[he one we want to know the name of is the only sauvignon blanc listed in the French Whites section, I'm pretty sure.

I think the white wine you are looking for may be "Sancerre" from the Loire Valley.

Wow - came back on board about an hour ago and we couldn't see the ship until we were right beside her. Talk about a pea souper! It seems to have cleared now but too late for us to take some photos of the volcanoes except from the ship.

Michael has gone off for a fly over the volcanoes in a Russian helicopter - I won't relax until I see him again! Everything is just so 50's here(or earlier).

Michael chose a nice sedate tour for me - a tour around town, a museum and markets. Managed to find a pair of leather gloves (probably vinyl) but they look OK.

Had a lovely dinner in Prime 7 last night with the lovely Betty and friends of Betty K (sorry guys "Pinky" and "John"??) - chose the Maine lobster (why aren't you surprised?) and it was superb!

I can't help feeling the cruise is drawing to an end - just as I was getting used to living the high life! I think we've still got a week but don't want to think about it. Sure wish I could stay on until Sydney!

Would have loved to take a photo of the two Russian immigration staff! One of them has just wandered by - what must they think of our surroundings?

Lee

We just returned from the army truck ride to the volcanoes - fun, but truly bumpy. The weather was sunny with deep blue sky. We were served a simple lunch before hiking around (actually a very slow walk) for about two hours. Had a great time and highly recommend this tour as long as your back can stand the bumps. The tour desk is doing an outstanding job this cruise.

Post of fantastic tour kicked off twice. Details tomorrow. Peggy I did the rustic farm one.

It's the first thing I do each morning...check to see if we have SeaMail from the BEYOUNDers. I'm loving your reports!

Lee, I'm happy to hear that you are getting to know John & Pinky. I have no doubt, your dinner was fun with them and Betty!

Keep having fun!!!!!

Glad to hear that you all had an interesting day in Russia. Lee, hope you enjoyed Pinky and John as they are nice folks.

Hope we can hear more as you get closer to Japan. Have fun on the ship with your 2 sea days.

A suggestion for you who are losing your posts after clicking the add reply button, highlight them and copy them before you post. That way, you can just past your reply back into the reply box if you lose your post due to bad connections.
We don't want to miss even a word of your reports!

Lee, has Executive Chef Mike had the German day theme at the pool bar yet? The soft pretzels are the best I have ever had!

Karen: Thanks for reminding me! I must look up my 'what to do' brochure - I think the German lunch is today! It's extremely foggy at present so it might be guesswork as to what we're eating!

You will all be no doubt pleased to learn that Michael arrived safely back on board yesterday after the risky Russian helicopter flight. He had a wonderful time and took some great photos of the volcanoes which he will no doubt at some time, post for y'all to see.

The Captain has told us he will sail outside the Japanese 12 mile limit wherever possible, so with a bit of luck, we'll be able to get the internet at some time, except of course when in port. I imagine there will be a queue for it when it's available!

Sitting here in the internet room, it's hard to imagine what everyone did on sea days before they introduced the internet!!

Lee

Even a 2 sentence report saying report impossible was kicked off. This is last try.

Yeah - that worked. Took many photos at Rustic Farm. Eventually they will have to be the report. Karen your method not working for me.

Today - fog horn since 8 AM. All day. It's now 8:30 PM but clocks go back another 2 hours tonight. I don't have a clue what time or day it is in the US.
Impossible to see water straight below the LV during lunch, From my deck 7 cabin I was able to see out about 15 yards. Hope tomorrow better. But the ride is smooth. Trick to posting. 2 sentences, then edit!

Hi Betty

Thanks for keep trying. Even two sentences is so good to get!

By the way, it was New Harmony, Indiana! But, I was wrong about them being Shakers. Hope you hadn't had too many pina coladas to remember the reference!!!

Another day of waking up to the sounds of "Ode to a Foghorn". Actually the crew played it for us all night long. Wasn't that nice of them. Safety first. I would love to describe the beautiful snow caped volcanoes we are passing or all the northern sea life that follows our ship as we sail lazily along to the North Island in Japan, but I don't have a clue what is past the balcony railing.

The ladies of LCT do have a big event today - luncheon in the Compass Rose. No, we will not be wearing our white gloves or our chapeaus, but we will have one fine time. The men of LCT - the 3 on board are on their own & the one in Houston will probably be opening another can of Beanie Weenies. Thanks to Donna for arranging this.

New Harmony - of course. Not the Shakers but one of those idealistic tries at an Utopian Society. And another failure.

This must mean Donna is feeling better! Have a great "hen party" lunch, ladies! I'm sure it will be wonderful.

Have fun at the hen party. We had a just gals/just guys table one night on ING - Leslie, Andi, me, and Marcie with men at next table - LOVED IT - we never stopped talking and laughing!!! I think the men had fun, too, much less yacking tho!!!

