 |
| Swingin' Through The Trees |
Here's what we know about how life is changing - again - in our little part of Panama:
Saturday, May 30, 2020
Panama Quarantine Update, May 2020
Saturday, May 23, 2020
Belgium and Hauts-de-France, September, 2019
Last September (when the world was still traveling) we took a three week trip to Belgium and northern France with Bryce's sister Brenda. We travelled much faster / farther and for a shorter period of time than we usually do because Brenda has a home base and people who count on her to be there. In order to make the most of our three weeks Bryce spent much of 2019 arranging flights, accommodations, transportation and battlefield tours. His plan was a masterpiece: we saw and did so much in three weeks that we can't fit it all into one blog post.
This Post: Belgium and the Hauts-de-France region of France, with a focus on Canada's Great War. But first:
It would be hard to take a tour of Brussels and not be shown the Manneken Pis.
Perhaps this odd little statue is the basis for the local passion for comic books (Brussels is the home of TinTin) and street art. In our short time in Brussels we saw:
And, of courses, an homage to the Manneken Pis:
The next morning we checked out, stored our bags at the hotel and hopped on a Hop-On-Hop-Off bus.
After our drive-by tourism event we returned to our hotel, picked up our bags, taxied to the station and boarded a 19.00 train to France. All according to Bryce's Master Plan.
The apartment is within easy walking distance of several canal-side restaurants and we enjoyed dinner at Le 31 on our first night. On our second night we put together a quick-fix dinner "at home" from what we could find at the closest Monoprix.
Our one full day in Amiens was spent taking a day trip to the Vimy Ridge memorial and several memorials at the site of the Battle of the Somme. See our World Tourism description below. Exercising informed hindsight we would now choose to base out of Amiens for all of our World War I touring.
Our other acts of tourism in the city of Amiens were related to the cathedral. Brenda and Molly enjoyed a light show projected onto the façade of the gothic building on our second night. Bryce bowed out and missed a lovely show - but probably not the very sore bums the others got from sitting on the concrete viewing steps. Don't forget to take a pad to sit on.
The next morning we made a quick visit to see the interior of the cathedral before picking up a little rental Citroen box of a car at the tiniest rental lot ever. Next -- Normandy. But until that blog post, here is some information about the World War I related tours we took in Hauts-de-France:
The names of 54,395 Commonwealth soldiers missing in action in the Ypres Salient (an area of land held by the Triple Entente and surrounded on three sides by the Central Powers) was a sobering introduction to our day. That's a lot of unidentifiable humans. Even more disturbing is the fact that the memorial was eventually deemed too small to include those missing in action after August 15, 1917. Over 34,000 names of the Ypres Salient missing are listed elsewhere.
We met our small tour at The British Grenadier bookstore -- Canadian owned and operated. We were provided information and maps and overwhelming statistics. We were driven to the area's Canadian-related memorials.
The first two stanzas of the poem are a moving tribute to the fallen -- but then McCrae goes into full-on Victorian era morality and urges readers to "Take up our quarrel with the foe" and threatens that "If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep,". Basically: Keep killing the Other Guys or your buddies will haunt you. Ugh. A disturbing insight into the culture of the times and an answer about why the fighting went on - and on - and on.
The Commonwealth cemeteries are often beautiful. We visited the huge Tyne Cot Cemetery, the largest Commonwealth cemetery in the world - for any war. The name "Tyne Cot" was given to the battle area when soldiers of the Northumberland Fusiliers decided the many German gun emplacements looked like cottages in Tyneside, an area in the north of England.
Each headstone for an unknown Commonwealth soldier bears the phrase "Known Unto God". This phrase was chosen by Rudyard Kipling who joined the Imperial War Graves Commission (IWGC, predecessor to the present-day Commonwealth War Graves Commission) in 1917 as its first "literary advisor". Kipling's son John had been declared missing, presumed dead in 1915. His remains were not identified until the 1990's.
Each headstone for an unknown soldier also bears a cross. More insight into the beliefs of the members of the IWGC than the beliefs held by the unknown deceased.
Known combatant dead are represented by their country 's emblem (Canadians by the maple leaf), individual regimental number, rank, name, military unit, date of death, age at death, medals awarded and statements requested (and paid for) by their family.
[Side Note: Here's a brief and cynical summary of what we remember about the evolution of the Commonwealth war cemeteries in France into the beautiful and moving memorials that exist today: Initially there was no plan for dealing with what too quickly became a vast number of war dead. For sanitary reasons bodies had to be buried as quickly as possible and thus the dead were buried close to where they fell. In 1917 the British government established the Imperial War Graves Commission (now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission). By then the Empire had concluded that repatriating the dead would be not only a logistical nightmare but a public relations disaster. The fallen of the Western Front were to remain in France or Belgium. Later, as the dead evolved into the Brave Fallen Honored By A Grateful Empire the burial sites were consolidated into the sort of beautiful cemeteries we see today.]
Some visitors might find the German cemetery at Langemark less glorifying and thus more moving. The German war graves are maintained by the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgraberfursorge, that country's war graves commission.
We visited The Brooding Soldier located in St. Julien, Belgium. This monument is a giant column topped by a pensive soldier holding his rifle in the "arms reversed" position used to honor the fallen. The soldier faces the direction from which the first gas attack on the Western Front was unleashed on April 22, 1915. The brunt of that attack was felt by French Algerian colonial troops.
After our day contemplating war, destruction and loss we returned to Ypres where we caught an afternoon train back to Lille. We did not stay for the Last Post at the Menin Gate though we have heard it is a very moving ceremony. It had been a long day for all of us. And Molly was having difficulty sticking with the reverently somber script -- she had become very, very angry at generals and politicians long dead.
The Newfoundland Regiment. The French village of Beaumont-Hamel was nearly destroyed during the war. Nearby, on the official first day of the Battle of the Somme -- among a multitude of horrors that took place July 1, 1916 -- 80 percent of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment (RNF) died, were lost or wounded in the span of 30 minutes. This event continues to be remembered every July 1 in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
In 1921 the then Dominion of Newfoundland (which became part of Canada in 1949) purchased the 74-acres of land over which the RNF made their ill-fated attack from some 250 French landowners. This memorial park is the location of several memorials, including the impressive bronze caribou which honors the Royal Newfoundland Regiment's sacrifice.
The Courcelette Monument sits beside a highway outside of the Village of Courcelette, France. It was created to honor the Canadian Expeditionary Force's efforts in the Battle of the Somme.
The ADANAC Cemetery. The ADANAC (Canada, reversed) Commonwealth War Grave Commission cemetery is a relatively small cemetery near the village of Courcelette.
The Neuville-St. Vaast Cemetery contains the remains of 44,843 German military dead.
The Lochnagar Crater Memorial is a privately owned and operated site encompassing a massive crater (70 feet / 21 meters deep and 330 feet / 100 meters wide) created on July 1, 1916 when an underground explosive charge planted by the British military under a German fortification known as the Schwabenhohe was detonated. At the meticulously documented site (see width and depth figures above) the number of German dead and missing is not recorded.
This Post: Belgium and the Hauts-de-France region of France, with a focus on Canada's Great War. But first:
Travel Rules
- We broke our rule prohibiting overnight flights when we flew from Toronto to Brussels. Our rule was established years ago on a blurry post-flight morning when we acknowledged: "We are just too old for this shite!". But on this trip Brenda had time constraints and everyone had money constraints. That old saw that "rules are meant to be broken"? Not This Rule.
- Bryce used to travel a lot for work and would say he had "been to" a lot of countries. Molly decided he was embellishing his travel creds. Now we say we have "been to" a country only when we have (a) spent 24+ hours in-country, (b) left the airport and (c) been and eaten somewhere besides a hotel. There's a Really Small Country Exception to (a) -- e.g., The Vatican -- but we didn't think Belgium was small enough to qualify. We JUST met the terms of this rule: We have "been to" Belgium.
Belgium - Brussels (September 9 - 10)
We arrived in the City of Brussels early in the morning, checked into the Hotel Augustin, tidied up and began to walk. We focused on staying awake, adjusting to our new time zone, seeing stuff and buying European SIM cards. Success, mostly. We even managed to stay awake through dinner.
Brussels is the capital of Belgium, home to a number of European Union institutions, and officially bi-lingual (French and Flemish - but fear not, English monolinguals - most of the people we met spoke tourist English). There are beautiful examples of buildings in a large number of architectural styles.
