10-14-2006 Cruisetoberfest IV

[Twinave]

So jelouse of the group going on the NYC trip. Wish I could be there! Hope you all have a great time.

High Schools...my graduating class was over 800 students. We had 2 graduation ceramonies, A-K and L-Z. And our high school only held the 10-12th grade. Great school by the way.

Made it through the first week at the new clinic. Still have a little hair on my head, and no one quit, so we are doing very well.

Loved eating in Germany at EPCOT. We had arranged to meet up with a friend, Jorge Andrew and his wife and kids. (I used to work for them) When we were seated, the head host came up to the table and was making a big deal about Jorge being there. And when the bill came he had given us all a 50% discount. Jorge was a famous tennis player in the days of Connor and Everet. He played for his country Venezula on the Davis Cup team. And he played at all the grand slam events. It was kind of fun eating with a celebrity. Teased him about him giving us his autograph.

Goodnight All,
Avé

 

[wendym]

Ave, so glad the new clinic is going well. So pleased you have accomodation sorted out for NYC. And Eric thanks for the photo.
Have a good weekend everyone.
Wendy

 

[Viking]

Ave & Mary,
did the feeder bands cause any trouble in PCB?

 

[Viking]

Wendy,
I just checked out RyanAir and made a test-booking Frankfurt-Hahn to Glasgow return: €122 for the two of us, that's about 80 Pounds. How far is it from Glasgow to Aberdeen?
Perhaps we could have a European DIS-Meet in Scotland next summer over an extended weekend.
Anja and I will travel to Thailand for two weeks in March and won't have a vacation before our four weeks in September/October, so a short trip in June/July would be fun and help ease the withdrawal symptoms
Is there more to see in Glasgow or in Aberdeen? I wouldn't want to drive in Scotland with all you crazy people on the wrong side of the road I drove about 1,000 miles in England in summer '89, but at least that was my car and had the steering wheel in the correct position - BTW: That was a Opel Corsa, '86 model

 

[padisneyfan]

I am going to have to wait for Jeanne to get back to help me with the hotel locations. I am clueless to where anything is in NYC. I need to also do research on the NJ transit system to get me into NYC. Maybe can just come fo the day and then drive back in the evening.

I have so much stuff going on in regards to the conference that haven't had much time to do any research on the internet.

Ave--- Glad the clinic opening is going well.

Eric--- Thanks for all the information about the Germany pavilion in Epcot. I might have to try to eat there on one of my trips coming up.


Jennifer--- I really like Bomas. We have eaten there several times. I could just do the soup, salad and dessert and be happy, but not very cost effective to just do those items.

Wendy--- Thanks for the link on amazon, I am going to order one of the used books.

I graduated from a really small HS in upper PA, we had 80 in our graduation class which was large. Remember I'm a baby boomer. Since my sons both graduated from Catholic HS one had 76 in his class and the other had 89. So going to college for them was their first time to experience large classes. Though both of them are in majors that don't have alot of students in a class.

Glad to see on Survivor that Stephanie wasn't voted off.

The suspense on Lost continues. I really like that show. I though Invasion was also very interesting.

Fiona or Jim--- If you are traveling Southwest did you see that you can now print out your boarding pass 24 hours ahead instead of after midnight. Are you packed yet? When it cools down here, I am just going to but those summer clothes right into a suitcase.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Nancy

 

[Viking]

Nancy,
we don't even eat German food in Germany, so we've never eaten at the German pavillion But we always bring a stack of German magazines for the castmembers there. Usually the WDW-portion is towards the end of our vacation so we're through with them, but they really are treasures for the CMs. The sparkling in their eyes is worth carrying a 6 lbs load of magazines across the park. Those people are abroad, have low salaries, and German magazines are a) hard to get in the USA and b) very expensive.
Perhaps three or four times a year we eat German. Usually when we're going to Gramps' birthday party or similar occasions. And then I always have German food when we have visitors from our Denver office, they're all addicted to it and we always have to take them to a Gasthaus But I guess it's the same with us and Dunkin' Donuts and Taco Bell in teh US

But we have an EPCOT food tradition: We always have cake or pastries at the Norwegian Pavillion. We feed the crumbs to the little birdies and then we do Maelstrom.

