It was an uneventful debark in San Antonio, Chile.  This cruise was unique in its composition, including so many family groups on holiday, but it was a lot of fun.  And we six are glad to be “just us” again.

I had put a lot of research into our Chilean wine tour, as it was the only part of the cruise that was new to me, and you all know I like wine and wine touring.  I started working on it, back in September, when I didn’t know who would be coming with me.  I sent requests for proposal to 6 or 7 tour suppliers, including A & K, whom I use a lot, HecTours, whom I have used before in Chile, UPSCAPE, whom I got both from the Internet and from Donna and Joe Aita, Napa Oenophile friends, who had done this in 2006, and two or three more tour companies, from the Internet.  The one who called me first, sounded very sincere and capable, but he wanted $295, just to propose to me.  The others did it for free.  More better. And we couldn’t have chosen better.

We picked UPSCAPE for the professionalism of one Gianina Lillo, their interface to me, and the recommendation of the Aitas.  Their bid was high, but it was unfailingly professional, and they were happy to adjust to suit our needs.  Even after I had signed on the dotted line, expressing doubts that our guide might not know enough about wine for this group, they switched him out.  I am sure he was a great guide, but I had not seen one word about wine experience in his background.  Gianina got me, and we got Fanor Velasco.  It was like having Dick Wallingford and Tony Kilgallin, rolled into one.  Fanor was retired after thirty years of representing Chilean wines to the rest of the world.  He had dealt with the SAQ in Quebec, and every other Liquor Board in Canada, most of the US importers, multiple countries in Europe and Asia.  Pretty much a dream career.  He had stories to fill in the long bus rides, and he wasn’t on the clock.  We ran over every day.  Thank God, our long suffering driver, Marcelo Pottstock, was up for that, too.  They both knew how to fill their days with their devices, and, in the case of Marcelo, some good naps.

They met us in the San Antonio Port on Sunday Jan 6, at 9:30 am.  God knows how long they had been waiting.  Cruise ships disgorge their load of passengers, as best they can.  Our first stop wasn’t far away.  It was Casa Marin, a family-owned winery in Chile’s San Antonio Valley.  It is Chile’s most coastal vineyard, located just four kilometers from the Pacific shoreline. Founded in 2000 by Chile’s first female vineyard owner, Maria Luz Marin, Casa Marin has been described as one of the “most daring and innovative” vineyards in the country. In addition to the more commonly found whites, they also grow Gewurztraminer, Riesling and Sauvignon Gris, in an area with a unique terroir, highly mineral and with very cool nighttime temperatures. Casa Marin’s outstanding wines have received many awards, and for many years it was one of the Top 100 Wineries in the World by Wine & Spirits magazine.  It’s a lot like Delia Viader’s story and I can’t wait to bring her the brochure and see if she knows Maria Luz.  She must.

We were blown away by the Sauvignon Gris, which none of us had even heard of before.  We were also blown away by the view, the art, and the lunch, which was substantial, soignée, and delicious.  It sure was starting well.  We were already falling behind, and Fanor was patiently waiting:

It was a longer drive to Matetic, in the Casablanca Valley, where we would have a Private Tour & Tasting, dinner, and stay the night at La Casona Matetic .  Matetic is a 27-year old winery, and very modern in concept.  It’s built into the side of the mountain and they take advantage of gravity to be kind to the grapes, during the process.  The vineyards are all biodynamic, too, of course.  Our tasting was wonderful, and view full. The views here are truly extraordinary.  We have some pretty nice ones in Napa and Sonoma, but Chile is far more spectacular, because of the mountains, which are a lot more so than ours.

Our lodgings were a treat, too.  La Casona Matetic, started as a typical Chilean colonial building, with ten suites around a quadrangle, filled with spectacular gardens.  Our rooms were old style luxurious.  Andrea even had a bath in our claw footed tub.  Our dinner was superb, and included, as was breakfast.  We could easily have stayed there another couple of days.

On Monday Jan 7, Fanor and Marcelo, picked us, and our luggage, up, after a full breakfast at the Casona.  On the way, Fanor asked us if we knew what a “symposium” was, and we gave the usual academic and corporate answers.  What it really meant, in the time of the ancient Greeks, was a “meeting to drink wine”. That suited us even better.  Our morning “Private Grand Vin Tour & Tasting” was exactly that.  The winery was Villard Wines, one of the Casablanca Valley’s premium boutique wineries. It was founded in 1989 by Thierry Villard, and is still run by this French-Chilean family, which prides itself on making traditional, elegant wines.  Thierry met his Chilean wife, Paulina, in Australia.  We met her, too, she was planting flowers in half-barrels on the terrace.  Their story is fun and it’s at http://www.villard.cl/about/ , where you can also see why Thierry knows Fanor, so well.  They were in the same business, at the same time.

With mineral rich terroir cooled by Pacific breezes, Villard is known for its whites, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.  Both of its Pinot Noirs score high, too, including two 95-point scores from James Suckling.  This is another very modern winery, gravity fed and bio-dynamic. They planted Carménère because it was not sensitive to phylloxera, and then they had to learn how to vinify it.  One of the things they learned is that it needs a much longer hang time to make excellent wine.  While we were touring, founder Thierry Villard appeared from his coastal property and he sat down with us.

Thierry was a wealth of information.  We learned how they started, how they make wine, and how they deal with the rabbit population, which is their biggest problem.  Like the deer in Napa, they often make it to the farmworkers’ dinner tables.  Speaking of which, we had a nice table set with bottles and glasses, but Andrea found something even more comfortable:

That mood lasted until she realized she couldn’t take a picture, because she didn’t have her cell phone.  She had left it at Casa Matetic.  Too many phone calls later, we had to give up on it, and she’s still in Mexico with Elvon’s flip phone.

Even that couldn’t spoil this perfect day.  Our next stop was Kingston Family Vineyards, still in the Casablanca Valley and even more spectacular, as to view.  We were scheduled for a Premium Tour & Tasting with a 4-course lunch.  Our guide was Tommy, a sweet, very preppy, guy, who was probably a family member, or the son of a very close friend.  He had just graduated from an Ivy League University, Princeton, I think, and was going to be an engineer.  But, meanwhile, he was seeing the world and learning the wine business.

The reason I suspect him of being a relative, is that in the early 1900s, Carl John Kingston left his home in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan looking for gold in Chile.  He ended up with this property, a cattle ranch.  Tommy grew up in Grosse Pointe, MI, and I know where that is, because my Uncle Joe raised his family there.  Tommy knew their address well.  The cattle ranch spans 8,000 acres, only 350 of which are planted in grapes.  They need the rest for water rights.  That is an even bigger problem that Bugs’ relatives.

Since its first vintage in 2003, Kingston has been turning heads with its small production of Pinot Noir, Syrah, and Sauvignon Blanc. While coastal Casablanca is known for its white wines, Kingston is pioneering the production of cool-climate, artisan-style reds. Wines from the 350-acre family ranch are handcrafted and bottled on site. Wine Spectator commended Kingston for “bringing diversity and excitement to Chile” and Wine Enthusiast heralded the vineyard as the “Sommelier’s’ New Chilean Favorite.”

