Regal Princess October 14 to 21, 2017 New England/Canada

Now we can turn and head back towards the Hudson where we will sail up the East side and under the many bridges. The Statue brought all of the people from the inside to take photos and several stayed so I had to stake a spot by the rail to be sure of getting clear shots but would step back when I saw camera toters in my peripheral vision.

Staten Island Ferry up ahead in her distinctive orange hull

 

 

That's the S.I. Ferry terminal with the three large openings near the yellow crane



 

 



 

 



 

 

Norris, as a New Yorker I thank you for your beautiful photograps. They will be my "wallpaper" on my ipads for many years to come. Your expertise is much appreciated and I've enjoyed all, including your sense of wit and humor. Vicki

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Norris , the Espresso martini may be just right for you !

Espresso & alcohol !!!

 

ESPRESSO MARTINI

 

30ml Kahlua

30ml vodka

30ml espresso

Coffee beans to garnish

Easy to make and even easier to drink, the espresso martini will certainly get the party started! Simply pour the three ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice, shake well, and then strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Top with a few coffee beans and serve!

Will definitely be on board for your Crown review , enjoy the sunshine .

YouTube clip was great .

Whilst not a true Martini , try one !

Cheers Beth 😀

Beth, thanks for the explanation and its something I will try. I do like a Mexican coffee with Kahlua.

That band -the Analogues from Holland- also have nifty live version of I am the Walrus.

Norris

Norris, as a New Yorker I thank you for your beautiful photograps. They will be my "wallpaper" on my ipads for many years to come. Your expertise is much appreciated and I've enjoyed all, including your sense of wit and humor. Vicki

Sent from my iPad using Forums

The wallpaper skyline shots are a great idea and I'm flattered that you would use them. Thank you!

Cheers!

Norris

Thank you for your pictures and comments about New York, enjoying all so much.

Reliving June this year, walked across Brooklyn Bridge and was fascinated by the plaques with the history of the bridge.

Hope to return in reality but this is the next best thing!

Sandra

 

BTW, did you visit Seafair, a Newport mansion? Just read that Jay Leno has purchased it. Has a 6-car garage so he'll have a place to store a few of his cars.

Seafair is not open to the public, but we did drive by it! It's a lovely mansion, although drastically modernized inside (I've seen pictures online - looks like most of the work was done in the last 10 years or so.) I hope Jay Leno and his wife will really enjoy the property!

Lucky indeed! It's not often we get to go to the opera in a cruise port-Venice (La Fenice theater) was the only other time. The Liceu opera season hadn't begun when we were in Barcelona via Emerald Princess. It's so much icing on an already rich cake for us when we can hit an opera after a cruise. Oh wait!- when we got off the Caribbean Princess in Houston in January 2014 we went to the Houston Grand Opera that night to see a new (and good) opera called The Passenger, which dealt with Na__ (Can't spell the 4 letters on CC as it has a filter!) Concentration Camp-a sombre topic but hey! that's opera for you!

We are actually seeing Turandot in Chicago at Lyric Opera this Friday but of course it won't be the lavish production you see at the Met in New York. Nessun Dorma isn't even my favorite song from that opera but its justifiably world famous thanks to the Three Tenors and Luciano Pavarotti (RIP). It's also playing in san Francisco this season.

Great to see we are not the only Opera lovers on CC!

Thank you!

Norris

Did you see the opera about Anna Nicole Smith when it was at the NYCity opera?

http://entertainment.time.com/2013/09/27/buxom-and-doomed-the-odd-marriage-of-opera-and-anna-nicole/

I saw that and thought, well, that's interesting. I feel like the story is suited to opera, but somehow they just didn't quite capture the magnitude of the tragedy of the story and make the audience care about Anna Nicole.

I'm not excited about Houston's 2018 opera schedule. It feels kind of flat and tired, if you ask me.

Norris, I'm back and all caught up again! Your pictures of NYC are spectacular! We haven't been back there much since we moved to FL back in 2004, so it was fun to see the city again through the lens of your camera. Almost makes me want to go back for a visit. NYC really is an exciting place to visit.

I will definitely be looking for your next review in late January, but for now I'm quite happy to continue to follow along with this one. :D

Thank you for your pictures and comments about New York, enjoying all so much.

Reliving June this year, walked across Brooklyn Bridge and was fascinated by the plaques with the history of the bridge.

Hope to return in reality but this is the next best thing!

Sandra

Sandra you have one up over me as I have never walked the Brooklyn Bridge but she is an iconic beauty. This cruise was only my 2nd time in Brooklyn. I used to work in Staten Island for two years, have visited Queens for the airport and the Bronx for the beautiful Botanic gardens there, so I have visited all 5 boroughs at some time but when I think of New York I am always thinking Manhattan.

