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 ............................................................. My Beautiful Bride  60 Years Together |
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| Headed Home: Eight Days to cross the Pacific to Alaska. We had three easy days of crusing glaciers. A stop in Sitka and another in Juneau. Saying goodbye to all the great food and icecream treats. Time say goodbye to friends and to pack everything up. We flew home from Vancouver, Canada to our home in Albuquerque.    ...   ...  .... |
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| May 2 - Muroran: Muroran became our last stop in Japan - the next port was cancelled due to weather conditions. We shopped in Muroran then had another traditional Japanese lunch. My bride insisted on using a fork. We took the tram (rope line) for a better view and later a cruise around the lake. Cherry blossoms were in full bloom at these ports because we are now in northern Japan.   ...   ... |
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| May 1 - Hakodate: At our next port - Hakodate - we took a late night tram (called a rope line) way above the city. Of course thousands of other people had the same idea - so it was very, very busy. Most of the time I had to shoot photos over hundreds of other people. When we got back to the ship we got our usual ice cream treats.   ...  ... |
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| April 30 Aomori: Aomori turned out to be a great day - at least a great day for an artist. The first stop on our excursion was at Taugaru Kanayama Pottery. We got a close look at the ancient method of firing using "Climbing Kilns". The process of a Climbing Kiln dates back thousands of years in Ancient China and Korea. Most of the pieces and not glazed - but, the firing process does leave some interesting effects on the surface of the pieces. Of course, I brought a couple items home. Our next stop was even more interesting for an artists eye. We got to see hugh hand made beautifully colored paper floats. These floats are used in an annual celebration. Right now, they are stored in a massive building for display to the public. These floats are over 70 feet tall. We even got to meet one of the artists who designs and constructs these hugh floats.   ...  ...   ...  ... |
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| April 29 - Miyako: One more sea day after Yokohama we were in the fishing village of Miyako.   ...  ... |
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| Yokohama - New Friends: Lots of new passengers boarded the Royal Princess in Yokohama. Our waiter Jaoson sat Michele and Bob next to our table. Like us, they had Jason as their waiter on a previous cruise. Jason introduced us to our new friends. Michele and Bob work together on Alaska airlines. That's the best thing about crusing - the friendships that develop.   ...  ... |
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| April 27 - Day 22: On the 22nd day of our cruise, the Royal Princess arrived in Yokohama, Japan. Because Princess considers this port to be the end and the start of a new cruise we were required to change cabins. A real pain but we packed up the night before so they could move our stuff. But, we had a transit pass to go to Yokohama's Chinatown. This became a fun day of shopping even though there were more food places than shops. Hunderds of people lined the streets eating standing up - a tradition we yet fail to understand. While in Chinatown we did find a sitdown restaurant where we could get a meal - a five course meal that cost us only 22 dollars. I had my favorite - sweet and sour pork and my bride loves noodles. In an earlier port I purchased an extra suitcase - shopping here shows how much we need the space.   ...   ... |
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| April 26 - Day 21: Our next port was a small fishing village of Shimizu - it was an opportunity to get views of My Fuij.   ...  ... |
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| April 25 - Day 20: On the 20th day of our cruise we were in Osana for an excursion to the Golden Temple and the city of Kyoto. We had a traditional Japanese lunch in Kyoto before exploring the town.   ...  ... |
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| April 24 - Day 19: Our second port in Japan was Kochi - again it was raining. The shopping areas were covered so we survived. We found a little mom and pop restaurant. Frani went outside and pointed to pictures of the food items we wanted. Again, having Yens in my pocket was a good idea.   ... |
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April 23 - Kagoshima:
One more sea day and we reach our first port in Japan -
Kagooshima. I finally get to spend some of the Japanese Yen. 1000 Yen
is about $6 US. So, if the doll my bride wants to buy cost 3000 Yen -
it will cost me about $18. My bride finally gets to shop in Japan. We
even found a sit down restaurant for breakfast.    ... |
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| April 21 - Taipei: Day 16 of our cruise found us in Taipei, Taiwan. We visited the National Palace museum, Chiang Kai-shek Memorial and several Temples - then we had a traditional chinese lunch in the Grand Hotel.   ...   ... |
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April 19 - Hong Kong:
We had four more relaxing sea days before we reached Hong Kong. Our day started with a shopping experience - next we took a cruise around Hong Kong harbor in a Junk. Then we went to a restaurant downtown for a Chinese meal. We did some jewelry shopping before taking another cruise around the harbor (modern vessel) to take in the Hong Kong skyline. Then, we took a cable car to the top of the city to see Hong Kong from above. After dinner on the Royal Princess, we watched the night time lights from the Hong Kong skyline.   ...  ... |
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| April 13: After four relaxing sea days - we arrived in Darwin. We visited the Northern Territory Wildlife Park with snakes, bats, birds and dingos. This was day eight of our journey.   ...  ... |
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| April 9 Plus More Sea Days: There were four lazy sea days between Bisbane and Darwin. Lots of time to relax, drink, eat and listen to the music around the ship. Our best surprise was to find Jason. He was our waiter on our world cruise last year. Once we discovered Jason - we reserved a table with him for the rest of the cruise. Jason has been with Princess for 20 years - He is the best.   ...   ... |
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| April 7 & 8: April 7th was a sea day - time to relax and find our way around this large ship (3500 Passengers). We had been on the Royal Princess eight years back but it's easy to get lost. There was lots of good music around the ship. Our next port was Bisbane (April 8th). We took a shttle bus into the city and walked around. We even went to a museum (as we had done in Sydney) - My bride and I have an agreement - shopping one day museums the next. She loves to shop.   ... |
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| Posting On May 19: My entries in this blog are in a strange order because we have been gone for about two months. We were on a 43 day cruise from Sydney to Japan and then to Alaska. I'll try to post a few pics along the way. We started with a 16 hour flight from LA to Sydney. We spent three nights in Sydney (it rained every day) before we boarded the "Royal Princess" on April 6th. Being from Albuquerque we are not use to rain and high humidity. We walked around the city and road the light rail which ran past our hotel. An area called the Rocks" was close with shopping an restaurant options. But, "as I was told" you can't get a refill of coffee in Australia - just order another cup.   ...   ... |
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