Eastern CaribbeanCruise

A cruise in the Caribbean. We departed from Port Canaveral, Florida (about 1 hour east of Orlando) and made stops at Bahamas, St Thomas, and St Maarten.

Freedom of the Seas
We sailed with Royal Caribbean, on the Freedom of the Seas. This ship has many amenities for cruisers, including a full-sized gym, swimming pool, 2 hot tubs, surf simulator, theater, ice skating rink, rock climbing, and lounges. For dining, there is a coffee shop, pizza place, the Windjammer Cafe with buffet meals, and a dining center. The dining center consisted of 3 levels - we were on the middle floor. Our evening activities on the ship were: a show featuring live acting Broadway style, 3-course dinner, and hanging out at a lounge. My favorite dinner was the seafood plate featuring lobster. My favorite shows were the ice skating show and the magic show. Some memorable events were the captain's speech, ice carving, and a singing performance by the restaurant staff. We had staterooms on the 8th floor, near the center of the ship and with balconies. The housekeeping staff made animals out of the towels, including a stingray, dog, swan, and bat.

Bahamas
We visited Cococay, an island in the Bahamas that Royal Caribbean owns. The island offers beach and water activities as well as a bar-b-q lunch. We did snorkeling, and saw many colorful fish, a sunken boat, and a sunken airplane.

St Thomas
As we neared St Thomas, we passed many other islands in the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico. We watched the ship approach St Thomas from our stateroom balconies. We also saw someone using a water powered jet pack to soar above the sea. Upon arrival at St Thomas we joined a tour group for an overview of St Thomas. The tour started out with shopping, then climbed the mountain for spectacular views of the coastline, the cruise port, and other islands nearby. Finally, we visited Magen's Bay Beach. This beach is one of the best beaches I have been to - clear blue water, good sand, and free of debris and rocks.

St Maarten
St Maarten is divided between two nations: the south part is Dutch, part of The Netherlands and the north part is part of France. The island gets many visitors; its airport is the second busiest in the Caribbean - only San Juan, Puerto Rico is busier. We did a tour of the island, including many views of the coastline, bay, Great Salt Pond, cruise port, and beaches. We also did a party boat ride along the Simpson Bay. The boat ride included drinks, music, and a narrator who also served as an entertainer. There were views of the bayside residences - great place to live if you could afford it.

Many more pictures.

Whistler 2013

I joined a group of 88 people on a ski trip to Whistler in Canada.

My travels went smoothly, with all my flights arriving on time. On the Dallas to Vancouver flight, I had an aisle seat in the exit row (lots of legroom) and the middle seat was empty (even more space) so was almost as good as first class. On the return, I got upgraded into first class - very nice treat on the 4 hour flight. I flew into Vancouver, and this airport has glass jetways - first time I've ever seen such jetways. I booked my transfer between Vancouver airport and Whistler via RideBooker, an online tool for booking transportation to/from Whistler. Ridebooker partners with various transportation companies to arrange ground transportation to/from Whistler. Ridebooker ensures frequent service to minimize waiting times. Highly recommended.

We all stayed in Aspens condos. This ski in/ski out property is near the base of Blackcomb mountain, and is a short walk to Whistler village. There are two hot tubs, valet for checking in skis overnight, and even a ski shop for ski/snowboard/boot rentals. Whistler village has lots of restaurants and shops, a great place to look around after a day of skiing. One restaurant that we liked is El Furniture Warehouse - here, all entrees costs $4.95 though some have additional options that cost extra. Still, that restaurant has reasonably priced food and the food is good.

I spent most of my skiing time on Whistler mountain, which has more variety of trails and the trails are wider. I traveled between Whistler and Blackcomb mountains on the Peak-to-peak gondola. There are 2 units with glass bottoms, allowing you to see the ground below. There are some breathtaking views! The glass bottom units come by every 15 minutes, but we once got lucky and there was one approaching right as we arrived at the gondola entrance. My favorite run starts at the peak of Whistler mountain. There are some amazing views of the mountains up there. You take the Peak Express lift to get there, and although signs on the lift say expert only there is a green (easiest) trail to get down from the peak. That trail is not shown on the map. After getting off the Peak Express lift, turn left, then follow the markers with green circles.

One night, 32 of us traveled up the Blackcomb mountain to go on a sleigh ride. The sleigh is pulled by Perchoeron draft horses through Whistler's snow covered forested trails on a 50-minute sleigh ride. At the midway point, we went inside a warm hut and drank hot chocolate.

