USA

Dear Friends,
Let's start with the title. Ever since we spent ONE DAY with our new friends from Canada, who are living in Lucca, Italy this fall, Joseph has been increasingly sounding like a Canadian. His speech is especially littered recklessly with the Canadian, "eh." As in, "we should go to that museum, eh?" and "it sure looks gray out, eh?" We spent that one day with the Mills family weeks ago! So, instead of his language being laced with lovely European words and phrases, like the various ways of saying hello and good-bye, please and thank you, etc., we just hear that "eh" all the time. We spent ten glorious weeks in Europe, but somehow I'm now married to a Canadian. How did that happen??

We are indeed home. The Grand Tour is over. In the next few days, we hope to have a few "deeper" thoughts about our big adventure. But, for now, a report on our big day of travel over the ocean, this time by plane. Yuck (at least for me).

We flew from Paris on Monday. Since we flew Aer Lingus, our flight included a layover, and a switch onto a different plane, in Dublin. Both flights were, thankfully, uneventful (although there was some unpleasant turbulence just after we took off from Dublin), especially since I really hate to fly. The only really interesting thing of the day (aside from my moaning and muttering about a) hating to fly, and b) not wanting to go home-- and, I will readily admit that these were not the least bit interesting to the rest of the family) was what happened at the Dublin airport.

After landing in Dublin, we had to make our way to another terminal. When we made our way through various hallways, we found ourselves suddenly (and, with no warning) dumped into a new security line, and right at the front of one of the lines. We hadn't finished up the waters we had purchased for the first flight, so we quickly chugged those down. And, then it was time to take off belts, watches, take cameras out of bags, etc., etc.

Going through security in Paris had been a piece of cake, so we were quite unprepared for what we faced in Dublin. First, there was poor Margaret who has been setting off metal detectors all over Europe. We usually point to all of the metal in her mouth and they are usually satisfied (except for Eurostar, where they insisted on patting her down). The Dublin officials insisted that the braces could not possibly set off the detector. After some investigation, we discovered that Margaret's sneakers were the culprit. Who knew?

And, then there was the nasty business of the kid-sized craft scissors in Margaret and John's pencil cases. I had forgotten all about these. The security in Paris spotted them in the x-ray machine, but deemed them unable to cause harm (at this point, they probably don't even cut paper all that well) and let them pass. Not so in Dublin. They were confiscated. Along with the duct tape, which we've been hauling around Europe and had used that very morning to repair two of the suitcases (our $99 LL Bean suitcases held up remarkably well, considering what we've put them through, but Margaret's got a small rip and John's was showing some "weak" spots near the bottom, so we duct-taped them up before checking them). Our friend, Tom (aka Cruiser), might have put up a fight for that duct tape, but we just let it go.

The really special treatment was saved for . . . can you guess? Me. I set off the detector. So, I got patted down and had that wand apparatus waved all over me. I thought that it seemed clear that the wand did not like the clasp on my pants, but the security guard was not satisfied. I had to take off my sweater, go through the detector a couple more times, get patted down once or twice more, and, then, the real treat was to have the wand set over my body yet again, only this time a little more thoroughly than I was comfortable with. I don't know how close I was to be escorted off to a secret room to undress, or perhaps she was thinking about making me drop my pants right there, but the whole experience was extremely unpleasant. I'm all for good security, but I'm a (almost!) middle-aged woman traveling with my family. What did she think I was trying to smuggle onto the plane? Or, had she read my thoughts of taping some fancy French cheese under my clothing-- fancy, smelly cheese that I would use to overcome the pilot and demand that s/he take me back to Paris???

Finally, we got through and before dealing with all of the customs and immigration business (two more lines), we stopped off at the terminal Irish pub. We handed over our remaining euros, twenty-four of them, and asked what we could get. Joe and I each had a large Guinness. The kids had juice and we shared three sandwiches. Guinness makes everything better . . .

Finally, it was time to board the plane. We took off on time and landed at Logan a little early-- unbelievable, eh? So much for my really full experience with airline travel!

We spent Monday night night near my parents. Good thing, too. Although we landed before 4:00 pm local time, we really started to feel that we were still on Paris time, which would have been 10:00 pm. We had a quick dinner at Grammy and Grampy's, told a few stories, and then it was off to the hotel. I think we were all asleep by 7:30.

That's about it for now. We are looking forward to seeing our friends and family and getting the kids back to school. We are not, however, looking forward to the mountain of mail that must be dealt with. Or, the fact that work looms. Or, all of the things we need to do to get ourselves and the houses ready for winter, which seems to be approaching very quickly.

We'll finish our blog soon, with some thoughts from each of us.

Cheers, eh?

Susan

Dear Friends,

We have been quite busy—formal dinners, formal balls, concerts and performances, lectures, kids program, strolling the deck, a little “ship school,” swimming, taking in a spot of tea in the afternoon, careful research in the champagne bar, and, of course, finding just the right deck chair for a morning and/or afternoon nap. Doesn’t leave a lot of time for updating the blog!! Plus, don’t forget that we’ve been losing an hour a day (a fact that is painfully obvious when traveling with children)—lots of things keeping us away from the computer.

We’ll try to get caught up when we reach London, which we expect to be tomorrow. The ship is scheduled to arrive in Southampton at 7:00 in the morning. Getting our things together, finding our bags, meeting our ride, etc., etc.—we anticipate getting to London around lunch-time.

But, below you will find a couple of photos from our stay on the QM2—a voyage that we highly recommend! Enjoy!

