Sightseeingwithsue

Some were on deck before 7:00 am to watch the first locking through.  Not me.  I watched the 2 pm locking through. I have attached 2 pictures so you can see the progress. In the first, see how empty the cavity is forward.  That ship has just come out of the locks and we are in the first chamber waiting to go into the second, and them the 3rd chamber.  The second shows our entering tnto the 3rd chamber.  Notice the beautiful bridge in the background, to the left it leads into the jungle. Also on the first picture, notice the huge container ship going in the opposite direction.

Below is the Panamanian flag.

The canal does not go straight across the isthmus, but at an angle. It is about 48 miles in length, but you are only about 25 miles away, if it were straight across.  They have a new and bigger canal that is about a quarter of a mile away from the first. We took the old canal which is 110 feet wide.  Our ship is 106 feetwide, so that tells you we had PLENTY of room.  Can that be the reason the ship’s crew is always painting the sides of the ship???

Throughout the 1800s Americans and British leaders and businessmen wanted to ship goods quickly and cheaply between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Construction on the canal began in 1903 and was finished in 1914. About 14,000 ships transit the canal daily. We were told to make a reservation to do the transit is $35,000.00.  Yeah, that is a lot.  Maybe Custom Holidays is charging too little for reservations.  😇  the cost per berth is $138 and this ship has about 2000 including the crew, that’s about $276,000. Plus there were other charges, and some of them are in the thousands of dollars. So it is really big business.  Actually about 5 billion dollars revenue a year.

It takes about 8-10 hours for a cruise ship to transit the canal.  From the Pacific you go up about 25 feet and on the Atlantic side you go down about the same.  Our guide from the canal said the water displaced is 26 million gallons each way, which is a total of 52 million gallons. The locks are not operated by electricity. It is all by gravity.

In between the 2 sets of locks, is a huge lake with beautiful scenery on all sides.  Actually the best way to learn about the canal is to take a cruise.  Should we work on another one next year?

 

Every night we get a towel animal in our room.
Here are two.  An elephant and a bunny.

I did get some sun the first couple of days but the sun has been too brilliant for fair skinned girls these last few days.

There are draw backs to cruising.  Way too much gourmet food.  This salt air seems to be shrinking my clothes.

Think about doing this 2 week cruise and if a picture is with a thousand words, being there is priceless.

Your friend,

Sue Biggs

Today is Friday, April 12; 2019. How do I know it is Friday, because the elevator told me so. Every day they change the rug.  The date: I had to look on the When and Where plan of the day.

It is early afternoon and this morning we had an excellent talk about the history of the Panama Canal.  In the 1900s the cost was above 600,000,000 (million) and claimed approximately 37,000 lives.  It also saves about 21 days instead of sailing around South America.  The Panama Canal was a gleam in the Spanish king’s eye when Balboa first came to the Americas in the 1400s.  However it was 400 + years before the digging actually began.

Yesterday we we were in Costa Rica.  Jann and Pete and Ron and I hired a guide and he took us to some really neat places. The red macaw is the state bird.  Ron is using his telephoto lense on his phone and got these in the trees. They were about 50 feet up and it was a rather shady area, so this picture is excellent.  We love it.

We stopped by several places where he showed us trees that were popular in Costa Rica.  Here is a cashew tree.  The flower is red and the seed is the nut we eat.

Look closely at what Jann is holding.  It looks like an ear. It is the seed of a tree, nationally called, “the ear tree.”

We stopped at a park where young people were dancing.  April 11 is a holiday for Costa Rican’s.

This tree blossoms once a month at the full moon.

This is a purple jacaranda

This is the country’s national tree.  I cannot remember it’s name.

Rich and Pat had their picture taken while in the rain forest in Costa Rica.

Thanks for viewing.  I would recommend this Panama Cruise to anyone who loves history, among loving other things.

Stay healthy and i’ll try to get pictures as we make our trans canal sailing tomorrow.

