October, 2022 Days 1 -3

 Day 1 – Monday, October 3

We dropped off Becker at Jason and Sharon’s house and then went to the airport to pick up our rental car for the trip to Chicago.

For the first time, we were flying Air France both going to and returning from Europe.

The first leg was an 8-hour flight from Chicago to Paris.  While the flight was delayed just a litter, it didn’t matter as the second leg from Paris to Rome was after a 5 hour wait.

We went to the Air France business lounge to wait for the plane.  Their lounge was being remodeled so we were told to go to the Swiss Air lounge which was about the smallest we have ever been in.  It was comfortable so it was ok.

When we finally arrived at the Air France boarding counter, we found out that we had been bumped from our 2^nd flight and instead of leaving at 2:10pm from Paris, we were going to leave at 5:00pm!!

Terrible news but at least we would get there on the day we were supposed to

Finally we were able to board out plane for the flight to Paris.

The seats and our seating “compartment” were amazing.  We each had a 21” television, headsets, a seat the totally reclined flat for sleeping, a blanket and even warm socks to wear!!

Air France had sent us the menu to choose our 2 dinners a week ago and Barb had a wonderful lamb dish and Ed had seafood and they were both very good.

The flight was fun, great service and we watched the new Top Gun before and after dinner, before settling in for a great sleep – well Ed slept for about 4 hours and Barb dozed.

An hour before landing they served us a wonderful breakfast and we landed in Paris at about 8pm.

Day 2 – Tuesday, October 4

While we were fortunate to have saved miles for these round-trip tickets, just our flight today was priced at $7,500!!  There were a few couples and the majority of people in the first-class section were male, probably business people.

So we arrived in Paris about 9:00am and went immediately to the new Air France lounge which was a 2-story huge lounge.  It had private showers and what they called nap rooms.

This is also where we found out that Barb was not able to use her nebulizer as they did not have any US type plugs.  A very nice employee by the name of Mary looked in all their offices for a plug converter and couldn’t find one.  We had one but it wasn’t in the carry-on.

Mary walked with Ed to and electronics store where he bought a converter.  Barb is supposed to do her breathing treatment every 6 hours and we were way past that time.  The unfortunate thing was that the machine did not work!!  We figured out that the breathing machine had failed at the worst possible time.

So, Mary and Ed went to the largest pharmacy store in the huge Paris airport and they did not have one. 

They then went the to the airport doctor’s office/medical center and they did not have any also.

We called a couple of pharmacies in the port city we were leaving from and found one that had the machine that we could get the next morning, before our cruise.

Our second leg from Paris to Rome was delayed so we finally made it to Rome by about 8pm.

The hotel we are staying at had sent a driver to pick us up for the 45-minute trip to the port city of Civitavecchia.

We had planned to do some sight-seeing in the city the night we arrived; however, because it was so late, we just went to bed.

The hotel we are staying in is called the Hotel Borgo del Mare in Civitavecchia, Italy and it was cute boutique type of hotel.  Very clean, small rooms and a very friendly staff.  We ate dinner at about 10:00pm and then went right to sleep.

Day 3 – Wednesday, October 5

The good news was that the pharmacy that Ed went to first thing in the morning was only about a 20-minute walk.  There are no Ubers in this city.

They had a machine to purchase so Barb was able to do her breathing treatment before we left for the ship via the hotel shuttle.

The ship is the Celebrity Apex which is the same ship we sailed on for this New Year’s Eve and we will also be sailing her this coming New Year’s.  It is the 2^nd newest ship in the Celebrity Fleet and it is very nice.

We arrived at 11:15am, It took basically an hour to walk right on the ship, go to our room, unpack our carry-ons and go to eat lunch outside on the back of the ship, our favorite lunch spot while cruising.

The show tonight featured a comic by the name of Ralph Harris and he was good.

Then we went to our restaurant called Blu and had a delightful meal with Barb having Duck and Ed having Salmon

We sat with a couple from England who were fun and interesting to talk to.