I know lunch must be great! CHICKS RULE!!!!!! So glad we are still getting reports!

Suzie: Betty K's friends John and Pinky have taken over your cabin!

I can't believe it! I just looked out the window and there is sky! That's the first thing except fog that we've seen for quite awhile. I won't get too excited as we did see a glimpse of blue for a short time yesterday. At least the fog horn can have a bit of a rest for awhile. I thought it was fun the first few thousand times!

Just had lunch with the 'girls' in Compass Rose. I think I can speak for all of us and say it was a success. We had out photo taken alongside the harp - not sure why - but hope it turns out. I told them how the dryer shrinks clothes - I must be using the wrong dryer as it hasn't happened to them yet.

Have been included in a trivea team but unfortunately since I joined, they haven't won! Wonder if that's telling me something?

Off to Hakadate tomorrow - not sure what I'm going to see but shall report in afterwards.

Lee

The answer to the wine question for Kim and Alice.

We got our hands on the wine list from Compass Rose and found 2 possible wines that you could have been drinking the last night:

Chateau Suduiraut, Semillion Sauvignon Blanc, Bordeaux, 2005 $62

Ladoucette Pouilly Fume "Baron De L", Sauvignon Blanc, Loire Valley, 2005 $99

Maybe try both to confirm that they are suitable?

It is a little quiet on the ship since everyone left. It would be nice to have you all back on board.

RUSTIC PICNIC ON A RUSSIAN FARM
If this doesn't work I'll have to fix it tomorrow.


http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnails...SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!!! :app:
It was the Ladoucette Pouilly Fume! It was a delicious way to use up some of that ship board credit! Thank you Lee and Michael!!!

Betty, I need a password and email address for your snapfish pictures :(

Actually, you just have to create your own "account" in order to view pictures on Snapfish - that's one reason I don't care much for their picture hosting. Just need to provide name and email & create a passowrd. Once you sign in, you just click on the view pictures button.

So glad we are still getting reports from you! Now that the sun is out I'm sure the rest of your cruise will be SPECTACULAR!

Kathy

Karen,

I entered a bogus name and made up a password. For the email address, I have a gmail account I use for this kind of stuff. I probably check the inbox twice a year!

Betty,

Very cool!!!! Thanks for posting the photos! I loved the one with the kitty!

Thanks for the snapfish fake acct. tips :)
Betty, I love the cat photo the best, too!

Betty, loved the pictures--it is definitely the same "farm" we were on a couple years ago--probably the same weeds too :D .

Betty, your pictures are great. Add me to the list of my favorite being the one of you and the kitty....he was loving you too!

Great photos, Betty. Cute kitty!

I also use a "dummy" yahoo email account for things like Snapfish - helps with the "spam" overloads on my primary email account.

Betty, I loved your pictures! I already had an "account" there with grandchildren pix a long time ago.

The cat photo was the best, but I really enjoyed the others as well!

I tried 2 different photo accounts before snapfish. I thought it would work if I stayed logged on. Have a new laptop so haven't downloaded some software. Glad you got to see what you did. Sorry for the problems.
That kitty is so in love with me. Hard to leave her behind.
Starting another post about Japan.

Japan - finally a new country for me to add to my list and we brought beautiful weather with us. The Fog Horn is getting very old.
Today was quite the event for the people of Hakodate, Japan. We were greeted with the fire hose boats and another with cute cartoons painted on the side. Being before 7 AM I was too slow with the photo taking. At 7 (actually 6:56 AM) Jamie began calling us to the theater for fingerprinting (electronic), photo taking and something to do with visas. I picture my fingerprints electronically circling the globe with Interpol close behind. No calls from the FBI - yet. That is one area I will never totally understand. We were then excused for 2 hours to eat breakfast. Now you understand all Jamie's announcement did was drag me out of bed. There were passengers there straight from the shower with shampoo still in hair and passengers in various stages of dress and room service breakfast. I imagine some were not happy but all you could do is laugh. Then to watch the Japanese work efficiency when 2 immigration station's equipment failed in the middle of this procedure. The Japanese were not laughing. Around 8:30 there was a welcoming ceremony in the atrium with all sorts of Japanese dignitaries on board. I tried to take take pics but wasn't easy. This was a HUGE day for this town as they are trying to attract cruise liners and we are either the 1st or one of the first. The captain presented a plaque that read something like "Regent Maiden Visit 2009" I ask the recipient for a photo but he kept turning the plaque away from the camera. I'll find out what I have later. After several speeches, many presentations of flowers and origami it was time to leave for my tour. I chose a museum (not much) the panoramic view of the entire city and harbor from a hill (spectacular) and a stop at a warehouse that housed shops. It was my understanding this warehouse was one of the few buildings that wasn't leveled during WWII. Most of the town was. I can't say I would recommend this tour but I find different cities interesting and that view from the hill - to die for. Ate in CR on return next to table of Japanese dignitaries, some of the women in kimonos. There was also a farewell ceremony which I also missed. Hoping Michael has photos of that.
Once again I've written a tome without much information, but am definitely happy we stopped here. The joy of the Japanese people in starting a cruise trade was something I won't forget and few people will ever get to see.