I spent a lot of time outside the Omni on 52nd with my cups of coffee and cigarettes watching NY go by-everyone looked stylish compared to Chicago. Of course on weekdays they were in business dress but even on weekends the menu and women dressed like they had a full length mirror in their tiny apartment. Fit looking with very little obesity on view and no tattoos or Masai tribesmen extended circular earlobes which abound in Chicago, cheap tattoo capital of the Midwest. There are mountains of trash bags in the streets as they have no alleys to hide them in as Chicago does but its too late to do anything about that and they do get picked up next morning. I just love to get off the wide main streets and avenues, dazzling as they undoubtedly are, dripping in money as it isn't a lazy city or laid back by any means and its a magnet for people with ambition. The quieter side streets with their corner convenience stores, brownstone houses, cosy little restaurants not belonging to a chain and mom and pop businesses serving niche customers hold a lot of charm for me. My head is on a swivel there and all senses are alert and intoxicated by the variety of smells, sounds of accents and languages from all over the world, the sights of endless rebuilding, renovation and innovation, the taste of clean air tinted with salt water and the beehive of activity as you approach another avenue and looking down it see an iconic building you recognize -Empire State, Chrysler, Flat Iron, Freedom Tower, Guggenheim, Dakota Building, Plaza Hotel, U.N Building, Ed Sullivan theater and so on.

I could go to New York and spend a week just visiting and exploring Central Park and talking a carriage ride or joining in a game of soccer on the lawn, or taking a rowboat out and pulling up at the Boathouse for lunch, or ice skating/falling or just sitting by the Bethesda Fountain reading a book in the sun. As far as U.S. cities go it has everything I could be interested in and I know I could never go hungry or be bored. Of course I would spend a lot of money but that's what its for.

I was smitten with Manhattan the first time I set foot in it in 1986 and it still has me under its spell. I am not complaining. I know its not everyone's cup of tea (two sugars and a splash of milk please) but it seems to be mine and Carol's.

Thanks for gracing my review.

Norris

Norris, I'm back and all caught up again! Your pictures of NYC are spectacular! We haven't been back there much since we moved to FL back in 2004, so it was fun to see the city again through the lens of your camera. Almost makes me want to go back for a visit. NYC really is an exciting place to visit.

I will definitely be looking for your next review in late January, but for now I'm quite happy to continue to follow along with this one. :D

Nancy, highlighted in red, my thought exactly but living there is not an ambition. It would be so costly and wouldn't be so special anymore. An occasional visit-a weekend trip or a Wagner week in May to hit the opera would be great.

Right now we are looking ahead to the Crown Princess with its 3 ports in 8 days, our longest cruise yet (by one day!). It should be our relaxation cruise. It will become real when we print our boarding passes. Back to Ft. Lauderdale and hopefully the sun.

Thanks for staying until the end!

Norris

Did you see the opera about Anna Nicole Smith when it was at the NYCity opera?

http://entertainment.time.com/2013/09/27/buxom-and-doomed-the-odd-marriage-of-opera-and-anna-nicole/

I saw that and thought, well, that's interesting. I feel like the story is suited to opera, but somehow they just didn't quite capture the magnitude of the tragedy of the story and make the audience care about Anna Nicole.

 

I'm not excited about Houston's 2018 opera schedule. It feels kind of flat and tired, if you ask me.

No I didn't see City Opera perform Anna Nicole Smith opera. I haven't been to City Opera in over 20 years now and there are few modern operas that I have enjoyed. Some have great music such as "Tea" by Tan Dunn but rubbish stories and vocal lines like "Dr Atomic". They are not usually written by men of the theater as they were in the 19th century but usually by some guy with a grey pony-tail and sung in English (which is great for pop music) who has wangled a grant as opera houses are itching for new repertoire that is cheap to stage. I have never left a modern opera whistling one of the tunes as there usually aren't any.

We decided we couldn't fit Houston in this year although we have been there to the opera for the past 4 years due to one of our long-time friends being the star of the Wagner shows. This year we have planned 2 cruises and a week of Wagner in San Francisco in June and the expenses of those are "off the charts" even though we don't have any charts at home. Our friend is singing the lead in Richard Strauss' Elektra in Houston but I don't see us going even though we like it and her. It is playing from January to February and we are cruising then. I agree it is not a compelling season and the actual theater is the worst design for an opera house that has ever been opened to the public. It's very badly thought out and I'd say no thinking was done by the architect-but they are stuck with it.

Norris, so glad you like Opera

I have to back-track for a minute on the Architectural Tour to show you the most amazing modern buildings of the day, which lie at 626 First Avenue between the Empire State and the Chrysler Building as you look in from the East river. They are called the American Copper Buildings (2017).

 

 

 

I had to time it right to get a shot with the Empire State showing in the distance



 

 

See them here.. https://www.dezeen.com/2016/04/20/american-copper-building-626-first-avenue-new-york-city-manhattan-apartment-towers-skybridge-shop-architects/

 

Queensboro Bridge sets foot in Queens. Opened 1909 with a length of 3725 feet. Carries 9 lanes of auto traffic spread over two decks.

It passes over Roosevelt Island where there is an aerial tramway from Manhattan

 

 

The Manhattan side



 

 

On Roosevelt Island



 

 

 

Was that the "59th St bridge song"

Was that the "59th St bridge song"

Yes, still feeling groovy!

Was that the "59th St bridge song"

Yes, it's also known as the 59th street bridge but its current name is the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, saluting a former Mayor who died in 2013.

I want to go on that aerial tramway at some point!

Norris

I know I'm repeating myself here. You pictures of NYC are breathtaking!

Someday I would like to rent a car and drive up the Hudson from Manhattan following the road as much as possible along the water on the route we are seeing here. Manhattan seems miles away-the built up glitzy money-spinning and spending Manhattan. It's much quieter up here at the northern border of the island.

Yet another swing bridge. Not a famous landmark with a storied history, just a practical way of letting cars and boats through.