Kingston’s winery and view are even more spectacular than the other three we had visited.  Wow.  Their story is interesting, too.  Check out https://www.kingstonvineyards.com/About/History

Our tasting table again took advantage of the fine view and weather.  The view is reflected in the windows behind us, and we’re showing a lot of smiles. There were little nibbles to go with the wines.  My favorite was Lafête’s Chocolate Truffle.  I vowed to find them in Santiago, and I did.  I have four left a month later.  I took another note during the tasting that said “Share the Fly” and I have no idea why I took it.  To quote a Frog’s Leap bottle “Time’s fun when you’re having flies.”  Lunch was fabulous and served at the same table with a view.  I took pictures of the food, but there are four in this blog, already, which is quite enough.  It was a four course lunch, too.

It must have been after seven when we got to our hotel in Santiago.  It was Cumbres Lastarria.  Nothing too fancy, but not shabby either, and beautifully situated right smack in the center of downtown.  It didn’t make the traffic easy for Marcelo, but the walking was nice for us. There were restaurants everywhere, not that we were hungry, after Kingston’s spectacular lunch.  We had a short nap and Rosie, Patrick and I had a few terrible greasy tapas at the hotel bar.  Live and learn.  It didn’t matter.

Tuesday, Jan 8, breakfast was a much nicer affair, and was even nicer the next day, after we discovered the eggs to order station.  Never mind.  It was enough and we were meeting Fanor and Marcelo at 9:30 am, again.  This time we were having a Full Day in the Maipo Valley.  A gentleman(?!) relieving himself on the side of the highway, with five lanes of traffic at a crawl got us going and the next thing you knew, we were all sharing pissing stories.  No, I am not going to share.  I don’t know all of you as well as I know these people.

It was a much different day than the day before, which was fine with us.  – PEREZ CRUZ is the contraction of the names Pablo Perez and Marian Cruz.  The couple bought the winery in 1968.

The first thing visitors notice about this family-owned winery in the Maipo Alto valley, is the swooping wooden architecture of the 3-million liter capacity bodega. The structure was designed by the local architect José Cruz Ovalle and uses its openness to promote good air circulation in this breezy part of the valley, so to keep ideal winemaking temperatures. Pérez Cruz has a large estate of 140 hectares of vines, with Cabernet Sauvignon, Carménère, Merlot, Syrah, Malbec and Petit Verdot, and they produce and barrel their award-winning wines onsite.

It started with a tasting in a cramped, crowded tasting room.  Maybe that was because we were late.  Our guide was Clement Espinoza, son of the famous Chilean winemaker, Alvaro Espinoza, the father of bio-dynamics, as applied to winemaking.  He googles well.  His son is still young, but, once he got over himself, we got some good information from him, and a nice winery tour.  It’s very modern, including its vineyard management.  They use drones to monitor the health of the vines.  Again, the facility was extraordinary, and the wines were good.  We have seen a lot of cement eggs this trip.  For many wines, they can effectively replace wooden barrels.  The world is running out of barrel oak, now.  First it was corks…

Again, we were late for Lunch at Doña Paula Restaurant, at the Santa Rita Winery.  Founded in 1880, Santa Rita is one of the Maipo Valley’s oldest wineries and one of the most popular Chilean wineries in the international market. We weren’t here for the wine, though.  We were here for the historical building and its restaurant.  In this case, the restaurant was right in the colonial mansion, and served in the colonial style.  It was excellent and we loved the old-fashioned service.  It was just perfect.

Our afternoon tour was to Alvaro Espinoza’s own winery, ANTIYAL. And our guide was Clement, again.  This is his family’s winery.  One of Chile’s best boutique wineries, Antiyal, which means in the indigenous language “children of the sun,” is the private vineyard of Chile’s most celebrated oenologist and leader in organic viniculture, Álvaro Espinoza. Together with his wife, Mariana Ashton, Espinoza makes two different wines, Antiyal (7,000 bottles) and Kuyen (12,000 bottles). They cultivate the land according to biodynamic principles which they believe imbues the wine with a better sense of place, and with the hopes of leaving the land in better condition than when they started farming it. They use little irrigation, hands-on canopy management, and lots of care to manage their harvests by hand. Espinoza was proclaimed one of the world’s best winemakers in 2015 by Decanter magazine. Their wines are exported to multiple international markets.

This is much more modest winery.  Clement shared that the reason Perez Cruz is so spectacular, is because its owners also own Chile’s Energy Company.  Alvaro just makes his wine out there in the vineyards.  We sat talking about viticulture, on the roof of the winery, on plastic chairs that had seen better days.  The sun went down over the mountains, and we were very happy.

We got back to Cumbres Lastarria late again, and the Morneaus retired.  Patrick, Rosie, Andrea and I drank the welcome Piso Sour, provided by the hotel, and went out to walk the streets for some simple fare.  Once again, we were stuffed from lunch.  We found Il Fournil, a block away, and had Onion Soup and salad, and I vaguely remember some nice dessert, like profiteroles.  Then it was off to pack and to bed.

By the time Andrea and I got up for breakfast on the 9th, the others were at the airport for an early flight to Toronto, and on to Montreal.  Breakfast was better, as we had figured out how to get eggs to order, and they were very nice.  I finally got to work out at the gym, while Andrea collected her copious belongings into her ample baggage and got ready for her afternoon flight to Mexico, where she will be until Valentine’s Day.

I spent the afternoon walking the streets.  The artisan market was disappointing, as is now the way.  I got some Japanese souvenirs and quite a lot of Lafête’s Chocolate Truffles and dark chocolate squares.  I stopped at a sidewalk café for an empanada and some people watching.  The people are mostly in shape, and simply dressed, except for the ones who work the financial occupations.  There are street dogs and purebreds.  It’s just another big city, but it felt good.

I flew all night, and I was tired when I started, which is why you’re just getting this diary now.  Eric met me at SFO and brought me home at last, where “We’re all here, because we’re not all there”, to quote Nubar Shabazian, Inmate.

NEWS FLASH – This is close to half-price.  A DEAL!!

Lookee, lookee – My next cruise just went on sale, today (Saturday, February 9).  I have been watching for this.  Get away from April!  Here’s the itinerary:  https://tinyurl.com/ShanghaiTokyoOnSale2019   California residents are looking at $1999ppdo for a verandah.  I’m scripting a pretty good land itinerary, too:  3 days in each of Shanghai, Beijing and Tokyo, private tour in Seoul, etc. Steve and Trish Harrold are coming.  How about you?

Don’t click and buy at Celebrity’s site, though.  You have to buy it from ME, to be in my group and get all of the above, plus the free cocktail party and free shore excursion in one of the ports, still TBD.  Call or text me to get my attention.  I’ll be out in Napa on Sunday.

 

Humble apologies for the month’s delay.  A lot happened in the last days on the ship and the days in Chile, afterward.  Then there’s always re-entry and I came back to a pretty busy travel business that needed me.  I’m not complaining, and here are the last days on the ship.  Chilean Wine Tour next and after that, a weekend in Napa.  Stay tuned.

Sunday, December 30, 2018, we were at sea, going around Cape Horn, and very lucky with the weather.  Today’s desk hours were pretty quiet but my email was lovely.  Pat and Mike liked Holland America so well that they bought a Panama Canal cruise for next Christmas.  It’s on the Amsterdam, my favorite ship, so I asked DV to save it or me, should it become a Distinctive Voyage.  Cross fingers.  I gave the envelopes with the cocktail party tips to Wendy to distribute, and I know she did, because I got a thank you.