All that sophistication and yet one of the primary tourist attractions is the Manneken Pis a 17th Century bronze statue of a little boy . . . peeing.
 |
| Bryce and Brenda At The Drug Opera Tavern (The Building Once Housed A Pharmacy And An Opera House -- Get It?) |
Brussels is the capital of Belgium, home to a number of European Union institutions, and officially bi-lingual (French and Flemish - but fear not, English monolinguals - most of the people we met spoke tourist English). There are beautiful examples of buildings in a large number of architectural styles.
All that sophistication and yet one of the primary tourist attractions is the Manneken Pis a 17th Century bronze statue of a little boy . . . peeing.
 |
| The Manneken Pis |
It would be hard to take a tour of Brussels and not be shown the Manneken Pis.
 |
| Tourists Viewing The Manneken Pis |
Perhaps this odd little statue is the basis for the local passion for comic books (Brussels is the home of TinTin) and street art. In our short time in Brussels we saw:
And, of courses, an homage to the Manneken Pis:
 |
| The Church Of Our Blessed Lady Of The Sablon (And A Fine Example Of The Type Of Shots One Gets On A Hop-On-Hop-Off Bus) |
 |
| An Inside Joke For Our Ontario, Canada Peeps |
Ooops - at some point during the trip we realized we had boarded the Route One bus which travels out to the cheesy-sounding Mini-Europe park ("See scale models of the most important buildings in Europe, all in one park!") and the Atomium. Those parks looked like great places to take kids. We had no children with us. Oh, well - too late to hop-off and find Route Two. On Route One we passed:
 |
| A Drive-By Shot Of The National Basilica Of The Sacred Heart |
 |
| Drive-By People Watching |
 |
| Hercule Poirot Worked Here (No, Not Really) |
We didn't see Mini-Europe but admit that from our drive-by the Atomium looks like it might be a more interesting concept than we had thought.
 |
| Oh (Duh!) I Get It -- The ATOM-ium |
 |
| Pretty Cool Sculpture, Actually |
After our drive-by tourism event we returned to our hotel, picked up our bags, taxied to the station and boarded a 19.00 train to France. All according to Bryce's Master Plan.
Hauts-de-France (September 10 - 14)
Hauts-de-France is the northern-most of France's 13 European Regions.
[Side Note: In 2016 there was a big reorganization of France's political jurisdictions. In France a lot of the government-provided tourist literature spends a confusing amount of ink explaining the local effects of these changes. We will try to stick to general and hopefully helpful geographical information.]
Our focus in Hauts-de-France was on World War I, but before we go there, here's information about where we stayed and what we saw that didn't have to do with war and death:
In Lille we stayed at the Grand Hotel (an aspirational name) which was memorable for having the smallest elevator we have ever seen. It is also clean, pleasant and in a great location - near the Lille Flanders train station and not far from restaurants and sights.
Our visit coincided with Eldorado, a city sponsored exhibit of giant street sculptures from Mexico, all of which made us smile.
Our full day in Lille actually wasn't spent in Lille, but on a day trip to Ypres, Belgium where we toured a disturbing and sobering number of World War I sights. See our War Tourism section below. Our second morning was spent touring the Palais des Beaux Artes de Lille. The museum is large and well worth a visit, though more than one piece deserved a good cleaning.
Map geeks should not miss the 15 military relief maps shown in the museum's basement. These maps are on loan from the Musée des Plans-Reliefs in Paris where there are apparently at least 100 others. That museum is now on our next-trip-to-Paris agenda.
These huge relief maps were created between 1668 and 1870 and are amazing as works of art, as historical records and as a look into the art of pre-20th Century warfare. The map of Lille was originally 60 square meters (almost 650 square feet) until it was captured by the Prussians in 1815 (or 1814, depending on one's source) and cut down for display in the arsenal in Berlin. This map was returned to France in 1948, no longer of strategic importance but still historically fascinating.
The maps are displayed at slightly above floor level and remind some viewers of doll cities -- with little cathedrals and castles -- and others of aerial maps. Guess who saw what.
We walked through Lille (lots of clothing stores) and visited the cathedral. We had been encouraged to see the light show at the cathedral the night before but after a full day of War Tourism we had given the show a pass. When we saw the cathedral we were sorry to have missed the light show -- the cathedral's clean, modern façade (dating from 1999) must be a great background for that type of show. The interior also has modern elements. A visit to this cathedral would be a great antidote to medieval church overload -- a sort of cathedral palate cleanser.
Next on Bryce's schedule was the 17.00 train to Amiens.
Our focus in Hauts-de-France was on World War I, but before we go there, here's information about where we stayed and what we saw that didn't have to do with war and death:
Lille
Lille is an ancient town which is now the capital of Hauts-de-France. Over the past thousand years it has been batted about between numerous political entities (Flanders, Burgundy, Spain, The Netherlands, Germany and, oh yes - France). Our tourist assessment is that Lille is not a "must see" location, but is a good transportation base for train travelers. For example, Bryce found it was easier to arrange a day trip to Ypres, Belgium (officially Iepers, Belgium) from Lille than it was to travel there from Brussels. The mysteries of train routing.In Lille we stayed at the Grand Hotel (an aspirational name) which was memorable for having the smallest elevator we have ever seen. It is also clean, pleasant and in a great location - near the Lille Flanders train station and not far from restaurants and sights.
Our visit coincided with Eldorado, a city sponsored exhibit of giant street sculptures from Mexico, all of which made us smile.
 |
| Behind This Charming Monster Lurks The Grand Hotel |
 |
| On That Side Is The Lille Flanders Train Station |
Our full day in Lille actually wasn't spent in Lille, but on a day trip to Ypres, Belgium where we toured a disturbing and sobering number of World War I sights. See our War Tourism section below. Our second morning was spent touring the Palais des Beaux Artes de Lille. The museum is large and well worth a visit, though more than one piece deserved a good cleaning.
 |
| La plage de Berck (Detail), Vicompte Ludovic-Napoelon Lepic (1877) Not The Museum's Best Piece -- But Our Best Detail Picture! |
Map geeks should not miss the 15 military relief maps shown in the museum's basement. These maps are on loan from the Musée des Plans-Reliefs in Paris where there are apparently at least 100 others. That museum is now on our next-trip-to-Paris agenda.
These huge relief maps were created between 1668 and 1870 and are amazing as works of art, as historical records and as a look into the art of pre-20th Century warfare. The map of Lille was originally 60 square meters (almost 650 square feet) until it was captured by the Prussians in 1815 (or 1814, depending on one's source) and cut down for display in the arsenal in Berlin. This map was returned to France in 1948, no longer of strategic importance but still historically fascinating.
 |
| Lille (1740-1743) |
The maps are displayed at slightly above floor level and remind some viewers of doll cities -- with little cathedrals and castles -- and others of aerial maps. Guess who saw what.
 |
| How The Maps Fit Together |
 |
| Ypres, 1701 |
We walked through Lille (lots of clothing stores) and visited the cathedral. We had been encouraged to see the light show at the cathedral the night before but after a full day of War Tourism we had given the show a pass. When we saw the cathedral we were sorry to have missed the light show -- the cathedral's clean, modern façade (dating from 1999) must be a great background for that type of show. The interior also has modern elements. A visit to this cathedral would be a great antidote to medieval church overload -- a sort of cathedral palate cleanser.
 |
| Lille Cathedral (Interior) |
 |
| Very Modern Stations Of The Cross |
Next on Bryce's schedule was the 17.00 train to Amiens.
Amiens
Our accommodation in Amiens was a lovely two-bedroom apartment (Au Coeur d'Amiens, 15, Blvd du Cange -- borgesisabel4@gmail.com) with a view of one of the city's canals.
 |
| From Our Balcony in Amiens |
The apartment is within easy walking distance of several canal-side restaurants and we enjoyed dinner at Le 31 on our first night. On our second night we put together a quick-fix dinner "at home" from what we could find at the closest Monoprix.
Our one full day in Amiens was spent taking a day trip to the Vimy Ridge memorial and several memorials at the site of the Battle of the Somme. See our World Tourism description below. Exercising informed hindsight we would now choose to base out of Amiens for all of our World War I touring.
Our other acts of tourism in the city of Amiens were related to the cathedral. Brenda and Molly enjoyed a light show projected onto the façade of the gothic building on our second night. Bryce bowed out and missed a lovely show - but probably not the very sore bums the others got from sitting on the concrete viewing steps. Don't forget to take a pad to sit on.
The next morning we made a quick visit to see the interior of the cathedral before picking up a little rental Citroen box of a car at the tiniest rental lot ever. Next -- Normandy. But until that blog post, here is some information about the World War I related tours we took in Hauts-de-France:
War Tourism - The Western Front
The World Wars of the early 20th Century decimated Belgium and northern France and are now the source of a healthy War Tourism business. This area was the Western Front of The Great War.