Best to all,
Susan

Here are John and Margaret with some of their friends from the Cunard Kids' program, all dressed up for the formal dinner and ready to attend the after-dinner show at the Royal Court Theatre.

Here are Dad, Margaret, and John, arriving on our last night for dinner at Britannia.

Here are Mom, John, and Margaret (wearing her dad's suit jacket on account of the cool breeze) standing on Deck 7, with the kids' pool below and behind them, and the sunset in the distance.

And some final thoughts from John:

I can’t wait to get to England because I remember it being a fun place. The first thing I want to do is go to the London Eye, then go to Big Ben, then go to the Tower of London.

Mom:

The seas have picked up a bit today—up to “4” on the ship’s scale (moderate). The “technical” word for the seas today seems to be “wobble” (that’s how the crew refers to the level of the seas and what it does to the ship) and there is quite a bit of wobbling—wobbling down the hallways (good thing there are railings) and wobbling through dining areas, etc.

One of the best places we’ve found for dealing with the wobbling is the pavilion pool on deck 12. You don’t feel so much the wobble, but every few minutes there is a great slosh against one of the sides of the pool.

We went to the nondenominational Christian service this morning, led by the Commodore himself. We sang some good hymns. We were led in quite a few prayers, including a prayer for the royal family, of course. And, the Commodore delivered a fine, if pedestrian, sermon. He spoke of the significance of the journey, rather than the destination, which seemed to have absolutely nothing to do with the lesson from Romans on loving one another.

The kids are spending another afternoon in the Zone. Joe went to a concert this afternoon by the BSO Chamber Players. They gave a really marvelous Mozart program yesterday.

I spent some part of the afternoon on a deck chair with a book. I didn’t get much reading done, however. I took a nap, instead. A much better choice.

Margaret:

We went for the Pub Lunch on Sunday, after church. My question for today: How did the English conquer the earth whilst they ate mushy peas? [Mush peas were served with the fish and chips we had for lunch — ed.] Maybe they conquered the world so that they could get away from the mushy peas? The mushy peas were very disgusting: they were dry and strongly textured. I really, really, really don’t like mushy peas.

Mom and Dad made me go yesterday to a lecture all about poo. The speaker told us to figure out how much poo everyone on the ship makes during the whole crossing. Dad says it is an estimating problem just like the ones in my math book, only more disgusting. We are working on it. Dad really wants me to win.

John:

I slept until 10:00 today. I won the “sleepy slug prize” for today. This is our family prize that goes to whoever sleeps latest. Mom and Dad made me go to the church service this morning. I liked best the first hymn. [“Immoral, Invisible, God Only Wise” — ed.] At 11:30 this morning, we were exactly halfway to England according to the captain’s noon announcement.

Today I also want to write about the games. We do beads a lot, which is really fun. One of the other activities was a tour of the ship, and one of the things we did was walk through the gym. Our tour guide told us not to laugh. We had to look for: (a) the sweatiest person, (b) the person who was not really exercising, and (c) the person who was not really working. My Dad was at the gym and he was voted the sweatiest. The other activity is to watch movies.

Mom: We are now somewhere in the North Atlantic off of George's Bank. The ship pulled out of Brooklyn late yesterday afternoon and we sailed under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge just before six. Then it was off to dinner!

We left Maine on Tuesday and visited Grammy and Grampy in Massachusetts. On Wednesday, we headed for Long Island, where we stayed with Pete and Deanna, Hailey, Justin, Ashley and Allie. Margaret and the girls are pictured, below:

The weather today is clear and beautiful. It is warm (low 70s) and the sea is calm. The kids had a great night of sleep, as can be seen in the photo at the end of this entry.

The kids are enjoying the kids program so far. They like it a lot better than “ship school,” which was this morning’s activity. John worked on his spelling and some of the fractions workbook; Margaret did some of her math (estimating and problem-solving) and read the story about energy. As I write (mid-afternoon Friday), they are on a special tour of the ship. We’ll see what they learn!

Here’s Margaret’s journal entry from yesterday (see photo, above):

As we leave the harbor I start thinking like the buoy with the bell. Here is what I am thinking:

“An Ode From the Buoy”

Ding! Ding! Ding!
Look at me O big boat.
Look at me!
Can you even see me?

I really want to go on you,
O Ship leaving the harbor.
I want to go with you.
I’ve been here all my life, and I am bored.

Alas, I cannot go and I have to stay here and make you listen to me.

Here’s John’s entry, also from yesterday (see photo of Statue of Liberty, above):

This is the obvious picture of the Statue of Liberty, made in 1886. This picture was taken from the top deck of the Queen Mary 2 before sailing. I am having a great time so far.

We're trying to get John to write more: maybe he'll reveal the location of the secret bas-relief of Homer Simpson in the QM2's grand lobby.

One last picture of the kids on their best behavior:

:

Mom: So, it turns out that three suitcases are not enough! Alas. So, our first stop was to Bean's to pick up another small suitcase. Now, each of us has a suitcase. We'll look so cute marching through train stations with our Bean suitcases, all the same model, but different colors. Hopefully, we can get along with just two backpacks. School work, electronics, our own version of a roaming pharmacy, plus all those guidebooks (despite ripping them up and taking only what we need) made the difference. But, at least now we have room for stuff as we venture through Europe!

We are in Massachusetts now, but will leave soon for New York. We board the QM2 tomorrow!!

Best to all,
Susan