July 4, 2014 – Day 3

We woke up to a beautiful day – 68 and the sun was out and no clouds.  The first day it was terribly hot, yesterday was cold and raining and today looks perfect.

We started the day with breakfast at the Reading Terminal Market followed by a tour of the Market which was fun.  This market has been in place for 114 years and it is huge.   Our tour guide had written several books about cooking so she was very informative about the foods at the market.

Then we quickly hopped a bus to get to our next tour called Real Philadelphia Tour.  This tour was all about seeing Philadelphia from outside the historical sites.  We just happened to have the same guide as we did yesterday and that was nice as she spoke loudly and walked at a good pace.  Even though we walked 6.68 miles, it was a fun tour and it took 4 ½ hours.

One of the neat things that we went to was the home of one of the first major surgeons, De. Philip Physick, who is called the father of American Surgery.  His house was open and in it they had a lot of the instruments that he designed in the early 1800’s.

For lunch, we stopped in the 9^th street Italian Market and the people in the tour were on their own to find a place for lunch.  We ate in a place called Paisano and had a Paisano sandwich which was beef brisket, mayo with horseradish sauce, sharp provolone, pepperincino roasted tomatoes and a cooked egg all served on a wonderful Italian roll.  Then it was time to go back on the tour and we sure walked off the food!

Then we took a bus across the river to the Battleship New Jersey for a tour of that huge ship from a different generation.  It was fun but very exhausting going in and out all of the stairways and hallways. 

After the ship tour we took the ferry back over to the Philadelphia and walked to the ship Moshula for dinner. 

The ship is a 4 star restaurant on a 4-masked sailing ship.  What a great dinner we had.  Barb had a crab cake along with lobster mac and cheese as a veggie.  Ed had a huge shrimp cocktail and then a 9oz filet that was extremely good.  After dinner, we went to the top deck to watch the fireworks – what fun and a lot less walking then yesterday!  The fireworks were much better than last night.  New Jersey fireworks beat out Phillys!!

After the fireworks, we took a cab back to the hotel.  We were amazed in that the cab driver told us to take $5 off the total bill because he took a wrong turn.  We knew it, but couldn’t say anything because we weren’t sure, but he surprised us that he admitted it and gave us the discount.  That type of thing makes a person really believe in people and general honesty.

 Today we walked a total of 10.8 miles and yes, Barb's back hurts and  Ed's knees do also

Night from Philadelphia – tomorrow New York.

 

According to FORDORS one of the top 20 dessert stands in the US

The Italian Market - 6 blocks long on both sides

 

Lunch

Our ship for dinner

Our shrimp cocktail

Barb's crab cake

 

Ed's 9oz filet

 

 

 

 

 

Fireworks

Here are the fireworks from July 4th. 

They may take a moment to load - enjoy!!!

Tonight or tomorrow, I will post the fireworks from tonight, July 5th.

 

Here is the July 5th fireworks from New Jersey - they were better!!

 

July 4 - 2014 - Day 2

It is July 4^th and we first went to the Visitors Bureau to get tickets to go to the Dolly Todd Madison and Bishop Whites homes.  Our tour was for 1:30pm.

We walked around the area of the historical city that was devoted to homes and had fun looking in all of the windows.  When it was time to go to the 10:30am Tour of the Independence Mall, we found ourselves being sent around a couple of large blocks to get to where we needed to go.  The reason was Vice President Biden was going to speak at the July 4^th opening and all of the major streets were blocked off for his arrival.

We finally met out tour group at a new location and spent the next 2 ½ hours on a walking tour of the Independence Mall area seeing lots of historical sites and hearing about the history of Philadelphia.

After the tour, we went to the Dolly Todd Madison and Bishop White’s homes which were very interesting in that one was a middle class home (Madison’s) and the other was middle – upper class home – the Bishop Whites.  It was interesting seeing the difference in the two homes.  After that we went to the Betsy Ross home for a tour.

Next we went to the original Quaker meeting hall where they still hold their meetings.  We spent time with one of their members learning about the Quakers and I we were very impressed.

