Final Post

An appropriate end to a Most Excellent Adventure. Banner by Laura (?)

Traditional Homecoming Offerings

It is traditional (in some parts of the world) to place old electronic devices on the doorstep of those travelling to The Continent, upon their safe return. Here we have a typical display, arranged in the customary style. Contributors unconfirmed, but we suspect it was left by a band of gay young men that may include Sir David Van Stretch; Michael, Prince of Dumbarton; Sir Hector Scott; Douglas the Idiotte of Greater Leemon; and possibly others.

The Greeting Party

John's friends welcoming him back to St. John's ... 1:00 am-ish Sunday June 3

View from hotel in London

Last view from the window of our hotel, the Holiday Inn Kensington in London.

View from the Thames

Big Ben and Parliament, view from our boat tour on the Thames

Medieval toilet

Honest - that's what it is.

Tower of London

We toured it ...

In the Silver Cross

In the Silver Cross Pub

Pub where we ate

Parade

Also in the parade near Bucky House. Who IS this guy?

Parade

Part of the parade near Bucky House

Ian & Mom in London

Walking from Bucky Palace back to the bus. We stopped to watch some sort of parade or procession with horsies and everything.

Buckingham Palace

Shot from outside Buck House. The flag tells us the Queen is in the House today.

Westminster Abbey

John & Rob outside the Abb.

First morning in London

Waiting for the tour bus in London, Thursday morning

Baden Powell House

Around the corner from our hotel in London. Any Boy Scouts reading this?

Adjacent to our hotel in London

After getting kicked off the boat

Here we are just after disembarking at Harwich

After a day in London

Hey there !

Sorry we dropped out of sight ... as I said, we were dis-embarking and I didn't know how easily we'd get Internet access in London. Easy enough at the hotel, but it's cheaper at one of the 5000 million Internet cafes in London. So here I am, around 10:00 pm here, in the cafe just 30 seconds from our hotel.

We got off the boat alive and well. Long trip to London, and today we did a wicked tour of London by bus. We saw all the major sites within the city, plus we had a guided tour of Westminster Abbey, and a self tour of the Tower of London. The Abbey was incredible. We walked over the tombs of famous kings, queens, poets, writers, and scientists (Chucky Darwin !!!, G Chaucer!!!, Chucky Dickens!!!, and on and on.) The tour includede a boat tour on the Thames which was excellent as well. Also a lunch in a traditional English pub. We had a long, packed day that was every bit as enjoyable as anything we've done so far. It's been an amazing trip.

Tomorrrow we plan to visit the British Museum, and then tomorrow evening we have tickets for Spamalot.

I may get a chance to post again - not sure, because we're fairly busy, but if I can I will. I know you won't sleep well without an update. (Before I leave here now I'll try to post some pics before my time expires.)

Thanks again for your comments and posting, and feeble attempts at wit. Hi to Ms. Mesh and all Ian's classmates from his Uncle Rob :)


Rob (Jack, Irene, Michele, Heather, Keith, Ian, John)

Stuff from Paris

Leaving the Rotterdam in the morning ... not sure when we will be able to post again ... soon, I hope.

John with our superb cabin steward, Christian

Bus people

Le moo

Garcon avec tour

Too cool to be French

A cool shot, again dining on the Seine, with that stupid tower in the background again

Dining on the Seine

Here we are having lunch on a boat on the Seine

Voltaire's crib

A beautiful shot of Paris' most important monument, view obscured by a truck

A view of the Louvre

L'Arc de Triumph, from our tour bus

Le Havre to Paris, May 29

A nice nurse from Florida took this lovely group shot, but she got some stupid tower in the background.Today we did a bus tour of Paris, and a lunch cruise of the Seine. (John couldn't make it)

Taken during our ship tour

On the bridge

The lads chatting with the Captain, in his office.

Ha ha ... yep, it's us, and that IS the captain. Our new friend Arjen took us on a tour of the unseen parts of the ship (which they used to do prior to 9/11), and introduced us to the captain.

Dinner crowd

In the background standing are Oliver (our wine steward), Riris (our server), Panca (dining room assistant manager?), Semuel (Riris' assistant?). And our friend Arjen seated.