After dinner, we were still very, very tired from the tiring trip so we decided to go to bed.  Also we have to set the time ahead one hour because we are heading for Greece.

Night from our first day on the ship. 

Even so, it was midnight before we were in bed.

Night from our first night on the ship and this trip is a 12-night journey and it should be fun and thanks for reading out blog.

The pictures are not in the correct order but since we have limited minuites, they will have to be this way.

                                                                   Time to leave

On Air France

The start of lunch on the Celebrity Apex

The hotel at the port

Our dinner partner in port

Eating dinner in port the night before

Dinner - 2nd flight - fish

Part of the Air France Lunge

Barb's Air France dinner - 1st flight - Lamb

Dinner - salad course - 1st flight

The Dinner menu on Air France

On Air France

The Ocenview Cafe

Day 20, Sunday, August 7 and Day 21, Monday, August 8

 We woke up early to get to our flight which was at 8:00am.

Thank goodness for the Clear boarding process as the regular lines for check in probably contained 200+ people.

From the time we arrived at the airport, we were through check-in, customs and at our gate in about 20 minuites!

Then the "fun" began.  Our Delta plane was late and we finally made it to Atlanta 3 hours late which was several hours after our 9:35pm flight was to leave.

We checked into a Marriott close to the airport and went to bed sometime after midnight.

The good news is that we had pre-booked a flight from Atlanta to Bloomington in case we missed our flight.  The bad news was that the flight didn't take off until late in the afternoon.

It was on time and we made it to Bloomington in the early evening.

A wonderful trip we memories that will last a lifetime!!

That's all for this trip - thanks for following along on our journey.

Barb & Ed

Barb seeing Rick Snow in Denali - our pilot and former neighbor

                                          We took this shuttle boat to Grandville Island, Vancouver, B

On the Gold Star Train

                                                Watching the start of train for new sled dogs

                                                      The seals sunning themselves

                                                Taking off in the Floatplane from a little lake

Day 19, Saturday, August 6

Still in Vancouver for one more day before flying home tomorrow.

The weather today was perfect – 68 – 74 degrees, no wind and all sun!

After a big breakfast that was included, we walked 2 miles through town and along the waterfront to the shuttle boat to take us to Granville Island.

Grandville Island is a food, shopping, entertainment island just off of the mainland. Then call it an island; however, it is really a peninsula.

The last part of the trip to Grandville was on a shuttle boat that only had a capacity of 12 for its 10-minute trip.

We spend the entire day there shopping and eating.

Lunch was in a restaurant where we had a table on the 3rd floor overlooking the harbor – it was really neat.

We finally left the island at 4:30pm and walked to the mainland’s primary entertainment district. It was a little like the entertainment district in Memphis.

We sat and watched a Gay Promenade and it was fun.

Then it was about 7:30pm so we took an Uber to the same restaurant we ate at last night and had Sockeye Salmon for the second time this day and it was very good.

In our opinion, Vancouver is a very clean, friendly city. It has miles of bike and pedestrian paths and lots of parks, all dog friendly. All-in-all a nice city. The only problem we see is that it rains about 1/3 of the days of the year.

That’s it for this trip’s blog as tomorrow we get up at 5am for the 1/2-hour drive to the airport. There we take a WestJet plane to Los Angles before switching to Delta and flying to Atlanta and finally, we hope to Bloomington, arriving at 10:21pm.

When we get home, I will make a page of videos that we have taken, some you have seen and some you have not.

Night from Vancouver and we are READY TO COME HOME!!

                                                    On the shuttle to Grandville Island

                                              A small part of the Market on Grandvills Island

                                                               The Gay Promenade

                                                        Going out for the day

                                                    Our shuttle boat to Grandville Island

                                                   Lunch at Grandville Island - what a view!!

