|
Post by slb2 on Oct 21, 2006 12:53:49 GMT -5
Ace and I had a piece by Grieg at our wedding. The pianist/organist (can't remember which) played Morning as part of the prelude. I fell in love with that melody when I heard it on my Aunt Hilda's record player as a child. Ace and I were married at 11 o'clock in the morning. I'd wanted to get married earlier in the day, but was talked out of it. "How will we get ready for the pictures?!"
|
|
|
Post by carolion on Oct 21, 2006 19:40:49 GMT -5
Our fourth-grade teacher used to play us the Peer Gynt Suite during rest time. We loved that music.
|
|
|
Post by Tillie on Oct 22, 2006 15:41:07 GMT -5
Thomas, "Irresistible!" she said with a grin
|
|
|
Post by dwarnold on Oct 23, 2006 7:43:18 GMT -5
Anyone interested in a rubber ducky cruise down a lazy Florida creek in the middle of summer?
|
|
|
Post by carolion on Oct 23, 2006 21:37:50 GMT -5
Are there gators?
|
|
|
Post by joew on Oct 24, 2006 10:12:19 GMT -5
Beyond your wildest dreams, I bet!
|
|
|
Post by dwarnold on Oct 24, 2006 11:42:19 GMT -5
Gators are very much a possibility anywhere in Florida. In fact, as more homes are built in the swamps and more "waterfront" is created by digging artificial ponds and canals, gators have decided that they have as much right to be in back yards and swimming pools as the people have to be in swamps. However, it is unlikely that everyone on the water will be in danger... the word to the wise is this "You don't have to be the fastest swimmer in the group, just don't be the slowest"
|
|
|
Post by slb2 on Oct 24, 2006 11:48:20 GMT -5
dwarnold, up here we have to contend with fiesty squirrels. Oh, the other day, while biking, I met, nearly head-on, a doe and her two young 'uns. We stared at one another as I whizzed past, then they took off. No confrontation. How 'bout bats, do y'all have bats to shoo out of your houses? I guess we've got snow, but only six months of the year. Gaters are forever.
|
|
zeldamom
Bashful Member
Meet Zelda ...
Posts: 9
|
Post by zeldamom on Oct 24, 2006 12:29:44 GMT -5
Hello, former Chatterboxers! Thomas led me to this site, and I thought I'd see who out there sailed Cruise II that is planning on Cruise III? Looks like a few of you so far, but I don't see a lot of familiar names, like Heathgal and Poet's Life.
Alaska was my dad's 70th birthday gift, and I don't think I can afford a more expensive 71st. The rub is that my husband and I are planning a trip to England this summer to visit family that he hasn't met, so I'll be "in the area." So close and yet ...
I'm trying to console myself by considering that the seas will be much rougher in Norway than cruising the Inside Passage, and the IP was rough enough for my land legs. Although the planned classical theme could settle any upset stomach, as far as I'm concerned.
|
|
|
Post by doctork on Oct 24, 2006 12:39:05 GMT -5
Zeldamom, maybe you will win the lottery and treat all of us to the trip! And perhaps more former cruisers will drift this way as the excitement builds up.
I've had the same thought about "being in the neighborhood" when in London, and may fly that route from the US, do some sightseeing, then continue on to Copenhagen.
|
|
zeldamom
Bashful Member
Meet Zelda ...
Posts: 9
|
Post by zeldamom on Oct 24, 2006 12:42:34 GMT -5
Have you researched yet what a quick flight from London to Copenhagen would be? I'm wistfully thinking an extra couple hundred dollars ...
|
|
|
Post by doctork on Oct 24, 2006 13:04:05 GMT -5
Very good news on the cheap flights - EasyJet, Ryan Air and numerous other discount airlines commonly offer that route on sale for less than $100 (according to a friend of mine who travels intra-European flights regularly). They usually cannot be booked more than 6 months out, and they are quite strict about a 20 kilogram (44 pounds) weight limit for checked baggage.
I haven't done a lot of research on this yet, but my daughter worked in Dublin last year and often purchased such flights to the continent for $29 each way.
|
|
zeldamom
Bashful Member
Meet Zelda ...
