We ate breakfast in the Windjammer Cafe as usual.
The Big Pink Hop On Hop Off Bus Tour is what we had signed up to do that day. Nani looked cute standing by the small replica of the pink bus and also by the real, big pink one.
We thought it wise to get directions and figure out where we might want to hop off and hop on again.
Don't we all look adorable wearing our pink dork dots???
A natural phenomenon occurs at the Reversing Falls.
In the basement of this cafe, we watched a film about the Reversing Falls.
It explains how the water in the river goes one direction at high tide and then there is a period of calmness before the water reverses and goes the opposite direction at low tide and then the cycle is repeated all over again and again and again.
To me, it didn't even look like there were any falls there by the bridge, but the rock formation deep under the water is where the falls are located. The reversing action has to do with the tremendous rise and fall of the tides of the Bay of Fundy that are the biggest tides in the world.
As the bay tides begin to rise, the St. John River's flow subsides until at slack tide the river is completely calm. When the bay reaches its peak tide, the river rushes upstream. As the tide goes out, there is another slack tide when the river is completely calm, and then the water reverses direction and the water rushes downstream in the opposite direction.
Across from the Reversing Falls, up on a hill, was the Wolastoq Park, featuring many carved, wooden sculptures. Wolastoq means "The Beautiful River" and the park overlooks the beautiful St. John River.
From our vantage point up on the hill, we could see our ship off in the distance.
We went back to the ship for lunch.
I don't have any more pictures of what we did that day, but I know we hopped off and on that pink bus at least a couple of other times. My memory is foggy as to what other things we saw when we were doing our hopping. I wish I had Nani sitting right here by me with her pictures helping me remember all that we did.
As our ship was leaving the port, we noticed the harbor pilot boat moving alongside our ship. According to the law, each port has a pilot who is experienced in that particular harbor and he comes aboard the ships entering and leaving the port to help the captains safely navigate their ships in and out of the port.
Here's a great view of the Promenade Deck of the ship. It was my favorite deck to walk along to get from one end of the ship to the other because there were always interesting people and things to look at. Although, we did discover that all throughout the ship, on every deck and on the walls by the elevator and on the stairways, there were so many pieces of artwork to look at and admire. The ship was a floating art museum and we enjoyed the variety of things to see no matter where we were walking.
I could hardly wait for dinner every evening for several reasons:
1. I was happy to see our friends, Stephen and Rosely Webster.
2. I was curious to see if any other people would join our table.
3. I enjoyed being served by Vincente and seeing his big smile.
4. I liked that Elicia soon knew our preferences such as the small triangular-shaped rolls that soon became my favorite bread of choice each night.
5. I was anxious to see how generous Vincent was going to be with the extra, unsolicited food he kept bringing to our table.
6. I could hardly wait to see what delicious soup would be available for my consumption.
This evening I chose two--a hot soup and a cold soup. Usually I chose the cold soups that tasted just like dessert to begin each meal. I know Vincente thought I was crazy, but I wanted both kinds this night.
Here are the other appetizers and main dishes that we consumed that evening.
Vincent had developed the habit of not only bringing us plates of fruit, cheese and nuts before our meal began, but then he started bringing us extra plates of main dish meals. He'd just bring them out and set them down--an extra plate for every two of us--and just smile his big smile and keep on doing it night after night after night.
Crazy waiter! Crazy because we just went ahead and ate whatever he put before us. Perhaps then we should say--crazy diners! We were all worried we were going to put on 10 extra pounds that cruise.
Here's dessert.
Pretty sure this one was doused in uncooked-off liquor. Man it was strong! One small nibble was all it took to confirm I wouldn't be eating any more of that extra dessert our darling Vincente had brought to us.
Yes, the man started bringing us unsolicited extra desserts as well--and ice cream for all. It was a food free-for-all for all of us. But, we did make note that our table was the only one getting all these extra edible enticements. We were definitely getting very spoiled.
Here we are--the stuffed Ward family waddling out of the dining room on our way to Studio B to watch "Spirits of the Seasons" Ice Spectacular.
There were lots of beautiful scenery and costume changes as they went through the different seasons.
Probably the most impressive act on the ice was when this couple performed their tricks rolling around the ice in the center of this iron ring. They did some pretty cool stuff that required a lot of strength.
Sometimes Nani and I would go off and do things by ourselves. This particular evening we were very, very (and I mean VERY) happy that Dad and Mom were tired and chose not to go to the late-night entertainment after the skating show ended. They went off to bed and we went off to watch The Love and Marriage Game Show in The Palace Theatre.
It was hosted by our very own cruise director, Jimmy, and we soon knew we were in uncomfortable trouble when the third couple was chosen. First couple has been married a couple of weeks, second couple was the in-between couple, and third couple was the longest-married couple pulled out of the audience to participate.
When I realized this third couple has been married a couple of years less than Dad and Mom, it occurred to me that if Dad and Mom had followed us down to The Palace and had been sitting there and Jimmy had asked who has been married the longest, I just knew Dad would be frantically waving his hand to get the recognition he/they deserved--married for 55 years. WOW!! That's saying something and most of the time it's a great thing to be recognized for...
...unless...
...you're being singled out as the last contestant couple to go up on stage to be asked questions that are going to make not only you uncomfortable, but also all the people in the audience uncomfortable--ESPECIALLY your two daughters who would be there hearing every single question and every single answer.
We knew we were all in for uncomfortableness when the second question asked to the husbands was "If you could change two things about your wife, what would you make bigger and what would you make smaller?" That poor third husband was having the hardest time figuring out what to make bigger on his already larger-than-life wife.
And the questions just went downhill from there.
Dear Dad and Mom--thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for being party poopers that night. We're all very happy that you have enjoyed 55 years of wedded bliss. Just don't go announcing it to the world when someone is looking for the next big suckers to star in their Love and Marriage Game Show!
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