October 7th – Time Travelling in Colonial Williamsburg

While Tracy was exploring the naval port of Norfolk, I went back in time to visit the wonderful "living museum" at Colonial Williamsburg. Here, in Virginia's former capital, its superb set of colonial buildings have been restored and renovated to the state they were back in 1776, just as the War of Independence broke out.

What impresses is the level of detail that they've gone to, to make the place come alive – each building is filled with period objects (or reproductions) and the costumed staff are experts in their particular field of 18^th century life, whether they're wig-makers, joiners gunsmiths, blacksmiths, silverworkers or politicians. It really does give you a great idea of what everyday life was like in 18^th century Virginia.

I've always much preferred studying political history (wars, revolutions, nation building etc) to social history, but a visit to Colonial Williamsburg is brilliant at sparking an interest in history as it applied to individual people.

One conclusion that I was left with, was just how pampered modern society is when compared to life back then, and how useless I would be in an age without electricity, without plumbing, and with few manufactured goods and luxuries. If something was broken in Colonial Williamsburg, you didn't just replace it, you tried to repair it, and if that didn't work, you recycled as much as you possibly could. There must have been a resourcefulness to people back then that seems to have been engineered out of most people these days.

Sadly, modern times have meant that Williamsburg has been suffering financially over the last few years. History doesn't seem to have the same appeal that it used to have, particularly with the younger audience, who tend to want multi-media whizz bang special effects. That means that Colonial Williamsburg has had to make redundancies and make cut backs. When America has something as good as this, it needs to be cherished and preserved for future generations – I hope it will.

Because, history may not be what it used to be anymore, but at Williamsburg, it's still pretty good.

PS. On our way out of Norfolk we sailed past the world's biggest naval base – 4 carriers and lots of other craft. A fairly awesome array of firepower.

October 5th – Old York Meets New York

A Highlight of any visit to New York is sailing into its glittering harbour, gliding past the Statue of Liberty as Manhattan's crazy skyline of skyscrapers looms up towards you. We were getting in quite early, so it meant that it was only just starting to get light as I did my passing-Lady-Liberty narration from the bridge. However, the rising sun did create some absolutely stunning skies as we neared our berth in Midtown Manhattan. We've done this sail in many times, but it's always a "pinch yourself" moment.

Following on from our reunions in Boston, today we were able to meet up with another couple of old friends from York University days. Us people from Old York are getting older, but it hardly feels like it was 26 years ago that we were studying (in the very loose sense of the word) with each other.

Every time we come to New York, not wanting to get caught in traffic (and not understanding the subway system!), we end up walking miles, and today was no different. We walked from the pier on 55^th street, over to Central Park, which was looking beautiful in the warm autumnal sunshine. After the congested sidewalks, constant red lights and honking traffic, it was a real oasis of calm and greenery – if I lived in New York, this is where I would spend my time.

Our mission today was to get to grips with the enormous collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art – not an easy task given the sheer size and breadth of its exhibits. Every section was world class – Egyptian, Classical, Medieval and Renaissance Paintings, Impressionist Masterpieces – there appeared to be few gaps in its collection. As we went from room to room, you'd think, "it can't get any better than this", and then it would. Truly amazing.

The only slightly depressing thing that I noticed, was that so many of the visitors seemed obsessed with taking photos of the pictures, rather than actually looking at them – elbowing you out of the way as they got their shot. Surely looking at the full-size masterpieces in front of them, is more enriching than looking at tiny photos on their screen later on (if they ever get round to it)?

After 6 hours in there, our minds could take no more culture; so we staggered back to the ship to freshen up. That evening we were meeting up with our fellow Yorkies, and we had a great time sitting outside a Mexican restaurant, chatting, gossiping, laughing, reminiscing like we were 21 year olds again – great fun. Then, someone suggested that seeing as this is the city that never sleeps, we should head off for a nightcap or two, down to Wall Street to visit an Irish pub that had been voted "Best Bar in The World" – the unpromising-sounding Dead Rabbits Pub. It was a nice pub with unbelievably friendly service (once we'd headed upstairs away from the noisy downstairs), but it's the company that was the best 

If you want to do New York justice, you need to be prepared to be exhausted at the end of it!

October 3rd – Catching Up in Boston

There are many reasons to go cruising. Obviously, the ships are wonderful, the company stimulating, and the destinations fascinating. But, for me, it can also be a great way to catch up with distant friends and family around the world.

That makes Boston one of my favourite cruise destinations in this part of the world. Not only is this one of America's most historically interesting and visually attractive cities; but, it also gives me the chance to catch up with old friends and cousins that I don't get to see often enough.

During the day, we met up with University friend, Bee, and had a great time combining plentiful chat with delicious food, and some good sightseeing opportunities. Like Boston, these old friendships seem to get better with age – a lot is reassuringly familiar, but we discover new things along the way.

Then, in the evening, we met up with my cousin Chris for a night of fast-talking catching up, quaffing of myriad beers, tasty food, and a couple of nightcaps in that must-visit Boston institution – the Irish pub. After watching some Irish music (at last some fiddly-diddly music after missing out in Galway), we got a frantic Uber back to the ship before all aboard. Interestingly enough, our driver was from Limbe in Cameroon – a port that we'd visited a couple of years ago. Boston has welcomed plenty of immigrants from Ireland and Italy in particular, but it seems to be spreading its net a little further these days.

Another wonderful day.