Melsea's USA/Canada Adventures Part 6 amended.

[melsea]

Melsea's USA/Canada Adventures Part 6
I accidentally copied this before I had checked it so apologies all round. I have added a place we visited and changed the dates to the correct ones. Oops

Boston, Massachusetts, 13th Sept

We arrived a little later than scheduled due to foggy conditions during the night whereby they had to slow down while foggy.
We got off at around 11am and took the shuttle bus into town. We walked through the Quincy Market which had an amazing array of food and the biggest Bagels I have ever seen, they were over double the size of the ones we get from Tescos. One thing was for sure if you were to hungry when you went in you sure would be by the time you reached the end. The only thing we did buy was two enormous peaches which were delicious. At this point Bill stayed in the area and went off to find a cafe and sit for a while. I went off in search of the Freedom Trail. This I found and I bumped into two separate walking tours during my own walk, I listened in and it was enlightening. I went into the old state house where I bought a small book that described the various points of interest that were on the trail. It was all very interesting. I only actually did just over half and I did it in reverse as well. It is actually a very good trail and worth doing either on your own or a guided walking tour which they seem to run a number of them throughout the day. There are two other walking tours that I would have wanted to do but underestimated the time that was needed to do them. one was the Black History tour and a little further away across the river the Harvard College tour which would have been a good one to have done, maybe another time. Once again time was passing very quickly it was that time to make my way back to the ship. When I started my way back to the shuttle pick up point, I was literally across the road from it when it started to rain. It wasn't much of a shower so didn't need to use umbrella the for very long. When I got to the shuttle pick up there was one of those tall trolley buses near by. I was about to make my way to a bus further along when they were ushering people onto the trolley bus this I did and it was certainly different to how I got there earlier.
CB was closed for deep clean & US inspection.
We had a table for Pennant Grill in evening, it was inside due to it being cold outside and I had not realised but we were docked near the cargo part of the port. But as we like the food there we didn't mind. We left Boston slightly earlier than the time we needed to all be back on board and I guess everyone was on board and so they left at around 11.30 which was our be on board time. So where to next? Portland, Maine.

Portland, Maine 14th Sept
Cloudy to start with and in fact it felt a tad cold from the entrance of the gangway. But it was fine, it was sunny most of the day.
I got a 5$ all day bus ticket on one of the routes. It was interesting but being a Saturday not a lot was going on in the Art part of the town. The town is split into two parts, one side is the Art area and the other is the Old Port. I got off at a stop that seem to be main square of sorts and it's here where the local library is and it is also where the port presentation lady had said there was free wifi. So I dropped in there and used it briefly. I then walked about 10 to 15 minutes to a building that was of interest and had been mentioned in the port guide. It was an Old Victorian Mansion, it is the only surviving one that still has most of its original interior. There is a tour of the building at 15$ I did not do the tour but you could get 1.50$ off by showing the bus sticker you were given when you boarded as there are a number of places that were doing discounts if you got this bus. I will mention though that there was a P&O transfer to a large shopping outlet out of town for a cost of £30. I stopped off at the Old Port and looked around. Bill wanted me to get a couple of postcards of trains because in this port they are famous for having the narrowest gauge railway. I looked everywhere for a postcard that had something to do with the narrow gauge railway, could not find them anywhere, everything else but no trains. It was not until I got back to the terminal that I saw where There was a railway line and in the distance could see a steam train. It was a stones throw away, I need not have looked far and I managed to find a couple of post cards in a little souvenir come mini museum. I took a number of photos too as the small train engine was looking like it was being prepared for a journey. Within 15 minutes or so the engine was attached to a coup,e of carriages and went on its way. The reason why I missed it in the morning was because I had got onto the bus at the terminal and it shield the area of the track so I did not see the railway as I would have done had I walked. Before I made my way back on board through the small terminal that served as a tourist information place as well, there were a good number of staff and passengers using the free wifi there. I quickly used it and got back on board.
We have an entertainer on our table, his name is Norman Prince, a comedian.

Saint Joint, New Brunswick Canada. 15th Sept

Got up somewhat early but only because this was going to be a short day. Had breakfast at Cafe B and I went on shore just after 10am. I looked at the Pink Bus tour but it was far too expensive so went in search of it somewhere else a where it might be cheaper than what P&O were charging. I didn't go far up the street when I saw a City Tour by the local bus company and it was just 20$ for a two hour tour. So I opt for that instead. It was rather good and we made three stops, one was at the City Market which was rather nice and quaint. Second stop was far up a hill from where we had a really good view of the ship. We got off briefly and took photos. Then it was on with the tour which included the sight of the reversing falls, although we were actually an hour & half too early it was just beginning to form the swirl of water and it was gathering pace even while we were there taking pictures. It must be quite a sight to see when it is in full flow. Got back just before 12.30 as we were slowing down to the drop off point I looked out the bus window only to see my Bill walking along side the bus going away from the ship. I tried to get off the bus as quickly as I could but he had disappeared, I looked for him at the outdoor restaurants but no where to be seen I then went into the indoor market place where I spotted him. We decided to stop for a drink when we saw Norman the entertainer comedian, we asked him to join us which he did and we chatted for a while. Afterwards we walked not far from where we were and looked over to the ship which was a good view point. Bill spotted that there was a mobile pontoon jetty. Bill suggested for us to go down the steps, I was not too keen but pleased that I did as we got a completely different perspective of the ship.the jetty is attached to the quay side and as and when the tide comes and goes the jetty goes with it, very clever indeed. We managed to get wifi connections from the nearby Hilton Hotel. We noticed that the water had quite a swirl going on and as we got closer to the ship we noticed that the ship had gone down many feet which meant that deck 5 with windows were now looking out to a wall. A bit like when you go through the Panama Canal.