Dinner with 1st Engineer, May 28

This is the whole crowd, with the ship's 1st EngineerYep, it's us with Arjen Devries. He's Dutch. He's the ship's 1st Engineer. And he's from Mount Pearl :)One day I wore a Newfoundland shirt, and the Cruise Director (also a Canadian) noticed, mentioned a Newfie on board who would love to meet us, and hooked us up. He hosted our table that evening. Great guy! Married a girl from Botwood and has been living in Mount Pearl for 15 years !

Indonesian Tea, in the afternoon

Ian in pool

Believe it or not, this is Ian in the pool on the Rotterdam. There was a heavy swell so the water was sloshing. (They eventually closed the pool for safety reasons, of course)

Dessert extravaganza on the Rotterdam night of May 26

That's one of the many ice sculptures in the background, and watermelon carvings in the foreground.

At Sea - May 27-8

Hey all. Rough day at sea May 26. Instead of a lineup for shore excursions there was a line at the Doctor's office across
the hall from us. Seas were listed as 'Rough' or 'Heavy' - about 7 on the Beaufort scale. Similar today (May 28) as I write
this. Swells are about 25 ft. Not nearly as bad as it can get, but not good for a bunch of landlubbers. We have been
praying to the ancient Greek god of Calm Waters, named Gravol. He has been kind. No post made last night, however, lest we
anger him.
I'll try to post later this evening. (Port stop at Le Havre, for Paris, tomorrow)

Europe's largest casino (Estoril)

This is what inspired Ian Fleming to write his first James Bond novel, Casino Royale.

The hotel near the Casino Estoril

Fleming stayed here when he was a spy, and he started writing Casino Royale while staying there.

The crew in Lisbon

John on the beach in Lisbon.

Some famous landmark castle fortress thing in the background.

Looks like line dancing in Lisbon

Monument of the Explorers in Lisbon

Casa Canada in Lisbon

Seedy side of Lisbon

After some shopping

The April 24th Bridge (Copy of the Golden Gate, made by the same company)

Passing directly underneath the April 24th Bridge as we leave Lisbon

Nanny & Poppy at dinner May 26

Nanny in Lisbon

Lisbon, Portugal - May 26

This morning we did a really nice city tour by bus, with some photo stops. Even went to the beach. Lisbon is very beautiful, and the people seem very nice. All hands ('cept John and Mrs) went back in to town after lunch. (The taxis have two speeds (1) 100 mph, and (2) faster.) Really nice visit. The City Centre is a beautiful sort of 'pedestrian' mall with cool tiled streets. People there playing music etc, and there was a guy trying to sell drugs to me & Keith. Like I said - the people are really nice. We didn't buy any.

A garden in Cadiz

Bit hard to make out through the rain, but the hedges/shrubs are sculpted like they used to do in England. Our guide was a
really funny guy - he said a bunch of hairdressers take care of these.

Horse monument

Also hard to make out in the rain, but it gives it that je ne sais quois, don't you think?

H K & I next to the big momma cask they call Jesus.

This is a huge wine keg they named Jesus, in the Sherry place. It is surrounded by other kegs that are named and labelled with the names of the Apostles, arranged in order as they sat at the last supper.

Here's John next to the Apostle John.

Part of a really old 'tradition'

They have a tiny ladder for mice to drink the Sherry (seriously)

In case you don't believe me

Ian & John outside Tio Pepe Sherry place.

An early morning Sherry tasting.

The crew at the Sherry place.

The bald guy in the left, background, is Ian, the ship's art auctioneer.

Ian and John & Michele

Our ship in the port of Cadiz

Cadiz, Spain - May 25

Bus tour, started out cool and raining in the morning, but cleared up before we returned. We visited Gonzalez Byass which is an old winery. We tasted some Sherry. These guys make the very famous Tio Pepe wine. I think you can only buy it in Spain and England.

Took it easy in the afternoon - did not go ashore again. THe boat darn near flipped overnight. Rocking and a Rolling. Bad lop on the Pond sir. No one got sick, but lots of Gravol on the go.

Leaving Barcelona on May 24

In Barcelona port - you see lots of cruise ships

Rob gearing up for a formal dining experience

Ian and John Chillaxing

At Sea - May 24

Nice deck view

This is JP from New Brunswick.

I took this pic of him today for a laugh (he was on tour with us), and because he is a piano player who looks like Billy Joel. (He gets that that a lot.) I am posting it now because as I am doing this post, I'm in one of the lounges where he is singing and playing piano. He's excellent! Play anything you ask.