Posts: 9
|
Post by zeldamom on Oct 24, 2006 13:16:44 GMT -5
Great info, DoctorK! Now, if only there was a cheap cruise price to go with the cheap flights. Maybe HAL is looking for dishwasher help? I don't mind sleeping in a deck chair ...
|
|
|
Post by doctork on Oct 24, 2006 13:43:04 GMT -5
Zeldamom - For the cruise price, my only suggestion is book an inside cabin with three of your good friends/family. But one more thought about the airfare - over the weekend, Continental had erroneously posted a $438 Y fare (ie, fully refundable, changeable and upgradable to first class) from Minneapolis or Houston to London roundtrip (but to Gatwick not Heathrow airport). The friend who pointed it out to me bought himself two trips - one for Memorial Day weekend and one for Labor Day weekend.
Me being a procrastinator, I didn't book it, but these errors occur frequently - keep your eyes peeled for the next "bargain." Maybe you can save enough on air to pay for the cruise!
|
|
|
Post by scotbrit on Oct 24, 2006 17:22:14 GMT -5
And a warm welcome from my side of the pond zelda. I just need clarification on one point please. Was the Alaska trip your 70 year old father's gift to his daughter or a gift to his 70 year old daughter? As to Ryan Air and those other cheap flights. They are generally from remote airports and sometimes just airfields. The cost of getting into London makes up for what you have saved on the flights. A journalist friend of mine experimented. He took the cheap flights from remote airports (calling themselves London) to remote airports some miles distant from Prague and Warsaw with no public transport. A taxi had to be hired and although I do not want to give taxi drivers a bad name, they are not known for being scrupulous. It took twice as long to get each way and getting into the City Centres twice as expensive with hassle at every step of the way - to say nothing about losing baggage en-route. He worked out it was quicker in the long term (and time means money to him) to go standard from Heathrow or Gatwick to where ever he wanted to go. He reported on this in a national newspaper years ago. But if you are passing through the London area, give me some advance warning and I'd like to say "hello". I'm that sort of chap. (Excuse my eccentric behaviour. The others know me by now and tolerate me. So I don't see why you shouldn't either!
|
|
zeldamom
Bashful Member
Meet Zelda ...
Posts: 9
|
Post by zeldamom on Oct 25, 2006 20:06:09 GMT -5
Scotbrit, the Alaksa cruise was actually a gift from me to my 70-year-old father. I guess that's why he calls me his "favorite daughter" (although, point in fact, I'm his only daughter).
He is actually from your side of the pond, a Geordie, so we have so many friends and family to visit there that I don't think we will ever get to them all. He still stays in touch with his old scouting friends, some of whom took care of me when I studied abroad in 2002, so our "family" seems to keep growing.
Our big interest is trying to get to Wimbleton, as my husband is a huge tennis fan but not one for flying, so I need an especially wonderful incentive to get him on that transatlantic flight. I've heard the process involves standing in line all through the wee hours of the morning for a chance at tickets. All he cares about is a grounds pass. Should we pack our sleeping bags, or do you know of any other options?
|
|
zeldamom
Bashful Member
Meet Zelda ...
Posts: 9
|
Post by zeldamom on Oct 25, 2006 20:18:04 GMT -5
It looks as if doctorK may be online tomorrow booking a cruise cabin ... any others? I've started compiling a mental list to console myself over the fact that we really just can't afford it. In case there are others, feel free to commiserate. Of course, these are not "real" reasons, just ways to keep myself from being completely consumed with jealousy. 5. I like whales. Norway hunts whales. 4. Glaciers and fjords? Been there, done that. 3. I thought the seas were a bit rough on the INSIDE PASSAGE. 2. I don't think I could stomach lutefisk (with or without rough seas). 1. It will be nice to keep all appendages, by not having to sell them to pay for the trip. As I know I'm way off on almost all counts, Cruisers could refrain from correcting me and sending me spinning into a cruise III-induced depression.
|
|
|
Post by scotbrit on Oct 26, 2006 16:13:44 GMT -5
The standing in line for tickets is, generally speaking, only for the big-name matches to get into whichever court you want. I am very confident (without checking it out) that you can book on-line in advance though. I'm sure they have a good web-site which will explain that and I will check it out in due course. I seem to recall checking it out once before.
