The first leg of the trip took me to San Francisco to visit with my son, Chris. He has a lovely apartment totally devoid of clutter, and a sign over the kitchen sink that says "Wash it Now." On our first night together, we had dinner in a restaurant that served wonderful crepes, where we both got slightly entangled in the Halloween decorations (the imitation spider webs were directly over our table).
The next day, while Chris was at work, I visited the famous de Young Museum which just happened to have the Quilts of Gee's Bend on exhibit. I could hardly believe my luck! It is a fantastic collection of quilts with lots of photos of the women who made them along with lots of history. In addition, there is a 28-minute movie of the women talking about their lives and their love of quilting.
After a day at the museum, I enjoyed the Japanese Tea Garden, and returned to Chris's apartment. We then met with a special friend, Laurie G., for dinner (she had just moved from San Diego to San Jose). Our farewell dinner was repeatedly punctuated by the musical ring of my cell phone and the excellent advice from my husband to take a taxi to my hotel.
Very early the next morning I flew out to Newark, NJ to join up with my sisters. The eldest, Ruth, lives in Englewood Cliffs, NJ, and the middle one, Susan, lives in Montpellier, in France. Susan arrived about an hour before I did, and Ruth took us home and then out to a great Italian dinner with her husband, Phil.
On the following day, my sisters and I began a journey to Massachusetts where we visited with two aunts and three cousins whom we hadn't seen in many years.
Our first stop was in Darien, Connecticut, at my nephew's house. It's a busy home with a 6-yr-old (who is crazy about ancient Egypt) and 17-month-old triplets. It was my first meeting with the triplets, and they are all wonderful little people. When I told their older sister, Alex, that I was going to Ireland and would send her pictures from there, she responded that she thought it would be even better if I went to Egypt and sent her pictures from there!
I was very lucky to be able to visit with two old friends from my days at the Irish Arts Center in New York. These are friends I met in the 70's and last saw about ten years ago. Thank you, Chris G. and Kathleen O., for a wonderful visit catching up on old times.
At the end of the week, my husband arrived from the west coast, and we prepared our baggage for the move. I can safely say that we had more baggage than Hannibal and his entourage of elephants transported over the alps. This was due to various insanities, glitches, and unrealistic projections about our proposed travel plans. Suffice to say, we had to order a large taxi to take us to the Brooklyn cruise terminal where we were due to board the Queen Mary 2 on Sunday, Nov. 5.
''The Queen Mary 2"
Since the New York marathon was being held on the same day, we allowed an extra hour to reach the terminal. The taxi driver informed us that he had never driven there before, and we had to read him the directions as he drove. Despite this handicap, we arrived an hour ahead of our scheduled boarding time. An army of porters relieved us of our burdens, and we boarded the ship for a week of endless food and spoiling. Whether you be diurnal, nocturnal or crepuscular, there is always food available somewhere on the ship.
The QM 2 is a large and commodious vessel, until recently the largest afloat. Here is a picture of me beside it for comparison.
''Lisa beside the QM 2"
We settled into our commodious and comfortable balcony stateroom, where we found chocolates on the pillows and a split of champagne in an ice bucket.
''Lisa in balcony stateroom on the QM 2"
We had a grand view of the New York City skyline and harbor from the balcony.
''NYC skyline from balcony"
''Another view of the NYC skyline"
We then went up on deck to look around. The views were fantastic!
''Lisa on deck"
Leaving NY harbor, we passed the Statue of Liberty, and saw a marvelous sunset.
''Statue of Liberty"
''Sunset on NY harbor"
While on board, we attended lectures by Oxford dons, one of whom, Jeremy Black, is one of my husband's long-time favorite authors and historians, who kindly consented to have coffee with us. He is a man of astonishing knowledge from diverse fields, and a great lecturer! I also enjoyed a fascinating lecture series on Faust while aboard. We attended a couple of theater performances, planetarium shows, etc., and one of the formal dinners. I made a new friend, Cynthia W., who lives in Wolverhampton, England. We enjoyed several meals together, sampling the various offerings of the numerous restaurants, and making her acquaintance was one of the highlights of my trip.
'''Lisa and Cynthia"
Most of the trip, the weather was fairly good for that time of year, and we saw many interesting sights, including porpoises and some marvelous sunsets.
''Sunset at Sea"
We only had two days of rough weather (winds up to Force 9), but barely noticed it, due to the ship's size and stability, except when we were in the water therapy pool, where the water sloshed from side to side as the ship rolled in the waves.
''Stormclouds at Sea"
At last, on the morning of the 12th, we woke early to find ourselves nearing Southampton.
