Sept 28, going home

Well, the first leg from New York to Toronto went well and time passed very quickly. The time spent in the airport wasn't bad either, we shopped jewelry and had a nice big breakfast and then it was time to take off for the last time.
Now i'm looking down at some amazing Canada and can't figure out where it is or even what Province it is that i'm flying over. It appears flat which makes me think it's Saskatchewan and there's tons of lakes, big ones and all sizes and straight roads for long distances....but it could be Manitoba as it seems too soon to be seeing Saskatchewan already. Some of the lakes look to be frozen while others are merely rimmed with the white stuff. Already? I think we're quite a bit more north than i thought but there's big squares and rectangles of land with lots of huge square, round and rectangular water reservoirs and there's sparkling cities and towns sprinkled here and there and everywhere. Canada is awesome!

Maybe we're over Alberta now, wish there was a way to know but this plane doesn't show a map. Ok, as it's now an hour and a halfs time until we get to Vancouver and i see we're now over the foothills and approaching the Canadian Rockies. I think in a little while we'll be over them and then i'll get my bearings.
Well, as it turned out we approached the lower mainland via a different more north/westerly direction than usual.  We were almost over Vancouver before i recognised the terrain. It looked so beautiful sparkling there in the sunshine with all the ships out in the bay and it was a welcome sight after being gone for almost a month.
It's been an awesome trip but now it's good to be home!

Thanks for reading about my trip and if you ever get the chance do take a cruise on the Regal Princess that ends in New York. It doesn't get any better than that!  Life is short; take the recommendation.

                                                   I didn't know rivers were so curly

                                                           I wonder where this is

                                                          Starting to look familiar?

                                                      Nope.....no idea where this is

                                                 Ok I got this one! Port Mann bridge

                                                             Green Timbers, Surrey?

                                        Pattullo Bridge and Skytrain Bridge over the Fraser

                                                       Central Park, Burnaby, B.C.

Home safe..........what a fabulous trip! Thanks for sticking around.....

until I cruise again....

Sept. 27 Manhattan N.Y.

We were a little slow this morning getting our act together; my roomie is coughing and has breathing issues and i'm getting some of that too. Eventually we got going and after coffee and a little cake we headed off to find the bus that would take us on the downtown tour. Again i went dressed like an Eskimo and i was glad i did as while the weather is quite nice and not raining it is cold and windy riding an open top dbl decker bus in late Sept. Our guide today wasn't great and the stupid ear phones wouldn't stay in my ears so i missed a lot of what he was saying. However, i recognised some of the route that we had travelled before and then we turned another way and everything was new and different again. Manhattan is like that though, the scene changes drastically within half a block and even within a few steps or even in seconds you're seeing something new and exciting. It just goes on and on and it's hard to leave a thought and move on to another and be able to process it all. Sometimes when the guide says look at this or that on the left side of the bus i found i should look to the right as he mixes up his directions/and/or /i see better things on the opposite side than what he is going on about and i saw wonderful things that he didn't even mention! Soon i realised it didn't even matter much whatever he was saying because i was in my own little world enjoying amazing Manhattan in my own little way. Buildings that he pointed out as being important or the homes of celebrities wern't being registered on the pictures i was taking and i knew i'd never remember who lived in what building or what it was famous for later. We stuck with the tour to the end of the line and didn't hop off anywhere for various reasons, some involving having to take a different bus line to get back and being a Sunday some bus'es stop running at 6p.m. We didn't want to get stranded somewhere and have to take an expensive cab ride back. We had already been lost once and a fellow had very kindly taken some time to try to help us but eventually we realised that he was looking up the address of the Western hotel instead of the Westin. It's just best to not get lost or ask directions if at all possible.
We had dinner at a Red Lobster and it was an amazing platter of seafood that i ate and then we started walking back to our hotel with a couple of delays. One was a cavalcade of secret service vehicles that were passing through; chauffeur driven limo's with blackout windows and the police were out in full force with blocked off streets and cordoned off areas. Some smart ass joker in the crowd was announcing "and here comes the President" etc. which nobody knew if it was true or not as the President was in town along with Putin and other important dignitaries to attend the 70th annual U.N. General Assembly. As well, the Pope had been there in the few days prior so some thought it could be him while others said it was Donald Trump and i guess we'll never know. By the time we got across the intersection we were tired and wanted to sit somewhere. I noticed a flight of stairs leading up to a business and a lady was sitting there so we went to sit there too. Right away the lady offered us pages from her newspaper to sit upon which we thought was very nice for a local to do for us. We met awesome people everywhere!  She was waiting for a free bus to come that would take her to a casino in Queens. We sat awhile and then wished her luck as we carried on our way. We spotted a Walgreens and couldn't pass up the chance to take a look at what they had because we don't have them in Canada so we went in and bought some snacks. Back at our hotel Starbucks we got our favourite frappachinos and went to our room to relax and pack and get ready to be out of there by 5a.m. Two days was def not enough time to barely make a dent in Manhattan. We saw a lot of the city, just not anything specific so it was like a drop in a bucket. But a very big drop as i fell in love with the sights and sounds of Manhattan and will never forget this magical place. Next time i'll make a point of seeing specific things and places but for now i'm happy that i came and now i must go. Our journey home starts with our flight to Toronto at 9a.m.where we'll wait several hours to connect with the flight to YVR later in the day. If all goes according to Hoyle our vacation will be over and we'll be home in Delta at 4p.m. with misgivings about accepting such crappy inconvenient flight times.

                                                                Madame Tussaud

                                                            Madison Square Gardens

                                                                Empire State building

                                                                               Macy

                                                                        Empire State

                                                               The Flatiron building

                                                          The Brooklyn Bridge

                                                                The Freedom tower

                                                                  Greenwich Village

 

                                      Jill Zarin (from RHONY)and her hubby own this store

                                                          Hi Jill; we are huge fans!

                                                                         Chinatown

                                              The Chrysler building peeking over the top

                                                             Empire State Building

                                                                      

                                                                   Cool reflections

                                                          My Red Lobster meal

                                                                Mr. Muscle man

The Westin sign is so tiny amongst all the rest, no wonder we had a little trouble finding it the first day.Tomorrow will be my last post re this cruise with pics from the plane on my flight home.