8th Annual Revere Beach National Sand Sculpting Festival

Revere Beach, in Revere, Massachusetts, was established as the first public beach in the United States in 1896.  In its heyday it hosted resorts and dance halls.  Later, amusements and a wooden roller coaster were added.  My aunts used to take us candlepin bowling there.  Candelpin bowling, if you're not familiar with it, uses a much smaller ball without holes and the ball fits in the palm of your hand.  I was so used to this type of bowling that when I first went to a tenpin lane I thought I'd break a finger getting it stuck in the bigger bowling ball!  Today, none of those grand attractions exist, but it is still a popular beach.  I grew up in Revere and spent many hours cooling off in the often very cold water, getting sunburned, or eating at Kelly's Famous Roast Beef. 

Since returning to the area, I have enjoyed seeing the results of the annual sand sculpting festival.  This year's festival ran from July 14-17, and the sculptors came from Canada, Portugal, Mexico, and across the U.S., including Key West and, of course, Revere.  Here are a few photos of this year's entries:

"Empty of Turtle" - 1st Place

"The Veil" - 2nd Place

"Weather or Not" - 3rd Place

"Man of War" by Chris Guinto of Key West

Looking Back: Paris

Another travel adventure from my time on the ship: On 6/25 we arrived in Le Havre - the port for Paris. This was my last time as an escort on passenger tours.  But what a way to finish!

Sara, one of the tour office crew, had made me nervous telling me I might not be allowed to miss another boat drill and therefore would not have been able to join the tour, but luckily she was wrong and I was able to go. It rained on our 2-1/2 hour drive to the city, but it was clear in Paris, and then it poured on the way back. My luck with the weather had held!

First, we went to see the highlights of the Louvre.  I had never been interested in this type of tour as it is seen as an “Ugly American” venture where nothing is looked at in depth just a quick surface glance to say you were there and saw this and saw that and bought the postcards.  However, never having been to the Louvre, I decided that it was better to see a little than nothing at all.  As we raced from highlight to highlight I kept glimpsing paintings I had studied in art history - and we were simply dashing past!  The Louvre was so CROWDED with school groups, other tours, and just tons of people in general - YIKES!  My advice:  Don't visit the Louvre in June! 

Later we had lunch at Altitude 95 on the first level (not the ground level) of the Eiffel Tower.  It offered pretty good food for a touristy restaurant, with lots of free wine, and the view from up there was very nice.  Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time to go to the top of the tower - just too crowded. 

We then met the bus down the street where we had a great photo opportunity of the tower.  There were green trees on each side of a large park that ended at the feet of the Eiffel Tower.  Behind the tower was a sky of deep blue filled with puffy clouds - a perfect picture.

Looking Back: Stavanger, Norway

This is another travel adventure from my time on the ship.  On 6/23 we stopped in Stavanger - our last port in Norway. 

My tour was to the Utstein Abbey (in Norwegian:  Utstein Kloster), a well-preserved Medieval monastery.  The abbey was founded in its current location in the later 1200s, and was dissolved as a monastery during the Reformation.  One of its current uses is as a medical conference center.

A wedding was about to take place in the chapel and some of the guests arrived in traditional Norwegian costume. 

We were supposed to have had an organ concert in the church, but the organist, being a local farmer, simply could not get away so we had an a cappella concert sung by our monastery guide and two other women - it was beautiful and the acoustics grand. 

We then had the option of a short walking tour of old town Stavanger, which I took. 

I then ran to a restaurant on the waterfront and gulped down a bowl of the very delicious cream-based fish soup (seems to be a national dish).  I would have liked to have sat and enjoyed my time more, but if you are late to reboard the ship security may take away your crew card (which is your ID card and your ATM card, so it is not something you want to lose).

Back on the ship I looked in my wallet and realized I was carrying U.S. Dollars, British Pounds, Euros and Norwegian Kroner - how international am I?

Looking Back: Hellesylt and Geiranger, Norway

Another travel adventure from my time on the ship.  On 6/21, we left the ship via the tenders in Hellesylt and reboarded later that day in Geiranger.  

That day's tour involved a three-hour hike over a mountain pass that had been in use since Medieval times. The path slowly rose toward the snow-covered peaks until we were above the tree line.

The hiking path

Along the way we walked along the side of a cliff face that overlooked a lake far below. The interesting thing about this country is that they don't baby you. They didn't have all sorts of guardrails and signs warning you of impending danger - they just assume you could look and see that the side of the path drops off and act accordingly! 

View from the hiking path

Waterfalls

We arrived at the bathroom stop which consisted of a cluster of small summer cottages and one public toilet.  This cluster was set on the top of a hill with the mountains in the background - very beautiful.  A number of us wondered if Julie Andrews would suddenly pop out from behind a bush and start singing from "The Sound of Music." 

Because of the snowcaps, there were waterfalls everywhere - I've never seen so many.  I was the last person in the hiking line as I had been designated the "gate closer."  At the lower altitudes we were passing through sheep and cow pastures (and yes, we did have to tread carefully) and the animals needed to be kept in their assigned pastures.  In Norway no one is allowed to lock gates as the land is considered state owned, so you can travel anywhere, but it is always nice to show a little courtesy and not let the cows out.

 

At one point on the hike I could see a beautiful turquoise lake far below - wouldn't you know it - that was our destination.  The decline was on a very steep, gravely and sandy path, so I was taking tiny little steps like a boundfoot woman so that I would not slip and slide all the way down. 

We had lunch at a mountaintop hotel, the Videseter, looking down a valley and out at snow capped peaks. 

Our last stop was at Mt. Dalsnibba - the ride to the peak involves a twisting road with 18 hairpin turns - try that in a tour bus sometime!  The peak is at a very high altitude, so it is a very desolate snow and rock covered landscape - very moonscape-like.

I received an email from Stephony with whom I used to work in Las Vegas.  She wrote that my time on the ship "sounds like a mix between hell and the best amusement park in the world" - that made me laugh!