[Side Note: History is written by the winners' writers. The Western Front, a relatively modest portion of the war, is the Great War that first comes to mind for most North Americans -- likely because of the number of English-language films and massive amount of English-language literature set in the Western Front (e.g., Siegfried Sassoon, All Quiet on the Western Front, A Farewell to Arms, Johnny Got His Gun, Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy, War Horse, 1917, etc. etc.). In comparison, the Middle-East campaigns have T.E. Lawrence and Lawrence of Arabia; Gallipoli has Mel Brooks and ongoing recognition in Australia; and Africa (where European powers fought little-known campaigns to obtain / maintain colonies) has only The African Queen. The bloodiest campaign of the war, the Eastern Front, has so few English-language books and movies that we can't think of one. Let us know if you have come across any!]
We also point out this extremely large gap in case any of our information turns out to be incorrect. We are not alone.
We attempted to focus our visit on the Canadian Western Front experience although it wasn't always clear when Canadians fought as Canadians rather than simply citizens of the Empire. For example, there was no separate Canadian air corps until 1920. Again, for context, here are some statistics from the Canadian War Museum:
[Side Note: History is written by the winners' writers. The Western Front, a relatively modest portion of the war, is the Great War that first comes to mind for most North Americans -- likely because of the number of English-language films and massive amount of English-language literature set in the Western Front (e.g., Siegfried Sassoon, All Quiet on the Western Front, A Farewell to Arms, Johnny Got His Gun, Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy, War Horse, 1917, etc. etc.). In comparison, the Middle-East campaigns have T.E. Lawrence and Lawrence of Arabia; Gallipoli has Mel Brooks and ongoing recognition in Australia; and Africa (where European powers fought little-known campaigns to obtain / maintain colonies) has only The African Queen. The bloodiest campaign of the war, the Eastern Front, has so few English-language books and movies that we can't think of one. Let us know if you have come across any!]
Some Mind-Boggling Context
Our blog can't possibly educate anyone on the horror show that was World War I -- but here is some basic information to put what we saw into perspective (thanks, Wikipedia):- 8.5 - 10.8 million military dead or missing;
- 23 million military wounded; and
- 7.7 - 8.3 million civilian deaths.
- imprecise / non-existent census data pre-and-post conflict;
- disagreements as to whether / how many deaths of starvation and the 1918 influenza pandemic should be deemed war-related; and
- the difficulty in allocating Eastern Front deaths between World War I and the overlapping Russian Revolution.
We also point out this extremely large gap in case any of our information turns out to be incorrect. We are not alone.
We attempted to focus our visit on the Canadian Western Front experience although it wasn't always clear when Canadians fought as Canadians rather than simply citizens of the Empire. For example, there was no separate Canadian air corps until 1920. Again, for context, here are some statistics from the Canadian War Museum:
- 619,636 Canadians were mobilized (from a population of 8 million - more than 7.5%);
- 59,544 of those died during the war; and
- 172,000 were wounded.
Ypres / Iepers - Belgium
We traveled from Lille back into Belgium by train and arrived in the town of Ypres a little earlier than necessary to meet up with our tour. Sadly we were also earlier than the local coffee shops' opening hours. We spend our (coffee-free) time visiting the Menin Gate.The names of 54,395 Commonwealth soldiers missing in action in the Ypres Salient (an area of land held by the Triple Entente and surrounded on three sides by the Central Powers) was a sobering introduction to our day. That's a lot of unidentifiable humans. Even more disturbing is the fact that the memorial was eventually deemed too small to include those missing in action after August 15, 1917. Over 34,000 names of the Ypres Salient missing are listed elsewhere.
 |
| Bryce At The Menin Gate |
We met our small tour at The British Grenadier bookstore -- Canadian owned and operated. We were provided information and maps and overwhelming statistics. We were driven to the area's Canadian-related memorials.
In Flanders Fields
All Canadian children used to learn the poem In Flanders Fields, written in 1915 by John McCrae, a surgeon for the 1st Canadian Field Artillery from Guelph, Ontario. The reference to poppies blowing between crosses "row on row" is why Canadians still wear and display red poppies on Remembrance Day. |
| A Plaque of In Flanders Fields By John McCree |
The first two stanzas of the poem are a moving tribute to the fallen -- but then McCrae goes into full-on Victorian era morality and urges readers to "Take up our quarrel with the foe" and threatens that "If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep,". Basically: Keep killing the Other Guys or your buddies will haunt you. Ugh. A disturbing insight into the culture of the times and an answer about why the fighting went on - and on - and on.
 |
| The Cross of Sacrifice At Tyne Cot Cemetery Located Above A German Gun Emplacement |
The Commonwealth cemeteries are often beautiful. We visited the huge Tyne Cot Cemetery, the largest Commonwealth cemetery in the world - for any war. The name "Tyne Cot" was given to the battle area when soldiers of the Northumberland Fusiliers decided the many German gun emplacements looked like cottages in Tyneside, an area in the north of England.
 |
| Tyne Cot Cemetery |
Each headstone for an unknown Commonwealth soldier bears the phrase "Known Unto God". This phrase was chosen by Rudyard Kipling who joined the Imperial War Graves Commission (IWGC, predecessor to the present-day Commonwealth War Graves Commission) in 1917 as its first "literary advisor". Kipling's son John had been declared missing, presumed dead in 1915. His remains were not identified until the 1990's.
Each headstone for an unknown soldier also bears a cross. More insight into the beliefs of the members of the IWGC than the beliefs held by the unknown deceased.
 |
| Names Without Bodies At The Menin Gate Bodies Without Names In The Cemeteries |
Known combatant dead are represented by their country 's emblem (Canadians by the maple leaf), individual regimental number, rank, name, military unit, date of death, age at death, medals awarded and statements requested (and paid for) by their family.
 |
| J.P. Robertson One Of 73 Canadian Victoria Cross Recipients During World War I |
[Side Note: Here's a brief and cynical summary of what we remember about the evolution of the Commonwealth war cemeteries in France into the beautiful and moving memorials that exist today: Initially there was no plan for dealing with what too quickly became a vast number of war dead. For sanitary reasons bodies had to be buried as quickly as possible and thus the dead were buried close to where they fell. In 1917 the British government established the Imperial War Graves Commission (now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission). By then the Empire had concluded that repatriating the dead would be not only a logistical nightmare but a public relations disaster. The fallen of the Western Front were to remain in France or Belgium. Later, as the dead evolved into the Brave Fallen Honored By A Grateful Empire the burial sites were consolidated into the sort of beautiful cemeteries we see today.]
Some visitors might find the German cemetery at Langemark less glorifying and thus more moving. The German war graves are maintained by the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgraberfursorge, that country's war graves commission.
 |
| Langemark Cemetery |
We visited The Brooding Soldier located in St. Julien, Belgium. This monument is a giant column topped by a pensive soldier holding his rifle in the "arms reversed" position used to honor the fallen. The soldier faces the direction from which the first gas attack on the Western Front was unleashed on April 22, 1915. The brunt of that attack was felt by French Algerian colonial troops.
 |
| The Brooding Soldier |
After our day contemplating war, destruction and loss we returned to Ypres where we caught an afternoon train back to Lille. We did not stay for the Last Post at the Menin Gate though we have heard it is a very moving ceremony. It had been a long day for all of us. And Molly was having difficulty sticking with the reverently somber script -- she had become very, very angry at generals and politicians long dead.
Vimy Ridge -- France
The Canadian Expeditionary Force's (CEF) role in achieving victory at Vimy Ridge is often referred to as a defining moment in the evolution of Canada's national identity. The Battle of Vimy Ridge (April 9 - 12, 1917) was the first time the four divisions of the CEF, composed of troops from all parts of the vast Dominion of Canada, had fought together. Their victory resulted in the CEF being recognized in Canada and the U.K as a cohesive and effective military force. Something every aspiring new country needs.
