Life in the Big Apple: June 2010

In mid May John and I took a cruise vacation to Bermuda and the Bahamas. The cruise conveniently departed from New Jersey! We took a cab out to Jersey, hopped on our boat, and sailed away to paradise. It was great to not have to mess with airport traffic.

This was our home for 9 days.

The ship was massive, boasting multiple swimming pools, a put put golf course, rock climbing wall, basketball court, and even an ice skating rink.

After arriving on board, John and I enjoyed a nice cup of tea in the ship's "sidewalk cafe."

This became one of our favorite ways to spend our early evenings on the boat.

Both of us thoroughly enjoyed breakfast each morning. There was no shortage of juice, fresh fruit, yogurt, and (John's favorite) pancakes.

After two relaxing days at sea, we arrived in Bermuda.

Our first day in Bermuda, we explored King's Wharf, the port where our ship docked.

We didn't stay ashore too long, but headed back to the ship to enjoy some peace and quiet. All of the other passengers had left the boat to explore, so we practically had the place to ourselves.

One of the best parts about our cruise was the self-serve soft-serve machine. John and I enjoyed getting a little ice cream treat in the afternoons. I particularly enjoyed watching the wide-eyed little kids who piled their cones a little too high.

Our second day in Bermuda, we ventured out to a local beach.

After a 40 minute, incredibly frightening bus ride, we arrived at this beautiful beach.

It was simply stunning.

After an afternoon of sun, we headed back to the boat.

Over the next few days, we enjoyed a wide variety of activities on the boat.

We went ice skating.

John studied for the CFA. I watched and tried not to distract him.

We played ping pong. I must say, we were a fairly even match. However, the game was made much more difficult due to the strong winds.

Two days after our departure from Bermuda, we arrived in the Bahamas. We spent an entire day at Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island.

Atlantis is an incredibly large resort. Perhaps you have seen this nearly vertical water slide advertised on TV.

John rode down the slide TWICE! It was terrifying to watch. I secretly wanted to try, but I didn't think the baby would appreciate it very much.

John and I spent the entire day relaxing and riding (very tame) water slides. Our favorite ride was a lazy river ride where you sit in inner tubes. The entire river took more than 40 minutes to go through. The river had different sections where you had to navigate rapids, small waterfalls, and even tidal waves! The lazy river even had a conveyor belt that transported you (while sitting in your tub) up 10 stories to water slides.

One of our favorite things in Atlantis was the Shark Tank. It's hard to see in the photo below, but there are tubes that run through the shark tank. There are two water slides that take you through the shark tank (protected, of course, by a very thick layer of plastic).

After an exhausting day of playing in the sun, John treated us to some candy treats.

Here's a photo of our tiny cabin. After living in a NY apartment, the cabin didn't really seem all that small.

On Saturday we met up with two of John's friends from college and journeyed uptown to the Cloisters. The Cloisters is a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, located at the northern tip of Manhattan, nestled back in Fort Tryon Park. The Cloisters houses an impressive collection of medieval artwork. The the artwork is impressive, John and I most enjoyed the cloistered gardens, which are planted in medieval fashion.

The Cloisters has a beautiful, unobstructed view of the Hudson River and New Jersey Palisades. John. D. Rockefeller purchased a large parcel of land in the New Jersey Palisades specifically so that the view from the Cloisters would remain pristine.