Passing through Percé

The colors of Gaspé

This adventure took us through Gaspé and down the peninsula to the small town of Percé. Although it was chilly and a bit rainy, we had a fairly good time learning about life in a small fishing village and about Canada, in general. Percé has become well known for Percé Rock and Bonaventure Island, two scenic spots that attract lots of tourists.

Saguenay Segway

As we sailed into Saguenay I hoped that we’d have a lovely warm day to

Harbor at Saguenay

stroll the small town before going to a stage performance later during the evening. Unfortunately that wasn’t to be. However, we did get to see some of the handcrafted materials from artists in the area. And since it was one of the coldest, wettest days during our cruise we spent most of the day on the ship reading, wandering, and visiting with some of our shipmates.

Quebec City Sites

Once again, our tour of Quebec City was too short to really learn much

Colors of fall above a marina

about the city; happily that requires a return trip! I was delighted to hear French spoken and gratified that I could make myself understood, at least enough to find a restroom and a gift shop. Although it wasn’t a particularly warm or sunny day, the old city was lovely, especially the Château Frontenac Hotel and its environs.

Meeting in Montréal

So we were off on an adventure to see the autumn leaves. Our journey

Fall foliage 

took us from Montréal up through the Saint Lawrence River, out into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, around Nova Scotia, and down the east coast of the U.S., into New York. In some ways it was what we expected – being coddled by Viking, seeing things we hadn’t seen before, and meeting interesting people. What was a bit disappointing was the quality of the shore excursions; we’re not tickled about spending lots of hours on a tour bus. The next few blogs will chronicle our exploration of cities in Canada, and revisiting Boston, and New York City.

Chasing Chihuly

This year our ‘bead camp’ happened to coincide with the exhibition of

Chihuly sculpture

Chihuly glass sculpture at the Biltmore Estate, and since I’m always up for an adventure, I was happy to go. Fall is a wonderful time in North Carolina, and this one was lovely, despite the threat of a hurricane. When it was time for us to go on the tour, the skies cleared and stayed that way. The temperatures were in the 70s and 80s, so everything was close to perfect. We visited the Chihuly exhibit first during the day, then came back at night – this turned out to be a spectacular plan.

Knocking around Knoxville

Every fall for the last decade a gang of us have traveled to the

Knoxville area

Asheville/Black Mountain area to work with little, tiny spheres of glass, find out about each other’s lives, and generally have a great time. This year we had a bit of an obstacle in the form of a rather large hurricane. And although we did eventually get there, some of us had to detour to Knoxville – and thereby began another adventure in traveling. And one of those adventures nearly necessitated a trip to an emergency room; however, if it isn’t a life threatening issue the option of a CVS Minuit Clinic is a good one. They have a doctor on duty, they take most types of insurance, and you can get your prescription immediately – it’s a good deal if you need some help.

On the tour in Kuala Lampur

Celebrating Independence

If you are a KLite, you are a resident of the most populous city in Malaysia, and you’re probably one of three major ethnic groups: the Malays, the Chinese and the Indians. However, the city also has a mix of Eurasians, Kadazans, Ibans, and other indigenous Malaysian races. To me this makes the city even more interesting. There are all sorts of cultural areas, foods, events and shopping to sample without ever leaving the city. But to sample some of the things we hadn’t seen in the city, we hired a guide and took off on a short adventure!