New York: Christmas 2012

A visit to New York during Christmas to take in the festivities of the Big Apple. The city goes all out with their Christmas decorations. I stayed the first night in the Roosevelt hotel on 45th/Madison, then changed to the Omni Berkshire on 52nd/Madison for the remaining nights. The Roosevelt has a nicer, more elegant lobby while the Omni has nicer, more modern rooms with more space. The rooms at the Omni have a brighter feel and have plenty of electrical outlets.

Window Decorations
My favorite displays are the Lord and Taylor windows, with windows featuring the Christmas theme, including:
* China
* Central Park
* Christmas shop
I also liked Bergdorf Goodman, with their windows making good use of animals. Macy's had some New York themed displays, and Saks had a window display of computers.

Midtown Manhattan
* FAO Schwarz toy store, featuring a model of Statue of Liberty build out of Legos.
* Apple store, featuring an all-glass elevator which looked futuristic. We loved the Macbook Air - it is very light weight and is like an iPad with full computer functions.
* New York Public Library, which had an exhibit on lunch hour. Lunch as we know it got its roots in New York. Before lunch came around, people had a snack in mid-day then dinner in late afternoon. But with workers working longer hours, dinner came later in the day and workers were given a designated time in mid-day to have a light meal, which became known as lunch.
* Palace Hotel lobby
* Helmsley building, which looks like the Empire State Building when lit up
* Christmas Spectacular show, featuring the 85th anniversary of the Rockettes, at Radio City Music Hall.
* St Patrick Cathedral

Downtown Manhattan
* Sunday service at Redeemer Church with my friends, and I also attended their Christmas Eve service at 10:30pm - the room was packed even at that late hour.
* We had lunch in Chinatown, then grabbed ice cream at The Original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. I loved their green tea ice cream.
* Firehouse Museum with old fire engine replica and an exhibit about Ground Zero

Holiday Train Show
This was held at the Botanical Gardens in the Bronx, and featured models of New York landmarks(past and current) made out of twigs, bark, and leaves with model trains running around. There are models of landmarks in other places, including San Francisco, Egypt, Greece, and Turkey. Very nice displays. Worth the price of admission. My favorite NYC models:
* Collection of Empire State Building, New York Stock Exchange, St Patrick Cathedral, Radio City Music Hall, and Chrysler Building
* New York Macy's
* Yankee's Statuim including the baseball field
* JFK Airport, including a Concorde and a Boeing 747
* Statue of Liberty
* Guggenheim Museum
* Old Penn Station
* Castle in Central Park
* Brooklyn Bridge
* Manhattan Bridge
* George Washington Bridge

Israel: Jerusalem area (Nov 14-17)

Jerusalem is the holy city of Israel and is the heartbeat of Israel. Though much of the city has been modernized, there is the Old City which is surrounded by a wall. You can see elements of the city’s past (in Old City), present (most areas outside Old City), and future (ongoing construction projects). We stayed in Dan Panorama hotel. Jerusalem hotels are like New York hotels: due to high demand and limited landspace, rooms are small (by US standards) and expensive. There is an outdoor shopping mall which is a 10 minute walk from the hotel.

Nov 14: Today, we made our way north to Jerusalem. On the way, we visited Genesis Land where we rode camels to a Bedoiun tent where we had a full course lunch. It was a reenactment of Abraham’s hospitality. We all received camel riding licenses. After arriving in Jerusalem, we went to The Israel Museum where we saw the Model of the Second Temple Jerusalem, visited the Shrine of the Book (where the Dead Sea Scrolls and other rare ancient manuscripts are kept, and visited the Archeological Museum that had numerous artifacts dating back to biblical times. There is much to see at Israel Museum – you could spend a whole day here.

Nov 15: We spent today in the Old City of Jerusalem. We started with the Western wall where many people gather to pray. Next was a visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher where Catholics reflect on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. We then walked through the Jewish Quarter and then had lunch. We then visited the Jerusalem Archeological Park where we walked to the Southern Steps of the Temple which goes back to Jesus’s time. In the evening, we had dinner at King David hotel which often hosts presidents, diplomats, and celebrities during their visits to Jerusalem. Dinner was a formal full course meal with salad, bread, entrée (I had the fish), and dessert.