It is not cheap, but if your husband really is a tennis fan, to worship at the holiest of holies must be worth an arm and a leg!
A ground pass is fun and you can see some of the "big" games on massive screens (when it is not raining) but if you came this far, you have to watch a game from a seat in the Centre Court, Court 1 or at least Court 2 to say you had been there!
Games on what they call the "outside courts" on the fourteen or more courts though, are included in the ground pass and walking around the place watching play is fun. .
Wimbledon, after all, is lawn tennis if you please! ;D
You only pay the premium price to get into one of the courts where there are seats as I understand it, but such a ticket will allow rambling all over the place as well.
Wimbledon is generally in mid-late June and I note the Cruise is 13-23 July so you'd have to work out the dates, the distances, the hotel tariffs etc., very carefully indeed.
|
|
|
Post by doctork on Oct 26, 2006 16:14:22 GMT -5
doctork was indeed online booking a cabin this morning - at least putting my deposit down to "preserve my options" (I'm still not 100% convinced). Two cabin categories sold out right from under me during the booking process, but I was OK on the third try.
But to add to your list, zeldamom - there was a lengthy caveat I had to click "OK" to, reminding me over several paragraphs that even if GK didn't make the cruise due to illness, or became ill during the cruise and didn't perform, my recourse would be quite limited.
So is GK ill? There was some comment that he had had some medical procedures done this summer, following the Alaska cruise. Is that behind his summary dismissal of the Chatterbox Cafe? Inquiring minds exhibit mild curiosity, but still book the cruise.
Even if thinks I am a dope, I still wish him good health, and feel concerned. My prayer list grows longer.
Zeldamom, add to your list of Reasons Why It's Better Not to Cruise: Garrison Keillor may not even be on the trip.
Since I am on record as saying the Shoe Band, the various guest performers, the scenery and the fellow cruisers were a bigger draw for me, I booked anyway!
|
|
|
Post by scotbrit on Oct 26, 2006 16:38:57 GMT -5
A long time ago, DWARNOLD asked:
Up a lazy river by the old mill stream That lazy, hazy river where we both can dream Linger in the shade of an old oak tree Throw away your troubles, dream a dream with me
Up a lazy river where the robins song Wakes up in the mornin, as we roll along Blue skies up above ....everyones in love Up a lazy river, how happy we will be, now Up a lazy river with me
Up a lazy river by the old mill run That lazy, lazy river in the noon day sun You can linger in the shade of that fine ole tree Throw, away your troubles, baby, dream with me
Up a lazy river where the robins song Wakes a brand new mornin as we roll along There are blue skies up above...and as long as were in love Up a lazy river, how happy we could be If you go up a lazy river with me Ah said with me now.....goinup that... lazy river..... with me
You cannot beat the River Thames where I live.
If you are rowing, row upstream first. I learned to my cost whilst showing off to my then young daughters how easy it was to row a boat whilst on a day trip to Stratford-upon-Avon and showed them how to curl the oars and pull and all that technical jargon about just messing about on a river.
Replete with a sumptuous picnic, I soon discovered that rowing upstream after a lazy afternoon, was a bit foolish and a trifle more strenuous than I had anticipated when we started off downstream.
Eventually, we got off the boat and all four of us towed it back to the hire outlet, suggesting all the while to my daughters that this was all about the learning process and this is how the horses used to pull the commercial boats upstream. I also blamed the trifle rather than the wine of course.
Somehow, I don't think I convinced them.
|
|
|
Post by Tillie on Oct 28, 2006 3:15:41 GMT -5
Ahhhh.....Leon Redbone...
|
|
|
Post by Tillie on Oct 28, 2006 3:30:18 GMT -5
Old Father Thames keeps rolling along Down to the wide open sea ~~~ He never seems to worry, He never seems to care But, Old Father Thames keeps rolling along Down to the wide open sea ~~~
Brit, do you know the words to this song?
|
|
|
Post by scotbrit on Oct 28, 2006 6:53:39 GMT -5
No Tillie I don't.