                                               Sockeye Salmon for lunch and we also had it for dinner

                             The line for donuts at the market - Barb is way back at the end

                                                          Yes, they were very good

Day 18, Friday, August 5

After a wonderful week of cruising the coast of Alaska, we arrived in Vancouver, British Columbia for a two-day visit before flying out on Sunday at 6:00am.

I have corrected the problems with viewing videos on Days 5, 9, 11 and 16.  If you can't see any other video, please text me.

We virtually were the first people off the ship and we were to our hotel the Westin Bayshore by 8:45am.  I had asked for early check-in and they had a room ready for us, a corner room overlooking the marina and the view was beautiful.

As we had a 2 ½ hour walking tour schedule for 10:00am, we hustled out of the hotel for a 30-minute walk to the tours starting place.  About 90% of the way was via a walkway that paralleled the waterfront and it was great not having to walk on city streets.

The tour was interesting and fun and by noon we already had 10,000 steps.

After the tour, we walked to the shuttle bus to take us to a place called Capilano Suspension Bridge Park and wow, what an amazing time we had in the park for about 3 hours.

The Capilano Suspension Bridge crosses to towering evergreens. The bridge is 450 feet long and hangs 230 feet above the Capilano River.  They said that if you put the Statue of Liberty on its side, the bridge would come shoulder high.  That’s a long swinging bridge to walk over.

Once over the bridge we did the Treetops Adventure where we crossed  7 suspended footbridges offering views 110 feet above the forest floor. Then Cliffwalk follows a granite precipice along Capilano River with a labyrinth-like series of narrow cantilevered bridges, stairs and platforms and only 16 anchor points in the cliff supporting the structure

This was an amazing 3 hours and one of the highlights of our entire trip.

Then we took the shuttle bus back into town, walked 20 minutes back to our hotel.

After cleaning up, we walk a short distance to a restaurant that was on the water and had excellent seafood – we had our new favorite fish – Halibut.

We finished the night early with 24,000 steps of 9.6 miles we walked today!! 

Yes, we are tired.

Night from Vancouver, BC

                                                    On the Treetops Adventures course

                                                    Going across the suspension bridge

                                                            Time to leave the ship

                                                    The view from our room

                                                                Our guide Kelly

                                                  The Suspension Bridge and yes it did swing!!

                                                High up is the tree adventure course

                                                Going from one tree to another and yes, Barb had fun

                                                                            Dinner

                                                               The restaurant

Day 17, Thursday, August 4

Today is our second and last day at sea as we cruise the Inside Passage.

Our day started with a tour of the theater and the backstage which was interesting. One thing that we learned was that the entertainment staff have an 8-month contract and they are allowed to bring family on the ship for up to 3 months. That’s a huge perk.

After the backstage tour, we went and had morning tea and then we had a private tour of the bridge, which of course was very interesting.

By then it was time for lunch and ate a small lunch in the Oceanview Café.

Alaska’s Inside Passage is a coastal route for ships and boats along a network of passages which weave through the islands on the Pacific Northwest coast.

The Inside Passage stretches 500 miles along the Pacific Ocean and boasts wildlife-filled fjords, tidewater glaciers, and lush island scenery.

Before entering the Passage, we were invited to a cocktail part with members of the senior staff. That was fun talking with them after a great cruise.

The show tonight was

We ate dinner with the couple from Road Island again and it was fun as we had a lot of things about our lives that were in common; however, they did not play in the casino.

After dinner we went to the casino for our last session where Barb broke even and Ed had a nice win and in total we were up for a good total win.

Night from Canada this time and tomorrow we arrive for a couple of days in Vancouver, BC

                                                        Going out for the day's tours

                                                           The theater from the stage

                                         The second officier explaining the navagiation equipment

                                             We had a snack at about 4:00pm!

Going out for our last evening of this cruise

                                                    Palo, the Casino Manager, left and 

                                                      Charles our Casino Host  

                                        

Day 16, Wednesday, August 3

Now we are in Ketchikan and the highlight of the day was our Misty Fjords National Monument Flightseeing Tour in a floatplane.

