P.S. Did we spot Steven Spielberg in NYC?

Oct 14th-Oct 19th – New York, New York

What a fantastic city, and what hospitable friends to stay with. We spent our evenings reliving our university days with our old (older than we'd all like to admit) friends, and our days walking the length and breadth of Manhattan until our feet felt like they'd give way.

Highlights include – walking the High Line, the Metropolitan Museum, visiting the Wall Street anti-capitalist demonstration, walking across Brooklyn Bridge, exploring Central Park, and visiting way too many lovely restaurants – we've eaten so much that we must be the only people who get on a cruise to lose weight!

Oct 11th-13th – Newport (Rhode Island, not the one in Wales)

After spending a ridiculous amount of time in an outlet mall, updating our wardrobes with last year's fashions, we headed down to an old favourite, Newport Rhode Island. We did the cliff walk, explored the enormous mansions of America's fabulously wealthy 19th century robber barons, ate way too much, and slept a lot – just what the doctor ordered.

Oct 11th-13th – Newport (Rhode Island, not the one in Wales)

After spending a ridiculous amount of time in an outlet mall, updating our wardrobes with last year's fashions, we headed down to an old favourite, Newport Rhode Island. We did the cliff walk, explored the enormous mansions of America's fabulously wealthy 19th century robber barons, ate way too much, and slept a lot – just what the doctor ordered.

Oct 6th–10th – Old England to New England

Our next cruise starts from New York in a couple of weeks, so we hopped over to Boston to spend a bit of time in New England, catching up with friends and family. We stayed with our wonderfully generous friends in Concord, who treated us like royalty and took us up to their holiday home in Maine, which was enjoying some ridiculously warm autumn weather.

So, my birthday was spent eating delicious Maine lobster and going for a long walk along the beach – perfect.

Back on the Road

After a short month long pause in the UK, we are on the road again. First, a 10 day jaunt around New England and New York, and then back on the Silver Whisper for a trip from the Big Apple, through the Carribbean and on to South America.

http://www.silversea.com/destinations/world-cruise-2012/guest-speakers/?staff=6423

Updates to follow....

August 26th – Mariehamn in the Aland Islands

Where? I hear you say. Well, the Aland Islands sit in the middle of the Baltic. The people speak Swedish, but they're owned by Finland, who inherited them off the Russians after the Revolution.

Their chief claim to fame is that they once owned the largest fleet of sailing ships in the world at the turn of the 20th century – not quite as great as it sounds, because world trade was shifting to metal steamships. However, their fortune has always come from the sea – even now, they owe their prosperity to their unique tax-free status (even though they're nominally in the EU). So, tens of cross-Baltic ferries a day call in here on their way to somewhere else – as Danes, Finns and Swedes stock up on duty free booze.

The 25,000 population are spread across 80 of the 6,500 islands in the Alands but most of the "action" (such as it is) is on the main island, where the tiny capital, Mariehamn, is. Aside from one sleepy shopping street and an impressive sailing ship which has been turned into a museum, there isn't really very much to do in Mariehamn, so we took a tour to the two historic forts around the island, to see the few points where Aland has featured on the European stage.

We first went to the Bomarsund Fortress built by the Russians in the 19th century when they were looking to expand westwards into Europe. Unfortunately, the British and the French weren't too happy at this expansionism, and they sent a fleet over to destroy the fort before it was even finished (using the Crimean War as an excuse). They did a pretty thorough job at destroying it, but the size of what little remains shows you the scale of the Russian ambition, plus it's in a beautifully unspoilt location.

From here, we ventured to the nearby Swedish fortress of Kastelholm – again ruined, this time by fire rather than by warfare. The dilapidated but imposing fortress dates from the 14th century, when the Swedes were masters of Aland – they ruled here for 500 years before the Russians took over.

After the Russians were defeated in the 19th century, the islands were demilitarised for good; so it's perhaps ironic that the most enduring historic buildings of the self-styled "Islands of Peace" are fortresses.