Today the escarpment known as Vimy Ridge is part of a 250 acre battlefield park on land granted to Canada by France. Portions of the park remain closed to the public for safety reasons (unexploded ordnance) - wars' ecological damage.
 |
| The Canadian National Vimy Memorial |
 |
| Once There Were Trenches |
 |
| A Trench Replica -- Without The Rats |
The First Battle of the Somme - France
The "First Battle of the Somme" actually refers to some 13 separate battles fought between July 1 and November 18, 1916 in an area along the Somme river in France. The area in which these battles raged and stumbled is now home to numerous memorials to the million plus men who died or were lost or wounded there. We visited a number of Canadian memorials:The Newfoundland Regiment. The French village of Beaumont-Hamel was nearly destroyed during the war. Nearby, on the official first day of the Battle of the Somme -- among a multitude of horrors that took place July 1, 1916 -- 80 percent of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment (RNF) died, were lost or wounded in the span of 30 minutes. This event continues to be remembered every July 1 in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
In 1921 the then Dominion of Newfoundland (which became part of Canada in 1949) purchased the 74-acres of land over which the RNF made their ill-fated attack from some 250 French landowners. This memorial park is the location of several memorials, including the impressive bronze caribou which honors the Royal Newfoundland Regiment's sacrifice.
 |
| Beaumont-Hamel Memorial To The Royal Newfoundland Regiment |
The Courcelette Monument sits beside a highway outside of the Village of Courcelette, France. It was created to honor the Canadian Expeditionary Force's efforts in the Battle of the Somme.
 |
| The Courcelette Monument Surrounded By Maple Trees |
The ADANAC Cemetery. The ADANAC (Canada, reversed) Commonwealth War Grave Commission cemetery is a relatively small cemetery near the village of Courcelette.
 |
| ADANAC Cemetery |
The Neuville-St. Vaast Cemetery contains the remains of 44,843 German military dead.
 |
| A Different Esthetic of Death |
 |
| Among The German Dead -- A Particularly Poignant Grave In Light Of What Came Later |
 |
| Bryce and Our Guide, Leh, At The Lochnagar Crater |
Uncle Geordie's War (Updated)
Our World War I site visits were made particularly poignant because of a family connection. Bryce and Brenda had always known that their mother's uncle, George Mouncey (Uncle Geordie) had served during World War I, seen combat in France and suffered breathing problems as a result of his service. Before our trip they got a copy of his service record (primarily medical and pay records) to learn more. Here's what we were able to piece together:
On September 23, 1914, shortly before his 17th birthday*, George Albert Mouncey of Roseneath, Ontario enlisted in the Canadian Over-Seas Expeditionary Force (CEF). He swore to defend King George V, His Heirs and Successors in Person, Crown and Dignity and was given the regimental number 42551. He honored his obligation to the King until April of 1919 -- for more than four and a half years -- and for this service a grateful Empire paid him $1 a day.
* In 1914 the minimum age for enlistment in the CEF was 18. Uncle Geordie's military records identify him as having been born October 30, 1896 and in September 1914 having an "apparent age" of 18 years, 11 months. Feel free to do the math - we get 17 years, 11 months. Subsequent government records show Uncle Geordie as having actually been born a year later - in October 1897 - which means he enlisted at 16 years, 11 months.
* In 1914 the minimum age for enlistment in the CEF was 18. Uncle Geordie's military records identify him as having been born October 30, 1896 and in September 1914 having an "apparent age" of 18 years, 11 months. Feel free to do the math - we get 17 years, 11 months. Subsequent government records show Uncle Geordie as having actually been born a year later - in October 1897 - which means he enlisted at 16 years, 11 months.
Uncle Geordie served as a gunner, assigned during his time in France first to the 4th Battery of the 1st Brigade of the Canadian Field Artillery (CFA) and in late 1915 to the 9th Battery of the 3rd Brigade of the CFA.
He arrived in France early in 1915. His record is fairly quiet until 1917.
In April, 1917 he sustained a left shoulder wound. There is no description of how he was wounded so it is possible it was an industrial-style accident (note the lack of safety gear in the above picture) rather than the result of enemy fire. After ten days in a field hospital he was returned to duty where less than a month later he was re-injured -- this time in the left hand. We suspect he was left handed, like his great nephew, Bryce!
His hand injury was treated in England and he was discharged after six weeks, on June 19, 1917. Two months after his discharge from hospital he was back in hospital in England being treated for an ear inflammation. There is no information about whether he was in France in the interim. On September 20, 1917 he was discharged and returned to France.
He was injury free for a year, but from November 8 to November 25 he was in the hospital in England with influenza. Uncle Geordie must have learned that the war was over while suffering from the deadly 1918 Flu. Clearly he was one tough kid.
Notwithstanding family lore, his military record doesn't contain any mention of his having been in a gas attack. The breathing problems the family remembers may have related to the influenza or to his ear infection - or to gas inhalation that never got reported.
There is little in the record about where his artillery batteries served and we have had difficulty piecing together which battles he was in. He was in a field hospital during the Battle of Vimy Ridge and somewhere in France during the Battle of the Somme. His medical record contains mention of his having sustained a nose injury "about 9 months ago" - or in late 1916 - "in the Somme".
At the time of his demobilization in April of 1919, Uncle Geordie was a corporal. A disability determination assigned him to one month of treatment for the inflammation in his ear and his only permanent disability was deemed to be a slight deformity in a finger of his left hand. Neither was found to be the result of "intemperance or improper conduct" or sufficient to grant him invalid status.
Uncle Geordie went home to Roseneath. In 1922 he married and he died in 1971 at 74 years of age (or 75 if you go by the age on his military records). The family does not remember him as having anger or substance abuse problems. Three years of hauling, loading and firing deafening guns and listening to guns fired in his direction does not seem to have kept him from living with and caring about others. We don't know how well he slept.
 |
| Uncle Geordie May Have Been In A Similar Unit |
He arrived in France early in 1915. His record is fairly quiet until 1917.
In April, 1917 he sustained a left shoulder wound. There is no description of how he was wounded so it is possible it was an industrial-style accident (note the lack of safety gear in the above picture) rather than the result of enemy fire. After ten days in a field hospital he was returned to duty where less than a month later he was re-injured -- this time in the left hand. We suspect he was left handed, like his great nephew, Bryce!
His hand injury was treated in England and he was discharged after six weeks, on June 19, 1917. Two months after his discharge from hospital he was back in hospital in England being treated for an ear inflammation. There is no information about whether he was in France in the interim. On September 20, 1917 he was discharged and returned to France.
He was injury free for a year, but from November 8 to November 25 he was in the hospital in England with influenza. Uncle Geordie must have learned that the war was over while suffering from the deadly 1918 Flu. Clearly he was one tough kid.
Notwithstanding family lore, his military record doesn't contain any mention of his having been in a gas attack. The breathing problems the family remembers may have related to the influenza or to his ear infection - or to gas inhalation that never got reported.
There is little in the record about where his artillery batteries served and we have had difficulty piecing together which battles he was in. He was in a field hospital during the Battle of Vimy Ridge and somewhere in France during the Battle of the Somme. His medical record contains mention of his having sustained a nose injury "about 9 months ago" - or in late 1916 - "in the Somme".
At the time of his demobilization in April of 1919, Uncle Geordie was a corporal. A disability determination assigned him to one month of treatment for the inflammation in his ear and his only permanent disability was deemed to be a slight deformity in a finger of his left hand. Neither was found to be the result of "intemperance or improper conduct" or sufficient to grant him invalid status.
 |
| George Albert Mouncey (L) and His Friend Earl Thackeray (R) |
Uncle Geordie went home to Roseneath. In 1922 he married and he died in 1971 at 74 years of age (or 75 if you go by the age on his military records). The family does not remember him as having anger or substance abuse problems. Three years of hauling, loading and firing deafening guns and listening to guns fired in his direction does not seem to have kept him from living with and caring about others. We don't know how well he slept.
Thank you for your service, Uncle Geordie.
Photo Story: The above picture of Uncle Geordie and his friend from Roseneath, Earl Thackeray, was not included in the original version of this post. It was provided to us by Bryce's friend from childhood and reader of our blog, David McCracken -- Earl Thackeray's grandson. Earl and Uncle Geordie were artillerymen in France; this picture seems to have been taken around the time they were discharged, as they did not enlist at the same time. The story of this picture and the friendships that span generations does seem to say that life goes on - even after a terrible war. That idea makes us smile. Thank you for sharing, David!
Photo Story: The above picture of Uncle Geordie and his friend from Roseneath, Earl Thackeray, was not included in the original version of this post. It was provided to us by Bryce's friend from childhood and reader of our blog, David McCracken -- Earl Thackeray's grandson. Earl and Uncle Geordie were artillerymen in France; this picture seems to have been taken around the time they were discharged, as they did not enlist at the same time. The story of this picture and the friendships that span generations does seem to say that life goes on - even after a terrible war. That idea makes us smile. Thank you for sharing, David!
Next -- More France
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
A TRAVEL Post! How We Got Here (November & December, 2019)
We thought a travel memories post might be entertaining during quarantine -- at least for us. If not for you -- if reading about someone else's former travels is depressing or unpleasant right now -- please feel free to give this post a miss.