Spanish dancers on board

These are the ones we saw on board. That's Keith in the middle.

John from Cape Breton doing John C's flambe in the Pinnacle Grill.

Rob atop Barcelona

John atop Barcelona

Spanish dog

Photo by John. No Spanish dogs were hurt in the taking of this picture.

Three amigos in Barcelona

In front of Sagrada Familia

Barcelona - May 23

(Wrote this up on Wed evening but had network problems, so I'm just posting it today, May 24)

Hit port in Barcelona around 7:00 am. A little cooler today (yesterday was around 32 Celsius) - only around 20 plus a bit, today. Tiny speck of rain when we left.

Did a bus tour (with Beatrice). We drove through the 'old' Barcelona, the "Gothic" part. Very nice. We visited the Barcelona Cathedral, another awesome Gothic Cathedral. Another highlight was the Sagrada Familia Cathedral. This was designed by Gaudi ... it was totally bizarre. Even after seeing all the castles and fortresses and cathedrals and churches we've seen in the past week or two, this one is something else. Gaudi was an architect who died in the 1920s, and his work was VERY different - it was 'organic'. Hopefully I'll be able to post some pics.

We did some more touring by bus, and stopped on Mont Juic. There's not a lot of green space in Barcelona, so on the top of this mountain they have a municipal park basically. Great view.

We came across several people in these places playing beautiful Spanish classical guitar.

Michele, Heather and I got a cab back in after lunch to poke around Las Ramblas (sp?) where there are lots of little shops. Bought some souveniers & stuff.

This evening we had dinner at the Pinnacle Grill. We had originally scheduled this for Nanny & Poppy's anniversary, but ended up rescheduling. It was incredible. The food, the presentation, the service, was unbelievable. Our waiter was John from Cape Breton (who I've met before) - he was great.

We beat it from there to catch some local dancers performing on board - various types of Spanish dance. At one point they wanted volunteers, and Keith got up and pulled me (Rob) up too! The only reason I didn't kill him is because he made me look so good on stage.

We also spent some time on deck this evening watching the proceedings to leave port. Tomorrow we have a day at sea, which we really need for purposes of rest. Next port - Cadiz Spain.

Rob et al

The crew in Avignon. The German boy is Johann (Ian)

John at the Pope's place

Keith & Ian outside the winery

The Pope's place John & I toured

Just another old castle on the way to Avignon

Sur le Pont d'Avignon

This is actually the "Pont d'Avignon" as in the famous song!!

Marseilles and Avignon France - May 22

Hey there!

Today we did a long tour. Arrived at the French port of Marseille (France's 2nd largest city) around 7:00 am. We left early in the morning for a bus tour.

First stop was Chateauneuf du Pape, a town in south France where there's a bunch of wineries. The wine maker guy gave us a tour, a talk, guided us through a wine tasting etc. He is the 4th generation of that family making wine in the same place. Very interesting.

We left there and continued in to Avignon, a very old (medeival) French town ... it still has stone walls around the 'old' city, which is where we went. This is where the Pope resided for a period (about 100 years, from around 1420 AD or so, if I recall correctly.). In fact for a time, there were TWO Popes ... one in Avignon, and one in Rome. We (the tour group) had a really nice lunch in a restaurant there, and continued on to the 'town square', I guess you'd call it. From there, we had free time, so we split up ...

John and I toured the Palace of the Popes (could be wrong on the name, but you get the picture), which is a huge Medeival 'castle' that was these Popes' crib in Avignon. The rest of the Happy Wanderers explored the Town Square area, with its shops etc. So I can't report much on their adventures. John and I had a great time. It's a huge old stone castle, built maybe 12 or 1300's. In amazing shape.

Arrived totally worn out back on the ship in time to get ready for dinner @ 6:15. Michele & Poppy & I went to a performance by Ian Cooper, an Australian violin virtuoso. Amazing. I got a CD, and autograph, and a chat.

Getting late ... gotto go - need my beauty sleep.

Rob et al

In Eze

Taking a break. This is in Eze, France.

Monte Carlo from up high

The Fool on the Hill

Typical shot

Monaco - May 21 - 11:50 pm

Today we visited Monaco. We tendered in (boat term) and got a bus tour from there. Monte Carlo itself is really nice ... there's no garbage! I saw one piece of paper and a drink can. We drive through all of Monaco ... it's less than one square mile.
We visited some nearby places in France also ... medieval villages like Eze. We drove through Nice. Incredibly beautiful.

