Colorado - out and about heading home

We slept in... I don't know that we meant to. I could blame it on the time zone as Colorado is Mountain time, but more likely we all just needed a little extra sleep. We missed breakfast at the hotel and decided to just check out and run by Panera for a little something to hold us till lunch.

After Panera, we headed back to Boulder. We had talked about doing the Celestial Seasoning Tea Factory Tour. But the factory isn't actually running on the weekends, so instead we decided to just buzz over and check out the shop, and see where it was for next time.
The shop was filled with delightful bits and bobs. Many adorable tea lover trinkets and LOTS of tea. We picked up a few boxes of flavors we don't have at our local store.

We decided we will return the next time we are in the area on a weekday and do the whole tour experience. On our way out I spotted something in the field... what could that be... Prairie Dogs?
Yup... soooo many!!! I was totally taken back by how many, how close to us, and well them just being there, to begin with. Once we spotted them there, we saw them all over the place. Amazing.

From here we were off to the Denver Zoo.. you know us and zoos.
It was an easy drive but parking was insane... it was clear that something was going on at the zoo.... and it involved people in costumes and candy from what we could tell. We were lucky enough to notice the Denver Museum of Nature and Science almost next door and decided that was a better fit... It really was!

Parking was easy peasy and the museum was WONDERFUL. We saw quite a bit of it and really enjoyed our time.

This wrapped right into time to head home. We returned our rental, checked our bags, and picked up some dinner before boarding our flight home. An uneventful three hours later we were waiting for our bags at baggage claim.

We had a bit of unwanted excitement getting to the car when our oldest rolled his ankle. It was a first for him (not for me or sister), but we got him through it and home for ice and rest. He will be on sprain ankle protocol for a few days... I think it is just strained, but the difference is currently lost on him.

Besides the ankle, it was a great weekend adventure. We all enjoyed Colorado and look forward to going back.

Europe - Day 24 (New York, NY)

Back in the USA. We leave our floating home for good today. We are not entirely sure we want to, but the process of packing everything up has us all ready to move on.
The Magic is in NYC at Pier 88. We took a few pictures form our balcony of the sights.

I spy the Empire State Building!

Next to us... cool! 

We are glad to be late seating, as it means we get to sleep in a bit longer and go to the second breakfast seating. We were out of our room, with all our stuff at 8, and breakfast, back at Rupunsel's at 8:15 am. [Editor's Note: We had our final time change from the Atlantic to Eastern time zone, so 8:15 am felt like 9:15 am. It was still earlier than I would have liked, though.] A quick breakfast and final goodbye and hugs to our serving team. Maria and Marco were wonderful!
Once breakfast was done, all disembarkation groups were cleared to leave the ship, so we were able to walk off with ease. Suitcases were found and we moved through customs/immigration pretty quickly.
Now for the adventure of getting a taxi (or the like) to our hotel. This was my first real experience with the loud and fast pace of this city... oh, and the number of people!
At least 30 of us were all trying to cross the street to get to the taxi stands (all with suitcases). There were a few guys walking the crowd offering rides places. These guys had nothing indicating they were drivers for a cab company, or Uber or Lyft....just guys walking around... "hey, where you going?" [Editor's note: Some of them had printed out the Uber logo and were carrying it with them to make them seem more legit.] Then a nearby construction worker (hard hat and vest) started yelling at all of us "don't get into any car unless it's a yellow cab!" "Don't talk to those guys" "Keep walking to the taxi line".
Okay... so we all hustled across the street and queued up, but the taxi lane with filled with black SUVs.... more of these non-taxi guys. We waited for a bit and exchanged looks with others from our cruise. Then decided this wasn't how we wanted to spend the next half hour... so we walked about a block a way to give some distance from all the commotion, and hubby called a Lyft.
The other guys could have been Uber or Lyft drivers [Editor's Note: Probably not, since NYC requires Uber and Lyft drivers to have a special license to operate in the city], but we were more comfortable going the official route. Soon we were rolling to our hotel and getting checked in.
The Homewood Suites in Midtown Manhattan was prepared for us and several other families from our ship. The room wasn't ready yet (note: it's still before 10 am) but they tagged and stored our luggage so we could head out to see some stuff.

We headed to the American Museum of Natural History.

Funny, it's another museum with ties to the Night at the Museum movies. But we enjoyed the regular exhibits we were able to explore plus the Unseen Oceans exhibit we added on. Here come a ton of pictures.

This was the coolest! a huge kinetic sand table! with a dynamic projection on top, so as you move the sand... the color of it changes. (Video below) 

This was just what our young man needed... He really enjoyed it. 

The table was set up so people could visualize different ocean depths. They had a cool projector above that changed the color of things based on how high or low the sand was built up. So you could make islands, or trenches. They asked that you stay no longer than 10 minutes if people were waiting. [Editor's note: Lucky for us, there weren't too many people around so no one was waiting.] We want one at home.