But first we walked around the town and looing at the sights.  We walked right away to the old town area and walked along the creek where the salmon were running.  Later, we stopped at the local Eagles Club for a Halibut sandwich.  The club was recommended by one of the local shop owners.

Then we walked to the Salmon Latter and watched the salmon climb the rapids and the Salmon Ladder which was an easier way to go upstream.  Salmon always returns from the ocean to the stream where they were born, spam and then die.

They had a wonderful museum showcasing totem poles and their history.

After than we took off at 2:45pm for a 2-hour trip, including landing on an alpine lake for a chance to get out and take some pictures.  The Misty Fjords National Monument is a 2.3-million-acre area which is larger than Yellowstone National Park and the only way to get to it is by floatplane – what an experience!!   This was truly one of the major highlights of the trip.

The floatplane we were on was owned by the female owner and pilot, Michelle.  She came to town 35 years ago, worked on a fishing boat for 2 years to save enough money to buy her first plane.  Then she also bought another plane and has a very, very successful business.

The highlight was landing the plane on a very small lake high up in the mountains and we got out and walked around for about 20 minutes.  Then it was time to get back on the plane for the trip back.  We hope the videos show the experience we had.

The show was two acrobats and it was just ok.

The casino tonight was not good for us as both of us lost a little.

After that we went to our restaurant and shared a table with a couple from Road Island and very fun to eat with.  We decided to eat together tomorrow.

That’s it and now we set the clocks ahead 1 hour and we will get up and be cruising in the Inside Passage all day.

Night from our next to the last day of our cruise.

                                                                Ready to go to Ketchican

                                                     Sampleing Sockey Salmon - Wonderful!

                                                        The old town area with the Salmon stream

                                                        On the floatplane

                                                    Landed on a beautiful lake

                                                               What an experience!!

                                                            Snacks as we were leaving port

                                                            Time for dinner, etc.

                                          The Hotel Directors sent us a bottle of good Italian wine

                                                    and a plate of chocolates

                                                    Salmon climbing the Salmon Ladder

                                                    Taking off in the Floatplane

                                      Just flying - there are no roads here - just lakes to land on!

                                                          Landing on an isolated lake

                                               Total isolation and total beauty - very quite

Day 15, Tuesday, August 2

This is Icy Strait Point.  This is like one of those ports in the Carabeen as it is a cruise line owned port, built, maintained and staff by the cruise line.

We arrived at 6:45am; however, we did not get off the ship until 9:00am and walked into this little made for ships port.  It was just a bunch of overpriced gift shops and some restaurants.  In addition, it was the area where you boarded busses and boats for tours.

We instead went to the back of the compound and took a $5 shuttle to the little native town call Hoonah, a little town of 800 people.  It was a wonderful choice as we walked around the town, stopped into local shops run by locals and just had fun.  Basically, the town was about 4 blocks one way, up a little hill and then 4 blocks the other way.

We stopped at one gift shop run by a 7^th generation native and spent quite a bit of time hearing him with stories of his past.  Most of the people here are a combination of native Indian and Scandinavian counties, like Norway, Sweden and Finland.  This person we talked had the eyes of Ed – blue eyes and was very light skinned!

We ate a halibut lunch that was good and then on the way back to the ship found a place that was sell crab dinners, so we had that also!!   Barb wanted fresh caught crab and this was the place.

As is our custom, when we got back on the boat we went to a little café and had tea and snacks and listened to music.

Again, our normal routine then is.

1.        Dinner

2.       The show which was a cast production number called “Boogie Nights” and it was very good.

3.       The casino where Barb broke event and Ed won a little

Tomorrow is our last stop and it will be at Ketchikan

Night

                                                        Our normal going out outfit

                                                        The guide we talked about and his shop

                                                    Carving their own totom pole

                                                    Lunch stop

                                                            We saw lots of Eagles here

                                                        Barb's other lunch

                                                            The location of our cabin in the back

                                                        Going out for the evening