One of my people came by and took a copy of my latest newsletter, claiming none of them had received the information.  Three cabins, really?  That I hand delivered myself, really? I get tired of all this pitching of my hard work, and ignoring of my phone calls.  My rolling office contained four postcards from the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.  I thought they were odd enough in this context to get a look.  I wrote, “This is silly, but so is ignoring me.  I have a FREE tour for you in Puerto Montt, a gift from your travel agent.  Call me at 3159 to hear about and collect it.”

It worked and now there are 68 people coming on tour, 69, if my wheelchair lady makes it.  A guest I had never heard from called me wondering why her parents had never received anything.  She had thrown out all she got, as had her sister.  This, by the way, is a different three cabin group from the one in the previous paragraph.  I explained that receiving our amenities depended on the travel agent you used.  She swore that all three cabins had been booked at the same time, by the same travel agency.  Since I had to turn in the count tomorrow, I decided to believe her, and had the whole six of them sign the waivers.

We tried the Spa Café for lunch and it was pretty good.  They had a lot of salads, but I had a spicy udon bowl, a carrot and ginger soup, and a delicious muesli cookie.

Around 4 pm, Andrea and I went up to the Sky Lounge to have a glass of champagne at “The End of the World”.  We met up with Patrick and Rosie, and it turned out to be a floating photo safari.  Patrick takes some wonderful photos.  I got this one of the lighthouse at the end of the world:

Another nice dinner in the dining room, another bottle of good wine, another decent show, and a great night’s sleep.

On New Year’s Eve, we docked in Ushuaia, Argentina, the last town before the end of the world. We went ashore.  We were on a mission, here, to get rid of all the Argentine pesos.  We had so much trouble getting them in Buenos Aires, that we had all stocked up.  It wasn’t made any easier by the fact that it was New Year’s Eve.  Most of the shops were open, though, and we managed to spend most of the money on clothing.

I met Jorge and Javier on their way into town, when I was going back.  He owned up to the deception about the champagne and I thanked him profusely.  It was a good thing, too, as that night, in the Dining Room, the sommelier wanted to tell us we were on our second bottle of our second package, when it was, indeed, our first.

The Hotel Director had given me a bottle of prosecco on boarding day, and I brought it to dinner, too, for the six of us to share.  We toasted Paul and Elvon with it.  We had eaten late so it wasn’t too long to midnight.  I volunteered to go down to Deck 3 and save seats at the foot of the staircase.  Ha! There were no seats.  They had made every one of them disappear on both the third and fourth decks, to get more people in.  I managed to stake a claim to two corners of a lamp pedestal, that was immovable.  We took turns perching there, never letting them go.  At midnight, they became little tables for the free champers.  Patrick is sure it was very low alcohol, because he had three glasses of it, on top of three glasses of the real thing at dinner, and never felt a thing.  That actually would have been pretty smart of the ship.

There’s some amazing soundproofing on here, too.  Our cabin is the first one down the hall from the party, which went on for quite a while, after Andrea and I retired, around one am.  We closed our door and never heard a thing,

New Year’s day, 2019, was an ordinary sea day and I was back at the desk.  It’s no hardship to sit there, as I can always read my email, log and blog, while being available to my 80 cruisers.  Distinctive Voyages had written me that we had to verify eligibility of the parents who had not been included.  I duly got their booking number from Guest Relations.  At that point, I finally wised up and had a look at the “Do Not Include” tab in the Excel workbook, and there they were.  I wrote DV, explained, and told them I can suck up the price of their tour, and will be paying the tour company, myself.

More of the wheelchair lady’s family members stopped by the desk, to make another plea to get their mother on tour.  I spoke to Wendy again and found out that the rule was that she had to go down the stairs to the tender on her own steam.  She had chickened out the last time, when it was just a bit rough.  I spoke to the wheelchair lady again that day, in the presence of about three family members.  She will still be afraid, if it is even a bit rough on the 4^th. I don’t blame her.  I have been on ships where there have been tender accidents.

I worked on a newsletter to go out on the 2^nd with our tour meeting place, bus assignments, etc.  I have enough Spanish speaking people (27) to warrant a bilingual bus.  Then I went to the gym, as I do most days, and worked on my log and blog in the Oceanview Café.  If was a bad choice.  I ended up eating again.

Of course, we still had the oinking big dinner in the dining room.  They have been especially good lately.  Tonight was lamb shank.  The entertainer was Amy Lee on violin, and she was good.  We are tired of screaming singers.  Then Ellen, Andrea and I went up to the ABBA tribute party in the Sky Lounge.  No conflict there.  ABBA didn’t scream, they actually sang.

Wednesday, January 2, was listed in the Itinerary as “Straits of Magellan”. That’s just a fancy name for another sea day.  The Straits can be rough, though, and we were privileged that they weren’t for us.  It was overcast and the Internet was iffy, but the scenery was beautiful, even in the mist.

One of my guests came and took a picture of our detailed itinerary in Puerto Montt.  He had a friend to meet in Puerto Varas.  Then we delivered the newsletter about the tour.

Thursday, January 3, was billed as “Chilean Fjords”.  That’s another fancy name for another sea day.  I had office hours.  Our shore excursion tomorrow, leaves at 8:30 am rom shore, in a tender port.  Wendy, the Event Coordinator, came to tell me that we cannot get a tender of our own.  I will have to show up at 7:00 am to collect 69 tender tickets.  Then I will go to our meeting point and distribute them.  At 7:45 we will move out of the meeting place to the designated tender boarding place.  There we will probably end up on two tenders and have to re-assemble on shore to process through the terminal building to the buses.  Luckily I have trusted people to help, but it will probably give me nightmares, anyway.

To minimize the trouble, I put out a clarifying broadcast.  I was also in a spot of trouble for having teed up a Spanish bus.  It was a unique situation, because of all the Spanish-speaking families aboard.  The only non-Spanish speakers on the bus were my own clients, Patrick and Rosie, who agreed to be bus monitors in exchange for an exceptional bottle of wine. The bus will be full of bilingual people to translate for them, if the need should arise, and they are both ex-school teachers, who make the best bus monitors.  Andrea Terni, my co-host, speaks passable Spanish.

I delivered one more letter, too, just to make sure everyone got the message and would be in the right place at the right time for the tour.

Finally, on Friday, it was time for our tour in Puerto Montt.  The group was prompt in getting to Celebrity Central, and we were able to move out and get into the tender line, together and on time.  Wendy was there, acknowledged us and did her level best to get us into the tender line in a group.  It was a very slow line and people had to leave to go to the bathroom, etc. Net, we ended up on two tenders and had to wait in the terminal for the second.

Our shore excursion suppliers were there for us, and waited with us.  Our people were sweet and patient, and soon it came together.  This area of Chile was originally settled by Germans, but eventually became Spanish, like most of South America.  It’s just joining the rest of the world, as to things like owning cars and pets.  These things just happened in the last ten or twenty years.  Before that, they rode horses, and the dogs stayed outside, year round.  There are still a lot of street dogs, but they don’t fight and they grow long thick coats for the winter.  I have a couple of pictures.

All of this, and a lot more, we learned from Carlos, our guide, as we drove through Puerto Montt, on the way to Puerto Varas.  He was excellent, teaches IT, during the school year, and supports other IT teachers.  The Internet is changing the people’s lives, too.  They now buy a lot of goods, both from Amazon, but also from Alibaba, the Chinese equivalent.  It’s just as close, and often cheaper, to have things shipped to them from China.

