NOTE: The first ten photos (including two of Anne Marie and Flat Stanley) are from our visit to Al Fujairah of the UAE earlier today and the remaining seven pictures are from yesterdays visit to Khasab, Oman.
Some of you have asked about Flat Stanley. Flat Stanley was a central character in several children’s books starting in the mid-1960’s. Many years after that, Canadian Educator Dale Hubert created the Flat Stanley Project for his great three students and put it on the Internet. Classrooms in various places around the world exchange these cut-out Flat Stanley’s and keep journals which they share with one another to teach others students about other parts of the world. Many times the Flat Stanley might be taken on trips and shows up in Photographs or even on Post Cards where he appears at various events.
Nowadays, one might find Flat Stanley with Grand Parents who are on a trip who might keep a journal of the places they are traveling and include pictures of Flat Stanley visiting all sorts of places around the world. The teachers will then share the journals with their students along with the pictures of Flat Stanley. Essentially it was another tool to enhance the student’s interest in learning about other places all around the world.
On our voyage, another couple is writing a journal for the teacher of one of their grandchildren and including pictures of places we visit with Flat Stanley. Recently, they gave us one of their Flat Stanley’s and we too have started to take pictures and giving it to our friends so they can include them with the pictures and the journal they are doing for the students.
We wanted to begin by saying how much we enjoyed our experience in port yesterday. While we would not care to live in a place like this and feel very fortunate to live where we do, it was a nice opportunity to see how these people live. Keith got a lot out of his walking tour with Rex as they visited many areas around town and during their long walk back to the ship. Certainly in certain parts of the world they would never have done this but this is truly a safe place.
Before dinner last evening we attended an emergency muster drill for all guests, regardless of when they boarded the ship. Given the area that we will be sailing over the course of the next several days we fully understood why all guests were requested to attend this drill. We realize the importance of safety and gladly participated in this drill.
We enjoyed a wonderful dinner at the Prego Italian Specialty Restaurant last evening. We dined with Hotel Director Josef Lumetsberger and Cruise Director Rick Spath. The food was just wonderful. Anne Marie and I each enjoyed the seafood special for the evening which was a Monk Fish and it was delicious. The best part of the evening was the wonderful conversation that we enjoyed with these two officers. They are thru professionals and we are so very fortunate to have had the opportunity to spend time with them.
When we arrived back to our room we received some additional information about the approach that Crystal is taking as part of the overall security as we transit the area of the Gulf of Aden. They are taking several additional security measures and they will be in constant communication with others. Recognizing the importance of security there will be a special safety drill for all guests and crew on March 19th. We appreciate the communications to the guest on this issue and the additional security measures that Crystal is taking as we transit this area of the world. We will not share additional details because while there are many good people who read the internet there are also others who are not so good who could benefit by knowing them.
We slept very well last evening as we sailed to our next stop in Al Fujairah of the UAE. This is a Maiden Port of Call for Crystal Cruises and our first time to this port of call.
This morning Keith awoke early and began his workout at 4:30 AM. Yes, that is AM and not PM. J Keith worked out in the Fitness Center and got back on his favorite Elliptical Machine. He enjoyed a nice workout and made a quick stop to the Lido Café for coffee for Anne Marie and himself. Since we had a relatively early morning tour, Anne Marie did not work out this morning.
A new member of the evening room service team who takes care of this floor delivered breakfast. She is taking over for the gentlemen who we previously had who has now gone home for vacation. She was very pleasant and we talked for a few minutes while she set out the breakfast. She said we should order pizza sometime for a late evening snack. J We enjoyed the breakfast and then we got ready for our morning tour.
We were excited to visit Al Fujairah.
Unlike the other six mainly desert emirates of UAE, the areas of Al Fujairah are quite mountainous and also enjoys a good deal of rain. This city is separated by the Hajar Mountains from the rest of the UAE. In the foothills are the Ain Al Madhab Gardens, where naturally warm and sulfuric waters fill therapeutic swimming pools. The gardens are also home to Heritage Village and the ruins of Fujairah Fort.
We took a Crystal Cruises Shore Excursion called East Coast Kaleidoscope. We met friends Bob and Glo by the reception desk so that we could walk off the ship together and sit together on the tour bus.
After we departed the cruise ship terminal we traveled the short distance to the fort, which is an imposing structure, situated on a hill. The fort dates back to 1670 and was damaged in the early 20th century be a British bombardment. Since that time the main part of the building has been restored.
We then proceeded to the Bithna Oais which boasts and impressive fort that was used to guard the mountain pass. We also browsed the marketplace which has an array of souvenirs, clay pots and artifacts.
We also viewed beautiful scenery from the high mountain Masafi Pass and we traveled through Dibba, which is a town divided into three parts, each belonging t Sharjah, Fujairah and Oman. We also stopped to view the Bidiya Mosque, which is also famous for its watchtower.
In the afternoon, Anne Marie took a long walk on the A few observations and comments from today’s tour.
We drove through some very mountainous areas that we quite majestic and beautiful.
We drove by a variety of towns from some very small towns to some very pretty resort towns.
There are speed bumps everywhere we drove from the two to four land roads to the roads within towns. We must have gone over close to a couple of hundred speed bumps.
We learned that there is very little crime in the UAE because of the penalties that are involved.
We saw many buildings where the construction has ceased due to the economic turndown.
Something else that we didn’t know is that the UAE has more date trees than any other place in the world. They estimate that there are 14 millions prune trees throughout the UAE.
When we got back from the tour we had lunch in the Lido Café. We each had a nice salad entrée.
This afternoon Anne Marie took along walk on the Promenade Deck while Keith wrote, read and spoke with some fellow passengers.
This evening we are back in the Main Dining Room and we now will look forward to four consecutive days at sea as we make our way to our next port of call. These upcoming days will be filled with much to do as we have so many entertainers, lecturers and special lecturers on board.
We also plan to attend a cocktail reception hosted by the Travel Consortium that our Travel Specialist, Lynn, is affiliated with.
TODAY’S THOUGHT OF THE DAY
“Anything I’ve ever done that ultimately was worthwhile…initially scared me to death.”
Keith and Anne Marie
1 comment:
Keith & Anne Marie...more wonderful
WC posts & pix--thanks you...btw, on my Jan 09 retirement my office had a 6ft flat stanley made of me in uniform (about died)..
Hey Keith, looks like you have gained about 10 lbs...kidding :)
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