Nov 16: We visited the Yad Vashem, Jerusalem’s version of a Holocaust museum. The museum contains lots of artifacts as well as information on the Holocaust. In addition to the museum, there are memorials and there is a Garden of Righteous with trees dedicated to those who worked to save the Jewish during World War II. We then visited Jesus’s home town of Bethlehem and had lunch at Sheperd’s Valley Village Tent Restaurant followed by a visit to Church of Nativity, site of Jesus’s birth.

Nov 17: We started the day by going up to the top of Mount Olive and enjoyed panoramic views of Jerusalem. We then visited the Church of all Nations and the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed before being arrested. We visited the Garden of Tomb – a possible site where Jesus was crucified, buried, and resurrected. No one knows for sure the exact site of those events. In the Garden, we had communion to remember Jesus and his mission (same as having communion at church) and then a tour. Finally, we returned to our hotel where we had our final Israel dinner then headed for Tel Aviv airport to fly home.

Jerusalem pictures

Israel: Red Sea Region and Jordan: Petra (Nov 11-13)

Nov 11: As we made our drive towards Eilat, we stopped at Timna Park where we visited a replica of the biblical Tabernacle and then went to a resort where we filled small plastic bottles with colored sand (white, yellow, red, and black). We also got to see King Solomon’s Pillars and an amazing sunset. In southern Israel, we stayed in Eilat, at Isrotel Agamim. This resort hotel has a big pool consisting of a U-shaped river that connects to the main pool area – like a river feeding into a lake. The rooms on the first floor all have balconies that have direct access into the pool.

Nov 12: Today we crossed the border into Jordan for a daytrip. We did a 2 hour bus ride to the ancient city of Petra, one of the “New Seven Wonders of the World”. Much of Jordan is desert and there is not a whole lot to see outside of the Petra. The Petra combines human creation with the natural beauty of the mountains. The entrance to Petra was through the Siq, a winding trail through the valley and between the mountains. I liked the elephant carvings along the Siq. At the end of the Siq, we saw the Treasury, amphitheater, many tombs, and Roman market road.

Nov 13: We started with a cruise along the Red Sea. When boat parked, we could see Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Israel. Some of us did snorkeling but all we could see is the blue water. We enjoyed a bar-b-q lunch before cruising back to Eilat. After the cruise we visited a stone factory and we saw a demo where an employee cut and shines stones to use in making jewelry.

South Israel and Jordan pictures

Israel: Jordan River to Dead Sea (Nov 10)

Nov 10: We started the day with a baptismal in the Jordan river. For all of us the baptism symbolized a new chapter in our spiritual walks. Next places were Gideons Spring and Gideon Cave(Judges 6-7), Qumran (discovery of dead sea scrolls), and En Gedi where David confronted King Saul (Samual 24:1-17). En Gedi was also a likely spot for inspiring many of King David’s Psalms such as Psalm 57. After arriving at Le Meridien Dead Sea hotel, we walked to the Dead Sea and took a float in it. Floating is easy to do and you cannot sink. The Dead Sea is very clean and the salt and minerals actually help your skin – my skin felt like silk. The Dead Sea is also at the lowest point on earth and is surrounded by mountains. The mountains help block the ultraviolet rays from the sun so you could spend the whole day in the sun and not get sunburned. So we started the day with a renewal in the Jordan River and ended it with a cleansing in the Dead Sea. The Le Meridien hotel was the most luxurious hotel of our trip. The Le Meridien Dead Sea hotel is a resort hotel which is a vacation spot itself.

The next morning, we took a cable car up the mountain to Masada, fortress of King Herod the Great. We saw lots of storehouses and homes of the Jewish who had fought the Romans. The views from the Masada are spectacular. We then visited the Masada Museum where we saw many artifacts from Masada.

Dead Sea region pictures

Israel: North Region (Nov 9)

We started with a drive to northern Israel and visited Tel Dan, an ancient city that we reached by hiking. Nice combination of an ancient city with a Dan River (which flows into the Jordan River), a large pond, and even lizards. Next, we visited Caesarea Philippi, where Peter proclaimed Jesus to be the Messiah (Matthew 16:13-28). There is also a gate to hell near Caesarea Philippi.

After lunch we went on a Jeep ride in Golan Heights which included lots of off-roading through the terrain as well as drives through a river. We had herbal tea and fruits at Ein Shuh which is a hidden spring beneath trees and vines. The jeep ride is like doing an African safari without the animals.

More Northern Israel pictures