Puerto Varas is a nice little town, with a main square ringed by restaurants and pastry shops, and a nice handicraft market, probably the best I saw in Chile.  These markets are starting to look all the same to me.  There aren’t nearly as many real handicrafts, actually made in the country, as there were, even a decade ago.  The fault lies with our own industry.  Too much demand, not enough supply.  The real stuff gets replaced with goods mass produced in China and they are all the same.

Our next stop was Frutillar, a preserved German village, where we could tour the blacksmith’s house, museum, library, more cottages, and the rich man’s house on the hill, of course.  It was very pretty and peaceful.  This is Andrea, from a window of the house on the hill.

There was a functioning pastry shop, that a number of people used for a mid-morning snack.  It had nice things, including a jam cake that brought me back to my childhood, when my mother and my aunt Annie used to make it.  I still have the recipe; one day I’ll make another.  It’s more expensive to make, than to buy, but it’s wonderful.

We returned to Puerto Montt, and its handicrafts market, which was a little disappointing, but we have come to expect that, for the reasons noted above.  Some people left the bus to make their own way back to the pier, as we were close.

I printed, and Andrea and I collated the farewell letter and comments cards, and delivered them.  Then we met Patrick and Rosie for sail away, which was lovely, as was dinner, with them and the Morneaus.  We are family now.

Saturday, January 5, was our last day aboard and a sea day, which you need before disembarkation, to pack and sort yourself out.  I met a number of my people at breakfast in the buffet.  They were all delighted with the tour and thanked me very much.  The long wait to get off the ship had been forgotten.

I had office hours at ten.  A lot of people came by to thank me and say it was a lot of fun.  The people I paid for stopped by to thank me for taking them on the tour.  They still do not understand why they were not included when their children were.  Guess who was paying?  The mother loves the program and wants to be included every time.  She took a look at our brochure and wants one to help her pick her next cruise.  I told her she needed to have a conversation with her travel agent about how this happened and that it should never happen again.  Her agent can also order a DV brochure for her.  She’s a lovely lady.  I am not a bit sorry I paid for her to join the tour.

More people brought in their Comments Cards, all smiles and compliments.  I left the desk around noon and went to pack.  That done, I went up to the Aqua Spa Café to log and blog.  I have been using this quiet place, for this purpose, all week, but today was different.  It was full of Mexican families playing games like Mah Jong.  Now, when the Chinese play Mah Jong, all you hear is the clacking of the tiles.  When Mexican families play it, it’s a lot more interactive, and a lot louder.  Oh, well, they were having fun and I decided I didn’t feel like working on the last day, either.

I checked our envelope at the Front Desk just before six, and went upstairs to the Sky Lounge to meet my people and draw for the $25 SBC.  Then we went to dinner and off to bed.  We had a wine tour starting in San Antonio tomorrow.

 

This picture is carried over from Christmas Day, as even I thought it might not be appropriate then:

The Pot Shop was open, too, and that plant on the left was alive and growing, in its window.

Thursday, December 27, was a sea day, and I had a good few people at the desk.  I was glad to see Daniela and Ventura del Rio, as they are part of the group of 28, within our group, and were very helpful in sorting out the names.  Spanish names can be very long, as they give great reverence to their ancestors.  It’s a lovely custom, but it makes keeping a manifest a lot harder.

Six cabins needed duplicate folders.  I swear they throw them out and then claim they never saw them.  Some of them admit that when they get the second one.  I always have one handicap problem, too.  This time it is the matriarch of a group of eighteen.  The ship had refused to take her on the tender in Punta del Este.  She is in a wheelchair, but can climb stairs, etc.  Her kids, of which there are five, were worried that she would not be able to do our shore excursion because Puerto Montt is a tender port, too.  This isn’t over.

Jorge, our friend from the helipad, had called back and we six were going to dinner in Luminae, with him, Javier and Julius.  We had to eat early, though, which was fine with us, as we wanted to see the show.  Dinner was excellent, both food and conversation.  Luminae, the Suites’ dining room, is a little more soignée than the main Dining Room, and they have the best staff on the ship.  The sommelier stopped the “who gets to pay for the champers” fight, that I was having with Jorge, by faking me into thinking that I had.  She took my card and gave me a receipt, but a couple of nights later, there was a bottle left in our 7-bottle package, when it should have been done.

Then the whole staff outdid itself when a family with about eight unruly kids came in and they fed them and got them out in twenty minutes flat.  They were a long twenty minutes, mind you.  You don’t see such badly behaved kids in the main dining room, either.  I’m guessing the parents don’t feel quite as entitled, there.

The show was called “Topper” and it was very clever.  Too bad I fell asleep during the acrobats, as they are my favorite part.

Finally, it was Friday, December 28, time for our penguin tour in Puerto Madryn.  We were all keen on walking among the Magellan penguins of Punta Tombo, so I had booked a private tour with Edgardo of “Tour Guide Ushiaia”.  It got off 45 minutes late, when Andrea went ahead to find the Guide, while I waited for the last couple.  She managed to walk past four people she knew well, and a guy with a large sign saying “Helen Megan Group”, to get all the way to the port entrance.  When she didn’t come back to me to say she had found the guy with the sign, and I had waited long enough, I went back on board to verify that she was still off.  Then I went up to where the sign was, and we all waited again.  We only found her, at the port entrance, when we had decided to give up and go without her.

As we were leaving town, I noted the housing was pretty bleak, but there were a number of people walking good purebred dogs.  That sort of thing always interests me.  I guess they are a minor status symbol.  We skirted a town called “Trelew”, which is a Welsh name.  Imagine them being the first settlers. They arrived in 1865.

We made up some of the lost time by buying a sandwich lunch at a gas station, and eating it on the bus.  It was actually pretty good, Sorrento ham and cheese.  The scenery on the long bus ride was pretty bleak, punctuated by guanaco, a type of llama.  There are also rodent deer, called caviamara, but we never saw any.

We sure saw a lot of penguins, though.  They’re very lovable, but quite scrappy.  The males spend a lot of time standing erect and screaming “This land is MY Land”.  We saw a very nasty fight over a great nesting spot, under the footbridge.  I was mystified, because the chicks were born over a month ago, and the penguins would migrate to Brazil in April, to return again next year.  They would doubtless have to fight for it all over again.

This little guy thought Patrick’s shoes were other penguins and he came in to challenge them.  Patrick got a very lucky shot that looks like he is holding the screaming penguin.  He wasn’t:

The weather was wonderful, in the high seventies.  I wondered why it wasn’t much colder, like Alaska is in summer.  Our guide had the explanation.  It has to do with the shape of the continents.  South America tapers to a point, so the oceans keep it a lot warmer than North America, where the land mass at Alaska’s level is about five thousand miles wide.

It was the kind of day to toast, and we have a new one.  It’s “Pura Vida” and Central and South Americans use it for everything.

We were back at sea on Saturday, December 29.  Our desk hours competed with the ship’s Bridge and Kitchen tours and not a soul came.  Finally, I got around to logging and blogging.  With any luck I won’t still be doing it two weeks after the cruise, which happens.  The six of us had another very nice dinner in the dining room and went to another production show, called “Amade”.  We couldn’t figure out the connection to Mozart, mind you.