The following is about our disjointed trip from Portugal to Panama in the fall / winter of 2019 which included our first luxury cruise* or rather 1-1/8 luxury cruises and an unexpected trip to the island of Madeira.
First, a bit about why we decided to take our first luxury cruise:
A cruise virtue that did resonate with us was the idea that there are destinations best / only experienced from the water, e.g. Alaskan and Norwegian fiords and the middle of the ocean. Eight+ years of part-time cruising on Abracadabra has taught us we will not be crossing any oceans on our own (both Abracadabra and her crew are too old and slow) nor will we make it to Alaska on our own (too cold, thanks).
So, in the final analysis it was a combination of this "cruise destination" idea and the idea of a ship as transportation (how pre-commercial flight era is that?!) which prompted us to book our first luxury cruise. We wouldn't take a vacation. We would take a voyage from our final off-boat season location (Portugal) home to Abracadabra in Panama in the Western Caribbean.
We were particularly attracted to crossing the Atlantic and the Caribbean on the Wind Star because it is very small as cruise ships go (148 guest capacity) and is designed to augment its motor power with sails. The sails might be a (very) tiny carbon worry offset. It didn't hurt that the Wind Star is billed as a casual ship. Our wardrobe improvement costs would be minimal.
We also justified the expense of this voyage because, well, we do that. As a background reminder: when we are not aboard Abracadabra we must be Some Place which is an expense unless we are lucky enough to house-sit or friends / relatives are kind enough to take us in. Our rough Cruise Justification Calculation went something like this: (a) flights from Lisbon to Panama City ($1400 +/-) + (b) lodging, food, ground transportation and laundry for the time aboard (25 days x $150 per day +/- **) = (c) about $800 less than the cost of the trans-Atlantic-Caribbean voyage on the Wind Star. This $800 (or roughly $40 a day) would buy: a crossing of the Atlantic and the Caribbean (which might even be under sail!?), and stops at seven Caribbean islands (without shore excursions).
Decision made. We would try this luxury cruise thing.
**Note: We did not purchase one of the offered pre-paid alcohol packages. The cost of two packages vs. paying à la carte seemed to break even at a bottle of wine a day - each. The idea of incentivizing the consumption of a bottle of wine a day each x 25 days seemed like two tickets to a rehab center or a liver specialist. We chose the control mechanism of paying à la carte.
We traveled from the Algarve (the southern region of Portugal) via train and spent a few days in a hotel near Lisbon's Fontana Park (hotel points!) which allowed us to explore a new-to-us area of the city. There we received an e-mail explaining that due to a weather system the Wind Star could not make it to Lisbon on schedule and we would have to travel (back) south to Portimão in the Algarve to board. The process of gathering with our fellow passengers at a Lisbon hotel to take busses to Portimão was eye-opening. We are not used to large group travel. It was clear that several of our fellow passengers did not see the bus trip to Portimão as a bonus. And many were doubtful that their luggage would ever make it to the ship. Anxiety was not uncommon.
The narrated bus ride took us back through country we had seen on our walking holiday of the Algarve (worth its own post / to come). We were impressed with our little selves for having walked some of those hills!
We boarded the Wind Star and met our cabin steward who, like all the stewards on that voyage was from Indonesia. The restaurant and bar workers were from the Philippines. Bryce got to dust off his very rusty bahasa indonesia. Our cabin was of good size yet still felt like a ship's cabin rather than a hotel room, which pleased us. The "head" (bathroom) was twice and the "hanging locker" (closet) four times the size of those on Abracadabra. And we had purchased the unlimited laundry service. Now that's luxury cruising, friends.
Interestingly, the ship's motion was more than we had expected (see above re: weather system) and we had some difficulty moving around the public areas. Abracadabra underway can be a very dynamic platform -- but a compact dynamic platform. We can move from one end of Abracadabra to the other using safety hand-holds when necessary, honoring the U.S. Coast Guard's 3-points of contact rule: both feet and one hand connected to the boat. Some of the Wind Star's public places had no hand-holds and the sea state required passengers to careen about or walk using a sort of modified "squat walk" -- effective but decidedly inelegant. Our cabin had been chosen for maximum stability and was at sea level. The roughish sea state made nights noisy. More than once we agreed that we were very glad we were not in those seas on Abracadabra and that the noise reminded us of trying to sleep off-watch on a rough night passage. Sailing off shore on the Atlantic in something larger than 37 feet = a good idea.
On day three the captain notified the passengers that there was a problem with one of the ship's three diesel-powered electric generators*** and that in the interest of safety the Wind Star would be diverting to the island of Madeira where we would be met by engineering technicians from Britain who would get us back underway within three days. Those who wanted to leave the ship in Madeira could make arrangements at the front desk.
***Note: Normally one of the Wind Star's three diesel-powered generators powers the "house" (hotel and dining spaces, crew housing, etc.), one the electric propulsion motor (the ship's propeller) and one is held in reserve. The Windstar Line decided it would be risky business to transport a ship full of paying passengers across the Atlantic without the backup generator.
We expected that some of our Caribbean stops would be eliminated due to the delay in Madeira but had never been to Madeira. Summoning our team spirit of adventure we looked forward to seeing Madeira. We would stick with the ship.
The Wind Star arrived in Funchal, the largest city and port on the island.
Interestingly Madeiran bananas are too small to meet EU standards for bananas. They can only be sold in Portugal. The rest of the EU is missing out on some very tasty bananas.
Several companies offer self-guided or guided walking holidays in Madeira. Because we hadn't booked in advance (ha! really?) we took three of the widely-advertised guided day walks along the island's levadas, an intricate system of irrigation ditches that bring water from the wet side of the island to the farms on the drier side. These walks were a highlight of our time there even though we don't usually prefer guided walks. And fyi, the levadas have a very gentle grade so these are super simple walks.
Before asking us to disembark the Windstar Line offered three days of complimentary bus tours around the island. Bus tours aren't usually our thing, but they seemed like a simple (inexpensive!) way to see the island. We were awed by the extensive and well-maintained road works through the island's hills and the lovely little fields of flowers, vegetables, and sugar cane perched precariously on the side of the hills.
The hilly terrain has not only given rise to levada walking as a tourist activity. Since Victorian times tourists have been able to ride in the Carreiros do Monte -- baskets on wooden skids which are kept from careening off the mountain or into stone walls by guys pulling on ropes while wearing jaunty straw hats. It's totally touristy and if you are in Madeira you must dig out your credit card and go. It's a hoot. Those Victorians were on to something.
In Funchal we were able to attend two classical music concerts, one at the English Church and another at the Madeira Assembly Hall. And those were only two of the many live music options available during our short stay.
In sum the Wind Star's detour to Madeira was a happy accident for us and a reminder that enjoying travel is in part attitude. On that theme, a few additional shots:
We learned that a Windstar Line cruise from Lisbon to Sint. Maarten was leaving in two weeks. This cruise was on the slightly larger Wind Surf (342 guest capacity) a vessel that also has sail augmentation. And we had been promised future cruise credits on the Windstar Line! Everything was falling into place.
We booked the voyage on the Wind Surf, hung out a few more days in Funchal (see above) and flew to Lisbon. We spent time at the Hotel Vincci Liberdade in yet another new-to-us part of Lisbon and began to fancy ourselves "old Lisbon hands". We even found a good Vietnamese restaurant!
Unfortunately when we checked our bank statements we realized that Windstar had deducted the cost of the Wind Surf voyage from our cash reimbursement rather than applying our Future Cruise Credits. Our FCCs were still intact but as a "bird in the bush" rather than in hand. Should we have disputed this at the time? You bet. Did we? After two weeks of travel juggling and trying to interpret the Windstar Line's on-again-off-again compensation offers - no. Enough, we said. We are going to get our trans-Atlantic crossing and we will arrive in Panama City only two weeks later than anticipated. All will be good. 20/20 Hindsight Travel Tip: Do not be like us. Stay vigilant or end up with Future Cruise Credits useable only during or immediately post an unanticipated world-wide pandemic.
We boarded the Wind Surf in Lisbon.
Note the box Bryce is carrying. This WiFi booster antenna for Abracadabra was delivered to us in Portugal and we carried it from Cascais - Lisbon - Wind Star - Funchal - Lisbon - Wind Surf - Sint. Maarten - Panama City - Bocas del Toro. But by gawd we didn't pay for shipping! Go ahead. Roll your eyes. Molly does.
