Tuesday, February 20, 2007

The Queen is in Sydney!


Queen Mary 2, I mean. The prestigious ocean liner arrived in Sydney this morning and will be leaving at 11 pm tonight. It's her first visit to Sydney, how exciting! She was due to arrive at the Heads at 6:30 but she entered Sydney harbour at 6 am, half an hour early. What a mean thing to do! Hundreds of spectactors missed her arrival and many others like me only saw her from a distance because they didn't have time to get to their chosen vantage point. Plus it was still almost dark anyway! I wish she had slowed down a bit to arrive on time... but of course The Queen doesn't wait!

La Reine est en visite à Sydney ! Je parle du Queen Mary II, le paquebot de légende. C'est sa première visite à Sydney, quelle excitation ! Elle devait aborder la passe des Heads à 6h30 mais elle est entrée dans le port à 6h du matin, avec une demi-heure d'avance. Ca c'est méchant ! Des milliers de spectacteurs ont raté l'arrivée, d'autres comme moi ne l'ont vue que de loin, n'ayant pas eu le temps d'arriver plus près. En plus il ne faisait même pas encore jour ! Je trouve que la Reine aurait dû ralentir pour être à l'heure : l'exactitude est la politesse des rois !

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

WOW, that's a big boat... just saw it on the news too! $5000 a night!

Nathalie H.D. said...

Yes John
and we have some friends who just boarded for a 35 day cruise to Le Havre (half way round the world).
Can't think of the cost!
We don't have many friends that are that wealthy I can tell you. And we weren't even allowed to get a sneak preview !

Gregory Sey said...

On pourrait offrir une montre Suisse au commandant de bord...

Gerald (SK14) said...

O you've got me longing for another cruise. Compare the cost to staying in four-star hotels and dining out three times a day and it really isn't SO expensive. John's quoted price is probably for one of the staterooms -- regular cabins are much more reasonably priced and brochure prices are inflated to almost double what most people end up paying.

Pod said...

impressive wasn't she. i got strangely emotional and almost started singing....? saw her from wooloomolloo, but took film so i shall have to wait and see.....great shot as per mdme

Kala said...

If Im not mistaken I believe this liner was in Hawaii as well - its HUGE!!

Cergie said...

Tu sais, mon mari a été invité à visiter le chantier du Queen Mary II à St Nazaire et son regret éternel est de ne pas avoir pu se libérer
Pareil pour le chantier du viaduc de millau
La prochaine occase, je lui rappellerai que le train ne passe qu'une fois

edwin s said...

I thought you were late in announcing my arrival in Sydney :)

Then I saw the picture and read the post. Oh well.

Sally said...

I'm putting mine up now! (Went and watched QE2 come in this evening!)

alice said...

Je ne sais plus si je te l'ai déjà dit mais j'ai vu ce paquebot en construction à St Nazaire et je l'ai même vu quitter ce port pour son premier départ!

photowannabe said...

Don't know which is worse, one half hour early or one and a half hours late? Which was our problem. The QM2 is really a sight to behold. We loved seeing her in San Francisco.
You captured the other boats and aircraft too. Nice shot.

Olivier said...

il est magnifique, j'ai eut la chance de le voir arriver à NYC. Un reve aller à NYC en prennant le QM2, en attedant je vais economiser ;o)

Anonymous said...

Ouiii!!
Je l'ai vu à la télé française avant d'aller sur ton blog, et j'étais sure que tu en ferais la photo. Pour une fois tu n'es pas à contre-courant!

Anonymous said...

Saw her cruising in the Harbour at dawn from our deck on the hill. I must say I was amazed to see how many Sydneysiders boat owners turned up to welcome the big fat Lady on the water. Don't know if this has happened everywhere the ship went but I reckon her occupants will remember Port Jackson's arrivée for ever.

Je l'ai vue arriver dans la Baie à l'aube depuis notre terrasse sur la colline. Je dois dire que ce qui m'a epaté, est le nombre de propriétaires de bateaux qui se sont levés si tôt pour accueillir la "Grosse Dame" sur l'eau...
Je ne sais pas si ce type d'accueil s'est produit dans chaque port mais je suppose que ses occupants se souviendront de leur arrivée à Sydney à jamais!...

Lachezar said...

Apologies for me replying so late after the fact, but.. I like your shot better! At least you managed to see it in full length! Me and my son, spent a few hours driving in the congested Auckland traffic looking for a vantage point with little luck...

Cheers!