Christmas Eve, Monday, December 24, 2018

It doesn’t feel like Christmas Eve when you’re working all day, but it sure kept us out of trouble.  We were docked in Buenos Aires for most of the day, but at the container port, so going ashore wasn’t attractive to anyone except Rosie and Patrick.  They had left their phone in their room at The Brick and sort of wanted it back.  Wendy, the Event Manager, was off the ship, too, which wasn’t so good for me, because my DV broadcast had not gone out last night.  I duly recorded another one, changing “tomorrow” to “today”.  Unfortunately, when Wendy came back, she blasted out the first, rather than the second, so I had to record a third, apologizing for the first, and stressing that the cocktail party was tonight.  Yup, Christmas Eve.

One group leader, a travel agent, no less, had called in the morning to complain that no one in her group had received anything from Distinctive Voyages.  I said I would wait while she looked outside her door.  Sure enough she was calling me on suppertime news, and we had delivered after dinner.  They had their packets.

I met with every department I needed to and wrote my cocktail party speech.

Thirty-three people came to the cocktail party, which was good, considering we were competing with “Carols with the Captain” and our group of 18 must have had their own event planned, as not one of them came.  Neither our group of eight didn’t come, either, nor did our other group of six.  That accounts for most of them. Groups within the DV group change the dynamic.  My group of six was there, of course, and Patrick took the pictures for me.

It was a nice party, and it was nice to connect with these good people.  I wish our shore excursion were coming earlier in the cruise, it will be almost over before we see them again.  We hit the rush in the dining room, so dinner was a late affair, and we missed the show, but we like each other’s company and all was well.

Christmas in Montevideo

The six of us, Rosie, Patrick, JP, Ellen, Andrea and I, met for breakfast on the aft deck, outside the Oceanview Bar, happy that it was warm enough to do so.  Then we went out in Montevideo.  We shopped our way to the cathedral, getting there in time to catch the last half of the noon mass.  Both the cathedral itself and the service were beautiful.  The familiar hymns are nice to hear in their intended setting. When the mass was over, we toured the church, like the tourists we are.  The cardinal was giving an interview on the front steps.  There was a little market in the square in front of the cathedral, but most shops and restaurants were closed.

Patrick had struck up a friendship with the chef at one restaurant that was open, El Cuatro Equadorio.  The cuisine was very local, consisting of foods grilled with the heat coming from the top of the oven, circulating by convection.  We wanted to try it.  As in the church, we were the only tourists, and it did not get us favored treatment.  Quite the contrary.  This was a locals’ place and the locals got served first on Christmas Day.  When our two enormous Stellas came in their ice bucket, we fell on them with great joy and ordered a third.  It was pretty hot by that time and Ellen and I decided to cool our hands on the ice bucket.  JP was having none of it.  He told us to stop warming the beer.  The food finally came and it was pretty tough and disappointing, but we ate with the citizens of Montevideo, and that was super.  At one point they ran out of big ice buckets and we found ourselves with one bottle in a double, when the next table had two bottles in a single, which just didn’t fit.  We offered to switch and got the short end of the stick when they kept all the ice.

And that was Christmas, topped off with a turkey dinner in the main dining room, and The Eclipse Holiday Show.  On these big ships, not only are the production shows all singing and all dancing, they’re all Cirque du Soleil, too.  Those acrobat schools in Montreal are sending talent all over the world, at sea.  The stage, slings and cables, are all there, and our acrobats are good.  They are the best part of the show, really.

Boxing Day, December 26, 2018, in Punta del Este, Uruguay

I stayed aboard, wrote and delivered a newsletter, while Andrea went to the beach and everyone else toured the town.  It was a tender port and I was happier working than waiting around for little boats. Patrick got a great souvenir picture, though.

The newsletter wasn’t optional, if I was to find 60 people who wanted to spend New Year’s Eve with us.

Andrea and I were invited to the Helipad for Sail-Away.  I tried to beg my own clients in, but it was strictly for VIPs. As far as we could gather, that meant Suite Guests, and, well, us.  It turned out well, though, we made some nice friends, Jorge and Javier, from Miami.  Jorge used to be a travel agent and he was convinced the we needed to experience Luminae, and bring my clients.  He was sure they would be buying suites from now on, if they had that experience.  These are my Montreal clients.  They’re gourmets, spoiled with Montreal’s fine food, not to mention what they make themselves.  The Michael’s Club concierge was there and she told us how to go about it.  We could be guests of Jorge’s for $30 per person.  That would work for us.  We were delighted and so were Rosie, Patrick, JP and Ellen, when we told them at dinner.

The show was Charyn Cannon, a blues singer, and she was good.

Thursday, December 20, 2018, Buenos Aires

My plane landed in Buenos Aires, probably an hour before the plane from Toronto, carrying J.P. and Ellen, Patrick and Rosie, and Andrea.  I made contact with Eilat and Vivianne, our transfer person, and waited.  Eventually they processed through and we were off to our hotel, The Brick, a Sofitel, in Recoleta.  It was around noon, and we had all been traveling all night and then some.  We got our rooms right away, dropped our luggage and went out for lunch.  We plan to be fully on Buenos Aires time, by tomorrow.  We pretty much are, already, just tired.

 

There is a currency crisis in Argentina, and it’s the holiday season.  The HSBC ATM in the upscale mall, across the street, wasn’t even giving the natives money, much less us.  We had lunch there, though, and it was good.  After lunch, Patrick, Rosie, Andrea and I went out on the streets, following the hotel’s directions, to the nearest ATMs.  None of them was in the mood to accept the Royal Bank’s debit cards but Patrick got some money out of another Canadian Bank through the National Bank of Argentina, about eight blocks away.  We’ll keep trying, but now it was nap time.

We had a dinner engagement, planned by my BA friend, Eilat. We were going to a restaurant she was dying to try.  It was called Mishiguene and, when I just googled it, I found out it is one of the Diners’ Club 50 best restaurants in the world.  Singlethread in Healdsburg is on that list, but The French Laundry and Per Se aren’t any more.  There are three in Tokyo, though, so I’ll be dragging Trish and Steve to at least one of them.

We were ahead of the crowd, so Mishiguene’s celebrity chef, Tomas Kalika, had time to help us choose our meal and wine.   The cuisine is “Modern Jewish” and it was unique and wonderful.  It was served like a Chinese dinner, all about sharing. I was too brain dead to list all the appetizers, but I remember the one I contributed.  It was Kibbeh Nayeh.  It wasn’t quite what I was expecting, which was a pile of raw lamb with bulgar and spices.  It was just outstanding, though, as was everything else Tomas served us.  By the time we got to the mains, we were filling up, and we had ordered two bone-in pastramis, grilled and sauced up, with caramelized onions draped over the sides.  It was too much.  We sent more than half a pastrami home with the delightful Eilat, for her husband, who had been baby-sitting.

Eilat was thrilled with her treasure and called her husband, César, from her taxi to tell him she was bringing home supper.  He said he had already eaten. She got home, triumphantly put the box on the table and told him to dig in.  He said he had already eaten.  She got him a knife and fork and opened the box.  He said he had already eaten, and then he saw it.  He was persuaded to have just a bite.  He ate the whole thing.  He was very happy. Don’t miss this restaurant when you visit Buenos Aires. http://www.mishiguene.com/prensa.php

Of the four taxis we took, one had a dishonest meter, so J.P. Ellen and I paid double to get there, but we were a lot smarter on the way back, and we had Eilat cautioning the driver, not to try that.