Once again the house crew was primarily Philippine and Indonesian and very attentive. Once again we struggled a bit to balance our appreciation of the crew's talent, skill and good humor with our lack of comfort at receiving the luxury cruise level of personal service. Not that we really wanted to clean our own cabin . . . it's just . . . hmmm . . . clearly we haven't worked through these feelings. What we do know is the (unrelentingly) attentive service aspect of luxury cruising isn't at the top of our Reasons For Taking Another Luxury Cruise.
The top of that list? The opportunity to take another trans-oceanic voyage. It was wonderful to be on the ocean. We watched the weather and wave patterns, tried to estimate what land mass was "just over that way", looked at the stars and just experienced that amazing part of the planet moving beneath us. Our coastal passages on Abracadabra have had (and we hope in the future will have) moments of awe and beauty and grandness. But on Abracadabra those moments compete with the constant / repetitive need to check our location, look for vessel traffic and obstructions (fishing nets, floating junk), adjust sails and / or listen / check for signs of the motor's health, confirm electrical usage and creation, confirm water and diesel usage, and prepare and clean up after meals. On the Wind Surf someone else was doing all of that. We could just watch the sea and sky without interruption.
The weather was good, the sea state was relatively smooth and our cabin was on a higher deck than previously so we experienced a lot less wave noise than during our Wind Star outing. The food was not quite as good as on the Wind Star but it was fine - the chef on the Wind Star offered a daily curry (yumm). Big meat lovers will be in heaven on the Wind Surf (Bryce was). The Wind Surf had a nice gym and was large enough that deck walking was pleasant (5 x around the deck = 1 mile). Looking at the ocean, listening to an interesting audiobook and walking - not unlike being in quarantine without worrying about a pesky global pandemic.
There were Evening Entertainments. We are not Night Life people and we enjoyed some. Through conversations with other passengers we had realized we were among the very few on our (but for three days on the Wind Star) maiden voyage. But one evening we learned that many of the passengers had taken at least 10 cruises with the Windstar Line -- and that a few had taken at least 40 - that's forty - cruises with the Windstar Line. The vague sense of entitlement/ownership we had seen some of our fellow passengers display began to make sense! These people were more like time-share owners than passengers.
This repeat cruiser syndrome was also clear when, early in the trip there was an announcement that there would be a "build a boat" competition near the end of the voyage. Clearly some of these people had been planning for this since their previous voyage. This might have been our favorite cruise event!
In today's pandemic environment we think it's important to disclose that each of us had a multi-day head cold on this voyage. Our colds overlapped and during Bryce's bout (he went first) we kept ourselves to ourselves at meals and spent much of our time in the cabin. By the time Molly was sick she chose to work her way through the ship's cabin service soup menu. The memory of these short illnesses sticks with us when we think about using our Future Cruise Credits. . .
Also fyi and somewhat related to our head cold disclosure, the shipboard DVD collection isn't very broad or deep. Anyone taking a long voyage who isn't an action movie fan should consider downloading some movies in advance. In the event of catching a cold.
We declined the shore excursions and hired a cab and driver for a few hours. We visited the Big Sight on Antigua - Nelson's Dock Yard. The Admiral lived at the dockyard from 1784 - 1787.
We wandered around and drank Ting, a packed-with-sugar carbonated grapefruit drink popular in the Caribbean. Be careful, it's addictive and your doctor will not approve.
Our driver then took us on a circuit of the island, introducing each little settlement by explaining what churches were there and which of his relatives lived there. It was quite sweet. That evening the Wind Surf departed for our place of debarkation -- Sint Maarten.
We had planned to spend a few days on the island of Sint Maarten / St. Martin before flying out to Panama City. Whether due to (a) a general strike which made travel to the French side of the island difficult, (b) Molly's lingering cold, or (c) travel fatigue (we had been traveling for three months at that point) we aren't sure, but we did almost nothing during our four days in Sint Maarten. We spent our time lounging at the very comfortable, low-key Oyster Bay Beach Resort. We were ready to head home to Abracadabra.
Which we then did -- by air.
The following is about our disjointed trip from Portugal to Panama in the fall / winter of 2019 which included our first luxury cruise* or rather 1-1/8 luxury cruises and an unexpected trip to the island of Madeira.
*Note: We use the term "luxury cruise" to distinguish traveling on a cruise ship from the type of cruising we do on Abracadabra which has its pleasures but is not "luxurious" by most North Americans' standards.
It's Not A Luxury Cruise - It's A Voyage
We had always classified ourselves as "non-luxury-cruise-types" because:- A luxury cruise sounded a lot like being trapped in a hotel which offered three-hour narrated bus tours of "the sights".
- Eating at the same restaurants (different names and locations / the same kitchen) every day ran counter to one of our favorite travel experiences: eating local food.
- We couldn't imagine spending only a few hours in a port because we are used to spending at least a few days and sometimes weeks in most travel locations. We process slowly.
- We worried about the increase to our already high carbon footprint and the effect of a floating hotel on the ocean.
- Even B.C19. (the historical period prior to COVID-19) we thought of big ships as places to catch a cold or the "regular" flu.
A cruise virtue that did resonate with us was the idea that there are destinations best / only experienced from the water, e.g. Alaskan and Norwegian fiords and the middle of the ocean. Eight+ years of part-time cruising on Abracadabra has taught us we will not be crossing any oceans on our own (both Abracadabra and her crew are too old and slow) nor will we make it to Alaska on our own (too cold, thanks).
So, in the final analysis it was a combination of this "cruise destination" idea and the idea of a ship as transportation (how pre-commercial flight era is that?!) which prompted us to book our first luxury cruise. We wouldn't take a vacation. We would take a voyage from our final off-boat season location (Portugal) home to Abracadabra in Panama in the Western Caribbean.
We were particularly attracted to crossing the Atlantic and the Caribbean on the Wind Star because it is very small as cruise ships go (148 guest capacity) and is designed to augment its motor power with sails. The sails might be a (very) tiny carbon worry offset. It didn't hurt that the Wind Star is billed as a casual ship. Our wardrobe improvement costs would be minimal.
We also justified the expense of this voyage because, well, we do that. As a background reminder: when we are not aboard Abracadabra we must be Some Place which is an expense unless we are lucky enough to house-sit or friends / relatives are kind enough to take us in. Our rough Cruise Justification Calculation went something like this: (a) flights from Lisbon to Panama City ($1400 +/-) + (b) lodging, food, ground transportation and laundry for the time aboard (25 days x $150 per day +/- **) = (c) about $800 less than the cost of the trans-Atlantic-Caribbean voyage on the Wind Star. This $800 (or roughly $40 a day) would buy: a crossing of the Atlantic and the Caribbean (which might even be under sail!?), and stops at seven Caribbean islands (without shore excursions).
Decision made. We would try this luxury cruise thing.
 |
| And As You Can See, We Enjoyed Ourselves |
**Note: We did not purchase one of the offered pre-paid alcohol packages. The cost of two packages vs. paying à la carte seemed to break even at a bottle of wine a day - each. The idea of incentivizing the consumption of a bottle of wine a day each x 25 days seemed like two tickets to a rehab center or a liver specialist. We chose the control mechanism of paying à la carte.
Wind Star (Partial) Cruise
We were scheduled to embark in Lisbon, cross the Atlantic for 14 days to Sint Maarten (the Dutch side of Saint Martin) and wind through the Caribbean stopping at six other islands before disembarking in Colón, Panama. Twenty-five days aboard.We traveled from the Algarve (the southern region of Portugal) via train and spent a few days in a hotel near Lisbon's Fontana Park (hotel points!) which allowed us to explore a new-to-us area of the city. There we received an e-mail explaining that due to a weather system the Wind Star could not make it to Lisbon on schedule and we would have to travel (back) south to Portimão in the Algarve to board. The process of gathering with our fellow passengers at a Lisbon hotel to take busses to Portimão was eye-opening. We are not used to large group travel. It was clear that several of our fellow passengers did not see the bus trip to Portimão as a bonus. And many were doubtful that their luggage would ever make it to the ship. Anxiety was not uncommon.
The narrated bus ride took us back through country we had seen on our walking holiday of the Algarve (worth its own post / to come). We were impressed with our little selves for having walked some of those hills!
