drron29

That cruise is fantastic @mysty. We did a very similiar cruise on the Explorer in 2013 but I did a very late report on it here on CC.

It is one I really remember well. One of the highlights was in Churchill when we did a zodiac cruise with the Beluga whales. Thoroughly recommend it though we did have by far the best zodiac driver and guide as we were on the zodiac Aiello so those that cruised on the Explorer before 2023 will know who that person was.

And thanks for allow us all to follow along through the planning stages to the end of the cruise. And a very big thank you for allowing a couple of Aussies to have lunch with you in Bali. We loved t.

The trips to the big house were after he arrived in Australia . though the majority of Rojaan's forebears that travelled to Australia did so as guests of his Majesty. But our son liked that as 1 possibly 2 of them arrived on the First Fleet. that is now a badge of honour down under. So now our son is a proud member of the First Fleeters Association.

The only leads he has as his DNA was done through Ancestry was the names of about 6 who may be second or third cousins. He is getting in touch with them.

Well @Daveywavey70 Rojaan might be related. Our son got his DNA done thinking his genes would most likley be majority English but no he has 35% of Welsh genes which they say came from his mother. Another 30% is Scots. Well we both know that we have 25% Scots blood coming from our Grandmothers.

So now he is on a search for our Welsh relatives. Won't be easy as Rojaan's maternal Grandfather got married under an alias when he came to Australia. All our son could find out was he was lodged in the big house a few times.

20 hours ago, silkismom said:

Have you decided which is the "perfect Fuji shot"? So many to choose from.

I have decided that there are several perfect fuji shots depending on the background and place of taking. But the one I will remember is that first time I saw it cloud free.

Now back to the report.

Now we set off to drive around Lake Kawaguchigo. But first a brief stop at Lake Saiko on the way. More cherry blossoms plus Fuji.

When we came back to the car we realised we had parked in front of a temple.

And our little car.

I never miss a thread by Fletcher. Wonderful reads with some wonderful descriptions of places. Then add on the insight into what our travels can do especially in more remote or undeveloped areas. We can help or ruin the future traveller's experience and the lives of those who live there.

Well done and I'll be with you from afar with your Christmas on the Dawn.

1 hour ago, QueSeraSera said:

I understand it is the first meaning Jeff used, but I am having fun thinking of ways to use the 2nd meaning...

well on this board some could start their posts with -"I noily complained to the staff..."

😄😉

Though as I have posted before I know a person who had a fair bit of contact with BM. They said BM emailed them a few hours before the announcement saying it was her decision to resign.

Of course that doesn't rule out the possibility that she jumped before she was pushed.

The last of the Festival. We had got there not long after it opened but as we left the crowds were pouring in.

They also have an elevated viewing spot.

Not at full bloom but even so the display and location are great.

3 hours ago, kitcrazy said:

Thank you Gourmet Gal, I will definitely plan to visit the observation lounge during the sail-in, as well as attend a SALT cooking class at least once.  I appreciate your advice.

On the Moon on sail ins the best observation spot is deck12 forward.

There is a door to the staircase on deck 12 on the Port ( left ) side of the Observation lounge. i did this on a spectacular sail in to Kotor on both the Moon and Dawn.

But the real reason it is so popular is because a certain mountain has a way to getting into your photos.

Their little village with shops and restaurants plus quite a few food trucks for the festival.

And the way to pay if you want something from a food truck.

But it's that mountain again.

And even a floral Mt Fuji.

I then caught the shuttle into town. Easy pick up.great service. I had to do a right turn out of the depot onto a busy road. No problems the agent walked onto the road, put his hands up and I went back to the hotel and picked up Rojaan. Soon we were off on our plans for today. First stop Lake Motosuko for the Shibazakura festival which had begun the weekend before. We arrived soon after it opened that morning and for a while not huge crowds. Though the flowers were definitely not at full bloom.