Friday, December 21, 2018, Buenos Aires

We slept like logs and just made it up for the last half-hour of The Brick’s buffet breakfast, which is absolutely excellent.  I took Chase’s ATM card out and had better luck getting money.  RBC still wasn’t giving me a peso.  I had work to do for my Distinctive Voyage on board, so I bought the rest of the group a tour guide for the afternoon.  They all liked Soledad a lot and had a lovely time with her, at Eva Peron’s grave and all the usual Buenos Aires highlights, except …… JP got attacked for his Rolex.  He fell but he managed to hang on to it.  The perp got away on the back of a motorcycle.  JP took it off and put it in his pocket.  Less than half an hour later the same perps had the nerve to try again.  Unbelievable.  What else is unbelievable is that he was able to identify them, following the group, in one of Patrick’s photos.  Here they are:

There was no fancy dinner this night, we were going out to tango with Soledad.  We weren’t seeing a Tango Show.  We went to a place where the locals go to tango.  We left the hotel around 9:30 pm.  I hadn’t had dinner yet, so I was dependent on the snacks they would serve.  The others hadn’t had all that much, either, just a few treats on tour.  We were hungry.

Soledad took us to a Milonga.  We were the only tourists in the place.  The other couple of hundred people were there to dance the tango.  The tables were set so almost everyone could face the dance floor, especially on the boys’ side and the girls’ side.  The couples sat at tables on the ends.  That way everyone knew who was who.  Very efficient.  All the ladies had proper tango shoes, as did Soledad, and she put them on.  No one asked her to dance, though, doubtless because she was busy with us, because she’s lovely, and serious about tango.  It was wrong, but we, myself in particular, were pretty focused on food, and we were not in luck.  They had three little empanadas left, and some terrible pizza.  We ate it anyway, and we drank bad wine.  JP was smart.  He had a giant Stella Artois in a thermal cooler. He also had a pretty sore shoulder, thanks to having hit the pavement a couple of times.

We were glad we went, because we like authentic cultural experiences, but none of us was ever going to tango, so we left around eleven.  The night was young, if you tango, but we just wanted to go back.  I know Soledad was disappointed in us, but she had been with the group when JP was assaulted, so she understood.  We went back to The Brick.  I gave JP my Voltaren and Andrea and I went to Rosie and Patrick’s room to share their very nice Canadian wine.  Yes, I did write that last sentence.

Saturday, December 22, 2018

After another yummy Brick buffet, Rosie, Patrick and Andrea went walking around town, which they love to do.  JP, Ellen and I went to the Brick’s fitness center, which had a nice little covered pool, as well as the usual machines, weights and mats.  I got an hour of exercise in, along with a short swim.  Ellen swam a lot more, and JP rested and nursed his sore shoulder.  Then the three of us walked to the Saturday Artisan market in Plaza Francia to spend a fun hour.  I ended up buying a bag of plastic bags.  Well, it was supposed to be a sleep shirt.  I think I insulted the vendor, when I made a fuss over examining my change for a thousand pesos.  I had been caught with counterfeit, on a previous trip to B.A.  She fixed me.  The money was real, but the shirt was fake.  She probably need the $7.50 a lot more than I did, but I felt pretty stupid, all the same.

Eilat was coming out to play with the three of us, all of whom knew her from previous trips.  Ellen and I had found the Alvear Palace Hotel on the way to the bank the day before.  It was perfect, a Grand Dame, with a perfect English Tea.  At a little more than $25 per person, it was less than half the price of all the other Grande Dames I know.  Apart from the scones, cucumber sandwiches, smoked salmon and petit fours, it included a glass of champagne and desserts from the trolley.  By the time the trolley came along, we were thoroughly stuffed.  Lucky César, again, Eilat chose him four, full size, delectable pastries.  He may start liking minding their little daughter, if she keeps coming home with the treats.

We had to eat again in a couple of hours.  You can’t do Buenos Aires without a fabulous steak dinner.  Belen, our hotel concierge, had found us Piegari Carnes, a couple of blocks up the street.  The ojo de bife’s were fabulous, and cooked right, and the Malbec was delicious.  The bill came to about $75 a couple, which wasn’t bad for the quality, but not a patch on Mishiguene, where we had twice as much very good wine, and paid about the same.  We recommend both these restaurants, as well as The Brick Hotel.

Sunday, December 23, 2019

There’s not much to do on boarding day except board.  Vivianne came back with her van to pick us up at 12:30 pm.  The van driver and bellmen began loading it up.  She kept suggesting they try to close it before they topped it up with luggage.  She must have told them three times before they found out for themselves.  Ellen and I knew, too.  When the bottom suitcase won’t let the door close, there’s little point in finishing the job, until you solve that one.  But what did we know?  We were just women.  But we had a secret weapon, Patrick, a man who was really good in geometry.  He stepped in and solved the equation in a jiffy. QED.

Boarding was slow, but uneventful, the way you want it.  I had trouble getting the info I needed for the Distinctive Voyages letters, though, and Andrea had trouble getting her suitcase.  We got the folders all ready, but not delivered, by dinner time.  I recorded the broadcast welcome, and we delivered them after dinner.  It was a pretty good dinner, and we all fell into bed, after we had delivered the letters.

From the Dining Room, at Fountaingrove Lodge, where Helen spends many happy hours, 
and Sylly P spends virtually none:
both Helen and Sylvia

wish you and yours

A very Merry Christmas

And a Happy New Year

Blogging from South America at www.helenmegan.com

Friday, December 21, 2018

It was busier than ever this year before I left. I had deliverables on no less than six cruises, this one, another Christmas junket to Mexico, Shanghai to Singapore, Shanghai to Tokyo, a SilverSea combo that was complicated, and a brand new one, National Geographic circumnavigating Iceland, in July.  I sure would like to go along on that one.  I might.  They have single cabins.

Anyway, I curtailed my social life for a few days and got it all done, with two nights that I could socialize, and I did.  Sylly P was moving downstairs to Steve and Trish’s apartment, and her vet was visiting her mother, next door to me.  She brought Sylly P some meds, including steroids, for her unrelenting diarrhea.  (Only I would discuss this in my blog, I know).  It’s no joke.  It has been going on for months, but the pooping puddy tat is otherwise healthy, acting normal, and so far, not messing the rugs.  Steve and Trish and I had dinner on the 17^th with Dan, her vet’s husband, and Geri, her mother.  And last night she moved in with the Harrolds.  It was strange, not having her in bed, especially as she had been so loving the night before.  I missed her warm furry little body.

I had booked a couple of last minute things for our holiday, yesterday, and woke up this morning realizing that re-printing our itinerary and sending it to Montreal would be a very good idea, so I did that, and the long suffering Eric put up with me being 25 minutes late out the door.

The Petaluma narrows didn’t do us in, but there was a lot of traffic getting through Marin.  It didn’t matter to me, as my plane was only scheduled to leave at 12:15 pm, but it put Eric in a crunch for his next ride.  I used the time to wish the family a Merry Christmas and to call the Montreal friends who were flying out later to join me.

I had to call them again from the airport, and Eilat, my Buenos Aires friend, too.  After I had left my checked bag, and was comfortably settled on the pot for my morning constitutional, AA sent me a text saying my plane now wasn’t leaving until 12:50 pm, and I would likely miss my connection to Buenos Aires.