 

[padisneyfan]

So is Gasthaus a chain restaurant. Or is it Gashouse (like filled with gas after eating there). If what you described to me earlier about german food being alot of meat and potatoes without much vegs and fruit, I can see why you don't eat it much. Sauerkraut is about as German as I get food wise.

Now Mexican and Chinese I could do all the time.

Nancy

 

[wendym]

Eric
Glasgow is about 3.5 hours away from us. It isn't exactly our favourite place as our car was robbed there but that was a long time ago. History wise Edinburgh is probably better and that is about 30 mins away by train. Driving is really easy over here - says she who doesn't drive of course!
Of course I am very biased about Aberdeen but we love it although there isn't as much to see as Edinburgh. Depending on when you and Anja came we would definitley meet up with you - haven't got my summer vacation booked yet but we are normally away the month of July.

 

[Twinave]

Can't believe New Orleans has flooded again! Just as the city was begining to dry out..... back under 7 feet of water! Those poor people!
A few showers from Rita here, but if you didn't know there was a hurricanne out there it wouldn't even be noticed. Watching Texas coast now. Most people have evacuated, storm seems to be weakening. Pray!

Day off today, slept in, went to lunch with a former co-worker, helped Casey build his Lego castle. Guess I'll have to cook dinner tonight.

Later, Avé

 

[usetheforceluke]

Nancy: Yes, thanks, we saw that pre-boarding thing already. No, we're not all packed yet; there's like a whole week to go yet. As for the summer clothes, well, it's averaging in the 60s here during the day lately and that's still summer clothing weather, although I've seen mittens and down-filled clothing starting to pop up here and there.

Eric: Never thought of taking local magazines to WDW for the Canadian staffers down there. We'll have to cart over a few kilos that we have hanging around.

One week to go and we'll be on our way!!

Jim.

 

[Viking]

Jim,
I guess the Canadians shouldn't have problems to get Magazines from up north, i.e. '99 Beaver Recipes' or 'How to cook a Moose' or 'Ladies on Lumber'
Canada is a bit closer to the US, isn't it

Nancy,
Gasthaus is simply the German word for Country Inn. And I'm still surprised that your friend didn't get any salad or veggies. OK, most German dishes consist of meat, but usually they always come with some veggies i.e. a mix of carrots and peas, and a side salad ist standard as well. But perhaps your friend was simply fed 'tourist grub'

Wendy,
I was just brainstorming, but it would be great to meet in Scotland for a weekend. We can talk about it after our return from Thailand in April - or perhaps even as early as January, because that's when we have to finalize our vacation schedule for '06.

 

[wendym]

Eric - that would be great. By Jan I will know when in the summer we are going, when in June my main marking will be and whether I am going away with first year's for activities week.

 

[Laurarn]