Sue Biggs

Our first stop was in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and Ron and I spent most of our time working on projects so we do not have pictures from there.  

Our second stop was in Huatulco, Mexico. We hired a taxi driver to take us to town to buy socks for me.  I did not bring any to wear with my tennis shoes.  We also bought some Mexican coffee grown high above sea level. We understand the best grows at the higher elevations.  We saw poverty, but opulence in the hotels and condos that vacationers occupy.   The views of the ocean were spectacular.

We stopped in Guatemala. Our lady guide gave us quite a bit of information about the country. One of the neat things we did was ride across where a volcano erupted 8 months ago. I was amazed at how fast the country is repairing the devastation. This is the dry season, but toward the end of May the rainy season begins and many of the roads are impassable.

In 1773 there were a series of earthquakes that devasted the area. Some of the buildings are still standing in the same condition. Others have changed their identity completely. One change is amazing. Once a monastery that housed 1200 monks and I think nuns also, now, is a beautiful 5 star hotel. Some of the ruins are still there, and some areas are really first rate 21st century. Very, very interesting stop. Then we stopped for lunch. See the picture where 5 men are playing the marimbas and this was a Tuesday afternoon. We had traditional meals at a nice upscale restaurant. 

We also stopped at a tourist trap for the rest room, to buy handicrafts, coffee, and a tortilla.  I saw this flower container (2 liter  bottle) hanging from a tree.  It is amazing what you can do if you do not have much.  This is a very poor country.

Our stop today (Wednesday) was in Nicaragua. Again another very poor country in Central America.  I am sure the whole country is not as poor as this port city of Corinto. It has a population of 18,000. How did we get around?  Young men were pedaling bicycles that held 4 people.  See pictures below.

 

Our drivers took us (7 of us ) on about a 90 minute ride. Our driver lived in the area and his wife and child were on one of the corners as we passed by.  The other driver saw his wife and 2 children and they rode along with us for a while.  The wife was peddling and one child sat side saddle on the men’s bars and the other one sat on the back seat above the fender. We had a top and sides to our vehicles.  It is a good thing because the real feel temp was 102.  Hot and humid. The stop at the Pacific Ocean was very welcomed.  We each gave them $10.00 U.S. for the ride. That was very good wage for the mornings work in Nicaragua. 

One of us stayed near the ships swimming pool and two went on a tour about 30 minutes away.  They were told not to give money to the pitiful children because the parents would squander what they got on drugs and alcohol.  They saw a church, a group of people dancing in full local costume.  The locals also described the meaning of their costumes. The tour went to a horse farm, and they saw tortillas being made at another stop.   All in all it was a good day. Oh!Oh! My dress was too tight for dinner.  I am sure I have already gained 5 pounds, maybe more.  Good food and 3 times a day.

We only have 2 more ports of call and Holland America’s private island in the Caribbean.  We will be stopping in Costa Rica and Colombia. Plus we need a day to pass through the Panama Canal.

I hope the weather at home is getting spring like.  The sun is beautiful here and so far we have had smooth sailing.  I am so happy for that.

From afar,

Sue Biggs

Today I thought I would discuss some of the values of cruising.
Friendships: we have 10 people on this cruise, 3 couples and 4 single ladies. Everyone is congenial and a delight to be with. We have a table of 10 for dinner. We are fortunate to be able to dine together each evening. Everyone awakes when they want and then the day offers so many activities, it is impossible to stick together. When we assemble at our table in the evening, we share with each other the fun and interesting things we did during the day. We have been known to order 14-18 desserts for the 10 of us and make 4-8 as samples for the table. Our table is oblong so we can easily talk across the table.

