San Diego and San Francisco

 

Sandra, Scott, Heather, Brian, Pat and David

Our Uber driver dropped off at the wrong end of
the park so we walked the length of it to meet 
Pat and Brian. 

There are 16 museums in the Park which is on
1,200 acres.

We were excited to see our old friends in San Diego and it was all too short a visit. But we really had a chance to catch up on our lives and reminisce about our history together. Sandra Francour and I met in  the Philippines while we served in the Peace Corps. We were stationed not far apart from 1966 - 67 and have remained good friends since. David Wood and Brian & Pat Armstrong are all friends from 1969 onwards and were part of the infamous "ski group".  We've been out to San Diego several times to visit them and get to see David more often at his second home in Kingston, MA. 

We met at this fountain in front of the San Diego Museum of
Art.

The Botanical Building was recently
renovated.

The entrance to the Prado

We took an Uber up to Balboa Park to meet Pat and Brian and toured the Botanical Garden and San Diego Museum of Art together. We met the others for dinner at the elegant Prado Restaurant. But the fun was being with them and it was hard to say good-bye after only a few hours. 

We had spots on the top of the bus - lovely in the
city but freezing over the Golden Gate Bridge!!!

Union Park had a fun festival going on but we had
not time to get off and enjoy it. 

It was a short cruise from there to San Francisco and we woke the next morning tied to the dock. Our daughter Zoë and son-in-law George planned to meet us for lunch at 1:30 PM after their morning run. They meet every Saturday morning with a running group - both are long distance runners. So we took a Hop On Hop Off bus that was supposed to be 2.5 hours and we started at 11 AM. The bus broke down and we had to wait for a substitute and it ended up 3.5 hours long - very late for our lunch!

Haight Ashbury is another area we'd love to
explore. 

A damsel in distress?

But it was fun seeing them and we enjoyed a meal overlooking the bay. The time went by so quickly and suddenly it was 4 PM. And the all aboard time was 4:30!!! As always with Murphy's law one problem after another resulted in our running for the gangway and arriving just at 4:30 - pretty scared. It turns out they don't cut off entry right away and we watched at least 20 people board after us. But we'll never cut it that close again! And in the rush to make it to the boat - we forgot to get a picture of them!!!

Our bus crossed the Golden Gate bridge and 
here's a shot just before we got on to return.

A view of the city as our ship departed.

Our trip was coming to a close. We had one sea day left before our arrival in Victoria and the next day was our departure in Vancouver. More on that in my next post.

Crossing under the bridge - it looks like a close
call!

And farewell San Francisco!

L.A. Briefly

 

Our favorite shows in the evenings were  the Princess Dancers, Singers and Band. And one afternoon one of the featured soloists was given an opportunity to put on a Main Stage Show on his own. It was fantastic - he got a standing ovation and hopefully the chance to do it for Princess as a main stage artist. 

The head chef on my left is from my own
 Province in the Philippines! 

The five sea days from Honolulu went much faster and were more fun. We met two women from Vancouver who were bridge players and had regular games.  Another fun event was a presentation by  the Head Chef and Head Restaurant Manager that was really fun and interesting. It was followed by a tour of the kitchens - amazing! The weather was pretty good - we were able to sun bathe (not for long) on our balcony. And maybe we're just getting used to the routine! 

One of only 11 copies known of the Guttenberg
Bible

Blue Boy by Gainsborough

A modern version by Kehinde Wiley that 
was commissioned by the Library and 
hangs across from it. Such fun!

We didn't have much time in L.A. so we booked a cruise ship tour - the Huntington Library and Griffith Observatory.  Due to the limited time in port, our stays there were much too short. The Huntington Library is a complex including an extensive art collection, amazing rare books, and a botanical garden. We managed to see all of the European collection in the Mansion, which include "Blue Boy" by Thomas Gainsborough and "Pinkie" by Thomas Lawrence. 

The Mansion from the Library

Rows of Camillias and marble statues lined this
grassy avenue

The library contains some amazing books - just a few: a vellum copy of the Guttenberg Bible, Isaac Newton's personal copy of Mathematical Principals of Natural Philosophy with annotations in Newton's own hand and the first seven drafts of Thoreau's Walden. I loved the one page open in Audubon's Birds of America. We were only able to see a small amount of the extensive gardens, alas!