On that happy note, I got back into the service line at American, and waited over an hour, because I had been too cheap to pay for Business Class or even an extra $33 for “Priority Service.”  I had paid for a seat upgrade, mind you, but priority service was extra.  No wonder everybody hates flying now.

By the time I got to the head of the line, I had another text to say that my SFO-LAX would now leave at 12:35 pm.  I stayed in line and talked to the agent.  I figured I had earned it.  She was most reassuring that the plane would dock near the LAX-EZE plane and I would make it.  I headed for the gate.

On my way there, lo and behold, I passed a yoga room.

It was pretty basic, but there were a couple of mats, and some sanitizing wipes, and I had a half-hour to spare.  By the time I was done, there were five people in there, all of whom could put me to shame, but I am sure it did me good.  By the time I got to the gate, it was almost time to board.

Of course, the plane left late, and by the time it got to LAX, we had to dock at a farther gate, and there were less than 10 minutes before take-off, for Buenos Aires.  I shouldered my backpack, grabbed Rroffice (Red rolling office) and took off at a very fast walk.  A couple of minutes later, I was at the gate, which was closed, but they were waiting for us.  I was the first passenger from LAX to get there, and I wasn’t even breathing hard.  “I’m a healthy little old lady”, I said.  The gate agent wanted to know what I ate.  I had to fess up to the fact that my diet contains absolutely no green vegetables.  That even impresses my own doctors.

So, here I am on American Airlines inaugural non-stop flight LAX-EZE, with my computer balanced on its spine, because the person in front of me is rude enough to recline the seat.  Welcome to the friendly skies. They can’t get much friendlier.

And about the blog.  Please always remember to practice safe sex with the Internet – If you answer this blog be very sure your coordinates don’t appear in the message.  Better still, email me directly.  You know my email.

Happy Holidays, and Purrs,
Helen and Sylly P

 

California is on Fire, again – Part 2

Sunday, November 11, 2018

Sylly P is in good spirits and still asking for food.  If she would just not be pooping all over the place…  Maybe these antibiotics are working.  I hope I have long enough here to find out.  The air quality is a bit better this morning but the Camp Fire (Don’t you love the name?) is up to 109,000 acres and 25% contained.  If the acreage would stop going up with the containment, that would be more cheering.   Over 6500 structures have been destroyed, most of them homes.  Most of them poor old folks.  You want to cry.

Many people have written about Sylly P, whom, by the way is a lot better today.  I started giving her cannabis oil three days ago, and it has given her the munchies.  She’s grooming herself again, and is most social.

Marilyn Salhany wrote: “Poor Sylly P.  She probably  missed Elvon more than you realized if you say she got sick last Christmas.  Pets are funny that way.”    Sure enough, I noticed the coincidence.  It started with her pooping in the bath tub, and that happened very soon after his death.  The odd thing is he hadn’t lived with us for 2 months, but I suppose I brought his scent home every night, and then no longer.

Sylly P is getting better every day, but my poor carpet is still in pain.  We’re only half-way through the antibiotic, so there’s still hope.  We’re expecting rain next week, so it will soon be over for this year.  There is concern for what the future holds, if you believe in Global Warming, and, I do.

So, a last note, from the SF Chronicle:

Camp Fire: Death toll grows to 48, Butte County requests National Guard help in search for remains

Kurtis Alexander and J.K. Dineen Nov. 13, 2018 Updated: Nov. 13, 2018 10:57 p.m.

CHICO, Butte County — The death toll from the Camp Fire, already the worst California has ever seen in a wildfire, grew by six to 48 on Tuesday, officials announced at an evening news conference.

The Camp Fire grew to 130,000 acres and was 35 percent contained as of Tuesday evening.

It had destroyed a total of 8,817 structures — including 7,600 single family homes and 260 commercial buildings, officials said. Officials said 5,615 personnel were fighting the fire; 52,000 people remained evacuated in and around Paradise and 13,085 people remained sheltered.

The conditions in Butte County are extremely dry, officials said. They said 212 days have passed since it has rained in the area.

With the cadaver dogs and search and rescue teams still scouring the obliterated structures in search for human remains, it’s still uncertain when property owners will be allowed to return home.

 

Upcoming: 3 nice cruises

For those of you who have been asking where I go next, that’s Buenos Aires to San Antonio, on Celebrity, Eclipse, December 23, with add-ons in BA and the Chilean Wine country. https://tinyurl.com/2018BAtoChile

If you want Asia, I have TWO choices for you:

I’ll be hosting on Celebrity – Millennium – March 30, Shanghai to Tokyo, 14 days
Celebrity Millenium – Shanghai to Tokyo – 2 back-to-back China/Korea and Japanese Explorer: https://tinyurl.com/2019ShanghaiTokyo

Start with a few days in Shanghai, then”

• Seoul
• Beijing – 2 overnights
• Jeju Island, South Korea
• Kobe, Japan – overnight
• Mt Fuji

End in Tokyo –Stay a few days there.   I have good friends to help me script that.

https://tinyurl.com/2019ShanghaiTokyo

Then, I have four exceptionally nice ladies from L.A. who are going, Shanghai to Singapore, also on Celebrity, in eraly February.  I have been working with these gals for a few months, and they are all lovely.  They like to travel well, and they don’t quibble.  I have some pretty nice stuff lined up for them.  Read my own Asia blog from last February, to get the flavor.  They’d be happy to have a couple more people along to share private tours, etc.

Email me about any of these, or anything else you want.  I’ll be home when you get this.

 

 

 

Thursday, November 8

There’s a big wildfire to the east of us.  It started at 6:30 am and grew rapidly.  By the end of the day it was bigger than our fire had been, and the smell of smoke was heavy in the air.  Our normally raucous chickens were very quiet when I went to feed them and pick up the eggs.  I’m spooked.

Friday, November 9

The big fire is 170 miles away, in Butte County, but the smoke is so bad here that I had to get off the treadmill after five minutes.  Then I got down on the floor and had to quit exercising after about 20 minutes because I was getting headachy and nauseous.  This is in an air-conditioned room, with its door taped shut.  My apartment is better sealed and I have a “Molekule” air purifier which is doing its job.  But it’s no picnic.  We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

Saturday, November 10, 2018

So far my internal systems are holding and that will be true as long as the power stays on and the fires don’t come too close.  They are predicting high winds again for tonight and Monday night.  I am trying to keep busy.  I have plenty of work to do.  If we have to evacuate, I’ll have to stop at a vet’s and have Sylly P put down.  She has been sick since Christmas.   I gave up on the holistic vet, whose treatments never ended, and were very hard to administer.  She is now on anti-biotics, 2^nd round, this time directed at colon and bladder.  4 days into that, and I am still cleaning up, two or three times a day.  I have a wonderful offer from the Scalbergs in Carmel, again, but if I get there, it will be all alone and very sad.

