{"id":11927,"date":"2017-08-03T11:55:51","date_gmt":"2017-08-03T15:55:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/?p=11927"},"modified":"2017-11-27T18:38:51","modified_gmt":"2017-11-27T23:38:51","slug":"bar-harbor-maine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/?p=11927","title":{"rendered":"Bar Harbor, Maine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thursday – August 3, 2017<\/p>\n

We left Boston last night at 9:45 under pouring rain and loud clapping thunderstorms. \u00a0There were leaks falling from the ceiling in the forward lounge and the Lido Cafe had several buckets neatly arranged to collect rainwater. \u00a0I overheard someone this morning say it rained 1.8 inches in two hours.<\/p>\n

A variety of unknown sounds and the vibration of the ship woke me several times during the night, but otherwise I slept well. \u00a0The seas were calm so the Rotterdam quietly sailed north along the Atlantic coast. \u00a0Early this morning, I looked out as the ship plowed past hundreds of colorful small lobster-pot buoys which dotted the dark waters. \u00a0We arrived off the shores of Bar Harbor, Maine (or “Bah Hah-Bah\u201d as the locals call their famous tourist town) about 9:30 in the morning. \u00a0The skies were gray and threatening but the forecast was optimistic.<\/p>\n

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We wanted to try the dining room for a leisurely late breakfast and were surprised to find a long line. \u00a0After waiting about 20 minutes, we were finally seated among many empty tables. \u00a0We guessed that Holland America must be understaffed. \u00a0I enjoyed my yogurt parfait with fresh fruit & granola and Jeff had the \u201cEuropean Cold Breakfast\u201d which included pickled herring. \u00a0He said the herring at Russ & Daughters’ on the Lower East Side was better!<\/p>\n

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Later, we arrived at the Ocean Bar about 10:45 to pick up our \u201cTender Tickets\u201d to go ashore. \u00a0The room was crowded with fellow passengers. \u00a0We were handed two blue tickets with the number 30 written on them and told to wait until our number was called. \u00a0They said it would be a 30 minute wait, However, we noticed some people had red tickets. \u00a0We found seats in the adjoining theater and waited. \u00a0After a while, we noticed that the red ticket holders were being called more than the blue ticket holders. \u00a0We finally guessed that the red ticket people had higher \u201cmedallion\u201d status and the blue people were less important and had to wait longer to go ashore. \u00a0After an hour and forty minutes, \u201cBlue 30\u201d was finally called!<\/p>\n

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It was a pleasant ride in the lifeboat past moored lobster boats to the dock in Bar Harbor. \u00a0From previous visits, I remembered this lovely town had been swamped with tourists many years ago and I suppose Maine residents who needed a boost to their economy allowed the onslaught. \u00a0Bar Harbor seems to belong only to tourists. \u00a0Many years ago it was a charming seaside town with white colonial houses. Today Bar Harbor is filled with hotels, high-end restaurants, boat-ride rentals, whale watching boats, and too many shops selling souvenirs.<\/p>\n

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We walked along the \u201cShore Path\u201d and looked out at the boats moored in the bay. The sun had come out and the weather was warm and beautiful. \u00a0Then, after a brief stroll around town,we went for lunch at the West Street Cafe for lobster rolls and wild Maine blueberry pie. \u00a0I\u2019m a purist. \u00a0I only eat Maryland crab cakes in Maryland and New England Clam Chowder in the Northeast and I eat lobster rolls only in Maine because they are incomparable and are the best! The month of August is when blueberries are ripe in Maine and the locals make an incredibly delicious blueberry pie! \u00a0Worth a trip to Maine in August.<\/p>\n

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After lunch we walked around and took pictures around Bar Harbor then took one of the tenders back to the ship. \u00a0In the late afternoon, we explored the upper deck of the Rotterdam and noticed a huge fog settle over the offshore islands. \u00a0It reminded me of the coastal fog in California which rolls in from the Pacific Ocean in he evening. \u00a0We took photos and watched the fog roll toward shore covering small islands in the harbor until the ship started her engines and slowly drove into the thick fog. \u00a0The air cooled quickly and there was no visibility as the Rotterdam slowly moved through the dense mist with her fog horn blaring its mournful note at regular intervals.<\/p>\n

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Jeff and I had a light supper in the Lido Cafe then went to the ship\u2019s theater to see a stand-up comedian named Tony Daro. \u00a0He was amusing and entertaining. \u00a0We had a busy first day of the cruise and expect and look forward to many more adventures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thursday – August 3, 2017 We left Boston last night at 9:45 under pouring rain and loud clapping thunderstorms. \u00a0There were leaks falling from the ceiling in the forward lounge and the Lido Cafe had several buckets neatly arranged to collect rainwater. \u00a0I overheard someone this morning say it rained 1.8 inches in two hours. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cruising","category-eastern-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11927"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11943,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11927\/revisions\/11943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}