The view from the Griffith over the park to the Hollywood sign

And down through the park to the city

Our second stop was the Griffith Observatory. It is inside a beautiful park on the slope of Mount Hollywood. The land and money to build the observatory was donated by Griffith J. Griffith in 1896. The observatory's objective was to be accessible to the public, not restricted to scientists. It's a wonderful building with lots of exhibits and the great Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater, which we were unable to use. 

Scott on the walkway around the Observatory

Our next stop is San Diego and we're going to see our old friends: Pat & Brian Armstrong, David Wood and Sandra Francoeur. More on that in my next post.

The Observatory from the front.

Honolulu Visit

Arriving in Honolulu on our Royal Princess.

We've found using the Hop On Hop Off buses
or trolleys a good way to get to know the cities.

We arrived early Thursday April 30th in Honolulu. It was a beautiful day. Scott went down at 8 AM (as requested) to pick up our numbered departure. It was 25! The morning dragged on and on. It was 11 AM before the first number was called! Before that it was people disembarking for good. Customs/Immigration was on the boat in the Vista Lounge. Finally we went up for some lunch. Then we were fed up - only on number 20 but we went down anyway. Had to walk all around the outside of the boat and when we finally got to the immigration, there was a huge line. But because we were U.S. citizens we got to walk right past everyone and were finished in just a few minutes! We could have done that ages ago but no one told us. We talked to people from the US and other countries later and many people didn't get out until late afternoon! 

Washington Place where Queen Liliuokalani
was arrested during the overthrow of the 
Hawaiian Kingdom.

The "Punchbowl" is the site of the National 
Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and had 
beautiful views of the city.

The beautiful statue of King Kamehameha in front
of the Hawaiian Supreme Court - the former seat of
government of the Kingdom of Hawaii

We made it out around 12:30 PM and got a free Hilo Hattie shuttle to the Ala Moana Mall. We had purchased a two day pass to the Hop On Hop Off Trolley which has four routes: Pink, Red, Blue and Green. We caught a pink one over to the Waikiki Mall where we found long lines for the other routes. We decided to do the red route but it was 40 minutes away so had a cup of coffee in the mall. We finally got on the trolly and enjoyed the guide and trip - Waikiki beach, Iolani Palace, and the Punchbowl War Memorial. He dropped us off near the boat. 

Iolani Palace - the only Royal Palace in the U.S.
It was completed in 1882.

We were very lucky we had canceled our original plans for a Luau at 12:30PM. It was over an hour away so we would have never made it! Instead we booked a dinner Luau. By the time we got back from our trolley tour, I was exhausted so waited down at the shuttle stop while Scott went up to change and bring me a dry top. We were supposed to be picked up at 4:25PM. Scott had several frustrating conversations with them while we were on the bus but it seemed OK. But when the shuttle arrived our names weren't on it. The fellow in charge said he'd come back if necessary and Scott called and they sent an Uber! We got there at 6 PM. But then all was great. Flower leis, lots of drink tickets and seats right up front. We downed a bunch of Mai Tais and all was well. The show was terrific. The buffet fine, not outstanding. Fun night. Scott volunteered for the hula lesson on stage and I got a great photo. We went back on the bus.

Scott gets a hula lesson up on the stage during our Luau. He's right in the center!

Our show highlighted the music and stories of all 
the Polynesian islands

It was called the Warrior Luau so lots of male 
dancers for a change.

Fires were everywhere during the final segment,
including fire walking!

Friday it was easy to leave the boat and we walked up to the public bus which took us down to the Waikiki Mall. The Green Line brought us up to the Diamond Head National Park. We transferred to the Blue Line and this was terrific with gorgeous scenery and lasted almost 2 hours. At the end the Pink bus took us back to the Ala Moana Mall where we had lunch at the Food Court, did some errands and bought lots of gifts. This was a lovely day! But now 5 more sea days before we get to Los Angeles! 

Waikiki Beach and the statue of Duke Kahanamoku , the father of modern surfing and a five time
Olympic metal holder in swimming.

We saw one fabulous beach after another on our Blue Line trolley tour

This spot was the only one on the tour where we
were able to get off and take photos

Otherwise I just snapped them from the trolley. We
really were sorry we weren't able to enjoy these
gorgeous beaches and have a swim!

Time Spent at Sea

The Princess Pop Up Chorus Performance - that's Scott on the far left in the Bass section. 