Hi everyone! Back from my 4 day Wonder Cruise. I'm still getting my landlegs. Here's a quick (hopefully) trip report. Had a nice hot day last Sunday for embarkation. As we were standing in line in the terminal was the first I heard of a "tropical depression...aka Rita". They changed our itinerary from Nassau, CC, Sea day to Sea Day, Nassau, CC. They handed these memos out while we were in line. We also got 8:30 dining with PTTA. After boarding, I got Palo changed to Monday night. Well, Sunday went fine, in fact, I'm used to the beginnings of the ship rocking the first night, but that didn't happen. It was weird, It was so smooth. Cabin Tv said mild breezes with 1.5-3 ft seas. Sounds good to me. Then we saw that we were heading directly east of PC and wrapping around the back of the storm. On Monday, we started to feel the difference, Capt. Henry kept us in the sunshine and the water was getting choppy from the wind, but still only 5 ft seas. My one sister and I did the "Couples Massage" and then the rainforest room (my first time there). It was sooooo relaxing! By Monday night, it became extremely windy and the waves were amazing! We checked the TV and it said strong gale force winds and 13-20 ft. waves. The Promenade deck was closed due to winds. We were really rocking and rolling. (I admit I was feeling a bit nervous in bed that night). We had gone to Palo that night, and it would've sat better if I didn't feel like I was on that "freefall" amusement ride! We'd go way up, then way down. We went out to deck 10 after dinner and watched the "wave pools". They put nets over them. They adult pool would empty half way on one side and the wave would crash on the other. We got in the hot tub to watch and got wet from the spray of the pool. We were still heading to Nassau though as I watched the CNN weatherman on tv reporting live from there regarding the storm. Luckily, it wasn't Jim Cantore, then I know we were heading the wrong way! He's always at ground zero for these things. We woke up to a thunderstorm on Tues. We arrived in Nassau at noon and it was a mix of clouds and sun and windy (Rita had left). Went to the straw market and caught the bus to Cable Beach. It was okay. Tuesday night was Pirate night. We missed most of the deck party due to dinner, but caught the fireworks display. Very cool! Weds. was CC. It looked like a beautiful day ahead, but 30 minutes after getting on the beach and every 30 min. or so after that, it would get dark, thunder and rain. So the day was a mix, but we were able to get some beach time. They cancelled alot of the excursions, including parasailing for my sisters, but we still had a great day. Serenity Bay is still the best. I grabbed a float and just layed there. Those waters were calm. All in all it was a great trip...relaxing and adventurous. My favorite things were Serenity bay, our servers...Ramon and Vijay, the spa experience, the chicken wings in Diversions for Sunday football, and I tried karaoke for the first time! Luckily it was 1 am at that point, and hopefully no one remembers me. My sister, Jen, sang with me and she worked her way around the room to get folks rowdy...we sang "friends in low places by Garth Brooks". The hardest part was leaving the ship (as always), but I got my DCL fix and can't wait until next year!
Best wishes, and sorry so long...
Laura

 

[WDWCrazzyCunninghams]

Laura...WELCOME HOME!!! No need to apologize for the length of your post! I love to hear all the details! I sure wish I was getting my DCL fix...heck, even a WDW fix would be nice!, but it looks like I'll be waiting until 10/06 for that! Glad you were able to enjoy the trip!

 

[Viking]

Vielen Dank für den Bericht, Laura
Sounds like you had a great time. But you should be more careful about what you're posting: You must be aware that you will now substitute Andy and have to do Karaoke with Marianne

 

[Laurarn]

I'll only do karaoke if they give me that free (blue double shot of something) before I sing. Still not sure what I was drinking!

 

[usetheforceluke]

I guess the Canadians shouldn't have problems to get Magazines from up north, i.e. '99 Beaver Recipes' or 'How to cook a Moose' or 'Ladies on Lumber'

Beaver meat is tough and if it isn't cooked properly is yuckky. The tail, however, is nice. Moose is very nice if done properly... works better if you're out in the backcountry over a campfire. Raccoon is also nice. I didn't care for skunk or porcupine but that could just have been the way that it was prepared... sort of reminded me of a cross between rat meat and kangaroo. I had a mis-spent youth.

As for the 'How to cook a moose', there's a beer brand called Moosehead, so it would be better entitled 'How to drink a Moose'.

Unfortunately the Canadian market doesn't quite support a lot of Canadian magazines. Most of them are more-or-less US versions with a Canadian content section.

There is a new Disney outlet just opened up today, about 20 minutes from us, so guess what we were doing today?

Now we only have six days to go.... I'm supposed to start packing today but that's An Impossible Dream.

Jim.

 

[Viking]

Lucky you: Our Disney store closed in 2000. It was a three story store on Frankfurt's main shopping street. They carried a wide variety of Disney-clothing, sold cels, memorabilia, ceramic-figurines, plush-characters, had a travel-agency for Disneyland Paris, etc. But they tried to price the stuff like in the USA. That this doesn't work in Europe, Disney learned the hard way in France with the park. It was exactly the same in the store: There were always enough people in the store - but they didn't buy enough
Another problem: Disney gave away licenses to C&A and H&M, which are two major players in the European clothing business (German and Swedish companies), who sell Disney apparel at very affordable prices. So especially kids' clothes could be bought across the street at a fraction of teh prices Disney called up.

 

[Viking]

Jeanne,
what's the dresscode for those New York-shows? Do I need to bring a jacket or can I go casual? And what about Anja?

 

[wendym]

Laura
Thank you for the trip report - it sounds like a great time!
Wendy