After the museum, we took the subway back to the hotel and got into our room. We were able to take a hour or so break before dinner and our evening show!

This seems like real NY pizza to me

Tonight we have tickets to see Frozen on Broadway. We decided on Frozen several months ago and picked up the tickets. But this evening as we make our way around town to get to the show... the kids seem unsure of our choice.

But after the show, they were very glad we did it. Both enjoyed it. Our young man pointed out all the differences from the film and our young lady had the soundtrack on her phone before bed. 

One last stop before we call it... a glimpse at Time Square. 

A glimpse was all I could handle.... Apparently I am not a city girl. 

We had a short hop back to the hotel - now to unwind and get to sleep. Tomorrow home. 

Europe - Day 20 (Transatlantic Day 7)

We are back to a run of port days! Which can only mean one thing... we have successfully made it to North America, across the pond, or whatever you want to say. [Editor's note: Yes, we realize that the title of this post still says "Europe". It's going to say that for the rest of the trip for consistency.]
And today we are in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Our excursion is after lunch so we get a mellow breakfast and morning.

Views of Sydney from the top deck

Classic ship picture

Looking out the front

The excursion was to the Alexander Graham Bell museum to explore and for the kids to make kites. If we get some wind maybe fly them.
It was about an hour bus ride out to the museum. Our guide was pretty informative. But it kind of reminded me of driving around with my grandfather, in the kind of information and the subjects he focused on.

people getting ready to go on tours

our bus - rolling along

There was also a little mix up at the museum. It's hard to tell if they were actually ready for us. It seemed that despite the tour info saying kids made the kites, and adults would get that time to relax and explore, everyone was making kites. And they didn't have the space to accommodate all of us. So, they took about 70% of the group and the rest of us checked out the museum.
This had some hiccups as the second group... our group... had significantly less time to make kites... we had a little over a half hour, while the first group, had a little over an hour. Yeah, not sure where the communication broke down. But it all worked out in the end.
We even made it back to the ship on time.

It turned out to be a lovely day

Checking out the museum

Ready to make some Kites

Framework is done

We always enjoy watching the ship depart and today we had a great view.

Skylar keeping the finished kite safe on the way back

Kiddos saw one of these for the first time... and were excited to "figure out" how to use it!

Back on the ship we settled into our "usual" evening routine. The evening show was a acapella group from Florida [The Edge Effect]. They were really good. Dinner we got to return to Rapunzel's Royal Table - Such a fun restaurant.
I am starting to feel congested - more so than just some random allergies. I loaded up on water and took some medicine and went to bed. Fingers crossed it's a fleeting thing.

Over all a nice cruise day!

Europe - Day 15 (Transatlantic Day 2)

Cobh, Ireland.
I have been pronouncing this wrong for months, so hopefully I can get it right today... it is pronounced "cove".

We pulled in before we were all awake. I noticed in my sleepy state because last night we had a fair amount of movement on the ship. It wasn't rough seas, but it was definitely noticeable and probably had some people a bit uncomfortable. So when we were suddenly still, I figured we were in port.

We had found a simple tour we thought we might do in town this morning, then we had tickets to the Titanic Museum in the afternoon. But, we were moving slow. The guys ended up going to breakfast without us girls. And they closed breakfast as the boys put a plate together for us. So we were all able to munch a bit before we left the ship.

walking around the town

Ooooo! another coffee machine. 

view back to the ship

In the end, we left the ship more than an hour later than we thought we would...chalk it up to being day 15 of the trip. We got off the ship and started walking around town. We saw the Titanic Museum and decided to look for the tour we were thinking of. But after a few minutes of looking in the location where it was supposed to be and seeing no sign of anything resembling something tour related, we decided to move on. [Editor's Note: We learned later that they stop doing the tour on weekdays in September.] We wandered the town and popped into a few shops along the way. We were able to pick up a much needed glasses repair kit and a few souvenirs. Then we decided to walk through the Cobh Heritage Center. They gave us each a card representing someone who was on the Titanic or other ships of that era and we could find the story of that person in the exhibits. It was a nicely put together exhibit. Only two of the four of our persons from the past survived... but we all enjoyed the information.

