Travels with Pat

Since I had a friend with Ontario Tourism contacts, I received FREE air fare and lodging plus 9 plays at the Shaw Festival near Niagara Falls.
A limousine met my flight and transported me to The Pillar and
Post, a vintage inn with a fireplace, a plate of chocolate covered strawberries and a rose on my pillow.
One of the phrases that local people use frequently is “Perfect” much like the Irish say “Brilliant.”

Since I had a friend with Ontario Tourism contacts, I received FREE airfare, lodging and 9 plays to the Shaw Festival near Niagara Falls.
A limousine met my flight and transported me to The Pillar and Post, a vintage inn with a fireplace in the room, a plate of chocolate covered strawberries and a rose on my pillow.

Polynesian Night on the Aranui II featured a buffet dinner on the deck; however, the big entertainment was when Kathy and some of the French passengers danced and sang native songs. She was barefoot and wore her Gaugin parea with a floral headband – a gift from one of the French women which Kathy loaned to me for the remainder of the trip.
I always learn a great deal about the culture of the places I visit and am happily planning my next adventure.

Residents of Fatu Hiva demonstrated making “”umu hei” (floral headbands) and tapa cloth from bark. Kathy joined the hikers who walked ten miles over the ridge to the next village while the rest of us went by the Aranui III, transferred to a barge and watched a woman making “pani” and “Monoi” plus enjoyed some more Polynesian dances,
Ua Huka has a barren landscape similar to Easter Island and the wild horses originally brought over from Chile outnumber the 476 residents.

At Ua Pou sarong clad dancers came aboard and entertained us during breakfast. Robert Louis Stevenson observed in 1880 that Ua Pou “had volcanic needles like the pinnacles of some ornate church.” Kathy went ashore to climb a summit and I joined the other passengers for another sumptuous lunch at Tata Rosalie’s.
Hiva Oa gained fame when Paul Gaugin went there and was inspired to paint his vivid impressions of the Marquesans engaged in daily life. It is also the site of the tomb of the last chief of Puamau.

I went ashore at Nuku Hiva, a volcanic island which Herman Melville wrote about in “Typee” when he jumped ship and spent some time there. Our jeep followed Melville’s footsteps as we bumped along a twisty dirt road, stopped at an archeological site and continued on to Chez Yvonne’s where we feasted on many varieties of fish, taro. barbequed goat, breadfruit, pit-roasted pork and po po (a banana pudding made with manioc – tapioca) before sunning and swimming on the black sandy shore. Later in the afternoon, barges from the ship came to the beach and transported us back to the Arabnui III where sturdy seamen held onto me before passing me to other seamen until the barge was even with the gangplank due to the undulating waves.

The days when we were “at sea ” I read, napped and dined. Breakfast was served buffet style, lunch and dinner were served family style with a starter of soup or salad, a main course of meat or fash (A LOT of different kinds) and dessert which alternated between pastry and fresh fruit.
After one evening meal I kind of lost my balance and Jacob, a tall, good-looking Marquesan, quickly came to my side to prop me up and walk with me to the elevator. After that, whenever I rose from my seat at any meal, Jacob was at my side saying,”Taxi?”
A few highlights of our fantastic trip were: the first cargo stop at Fakarava, 50 million years old and one of the largest atolls in the world, located in the Tuamotu Archipelago. Kathy went snorkeling in the lagoon before she reported to her first Polynesian dance class.

Our first day on Tahiti, we went on a full circle tour of the island which included lunch. Views of a lighthouse, waterfalls, a grotto, blowhole and several gardens featuring exotic tropical flowers = always with jungle vegetation on one side of the road and the ocean on the other side.
A ukelele band and floral leis greeted our arrival on the Aranui III deck. After unpacking our gear and stowing it in various drawers, we made our way to the pool deck for a “native” welcome by muscular tattoed crew members and parea draped young Marquesan women who later served us in the restaurant. Announcements and briefings for the following day were made in
French, English and German to accomodate the diverse passengers.

When my daughter, Kathy, and I decided to go for a cruise on the Aranui III, a 180 Passenger/freighter, which sailed 800 miles northeast of
Tahiti through the Marquesas Islands. I didn’t realize just how relaxing the trip would be. Not only was the crew very attentive to our needs with gourmet meals (and a pastry chef on board) and numerous on board and island activities, plus a visiting anthropologist; however, just being on the open South Pacific and rocking to sleep every night melted any concerns which might have been bothering me. We didn’t turn on our TV once,

What a treat to visit Ashford Castle (1228 A.S.), one of the world’s leading luxurious resort/hotels located in Cong, County Mayo, on a 350 acre estate once owned by the Guiness (beer) family who sold it to the state in 1939.
Since the property includes the largest lake in Ireland, Loch Corrib, which feeds into Galway Bay, Kathy and I took a boat tour and saw some of the heavily wooded islands including Inchagoill with monastic ruins from the time that St. Patrick was banished there. Other islands contain eleven families and one island is populated by wild white goats.
After a sumptuous 4 course repast in the George V dining room, we descended into the Dungeon Bar for a sing-along and some night caps.

The rainy day started with a double rainbow as we headed out for a Connemarra excursion where the Galway mountains dropped down to the coast and little white washed, thatched roofed cottages were scattered over this land of mountains, rivers and brooks.
Gaellic is definitely spoken here. A stop at a marble factory revealed different colors of marble from jade green, white, sepia and rose to black marble dating 200 million years old.

after seeing a double rainbow, our Connemarra Excursion viewed the Galway mountains dropping down to the coast with little white washed, thatched roof cottages scattered over the countryside.
Gaellic is definitely spoken here. Our first stop was the Connemarra Marble Factory where we observed different colors from jade green, white, sepia and rose to black marble dating to the pre-Cambrian era, over 200 million years ago.
Before returning to our hotel, we spent several hours at Kylemore Abbey, a castellated neo gothic mansion. after a photo stop at the “Quiet Man” (John
Wayne) cottage.