Along with sharing our own table for dinner, breakfast and lunch offers seating with strangers. We have enjoyed meeting and learning about other parts of the U.S. and Canada. There are people from all over the world. We have not met them, but others have. Just to name two of the interesting people, we had breakfast with 2 gentleman who have been cruising with Holland America for 25 years.  This is their 5-6th time to do the Panama Canal.  Not only that, but they are on the ship for about 30 days.  They left from Ft. Lauderdale and cruised to San Diego and without making any changes, they are now returning to Ft. Lauderdale with us.  They are from Akron, OH. They already have their next two cruises booked and each of them are about 30 days.  Such is the life.  We also met 2 sisters.  One is from Kansas City and the other from Waterloo, Ontario, just about 1 1/2 – 2 hours from Detroit.  She loves animals and has traveled all over the world with small group tours.  It was a delight to hear her stories. She has boated on the Amazon, watched the polar bears near the Artic Circle, been on several safaris to Africa, been to Antarctica, and on and on.  How exciting!!!!  Still another meal, one of the guests queried Ron for the whole meal wanting to know all about the bands (musical) in the military.  Almost every meal you learn about people and their lives.

On this cruise we have a number of classes for the computer. Those who are interested find their way to the Digital workshops. The weather is gorgeous so we all want to spend some time in the sun, some more than others. There is a casino on board for those whose interests lie there. There are several cooking classes every day at sea. There is shopping for both high-end jewelry and 75% off articles right next to each other. I should have avoided the jewelry auction.  Let me show you what I bought when I see you.  I have to wear it every day for 30 years to pay for it.  (A little exaggeration.) Several have enjoyed the classes by the naturalist on board, named Eddie. There are talks about the areas we will be visiting in the next few days, and of course musical offerings in any number of lounges. Don’t forget the professional entertainment each evening, so far outstanding dancers, a comedian, a harpest, and tomorrow a pianist. If anyone is so inclined, they can spend a ton of money in the wellness spa. This cruise even has an acupuncturist on board. There are games of all kinds, Mahjong, shuffleboard, even pickle ball, plus a rather large library, and first run movies.  The Orientals from Canada are dominating the Ping Pong games. Quite a few “fours” are playing cards in the room with tables, others are sitting and reading.

I am thinking it is also good for your health because you are walking a lot and breathing in some really, really fresh air.

There are many more good things about cruising, but I have to end this somewhere.  I forgot to mention 3 gourmet meals almost every day.  Also, what about the opportunity to visit far away lands?  That is important.

Below are a few pictures that convey the above ideas.  Picture 1 shows the 2 men who are doing Panama Canal back to back.  Picture 2 shows Jann and Sue at the jewelry auction with Pete giving his approval. Picture 3 shows Sue relaxing by the pool. Picture 4 shows the two sisters.

Take care, and happy travels,

Sue Biggs

After a delay ( the pilot was sick and we had to wait for a replacement) in Atlanta, we arrived in San Diego with just about 2 hours to spare. We found our shuttle, took the 10 minute ride and boarded Holland America’s Volendam. Just 1500 passengers, and not the newest ship, but very well maintained. We unpacked our belongings, had our mandatory life saving drill and went for dinner. We have a tough captain. He said if anyone failed to show up for the life boat drill, they could not sail. We sailed on time at 5 pm. Of course our dinner was delightful, but we were all fading fast as we practically crawled into our staterooms, and slithered into our beds, and were asleep by 8 pm Pacific time. That is 11 pm our body time. Did you know we all got up around 4 am? I believe we all woke up at 3 am today,  but promptly went back to sleep for another couple of hours.

Today, Thursday was an “at sea” day. There is so much to do. Some of us went to the exercise room, some went to computer classes, some to a lecture on the rain forest, some played shuffleboard, some went to high tea, some went to cooking class, and on and on. However, we all spent some time on the sun deck soaking up some beautiful rays in about 70 degrees weather.

One of the nice things about cruising is the people you meet. For lunch we sat with 3 couples. One was from Calgary, one from North Carolina and the other from Oregon. Nice people, nice conversation. Our group of 10, Rich and Pat, Jann and Pete, Sherry and Margo, Carol and Ruby, and Ron and I are all sitting at the same dinner table. I am thankful for this because I was led to believe it would not happen, but it did. We have very nice and fun people with us.