 I'll say right away that Scott and I have found the huge numbers of sea days a liability. Due to the Cyclone we missed a visit to American Samoa and therefore had five days at sea between Auckland and Tahiti. Then we had another five days from there to Hawaii. Next we'll have five more days to L.A. These stretches feel very long to us - activities and menus are repetitious. We enjoy the trivia games, but two of those a day are more than enough (there are many more). The "enrichment" sessions are few and far between and often turn into sales pitches for the art gallery or ship excursions for example. The musicians are very good but seating at the bars where they play is often difficult to procure. And we are not drinking much now. We didn't take the package thank goodness because we've often gone long periods without any alcohol due to our colds and even when we feel up to it, we might have one cocktail and/or a glass of wine. 

For this one we got to sit in the first
row and Scott got to dance with her.

Lisa Woodhouse gave two performances - both great. 

One highlight has been Scott's joining the Princess Pop Up Chorus. He attended four rehearsals and then they gave a performance in the Piazza. It was really fun and they were great!

Scott, Heather, Nina and Rhys celebrating Heather's 80th birthday!

But we have met some very nice people. And one couple, Rhys and Nina, have turned into real friends. We see them almost every day for a trivia session and a drink. As a team we've won two competitions - that's out of 200+ attendees! We finally celebrated my 80th birthday with them at Sabatini's - lovely night. But they are leaving the boat in Oahu - a big loss.  We mostly have dinner at a sharing table and enjoy meeting others, sometimes more than once. But so far that hasn't led to further involvement. 

We loved this performance of the Princess orchestra, which consists of all the musicians aboard.

The entertainment in the big theater. has been mostly good, occasionally great, often just OK. We loved Lisa Woodhouse, the Celtic Rau, and the Princess band and dancers. Jugglers, magicians and ventriloquists are not my usual preference but we have a lot of time on our hands so pretty much go to everything when we're well enough!

This salad illustrates the detail in 
presentation.

A selection of desserts

The food is always good and sometimes great. They do an amazing job really given the long times between provisioning. But our appetites have been affected by illness. And we're not alone. I think about 25% of the people on the ship are coughing! Loosing weight is nice but I'd rather we both were well! This is day 20 of our 33 - hopefully we'll both continue to improve and be totally healthy again. 

Right now we're in Honolulu and it's 11:30 AM and we are still not getting off the boat! They had to put the 800 passengers leaving us through immigration first and then the official tour groups (didn't get warned that would happen or we might have booked one of them). Two days in port and one of them is slipping away. Luckily our big booked event is a Luau tonight and the pick up isn't until 4:15 PM. More on all that in my next post.

Mo'orea

That's Mt. Mouaputa on the right - an iconic profile!

Looking back at our cruise ship  in Cook's Bay. 

We moved over to Mo'orea during the early morning. I woke up to a change in the engines and watched as we entered Cook's Bay. A large mego yacht was anchored just ahead of us. It was overcast and wisps of clouds obscured some of the mountains, but it was still gorgeous! We had booked through the cruise ship a 4 hour bus tour starting at noon, so no rush. This is the only tour through the ship we had planned and it turned out we could have easily done it on our own. We got to shore at 11 AM and not much to see, just a big shopping mart. The local band had just taken a break so I got a photo with a few of them.

We're sorry we missed hearing them play!

William was our driver and very funny. His grandparents came from Switzerland and their son married a Tahitian woman, as has William. But he has blond hair and looks western. He was an extra on Mutiny in the Bounty (Mel's version) as a soldier and drove their food bus. He had lots of stories. But the stops weren't anywhere as interesting and didn't have walks like yesterday. Just went out to take photos. The first site was up the Opunohu valley once owned by the Kellogg Family and sold back to the French for what they paid, as long as there was no development and an agricultural college only. That was William's story but I found no collaboration on the web about the Kellogg connection. The second site overlooked the iconic hotel with bungalows over the water ($1,000 a night according to William). Then a shopping bathroom stop at a black pearl shop that I bet was owned by William's huge family. 

The road up Opunuhu Valley

The view from the top. The road up was steep with hairpin turns. William had to do 3 point turns around the corners. They must organize it so only one bus is up there at a time!

We saw a number of churches along the way, both Catholic and Protestant. The earliest one was right by the landing and built in 1822 over an existing sacred site, which forms the floor of the church. We did make a brief stop at one of these platform sacred sites that has been excavated. Another, the Church of the Holy Family was another quick photo stop on our tour. It was a short day and we were off for 5 sea days until we reach Hawaii. And for a blessed change we have had calm seas and sunshine! More on sea day time in my next post.

The Church of the Holy Family

The earliest Christian church on the island, built on the destroyed
native sacred place in 1822.

Sofitel Kia Ora Moorea

Tahiti across the bay.