 

 

Upcoming: 3 nice cruises

For those of you who have been asking where I go next, that’s Buenos Aires to San Antonio, on Celebrity, Eclipse, December 23, with add-ons in BA and the Chilean Wine country. https://tinyurl.com/2018BAtoChile

If you want Asia, I have TWO choices for you:

I’ll be hosting on Celebrity – Millennium – March 30, Shanghai to Tokyo, 14 days
Celebrity Millenium – Shanghai to Tokyo – 2 back-to-back China/Korea and Japanese Explorer: https://tinyurl.com/2019ShanghaiTokyo

Start with a few days in Shanghai, then”

• Seoul
• Beijing – 2 overnights
• Jeju Island, South Korea
• Kobe, Japan – overnight
• Mt Fuji

End in Tokyo –Stay a few days there.   I have good friends to help me script that.

https://tinyurl.com/2019ShanghaiTokyo

We all had the same plane to catch, on Friday, October 19, Air Canada 893, to Montreal.  The Fairchilds and Martins live there, and I had a eulogy to give for Paul Terni at 5:00 pm, Montreal time.  We caught the 9:00 am shuttle from the Hilton – Rome Airport, for our 11:45 am flight.  It would have been plenty of time, had there only been two or three wheelchair passengers, as we had one of them.  However, there were a bunch of them.  I heard eleven.  Our wheelchair passenger ended up walking, with the aid of a luggage cart, but it didn’t help much, as a good five of them didn’t have the option.

We ended up missing breakfast entirely, and we reported it to Air Canada and the airport officials.  They should take notice, too, because the plane had to wait for all they wheelchair bound passengers to be aboard.  It wasn’t their fault.  They were all there two hours before takeoff.  The plane took off a whole hour late and only made up 10 minutes of it.

Instead of touching down at 2:40 pm, it was 3:30 pm.  Thank the Universe for the Fairchilds’ daughter, Christa, who was picking them up. I couldn’t have got a taxi anywhere near as quickly. I walked through the door of the beautiful Mount Royal Funeral Complex, on the dot of five, and slipped into the second row, on the extreme right.  Just behind the family.  I was scheduled second to last, just before Paul’s daughter, Jennifer, herself.

When the MC called on me, Jennifer rose to tell everyone my plane was late, and I had not made it.  I was standing just behind her and gave her a surprise hug, before I took the stage.  This is what I said:

Paul Terni, my boss, my mentor, my tenant, my travel buddy, my client, my patient, my friend.

As Paul reminded me himself, the week before he died, it was 46 years ago when I walked into the office of the new IBM Ed Center manager, and asked him “Do you play Bridge?”  and then “Do you drink?” Affirmative answers got Paul and Andrea into the best Bridge group, ever.  We met once a month, on a Saturday night, played all seven rounds of Chicago, drank like fish, ate a gourmet meal, prepared by the hosts, and three couples drove home, while the fourth cleaned up.  It was usually around 4:00 am on Sunday.

Every good manager finds a few subordinates they and can trust with any project.  Paul found that in me and took me with him.

When my then-husband was one of the salesmen on the Air Canada proposal team in the early ‘70s, and Paul was in charge of the Technical Support Team, he added me to it. After months of technical work, the proposal itself was getting out of control—all four two-inch binders of it. We were up against a deadline and the thing was a mess.  Paul was called in and he devised a plan.  It involved putting one person on point and filtering all documents through her.  That would have been me.  I sat at a terminal for 28 hours straight.  They fed me at my desk, but nothing went into the final version, when I had to go to the bathroom.  We printed, bound and delivered the proposal in time.  We still lost, but Paul had made me a hero.

Paul switched to sales after that, heading up the Canadian Pacific team, three salesmen and four systems engineers, and I was one of them.  When CP went Amdahl, IBM, in its infinite wisdom, kept the team together twiddling its thumbs for almost a year.  We all found our own ways out, of the company, and went on to better things.

Right around then, Brock and I split, and when my dog was six years old, she had lived in seven houses.  The last one was 425 Victoria, in the heart of Westmount village.  When I took it into my head to try my luck in Hong Kong I needed a tenant, who would manage the duplex.  Paul and Andrea were in the process of selling their TMR house and moving to Magog.  They needed a pied à terre, where Andrea could teach yoga and Paul could keep working, during the week.  Next thing you know, we had another wonderful relationship.

When I came back from Hong Kong, five years later, re-married, Elvon and I went to live in the Napa Valley, and moved in with the Ternis in Westmount, for a month or two every summer.  Just like family.

We spent a lot of time with them in Magog, over the last 25 years, and we went a lot farther afield.

Traveling with Paul was special, as he spoke seven languages, which meant you could always get help, anywhere.  We spent our month in Fonte Vetriana, Italy, as if we were Italian, ourselves.  Not only did we visit just about every town in Tuscany, there was a reunion of no less than five of Paul’s classmates from the very chichi Victoria School, in Alexandria, Egypt.

We cruised with the Ternis, all over Europe, we visited them in Magog, and they visited us in the Napa Valley.

We went to Jennifer’s wedding to Phil, at their home in Magog.  Jennifer baked her own cake and I helped decorate it.  It was the best wedding cake I ever tasted.

Michael married Cullen in the Eastern Townships, too. I’ll never forget the fireworks.  If you are laughing.  You were there.

Ten years ago, Paul celebrated his 70^th birthday in Puerto Escondido, where they had been wintering for a couple of years.  He said he was tired of celebrating Jesus Christ’s birthday, every December 25^th and wanted to celebrate his own.  We joined them, and repeated that for two more years, until it became too difficult for my husband, and we took to sailing around the world in the winter.

We mourned with Paul, Andrea, Jennifer, and Cullen, when Michael died in a tragic hockey accident. And I came up for a week to give Andrea and Jennifer a break, when Paul needed company, and a hospital advocate, all day, every day, while he fought to come back from a four-way heart bypass operation, done under what the hospital calls “dirty conditions”, meaning there was infection in his system.  Not many people make it out of that situation.

But Paul did.  He was a quiet fighter, and a very good one.  You rarely saw him upset.  He would just put his head down and get it.  He made love, not war, and he won his wars.

This year, he met a battle he could not win.  But he was ready, and with his usual quiet grace, he simply bid us all farewell, and left.  The last time I was with him, his doctor called.  I handed him the phone and he said: “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes” in a strong even voice, as she detailed the arrangements to him.  When he got off the phone, we had a little laugh about them not taking “Yes” for an answer.

I’ll never have a better friend, nor one I could respect more.

Upcoming: 3 nice cruises

For those of you who have been asking where I go next, that’s Buenos Aires to San Antonio, on Celebrity, Eclipse, December 23, with add-ons in BA and the Chilean Wine country. https://tinyurl.com/2018BAtoChile

If you want Asia, I have TWO choices for you:

I’ll be hosting on Celebrity – Millennium – March 30, Shanghai to Tokyo, 14 days
Celebrity Millenium – Shanghai to Tokyo – 2 back-to-back China/Korea and Japanese Explorer: https://tinyurl.com/2019ShanghaiTokyo

Start with a few days in Shanghai, then”

• Seoul
• Beijing – 2 overnights
• Jeju Island, South Korea
• Kobe, Japan – overnight
• Mt Fuji

End in Tokyo –Stay a few days there.   I have good friends to help me script that.

https://tinyurl.com/2019ShanghaiTokyo

Then, I have four exceptionally nice ladies from L.A. who are going, Shanghai to Singapore, also on Celebrity, in February.  I have been working with these gals for a few months, and they are all lovely.  They like to travel well, and they don’t quibble.  I have some pretty nice stuff lined up for them.  Read my own Asia blog from last February, to get the flavor.  They’d be happy to have a couple more people along to share private tours, etc.

Email me about any of these, or anything else you want.  I’ll be home when you get this.