Today is the first opportunity I have had to pull out the laptop!  We have been busy spending a day in Boston, a day in Newport, R.I. and a new port-of-call for us, St. John’s in Newfoundland.  It was lovely sailing into the port at St. John’s despite the rainy, cloudy weather.  It was a collection of “fishing type” houses clinging to the craggy cliffs or scattered up the surrounding slopes.  I was quite surprised to learn the Island has 6,000 miles of coastline!  Once on shore, I could clearly see that the ancestors were from the English west country, Scotland and Ireland.   The architecture reminded me of the small towns in Scotland and the multi-colored houses reminded me of those on the Isle of Mull.  I also saw similarities to old Quebec.  It certainly doesn’t give the appearance of being the largest city in a province or the economic hub of the province but apparently it is.  We met some local ladies who were very happy to share their knowledge with us.  They said St. Johns is the “most easterly-city” in North America and they seemed darn proud of that.  They told us all about the great fire of 1892 and how the city was destroyed and was re-built.  One lady showed us all around St. Johns Anglican Parish.  Once again, she was very proud of the fact that it was the oldest parish in North America.  Not the oldest church, as the structure itself burned in the fire and was rebuilt.

I cannot imagine living in this city.  As quaint and lovely as it is, I have no idea where they hide their population of over 100,000 people.  It felt very small and confined with narrow streets.  Because it is built on the side of the slopes, one must climb many flights of stairs to get from one street to another.  They must do lots of internet shopping because shops were few.  All-in-all it was a wonderful day and always great to see how others live their lives.  We loved the locals and found them to be extremely friendly.

Today we are somewhere on the north Atlantic and will be at sea for three full days before arriving in Reykjavik, Iceland.   I have to say we are experiencing lots of motion but handling it well.  This morning we had quite the treat.  We had breakfast with Dick Vermeil (NFL coach) and his wife Carol.  Don Shula’s sister, Jeanette, also joined us.  You can imagine that Jim was in hog-heaven with the opportunity to chat for an hour, one-on-one, with Dick.  We were also invited to visit his winery in Napa.  We will definitely do that.

Guest speaker today was Jim Tunney, the Dean of NFL referees.  Yesterday it was Don Shula.  I’m hoping Jim will have the chance to meet them later in the cruise.  They will be on the ship until we reach Dover.