Below is a picture of my sweet and sassy shrimp plate and one of the gorgeous fresh flower arrangements. Tomorrow is another day at sea, we will see what it holds for us.  Did I mention, we are having extremely smooth sailing.  That makes me very, very happy.  Take care until next time.  Sue Biggs

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It is hard to believe we have had such a long, long winter, but we have. Tomorrow, April 3, we begin our journey from the Detroit airport to the San Diego airport to the cruise terminal to take off on our trip through the Panama Canal. We are really looking forward to warmer weather, and are pretty sure we are going to find it. I am also hoping for smooth sailing. Time will tell about that. We have talked about what we can do to keep from gaining too much weight. One thing we usually do is take the steps. That burns some calories. We try not to do the buffet. This time we are thinking we will share a sandwich at lunch time and leave off the french fries, or maybe ask for a vegetarian meal. We will be making lots of stops along the way so I hope to share a bunch of pictures with you. Not quite ready yet.

I It was a 3 hour flight to Iceland from Germany, but we passed through 2 time zones to get there. Our driver was in no rush to get to the hotel. Robbin and Ron sat in the front seat with him and they talked all the way. We rushed to the restaurant where the driver told us to go, and had fish and chips for about $20.00 each. It was tasty, very tasty, but I think we could have gotten it for half that in the USA.
By then it was time for us to meet our bus for a chance to see the Northern Lights. It was a nice ride into the country in the dark. We made one stop at a nice large hunting lodge turned hospitality center. I am sure it belonged to Gray Line. There were 12 busses there. Of course they had drinks (I heard the coffee was $4.00per cup. They also had sweets. There were tables and chairs. There were also sofas and overstuffed chairs. It was nothing like we expected. We thought we would travel to one place and if we did not see lights, we would look somewhere else. Not so. Our tour left at 8 pm. Our body time was already 10 pm. It was rather boring at the lodge. Several of our group were seen napping on the couches. It was cloudy outside, so I felt like if we did see lights, it might be for just 3 or 5 minutes. An announcement was made at 10 pm saying the clouds were expected to lift in 30 minutes. We waited impatiently. Ten o’clock is our midnight. They made one more announcement that we would get another announcement at 11 pm (that’s 1 am for us.) At 11 pm, the announcement was to scrap the lights for today. Happily we climbed aboard the bus, and the snoring symphony began. I can’t remember anything after getting on the bus. Tomorrow our tour begins at 8 am.

The temperature was 40 something and there was NO wind. Perfect weather conditions for travel. Our first stop was a geo-thermal hot springs called the Secret Lagoon. See pictures below. It was cold outside but once you got inside it was warm. Actually if you were very close to one of the springs, it was extremely hot. There were over a million gallons of water in this lagoon. And it recirculates every 30 hours, it was amazing. When we looked into the water, we could see the minerals floating all around us.

  

   

Our next stop was to see a geyser.  It spouts about every 6 minutes. Iceland still has volcanoes. Remember the explosion of one in 2000? We were in Spain and the flights were all grounded. Fortunately for us, we were staying an extra week.

Then we went to Gulfoss Water falls. It was pretty, but it was also cloudy. Actually there were two waterfalls, but because of the fog and steam, you could hardly see the second one.  To see it, you will have to enlarge the photo and look just above the second one and also look a little to the left.

Our next stop was at the tech tonic plate, where Europe is separating from  North America.  Of course, if you do not believe in evolution, then neither do you believe the world is milllions of years old.  Therefore, we prefer to believe that Noah’s flood would be a more accurate reason for the shifting.  The commentator already said that during a recent earthquake, it shifted about 3 feet from where it was before the earthquake. It was hard to get photos of both North America and European split.  Here are some scenery shots.  Even though it is winter in Iceland, the lakes and mountains and sky colors made for a beautiful landscape.