Everything is on a hill. Money money money ... Some of the people who have homes in this area are Mick Jagger, Roger Moore, Tina Turner, etc. They are summer homes primarily, but we drove by Bono's house (3 of them), and he actually lives there full time, his kids go to school there etc.

Dad - lots of yachts. Some are for sale!!! I have some phone #s for you. And there's a really big pond for sailing on. (the Mediterranean).

Anyway - only time for a short post this evening. The days are quite busy.

Oh - I wore one of my Newfoundland shirts today, and it's amazing how many people see it and ask you about it - people who have lived there, or visited, or have relatives there. The Cruise Director (Michelle, from Victoria BC) spotted it and asked about it. She said one of the ship's engineers is from Newfoundland and would be really excited to meet us, so she gave him a call and he wants to get together, get a photo, etc. Hopefully we'll be able to do that.

(Listening to the live jazz band as I write this). Good night, please write. We don't get a chance to respond to every post individually, but we do look forward to them and read every one.

R

Keith in St. Peter's Square, doing his best Pope.

Keith, Michele, John, Poppy - in St. Peter's Square

Pope waving to us.

Heather & Ian praying in St. Peter's Basilica

Poppy in front of Trevi Fountain.

St. Peter's Basilica

Rob & Michele after dinner May 19

Flowers for Nanny & Poppy's anniversary.

In St. Peter's

Hi everyone thanks for posting stuff. A few seconds ago John was speaking spanish,it was really funny. Today we were in Rome and visited St. Peter's Basillica it was real cool. My Dad seen the Pope, speaking to all the people. Tomorrow we're going to Monte Carlo and going to Grace Kelly's house.....hahahahahahaha. Now John is talking Mexican."hey senorita" well bye.

I miss all of my friend's at school and all my cousins, aunts & uncles and nanny & poppy.

Ian

Civitavecchia/Rome/Vatican City - May 20

Today we left the port city of Civitavecchia early in the morning and went in to Rome. Rome was incredible. The bus took us through town first, and we saw some sights, then got dropped off at Vatican City around 10:30 am. We got cabs to go see Trevi Fountain. That was really cool. Michele, Heather, Ian, and Poppy went to see the Pantheon - the best preserved ancient building in Rome (built around 100 AD). It houses Raphael's tomb. (That guy could DRAW.) John and Keith and I rushed back so the Pope could see us. He came to the window of his apartment and spoke in about 95 languages. That was really cool.

St. Peter's Basilica has to be seen to be believed. The size and beauty of the thing, and the intricacy of the artwork and architecture is overwhelming. Words (even pictures) can't do it justice - so I won't even try. We had lunch in a neat Italian ristorante. We had ... lasagne! And bread, and wine, and salad, and dessert. Very nice. Lia was our guide ... she's a teacher by day ... and she said she really liked this ristorante. Driving in Rome is NUTS. In North America, striped lines on the road mean 'crosswalk - cross the road here'. In Rome it means 'target - run people over here.'

After lunch we did a drive-around tour - everywhere you look are castles and palaces and they all have HUGE statues and carvings. You'd need years to take it all in. There seems to be a lot of green in Rome - parks & the like near some of these sites. The bridges crossing the Tiber are something to behold also.

Had a nice dinner in the Lido restaurant on board ... this is the first night we did not go to La Fontaine, the main dining room on board. I hope Riris and Semuel (our servers) didn't miss us too much. Or Oliver, our drinks guy, or Panca, the assistant dining room guy who chats us up a couple of times every evening. What a pleasant chap. They all are. Tonight I invited Christian (our cabin steward) to come home with us. When we got to the room he had some kind of animal made with towels on the bed, wearing my sunglasses.

Enough of this - it resembles work - must stop ... now.

Heather, John, & Ian outside hotel near Mount Etna

Ian & Michele on bus

Ian at Pompei

Dutch night

At Pompei

May 19 - Napoli Italy (Pompei)

Today we did a tour of the ruins of Pompei, under the expert guidance of Francesco. He was a very large Italian with degrees in archeology and theology. Another awe-inspiring place. Much bigger than most of us expected it to be, I think. Vesuvius did not erupt while we were there.
It was somewhat like Ephesus in some respects ... the streets and houses and shops and all that from the Greek and Roman era. Speed bumps for the chariots. (Sort of - there are huge stones across the ends of some streets that stopped chariot traffic from entering - only pedestrians allowed.) We even visited a house of nasty repute - well, the ruins of one anyway.