Model that was made for the movie "Far and Away"

By the time we finished here it was time for the Titanic Experience. We had a set time for this, as it's more tour than museum. Again we were each given the name of a passenger from the Titanic. This time, each person actually boarded the Titanic here in Cobh (then Queenstown) for that "fateful journey" (as our history buff young man would say). Our guide took us and a dozen or so others through the whole process that our characters went through. The Experience is actually housed in the same building - the old White Star Line building. So we literally walked in their footsteps. We stood on the balcony where the 2nd and 1st class passengers stood while they waited for the tender to the ship. Saw the old pier... which is now just supports, not usable, but also clearly they don't want to restore it... showing it as is, helps put the timeline together - I think.
The whole thing was good. And it ends with some exhibits to see artifacts etc. And lastly, a look at the roster and see if your historic person survived. All but one of us made it onto the lifeboats. In general I think this gave a nice mix of history and emotion to the basic story we all know.

fun with mirrors

We headed back to our floating home for a late lunch (I know... it's just how we roll now). And the timing of seeing this exhibit literally the day we set sail across the Atlantic has floated about in my brain a few times today. My mom texted me with info about current hurricanes, but ultimately we aren't going that far south and just last night the captain said he is keeping an eye on things and isn't concerned about any of the current storms. Ok... enough of that!

in line to get back on the ship

sights from our balcony

Mural for the anniversary

Lunch from Room Service was just what we all needed. I had some time to hit the coffee bar and blog before an early evening Mom and Daughter Pedicure.  Hubby enjoyed the evening show and we enjoyed dinner at Lumiere's and relaxed until bedtime.

Looking forward to a few days at sea.

Europe - Day 11

London!

Our plans today are museum, another bus tour and then another museum. Plus whatever else we roll into while we are out (but, that probably won't be much - our young man has said he is tired of new plans).

So we took advantage of the kitchen and enjoyed a simple breakfast in the room. I will admit I am missing the fancy coffee machines from Germany and France, but here they have a nespresso machine and I tried my hand at that this morning.

Also a Backup Plan BINGO update... we have a bingo! So the kids will get some bonus pounds to get something at one of the Museums.

And we are off.... First stop, after a couple trains - the Museum of Natural History.

We heard rave reviews of this last night on our bus tour and thought we should check it out. It was clear that we wouldn't be able to cover the whole place in a few hours, but we decided on few exhibts that we were most intersted in and went from there.
This place is amazing! Just the building is breathtaking.. all the carvings and stone work... I took as many pictures of that as the exhibits.

We enjoyed our time and the kids hit the store - BINGO prizes.

Then we were back to the Underground to our next stop the B Bakery Afternoon Tea Bus. What? High Tea service on a double-decker bus while touring London? That sounds just about perfect!
It was. We loved it! Well, the girls loved it. Hubby said it was good. But tea service isn't really our son's thing. We knew this going in and he had a some lunch beforehand, so he enjoyed the sights and had some scones and a cupcake. The rest of us helped out by eating his food for him.... we are just helpful like that.

Our Bus!

View of the first level of the bus

Our tea service.... tea still to come

Does this even need a caption... perfect

Sights along the way.

Cutest Scone ever!

Trafalgar Square

Sadly Big Ben (or the clocktower) is undergoing a multi year refurbishment. And we were not able to see the icon. Just a LOT of scaffolding. 

This fellow looks concerned to me.... I wonder why.

This tour had very little narration. It had some, but between the music and the ladies all talking it was hard to hear. We knew this ahead of time an it was actually part of the reason we did the night tour... for all the narration. Both tours took similar routes. But today's tour had clotted cream.... enough said.
In all honesty it was a fun way to have tea. Not too fancy, and clearly locals use it for celebrations - based on how many times we sang happy birthday.

After our tour - it was time for the British Museum. This was our plan from yesterday. Our young man really wanted to go here. I knew he had some "Night at the Museum" reasons for wanting to go, but beyond that I didn't know his specific intentions. Whereas the Natural History Museum is detailed and ornate, the British Museum feels more open and modern.... modern, seems like the wrong word. Either way both are very cool and a few hours isn't enough to make much of a dent.

British Museum...Here we come 

Trying to decide what is next.

Equally as interesting building as the Natural History Museum... but completely different

We ran into an issue here as our young man very much wanted to see the Great Wave off Kanagawa, which the British Museum has one of the originals of. However, what we didn't know is that the Japan exhibit is being remodeled and won't open until "September", when I asked I was told the 27th. So that was a bust. He was rather disappointed, but all in all got through it well. But it did put a big damper on our plan for that museum. We looked through a few more galleries and hit the store, where we picked up a book about the Great Wave. [Editor's note: Researching this later, we learned that it usually isn't on display and the last time it was on display was from May-August 2017 before being locked away again to preserve it. It sounds like the British Museum only displays it for a few months every 5 years or so. There are others in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, but as far as I can tell, those aren't currently on display either.]

At this point in the day we decided to call it... dinner and be done.

We did some research earlier on and found a Mexican place called Tortilla, that looked like a Chipotle type thing. I know Mexican food in UK is a funny ask, but we wanted different than we had been having. [Editor's note: And it's not really Mexican. They don't even advertise it as that. They refer to themselves as "Californian" since they were started by a couple from California who missed the burritos from the Mission District in San Francisco.] It worked out great and was tasty - I wasn't sure I would ever be hungry again after our Tea, but low and behold, I enjoyed a taco etc.

Back in the room we are just relaxing and making plans for tomorrow. At some point soon we need to pack.