Adventure OTS Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (Day 4 of Cruise)

Our Next port of call was Charlottetown, PEI for a full day from 8am to 5:30pm. The temperature was 7C (45F) with 20 mph winds, with mostly cloudy skies and rain showers. The worst weather of the trip. There was a Sudoku challenge in the Schooner bar in the morning, so we had breakfast in the windjammer and headed to the challenge. Neither of us got in top 3, some lady was done in about 2 minutes. It was ridiculous, we need to work on our speed.


We wanted to wait  a little to see if the weather would improve, and it did - a little. We took our bikes off the ship and rode along the coastline to Victoria Park, and PEI Battery Park.
  




Charlottetown is the birthplace of Canada in the sense that the founding Fathers from the original five colonies (Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec) gathered here in 1864 to write the document that would lead to formation of the British North American Act that Queen Victoria signed into law in 1867.  That is how Canada was granted it's independence from England.


Then we continued along to see the Lighthouses, and Queen Elizabeth Park. We cut back into town and parked the bikes while we walked around some. We opted to skip poutine again, and head back to the ship for a late lunch.

 PEI Battery Park

 Brighton Beach Range Front Lighthouse

 A lighthouse in someones yard in PEI.

 Cannabis would be legal a couple days after we leave Canada, shops are everywhere.

 I could never figure out what trash went where with three choices.

A memorial to the PEI Soldiers who lost their lives in the two World Wars, in Korea and Afghanistan

 Port Charlottetown was a good distance from town, good thing we had our bikes.

 Charlottetown City Hall

 We were finally in lobster country!

 A cool Halloween decoration this biker flew off his bike into a tree.

 The rainbow side walk in PEI

 Tim Hortons is the favorite coffee shop, they serve Poutine too, Kind of like the McDonalds of US.

 Fresh Lobster right off the boat

There was an Ice Skating Show tonight before dinner, "Cool Art, Hot Ice!". We left the diamond lounge early to get in line. It was a good show on a tiny 40 x 60 ft rink.

 Caribbean music on the Promenade. Most activities from the pool deck were moved to the promenade on dk5.

 After biking a day in the rain we decided to warm up in the hot tub before the diamond lounge.

 Great dinner again in the main dining room.

Adventure of the Seas - Quebec City, Quebec CA Day 3

Started our day with a yummy breakfast at Hotel Le Dauphin and then jumped in the rental car to drive the 150 miles to Quebec City to get on the ship, Adventure of the Seas. The ship was going to be in port overnight and departing the next day so there was no rush to get on. It was a beautiful drive up to Quebec City, as the leaves were turning. The landscape was on fire.

 On the way up we decided to visit Montmorency Falls, just outside of Quebec City while we still had a vehicle. It was a cold and blustery day. We didn't have a lot of time before the car rental was due so we didn't go to the top and walk across the falls, but you can. There is also a gondola you can ride to the top for a nominal fee. These falls were beautiful. They are higher than Niagra Falls at 270 feet.

 After visiting the Falls we drove back to Quebec City and returned the car, which was an adventure in itself. There was a long line of people waiting outside the Avis office for someone to return a car, so they were glad to see us! We had dropped our big bags at the ship earlier, so we just had backpacks to walk back the kilometer back to the ship. We wondered around and took some pictures of town.

 When we got on the ship we dropped our stuff and wandered around. We checked out our dinner table and of course it was not a large table, only a 4 top for us and our friends. We got that straightened out and got a 8 top where we met two sisters Kathy and Chrissy, and there husbands Mark and Joel. They hailed from California and Alabama. We all connected and enjoyed our dinners every night in the main dining room until they turned the lights on to kick us out. It was a great experience, and is exactly the reason we always request a large table in the dining room. The great connection finally happened, and it probably won't again for ten years.

We unpacked our folding bicycles in the room for ride around the port the next day. We didn't get off that ship in the evening because it started to rain. We enjoyed our first night in the Diamond Lounge even though it was super crowded. There were over 1000 diamond members trying to get drinks in a small room with 60 chairs. Staff soon set up an extra bar in the Blue Moon to serve drinks and that helped. They served potstickers and chicken wings for appetizers. Yum!



Adventure of the Seas - Montreal, Quebec CA Day 2

Actually, this is day 1 pictures which I realized were missing when I wrote yesterdays post. But we were in Montreal on Saturday and Sunday. The action is on Charlotte Street in the Village. There were barricades blocking the street so everyone can walk in the road. The street is lined with overhead balls on strings that reflect the lights, and that is cool too. The night we walked around there was a Festival of Color with marching groups dancing in costume and playing music. It had a Caribbean flair to it.


We had some poutine in a resto on one of the side streets, I can't get enough of that stuff. We also road bikes on the bike paths along the river to see the unique apartments called Habitat 67.

Parade on Charlotte Street

Charlotte Street in the Village

Shop in The Village

Charlotte Street bikes

Poutine at Dirty Pizza resto

Mont Royal stairs to top of park

Bixi Bikes

Here is a link to all Montreal photos Montreal Photos

Make Money with Your New Fitbit, And Some Tips

Today in the paper it announced that the Fitbit app was the most downloaded app on Christmas Day. That means lots of people are going to start tracking their steps and hopefully get healthier. I got a fitbit early this year and have enjoyed the confirmation of my daily steps and it is one of my apps I check almost daily. The cool thing is you can turn your daily steps into money by linking your fitbit with some reward programs and other apps.

If you've got a new fitbit, here are some tips.

• Wear it and forget it. If you take it off, you may forget it and miss out on your tracking.
• The unit charge lasts several days, it charges on a usb port on PC or wall charger. charge it while sedentary reading or watching tv, or overnight.
• Track specific workouts by tapping twice. then you can check the data on your PC to see expanded view of your activity progress.
• Log sleep manually if you forget to tap twice before you lay your head down.
• Link your fitbit to My Fitness Pal app to automatically add your steps to that app. Go to settings on your MFP app and click add devices, it will take you to website to allow fitbit to access your account.
• If unsure of accuracy compare to cardio trainer app, or Moves app to validate movement. Actually if you don't want to buy a fitbit, the moves app will track activity without an additional device, just have your phone with you. Won't work for swimming or yoga, but would work for biking. The Moves app also can be linked to your www.ShopYourWay.com account to earn you points and $2 each week at Kmart or Sears.
• Join higi.com to make money from exercising, android app. Link your fitbit and moves app to higi to earn even more. There is usually a new Challenge every month where you can win gift cards by logging in at higi stations (blood pressure machines) in Publix stores and other retail pharmacies.
• Join www.Fitstudio.com and link it to your www.ShopYourWay.com account (at Kmart and Sears) to earn 2000 points each week you walk 15 miles. The points expire quickly within the week, but we've used it to get stuff almost every week.
• Download app and join Google Fit which you can link to GoodCoins to earn points. Not really sure how many points you need or what they are worth.
• Fitbit comes with a small and large wristband. Its good to have spare. If you don't like your color you can buy a fashionable band. They even sell leather and metal ornaments to make it look pretty.

Enjoy!