Our last morning was spent just browsing town and going to see a Lutheran Church.  This monument of Leif Erickson was given to Iceland from the United States on the occasion of their 1000 birthday.  It stands in front of the church. The last picture is of Maria and Gerard standing in front of the Lutheran Church.

  

All in all this was an outstanding trip with enough free time and a mix of tours and hop on hop off rides. I am seriously considering doing it again in 2019.  I plan to change one hotel because I did not like the location.  Other than that, it will stay the same.  I hope some of you would like to join us in 2019.  It is not too early to start thinking about it.

Again, thanks for reading and I hope I have given you a spectacular ride along with us.

Sue Biggs, Custom Holidays

 

Up at 5:15 am to have breakfast and catch a shuttle to the airport at 6:30 am. After several delays with getting the shuttle to arrive, we piled into taxis and headed for the airport at 7:15 am. We made it in time for our flight.

We arrived in Berlin before 11:00 am and went straight to the hotel. Fall has certainly arrived in Germany, with lots of leaves already on the ground. We headed out for our hop on hop off tour shortly before noon. We all added more clothes, but for me it was not enough.  When we were in the wind it was downright cold.  Because I was uncomfortable, I did not take many photos.

We hopped on the bus and took a turn around the city seeing the Brandenburg Gare, the Reigstag (Parliment) building, the monument to the Jews murdered by the Nazis,  and parts of the Berlin Wall.

We stopped for lunch and rest rooms and appeared to be half frozen.  We needed to have lunch inside.  I found a place that sold a local favorite, currywurst.  It looked pitiful but locals were buying it, so we did too, with some modifications. No curry for me.  So, they take this longer than normal hot dog (for lack of a better word) and deep fry it in about an inch of oil.  They put it on a paper napkin that is on a plate. Then they cut it into bite sized pieces. Next they smother it in a tangy catsup.  I mean smother.  Then they sprinkle (bordering on pouring) curry powder on the concoction. Next they stick a small (2 1/2 inches long) fork in one piece and serve it with French fries. It was either pretty good or we were really hungry.  Those who had curry said it was good.

By now we are thawed out, but everyone was ready to go back to the hotel for a rest.  Ron was not feeling too good, but I knew if we quit this early we would not go out later. Robbin and Cathy did, and Gerard and Maria went out for a little while.   I really enjoyed the sauna.

Our second day in Berlin, took us to the same places, but this time, we were better prepared for the weather.  We got off the bus and took pictures and read a lot of commentary. Sandra was not feeling chipper so she decided to stick around the hotel. We thought we would be back around 4 but we did not make it back until 6 pm.

Let me remind you that East Germany was Communist, and West Germany was free for many years.

Brandenburg Gate was in East Germany. It was built in the 18th century as a symbol of peace and entry into Berlin.  During the Cold War, it was a symbol of a divided city.  In the same vein, when the Wall came down, it was a symbol of reunification.  The first 3 pictures are of the Brandenburg Gate.

  

We found a silver general and had our pictures taken with him.  Notice the background.  It looks almost unreal.

Notice the very nice man hole covers below, in Berlin.

The next few pics are in front of the Parliment Building.

We were so impressed with the Monument to the Murdered Jews in Germany. There are at least a thousand boxes all the size of a grave.  No two are placed the same way and I doubt any are exactly the same height. Some are placed flush with the ground and some are taller than a man. It was a very moving place. The first picture was taken from the bus.  This monument took up a whole, large city block.

      

We also visited some places around the wall. The first picture shows the unfinished wall.  The second shows “no man’s land” where it was suicide to be caught in that area. It was probably 15 to 20 feet wide. It also shows some of the wrought iron used to reinforce the wall.  We were surprised to see how much of the wall is still standing after 30 years.

This post comes to you after we have returned home.  I would still like to add a post about Iceland, hopefully tomorrow.