On the way, we also visited a place where they make cameos. (Cameo means 'carving' in Greek.) There were thousands of them, and we watched an older Italin gent actually making one. In that building they not only make and sell them - they also have the only school in existence that teaches the art. Much of what they sell is made by locals - usually older folks - who work from home. There are whole lamps made with cameo scenes over the entire shell (cameos are generally done from one of two types of shell), and the one I priced was about 8,000 euros. Figure it out.

Tonight was the Captain's Dinner in the Dining Room, so we moved the reservation we had for the Pinnacle Grill for this evening (for Nanny & Poppy's anniversary. The waiters and other dining room staff (along with many of the ship's cast) did a song & dance routine as they served each course. We all wore chef's hats. Our servers brought out cake and sang Happy Anniversary - in two part harmony of course.

A great day again. We're now sailing to Civitivecchia, which is the port we'll use to get to Rome. (When in Rome, I guess we'll do as the Romans do. You know, 'cause that's what they tell you to do.) That's all for now. Again, I'll try to post a pic or two if I can.

Rob - on behalf of the Happy Wanderers.

The winding hills to Mount Etna

John, Ian, and Panca at formal dinner

Mr. & Keith at formal dinner

May 18 Messina Italy

May 18 - 8:30 pm, an hour outside the port of Messina Italy.

Just finished dinner. Today we did a bus tour that took us up to Mount Etna. It was great. We had some honey, and saw the spot where the lava stopped flowing during the last big eruption in '92. Etna was awesome - snow on the top! The place is unbelievably lush and fragrant.
After lunch we went back into Messina and did a bit of a walkabout on our own. Just like the St. John's waterfront :) Though the buildings are a little different. And the parking. There are NO parking rules in Italy, it seems.
I'll attempt to post some pictures, but I'm still having a bit of trouble with that.

Rob (for the crew)

(ps - Michele just won $60+ on the slots ...)

Ephesus - where they 'sit and think'

Public latrines ... where Plato himself might have .. you know ....

Poppy, John, Ian, Aristotle's grandson

Poppy, John, Ian, Aristotle's grandson - twice

Returning to ship from Santorini

Near the Pool on the Rotterdam

Everything's white in Santorini

Update

Howdy - here's an update.

It's about 5:00 here. We've spent today at sea. In the boat - you know. We slept in just a little, for a change. Had a lovely breakfast, checked our blog, hung out around the pool, had a nice lunch - some attended Bingo - then most of us attended "Dutch High Tea". Then we had a much-needed rest. Keith played in a Blackjack tournament. I've been preparing some pics to upload to the travel journal. Now we have to get ready for dinner. Tonight is our first formal night. Tuxedos for us, and decent clothes for the ladies.
Gotto go - have to make sure my tux is ready. We are much too busy too worry about keeping you people up to date.
Rob (for all)

Near shop in Santorini

Here we are after reaching the 'summit' on Santorini.

Near the wine tour place, Santorini

This is just alongside the place we went for the winery visit on Santorini Island (Greece)

At the Parthenon

Ok - here ya go ... I figured it out. Here's us photoshopped in front - er - standing in front of the Acropolis.

Quick update :)

Editorial Note: Hi again ... I (Rob) posted last night, but the posts did not materialize. I just enquired and as suspected, it's a bandwidth limitation (that's technical crap for you not so technically inclined.) I think I'll be able to post pics tomorrow if I shrink em down a little, so perhaps I'll try that. For now, just some words.

We did a morning tour of Ephasus - an ancient city, and the house of the Virgin Mary (you know, Jesus' Mom). It was un-frigging-believable. In the afternoon we went into Kusadesi (the port in Turkey) for some shopping and poking around. Again, a whole experience in itself.

So ... sorry for the delay - I will try to post some pics tomorrow after I shrink em down a bit.

All hands are doing fine. Nanny did not do the earlier tour, but did do the shopping bit. And tonight all 8 of us dined at the formal-ish dinner. I'm in the ship's library typing this, while a quartet plays just across the hall - except it's not a quartet, cause there's only three of em (violin, piano, and cello) ... but I'm not sure what to call that and quartet sounds better anyway.