We boarded the Wind Star and met our cabin steward who, like all the stewards on that voyage was from Indonesia. The restaurant and bar workers were from the Philippines. Bryce got to dust off his very rusty bahasa indonesia. Our cabin was of good size yet still felt like a ship's cabin rather than a hotel room, which pleased us. The "head" (bathroom) was twice and the "hanging locker" (closet) four times the size of those on Abracadabra. And we had purchased the unlimited laundry service. Now that's luxury cruising, friends.
 |
| Departing Portimão |
Interestingly, the ship's motion was more than we had expected (see above re: weather system) and we had some difficulty moving around the public areas. Abracadabra underway can be a very dynamic platform -- but a compact dynamic platform. We can move from one end of Abracadabra to the other using safety hand-holds when necessary, honoring the U.S. Coast Guard's 3-points of contact rule: both feet and one hand connected to the boat. Some of the Wind Star's public places had no hand-holds and the sea state required passengers to careen about or walk using a sort of modified "squat walk" -- effective but decidedly inelegant. Our cabin had been chosen for maximum stability and was at sea level. The roughish sea state made nights noisy. More than once we agreed that we were very glad we were not in those seas on Abracadabra and that the noise reminded us of trying to sleep off-watch on a rough night passage. Sailing off shore on the Atlantic in something larger than 37 feet = a good idea.
On day three the captain notified the passengers that there was a problem with one of the ship's three diesel-powered electric generators*** and that in the interest of safety the Wind Star would be diverting to the island of Madeira where we would be met by engineering technicians from Britain who would get us back underway within three days. Those who wanted to leave the ship in Madeira could make arrangements at the front desk.
***Note: Normally one of the Wind Star's three diesel-powered generators powers the "house" (hotel and dining spaces, crew housing, etc.), one the electric propulsion motor (the ship's propeller) and one is held in reserve. The Windstar Line decided it would be risky business to transport a ship full of paying passengers across the Atlantic without the backup generator.
We expected that some of our Caribbean stops would be eliminated due to the delay in Madeira but had never been to Madeira. Summoning our team spirit of adventure we looked forward to seeing Madeira. We would stick with the ship.
The Wind Star arrived in Funchal, the largest city and port on the island.
 |
| The (Little) Wind Star (Left) Docked In Funchal |
For three days we took the complimentary bus tours of the island offered by the cruise line. We felt lucky not to have to join our many fellow passengers who spent hours arranging flights back to the U.S. in time to honor their American Thanksgiving obligations. Below are some pictures / thoughts about Madeira in case you ever have a chance to go there.
About day four in Funchal the captain again called the passengers together and reported that a bearing on the shaft between one diesel engine and the electric generator it powered had frozen. Completely. The cruise was cancelled. Molly thought Bryce was going to cry, not so much due to the cancellation of the cruise as in "been-there-done-that" solidarity with those spending countless hours trying to unstick that effing bearing. Early in our relationship with Abracadabra he had spent days freeing up some frozen glow plugs. He literally felt the pain of the marine engineers.
During the following days the Windstar line made several different, unclear offers of compensation for the cancelled cruise. People departed. The house alcohol package was made complementary. We stayed. We didn't have any place to go. They were still feeding us and doing our laundry. We no longer had to keep track of our wine-with-dinner tab. Our 30th Anniversary came and went, marked not with the starlit dinner on deck as we had anticipated but at one of the ship-wide parties thrown to send the passengers off with good feelings toward the Windstar Line. The highlight of Molly's "anniversary party" was watching Bryce dance the macarena. Alas she has no video.
It's not that we weren't stressed. It's just that we don't often have the "get home" urge and even when we do we don't have a place to attach it to. So we waited until the Windstar Line said they would give us all our money back plus "future cruise credits" of 100% of the price of the cancelled cruise -- best and final offer. Thank you for joining us and please disembark by Friday. We disembarked.
Soon Portuguese settlers began to arrive and over the next 600 years (for almost four hundred years, with the help of African slave labor) made the main island of Madeira look a lot like Portugal.
More than once we heard from locals in the tourist industry that recent immigrants to Madeira were driving up the prices of housing. The general consensus was that they were ethnic Portuguese repatriating from Brazil. During Portugal's dictatorship (1932-1974, primarily under Antonio de Oliveira Salazar) there was a stream of emigration to Brazil. With the recent strengthening of Brazil's economy a number of Portuguese immigrants decided to reinvest in the homeland and establish a presence in the European Union. We have never been to Brazil but - we'd buy a house in Madeira if we had the money!
About day four in Funchal the captain again called the passengers together and reported that a bearing on the shaft between one diesel engine and the electric generator it powered had frozen. Completely. The cruise was cancelled. Molly thought Bryce was going to cry, not so much due to the cancellation of the cruise as in "been-there-done-that" solidarity with those spending countless hours trying to unstick that effing bearing. Early in our relationship with Abracadabra he had spent days freeing up some frozen glow plugs. He literally felt the pain of the marine engineers.
During the following days the Windstar line made several different, unclear offers of compensation for the cancelled cruise. People departed. The house alcohol package was made complementary. We stayed. We didn't have any place to go. They were still feeding us and doing our laundry. We no longer had to keep track of our wine-with-dinner tab. Our 30th Anniversary came and went, marked not with the starlit dinner on deck as we had anticipated but at one of the ship-wide parties thrown to send the passengers off with good feelings toward the Windstar Line. The highlight of Molly's "anniversary party" was watching Bryce dance the macarena. Alas she has no video.
It's not that we weren't stressed. It's just that we don't often have the "get home" urge and even when we do we don't have a place to attach it to. So we waited until the Windstar Line said they would give us all our money back plus "future cruise credits" of 100% of the price of the cancelled cruise -- best and final offer. Thank you for joining us and please disembark by Friday. We disembarked.
Madeira, M'Dear
All in all we spent eleven days at Madeira; seven as guests of the Windstar Line and four at the Sé Boutique Hotel in Funchal. We spent a lot of our time in Funchal looking for a way to get from Madeira to Panama affordably but before we go into that, here's a bit about Madeira and what we unexpectedly enjoyed there:Madeira Is Portuguese
The Madeira archipelago is located in the Atlantic ocean, roughly 700 miles out and abeam Morocco. The islands were unoccupied when they were identified in 1419 by Portuguese explorers working their way down the African coast during the Portuguese Age of Exploration overseen by Henry the Navigator. "What a nice island, the hills are a lot like at home" they might have said. Or, more likely, "what a great strategic location for trading and repairing and protecting our trading ships" . . . |
| The Hills Around Funchal Reminded Us Of Lisbon's Hills |
Soon Portuguese settlers began to arrive and over the next 600 years (for almost four hundred years, with the help of African slave labor) made the main island of Madeira look a lot like Portugal.
 |
| Funchal |
 |
| The Jesuits College of Funchal, Built 1624 - 1640 (Now St. John Evangelist Church) |
 |
| A Street in Funchal |
 |
| An Example of Portuguese Azuelo Tile Art At The Market in Funchal |
 |
| Funchal Has A Sacred Art Museum - Very Portuguese |
More than once we heard from locals in the tourist industry that recent immigrants to Madeira were driving up the prices of housing. The general consensus was that they were ethnic Portuguese repatriating from Brazil. During Portugal's dictatorship (1932-1974, primarily under Antonio de Oliveira Salazar) there was a stream of emigration to Brazil. With the recent strengthening of Brazil's economy a number of Portuguese immigrants decided to reinvest in the homeland and establish a presence in the European Union. We have never been to Brazil but - we'd buy a house in Madeira if we had the money!
 |
| Hillside Charmers |
But Madeira Is Also Not Quite Portuguese
Shortly after the democratic revolution of 1974 Madeira was made an autonomous region of Portugal with its own government, flag and anthem. But its sub-tropical geography is what provides Madeira's non-Portuguese flair. |
| Luscious Tropical Fruit In Front, The "Delicious Fruit" -- Aptly Named |
 |
| Chiles |
 |
| The Black Scabbard Fish |
Interestingly Madeiran bananas are too small to meet EU standards for bananas. They can only be sold in Portugal. The rest of the EU is missing out on some very tasty bananas.
Madeira Is Touristy - In A Laid Back Way
Visitors to Madeira will invariably be offered a tasting of Madeira wine. Go. The wine is yummy in an after-dinner kind of way. |
| White Grape Madeira: Sercial, Verdelho, Bual and Malmsey (Driest to Sweet) |
Several companies offer self-guided or guided walking holidays in Madeira. Because we hadn't booked in advance (ha! really?) we took three of the widely-advertised guided day walks along the island's levadas, an intricate system of irrigation ditches that bring water from the wet side of the island to the farms on the drier side. These walks were a highlight of our time there even though we don't usually prefer guided walks. And fyi, the levadas have a very gentle grade so these are super simple walks.
 |
| A Levada |
 |
| This Is A Living Irrigation System - Not Just A Thing For Tourists |
 |
| Levada Maintenance Is Constant |
Before asking us to disembark the Windstar Line offered three days of complimentary bus tours around the island. Bus tours aren't usually our thing, but they seemed like a simple (inexpensive!) way to see the island. We were awed by the extensive and well-maintained road works through the island's hills and the lovely little fields of flowers, vegetables, and sugar cane perched precariously on the side of the hills.
 |
| Does The Short-Straw Guy Tend The Cliff-Side Field? |
 |
| Best Leave Driving In Madeira To The Professionals |
 |
| Many Of These Villages Have Gotten Access Roads Only Recently |
 |
| Hard Work, Farming On A Hillside |
 |
| Would You Go To Venice And Say No To A Gondola Ride? |
In Funchal we were able to attend two classical music concerts, one at the English Church and another at the Madeira Assembly Hall. And those were only two of the many live music options available during our short stay.
