mary 2 and the Britannia were built. You are looking at the River Clyde. Very large shipping industry.

The second picture is of the Great Wall of Greenock and the Wishing Bell (the 8th Wonder of the World)

The third picture is the drop off from the ship.  "St. George's Square". Rob and I had lunch there. Statues all around the square. We were dropped off and given a map....see you later......have fun. We then took a Hop-On, Hop-Off bus and toured the city.............really nice city.

Iceland------Capital City of Reykjavik

Hello everyone.....we are excited today.....we are in Iceland.........
It is a somewhat nice day.....we just had rain for a few minutes......now it appears to be sunny again. We are getting ready to come into port and have our bags packed for the Blue Lagoon. There is a little tug boat below us pushing us in to port. If you have a minute.....get on the Live Web Cam feed for the Blue Lagoon......just google and you will see a link to the web cam.......you never know you might see Rob and me there. It is 10:30 am on Monday, September 19th. We should be there around 2pm. We have moved so many hours back as we have moved through countries, we have no idea what day it is at home or what time.
Anyway, will try and get some Glasgow Pictures on soon.
Bye for now and hopefully everyone had a great weekend.................
 K & R
see you in our travels......

Satues at Vigeland Park----an must see when you visit Oslo

 Although Vigeland never titled any of his sculptors, the people of Oslo call this one the baby geniuses.

 Children running......

 Think about his one as you wish.................as you may have gathered, all the statues are naked.

This is a needle of entwined bodies that is part of the park.................take a minute and go to the website........much more to see

Vigeland Park......the most famour "Air Museum" in Norway

The top picture is the Gateway to one of the most facinating parks or air museums we have seen. Gustav Vigeland did many sculptors or ordinary people and they are all situated in this park. I can only post two or three pictures at a time before my connection freezes but Google "Gustav Vigeland" and I'm sure you will see everything we have seen.

Guess who donated an "Inukshuk" to Oslo Norway?

Belfast Today

Folks,.
We have been whirling through Scotland and Ireland the last 3 days so you haven't seen many pictures lately. Only had a wee bit of rain yesterday and it looks like a sunny, but cool day here in Belfast.

Mom,
Saw a Leprechaun in Dublin yesterday......he was near the statue of "Molly Malone".......didn't get into a pub for a pint of guiness though. Will be looking for anything "Doyle" today. Love you.


Be back on when we get back from Belfast and hopefully will be able to load pics tomorrow when we are at sea tomorrow. We didn't get to kiss the Blarney stone but we hope Hurricane Marie will let us go to Iceland. We are leaving here today at 4:30 and will arrive there in the morning.

Have a great day................
see you in our travels.

Love to all
K & R

Happy Birthday to You Audrey!!!

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday Dear Audrey....
Happy Birthday to you....

I have to post this the evening of the 15th as we will be in Dublin until late afternoon and then have a poker tournament in the evening............did I mention I won the poker tournament I was in the other night? 245USD.....Rob won 400USD at the 3-card poker...........so we are keeping our skills sharp even though we are away.........

will try and post more pics once we are in port again.....goes much faster..............

have a wonderful birthday Audrey.......

Love
K & R
We'll see you in our travels!

Oslo's Opera House

 This is the most amazing Opera House. It represents an "Iceberg"......the left edge goes right into the water

 Sculptor in front of the Opera House.

The far edge of the Opera House goes right into the water.........there is no Edge on the building. People walk all over the outside and really close to the edge............I'm sure these pictures don't do it justice....you might want to google it to see better pics.