Next we took the bus to the two most famous Philly Cheesesteak places, Geno’s and Pats.  They are located in south Philly and are on opposite corners.  To see which was the best, we bought a sandwich at each and split them.  We both liked the one from Geno’s but decided that we had tasted enough Philly Cheesesteaks for our life!!

By this time, it was 5:00pm so we took the bus back to the hotel to change for the evening.

We took the bus part way to the fireworks and then walked the rest of the way, about 2 miles.  As we were entering the grounds, we found a food stand that was named Festival Foods!!  They had huge lines, but they didn't know how to move them. 

We found a perfect spot in a baseball field, watched people, listened to the music and waited for the fireworks to start at 10:30pm and they finally started at 11:00pm.  We both agreed that these fireworks were the worst of the cities we have visited – but it was still fun.  Then a long walk back to the hotel and time for bed as it is already tomorrow which is our anniversary.

Night from Philadelphia and we hope that everyone had a happy fourth.

Barb just looking!

 

Pat's Cheesesteak

Geno's Cheesesteak

 

The Quaker meeting hall

                                                               Festival Foods

July 4, 2014

Watson is always watching over us!

We had a very sad start to a much anticipated trip when yesterday a tragedy hit our home with the lost of our beloved dog, Watson.  Watson was 9 years old and unexpectedly, he died in the morning.  Barb heard him cry out at about 6am and by 7am he had passed away.  He will be very much missed as he was a major part of our lives.

For our July 4th trip in 2014, we are going to be in Philadelphia from July 3 until July 6 when we will take the train to New York and meet out friends, Jeff and Vera.  For years they have offered to host us and we finally are close enough to go see them.

We left the house at 4:45am for a 6:00am flight to Atlanta where we changed planes to Philadelphia.  The plane was right on time and we walked off the plane right into a taxi as we only had a carry-on each. 

The Marriott checked us in early and we un-packed quickly and headed by local bus for our first stop, the Independence Visitors Center where we picked up our tickets for the 2:00pm tour of Independence Hall.

After the tour, we walked over to the U.S. Mint and it was interesting; however, they were not producing any coins but did have some good displays.

Then it was back to the Marriott by bus where we then walked a block to the giant Reading Terminal Market – a giant enclosed market selling anything and everything food.  We had some samples and then a great pastry. 

Then it was over to the Marriott and dinner in the Concierge Lounge. We had planned to go out to eat, but here was no reason to do so when we could eat for free.  After that we headed back to the Visitors Center, only  6 blocks away, to see a couple of short movies about centered on Independence.  The movies were over, so we took the bus back to the Marriott, rested for a little and then back up to the Concierge Lounge for evening snacks.

The neat thing is the public transportation system is free for seniors – what a great savings.  The hotel is right on the main bus and subway line so getting around is going to be easy.

Since we have been up since 4:00am, we are going to bed early – but it has been a nice day. 

Night Watson – you are missed.

                                                                            Leaving

                                                         Part of Independence Hall

In the Market

 

 

WOW - powered sugar stuffed with strawberries!!

 

Dinner in the Concierge Lounge

 

 

 

Day 8 – At Sea

It finally came; our last day of the cruise and this one is at sea – a great way to end the cruise.

Ed went up to the deck at 8:00am to get deck chairs for the day and Barb followed after a bit.  We stayed in the sun until 12:30pm when we went to the Aqua Spa to eat.  We ate with Jeff, Vera, Tim and Barb.

Then it was time for us to clean up and go to the blackjack tournament.  Ed qualified third; however, did not win.  The person who won started out with a blackjack on a bid bet and no one could catch him.

Then we brought a snack back to our cabin and packed everything.  After that we took our usual nap.

After napping, we went up to see what the buffet dining rooms was serving for dinner and walked around and watched people for a while before heading to dinner.

For dinner, we invited Steph and Rob from Canada and Tim and Barb from Virginia to join us as we had all been playing blackjack together and had cruised together before.  It was fun just laughing together during dinner.

Then it was to the casino for our last session where we played for a long time, but both of us lost but thanks to going back to our old style of running after a good streak, we came out ahead on this cruise.