In sum the Wind Star's detour to Madeira was a happy accident for us and a reminder that enjoying travel is in part attitude. On that theme, a few additional shots:
 |
| The Government's Program Must Have Worked - We Saw No Rats |
 |
| Falcons On The Waterfront Used To Keep Gulls and Pigeons Away From The Tourists |
 |
| One Of The Painted Doors Of Rua de St. Maria In Funchal |
Wind Surf Cruise
As charming as we found Madeira we spent a fair amount of our time there trying to figure out how to not spend the rest of our lives there. We learned that flights from Madeira mostly went to the UK and Lisbon. Our wardrobes would not support a winter adventure in the UK. From Lisbon, of course, we could fly to anywhere - including (circuitously) Panama City. But see above - avoiding that expensive, long, painful (aren't they all?) series of flights was why we had booked the Wind Star voyage in the first place.We learned that a Windstar Line cruise from Lisbon to Sint. Maarten was leaving in two weeks. This cruise was on the slightly larger Wind Surf (342 guest capacity) a vessel that also has sail augmentation. And we had been promised future cruise credits on the Windstar Line! Everything was falling into place.
We booked the voyage on the Wind Surf, hung out a few more days in Funchal (see above) and flew to Lisbon. We spent time at the Hotel Vincci Liberdade in yet another new-to-us part of Lisbon and began to fancy ourselves "old Lisbon hands". We even found a good Vietnamese restaurant!
Unfortunately when we checked our bank statements we realized that Windstar had deducted the cost of the Wind Surf voyage from our cash reimbursement rather than applying our Future Cruise Credits. Our FCCs were still intact but as a "bird in the bush" rather than in hand. Should we have disputed this at the time? You bet. Did we? After two weeks of travel juggling and trying to interpret the Windstar Line's on-again-off-again compensation offers - no. Enough, we said. We are going to get our trans-Atlantic crossing and we will arrive in Panama City only two weeks later than anticipated. All will be good. 20/20 Hindsight Travel Tip: Do not be like us. Stay vigilant or end up with Future Cruise Credits useable only during or immediately post an unanticipated world-wide pandemic.
We boarded the Wind Surf in Lisbon.
 |
| Take Two |
Note the box Bryce is carrying. This WiFi booster antenna for Abracadabra was delivered to us in Portugal and we carried it from Cascais - Lisbon - Wind Star - Funchal - Lisbon - Wind Surf - Sint. Maarten - Panama City - Bocas del Toro. But by gawd we didn't pay for shipping! Go ahead. Roll your eyes. Molly does.
 |
| Departure From Lisbon |
 |
| Ponte 25 de Abril, Lisbon (San Franciscans May Recognize This) |
Once again the house crew was primarily Philippine and Indonesian and very attentive. Once again we struggled a bit to balance our appreciation of the crew's talent, skill and good humor with our lack of comfort at receiving the luxury cruise level of personal service. Not that we really wanted to clean our own cabin . . . it's just . . . hmmm . . . clearly we haven't worked through these feelings. What we do know is the (unrelentingly) attentive service aspect of luxury cruising isn't at the top of our Reasons For Taking Another Luxury Cruise.
The top of that list? The opportunity to take another trans-oceanic voyage. It was wonderful to be on the ocean. We watched the weather and wave patterns, tried to estimate what land mass was "just over that way", looked at the stars and just experienced that amazing part of the planet moving beneath us. Our coastal passages on Abracadabra have had (and we hope in the future will have) moments of awe and beauty and grandness. But on Abracadabra those moments compete with the constant / repetitive need to check our location, look for vessel traffic and obstructions (fishing nets, floating junk), adjust sails and / or listen / check for signs of the motor's health, confirm electrical usage and creation, confirm water and diesel usage, and prepare and clean up after meals. On the Wind Surf someone else was doing all of that. We could just watch the sea and sky without interruption.
The weather was good, the sea state was relatively smooth and our cabin was on a higher deck than previously so we experienced a lot less wave noise than during our Wind Star outing. The food was not quite as good as on the Wind Star but it was fine - the chef on the Wind Star offered a daily curry (yumm). Big meat lovers will be in heaven on the Wind Surf (Bryce was). The Wind Surf had a nice gym and was large enough that deck walking was pleasant (5 x around the deck = 1 mile). Looking at the ocean, listening to an interesting audiobook and walking - not unlike being in quarantine without worrying about a pesky global pandemic.
There were Evening Entertainments. We are not Night Life people and we enjoyed some. Through conversations with other passengers we had realized we were among the very few on our (but for three days on the Wind Star) maiden voyage. But one evening we learned that many of the passengers had taken at least 10 cruises with the Windstar Line -- and that a few had taken at least 40 - that's forty - cruises with the Windstar Line. The vague sense of entitlement/ownership we had seen some of our fellow passengers display began to make sense! These people were more like time-share owners than passengers.
This repeat cruiser syndrome was also clear when, early in the trip there was an announcement that there would be a "build a boat" competition near the end of the voyage. Clearly some of these people had been planning for this since their previous voyage. This might have been our favorite cruise event!
 |
| Even If These Guys Built These Ships In Two Weeks, They Didn't Design Them In Just Two Weeks! |
In today's pandemic environment we think it's important to disclose that each of us had a multi-day head cold on this voyage. Our colds overlapped and during Bryce's bout (he went first) we kept ourselves to ourselves at meals and spent much of our time in the cabin. By the time Molly was sick she chose to work her way through the ship's cabin service soup menu. The memory of these short illnesses sticks with us when we think about using our Future Cruise Credits. . .
Also fyi and somewhat related to our head cold disclosure, the shipboard DVD collection isn't very broad or deep. Anyone taking a long voyage who isn't an action movie fan should consider downloading some movies in advance. In the event of catching a cold.
Antigua & Sint Maarten
The Wind Surf's first Caribbean stop was at Antigua. |
| Coming In To Antigua |
We declined the shore excursions and hired a cab and driver for a few hours. We visited the Big Sight on Antigua - Nelson's Dock Yard. The Admiral lived at the dockyard from 1784 - 1787.
 |
| A Very Tiny Museum Inside |
We wandered around and drank Ting, a packed-with-sugar carbonated grapefruit drink popular in the Caribbean. Be careful, it's addictive and your doctor will not approve.
 |
| Hilltop View Of English Harbor And Nelson's Dockyard Many Of Our Cruising Compadres Were There |
Our driver then took us on a circuit of the island, introducing each little settlement by explaining what churches were there and which of his relatives lived there. It was quite sweet. That evening the Wind Surf departed for our place of debarkation -- Sint Maarten.
 |
| Tied Up In Sint Maarten |
We had planned to spend a few days on the island of Sint Maarten / St. Martin before flying out to Panama City. Whether due to (a) a general strike which made travel to the French side of the island difficult, (b) Molly's lingering cold, or (c) travel fatigue (we had been traveling for three months at that point) we aren't sure, but we did almost nothing during our four days in Sint Maarten. We spent our time lounging at the very comfortable, low-key Oyster Bay Beach Resort. We were ready to head home to Abracadabra.
Which we then did -- by air.
What We Learned
Our "luxury cruise" experience taught us that:- we may take another luxury cruise that is also a trans-oceanic crossing -- we like being on the ocean -- or a voyage to a destination of interest to us;
- we are not interested in being on a ship much larger than the Wind Surf (342 guests);
- the Eastern Caribbean is great for sailing and we hope to be there again on a sailboat - but not on a luxury cruise;
- catching a cold is easy in a confined environment (and due to subsequent world events we are now uncertain whether we will be taking a luxury cruise or any sort of group travel holiday before there is a COVID-19 vaccine);
- one should remain vigilant when trying to negotiate with travel companies - once off the ship (plane, bus - etc.) one is gone to them.
This post has also taught us that writing about our travels is a comforting thing to do while waiting out the quarantine in Panama -- so you'll be hearing from us again.
Next: How About Northern France?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)