In the summer months they have a Peter rabbit garden. A bit sad in early spring.

The Australian office has obviously been downgraded. In the past when I had a question for Silversea my TA would say I will ring Sydney and get back to you later today.

On the last 3 occasions with them the answer is i will contact Miami and will get back to you when they reply. The shortest time for a reply was a week.

We hadn't booked for dinner thinking as guests we should be OK. The website says reservation is recommended but it doesn't say they are only opening 1 of the 2 dinner restaurants now. They have 2 dinner settings at !730 and 1930. Fortunately we wanted an early meal so we went down to the restaurant. Told by the waiter that as we didn't have a booking we should go to the front desk and make a reservation. We thought we would have to hang out until 1930 but no that was completely booked but there was a table available at 1730.
Back at the restaurant we once again were asked if we had a booking. Yes I made it a minute ago.

Taken to the table and handed the English menu. Basically 6 set menus -3 French and 3 International ranging in price from $A110 to $A230 per head with wine extra. Fortunately there was an A La carte selection which we ordered from. I started with a raw squid and scallop salad which was excellent. I then had a seafood plate. Quite nice.

Rojaan had fried chicken for mains and a raspberry dessert. She liked both.

We washed it down with a house white which turned out to be a Sav blanc. quite good.

And all that was $A140 which we felt was much better value than having one of the set menus.

The next morning it was down to Brekkie at an early hour for us as we were going into town to pick up a rental from Toyota that I made the night before. wasn't that much to choose from but I was happy with the little box car we got.
My 2 plates at breakfast.

It was very nice. We both loved the miso marinated roast potatoes.
More importantly Fuji wasn't hiding.

I decided it would be a good idea to have a car As the Tourist busses were packed and Kawaguchigo CBD was a zoo. But we also wanted to go here -

https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6919.html

So got online and arranged to pick up the car at 9am the next morning. We went to the lobby to have a couple of glasses of wine. They have this crazy automatic dispenser.

You stick a card that you buy at the front desk and then supposedly serve your wine. 500 yen for 60 mls. Now Rojaan naturally wanted a white wine so picked one of the dry whites. Nothing happened. eventually went to the front desk and they couldn't get it to work either so he cancelled the transaction and got a new bottle out from the cupboard and poured her 60 mls. He forgot to charge it so she ended up having 3 glasses to my 2.

The second white and my 2 reds had no problems. they weren't too bad.

Back to our room.The swallows were busy building a nest on our balcony.

More of the golf course.

Then we went for a walk up the road to the hotel lined with cherry blossom.

And they have a mini golf course.

Down to the lakes edge.

And back into the hotels gardens.

Different views from our room.

And the room. Quite spacious for a Japanese hotel.

After unpacking the carry ons we went for a walk around the grounds.

Couldn't take my eyes off a certain mountain.

We crossed the road at the back of the Hotel and walked down to the lake.

There was a group preparing to go kayaking.

Thank you for that song @QueSeraSera. I really liked it.

And yes certain music immediately bring certain places and times ino my head.

Actually a lot of songs. One reason is that for the last 17 years I worked as a locum and would be sent to Regional australia for a week or up to 6 months.

I always listened to the local community radio when in the car. invariably one song was always played many times during a stay.

So this song is Launceston Tasmania.

And this is Mackay Queensland.

And of course their is our song. The Australian version of this song was released when me met. The movie was our second date.

A little from Downunder. Australian wine makers have taken to screw tops instead of cork enthusiastically. First with white wines as early usage of these tops in trials were with white wines which lasted longer with the screw tops. More cautious with the reds.

I bought the screw top releases of 2 of my favourite wines as the vineyards released both cork and screw tops with the 2004 vintages. Twenty years down the track I can say that I prefer the screw top versions. They are lasting 5 - 10 years longer than their corked siblings.

An interesting article.

https://chrisshanahan.com/articles/2007/a-new-seal-for-penfolds-grange/