Introducing my 2012 New York Travelblogue... Dining and Theatre in my second favorite city...after Vancouver of course.
I usually choose to travel to New York in the fall or the spring, occasionally the summer. When leaving Vancouver in the winter, my choice of winter destinations would involve warmth, sunshine , beaches or ... a dance cruise. But this year a family event drew me to Manhattan in January, and here I am in a city that today, despite the sunshine, is drier but far colder than home .
The Air Canada flight from London to Vancouver departs Heathrow around 10 in the morning. Disembarking in Southampton from the Queen Victoria after the Ballroom Dance Cruise around the British Isles, I knew that there would be no way to catch that flight, so I had elected to stay overnight at the Sheraton Heathrow Hotel near the airport and travel back to Canada the following day.
A friend, Nancy, who was traveling back to the US also had a flight the day after the cruise, so we decided to take a Thames River Dinner Showboat Cruise.
Several of us had booked a van to drive us from Southampton to London. After dropping the others off at the Heathrow terminals, the driver took us to our hotel. We had to wait quite a while to check in which was a bit annoying but we had arrived before the official check-in time so we could not really complain.
For those of you who been asking whether I have stopped "Sipping and Supping" or enthusiastically checking out the Vancouver "Theatre Seen", and those others who have asked why my saga of the Autumn East Coast Dance Cruise seemed to drop anchor temporarily in Bar Harbor, Maine - here is the explanation and a cautionary tale.
On my return from a blissful 10 night cruise, dancing from Brooklyn to Quebec and back, followed by yet more dancing - New York, New York Autumn 2010 I returned home to Vancouver to catch up on my travel writing. Feeling as fit as I have ever been, if I had been eligible (like under 30!) I was ready to give the kids on So You Think You Can Dance some strong competition. Well, maybe a slight exaggeration.
Reading the information on the Bar Harbor stop on our Autumn Escape dance cruise I learned that one of the things we had to do was indulge in lobster.
Lobster is BIG in Bar Harbor - at least all the restaurants catering for us hordes of tourists off the cruise ship were advertising lobster lunches. We decided to try the Fish House Grill which we walked past just after leaving the tender that brought us ashore from the Queen Mary 2.
Autumn in New York - Eight days and nights in the city that never sleeps
Sunday
I love New York - just like it says on the T-shirts they hawk everywhere around Times Square. Well perhaps I should qualify that statement by saying that I love spending a week or so in New York in the early fall, seeing theatre, trying out fine restaurants and dancing. Last year I was here at approximately the same time (New York New York ) and saw some outstanding shows including A Steady Rain with Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig, and Burn the Floor, which so blew me away that I saw it again, and then again for the show at the Vogue in Vancouver.
As I mentioned in my earlier post The Queen Mary 2 through a dancer's eyes, what I love about cruising is not as much the destinations but the journey. And running a close second to the joy of dancing as I journey over the seas, is fine dining at sea. As readers of my Sipping and Supping segment know, I am a committed foodie, and while my home cooking has to be remarkably restrained so I can stay light enough to dance over the seas, I love the chance to indulge in new taste sensations while I travel.
The key saga...ah yes. So there I was, around 11 PM, having limped back on blistered feet to my cabin, with a newly recharged key card in my hand... and again it would not work. The light kept flashing red. I checked carefully that I was on the correct deck - because I have been known to try to get into a cabin with almost the same number - just on the wrong deck , but I was definitely outside my own cabin. I was tired and annoyed by now.
This has been an unusual voyage from the dancing perspective because of the timing of the days when the ship is at sea. Wendy usually organizes two dance workshops taught by her dance pros in the morning on sea days and most times there is at least one quite early in the voyage. But in the cruise round the British isles, the sea days came at the end. So workshops were scheduled on the days that we sailed between Glasgow and Edinburgh, and from Edinburgh back to Southampton.
We gathered in Club Hemispheres at 9 am for the first workshop taught by Robert, on rhumba.
Quite often at the workshops there are many more women than men but on this first morning two of the Cunard hosts joined in for the first class and part of the second, and as well Wendy invited another passenger who had been dancing with our group. So for the first class at least we were evenly matched and that meant that rotating partners worked well.
After a day at sea cruising from Greenock, the Queen Victoria entered the Firth of Forth (don't you love that alliteration?) and headed towards an anchorage near South Queensferry, approximately ten miles north-west of Edinburgh city centre. I was up early and sat out on our balcony enjoying the beauty of the early morning landscapes.
After a full day at sea, tonight was Formal Night with a Victoriana Ball. Again the Queens Room floor was more crowded than usual as people came out looking elegant in evening attire, and joined the throngs on the dance floor.
These pictures will say more than words so here are some of the fabulous members of the DAS group in their evening gowns and tuxes.
Introducing my 2012 New York Travelblogue... Dining and Theatre in my second favorite city...after Vancouver of course.
The Air Canada flight from London to Vancouver departs Heathrow around 10 in the morning. Disembarking in Southampton from the Queen Victoria after the 
Fish House Grill
Autumn in New York - Eight days and nights in the city that never sleeps
As I mentioned in my earlier post 
The key saga...ah yes. So there I was, around 11 PM, having limped back on blistered feet to my cabin, with a newly recharged key card in my hand... and again it would not work. The light kept flashing red. I checked carefully that I was on the correct deck - because I have been known to try to get into a cabin with almost the same number - just on the wrong deck , but I was definitely outside my own cabin. I was tired and annoyed by now.
This has been an unusual voyage from the dancing perspective because of the timing of the days when the ship is at sea. Wendy usually organizes two dance workshops taught by her dance pros in the morning on sea days and most times there is at least one quite early in the voyage. But in the cruise round the British isles, the sea days came at the end. So workshops were scheduled on the days that we sailed between Glasgow and Edinburgh, and from Edinburgh back to Southampton.
We gathered in Club Hemispheres at 9 am for the first workshop taught by Robert, on rhumba.
After a day at sea cruising from Greenock, the Queen Victoria entered the Firth of Forth (don't you love that alliteration?) and headed towards an anchorage near South Queensferry, approximately ten miles north-west of Edinburgh city centre. I was up early and sat out on our balcony enjoying the beauty of the early morning landscapes.
After a full day at sea, tonight was Formal Night with a Victoriana Ball. Again the Queens Room floor was more crowded than usual as people came out looking elegant in evening attire, and joined the throngs on the dance floor.
These pictures will say more than words so here are some of the fabulous members of the DAS group in their evening gowns and tuxes.
Wendy's team and guests.
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