Pics tomorrow I hope !!! Nanny especially loves reading your comments :)

Rob

1st Day on Boat

Hi folks. First day on the boat! We did a wicked tour of Athens this morning, finishing up at the Acropolis. Boarded ship around 1 pm, and sailed around 5 - 5:30. We had an unbelievable dinner this evening. Just finished up. I just got our network connection and am just making a simple (no picture) post here for now. I have to upload the pics John took today from the camera to the laptop before I post any of them. He took approximately 5-600 pictures.

Beautiful boat! Wow! Double wow!!

Hey - I just met the boat priest - Father Sean Noone. He came over and asked me about the internet, and I heard his Irish accent, got chatting, etc.

Anyway ... that's it for now - just a quick post. I will try to upload some of those and post some good ones here. See you later.

Hope you're all doing fine.

Rob

Heather and Michele

This is Heather and Michele near a huge pile of flowers hanging from a building, in the Plaka district.

Poppy, Ian, and John

Poppy with his boys Ian and John in the Plaka district. Some ruins in the background.

John and Cat

John and a cat in the Plaka district.

Keith and fish

Keith is enjoying the trip. Maybe too much, actually. That's a crayfish or something like that - from the Mothers' Day brunch.

Nanny & Lady in Athens

Just back at the hotel, after an absolutely awesome day in the Plaka district. Had supper down there, and two guys were there playing music. This lady here sold Nanny a cloth. She was really nice, and wanted to keep Nanny. I was outvoted, so we had to keep her.

Mothers' Day Brunch at Athens Ledra Marriott

Brunch today (Mothers' Day) at the Marriot. Awesome. There was a guy there playing piano - played a lot of Greek and Italian stuff, and some pop stuff. He was great. The food was unbelievable.

Acropolis - view from hotel rooftop, Athens

From the pool on top of our hotel in Athens ... this is the view :)
I'm just glad we didn't stay in that hotel there in the picture.

Hi everyone ! We haven't had much chance to post until now. Thanks for posting back to us - Nanny enjoys it. The trip was good - no major problems, except one minor plane delay and one lost bag. We didn't sleep for over 24 hours, so we all went to bed fairly early last night. Mother's Day - going to a brunch later today, and then a trip in to town (the Plaka(sp?) district). Tomorrow we've lined up a nice tour of Athens starting early in the morning. We'll be visiting the Acropolis (David - I will look for your toga ... I assume you have your name on it somewhere). From that we'll be boarding the 'boat'. We should be able to post more regularly from that point on.

Athens is awesome. About 30 degrees when we arrived, and sunny of course. A beautiful city - more beautiful than we (I) expected really. All the buildings are overgrown with flowers, hanging off all the balconies.

Keep posting your comments !

Cut

Ian at the pool. He cut his knee. The pool is on the roof of our hotel. You can see the Parthenon clearly from there.

Temple of Olympian Zeus

Also taken from the shuttle from the airport to the hotel. The Temple of Olympian Zeus.

Athens

One of our first views of Athens - from the shuttle from the airport to the hotel.

Athens airport shuttle

This is the shuttle from the place in Athens to the terminal. They lost one of Ian's bags - we found out later someone else picked it up by mistake and have left on another Holland America tour of the Mediterranean. Ha ha. We'll catch up with it.

John in Frankfurt

John at the airport in Weinerville.

Frankfurt to Athens

On the plane :)

Approaching Frankfurt (Weinerville) Germany. Looks like they borrowed the CN tower for a while, it seems. Photo by John. We didn't get much chance to start the blog in Frankfurt cause it was a bit rushed making the connection.

Some of John's friends showed up at the airport to make sure we actually left.
Heather, John, Julia, Randy, Doug.

In Pearson Airport

Made it this far. Have not seen any boat yet. Think this is all a scam. (Rob)

(Nanny said that the triplets have to be happy :)

Amsterdam, Aug 06 St. John's

This is the Amsterdam again in St. John's harbour, a different visit - August 2006.

The Amsterdam

(This is just a test posting.)

This is (in naughty-cal terms) the 'arse end' of the Amsterdam ... sister boat of the Rotterdam, the one we're goin' on. She was in St. John's last summer, and I got this picture of her scootin' away.

Click on the pic to get a closer look at the arse of 'er.