That’s it for today.  Early to bed for us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have some catching up to do.  I forgot my I-pad on the second day of Vienna.  Carol is not too much into museums so she elected to stay back and enjoy the state gardens just outside our hotel doors.   Actually that was a beautiful garden, but I wish she would have gone with us to see the free gardens at Schönbrunn Palace.  They were exquisite and occupied very much land. Maria remarked a couple of times that the property was much more than a private garden, it was a whole country.

We thought we would visit the palace as soon as we arrived.  Not!!  We had to get our tickets validated and then had to wait 45 minutes for our allotted time to go into the palace.  No pictures inside. It was a personal audio tour.  The palace was magnificent.  Here are some pictures I got from the internet

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The last picture will give you a look at the whole room, if you can find it on the internet.  It is a gorgeous room.

Here are some facts about Schönbrunn Palace. It has 3 milllion plus visitors every year. The state owns it now, and took it over when there was no longer a monarchy in 1918.   It has 1,441 rooms. It began as a hunting lodge. In 1745 it was the summer palace occupied by the Imperial Family during the summer months.  Maria Theresa was the Empress who had 11 girls and 4 boys in 16 years.  She finally completed the castle in 1770 and she died in 1780. It was not occupied until Franz II, who became Franz I, was preparing for an expo and finished the remodeling in 1819. The palace is virtually the same since then.  Franz Joseph became Emoeror in 1848 at age 18 and he reigned until his death in 1916.  The last emporer was Charles I, who was the grand nephew of Franz Joseph. The monarchy collapsed in 1918.  (I hope I got all the facts straight.)

The next day we traveled to Germany. Thanks for visiting today.

I have to tell another story from yesterday.  My senior citizen friends will appreciate it.  My younger friends will just roll their eyes.  I also need to preface the story with this fact. . . I have been to several conferences over the years and the speakers mention that someone 15 years older than you are, are considered old in your eyes. So before you go any further, determine in your mind if this a a correct statement.

In Bratislava, I went into a visitors center to ask directions.  She gave them to me.  I reported them to Ron, and he questioned, my report.  So, I told him to go in and check for himself.   When he came out, he had the funniest grin on his face. “When I asked the gal directions, she said, As I told the old lady. . .”  We do not think of ourselves as old. Mature, yes, but old. NO!  Old is past 90.

Our day in Vienna was filled with information, looking at enormous buildings and beautiful gardens and fountains.  We also saw about 15-20 river boat cruisers docked on the Danube.  In case you do not know or have not heard, riverboat cruising in Europe is HUGE!  Steps travelled today, 13,295.

Just a few facts about Vienna. . .

It has some of the most pure water of any place in the world. It comes from the Alps and travels a nice distance for about 36 hours. When it finally arrives it needs no treatment.  It is good water.

There are 7-8 million people living in Vienna.  In Vienna, 50% of the property is green space.  They have several huge parks in the city.  Since the people live in apartments, they need that space to enjoy nature.

The reason so many musicians come from Austria during the 17th to 19th century was because there were very many noble people and they had lots of parties in their palaces where they needed orchestras.  It was always live (no C.D.’s during then) and the children needed music teachers also. As I understand it, that was a well paying job to have.

  

The first picture is a museum, the second is Mozart in a park. Notice the flowers shaped like a treble clef. The third picture is a fall scene in one of the parks and the last is a floral clock with the Kersalon in the background.

Woe is me. Yesreday a young woman in her 20’s called me “an old lady” and today was not much better. About 9:00 pm we were sitting having ice cream and a young man, probably in his 20’s drove up on his scooter (you know the kind. It has a running board and you put one foot on it and the other you propel yourself forward by swiping your other foot on the ground.) He sat down at the edge of the open air restaurant and took out his sketch pad.  As we were leaving he handed the sketch of me to me.  I was unnerved.  It looked just like me, AND just like an old lady. Moral of the 2 stories. . .  Keep away from 20 something people, or you will forget you’re just 39 at heart.

Thanks for sharing our day.