If I don't do it soon I won't remember

Okay, I've been dragging this out for too long; and if I don't wrap it up...I probably won't remember what we did on our trip...hahaha.
The last part of our cruise we went to St. John and the Halifax. I was looking forward to this glimpse of Canada, since it was my first trip there.
First thing that caught my eye was the French/English signs. Fun! my 40 year old French skills were helped by the fact that A) there was also English on the signs and B) most were pretty self explanatory

Our day in St. John it was a little gray and cloudy. The temperatures were cooler, so walking around was very comfortable, but the gray put a little damper on things.

 Obviously St. John was an older port...but the gray may have emphasized the fact that everything wasn't shiny and new. (At least for me) Also...we didn't venture too far....so most of what we saw was kind of typical touristy stuff.
Nothing terribly exciting....but I will say everyone was very pleasant and friendly.
John and I walked around the town a bit. We stopped in some shopping areas and a small museum.

low tide...dramatic tide change

cool school

               We passed some interesting older buildings as we walked around town

I don't know exactly why...but this little shop intrigued me

After our day in St. John in was on to Halifax. That night while we were en route, was a lively fun night on the ship. I guess everyone was starting to realize that the week was winding down...and they'd better enjoy the entertainment while they could. It seemed like everywhere we went that night....there were people around. In the bars having a drink, playing cards or board games. In the lounge participating in game shows. At the theater...IN THE casino. EVERYWHERE in the casino (waste of time as far as I'm concerned). And the biggest crowd of the week in the Club 6 lounge.
It was a fun night of dancing. The "Theme" of the night was Motown night...so there was a crowd in the early for that. Slowly it morphed into 60's and more music. The crowd thinned out a little after 11:00...but there were still more than any other night. We danced until we just couldn't dance any more...hahah I told the DJ as we were leaving "I like this song...but I really need to go to sleep!" he laughed and promised to play it again the next night. hahahah

Pulling into Halifax the next day I couldn't help noticing how much newer/cleaner (?), more modern ? it looked. Maybe it was a sunnier day.........?

this area with housing and restaurants was down close to the port. There was a nice boardwalk along the waterfront that we followed to the shopping and dining area. There was a lot of activity in the area and it looked like a busy thriving town.

                       John and I went into a small Maritime Museum along the boardwalk.

We checked out the Hurricane Chart in the front of the museum, while we waited in a short line to get in. ON the chart was as a hurricane brewing .(look closely down by South Africa. That was  Hurricane Matthew. It was looking more and more like it was going to track towards Florida. It kept on that track and eventually (a week after we got home) skirted the coast and barely missed us in Florida!

 

After a while,our stay in Halifax ended and  the ship started up and  way back to New York The wind had picked up and the water was very choppy. The good thing is the ship is so large, that you really don't feel it. The day at sea turned out to be wet, rainy and chilly. At least we were safe and dry inside

sampler dessert platter

and the stormy night didn't prevent us from having another delicious dinner and dessert in the Steakhouse.The remainder of our time on board involved eating, dancing , of course, and relaxing as we made our way home.

 Things were winding down...and so were we...hahahaha It had been a fun time, but we were ready to get back to New York and then make our way home. John and I got back just in time to prepare for Hurricane Matthew. I had planned an extra day off after we got back home...and that turned into a few more "hurricane" days. Boarding up the house, stocking up on a few things and just trying to figure out what exactly we were going to do. It all ended well...thank goodness. So in a way...my vacation got extended. Fortunately all we had to do was a little bit of yard cleanup. No damage to our home or anything...just a huge sigh of relief!

impromptu celebration at LongDoggers...because we barely dodged a direct hit from the hurricane