Betty, How exciting to visit a new country. Going through immigration in some countries can be interesting, technology failures and all. Hopefully the Mariner visiting Hakodate will boost their tourism and more interesting tours can be developed for us future visitors to that area. The sail-in sounds like lots of fun. Hope Michael got some good pix.

Like Betty, this is our first time in Japan. I thought Regent did a great job of handling immigration, considering the strict Japanese procedure. Since our tour was later than Betty's, we didn't show up with shampoo in our hair.

Alan and I took the panoramic tour of Hakodate. It was basically a bus ride to an observation deck where we had a dramatic view of the area. The bus ride made me sleepy so, after returning, we had lunch at La Veranda, then took a nap. So sorry I missed the departing ceremony.

Finally. The entertainment rocked tonight. 50's music before dinner in Horizon Lounge, which was packed. Then, Beatles show in Horizon Lounge after the main show. We enjoyed both. Sure wish they had planned it for a sea day. I'll be dragging on our tour in Sendai tomorrow.

We stopped in Hakodate when we were on this itinerary a couple years ago--a nice little city. When we were there, school children met the shuttle and invited us to a tea ceremony. We also visited the market where we ate fabulous melon and watched the Regent chef buy humongous crabs to prepare on the ship. All the Japanese ports are delightful, the people come out to meet the ship and they usually provide some entertainment and sometimes bring little gifts for everyone. We have a couple Japanese Christmas ornaments we got as gifts on that trip.
We love hearing about your trip--keep the sea mail coming.

Can't add too much to my fellow passengers comments - did the same tour and thought it was great. I enjoyed wandering around the warehouse/shops and managed to buy a couple of individual tissue holders styled as kiminos. Hope you can picture them from my description - I'm love them, especially as I cannot live without tissues these days.

The view from the top of the mountain was unexpected and spectacular. The weather was just perfect.

Today we took a tour to see - oh heavens - what did we see - unfortunately all the tours are starting to run together! I'll leave the description to Donna - she'll know!

Betty didn't go and we saw her leaning over the balcony of the ship entertaining the group who were supposed to be entertaining her.

Tomorrow is Tokyo and as Michael worked there for five years and I've been twice, we are doing our own thing. Just hope you don't read about the tourist who flatly refused to hike up yet another set of stairs from the subway!

Lee

Michael has 'burn out' from all his photos, so if anyone is interested, he'll post a few once he gets home.

I've turned into an old women who can only talk about knee replacements. Lots of company on this ship in that department. With 9 hour tour tomorrow to see the giant Buddha I wanted to be refreshed and nothing on the Sendai tour screamed - "Betty you must come see me". Miss Sendai was standing by the buses but she never performed any Miss Sendai duties such as Miss Hakodate did yesterday. She did at one point remember she wasn't wearing her sash and corrected that immediately. The dancers were great and were SO impressed with the 2 words I know in Japanese. Ohio (No idea how to spell it -just looked it up. Wasn't even close :eek: ) Ohayō and Sayonara.
Off to the Gold event Saki ceremony. I will get to dinner on time. I will get to dinner on time. I hope I get to dinner.!

Hey Beyond MOOSEies,

It sounds like you all are having the best time in Japan. Loving each of your reports.

Donna, with all your nightlife activities, it sounds like you are on the mend. How great!!

Lee, We will need a pic of those kimono tissue holders. They do sound cute.

Betty, Get those screaming knees to stop as you will miss so much. The thoughts of missing a dinner?? Oh how horrible. :eek: :eek: Keep up on those Japanese lessons!!

Checking in before turning out the light. We enjoyed Sendai today on the tour "Many Sights of Sendai." The prime stops were a Shinto shrine, tea house and Buddhist temple. I don't have my information in front of me so no correct names. The seaside area where we saw the Buddhist temple was very scenic.

Yes, we had entertainment this morning as the ship docked. Walking down the gangplank, I looked up to see Miss Betty entertaining the crowd. I'll be sending her the picture so that she can share if she chooses.

The sake event for Gold/Platinum and Titanium was held in Stars lounge and drew a nice crowd.

We secured last minute reservations in Signatures. Actually, the staff was begging for diners. It seems the current reservation system could use a bit of tweaking. Anyway, we were glad they had room for us. Best dinner ever. Fillet that melted in our mouths. And, the chocolate tart for dessert was "ooh-la-la."

Yes, Beth, I'm feeling better. Finally! Keeping up with the night life is challenging but fun. We're sleeping in tomorrow for a leisurely day in Tokyo. Going shopping. Will tour the next day.

No internet in Tokyo. Will report more on the way to Osaka in a couple of days. Bye for now.