Day One -- June 5, 2010 -- Boston, MA

6:00 am -- The alarm goes off in our room at the Parker House in Boston, MA.  Phil and I are walking and looking  at real estate this morning.

After a rainy walk through the North End -- we go to Charlestown and have a quick breakfast at Sorelle’s.   On to the Navy Yard to meet Jan -- our realtor.  We look at two rentals and one condo for sale -- I have seen the condo before and thought Phil might like it -- I was wrong.

12:00 Noon -- Back to the Parker House and on our way to the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal in South Boston --  we board the ms Maasdam for our 14 day cruise to Montreal and back to Boston.  Ports include:  Bar Harbor, ME -- Halifax, Nova Scotia, CA -- Sydney, CA -- Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, CA -- Quebec City, CA -- Montreal, CA.  We will visit each port -- except Montreal -- twice.

We are traveling with our friends -- Dave and Patte.  As Phil and I are waiting to embark -- Patte and Dave appear just a few people behind us.  From the looks of our fellow passengers -- we four bring the average age down about 20 years.

2:00 pm -- We tour the ship checking out the various restaurants and lounges -- then to the Spa where we do not win the raffle -- on to the computer lab and the library.  By the time we have seen everything -- we go  to our respective cabins to unpack.  Dinner is at Canaletto -- the Italien Restaurant -- where we have made reservations.

After dinner,  we venture into the Piano Bar meeting Nate, a very talented “piano man”.   We have a  great time singing along to all sorts of songs.  As we sing  “Dancing Queen” a family group arrives singing a long as they enter the bar  and all hell breaks loose.  These people know all the words to all the songs being requested.  They are from Boise, Idaho -- a fun group but they wore thin in a hurry -- especially when watching the Celtics/Lakers games since half were for the Celtics and half were for the Lakers. Nate fondly called them “The Potato Patch”.

So -- a great first day on board the Maasdam  --- we’ll see what tomorrow brings.