I know the melody but not the lyrics.
I googled and still can't get the words, but I found something else though:
In 1929 the MP John Burns once famously described the river as “liquid history” – the actual quote was “The St Lawrence is water, the Mississippi is muddy water, but the Thames is liquid history”.
|
|
|
Post by juliastar on Oct 28, 2006 10:13:53 GMT -5
//Anyway, I looked at the airfares to Copenhagen. It is $911 if I fly roundtrip from Vancouver, BC, but $1321 from Seattle, even though the start in Canada connects with the same SEA-CPH flight. So I would save over $400 by using the closer airport, even though it happens to be in a different country!//
There are weird things that go on in different countries with subsidies and tarrifs. Thinking I might save some money by switching airlines to SAS to get into Copenhagen, I looked at a Northwest flight to Amsterdam and got something close to $1400. I then looked at the same flight connecting to Copenhagen and the total was more than $100 cheaper than if one simply stayed in Amsterdam. That doesn't make any sense.
|
|
|
Post by juliastar on Oct 28, 2006 10:18:59 GMT -5
The St. Lawrence has plenty of history, Brit. As does the Mississippi. It just isn't your history. I prefer the rugged beauty of the seaway to the Thames, but I like the Thames plenty. Your river is civilized and stately. One can imagine the royal barges and the water music.
|
|
|
Post by joew on Oct 28, 2006 11:27:50 GMT -5
A propos rivers —
The story is told that when Boston native John Wright (later Cardinal in Rome) was appointed bishop of Pittsburgh, he was given a tour of the city. His guides proudly took him to the Golden Triangle and pointed out, "Here is where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers come together to form the Ohio." He replied, "That's nice, but remember I'm from Boston where the Mystic and the Charles come together to form the Atlantic Ocean."
|
|
|
Post by doctork on May 11, 2007 15:19:14 GMT -5
If any of you are still longing for a Norway cruise, they are not sold out after all - lots of folks changed their minds, hence the openings. Naturally, I feel there is diminished enthusiasm because since the ChatterBox closed, there is no electronic community to talk it up and get excited. My husband has decided not to cruise after all, so I am considering the possibility of a roommate(s). Here is what I am thinking of: "Well-travelled family doctor with a fondness for adventure and a devotion to naps seeks amiable roommate in excellent health. Must enjoy good music, rousing discussions, and the occasional Xanax salad sprinkle." NORWAY CABIN OPENINGS! Well, folks, here is an opportunity to have your friends and family join the Prairie Home Companion Norwegian Cruise, July 13-23, 2007. A few of our friends signed up way back last year—they’ve had a change of heart and sent us their cancellation notice. If your friends and family jump to our pricing page www.eminj.com/phc_cruise2007/Staterooms.cfm they will see that a few categories of cabin now miraculously read AVAILABLE! So if your friends and family think their summer is looking dull, or their spouse needs a good surprise, or our line up of musicians and naturalists and writers and historians piques their interest, or they want to join a relaxing journey among some of the most spectacular scenery in the world, have them SIGN UP. Our operators are standing by if you should have any questions at 800-225-5364 x2179. Prairie Home Productions
|
|
|
Post by dwarnold on May 11, 2007 19:38:33 GMT -5
Doc, will your husband consider approving opposite gender cabin mates?
|
|
|
Post by doctork on May 11, 2007 23:54:31 GMT -5
Well, I have had opposite sex roommates before at Esalen, so I don't think that would be of concern to him. He is just relieved I am not upset about him cancelling! And a roommate would lower the cost...
Besides, is it not true that what happens on the cruise stays on the cruise? (Yeah I know that's Las Vegas, but I was just in Las Vegas a few weeks ago.)
|
|
|
Post by slb2 on May 13, 2007 2:19:36 GMT -5
If dwarnold ends up as your cabin mate, docK, I insist that I hear ALL about it!!
|
|