This cruise was probably better than we expected as we have been to all ports several times except the stop at Haiti, which we knew was Haiti because that is what the souvenirs said. 

Barb’s cold never got any worse and other than one coughing spell, she was just fine except for her back.  Ed’s knee, particularly the cyst, is still causing problems, but hopefully it will be fixed soon. 

All-in-all, we had a great time and it was because of the time we were able to spend with old friends.

The new tradition is going to be: "Had enough winter March cruise"

See everyone in our family at home.

 

 



Going out in the afternoon

Out for the evening

Our friends

An afternoon snack


 

Day 7 – Labadee, Haiti

Labadee, Haiti is Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines private “paradise” filled with beautiful beaches, easy walking trails and all kinds of water sports plus food.

The only ships that are allowed to dock at Labadee are ships from Royal Caribbean Lines and we were the only ship docked on this peninsula today.

When we first went out on our patio to watch the ship dock at 10:00am, we thought that it was almost too hot to go to the beach – it was really, really hot – but we went and it was wonderful.

There are 4 or 5 different beaches and we took a water taxi to the one that was the most sheltered from the sea and it was beautiful.  Very hot 88 degrees and the water was also very warm.

Before the crowds came, we walked through a whole bunch of craft and souvenir vendors.  They were very aggressive, but we just ignored them and of course we bought a magnet and Christmas ornament, as is our custom

They have complementary beach chairs so we had two brought to the edge of the water and relaxed soaking up the sun.

Then we took a couple of water loungers and floated in the water for about an hour

That was enough sun or the day so it was time to eat lunch.

As this is just like being on the ship, the lunch was included in the cruise.  They had a very elaborate cookout with hamburgers, hotdogs, ribs, chicken and all of the side dishes that anyone would want.

Then we took the shuttle back to the main part of the complex, shopped a little more and walked back to the ship.

After showering, we took a nap and then ate some snacks while relaxing on our patio.

Tonight was the second formal night so after getting ready we went out and people watched until it was time to go to work in the casino.

 

Ed was way down but then switched tables and won back and finished the first session only a little down.

Dinner time was excellent and then it was on to the casino.

Barb lost and Ed hit for a really big run and so we left the casino a winner for the day!

Tomorrow is our last day on the cruise and it is a sea day so there will be plenty of time for relaxation and sun.

Night

Welcome to Labadee, Haiti



Ready to go to the beach

One of the beaches

 

 



Vendors waiting for Barb

 



Ready for our second formal night

Day 6 - Falmouth, Jamacia

What a wonderful day it was when we woke up.  The temp was in the mid 80’s and not a cloud in the sky.

As we have been to this harbor three times in the last four years, we have seen most of what is in the area.  The port was originally the first major port in Jamaica; however, it had fallen into disrepair until Royal Caribbean Cruise Line decided to make it a stop for their ship.  They an entire new port was built with all of the typical tourist shops. 

We boarded a bus that was going to Montego Bay and had the driver drop us off at Rose Hall, one of only 17 Great Halls (mansions) on the island out of 700 that were here in the 1800’s.

Originally, the owner of this plantation home owned 6,000 acres of land and was a very cruel slave owner.  The plantations “claim to fame” is that one of the owners killed 3 of her husbands until she herself was killed.  She is supposed to be still there haunting the house!!  We didn’t see her.

After the one our tour, the driver picked us up and took us back to the ship. 

We bought some Kahula and went into some of the shops.  Barb was lucky enough to find a scarf!!

Then we went back to the ship and ate lunch and changed into swimming suits to lie out on the deck.  The sun was so hot with virtually no breeze that we only stayed out an hour and then came in, cleaned up and took a nap.

After the nap, we snacked and went to the 7:00pm show before going to the casino.

After 6 winning sessions, Ed had a losing session; however, we are still up for the trip with probably 4 casino sessions left – everybody – wish us luck!!!

Tomorrow is Labadee, Haiti which is Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines private island so it will be a very relaxing day,

The Port

 

 

Rum Samples



Happy - of course!!

Going into Rose Hall with our guide

The port from our balcony